A informação tem assumido ao longo dos anos maior papel de destaque no cotidiano empresarial, com as organizações contemporâneas passando reconhecê-la possivelmente como o seu principal recurso. Associado a isso, assistimos ao crescimento cada vez maior de um volume de informações organizacionais não estruturadas, mas que são de profunda importância na tomada de decisão; o que justifica o aumento de discussão do tema nos últimos anos. Atribui-se nada menos que quatro quintos (4/5) de informação não estruturada dentre todas as informações criadas em uma organização, volume considerável, pois, e para os quais ainda muito há por fazer em termos de métodos, técnicas e ferramental. Este trabalho se insere na continuação das pesquisas do grupo GIANTI (Grupo de pesquisa de Gestão do Impacto da Adoção de novas Tecnologias de Informação), complementarmente à abordagem referente à gestão da informação com caráter subjetivo, enfatizando seu compartilhamento nas organizações. O presente estudo objetivou adentrar neste contexto através de uma Observação Participante realizada na empresa Johnson & Johnson, propondo um framework de estruturação da coleta e do tratamento das informações qualitativas e mesmo subjetivas, baseado no compartilhamento de informações informais para sua utilização em processos decisórios individuais ou coletivos, trabalhando com uma dinâmica prática de processos, aqui denominado “Escuta Permanente”. A partir de uma literatura que buscou elementos de processo decisório e de compartilhamento de informação, foi possível retomar e agregar elementos ao conceito de Escuta Permanente, bem como operacionalizá-lo através de uma ferramenta computacional via web. Como contribuição, considera-se que teve condições de demonstrar, na realidade observada, a utilidade e, sobretudo a aplicabilidade do conceito de Escuta Permanente, mostrando-se efetiva sua aderência e link com os referenciais teóricos propostos, associando a aplicação prática e relevância a possíveis ganhos com sua utilização em maior escala. / Information has assumed over the years greater role in everyday business, with contemporary organizations through possibly recognize it as their main resource Associated with this, we see the growth of a growing volume of unstructured organizational information, but which are of profound importance in decision making, which explains the increased discussion of the topic in recent years. Assigns up no less than four-fifths (4/5) of unstructured information from all the information created in an organization, considerable amount, therefore, and for which there is still much to be done in terms of methods, techniques and tools. This work is part of the continuation of the research group GIANTI (Management Research Group Impact of the Adoption of New Information Technologies), complementary approach to the management of information relating to subjective character, emphasizing his sharing in organizations. The present study aimed to penetrate this context through a Participant Observation held at Johnson & Johnson company, proposing a model for structuring the collection and processing of qualitative information and even subjective, based on informal information sharing for its use in decision-making processes or individual collective, working with a dynamic practice processes, here called "Listen Standing." From a literature that sought elements of decision-making and sharing of information, it was possible to resume and add elements to the concept of Permanent Listening and operationalized it through a web-based computational tool. As a contribution, it is able to demonstrate that had actually observed, utility and especially the applicability of the concept of Permanent Listening, showing up your grip and effective link with the theoretical frameworks proposed, involving the practical application and relevance to possible gains from their use on a larger scale.

