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This paper aims to investigate how the emerging blockchain technology can tackle dark side or dysfunctional effects at different stages of the interorganizational relationship life cycle. The rationale for this study stems from the somewhat paradoxical causes of dysfunctional effects. In particular, concepts such as trust and cooperation that typically result in positive relationship outcomes may also lead to negative effects under certain conditions. This contradiction creates a governance headache for organizations in their quest for initiating, developing, maintaining and enhancing efficient interorganizational relationships.

The study draws upon multiple organizational theories (agency, signaling, transaction cost, population ecology, institutional) and develops a conceptual understanding of how blockchain can serve as a safeguard for tackling dark side effects in interorganizational relationships. Primarily, the paper outlines a set of research propositions that provides a platform for developing an actionable managerial decision framework. In addition, the authors conduct an automated textual analysis of qualitative blockchain expert opinion using the ALCESTE software and uncover salient themes about blockchain governance.

The blockchain ledger distributes trust among participants and keeps dark side effects at bay. Hence, blockchain can transform conventional approaches for handling dark side effects into value creating activities. The results of an automated textual analysis on a corpus of expert opinions provides preliminary support for several aspects of blockchain governance. Furthermore, the study articulates a decision framework that managers can use for optimal relationship governance and identifies several areas for future research.

This paper is conceptual in nature and draws upon multiple theoretical perspectives to outline a set of research propositions. Thus, lack of empirical testing is a current limitation. However, the findings from an automated textual analysis of expert opinions provide exploratory but encouraging support for the power of blockchain to tackle dark side effects.

Managers can deploy blockchain creatively while selecting interorganizational relationship partners. For example, provenance issues in organizations’ supply chains can be efficiently managed using blockchain. Likewise, organizations may also create efficient learning around blockchain to gain efficiencies in relationship management.

Conventional approaches for managing dark side effects in interorganizational relationships rely mainly on ex post governance strategies. By contrast, this paper supplements the extant approach by discussing ex ante strategies that can be deployed at different stages of the interorganizational relationship cycle, e.g. initiation, maintenance/development and termination to better address dark side effects.

Nowadays, to design the information security mechanism for computing and communication systems, there are various approaches available like cryptographic approach, game-theoretic approach, quantitative–qualitative analysis-based approach, cognitive-behavioral approach, digital forensic-based approach and swarm computing-based approach. The contemporary research in these various fields is independent in nature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between these various approaches to information security and cybernetics.

To investigate the relationship between information security mechanisms and cybernetics, Norbert Wiener’s concepts and philosophy of the cybernetics have been used in the present work. For a detailed study, concepts, techniques and philosophy of the cybernetics have been extracted from the books of Norbert Wiener titled “The human use of human beings” and “Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine”.

By revisiting the concepts of the cybernetics from the information security perspectives, it has been found that the aspects of information security and the aspects of cybernetics have great bonding.

The present paper demonstrates how bonding between cybernetics and information security can be used to solve some of the complex research challenges in information security area.

The purpose of this study is to explain the poor informativeness of earnings in dual-class firms by examining the quality of earnings and the information environment.

The earnings informativeness, earnings quality and information environment of dual-class firms are compared with a matched sample of single-class firms. The authors have performed the returns-earnings association tests, examine the quality of earnings by using proxies for discretionary accruals, and examine the information environment by employing four empirical constructs: the analyst forecast dispersion, absolute forecast errors, Amihud’s (2002) illiquidity measure, and the bid-ask spread.

The results show that the quality of earnings is better while the quality of the information environment is worse in dual-class firms compared to single-class firms. Overall, the results suggest that an inferior information environment is a plausible explanation for the low informativeness of dual-class firms’ earnings.

The results provide empirical support for Dechow et al. (2010) that the use of the earnings-returns association measure to draw conclusions about the quality of earnings is not appropriate in the presence of a poor information environment.

This is the first study to empirically show that low earnings informativeness in dual-class firms can be explained by the inferior quality of the information environment.

Situation awareness theory is a primary mean to take decisions and actions in a dynamically changing environment. Nowadays, to implement situation awareness, theories and models in organizational scenarios have become an important research challenge. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the situation awareness theory and cybernetics. Further, the aim is to use this relationship to check the feasibility of situation awareness-based information security risk management (ISRM) implementation in the organizational scenario.

To investigate the relationship between situation awareness theory and cybernetics, Endsley’s situation awareness theory and Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics concepts and philosophy have been used in the present work. For a detailed study, concepts, techniques and philosophy of the cybernetics have been extracted from the thesis of Norbert Wiener titled “The human use of human beings” and “Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine”.

