As a result of tough competition in the marketplace and the shift form a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, companies are looking more and more at gaining competitive advantage through managing and maximizing their most valuable asset ¡V knowledge. In line with the increasing need to manage knowledge systems (KMS), which involve the application of IT systems and other organizational resources to manage knowledge strategically, are growing in popularity. Given the fact that it is not difficult to find applications relevant to KMS in organizations, the topic of KMS has not been well explored by researchers and scholars. Besides, even among the limited literature on KMS, there is a scarcity of studies on the empirical perspective of KMS, especially in the area of adoption, which is an important issue of managerial capacity. This research tries to address this gap by studying the adoption of KMS in Taiwanese organizations. Specifically, we want to find the significant factors of the KMS adoption. This study is based on innovative perspective combining with some important factors to mold an integrated model. Three dimensions are involved in, including: (1) Innovative characteristics of KMS: includes relative advantage, complexity, compatibility and cost of KMS (2) Organizational factors: includes IT infrastructure inside organization, employees¡¦ IS knowledge, management support, slack resources and business size (3) External factors: only includes competitive pressure. We try to find out whether there is something critical to adopt KMS. An empirical survey methodology is applied to test the research model and hypotheses proposed in this study. Eight out of nine hypotheses are validated in our research model with Discriminant Analysis. The research result reveals that management support of a firm has the strongest discriminability; on the other hand, competitive pressure also affects the adoption of KMS of a firm strongly. In conclusion all the variables have discriminant power expect relative advantage.

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Zugl.: Ulm, Univ., Diss., 2008

No description available.

This research was conducted to provide insights into the factors that influence consumer’s decision when choosing a channel to remit. The study looked at the following theories in determining the important factors that influence consumer intention or behavior, Theory of Reason Action, Theory of Planned Action, Remittance, Innovation Diffusion and Technology Acceptance Models. Hence, service providers should be aware of these factors so they can develop strategies and services to attract consumers to use their channels. The aim of the study was to determine which factors influence consumer’s decision in choosing a bank and non-bank channel to remit. The investigation of the key factors that influence the decision or intention, it was found that a single factor influenced the decision to remit in a bank and non-bank channel. It was also found in the study that consumers prefer physical channel of both bank and non-bank to remit. The finding has serious implications for service providers, in that consumer behavior show attachment to traditional distribution channels. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study examined online collegiate instructors’ perceptions of web-conferencing as an online instructional tool and as a tool for creating social presence and teaching presence and their perceptions of barriers discouraging them from using web-conferencing in online instruction. Adopting a quantitative survey research design, this study collected and analyzed survey data from 62 instructors who facilitated online instruction at a major university in northeastern Mississippi. The researcher developed the Assessment of Collegiate Instructors’ Perceptions of the Use of Web-Conferencing for Online Instruction questionnaire and administered the questionnaire via Survey Monkey to collect data of the participants’ demographic information and their perceptions about web-conferencing. Four research questions guided this study. Descriptive statistical analysis using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, independent samples t-tests, and a Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data to answer the research questions. The results of this study revealed that collegiate instructors who use web-conferencing in their online instruction have a better perception of web-conferencing as an instructional tool and as a tool for creating social and teaching presence than instructors who do not use web-conferencing. This study also shows that online collegiate instructors using web-conferencing have lower perceptions regarding barriers of using web-conferencing than those not using web-conferencing. In addition, the results from the study indicated that gender affects online collegiate instructions’ perceptions of web-conferencing as an instructional tool and as a tool for creating social and teaching presence, with female instructors having better perceptions than male instructors. The findings from this study contribute to the literature of online instruction and web-conferencing research by providing empirical evidence supporting Rogers’ (1995; 2003) innovation diffusion model and pointing out the directions for future efforts to promote online collegiate instructors’ adoption of web-conferencing. Based on the findings, this study made recommendations for future research and for facilitating adoption of web-conferencing by online collegiate instructors.