A travers cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au secteur industriel du textile. Les acteurs de ce secteur, qui se caractérise souvent par des chaînes logistiques internationales, doivent s’adapter à une demande dynamique pour des produits de courte durée de vie. Ces spécificités renforcent la nécessité de s’imposer dans un environnement très concurrentiel par une maîtrise des coûts et des ressources de production et logistique ainsi que par une bonne connaissance du marché auquel il faut savoir sans cesse s’adapter. Dans cette thèse, en s’inspirant du contexte d’un industriel tunisien du textile, nous nous focalisons sur l’optimisation, par la programmation mathématique, de la planification de la production et de la distribution des produits. Ces décisions reviennent à l’industriel qui fournit des clients nationaux et internationaux. Il s’engage auprès d’eux à répondre à deux types de commandes : (i) des commandes de mise en place des collections à venir, souvent de délais longs et (ii) des commandes de réassort, souvent de délais très courts, pour les collections en cours de vente. Nous proposons une méthode de planification qui optimise, à la fois, les décisions de production et de distribution de produits. Cette méthode se caractérise par une anticipation d’une certaine flexibilité dans le plan de production tactique pour mieux absorber les commandes de réassort dans le plan opérationnel. Grâce aux données fournies par notre partenaire industriel, nous étions en mesure de démontrer qu’une telle approche permet des économies de coûts remarquables, allant jusqu’à 10% pour le cas étudié. Nous supposons dans un second temps qu’un accord de partenariat permettait à l’industriel d’avoir accès à l’information sur l’évolution de la demande pour les produits en cours de vente chez ses clients. Il peut alors mobiliser cette information pour établir des modèles de prévision et les utiliser pour anticiper au mieux la flexibilité a priori des plannings de production. Sous cette hypothèse, nous démontrons que l’industriel peut réaliser un gain sur les coûts totaux d’environ 15%. Le travail de cette thèse a trouvé une application et une validation grâce aux données fournies par un acteur de l’industrie du textile. Nous montrons néanmoins qu’il est largement valable pour des contextes industriels différents. / Through this thesis, we are interested in the textile industry. The actors in this field of industry, which is often characterized by global supply chains, must adapt to a dynamic demand for short-life-cycle products. These characteristics reinforce the need to be imperative in a highly competitive environment by controlling costs and resources of production and logistics and by having a good knowledge of the market to which it is necessary to constantly know how to adapt. In this thesis, basing on the context of a Tunisian textile industry, we focus on production and distribution planning using mathematical programming. These decisions are made by the manufacturer who provides local and overseas retailers. He is fully committed to meet two types of orders: (i) pre-season orders of future collections, often with a large delivery lead time and (ii) replenishment orders, often with shorter due dates, occurring over the season to fill in stock outs or to replace unsold products. We propose an integrated planning method that optimizes both the production and distribution decisions. This method is characterized by an anticipation of some flexibility in the tactical production plan to better place the unplanned and urgent newly arrived demands at the operational level. Using the data provided by our industrial partner, we were able to demonstrate that such an approach allows remarkable cost savings, reaching 10% for the cases studied. Then, we assume that a partnership agreement has allowed the manufacturer to follow the evolution of demand information concerning the products being sold to their retailers. They can then use this information to build forecast model to anticipate at best the flexibility a priori of production plans. Under this assumption, we demonstrate that a cost cutting of 15% is attained. The work of this thesis was validated by data provided by a Tunisian textile-apparel company. We show, however, that it can be widely applied to different industrial contexts.

A informação tem assumido ao longo dos anos maior papel de destaque no cotidiano empresarial, com as organizações contemporâneas passando reconhecê-la possivelmente como o seu principal recurso. Associado a isso, assistimos ao crescimento cada vez maior de um volume de informações organizacionais não estruturadas, mas que são de profunda importância na tomada de decisão; o que justifica o aumento de discussão do tema nos últimos anos. Atribui-se nada menos que quatro quintos (4/5) de informação não estruturada dentre todas as informações criadas em uma organização, volume considerável, pois, e para os quais ainda muito há por fazer em termos de métodos, técnicas e ferramental. Este trabalho se insere na continuação das pesquisas do grupo GIANTI (Grupo de pesquisa de Gestão do Impacto da Adoção de novas Tecnologias de Informação), complementarmente à abordagem referente à gestão da informação com caráter subjetivo, enfatizando seu compartilhamento nas organizações. O presente estudo objetivou adentrar neste contexto através de uma Observação Participante realizada na empresa Johnson & Johnson, propondo um framework de estruturação da coleta e do tratamento das informações qualitativas e mesmo subjetivas, baseado no compartilhamento de informações informais para sua utilização em processos decisórios individuais ou coletivos, trabalhando com uma dinâmica prática de processos, aqui denominado “Escuta Permanente”. A partir de uma literatura que buscou elementos de processo decisório e de compartilhamento de informação, foi possível retomar e agregar elementos ao conceito de Escuta Permanente, bem como operacionalizá-lo através de uma ferramenta computacional via web. Como contribuição, considera-se que teve condições de demonstrar, na realidade observada, a utilidade e, sobretudo a aplicabilidade do conceito de Escuta Permanente, mostrando-se efetiva sua aderência e link com os referenciais teóricos propostos, associando a aplicação prática e relevância a possíveis ganhos com sua utilização em maior escala. / Information has assumed over the years greater role in everyday business, with contemporary organizations through possibly recognize it as their main resource Associated with this, we see the growth of a growing volume of unstructured organizational information, but which are of profound importance in decision making, which explains the increased discussion of the topic in recent years. Assigns up no less than four-fifths (4/5) of unstructured information from all the information created in an organization, considerable amount, therefore, and for which there is still much to be done in terms of methods, techniques and tools. This work is part of the continuation of the research group GIANTI (Management Research Group Impact of the Adoption of New Information Technologies), complementary approach to the management of information relating to subjective character, emphasizing his sharing in organizations. The present study aimed to penetrate this context through a Participant Observation held at Johnson & Johnson company, proposing a model for structuring the collection and processing of qualitative information and even subjective, based on informal information sharing for its use in decision-making processes or individual collective, working with a dynamic practice processes, here called "Listen Standing." From a literature that sought elements of decision-making and sharing of information, it was possible to resume and add elements to the concept of Permanent Listening and operationalized it through a web-based computational tool. As a contribution, it is able to demonstrate that had actually observed, utility and especially the applicability of the concept of Permanent Listening, showing up your grip and effective link with the theoretical frameworks proposed, involving the practical application and relevance to possible gains from their use on a larger scale.