The present paper demonstrates that relationship can be successfully established between cybernetics and situation awareness theory. Further, this relationship can be used to solve organizational implementation issues related to situation awareness based systems. To demonstrate relationship and solutions of implementation issues, two case studies related to ISRM are also incorporated in the present case study.

The present work bridges two parallel and prominent theories of situation awareness and cybernetics. It also demonstrates that combination of both the theories can be used to feasibly implement situation awareness based systems in organizations.

There is some evidence that firms appoint internal candidates to exploit their unique firm specific knowledge and that the type of appointments may have signaling value to the market. However, these studies are limited to chief executive officer appointments whereas other top executives could also play an important role in corporate decision making. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the chief financial officer (CFO) appointments and firm’s debt-equity choice.

The authors employ a multiple regression framework. To control for potential endogeneity, the authors use an instrumental variable approach with both two-stage least squares and generalized method of moments estimators.

The authors find that firms with internal CFO hires issue more equity than firms that hire from the external labor market. The authors also find that internal CFOs significantly reduce information asymmetry (IA), which may lower market risk and the cost of financing through equity issues. Furthermore, consistent with the value maximizing role of reduced IA the authors find that this effect is concentrated in value firms. In firms with higher IA this preference for equity by the internal CFO may be weaker as even internal CFOs will prefer debt financing for its disciplining role and to reduce IA. A subsample analysis with growth firms shows this diminishing impact on the financing choice of an internal CFO.

This study provides important information about the influence the CFO has on a firm’s capital structure decisions.

Any computing architecture cannot be designed with complete confidentiality. As a result, at any point, it may leak the information. So, it is important to decide leakage threshold in any computing architecture. To prevent leakage more than the predefined threshold, quantitative analysis is helpful. This paper aims to provide a method to quantify information leakage in service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based Web services.

To visualize the dynamic binding of SOA components, first, the orchestration of components is modeled. The modeling helps to information-theoretically quantify information leakage in SOA-based Web services. Then, the paper considers the non-interference policy in a global way to quantify information leakage. It considers not only variables which interfere with security sensitive content but also other architectural parameters to quantify leakage in Web services. To illustrate the attacker’s ability, a strong threat model has been proposed in the paper.

The paper finds that information leakage can be quantified in SOA-based Web services by considering parameters that interfere with security sensitive content and information theory. A hypothetical case study scenario of flight ticket booking Web services has been considered in the present paper in which leakage of 18.89 per cent information is calculated.

The paper shows that it is practically possible to quantify information leakage in SOA-based Web services. While modeling the SOA-based Web services, it will be of help to architects to identify parameters which may cause the leakage of secret contents.

Digital technologies emerged as innovative avenues for launching new products, advertising brands, increasing customer awareness and thus leaving a remarkable impact on the online marketplace. The present study analyzed the effects of crucial antecedents of AR interactive technology on customers' behavior toward AR-based e-commerce websites.

Convenience sampling was used to collect primary data from 357 iGen respondents aged 16–22 years; residing in New Delhi and the NCR region of India and examined using the structural equation modeling technique.

Results revealed that technology anxiety and virtuality significantly influence customers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward AR-based e-commerce websites. However, interactivity and innovativeness remain non-significant. Additionally, non-significant moderating effects were identified for the moderators, i.e. trust and need for touch. At the same time, gender has a significant moderating effect only for the association between technology anxiety and attitude toward AR-based e-commerce websites.

The study summarizes numerous theoretical and managerial implications for AR-based website designers and policymakers, followed by the crucial limitations and directions for future research.

The present research provides a significant understanding of the e-commerce industry by providing valuable insights about young iGen consumers' perceptions of AR-based e-commerce websites.

In a volatile agricultural postharvest market, producers require more personalized information about market dynamics for informed decisions on the marketed surplus. However, this adaptive strategy fails to benefit them if the selection of a computational price predictive model to disseminate information on the market outlook is not efficient, and the associated risk of perishability, and storage cost factor are not assumed against the seemingly favourable market behaviour. Consequently, the decision of whether to store or sell at the time of crop harvest is a perennial dilemma to solve. With the intent of addressing this challenge for agricultural producers, the study is focused on designing an agricultural decision support system (ADSS) to suggest a favourable marketing strategy to crop producers.

The present study is guided by an eclectic theoretical perspective from supply chain literature that included agency theory, transaction cost theory, organizational information processing theory and opportunity cost theory in revenue risk management. The paper models a structured iterative algorithmic framework that leverages the forecasting capacity of different time series and machine learning models, considering the effect of influencing factors on agricultural price movement for better forecasting predictability against market variability or dynamics. It also attempts to formulate an integrated risk management framework for effective sales planning decisions that factors in the associated costs of storage, rental and physical loss until the surplus is held for expected returns.

