abstract: One theoretical research topic in organizational economics is the information issues raised in different organizations. This has been extensively studied in last three decades. One common feature of these research is focusing on the asymmetric information among different agents within one organization. However, in reality, we usually face the following situation. A group of people within an organization are completely transparent to each other; however, their characters are not known by other organization members who are outside this group. In my dissertation, I try to study how this information sharing would affect the outcome of different organizations. I focus on two organizations: corporate board and political parties. I find that this information sharing may be detrimental for (some of) the members who shared information. This conclusion stands in contrast to the conventional wisdom in both corporate finance and political party literature. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Economics 2014

Bakgrund: Detta uppdrag initierades av Logistikavdelningen på ett av affärsområdena på fallföretaget som påvisar avsaknad av kontrollerade processer som resulterar i försvinnande av information och data mellan avdelningar. Initialt genomfördes en förstudie som påvisat vad företaget kallar en siloverksamhet, att företagets enheter inte är integrerade och mäts individuellt.  Slutsatsen drogs i förstudien att personliga relationer bör uppmuntras för att öka effektivitet och bör genomföras genom att integrera informationsdelning mellan avdelningar. Syfte: I detta arbete är syftet att ta reda på hur en stålindustri kan integrera informationsdelning mellan avdelningar i ett specifikt flöde för att skapa förståelse för helheten och skapa värde för en intern kund. Metod: Intervjuer, dokumentstudie och observationer är metoder som använts. Resultat: Metoden har påvisat att transparensen anses vara otillräcklig med anledning av bristande kundfokus. Alla respondenter anser att transparens är väsentlig information utan modifiering med syftet att möta kundbehov. Det har påvisat att det anses att ledningen ska se till att alla vet vad som sker i kedjan och vilken informations som behövs och att informationskvaliteten måste säkerställas. Ur relationssynpunkt finns ingen helhetssyn och ingen anställd vet vilket värde hon/han själv eller andra skapar till kunden. Respondenter önskar mer schemalagda möten för att ta vara på relationer inom organisationen. Det finns många system och de är inte integrerade och pratar inte med varandra. Samtliga respondenter anser att mätetalen är felaktiga och att prestationen på försörjningskedjan ska ligga till grund för mätetalen istället för per produktionsenhet. Drömscenarion för respondenter är att ha en funktion som kan kontrollera alla aktiviteter och processen samt ett gemensamt system. Slutsats: Företaget kan integrera informationsdelning genom att dela ansvar, möten och mäta försörjningskedjan som en helhet för att skapa förståelsen för vilket värde den anställde genererar. Detta underlättar arbetet för produktionsenheterna och eliminerar den gråzon som finns idag för att skapa värde för den interna kunden.

With growing markets and customers being geographically spread out, more pressure is put on a company’s logistics processes and their inventory structures are becoming more complex. This puts more pressure on the inventory control solution provided by a company like IFS, that supports their customers with inventory control through the Inventory Planning and Replenishment module in IFS Applications. As their customers’ supply chains grow larger, their inventory structures become more complex the next step is to find a solution for the IPR module more suitable in a called multi-echelon structure, i.e. several tiers of stock locations, such as local, regional and central warehouses.   The purpose of this study is to compare a reorder point model with a solution suitable in a multi-echelon setting and investigate how they are able to manage uncertainties with service level targets.   A literature study was performed, to find previous research on inventory control in multi-echelon inventory systems. In the literature study, the importance of coordination and information sharing between the echelons was emphasized and used as a focus when finding a suitable multi-echelon model. To answer the purpose a theoretical model was formulated from the findings in previous research, with a replenishment method suitable in a multi-echelon environment. The inventory control models also included lot sizing method and a safety mechanism, where the difference between the models were their respective replenishment policy. The theoretical model was based on the replenishment method Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP), as it enables information sharing, coordination and synchronization of the supply chain, while the other inventory control model uses the Reorder Point method (ROP).   As information sharing was emphasized in previous research on multi-echelon systems, and the main difference between the two inventory control models is the information sharing in the DRP model, the important question to be answered with the comparison is; what effects and benefits can be achieved through information sharing in a multi-echelon inventory system? The two inventory control models were then simulated in Excel and exposed to even demand and seasonal variations in an inventory structure with three echelons and four sites, see figure below. When analyzing the results three evaluation criteria were used; difference in service levels, average inventory levels and if there were signs of overstocking in the regional and central warehouse, i.e. if the system was exposed to the bullwhip effect.   The analysis was carried out based on the criteria above and divided into three sections. First, differences between the models for even demand were investigated. The same procedure followed for seasonal demand, identifying differences and what caused them. Findings were then summed up at the end of the chapter. For even demand, differences were small and sharing information does not give large benefits. Under seasonal demand though, sharing information proved to be very beneficial, reducing average inventory held in the system by 60%, compared to not sharing information. This because sharing information together with synchronizing eliminates the bullwhip effect.   By testing different standard deviations, changing lead times and order quantities, using forecast or being blind to forecast, the robustness of the conclusions drawn from the analysis was put to the test. Carrying out a sensitivity analysis on the models served two purposes. First, finding more evidence promoting the benefits of synchronizing the supply chain and how important it is that the shared information is correct, otherwise the benefits are reduced. The second purpose was to validate that the models performed as expected when changing input data.   The conclusions were the following:   Information sharing enables synchronization of the supply chain Synchronization allows for reaching higher service levels with lower inventory levels   Findings suggest that by sharing information, which must be the first step, synchronizing the inventory system is possible. It is the synchronization that creates the real benefits, such as higher service levels and lower inventory levels. However, the quality and accuracy of the shared information was found to play an important role. Sharing inaccurate or wrong information increase the risk of the system starting to suffer from the bullwhip effect, resulting in higher inventory levels and lower service levels.