This thesis investigates how a web-hosted portal could be developed and designed in order to assist customer information updates in micro-enterprises in the ship broking business. Based on well-established system development theories and collected material, the web-hosted portal concept was developed. The development process included a case study at a ship broking company in Karlshamn, southern Sweden. Ship broking companies handle information as a mediator between other actors, thus the information becomes sensitive. In the ship broking business there is a constant need and flow of information. As the shipbrokers’ customers demand constant information 24 hours a day it is important to meet this demand in a service minded fashion. Today all customer updates are handled manually and are considered very time consuming and generate duplication of work. To solve these issues a possible solution could be to introduce information technology in the organisation. The introduction of information technology in the ship broking organisations has been slow. A contributing factor might be the widespread conservatism and resistance to changes in the ship broking business. The conclusions show the needs and demands for a web-hosted portal among shipbrokers and interested parties in the logistic chain. The result of the thesis should be considered as a foundation for further development and implementation of the concept.

We have simulated the effect of different parameters in location-aware information sharing policies for crowd-based information exchange systems. The purpose of this simulation was to find out which parameters improved the upload time, battery life and success rate for nodes trying to upload a large file under bad conditions. To test the effect of these parameters on a larger scale, we simulated an area where a large number of nodes were moving around. Our test results showed that nodes greatly improved their battery life and the upload time by limiting the number of nodes they send data to, rather than sharing data with all nodes within reach. However, sending the oldest collected data performed very bad in regards of battery life time and had a relatively high amount of nodes that did not manage to upload their file. We concluded that nodes should not share their data with all available nodes at all times, and be restrictive in the amount of data they share with other nodes to conserve battery.

Abstract Information integration – sharing of pertinent information between supply chain members – is vital to cope with the uncertainty and complexity embedded in service supply chains. The aim of this study is to understand the meaning, constituents, extent, and development means of information integration in service supply chain context. The research approach is abductive, emphasising the constant interplay between theory development and empirical observations. Analysis on a single case supply chain consisting of two types of maintenance service providers and a large steel manufacturer as the focal company is provided. A comprehensive conceptual framework for analysing and developing information integration in service supply chain is presented and applied in the case supply chain. Extent of integration is described through three levels of integration. Six information integration elements are used to define the levels: processes and activities, information technology use, information attributes, information sharing practices, collaborative foundation, and time-related issues. Service/market characteristics and supply chain relationship characteristics are deployed in explaining the differences in levels of integration. Depending on the level of integration, the performance effects sought and achieved through developing information integration range from operational to strategic level. Adopting a more structured approach to information integration in the case supply chain is suggested to address development areas in information sharing and improve performance. This can be implemented through a shared centralised maintenance information system, common procedures for information sharing, and commitment of supply chain actors. The framework in this study offers guidelines for choosing the appropriate level of integration in a service supply chain dyad. It shows that the special characteristics of service context can be deployed in designing and managing service supply chains. Service providers should be integrated to the supply chain just like other supply chain members, as it contributes to the supply chain performance. Differentiating the level of integration in service supply chain dyads within a supply chain based on the contextual setting is recommended. This study paves the way for better understanding and control of service supply chain links and contributes to the scarce empirical research on service supply chains.

