<p> Business leaders may see social media as a distraction for their workers; however, blocking access could lead to a reduction in productivity. Using social media technologies with knowledge workers could achieve cost reductions for payroll of 30% to 35%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how business leaders used a social media policy to support employee productivity. The conceptual framework for this study was social exchange theory, which supports the notion that dyad and small group interactions make up most interactions, and such interactions enhance employees&rsquo; productivity. The research question was to explore how finance industry leaders are using a social media policy to enhance productivity. The target population for this study was leaders from financial companies in Charlotte, North Carolina, who have experience in using social media policies to increase employee productivity. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 9 technology leaders and company documents at two companies related to the research phenomenon. Yin&rsquo;s 5-step data analysis approach resulted in 3 themes: employee productivity, communication, and open company culture. Business leaders should consider using a social media policy to engage employees to support productivity, enhance communication both externally and internally, and enrich company culture in a way that is visible to employees. Employee engagement in a social media platform to connect and communicate with people could lead to a happier workplace and encourage employees to volunteer more frequently for social good.</p><p>

<p> Military leaders, both active duty and General Schedule (GS), must understand cyber warfare with its environmental connections and rapid evolution while finding ways to develop strategies that may lessen threats and attacks to government infrastructure. The Department of Defense (DoD) sought training and certification programs from the civilian sector to help create and enforce safeguards to ensure critical infrastructure was less susceptible to increasingly hostile cyber-attacks. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to gain insight on Air Force leaders&rsquo; perspectives of integrating civilian Information Technology (IT) certification training into the military IT certification process, the perception of benefits of such implementations, and how processes and benefits aligned with the DoD 8570 directive. The research method consisted of an exploratory case study focused on experiences of both military and civilian leaders at an AFB in the Southeastern United States. Data collection was conducted through audio-recorded interviews of 10 military leaders. Six themes emerged from data provided by participants when answering the two research questions. The DoD 8570 Mandate should address, revise and emphasize the guidance and polices surrounding the training program, and provide more information on how to manage the program. The DoD should improve the training and education specifically as it pertains to individuals&rsquo; workloads. Finally, revisions in the program would vastly improve the success and potentially save money with consideration to a DoD created certification program.</p><p>

<p> Organizations of all types and their computer networks are constantly under threat of attack. While the overall detection time of these attacks is getting shorter, the average detection time of weeks to months allows the attacker ample time to potentially cause damage to the organization. Current detection methods are primarily signature based and typically rely on analyzing the available data sources in isolation. Any analysis of how the individual data sources relate to each other is usually a manual process, and will most likely occur as a forensic endeavor after the attack identification occurs via other means. The use of graph theory and the graph databases built to support its application can provide a repeatable and automated analysis of the data sources and their relationships. By aggregating the individual data sources into a graph database based on a model that supports the data types and relationships, database queries can extract information relevant to the detection of attack behavior within the network. The work in this Praxis shows how the graph model and database queries will reduce the overall time to detection of a successful attack by enabling defenders to understand better how the data elements and what they represent are related.</p><p>

<p> The Personal Computer is one of the most versatile inventions of the modern world. From its introduction in the 1980s, businesses have used these devices to perform everything from routine administrative tasks to complex engineering activities. Without proper attention to the security, companies put their ongoing operations and data at risk of theft, alteration, or destruction. Employees using personal computing systems are the primary gatekeepers of intellectual property and at the same time are the source of most data breaches. The purpose of this study was to analyze attitudes and behavioral patterns of end-users who repeatedly fall victim to simulated phishing attacks. Using a Q-Methodology approach, participants rated their level of agreement or disagreement of statements collected from research about end-user attitude and training towards computer security. Analysis of participant responses yielded three factors that demonstrated a pattern of behavior and opinion and categorized participants into three groups; <i>gatekeepers, oblivions</i>, and <i> conformists</i>. Analysis of the three group&rsquo;s alignment with the studies research questions reveals that although all groups are well trained in computer security procedure and policy, two of the groups demonstrate deficiency in recognizing cyber risk and understanding how to protect against the threat. For companies to be secure, the end-user must view themselves as the <i> primary gatekeeper</i> to protect intellectual property. Technology can be circumvented, passwords can be compromised, and systems can be penetrated. The most effective method therefore to combat cyber threat is to create a culture of vigilance that every end-user understands, accepts, and embraces as their primary responsibility.</p><p>