Context: Health information sharing improves the performance of patient self-management when dealing with challenging chronic disease care. Cloud computing has the potential to provide a more imaginative long-term solution compared with traditional systems. However, there is a need for identifying a suitable way to share patient health information via cloud. Objectives: This study aims to identify what health information is suitable and valuable to share from a type 2 diabetes patient when multiple stakeholders are involved for different purposes, and find out a promising and achievable cloud based solution which enables patients to share the health information what and where they want to share. Methods: To get a clear and deep understanding on the subject area, and identify available knowledge and information on relevant researches, a literature review was performed. And then, a prototype on the case of type 2 diabetes is implemented to prove the feasibility of the proposed solution after analyzing the knowledge acquired from literatures. Finally, professionals and patient were interviewed to evaluate and improve the proposed solution. Results: A hybrid cloud solution is identified as a suitable way to enable patient to share health information for promoting the treatment of chronic disease. Conclusions: Based on the research with type 2 diabetes, it was concluded that most records in daily life such as physiologic measurements, non-physiologic measurements and lifestyle are valuable for the treatment of chronic diseases. It was also concluded that hybrid cloud is suitable and achievable for sharing patient-recorded health information among trusted and semi-trusted stakeholders. Moreover, anonymous and patient opt-in consent model are suitable when sharing to semi-trusted stakeholders.

