Title: Implementing an IBX e-procurement solution – are there any success factors? Subject: FE02E bachelor thesis, logistics Authors: Linus Jönsson, Emma Oscarsson, David Skoglund & Max Stafström Tutor: Roger Stokkedal Keywords: E-procurement, implementing, critical success factors, benefits, problems, MRO-products Background: One of the major problems that organizations face today is how to bring home savings. E-procurement solutions can be a tool to reach efficiency and reduce costs within organization. One of the biggest spend issues companies wrestle with are indirect material, also defined as MRO products (maintenance, repair, operations). Purpose: The thesis will examine why companies decide to implement an e-procurement solution and what their expectations are. The purpose of the research was to identify which the success factors are when implementing this type of solution. Eventual problems that may emerge during the implementation and benefits that the implementation might lead to, will also be presented. Methodology: The thesis has a survey design which studies variables in an e-procurement implementation. The scientific perspective is positivistic and has a deductive approach. The sample contains customers to IBX which use the entire solution, from planning to follow-up. The data has been gathered through a post-questionnaire. Result /Conclusion: When deciding to implement an e-procurement solution companies base this decision on a number of reasons. The most common reasons are to increase the internal efficiency and reduce the supplier base. There are also other encouraging reasons to the implementation which all concerns saving time and money. Once the decision has been made, expectations on the solution arise and companies expect the solution to bring benefits. Most common expectations are much alike the reasons concerning saving time and money on purchases of MRO-products. Besides the reasons and expectation companies must consider the critical success factors, both before, during and after the implementation. These factors will determine whether or not the implementation will be a success and they can be divided into factors that affect all companies and factors that just affect some. The key factors, affect all, are defining an e-procurement strategy, change management and training and education. Secondary factors will affect some companies, and depending on the situation organizations must take them into their perspective. These factors are i.e. well defined steering group and communication. If companies don´t consider the success factors problems may emerge, where change management is one of the most common problem. This is an organizationalproblem just like lack of information from external parts and lack in project management skills internally. Besides the organizational problems companies can also experience technical problems, which are directly associated to the solution that‟s implemented. Some of these problems are complex usability, complicated to communicate and integrate. By avoiding the problems companies can expect to see more benefits from the solution, the most experienced benefits are compliance savings, reduced supplier base and lowered administrative costs. These benefits mainly considers time saving and are all associated with the reasons to the implementation and expectations on the solutionResult /Conclusion: When deciding to implement an e-procurement solution companies base this decision on a number of reasons. The most common reasons are to increase the internal efficiency and reduce the supplier base. There are also other encouraging reasons to the implementation which all concerns saving time and money. Once the decision has been made, expectations on the solution arise and companies expect the solution to bring benefits. Most common expectations are much alike the reasons concerning saving time and money on purchases of MRO-products. Besides the reasons and expectation companies must consider the critical success factors, both before, during and after the implementation. These factors will determine whether or not the implementation will be a success and they can be divided into factors that affect all companies and factors that just affect some. The key factors, affect all, are defining an e-procurement strategy, change management and training and education. Secondary factors will affect some companies, and depending on the situation organizations must take them into their perspective. These factors are i.e. well defined steering group and communication. If companies don´t consider the success factors problems may emerge, where change management is one of the most common problem. This is an organizationalproblem just like lack of information from external parts and lack in project management skills internally. Besides the organizational problems companies can also experience technical problems, which are directly associated to the solution that‟s implemented. Some of these problems are complex usability, complicated to communicate and integrate. By avoiding the problems companies can expect to see more benefits from the solution, the most experienced benefits are compliance savings, reduced supplier base and lowered administrative costs. These benefits mainly considers time saving and are all associated with the reasons to the implementation and expectations on the solution.

Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Capital (IC) have become important concepts for economies around the world over the last decades, even though, due to their multidisciplinary nature, different definitions have been developed concerning these concepts. There are some authors who regard these phenomena as being in strong opposition to traditional theories, such as economics, accounting, finance, to mention a few, but they have played a vital role for a better understanding of the success and/or failure of firms. In this paper we are going to address the factors influencing the success of the entrepreneurial firm, focusing on IC and the entrepreneur as the main contributors to this outcome. A theoretical model of analysis is presented illustrating how entrepreneurs utilize IC to lead firms towards success, which at the same time contributes back to the experience of the entrepreneur. The model will then be tested by applying it on BPM (Bau- & Projektmanagement GmbH), a German project management firm founded by Peter Christa that specializes in administrating small, medium, and large public construction projects, especially in the field of hospital redevelopment and expansion.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the innovation process of companies, and to analyse how important success factors and obstacles are in their innovation process. Method: The investigation strategy used for this essay was to interview companies that work with innovations. The essay has a qualitative approach. Both primary – in the form of interviews - and secondary data – literature found in books, scientific articles and internet - have been used to achieve our results. Results: The result of this essay is: there is not just one inovation process that is applicable to all companies. On the other hand, there are some guidelines that could be followed in the process. Some success factors are more important than others and companies do not take given obstacles into consideration.

