Peter Buxmann

Drivers of SaaS-Adoption – An Empirical Study of Different Application Types

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is said to become an important cornerstone of the Internet of Services. However, while some market research and IT provider firms fervently support this point of view, others already conjure up the failure of this on-demand sourcing option. Oftentimes based on weak empirical data and shaky reasoning, these inconsistent perspectives lack scientific rigor and neglect to present a more differentiated picture of SaaS-adoption. This study seeks to deepen the understanding of factors driving the adoption of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Grounded in transaction cost theory, the resource-based view, and the theory of planned behavior, we develop a research model to assess SaaS-adoption at the application level. Survey data of 297 firms in Germany with 374 valid response items across different industries were collected to test the theoretical model. Our analysis revealed that patterns on the decision on SaaS-adoption differ across application types. Social influence, attitude toward SaaS-adoption, adoption uncertainty, and strategic value turned out to be the strongest and most consistent drivers across all application types. Furthermore, we found that firm size does not matter in SaaS-adoption, since large enterprises and small- and medium-sized companies had similar adoption rates. Overall, this study provides relevant findings that IT vendors can use to better appeal to potential companies that consider adopting SaaS.

Business Models: An Information Systems Research Agenda

The business model concept, although a relatively new topic for research, has garnered growing attention over the past decade. Whilst it has been robustly defined, the concept has so far attracted very little substantive research. In the context of the wide-spread digitization of businesses and society at large, the logic inherent in a business model has become critical for business success and, hence, a focus for academic inquiry. The business model concept is identified as the missing link between business strategy, processes, and Information Technology (IT). The authors argue that the BISE community offers distinct and unique competencies (e.g., translating business strategies into IT systems, managing business and IT processes, etc.) that can be harnessed for significant research contributions to this field. Within this research gap three distinct streams are delineated, namely, business models in IT industries, IT enabled or digital business models, and IT support for developing and managing business models. For these streams, the current state of the art, suggest critical research questions, and suitable research methodologies are outlined.

Grundzüge der Wirtschaftsinformatik

Grundzüge der Wirtschaftsinformatik – Mertens / Bodendorf / König / et al. Inhaltsverzeichnis: Grundzüge der Wirtschaftsinformatik – Mertens / Bodendorf / König / et al.

Assessing the value of interorganizational systems to support business transactions

Abstract: In interorganizational settings, the use of information systems (IS) and networks is often not formally evaluated, and decisions are made by “gut feeling” rather than based on rational evidence. Since benefits depend not only on internal contingencies but also on the decisions and loyalty of business partners, issues of trust and the risk of becoming locked in with a disloyal partner become crucial. The Internet and Web-based technologies, by facilitating system development and the deployment of interorganizational systems (lOSt may help change this picture. In times when IT use is becoming more and more important for firms to remain competitive and efficient, system costs and benefits have to be carefully balanced in order to build systems that are perceived as beneficial even in cases where risk aversion makes this difficult. This paper examines applications that support interfirm business transactions, in particular those that involve buying processes. A conceptual model for the evaluation of investments is introduced that takes into account the perspectives of the initiator and the prospective participants. The model is applied to a system developed by the lawrence livermore National laboratory (llNl) to link it with suppliers and support purchasing processes.

Pricing Strategies of Software Vendors

Due to the economic characteristics specific to the software industry, pricing concepts existing in other industries cannot be transferred without adaptation. Therefore, this article provides an overview of pricing models for software. In this context we discuss the six parameters formation of prices, structure of payment flow, assessment base, price discrimination, price bundling, and dynamic pricing strategies. Furthermore, we refer to recent software delivery models, such as Software as a service. The results are based on literature research and empirical studies.

Usage and evaluation of Supply Chain Management Software – results of an empirical study in the European automotive industry

Abstract.  This paper presents an evaluation of Supply Chain Management Software. For this purpose, we conducted an empirical study in the European automotive industry among car manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and logistic service providers from 25 countries. In particular, we analysed the objectives these companies are trying to achieve by using Supply Chain Management Software and evaluated to what extent these objectives have been accomplished. Our results show that the companies have been able to reduce both their costs and lead times and to improve their service levels. The survey also reveals, however, that until now, the cooperative potential of Supply Chain Management Software has not been utilized effectively.

Converting business documents:a classification of problems and solutions using XML/XSLT

The exchange of business documents can be realized either by standardizing or converting these documents. In this paper, we examine different conversion strategies from an economic perspective. In particular, we provide a classification of conversion problems as well as solutions using XML/XSLT.

Inter-organizational document exchange: facing the conversion problem with XML

Information exchange processes are often characterized by the need of translating from one data format into another in order to achieve compatibility between information systems. A conversion problem often arises when exchanging files between applications of different software vendors or when incorporating legacy business data into new standard software. In this paper we want to survey the conversion problem in the field of multi-organizational networks, since participants often use different data formats. We examine, to what extent XML is able to support the inter-organizational exchange of business documents. Thereby, we concentrate on the problem of converting different data and examine different approaches for solving the transformation problem. We show how XML can actually be implemented for a Web-based integration in multi-organizational networks. Moreover, we present a java-based prototype that enables document exchange over the Internet using XML business vocabularies for document representation, XSLT for document conversion and presentation, and both DOM and SAX for processing and integrating documents into in-house-systems.

Big Data and Information Processing in Organizational Decision Processes

Data-centric approaches such as big data and related approaches from business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) have recently attracted major attention due to their promises of huge improvements in organizational performance based on new business insights and improved decision making. Incorporating data-centric approaches into organizational decision processes is challenging, even more so with big data, and it is not self-evident that the expected benefits will be realized. Previous studies have identified the lack of a research focus on the context of decision processes in data-centric approaches. By using a multiple case study approach, the paper investigates different types of BI&A-supported decision processes, and makes three major contributions. First, it shows how different facets of big data and information processing mechanism compositions are utilized in different types of BI&A-supported decision processes. Second, the paper contributes to information processing theory by providing new insights about organizational information processing mechanisms and their complementary relationship to data-centric mechanisms. Third, it demonstrates how information processing theory can be applied to assess the dynamics of mechanism composition across different types of decisions. Finally, the study’s implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Auswirkung alternativer Koordinationsmechanismen auf die Auswahl von Kommunikationsstandards

Die Entscheidung uber die Nutzung von Kommunikationsstandards ist nicht nur vor dem Hintergrund der enormen Potentiale elektronischer Kommunikation bedeutsam, sondern ist notwendige Bedingung fur jede Interaktion sowie fur die Koordination wirtschaftlicher Aktivitaten. Durch die netzeffektbedingte Interdependenz der Standardisierungsentscheidungen der verschiedenen Akteure entsteht ein Koordinationsproblem („das Standardisierungsproblem“, das sich in Abhangigkeit von der Entscheidungsautonomie der Akteure sowohl aus zentraler als auch aus dezentraler Perspektive stellen kann. Fur beide Koordinationsformen wird ein Modell entwickelt, das die Vor- und Nachteile des Einsatzes von Standards auf der Basis okonomischer Parameter abbildet. Die Modellierung ermoglicht daruber hinaus die Untersuchung weitergehender Kooperationsformen zwischen Akteuren in Kommunikationsnetzen. Das Modell ist als ein Baustein einer allgemeinen, interdisziplinaren Vernetzungstheorie im Rahmen des Sonderforschungsbereiches 403 „Vernetzung als Wettbewerbsfaktor am Beispiel der Region Rhein-Main“ entwickelt worden.