M-Tech (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences) Vaal University of Technology / One of the most significant changes in the paradigm of modern business management is that individual businesses no longer compete as solely autonomous entities, but rather as supply chains. In this emerging competitive environment, the ultimate success of the business will depend on management’s ability to integrate the company’s intricate network of business relationships. Effective supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantage and improving organisational performance since competition is no longer between organisations, but among supply chains, which can be obtained through the sharing of appropriate information between supply chain partners and forming healthy inter-organisational relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of supply chain dynamism, information sharing and inter-organisational relationships on supply chain performance in manufacturing, service and mining in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Data for the study were collected from 350 prominent organisations and the relationships proposed in the framework were tested using different statistical techniques. The results indicate that supply chain dynamism have a positive influence on both information sharing and inter-organisational relationships. They also indicate that higher levels of information sharing can lead to enhanced competitive advantage and improved supply chain performance, which further indicate that the more organisations have healthy inter-organisational relationships, the better the supply chain performance becomes. These results have value to both the academic and business worlds as they provide verification of the widely held belief of the value of effective supply chain management and performance.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Decision making is crucial for enterprises, being frequently done by groups. However, the way information is shared among groups, as well as the complexity of the task being analyzed might affect the quality of group decision. Thus, the following research aims to identify how information sharing and task complexity influence on group decision. Besides, it is aimed to (a) validate a decisive task related to information sharing and task complexity; b) verify the way information sharing affects taking decisions in groups and; c) illustrate the effect of task complexity in group decisive process. Four hypotheses were drawn in order to corroborate these objectives. The methodology applied was an almost-experimental research conducted in a laboratory, having as independent variables the information sharing and task complexity; and as a dependent variable, group decision. In order to contemplate those variables, the applied task has been adapted from Stasser and Stewart (1992) and Fraidin (2004), and is denominated Murder Mystery . This task went through a process of reverse translation, cultural adaptation, and two validations corroborating the first specific objective of this research. It was used a system for data collection developed specifically for the experiment, STAR Individual x SER Grupo . Besides, group discussions were followed by observers previously trained and recorded for further analysis. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted. The number of undergraduate students taking part in the experiment was 144. Concerning specific objectives, it was observed that there were no differences between the quality of the decision from both groups, independently of the type of information sharing, good decisions were taken. Fisher s test has been applied to the decisions with total and partial sharing. It was also compared the decisions taken by groups that mad a simple task and the ones of a complex one, with no statistically significance for Fisher s test, leading to the fact that there is no difference between the quality of the decision taken by groups that made a simple task and groups that made complex ones. However, the more a task is complex; the less information is discussed by a member of the group, jeopardizing decision making. All the research objectives were reached. In a general sense, through testing four hypotheses, there was no influence of information sharing and task complexity in group decision, opposing a great part of the literature, indicating that more studies on this topic are necessary. / O ato de decidir é crucial para as empresas, sendo freqüente que grupos o realizem. Entretanto, a forma como a informação é compartilhada entre os membros do grupo, bem como o grau de complexidade da tarefa que está sendo analisada podem afetar a qualidade da decisão grupal. Dessa forma, esta pesquisa visa identificar como o compartilhamento da informação e a complexidade da tarefa influenciam a decisão em grupo. Além disso, ainda busca-se (a) validar uma tarefa decisória relacionada ao compartilhamento de informações e a complexidade da tarefa; b) verificar como o compartilhamento de informações afeta a tomada de decisão em grupo e; c) ilustrar o efeito da complexidade da tarefa no processo decisório grupal. Quatro hipóteses foram traçadas a fim de corroborar esses objetivos. Como metodologia de investigação realizou-se um quase-experimento em laboratório, tendo como variáveis independentes o compartilhamento da informação e a complexidade da tarefa, e como variável dependente a decisão em grupo. Para contemplar essas variáveis, a tarefa aplicada foi adaptada de Stasser e Stewart (1992) e Fraidin (2004), e denomina-se Mistério do Assassinato . Essa tarefa passou por um processo de tradução reversa, adaptação cultural e duas validações corroborando ao primeiro objetivo específico deste trabalho. Para a aplicação da mesma foi utilizado um sistema de coleta de dados desenvolvido especificamente para este experimento, o STAR Individual x SER Grupo. Além disso, as discussões dos grupos foram acompanhadas por observadores previamente treinados e gravadas para posterior análise. Foram realizadas análises quantitativa e qualitativa dos dados. Ao total participaram do experimento 144 estudantes de graduação. Com relação do aos objetivos específicos, observou-se, através do Teste de Fisher aplicado às decisões tomadas pelos grupos com compartilhamento total e parcial, que não houve diferenças entre a qualidade da decisão de ambos os grupos, sendo que independentemente do tipo de compartilhamento da informação boas decisões foram tomadas. Também se comparou as decisões tomadas pelos grupos que realizaram a tarefa simples e os que realizaram a tarefa complexa, não encontrando significância estatística para o Teste de Fisher, indicando não haver diferença entre a qualidade da decisão tomada pelos grupos que realizaram tarefas simples e os grupos que realizaram tarefas complexas. Entretanto, verificou-se que quanto maior a complexidade da tarefa menor número de informações discutidas pelo membro do grupo, o que pode prejudicar a tomada de decisão. Todos os objetivos da pesquisa foram atingidos. De um modo geral, a partir do teste de quatro hipóteses, não se verificou influência do compartilhamento da informação e da complexidade da tarefa na decisão em grupo, contrariando grande parte da literatura, o que indica que mais estudos acerca dessa temática tornam-se necessários.

Information är en råvara som ökar allt mer i värde. Det är ett nytt sätt att konkurrera och företag tvingas behandla information som strategiskt mål. En strategi för informationshantering bör innefatta strategi för företagets informationskultur. Tidigare forskning kring informationshantering har fokuserat dels på hårda värden som policys, rutiner och system och dels mjuka värden som beteende och normer, makt och delning av information. Syftet med denna studie är att studera informationskultur utifrån fyra olika kulturperspektiv; relation, regel, risk och resultat, för att fördjupa förståelse om sociala och kulturella aspekter i kommunala fastighetsbolag i Sverige. De kommunala fastighetsbolagen äger och förvaltar 860 000 lägenheter och omsätter 72 miljarder (2018) kronor. Om dessa företag kan skapa mer värde av sin information finns stora förutsättningar för att det skall ge positiva ekonomiska effekter för alla Sveriges kommuner och för dess invånare. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod och empiri samlades in genom en webbaserad enkät. Resultatet visar att det enbart finns små kulturella skillnader mellan bolagen och att den relationsinriktade kulturen är minst representerad bland samtliga bolag. Det finns förbättringspotential för dessa bolag att fokusera på relationsbaserad kultur. Om relationer får ett större utrymme inom bolagen finns goda möjligheter att det i sin tur leder till att bolagen får en bättre informationsdelning. / Information is a commodity that is increasing in value. It is a new way of competing and companies are forces to use information as a strategic goal. An information management strategy contains thoughts and ideas abouts the company´s information culture. Previous research on information management has on one hand focused on hard values such as policys, routines and systems and one the other hand on soft values such as behaviour and norms, power and sharing of information. The purpose of this study is to explore information culture from four different cultural perspectives; relationship, rule, risk and result to deepen understandring of social and cultural aspect of municipal property companies in Sweden. The municipal property companies own and manage 860 000 apartments and turnover SEK 72 billion (2018). If these companies can create more value from their information, there is a great opportunity to generate positive economic effects for all of Sweden’s municipalities and for its inhabitants. The study was conducted using a quantative method and empirics were collected through a web-based survey. The results show that there are only minor cultural differences between the companies and that the relationship-oriented culture is the least represented among all companies. There is potential for improvment for these companies to focus on relationship-based culture. If relationships are given more space within the companies, there is opportunities that this is return will lead to the companies having better information sharing.

Inom området informationsdelning, det vill säga hur tillgång till informationen möjliggörs, hur den delas samt hur den arkiveras, finns det många studier och forskningsartikar. Under det senaste året har en ny situation uppstått i många verksamheter och organisationer i och med att distansarbete har blivit vanligare under pågående pandemi. Denna studie belyser hur informationsdelning upplevs av medarbetarna i en organisation och hur det fungerar i praktiken efter att en organisation har infört distansarbete. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av enkäter som en kvantitativ metod samt en fritextfråga för att ge en rikare empiri gällande ämnet. Resultatet visar att distansarbete medför höga krav gällande informationsdelning för att uppnå tillräcklig kunskap hos medarbetarna och att de upplever sig vara informerade. Detta gäller både viljan och benägenheten att dela information och tillgång till digitala verktyg för informationsdelning samt arkivering av information. Denna kombination gällande distansarbete och informationsdelning är inte utforskat i någon större utsträckning hittills och därmed kan denna studie bidra till ny kunskap inom dessa områden. / In the area of ​​information sharing, that is how access to the information is made possible, how it is shared and how it is archived, there are many studies and research articles. During the past year, a new situation has arisen in many businesses and organisations as distributed work has become more common during the ongoing pandemic. This study sheds light on how information sharing is experienced by the employees in an organisation and how it works in practice after an organisation has introduced distributed work. The study was conducted using questionnaires as a quantitative method and a free text question to provide a richer empiric regarding the subject. The results show that distributed work entails high demands on information sharing in order to achieve sufficient knowledge among employees and that they feel informed. This applies to both the willingness and the tendency to share information and access to digital tools for information sharing and information archiving. This combination of distributed work and information sharing has not been explored to any great extent to date and thus this study can contribute to new knowledge in these areas.

Diploma thesis "U.S. Homeland Security: Reality or Myth? Domestic Counterterrorism post-9/11" examines the change in U.S. domestic counterterrorism policy after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. More specifically, it focuses on the U.S. government's reorganization, which led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. As outlined in this thesis, the homeland security agenda was aimed at unifying the U.S. efforts to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizing the damage and recovering from attacks that do occur. This thesis sets out to answer two interconnected questions: (1) whether the proposed homeland security agenda led to an efficient and unified system of U.S. domestic counterterrorism measures based on enhanced information sharing; and (2) why, in spite of the unique opportunity created by the 9/11 attacks, a comprehensive reorganization of the U.S. government to create a coherent homeland security agenda did not materialize. Throughout this thesis, it is argued that an efficient U.S. government reorganization was obstructed by three main factors. First, the change was obstructed by the organizational nature of the government agencies. Second, the reorganization was hindered by the "rational choices" of the U.S....

The use of digital technologies is increasing both within and beyond the borders of organizations. This is affecting supply chains and has given rise to the concept of digital supply chains, which this research defines as supply chains that leverage information systems and digital technologies to enable interaction and communication between supply chain actors. However, research on this has failed to include the aspect of what in digital technologies that enable digital supply chains. Therefore, this study combines research on digital supply chains with the unique properties of digital technologies stemming from Information Systems research. In this research, we conducted an exploratory case study in the Swedish forestry industry. The research question is: “How do the properties of digital technologies enable digital supply chains and how does information sharing in a digital supply chain impact value creation?” The findings reveal that the properties of digital technologies enable digital supply chains by allowing for modification of content and functionality of information sharing. It was also found that information sharing in a digital supply chain can increase value creation. However, increased information sharing was also associated with a number of challenges that could hinder value creation.