In 2013 around 289,000 women died from what was categorised as maternal complications. This figure is likely to be higher as only 40% of the world has an adequately function health reporting system (WHO et al 2014, p.1). Severe bleeding causes around 27% of all maternal deaths; this is the single biggest threat to pregnancy and childbirth. Moreover, maternal complications are the second biggest cause of death for women of reproductive age globally. The risks women and girls face through pregnancy and childbirth are the outcome of socio-cultural structures and norms, which increase the inequalities in many societies. The decisions we make, the choices we have, and the actions we carry out are a product of our social system’s structures and norms. Humanitarian crises painfully display the divisiveness and destruction that these structures and norms can have on the members of that system. But, crises also offer an opportunity to either, rebuild structures and norms in a way that reduces inequality and protects the vulnerable, or a regression to more traditional, more patriarchal and more hierarchical structures and norms which will ultimately disadvantage women and girls further in their plight for equality. There is a vicious circle of poverty and mortality that can be triggered by maternal death. In order to prevent these cycles from continuing, creative, simple and appropriate strategies need to be developed for humanitarian response that build on the knowledge systems and capacities of those affected, as well as the experience and expertise of practitioners. Instead of a discussion between development or humanitarian, the conversation should try to find ways for all interventions to be more homophilious with those affected and ensure that they do not worsen the structures protecting the most vulnerable. Innovation has long since been seen as a process for those who ‘have’, and not for those who ‘have not’. Criticisms of increasing inequality through a division based on socio-economic markers have only led to self-fulfilling stereotypes of who is innovative and who is not. This research is trying to shift the focus from one that is divisive to a more inclusionary approach. To address maternal mortality caused by severe bleeding, it is imperative to understand the context in which it is happening. Who is affected? Why? What do they think and believe? What happens to the family, the community? How are the structures and norms of the society affecting it? What solutions have been offered? In answering these questions it is clear how far the impact of maternal mortality can reach. It is the hope of this research, that its can be used to reduce and lessen this impact through better-targeted and tailored responses using appropriate tools – such as the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, implemented in a mind frame of sustainability and resilience in an environment receptive to innovation. There is a need for fresh ideas and approaches to reduce a burden that does not exist in resource stable parts of the world, and a burden that has come to be seen as a problem of the poor. The non-pneumatic anti-shock garment is a game changer. It has the potential to inspire interest and access health systems, yet implementation thus far has been limited in humanitarian response. This research investigates maternal mortality caused by postpartum haemorrhage in humanitarian crises, in an endeavour to improve the discussion on including the NASG into the MISP as an appropriate tool to fight maternal mortality and the inequality that is found at its root.

La synchronisation des flux physiques a reçu une importante attention dans la littérature. Si le non flux physique a reçu une attention toute particulière dans des domaines tels que le SCM, le pendant financier a longtemps était délaissé. Plus inquiétant, les délais de paiement ont longtemps été perçus comme un moyen de réduction du besoin en fonds de roulement des grandes entreprises. La crise des Subprimes a eu de lourdes conséquences sur le financement des entreprises les plus modestes, mettant en danger l’existence même de ces dernières. Notre travail initial de synchronisation des flux physiques et financiers instruits dans la cadre d’un partenariat CIFRE visait à trouver des solutions à ces problématiques en proposant des modèles d’optimisation sous contraintes. Néanmoins, notre volonté de mettre en œuvre nos travaux fut vaine et notre sujet a progressivement drifté vers la découverte de l’échec du déploiement d’un système ERP. Notre enracinement au sein d’une grande entreprise du secteur de la défense française nous a permis de mettre en œuvre une recherche action canonique en trois phases distinctes et a débouché sur la production d’un modèle de diffusion de l’innovation appliqué à l’ERP. Ce modèle en 6 phases, décrits les étapes successives du déploiement, en mettant en exergue l’impact des forces politiques au sein de l’organisation. / Synchronization of physical flows received significant attention in the literature. If the non-physical flows received special attention in areas such as SCM, financial for a long time was helpless. More worryingly, payment delays have long been seen as a means of reducing the need for working capital for large firms. The subprime crisis has had a serious impact on the financing of the smaller companies, endangering the very existence of the latter. Our initial synchronization job physical and financial flows educated in the context of a CIFRE partnership aimed at finding solutions to these problems by proposing models of optimization under constraints. However, our commitment to implement our work was in vain and our subject has gradually drifted to the discovery of the failure of the deployment of an ERP system. Our roots in a large enterprise sector French defense allowed us to implement an action research canonical three distinct phases and resulted in the production of a model of diffusion of innovation applied to the ERP. This model into 6 phases, described the successive stages of deployment, highlighting the impact of political forces within the organization