Since the early eighties researchers have been studying the use of technology that supports collaboration amongst co-workers and group members. This field of computer science became known as Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). With the advent of wireless and mobile Internet communication technologies research in the CSCW field has been focused on providing “access, anytime and anywhere”. The main contribution of this study is to introduce and analyze the technology required to support casually connected collaboration. Firstly, we define casually connected collaboration as having “access, anytime and anywhere” to collaborators and resources without having explicit control or knowledge over the environment and its technical abilities. In order to distinguish between connected, mobile, and casually connected collaboration we introduce a conceptual model of collaboration that extrapolates the term “access, anytime and anywhere”. We then aim to prove the soundness of our model by using it to classify some well known collaboration scenarios. Furthermore, by evaluating the functional and non-functional requirements for a casually connected collaboration solution, we argue that current commercial and CSCW research implementations do not sufficiently meet these demands. We then present Nomad: a Peer-to-Peer framework specifically designed to overcome the challenges encountered in casually connected collaboration. We study the technology requirements and highlight the implementation details that enabled us to successfully conform to the requirements set by casually connected collaboration. Finally, we pave the road for future work by investigating new features introduced into the Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.0, Visual Studio 2010 and language enhancements made to C# version 4.0. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Computer Science / unrestricted

This thesis deals with the information behaviour of employees of large companies. Its first objective is to provide the necessary theoretical basis for solving this problem, explaining concepts such as information, communication, information behaviour and information needs. The second objective is to subsequently capture the typical information behaviour of individuals in the organisation and of their surroundings using questionnaire survey. The result of this research is confirming or disproving the expressed hypotheses and recommendation for corrective actions if any typical problems in the field of information behaviour were identified. The research is aimed at all employees of large companies operating in information-intensive industries.

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is the study of how people use technology, with relation to hardware and software, to work together in shared time and space. Mobile office environments are becoming commonplace. Workers form virtual online communities on a global scale and use groupware to collaborate and complete a common goal. We tend to be mobile, yet need to be available to collaborate. This thesis investigates a protocol for our decentralized artifact control system, Nomad. Nomad enables globally dispersed members of small casually connected communities to share artifacts which are gathered on a best effort approach. The Nomad protocol takes into consideration the work habits of users and their variety of devices. The major contribution of this thesis is a simulator of the Nomad protocol, which serves as a proof-of-concept for its design. Specifically, we look at how such a protocol handles casually connected small communities. We consider high level aspects such as setting up the community, the overhead of nodes, availability, scalability and connectivity. We demonstrate scenarios that the protocol will need to handle. Furthermore, we take a broad look at CSCW, push and pull technologies, peer-to-peer technologies, and enabling technologies such as Microsoft .Net. These form the basis of the Nomad design. In addition, we suggest the integration of mobile agents, which we consider a future addition to Nomad. It was found that the protocol had to compensate for two nodes that were never online at the same time. In the case that a best effort approach is not feasible, we propose alternate approaches at the cost of overhead on a propagation node. The developed concept provided valuable insight into the problem domain, outlined the boundaries of the protocol and provided a possible solution for Nomad. The simulator proved to be a useful tool for determining outcomes from possible scenarios. The results from the simulator will feed directly into the development of Nomad. / Dissertation (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Computer Science / unrestricted

付記する学位プログラム名: デザイン学大学院連携プログラム / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第22803号 / 情博第733号 / 新制||情||125(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒田 知宏, 教授 矢守 克也, 特定教授 川上 浩司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM