Purpose – Motivated by the increasing role of information technology (IT) in today’s organizations, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between business and IT executives in order to improve the organizational performance of the different aspects of IT technology and related systems. In the process, special attention is given to drivers which facilitate the cooperation between the parties involved. Design/methodology/approach – This survey-based research utilizes structural equation modeling methodology to uncover the relevant variables pertaining to the promotion of a positive social and strategic context needed to increase the effectiveness of organizational IT facets. Findings – The effectiveness of IT in modern organizations is contingent on a social alignment, business – IT alignment, strategic consistency, and common vision among the people who manage the IT function and those who need the organization. Research limitations/implications – This study is based on a sample of Portuguese manufacturing organizations. Therefore, findings and conclusions should be interpreted accordingly. In this context, future research in other organizational cultural settings is called for in order to refine and validate the results of this study. Practical implications – The role of establishing an organizational culture which stresses the common goal and mutual trust and cooperation in creating effective IT organizational utilization is underscored. As such, business executives are encouraged to exercise their leadership skills in order to create an organizational strategy which aligns IT capabilities and investments with the competitive strategy of the organization. In this context, creating an organizational culture which promotes business – IT alignment in a healthy social context is necessary. Originality/value – The issues and concerns addressed in this study should bridge the gap between business and IT executives. In the process, this study facilitates and encourages the effective utilization of the different facets of IT technology as they better serve the people of the organization. This advances the cost and practice of the strategic organizational role of IT investments.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Business Intelligence refers to the use of Information Systems to enable raw data to be collated into information that can be reported, with the end goal of using this information to enhance the business decision-making process. Business Intelligence is enabled by making use of information that is complete, relevant, accurate, timely and accessible. There are currently a number of documented perspectives that can be used to gauge the value of Business Intelligence systems; however, from an overall business value perspective the most robust method would be to identify and analyse the most commonly identified factors that impact the value assigned to Business Intelligence Systems by a company, and the correlation of each of these factors to calculate the overall value. The importance of deriving a conceptual model, representing the major factors identified from literature and moderated by the quantitative research conducted, lies in its enabling companies and government bodies to assess the true value addition of Business Intelligence systems, and to understand the return on investment of these systems for organisations. In doing so, companies can justify or reject any further expenditure on Business Intelligence. The quantitative research for this thesis was conducted together with a project that was run between the University of the Western Cape and the Hochschule Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The research was conducted simultaneously across organisations in South Africa and Germany on the use of BI Systems and Corporate Performance Management. The respondents for the research were Chief Executive Officers, Chief Information Officers and Business Intelligence Managers in selected organisations. A Direct Oblimin-factor analysis was conducted on the online survey responses. The survey was conducted on a sample of approximately 1500 Business Intelligence specialists across South Africa and Germany; and 113 responses were gathered. The factor analysis reduced the key factors identified in the literature to a few major factors, namely: Information Quality, Management and Accessibility, Information Usage, and Knowledge-sharing Culture. Thereafter, a Structural-Equation-Modelling analysis was completed using the Partial-least-Squares method. The results indicate that there is a strong relationship between the factor-Information Quality, Management and Accessibility, and the Value of Business Intelligence. It was found that while there was no strong impact from Information Usage and Culture, there was a strong correlation between Information Usage and Culture and Information Quality, Management and Accessibility The research findings are significant for academic researchers, information technology experts, Business Intelligence specialists and Business Intelligence users. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by bringing together disparate factors that have been identified in academic journals; and assessing the relationship each has on the value of Business Intelligence, as well as the correlations that exist between these factors. From this, the final conceptual model was derived using factors that were identified and tested through the Factor Analysis and the PLS-SEM. The following conclusions can be drawn from the research: (1) The assurance of quality information in the form of complete, accurate, relevant and timeous information that is efficiently managed is the most paramount factor to an organisation deriving value from Business Intelligence systems; (2) information accessibility is key, in order to realise the value of Business Intelligence systems in organisations; and (3) Business Intelligence systems cannot add value to an organisation if a culture of information use and sharing is absent within that organisation. The derived model can be practically implemented as a checklist for organisations to assess Business Intelligence system investments as well as current implementations

