Background: Most organizations rely on their information system on a daily basis to generate opportunities and advantages. Meanwhile, with the increasing emphasize on corporate social responsibility (CSR), more directors and CEOs are shifting their sights to CSR by developing business models that underline responsible and ethical disciplines for running businesses. However, studies that combine the analysis of IS and CSR are few. Therefore, the potential benefits of utilizing IS from a more intan-gible view, which means CSR in our case, are less likely be discovered. Besides, sen-ior managers have a hard time on shifting perceptions on CSR from being an add-on activity to be integrated in core operations of the organizations. Aim & Purpose: The aim of our research is to investigate the functions that IS has in CSR management from managers' perspectives. As mentioned above, the main reason for con-duction this research is the existing knowledge gap through the subjects being investigated. The overall purpose for this study is to adopt EFQM Excellence Model and Work System Model to contribute to CSR value creation of the organization. Method: The current research approach is qualitative and a case study is applied as re-search strategy. Data collection is carried out by means of documents and interviews. Doc-uments include company annual reports and website information. Semi-structured inter-views are conducted with managers from Lasfosaringar Jokoping and PwC. Conclusions: The functions of IS in the management of CSR can be concluded into four aspects, which are information management, customer relationship management, monitor-ing daily affairs and corporate governance. Information system have changed the way data is being sorted, spread, disseminated and have accelerated the information exchange fre-quency in business operation. Those changes in turn reflect on the performance of cus-tomer, employee and corporate governance of the organization.

No description available.

The introduction of information system (IS) to an enterprise is a very important digitalizing stage in the manufacturing industries. The IS outsourcing is to leverage the information technology (IT) to improve the performance as well enhancement of competence. In recent years, the outsourcing is one of the major IS trends , and the IT outsourcing has become a very important management issue that is subject to the concept of specialization, insufficient resources and strategic focuses. In the process of IT outsourcing, some topics always been highlighted , like the selection of the best decision model, and how to bring the maximum profit to enterprise by using IT. This study is to explore the most decision factors of IT outsourcing in manufacturing industry of Taiwan . The purpose of this research focuses on studying the factors of Information System Outsourcing decisions for the manufacturing industry . The research method will be primarily based on AHP(Advanced Hierachical Program) , and the seclected target systems for outsourcing are ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) , SCM(Supply Chain Management) and CRM(Customer Relation Management) ,those are the most popular systems that manufacturing industry is undergoing or considering outsourcing . The major findings in this study are : 1. Most industry experts surveyed tend to choose In-house instead of Outsourcing , that¡¦s diffenent to the world trend . 2. The most important factor for outsourcing decision is ¡¥Focus on enterprise competence¡¦, that¡¦s consistent with worldwide reports .

Because of changing customer requirements and increasing introduction of new products, the retailer¡¦s inventory has to be reduced. In addition, the supplier is facing the problem of more frequent delivery in small batch. All these give rise to the demand for Distribution center¡]DC¡^. In addition to the study of logistics facilities, logistics information system¡]LIS¡^ plays an important role to improve the efficiency of physical distribution. Various market environments require different kinds of DC. The services and operational processes provide in each DC will depend on the orientation of the DC. The differences are to be reflected in the LIS requirements. The findings of this research indicated that both scale and organizational form have contributed to the variation in LIS. The DC that is large in size is often the logistics department of a big company; furthermore, the DC that is small in size is often a third party logistics company. Hence small DCs, while concentrating on the logistics function, do no need the function of purchasing. Large DCs have better performance record in using database, electronic bulletin board system, telephone conference, and video conference. By comparison, small DCs have better use of common distribution network and common information system. In general, problematic internal and external integration, and lack of flexibility are prevalent phenomena in the implementation of LIS. Suggestions could be made that integration with other type of information system is to be emphasized for large DCs. Small DCs, while falling short of resources, will need to form alliance with their partners, which can provide better information resources for daily operations. The user interface of LIS had a significant impact on user satisfaction, and user satisfaction in turn affected the competitive advantage of DC. This indicated that both user interface and user satisfaction should be highlighted in designing LIS. A LIS should be directed to meet user friendly purpose and strategic position in the market, which will exert the system function fully and achieve competitive advantage for the company.

ABSTRACT In order to effectively manage the investment in China, Taiwanese enterprises need to develop information systems (IS) that can facilitate efficient operational control and decision making. This study investigates the various architectures that are employed by manufacturing enterprises investing in the south-eastern coastal area of China for such purpose. The results show 1. The vendor support for software and hardware is poor when the plant site is far away from cities; 2. There are more problems for China-based IS units than those in Taiwan; 3. The communication infrastructure in China is inferior to that in Taiwan; 4. Many application systems in China are based on those in Taiwan, although adjustment is often necessary in order to adapt realistically to situations in China; 5. Taiwanese enterprises always set up their own security systems that suit their own needs; 6. The interface between traditional Chinese Kanji and simplified Chinese characters is a non-issue; 7. The system security, the existing application structure used in Taiwan, number of connecting points in China, and the efficiency of leased telecommunication line are the main factors for enterprises to consider when making decisions on the IS architecture; and 8. If leasing telecommunication lines is acceptable, the IS managers should base the IS architecture in Taiwan to increase the efficiency, enhance the security, and reduce cost.

