William T. Schiano

A Hierarchical Model of Supply-Chain Integration: Information Sharing and Operational Interdependence in the US Grocery Channel

This paper examines costs of and motivations for interconnectivity within the grocery supply chain, employing evidence from multiple case studies and survey data to develop a seven-level model of technology-enabled supply-chain connectivity and channel interdependence. This theoretical model, built around a modified transactions-costs framework, is illustrated using examples of processes that span multiple levels of interconnectivity and interdependence within the grocery channel between different groups of customers and suppliers. Our analysis suggests that while a discernible hierarchy of levels of IT-enabled interorganizational connectivity exists, not all relationships necessarily evolve to the highest level of “virtual integration”. Indeed, limits on executive attention preclude this level from being achieved by more than a small fraction of trading partners. The model generates eight testable hypotheses for further study.

Component-based IS architecture

Abstract Advances in distributed architectures and the Internet have had a strong influence on the use of component technologies. The authors discuss the organizational and technical requirements for an effective and economically viable component-based approach.

Thriving Systems Theory: An Emergent Information Systems Design Theory

Thriving Systems Theory is an emergent design quality framework encompassing both traditional objective metrics and the subjective, aesthetics. It draws theories of design quality in physical architecture originated by Christopher Alexander, the patriarch of design patterns, into the domain of models and information systems. Thriving Systems Theorys fifteen choice properties is an extended taxonomy of systems design characteristics that explicate the experience of satisfaction realized between observer and artifact. The properties also denote design actions that shape that experience. This paper summarizes the synthesis of Thriving Systems Theory, its applicability to information systems, its conformance to the anatomy of a design theory, and the ongoing efforts to demonstrate its contribution to the advancement of design practice.

Emerging Issues in United States Telecommunications Policy: An Analysis of Federal Communications Commission Activity

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was expected to transform US telecommunications policy more than any regulation since the creation of the Federal Communications Commission in 1934. Rapid technological advances and business process transformations have created numerous issues since the passage of this Act that were unforeseen by legislators and regulators. Utilizing content analysis of Federal Communications Commission news releases, this paper identifies and categorizes the important emerging regulatory issues in the US telecommunications policy and discusses the implications of the focus of the Federal Communications Commission for the design, management, and deployment of network based information technology solutions in organizations. These implications may help local and national telecommunications regulators and managers throughout the world better focus their efforts.

Seven levels of interorganizational connectivity an examination of the U.S. grocery distribution channel

The paper examines interconnectivity within the grocery channel and suggests an interorganizational connectivity framework modeled in part on the ISO model of systems connectivity. This seven level model of interorganizational connectivity and channel interdependence is illustrated using examples of processes that span multiple levels of interconnectivity and interdependence within the grocery channel between different groups of customers and suppliers.

SCRUM Project Architecture and Thriving Systems Theory

Agile project management continues to gain a widening and enthusiastic following. Agile methods can achieve a high level of satisfaction among all project stakeholders (users, customers, business managers, developers, and project managers) in terms of productivity, product quality, cost containment, time-to-market, and overall morale. Success with agile requires focus on requirements and design as a continuous discovery process, posing challenges for practitioners of more traditional project management both in terms of method adoption and sustained commitment. Thriving Systems Theory clarifies the appeal of agile project structure and processes, helps project teams determine and achieve the optimal portfolio of quality characteristics, and better articulate their value to all stakeholders. Thriving Systems Theory is an emerging framework of systems design quality that translates the research of design pattern patriarch Christopher Alexander on physical architecture design quality into the domain of systems engineering. The satisfaction achieved through agile methods is explained by Thriving Systems Theorys fifteen choice properties of systems design quality. We demonstrate by identifying the manifestation of the choice properties in SCRUM, an exemplar of agile software project management.

A Reuse Reference Grid for Strategic Reuse Goals Assessment

Reuse throughout system life cycles is the most promising organizational policy for cost containment and benefit exploitation available to information system managers today. Large-scale reuse is an expensive endeavor whose benefits are realized when it is applied strategically rather than tactically. The distinction eludes many (and challenges most) IS managers. We present a reuse reference grid for managers to use as an assessment framework to help categorize and assess the cost/benefit of their current level of reuse as a prelude to considering future reuse opportunities.

Technology in Business Education

A wealth of technologies is becoming viable in the mainstream of business education, as complements to and substitutes for the traditional classroom. This wave of new technologies comes at a time of great economic pressure on higher education in general and business education in particular. The sustainability of the traditional economic model of higher education in the United States is being actively questioned. The responses of colleges and universities, instituting often drastic cutbacks during the recent economic downturn, highlight the tenuousness of the traditional classroom-centric business model. Many are advocating technology as the solution to higher education’s woes. The novelty of a new technology can be appealing and creates an opportunity to overcome prior resistance.