I samhället pågår en trendförflyttning som innebär; ett ökat antal elektrifierade och energieffektivare fordon, ökad förnybar energi och utvecklingen av ett transporteffektivt samhälle. Anledningen till trendförflyttningens aktualitet är en kombination av att urbaniseringen fortsatt ökar och att transportsektorns utsläppsnivåer måste minska för att nå klimatmålen till år 2030. Varje stad är beroende av mobilitet och idag har utvecklingen av mobilitet sammankopplats med våra byggda miljöer och har blivit en viktig del av vår tids fastighetsutveckling. Ett begrepp som implementerats för att främja mobilitet i ett transporteffektivt samhälle är mobilitetshubb. Byggnaden syftar till att främja samnyttjande och delningsekonomi, bidra till en bättre hälsa och tillgängliggöra hållbar mobilitet för alla. En fastighetsutvecklare har en väsentlig men tvetydig roll i realiseringen av en mobilitetshubb idag. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka hur en fastighetsutvecklare som nyttjar en mobilitetshubbs affärsvärde kan påverkas genom att bidra till realiseringen. Affärsvärdet undersöks utifrån; aktualitet, attraktivitet och ekonomiskt värde. Vidare är avsikten att identifiera en fastighetsutvecklares incitament och investeringskostnaderna vid realiseringen av en mobilitetshubb. En fallstudie på det pågående stadsutvecklingsprojektet Forsåker har genomförts där det planeras för två mobilitetshubbar. Fallstudien baseras på intervjuer med både experter inom mobilitet och fastighetsutvecklare, samt en investeringskalkyl som jämför kostnaderna för att bygga ett garage på egen fastighet och en mobilitetshubb. För en fastighetsutvecklare innebär aktualitet att vara relevant på marknaden och att framtida projekt utvecklas med hänsyn till kundens och samhällets framtida krav och behov. Det leder till att de initialt svarar med nyfikenhet och intresse för den pågående trendförflyttningen och ser främst fem incitament med realiseringen av en mobilitetshubb: (1) Minska byggkostnader vid byggnation av färre parkeringsplatser, (2) uppfylla kundens behov och efterfrågan, (3) öka nyttjandet av byggrätten samt att en trevligare stads- och gatumiljö främjas, (4) öka sin hållbarhetsprofil och (5) bidra till samhällsutvecklingen. Däremot känner fastighetsutvecklarna en osäkerhet kring rollfördelning, affärsmodell och den nödvändiga beteendeförändringen då faktorerna påverkar fastighetsutvecklarens ekonomiska resultat vid realiseringen av en mobilitetshubb. Investeringskalkylen visar att genom att investera i en mobilitetshubb jämfört med att bygga eget garage på sin fastighet, görs en kostnadsbesparing på 14% per kvm BTA. Studien klargör att en investering i realiseringen av en mobilitetshubb är både aktuell, attraktiv och skapar ekonomiskt värde. Därav kommer en fastighetsutvecklares affärsvärde påverkas positivt av att nyttja en mobilitetshubb istället för att bygga eget garage i ett stadsutvecklingsområde. / Currently a trend shift is taking place in society and consists of; an increased amount of electrified and energy-efficient vehicles, increased usage of renewable energy and the development of a transport-efficient society. The reason behind the topicality of the trend shift is a combination of urbanization and that the transport sector's emissions have to decrease if the climate goals set for 2030 are to be reached. Mobility is an important segment of every city. The development of mobility is today linked to the built environments and is an important part of our times property development. A concept that has been implemented to support mobility in a transport efficient society is the mobility hub. The building aims to encourage sharing and sharing economy, contribute to better health and make sustainable mobility available for everybody. A property developer has today an essential but ambiguous role. Therefore, the study aims to examine how a property developer's business value is affected by contributing to the realization of a mobility hub. The business value has been examined based on three factors; topicality, attractiveness and economic value. Further, the intention is to identify property developer’s incentives and what investment costs a realization of a mobility hub brings. The study is based on a case study of the ongoing urban development project Forsåker where two mobility hubs are planned to be developed. The case study is based on interviews with both experts within mobility and property developers, and an investment calculation that compares the costs for a property developer to build a garage on their own property and their costs to use a mobility hub. For a property developer, timeliness means to be relevant and ensure that future projects are developed with consideration to both the customer’s and the society’s future requirements and needs. This results in an initial curiosity and interest for the ongoing trend shift, and the property developers see five main incentives with the realization of a mobility hub: (1) Reduce construction costs because of fewer parking spaces that has to be constructed, (2) meet the customer’s needs and demand, (3) increase the utilization of the building, (4) increase their sustainability profile and (5) contribute to the development of the society. However, uncertainties regarding the distribution of the roles, business models and the behavior change has been recognized. This depends on the fact that these factors affect the property developers economic result in a realization of a mobility hub. The investment calculation shows that a property developer makes a cost saving of 14% per sqm gross area by investing in a mobility hub instead of building a garage on their own property.