Empirical demonstration of the model was simulated on the dynamic markets of tomatoes, onions and potatoes in a north Indian region. The study results endorse that farmer-centric post-harvest information intelligence assists crop producers in the strategic sales planning of their produce, and also vigorously promotes that the effectiveness of decision making is contingent upon the selection of the best predictive model for every future market event.

As a policy implication, the proposed ADSS addresses the pressing need for a robust marketing support system for the socio-economic welfare of farming communities grappling with distress sales, and low remunerative returns.

Based on the extant literature studied, there is no such study that pays personalized attention to agricultural producers, enabling them to make a profitable sales decision against the volatile post-harvest market scenario. The present research is an attempt to fill that gap with the scope of addressing crop producer's ubiquitous dilemma of whether to sell or store at the time of harvesting. Besides, an eclectic and iterative style of predictive modelling has also a limited implication in the agricultural supply chain based on the literature; however, it is found to be a more efficient practice to function in a dynamic market outlook.

Strategy.

MBA level. The case can be used primarily for the following courses: strategic management, competitive strategy. It can also be used for courses on: international business, international business environment, business marketing.

Intense competition and a turbulent economic environment posed problems for Infosys, a leading information technology (IT) company in India. Infosys lost market share and its second position in the IT industry to Cognizant. An adverse economic environment affected its clients' IT spending and introduced severe price-based competition in the market. Infosys' business model operated on charging price premium from clients, and the company never compromised on its margins. The company was forced to revaluate, as outsourcing, the main revenue earner for Infosys was experiencing commoditization, and other players were willing to compromise on margins. The Indian IT industry had moved up the value chain and competitors were offering consulting services, where there was huge scope for differentiation. Infosys did not have the requisite resources to compete in this domain. Decline in share prices, negative investor sentiments, downward revision of revenue guidance targets, loss of large clients, higher attrition rates, and visa problems in the US market (Infosys earned more than 60 percent revenues from this market) added worries for the company. In response to these challenges, Infosys initiated Strategy 3.0, wherein the company planned to move up the value chain and offer consulting services and other high-end solutions to clients. This was a shift from its predominantly outsourcing-based revenue model. The company acquired Lodestone to hasten implementation of Strategy 3.0. Initial analysis, however, suggested that Infosys was merely aping Cognizant's well-established strategy. Infosys also needed to tackle perceptual issues regarding its competencies.

The instructor can use this case to facilitate the understanding of: the impact of an intensely competitive environment on a company's strategy, how changes in the competitive landscape and business environment can erode sources of competitive advantage for an incumbent, the impact of a client's business environment on the vendor's business, the concept of value chain and analyze how companies in an industry move up in the value chain, the concept of business model, and how environmental changes can impact a hitherto robust business model of a company, evolution of business model over a period of time with changes in the business environment, the internal conflict between ideals and values versus revenues and market share for a company, key resources and capabilities that shape the differential advantage for an IT company, designing and implementing strategic solutions, the evolution of the Indian IT industry.

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Purpose – This study aims to analyze and assess the relation of freight transportation for regional development in the north zone of Aceh. The impact of freight transportation to accelerate the delivery of goods as observed through several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems on regional planning supporting has been focus of this study.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The freight transportation in north zone of Aceh, covering Lhokseumawe, Aceh Utara, Bireuen, BenerMeriah and Aceh Tengah regencies will be examined. In several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems the freight transportation will be surveyed for the analysis. The factors which contribute in the development of the area through freight transportation are the economic growth, human resources improvement, management of land use and environmental harmonization. This regional development approach aims to determine a connection between the two variables.

Findings – The results of the study show that variables of freight transportation in several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems have a significant impact on regional development. It is indicated by the value of 0.214 in the regression weight result.

Research Limitations/Implications – This research has implications on the relation of freight transportation with regard to several indicators including regulation, retribution, freight entrepreneur, trucker, size of truck bin, punctuality, loading and unloading systems on the regional development based on the aspect of economic growth, human resources improvement, management of land use and environmental harmonization.

Practical Implications – The result of this study will be an important input to the Aceh government, county and city governments in the north zone in Aceh to encourage the establishment of a road network to accelerate freight transportation in that region for the development of new economic zones.

Originality/Value – This study suggests that freight transportation has the strongest links to significantly influence the activities of regional development, so it can be recommended for the Aceh government, county and city governments in the north zone of Aceh to orient road network policy towards the development of the new economic area and support the implementation of the special economic zones of Arun, Lhokseumawe.