The increasing government and consumer interest in, and growing concerns about environmental issues have pressured businesses to adopt eco-innovative measures and activities. These pressures have been felt particularly by the food and drink sector in Scotland, a sector that is of considerable importance to the Scottish economy. To date, few studies have considered the challenges businesses in this sector face with regard to the adoption of eco-innovations. In particular, there has been little research on the challenges faced by the SMEs in the sector and how they are adopting eco-innovations. This study seeks to address this research gap through utilization of the diffusion of innovation theory to explore the adoption of eco-innovations by the Scottish food and drink SMEs. A qualitative survey of the website of 52 businesses was used to collect data and analysed using content analysis to generate five categories of eco-innovations namely; Waste, Energy, GSCM, Carbon and Embedding. This data collected informed the next phase of the research where in-depth interviews was conducted with 18 businesses to understand their eco-innovation adoption processes. The findings revealed two groups of attitudes among the participants namely; the positive and the sceptics. The main motivators to adoption were found to be; moral principles and beliefs, eco-consumer drive, cost saving, legislation and the creation of jobs and new opportunities. The major barriers to eco-innovation were more profound and found to include; non-recyclable waste, non-compliance by suppliers, cost of adoption, lack of interest, the challenge of finding credible and reliable sources, attitudes and behaviours, and a general lack of education and awareness. Using the categorisation of eco-innovations that emerged from the website data analysis, the research developed a scale of greenness reflecting the adoption of eco-innovation along with a classification of adopter types namely; advanced, intermediate and basic adopters. The thesis contributes to the theory of diffusion by illustrating ways to capture and evidence innovation adoption without dependency on the time element and enabled a classification of eco- innovation adopters. The contribution to methodology is viewed from the application of a qualitative approach that enabled the categorisation of the forms of eco-innovation which resulted in the model depicting eco-innovation adoption and the profiling tool for innovation diffusion. Practical contributions are offered to enable businesses to understand their adoption of eco-innovation through the use of the model, adopter type classification and the application of a best practice guide to facilitate adoption. Recommendations for policy, practice and further areas for research are also proposed within the thesis.

The main problem in this thesis is: How should research and development results regarding production methods be represented for better adoption by SMEs? Manufacturing SMEs in Sweden have in general low profit margins and risk to go bankrupt. Different production methods could facilitate the needed performance improvement. Networking provides an arena where research and development needs could be determined and effective transfer activities could be carried through. How new production methods could be characterized and represented are presented. Several case studies, surveys and literature studies have been carried through. The results from these studies have been analyzed and compared to literature on the production method diffusion process – Dissemination-Clustering-Transfer. This analysis has resulted in a specification of requirements on how new production methods should be presented for better adoption by SMEs. One suggestion to the specification of requirements, the DFMTsme process, is described. The process is based on a repeated development procedure and follows a six-step development process in five phases. It is concluded that the DFMTsme process works. The research project is finally reviewed due to verification, validation and the contribution to knowledge. Implications for actors in the production method diffusion process as well as for policy makers are discussed. / QC 20100729