This thesis explores the manifestation of AI capabilities in an incumbent within the forest industry for generating business value. The primary research gap identified is the lack of empirical evidence on how AI capabilities contribute to business value in incumbents. Drawing upon the AI capability framework and interviews with leadership roles, the research identifies and categorizes AI capabilities into Human, Intangible, Tangible, and Governance dimensions. Theoretical contributions include adding Governance as a distinct dimension to the existing AI capability framework and expanding the current literature on how AI capabilities manifest in an incumbent. Practical insights propose a hybrid learning approach, emphasizing AI training, collaboration with experts, and establishing internal networks and innovation labs. Effective AI integration relies on clear leadership guidance.

As with many new technology implementations before, Business Intelligence (BI) implementations have come under scrutiny in terms of the value added to organisations. The latest academic research uses various different ‘traditional financial methods’ such as the Return on Investment (ROI) calculations to determine the value of investments. In some instances customized measurement tools are proposed as a result of empirical studies conducted. The main objective of this study is to perform qualitative investigation on the theoretical value of BI implementations in organisations. If it is assumed that BI does add value to organisations, the primary research question aims to investigate how this value is added. A balanced scorecard second generation approach is used as theoretical framework in order to address the question. This approach is also known as strategy mapping. The research process starts with an extensive literature review on the topic of BI value evaluations and BI related balanced scorecards and strategy maps. As a result, various theoretical and practical research contributions are produced. One of the theoretical contributions includes an inventory of previous academic literature on the topic of BI value evaluations. This inventory is also presented diagrammatically. A preliminary version of the BI balanced scorecard is developed and used as foundation for a semi-structured interview template to investigate the value of BI in organisations.\ The semi-structured interview template was used as primary data generation instrument to gather data for this multiple-case study project. Four organisations participated in the study. The data obtained from the study was analysed and presented using an updated version of the theoretical framework of the study and was labelled as the intermediate version of the scorecard. The intermediate version of the BI balanced scorecard provided valuable input towards investigating how value was achieved as a result of BI implementations. These results were verified as part of a final verification process through a consultation process with the same study participants. A final version of the BI balanced scorecard is presented and included in a complete BI value solution. This version of the balanced scorecard is also a valuable practical contribution of the study. The verified results of the investigation indicated the following:- (1) BI adds value to organisations in all four perspectives of the organisation, namely the business value perspective, user orientation perspective, operational excellence perspective as well as the future orientation perspective. (2) Furthermore, the study confirmed that BI adds value to organisations through a number of benefits including an increase in sales and compliance to regulatory requirements (to name a few). (3) However, the study also indicated that value-related studies must adopt a holistic approach in an attempt to cater for the many facets of the topic. (4) Despite the challenge of implementing BI in organisations, the perceived value of BI implementations amongst senior management remained positive. This was supported by the continuous implementation of new BI projects in organisations. (5) There was a definite relationship between BI implementations and organisational performance. This is evident through the positive impact on sales figures, risk and compliance management and operational management. The study contributes to the broader field of Information Systems (IS) in numerous ways. Firstly the research discovers gaps in existing research, then proposes a method to investigate the research question as a result of the gaps identified, and -iiiuses this method as a tool to investigate the problem. The main contribution of the study is to contribute to the body of knowledge by investigating the value of business intelligence to organisations. / College of Engineering, Science & Technology / D. Litt et. Phil. (Information Systems)