The objective of this research is to construct a model of the critical success factors for the effectiveness of Information Systems (IS) outsourcing. &ldquo / Lack of in-house expertise&rdquo / and &ldquo / cost effectiveness&rdquo / are the widely accepted major factors of motivation for IS outsourcing. Although various decision models and analytical frameworks have been proposed before, the literature is not abundant on a complete qualitative model. In contrast with the decision models which are executed before an outsourcing engagement (a-priori), an effectiveness model will be an a-posteriori guide which will enable the clients to measure their outsourcing performance and re-evaluate their business and management strategies. This thesis examines the critical success factors for outsourcing effectiveness through qualitative research conducted with multiple case studies for information systems developed for public and private clients. A conceptual model consisting of various hypotheses is constructed and qualitatively evaluated.

This research aims to explore the application of video blog (vlog) in web based learning. The advancement of teaching technology is one of the key elements in education reform. The swift deployment of information technology, the circulation of Internet services and the proliferation of multimedia content have broaden the horizon of learning activity. Digital and video technologies have contributed to the rise of video blog services such as YouTube and the like. As the bandwidth for transmission broadens and the video service expands, everyone with a digital camera can become content generator. User-generated content makes video blog possible. Can video blog be applicable to teaching and learning activities? By conducting a thorough literature review of learning theories and information theories, this study aggregated seven dimensions comprising forty three elements. Through analytic hierarchical procedure (AHP) method, the researcher conducted the first-wave questionnaire survey to students at the Feng Chia University then selected first half elements for evaluation. The second-wave questionnaire, complemented by interview, was aimed at experts in the field, which resulted in a priority list of the elements. The research result suggests that video blog can be applicable to teaching activity indeed. When using video blog appropriately, teaching can become more lively and interesting. The most important factor still lies in how a teacher design the curriculum. Interface of design, putting in the second place in terms of importance, should be convenient, simple and easy for search. Those with higher information literacy, in the third place of importance, are more likely to use Internet for learning. The fourth important dimension is related to content formats including sound clearness, graph size and layout. This study should contribute to the education circle and curriculum production industry when considering how with which priority-setting video blog can be applied.

This research explores the application of new information and communications technology in political marketing. As a representative of Web2.0, blog has changed the way of interaction between the media and users as well as that between media users. Blog makes it possible for information receivers transmit messages and express views from bottom-up. As blog develops globally with its users increased, it has become an increasingly important issue regarding how it can be used for political marketing. It is common that Taiwan¡¦s politicians are increasingly interested in developing their own blogs for marketing themselves and providing constituency service. This study aims to examine how mayor candidates take advantage of blog for campaign marketing. It tries to understand and describe the intention of political bloggers. It also explores the key success factors regarding how political candidates conduct campaign marketing using blog. By a literature review of the Internet development and evolution, digital democracy, political marketing and blogs, the author found out six dimensions and 35sub-dimensions for evaluation: content expression, interactivity, marketing and promotion, business model and friendliness of using. Through analytic hierarchy process (AHP) , the first-wave survey for bloggers results in the first-half sub-dimensions. The second-wave interview was conducted to seven experts in the field of political marketing, which results in the priority-setting of the sub-dimension factors. The result shows that political marketing using blog targets mainly on young and well-educated electorates. The reasons for their using blog include fast accumulation of political information, interaction with candidates, and support from others. It shows that friendliness of access, interaction, and business model are the top three concerns when establishing a campaign blog. They are followed by marketing and promotion, interface design, and content expression. This study will contribute to the understanding of using blog for political marketing both at theoretical and practicallevels.

