Robert Plant

Artificial intelligence and virtual organizations

Artificial Intelligence AND Virtual Or A VIRTUAL COMPANY HAS BEEN DEFINED AS ONE where “complementary resources existing in a number of cooperating companies are left in place, but are integrated to support a particular product effort for as long as it is viable to do so. . . . Resources are selectively allocated to the virtual company if they are underutilized or if they can be profitably utilized there more than in the ‘home’ company.” [4]. In addition, virtual organizations are designed to facilitate three types of capabilities:

An Empirical Study of the Casual Relationship Between IT Investment and Firm Performance

The promise of increased competitive advantage has been the driving force behind the large-scale investment in information technology IT over the last three decades. There is a continuing debate among executives and academics as to the measurable benefits of this investment. The return on investment ROI and other performance measures reported in the academic literature indicate conflicting empirical findings. Many previous studies have based their conclusions on the statistical correlation between IT capital investment and firm performance data of the same time period. In this study we argue that the causal relationship between IT investment and firm performance could not be reliably established through concurrent IT and performance data. We further submit that it would be more convincing to infer causality if the IT investments in the preceding years are significantly correlated with the performance of a firm in the subsequent year. Using the Granger causality models and three samples of firm level financial data, we found no statistical evidence that IT investments have caused the improvement of financial performance of the firms in the samples. On the contrary, the causal models suggest that improved financial performance over consecutive years may have contributed to the increase of IT investment in the subsequent year. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future studies, are discussed.

Software cost estimation using economic production models

One of the major difficulties in controlling software development project cost overruns and schedule delays has been developing practical and accurate software cost models. Software development could be modeled as an economic production process and we therefore propose a theoretical approach to software cost modeling. Specifically, we present the Minimum Software Cost Model (MSCM), derived from economic production theory and systems optimization. The MSCM model is compared with other widely used software cost models, such as COCOMO and SLIM, on the basis of goodness of fit and quality of estimation using software project data sets available in the literature. Judged by both criteria, the MSCM model is comparable to, if not better than, the SLIM, and significantly better than the rest of the models. In addition, the MSCM model provides some insights about the behavior of software development processes and environment, which could be used to formulate guidelines for better software project management polices and practices.

The patent holder's dilemma: buy, sell, or troll?

The current patent process in many ways works against IT innovation by making the road to realization too dispiriting for todays independent inventors.

A survey of tools for the validation and verification of knowledge-based systems: 1985–1995

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a survey of software tools built to assist in the verification and validation of knowledge-based systems. The tools were identified from literature sources from the period 1985–1995. The tool builders were contacted and asked to complete and return a survey that identified which testing and analysis techniques were utilised and covered by their tool. From these survey results it is possible to identify trends in tool development, technique coverage and areas for future research.

Methodologies for the development of knowledge-based systems, 1982–2002

Knowledge-based systems have often been criticised for the limited theoretical base upon which they are constructed. This view asserts that systems are often developed in an ad hoc, individual way that leads to unmaintainable, unreliable and non-rigorous systems. The last decade, however, has seen an increased effort to produce methodologies to counter this view as well as continued research into validation and verification techniques. This paper presents a brief discussion of some of the important research in knowledge-based system life cycles and development methods. Methodologies are considered and are discussed in light of two sets of quality assurance criteria.

How Corporations E-Source: From Business Technology Projects to Value Networks

A 78 organization study in USA, Europe and Australasia throughout 1999–2001 finds a variety of practices in sourcing the development and running of technology and e-businesses in value networks. The paper points to trade-offs in e-sourcing decisions, not least between speed to the net, cost, and organizational learning. Leading and lagging practices are identified and the evolutionary paths organizations take are described and assessed. Outsourcing emerges as highly useful for specific purposes, but other ways of using the external market for e-business development can be more suitable for certain identifable activities. The paper further discusses how external sourcing and partnering practices are increasingly being extended into the customer resource life-cycle, into supply chains and throughout value networks. Case examples are discussed and the strengths and weaknesses of their practices identified. The need to clarify core capabilities is demonstrated, and two matrices that facilitate effective e-sourcing decisions are developed to summarize the findings from the research.

A comparative study of motivation and entrepreneurial intentionality: Chinese and American perspectives

In this paper, we compare the intentionality of students in graduate business programs in the United States and China toward becoming entrepreneurs. We utilize Amabiles Work Preference Inventory (WPI) to examine the motivational dimension of entrepreneurial intentionality and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to compare the impact of gender and family history of self-employment on employment intentionality. Our results suggest there is a positive relationship with entrepreneurial intent in both the intrinsic challenge characteristic and extrinsic compensation characteristic. Results also suggest the intrinsic enjoyment characteristic and extrinsic outward characteristic are negatively correlated to self-employment. In addition, the study found that males in China exhibited a significantly greater intentionality toward self-employment than females did. We also found that entrepreneurial intentionality is stronger in the U.S. study group than in the China group for those with prior self-employment experience, as well as when they have a background that includes a family history of self-employment. However, when there is no family background of self-employment, the Chinese show greater intentionality to become self-employed than the group located in the United States.

Expert systems shell benchmarks: the missing comparison factor

This paper develops a methodology for benchmarking knowledge-based systems that practitioners may use to perform a comparative analysis of expert system shells. A program utilizing a deliberate instructional mix was found to be the most suitable and accurate way to measure the value of shells. The benchmark is intended for rule-based shells, such as CLIPS, VP-Expert and Ibis. The methodology for the approach is a generic rule-based algorithm that is easily adaptable to meet the language requirements of individual shells. We present results for three shells.

A Prototype Decision Support System for Differential Diagnosis of Psychotic, Mood, and Organic Mental Disorders

The authors designed a decision support system to assist mental health professionals to perform differential diagnoses of psychotic, mood, and organic mental disorders in accor dance with the American Psychiatric Associations revised third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A prototype system arrived at through a rigorous methodology illustrates a style of development that attempts to ensure system maintainability, correctness, and consistency of deduction and promotes high quality in software. Key words: mental disorders; decision support system; computer-assisted diagnosis; expert systems; artificial intelligence. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:43-48)