<p> Business leaders in Nigeria are concerned about the high rates of business failure and economic loss from security incidents and may not understand strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats on business performance. Guided by general systems theory and transformational leadership theory, the focus of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders use to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 SME leaders who worked in SME firms that support oil and gas industry sector in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, had a minimum of 2 years experience in a leadership role, and had demonstrable strategies for minimizing the effects of information security threats in a SME. The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed 10 strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats: network security, physical security, strong password policy, antivirus protection and software update, information security policy, security education training and awareness, network security monitoring and audit, intrusion detection, data backup, and people management. The findings may contribute to social change by providing SME leaders with more insight about strategies to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. The improved business performance can increase the flow of funds into the local economy and allow community leaders to provide social services to residents.</p><p>

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / "June 2001." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-69). / The petroleum industry is a mature commodity business and a high- technology business characterized by a relatively high rate of innovation. Probably the world's largest industry even today, the petroleum industry has an interesting history that has shaped the dynamic energy landscape. The petroleum industry is composed of two groups of companies: the petroleum companies and the oilfield service and sμpply companies. Through mergers and acquisitions BP has grown to the third largest petroleum company and the world's 17th largest company. Statoil is a middle tier petroleum company. Both Statoil and BP are integrated oil companies. This thesis studies the technology strategy and innovation management practices in the two petroleum companies Statoil and BP. A literature review presents the central concepts and models that have been developed in the fields of general strategy, technology strategy and innovation management. The main strategy features are alignment between business, technology and research, underpinned by processes, structures, incentives and culture, and an intelligent user strategy focused on cost reduction. The management of innovation emphasizes cooperation across organizational boundaries, a free and effective market approach to ideas, innovation and technology, and a low appropriability regime for technology. The thesis points to weaknesses and problems related to the present strategy. The present strategy is weak in competitive advantage. The free and effective market that underpins the user strategy is vulnerable. The alignment strategy can lead to strategic and organizational inertia and preclude necessary change. Alignment must be combined with adaptability to be sustainable. The strategy of internationalization through technology leverage requires an ambidextrous organization. / by Trygve Laegreid. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2002. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121). / As our world becomes more complex and information-rich, the effort needed to share and create knowledge is increasing greatly. Transformation from Industrial Age to Information Age organizations is not simple. But there are strategies managers can use and emulate, to make their organizations more successful in sharing and creating new knowledge, to achieve better performance. Knowledge loss is a significant issue. Demographics may cause the "first-of-type" implementation pioneers to retire, or events such as those of Fall 2001 may cause people to be no longer available -- or no longer able to reach their knowledge support systems, as seen when anthrax attacks closed Congressional offices for weeks. Strategies can be implemented for the different kinds of knowledge -- explicit knowledge, meta knowledge, and tacit knowledge. Processes can be used to enhance knowledge sharing, extending the number of people who know and reducing the risk of loss. The US Army is a learning organization which has spent the past decade becoming "knowledge centric and network centric." Techniques, processes and knowledge lessons learned are presented, including a case study of the Project Management Office for Bradley Fighting Vehicle Systems, as it transformed its people, organization, and vehicles being developed from Industrial Age to internet-work Information Age systems. Rather than focusing on knowledge management, which has become synonymous with archiving what is already known into digital databases, I am focused on the strategies real-world managers can use for knowledge. The goal is to help the organization achieve better performance by sharing knowledge. Technology can help, when supporting instead of driving the goals. Networking, both in person and virtually, can overcome the isolation of knowledge. Many of my examples tap into the experiences I had or observed in the US Army product development community -- but I believe they are valuable and generalizable to other high- performance organizations. "Hope is not a method" -- knowledge sharing is a better technique. / by Lisa M. Shaler-Clark. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87). / IT offshoring is the practice of acquiring Information Technology capabilities, usually from an outsourcing service, but also through company-owned, dedicated centers, in remote lower-cost locations. The goal of this thesis is to develop a strategic framework to help companies succeed in the offshoring process. The framework assesses the five essential factors: strategic factors, to check the proper alignment of the off shoring venture with the overall company strategy; internal factors, to check the readiness of the organization; as well as operational factors, to assess the implementation part of the offshoring project. To evaluate the whole process, some metrics such as productivity, quality and flexibility are proposed (outcome factors). Finally, the framework assesses some contextual factors that influence companies before, during and after they decide to offshore. Based on Michael Porter's five-forces model, the industry analysis indicate that customers have the most power in the industry and vendors have little pricing power due to low barriers of entry and exit. Despite the fact that it is a growing industry, there is a high level of rivalry and it is not attractive. The market demand and supply analysis focused on the larger players showed that India, China, Russia and Eastern Europe are providing the bulk of the contracted services originally performed in the U.S. and U.K. The latest trends in the market are the shifting roles of the agents, the role customers take of being vendors and building their captive centers, the industry consolidation for companies to achieve scale and organize the market, and the need of the vendor to provide broader services such as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) to better serve their customers. It is exhilarating to be able to spot opportunities both in the supply and demand side. Winners will be the ones who benefit the most from the industry changes, and they will also be the ones who are able to capture most of the value created by the industry as a whole. / by Ricard Huguet i Galí. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-155). / Most of family-owned enterprises start their operations in the traditional businesses such as manufacturing, trading, or providing services. Some of them are very successful and become major global players in the industries, for example, SC Johnson, Coming, and Li & Fung. However, technological changes often have impacts on the behaviors of the market. New technology can add tremendous capacity for a firm to pursue economy of scale or it can reduce marginal cost to zero. Moreover, in the globalization era, multinational companies expand their business territories by entering to the new markets. They exploit the advance in technology, which allows them to provide better products/services than those of local firms. Technology becomes key driver for the increase in competition in the market because the firms that adopt the technology tend to have competitive advantage over firms that did not. It also drives customers to demand more comprehensive products and services. In order to survive and be forefront in the industry, these family firms need to transform themselves or adopt some technologies to enhance and regain their competitiveness. Not all companies realize the importance of doing so or know how to do so. But still, there are some companies that are able to transform successfully. This thesis will analyze keys to success for these family businesses in transforming themselves to maintain competitiveness in changing markets. / by Thitipong Srisomburananont. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-108). / The costs to produce and utilize hydrogen are extremely high per unit of energy when compared to fossil fuel energy sources such as natural gas or gasoline. The cheapest hydrogen production approaches today are also the most polluting, as they use fossil fuels in even more inefficient ways than cars do. Renewable approaches to hydrogen production are- at best- three times more expensive per unit energy than the cost to produce the same amount of natural gas. The production of hydrogen through biological systems is one area of particularly promising research. There are countless biological systems that produce energy from sunlight, and countless others that produce energy from the metabolism of organic molecules such as glucose. Many microbial organisms produce hydrogen under certain conditions. Optimizing their innate ability to produce hydrogen and developing biohydrogen plants whose economics compete with current commercial plants are key hurdles that must be overcome. Economic models for the production of hydrogen through biological systems are examined in detail in this thesis. The key technical hurdles which drive the capital and production costs are identified. Fruitful areas of potential research are suggested to bring biological hydrogen production to commercial scale as rapidly as possible. / by Richard J. Resnick. / S.M.M.O.T.