Abstract As Convertible Bonds (CB) market increasingly prospers in recent years, not only has it become one of the most important financing tools for public firms, but also the popular investment target for investors. However, given the complexity of Convertible Bonds Issuance Terms, coexistence of new and old regulations, and difficulties in obtaining relevant information, investors know little about CB in terms of its investment restrictions as well as arbitrage opportunities and models. This study attempts to explore arbitrage strategies for CB¡¦s trading and investing, and to design a CB ¡§Information System¡¨ which severs as a CB database querying system, and helps enhance the efficiency of CB investment and arbitrage. In this study, three CB related information systems were developed after analyzing CB issuance information and market price: 1. ¡§Database Querying System,¡¨ which is used to search for arbitrage restrictions and related information before engaging in CB investment and arbitrage. 2. ¡§Put Provision Instant Quoting System,¡¨ which is able to receive market quotation before exchange deadline, and to instantly calculate the rate of return in put provision. 3. ¡§Arbitrage Instant Quoting System,¡¨ like ¡§Put Provision Instant Quoting System,¡¨ can promptly calculate the rate of return in CB and considerably increase operating efficiency and the rate of return in arbitrage. Based on the case study and empirical research, this study argues that these three information systems can practically help control the fluctuation of market price, enhance operating efficiency, and serve as an effective financial operating tool of CB arbitrage strategies. Accordingly, several conclusions of this study are presented as follows: 1. The current stock market is inefficient, so the arbitrage opportunities are still available. 2. When market is thriving and stock price exceeds CB price, there are more arbitrage opportunities for and higher rate of return in CB. 3. While investing put provision for CB often accompanies high return opportunities, investors are suggested to gingerly evaluate the finance risks of public firms beforehand, such as making use of ¡§Instant Quoting System¡¨ to operate, which is helpful to controlling market price effectively. 4. To avoid operating risks, Investors should recognize all kinds of issuance restrictions in advance. 5. Conducting ¡§Instant Quoting System¡¨ can obtain market information quickly and promote operation efficiency and the rate of return.

No description available.

This study outlines the derivation of a behavioural model intended to underpin thinking on questions concerning the design of information retrieval systems for academic social scientists. The historical background of information retrieval research is reviewed and the behavioural assumptions made in that research, characterised as the information retrieval model, are examined. Developments in the research tradition following from the early empirical tests on information retrieval systems are discussed, and problems experienced in the attempt to develop a coherent and practically useful research programme around the notion of relevance as a quantitative concept are analysed. A major alternative to work employing the information retrieval model has been the cognitive approach to information retrieval system design. In research so far undertaken in this approach the system has had to construct a cognitive model of the searcher's requirements in order for retrieval to take place. It is argued that the characteristics of social science information present particular difficulties for building such a model, and that the step of the system building a cognitive model of the searcher's requirements as a pre—requisite for retrieval is unnecessary. Instead, a behavioural approach to system design is recommended. The information seeking patterns of a variety of academic social scientists, derived from transcripts of interviews, were analysed and broken down into six characteristics, starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. These characteristics seemed sufficient to exhaust the different generic features of the various patterns, and to provide a flexible behavioural model to underpin thinking about information retrieval system design. The features of an exploratory retrieval system for social scientists based on the characteristics of their information seeking patterns are outlined, the extent to which such features are available in existing systems, and the requirements for implementing the model on an operational system are considered. The argument of the study is that the behavioural approach, and the analysis of information seeking patterns into their characteristics, represents a coherent and practically useful basis for the design of exploratory information retrieval systems for academic social scientists.

It is generally the case that corporate information systems consist of heterogeneous software subsystems that interact using many various processes and protocols. Applications that execute within such subsystems tend to be designed in isolation with little or no thought given to the requirements for future interaction. To provide bridges between these heterogeneous subsystems, one-off "hacked" solutions are usually introduced which rely upon maintenance of the status quo for all aspects of the execution environment and are thus inherently "brittle". Such a situation is inappropriate for large-scale and highly decentralised system deployments. In order to make such systems more robust and exhibit scalable performance characteristics, it is preferable to construct them with the ability to react to changes in the environment that they operate within. This research seeks to provide a method of how to engender "agility" into system components to improve their ability to deal with unpredictable environments. Our approach is to view systems and components from an interactive perspective and provide a middleware mechanism that enables a "variable" degree of coupling between system components. To achieve this we introduce three high-level "dimensions" of coupling, namely mediation, adaptation and crystallisation. Each dimension is characterised by the location of behaviour required for interaction and patterns of behaviour movement. The coordination characteristics of these dimensions of coupling are specified to establish a separation of coordination and application functionalities in endogenous distributed systems. The outcomes of this research project are: a definition for the dimensions of coupling that have been identified, a protocol to perform transitions between dimensions and a preliminary framework for the development of more agile applications.

No description available.