s the dependence of IS/IT has grown in modern organizations, IT investments have soared in the last couple of decades. Large amounts of money are spent with the hope that the investments will generate value for the business organizations using the systems. It is hence easy to understand the needs for methods to assess the business value of IT-investments. The investment decision is basically about selecting the best IT-system or the best combination of IT-systems, i.e. the system(s) that provides the most business value in dimensions that are important business-wise. However, a problem with many of the avail-able methods is that they often fail to concretely explain what technical characteristics the IT systems(s) should have to achieve the business value desired. A complicating aspect of IT-investment evaluations is also that the evaluations usually include a high degree of un-certainty. In this thesis, an IT investment evaluation method is presented that indicatively assesses the differences in contribution to business value from IT-investment alternatives. The method provides, at a relatively low cost of investigation, indications of not only the technical differences between the IT-investment alternatives in a specific investment situation, but also an assessment of the differences in types and amounts of their business value. The presented method has been applied in a large case study at an electric power company. Furthermore, it also incorporates concepts found within Enterprise architecture (EA), particularly in how the information used in the evaluation is collected. The presented thesis is a composite thesis that, besides an introduction, includes five papers (paper A-E). Paper A presents an outline of the method as well as its application in the case study. It also presents the theoretical fundaments for the criteria used for the technical evaluation and the business value assessment including the method’s applications in relation to Enterprise architecture. The following two papers primarily present necessary steps in the development of the method. First, paper B presents the process to develop a functional reference model (used for the functional assessments in the method), including its application in the case study. Second, a breakdown of the term business value into a set of IS/IT-affected value dimension is presented in paper C. The last two papers present the final steps, i.e. the technical evaluation of the investment alternatives (paper D) and the final business value assessment (paper E). The papers include the methods to perform these analyses as well as the application of the method in the case study and the results of the case study. / QC 20100608

Business Value of the CRM Approach - the Case of 5 Stars Hotels in Lebanon Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an organizational-wide ongoing process. It provides a systemic approach to aligning business processes, technologies, and the customer. The application of the CRM approach in the hospitality sector accompanies the guest cycle in all its stages. It is an ongoing process defined by two main activities: the analysis and the action which are repeated as long as the relationship exists between the hotel and its customer. The success of this ongoing approach in increasing customer loyalty and fostering customer retention has yielded into the development of hotels' concentrations towards the CRM. Despite the extensive investments in CRM, numerous CRM projects fail to meet the expected business goals. Nevertheless, a handful of successful CRM projects give both a proof-of-concept and a guideline for a successful CRM approach. This research is intended to illuminate the business value of CRM approach in hotels. It brings together the concept of identifying the critical success factors of the CRM approach, and the impact of the CRM approach on the organizational performance in a single research model. This study was completed by examining the CRM approach in 5 stars hotels in Lebanon. The final sample represents 87.5% of the 5 stars hotels in Lebanon.

Temos aktualumas. Ekonominė aplinka svarbi tiek atskiroms šalims ar jų grupei, tiek įmonėms ir įvairioms institucijoms, tiek ir kiekvienam iš mūsų asmeniškai. Ekonominė šalies ir joje veikiančių įmonių galia priklauso nuo turimų resursų panaudojimo efektyvumo, kuris neatsiejamas nuo naujų gamybos technologinių linijų įsigijimo ir įdiegimo, esamų modernizavimo, įmonės vidinių inžinerinių tinklų, reikalingų verslo plėtrai, įrengimo. Europos Sąjungos šalyse narėse, ypač naujosiose, šios sritys yra remiamos įvairių nacionalinių ir bendrijos fondų lėšomis, tačiau, norint įsisavinti paramos lėšas, reikia gerai išmanyti šių fondų išteklių naudojimo principus ir taisykles. Paraiškos su sėkmingais verslo planais virsta realia nauda toms įmonėms, kurios gerai pasiruošusios paramos įsisavinimui. Paramos naudą, teikiamą įmonėms, tikslinga vertinti per visos įmonės vertės prizmę, tuomet įvertinama ne tik paramos teikiama nauda ar projekto vertė, bet ir realus visos įmonės vertės pokytis, gavus paramą. Todėl atsiranda įmonės vertės pokyčio, įsisavinus ES fondų lėšas, įvertinimo ir metodo, kuris įgalintų nustatyti tą pokytį ir palyginti paramą gavusių įmonių vertės pokyčius tarpusavyje, poreikis. Darbo objektas – Europos Sąjungos paramos įtaka įmonės vertei. Šio darbo tikslas – apžvelgti Europos Sąjungos teikiamos paramos principus, sąlygas ir įsisavinimo tendencijas. Išanalizuoti pagrindinius metodus, naudojamus įmonės vertės nustatymui, atsižvelgiant į juos, sudaryti indikatorių, kuris... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Topicality. Economical enviroment makes a direct affect on the whole country, businesses and every personality within. Proper comprehension, interpretation and application of the surrounding, possibilities, variuos financing sources and funds are essential for operating a successful business. It is more than important to take advantage of EU‘s funds available for businesses in young economies like Lithiuania. Each fund and investment is believed to take a positive affect to the company and increase the value of it. It is essential to cull from information in quantity only what’s most important and be able to evaluate the impact of an investment to an enterprise properly and determine the change of an enterprise value after the investment. The object of this graduation paper is the impact of EU‘s funds to the value of a business. Main goals: 1. Analyse and describe main theoretical EU‘s support for businesses aspects. 2. Describe and analyse main enterprise evaluation methods in use. 3. Come up with new business evaluation method, based on integrated value indicator, which enables one to evaluate EU‘s support‘s impact on enerprise value and measure the impact among number of companies. 4. Under favour of the new business evaluation method, evaluate the influence of EU‘s funding to the value of three enterprises, come up with conclusions and suggestions. The Results. Main aspects of EU‘s support for businesses and enterprise evaluation methods are presented and described in the... [to full text]

The rapid advancement and penetration of information technology (IT), amid continued questions over its benefits, has resulted in research efforts to understand the extent to which IT resources contribute to organisational performance. There is little question that the presence of IT contributes to organisational performance. Our understanding of how and where IT contributes to value in organisations, however, is limited. Current IT business value research advances the notion that firm’s IT-related capabilities ability to leverage their IT resources explains the IT-related performance differences across firms. Understanding the nature of the IT-related capabilities, and their relationship with IT resources can provide a better understanding of how organisations can make better use of their IT resources. IT resources are dynamic and change at a rapid pace. Current IT business value research suggests the firm’s IT-related capabilities at a point in time can source value from the IT resources. However, firms IT-related capabilities must demonstrate parallel dynamics to maximise their influence on their IT resources. In this dynamic resource relationship environment, firm’s ability to sustain a level of influence on their IT resources will determine the extent of IT resources’ value-creating ability. Using the resource-based view of the firm that suggest an organisation is a bundle of resources, and using a complementary theoretical lens, this study introduces a higher-level resource, co-created by combining two or more complementary resources. This higher-level resource is capable of contributing to business value on its own, and importantly, can help organisations sustain their existing IT-related capabilities. The sustainable IT-related capabilities will have a better influence on the IT resources and will source better IT-related business value. This higher-level resource can also help with the timing of IT investments, and can provide an environment where a firm’s technical IT skills can better integrate the IT resources into the business processes. On measurement of organisational performance, this study suggests that a unique combination of organisational resources creates an efficient and effective internal environment that then becomes a powerful tool to enhance the key external process of customer service. Such enhancements in process-level efficiency and effectiveness will carry forward to be recognised in overall firm-level performance. This study develops and tests a model that assesses the association between the two generic IT resources (IT investment and technical IT skills), three IT-related capabilities (top management commitment, shared organisational knowledge, and flexible IT infrastructure), and internal process-level performance. It also assesses whether the IT-Usage Platform, a higher-level co-created resource, on its own associates with, and enhances the generic IT resources’ and IT-related capabilities’ association with internal process-level performance. The study also proposes that improvement in internal process-level performance will be positively associated with external process-level performance of customer service. Firms that improve their internal and external process performance should also improve their firm-level performance. The results, as hypothesised, failed to reject the non-association between the generic IT resources and the internal process-level performance. The study, as predicted, found a positive association between the three IT-related capabilities, IT-Usage Platform, and the internal process-level performance. The IT-Usage Platform indeed enhances the association between the IT-related capabilities and internal process-level performance. The results also suggest that the association between the technical IT skills and internal process-level performance improves in the presence of the IT-Usage Platform. Firms’ improved internal process-level performance also relates to improvement in external process-level performance. Improvement in the internal-external process performance also contributes to performance at the firm level. For research, this study demonstrates that the complementarity and the resource-based view theories allow inclusion of a greater variety of resources in a bundle of capable resources that could be a source of IT-related business value. The complementary theoretical lens also enables one to consider firms’ higher-level resources, co-created from complementary resources. The result is a robust model with the flexibility to consider other forms of resource interactions that sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities. The model also enables comparison of IT and other organisational resources on a level-platform and allows for a deeper understanding of how organisations can better leverage their IT resources. The study also presents the internal-external coordination path of IT-related value creation. For decision makers this study reinforces the importance of the concept of a coordinated IT-related change to secure value from their IT investments. It also presents decision makers with a visual IT business value path from internal process benefits to external process benefits, and finally to firm-level benefits. This study suggests all organisational resources, through various combinations, could be a source of IT-related business value. Future research can consider resources that are at the boundary of capable/non-capable resources to evaluate whether firms various resource arrangements can make these resources more valuable in sourcing IT-related business value. This research also provides strong theoretical arguments to consider other higher-level factors that may have the potential to sustain firms existing IT-related capabilities.

Récemment les données issues de médias sociaux, dites les Big Social Data (BSD) retiennent de plus en plus l’attention des chercheurs et des professionnels, notamment après l’apparition des outils de surveillance des médias sociaux (Social Media Monitoring – SMM), permettant de traiter ces BSD. Les promesses associées au SMM concernent l’amélioration des processus de prise de décision, voire la transformation de processus métiers des entreprises. Malgré des investissements de plus en plus importants, l’usage efficace de ces outils dans les entreprises est très variable. Dans cette recherche, nous souhaiterions comprendre comment et pour quelles finalités le outils SMM sont utilisés ?. Pour l’évaluation de ces outils, nous nous appuyons sur la théorie des ressources. Afin de mettre œuvre de cette recherche, nous avons eu recours à une approche par méthodes mixtes. Cette approche consiste en étude qualitative qui a servi au développement et à l’enrichissement d’une seconde étude quantitative. Les résultats obtenus montrent que la combinaison de ressources SMM (qualité d’outil, ressources humaines…) et de ressources complémentaires permet de constituer des capacités SMM (mesure, interactive, utilisation processus) conduisant à la performance du SMM. Le soutien de l’organisation et, plus spécifiquement le rôle des managers, dans l’activation des ressources et des capacités SMM est conforme au récent approfondissement du management des ressources. En revanche, nous avons détecté que des ambiguïtés demeurent concernant le RBT. Pour cela, nous proposerons de lever ces ambigüités en ayant recours à la théorie étendue des ressources. Finalement, nous présentons les apports, les limites et les perspectives de notre recherche. / Recently, social media data, called Big Social Data (BSD), attract more and more attention from researchers and professionals, particularly after the emergence of Social Media Monitoring (SMM) tools, used to process BSD. The promises associated with the SMM concern the improvement of decision-making processes, or even the transformation of business processes. Despite increasing investments, the effective use of these tools in companies is very variable. In this research, we would like to understand how and for what purposes the SMM tools are used?. For the evaluation of these tools, we build upon the Resource-Based Theory (RBT). In order to implement this research, we used a mixed method approach. This approach consists of a qualitative study that was used to develop and enrich a second quantitative study. The obtained results show that the combination of SMM resources (quality of SMM tool, human resources…) and complementary resources makes it possible to build SMM capabilities (measurement, process, interaction…) leading to performance. Moreover, the support of the organization, and more specifically the role of managers, in the activation of SMM resources and capabilities is consistent with the recent advancements of resource management. However, we detected some ambiguities concerning the RBT. To deal with these ambiguities, we propose to resort to the extended theory of resource. Finally, we present the contributions, the limits and the perspectives of our research.