High oil price causing high cost of chemical industry, therefore the companies must pay attention to recycle of petrochemical sources, especially the reusing of wasted plastics which speeded global innovation of related techniques and formulas. The cost competition impact forced the plastic companies to raise effective strategy to avoid being expelled from the market. The research aims at three points: firstly, discussion of the facts of plastic recycles between Taiwan and China; secondly, discussion of the strategies of plastic recycles between Taiwan and China and the third, setting up the disruptive innovation strategy module of plastic recycles. The discussion of the theme focuses on organizational strategy, key success factors analysis, the third generation R&D and disruptive innovation. Through the analysis and discussion of some companies as well as the testing of plastic recycles disruptive innovation strategy module, it turns out to be the conclusion and suggestion for plastic recycles disruptive innovation strategy module.

This study investigated the relationship between Project Management Planning (PMP) practices and project success for preservation projects of historical significance located in an urban context. The planning for these projects was also emphasized because these historic buildings are recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. Yet, when analyzing the performance metrics of these historically significant renovation projects that included budget and time after the project has been completed denote problems in the management and delivery of these projects. The project team members' perceptions of PMP practices and how these practices affect project success were the focus of this research. To ascertain the importance of these questions, the study incorporated three major bodies of knowledge. The first body of literature focused on project management practices associated with project success. The second concentrated on historic preservation with a focus on historic significance and project planning. The third body centered on facility management as it relates to project management issues in the delivery of a construction project. Combining these bodies of knowledge into one literature review contributed to the development of a conceptual model to illustrate how the research variables and hypotheses were established. To test the research questions and its hypothesis, three statistical tools were used: analysis of variance (ANOVA), descriptive data analysis, and ordinary least square regression. The conclusions from these tests indicated that differences in perceptions of success criteria existed between the project team members. The findings also indicated a significant disconnect between the perceptions of project success and actual performance of project delivery. Furthermore, the findings indicated that only a few project management practices tested were perceived to have significant correlation with project success. The project team members felt that the success criteria of performance and the success factors associated with performance -- site analysis, site layout and staging, and a quality assurance plan -- were more important to the success of the renovation project than many of the management practices in this study.

Community involvement has been promoted and studied in diverse disciplines including planning, geography, community development, and others. In the tourism field, the shift from conventional tourism toward sustainable forms of tourism which emphasizes community-based practices in planning, development, and management has been broadly encouraged, especially in the developing world. Variously labeled, but commonly identified as Community-based tourism (CBT), this form of tourism is considered essential for community development, with an ultimate goal of sustainable development. Although many destinations have attempted to translate the CBT concept into practice, its appropriateness and success has been questioned and debated among practitioners and scholars. This research explores how members of local communities evaluate the CBT success factors discussed in the tourism literature. These factors include: 1) community participation, 2) benefit sharing, 3) tourism resources conservation, 4) partnership and support from within and outside of the community, 5) local ownership, 6) management and leadership, 7) communication and interaction among stakeholders, 8) quality of life, 9) scale of tourism development, and 10) tourist satisfaction. The main objectives of this study are: 1) developing an integrative measurement scales to evaluate the success of a CBT destination, 2) identifying the determinants of success as perceived by local communities at a CBT destination, and 3) examining the differences in CBT success factors between two communities relative to the duration and scale of tourism development, and size of the community. This dissertation employed mixed methods, combining questionnaire interviews, in-depth qualitative interviews, and participant observation as data collection tools. The fieldwork was conducted in Thailand during February – June 2010. Amphawa and Bangnoi floating markets were evaluated based on the ten factors. Results show that Amphawa, a larger and longer developed destination, is more successful than Bangnoi, a smaller and newly developed destination. Findings also indicated that the ten factors are important determinants of the success of tourism development in the two communities. Additional factors that the communities identified were advertising and the use of media as well as social networks. The integration of success factors reported in this study is recommended as a guideline for improvements in CBT development and evaluation.

Companies are more and more moving to low wage regions like Eastern Europe and Asia to stay competitive. Instead of lowering the cost of production, it has been argued that a company can stay competitive through making the use of the resources more efficient. In this study the effects a German resource saving concept, involving reorganization towards processes and an Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) module, has on Supply Chain Management (SCM) are investigated. In addition to this a comparison between German best-practice companies and Swedish companies has been done. This comparison was conducted in order to determine the changes needed to be made when taking this German concept to Swedish companies. The results of this study indicate that through the German resource saving concept major improvements in delivery performance, responsiveness, supply chain costs, and asset management can be achieved. Further, this study has shown that there are very good possibilities for Swedish companies at reaching these improvements successfully. Barriers to a success in Sweden include a lack of managerial commitment and hierarchies as well as outsourced IT departments at Swedish companies. Recommendations to overcome these barriers consist of training key users more thoroughly and stressing the importance of committed managers.