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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the value of a strong decision-making information technology (IT) influence within organizations. Although research and managerial practice has repeatedly shown the importance of IT departments within firms and has commented on the influence of IT departments on business performance, prior research has still no evidence about the value of a strong decision-making IT influence yet.

To prove the influence of the IT department within the company, this study identifies and operationalizes a formative construct determined by four main specifics of the IT department: IT department size, IT department value assessment, IT experience of the top management and degree of digitization. A questionnaire was used to collect the data of 124 experts from companies that could be assigned mainly to the sectors manufacturing, trade as well as information and communication. The data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Further, partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed model.

The results show that both investments in the size of the IT department as well as in top managers with IT experience, and a high degree of digitization in a company positively influence the role of the IT department. It also shows that a higher general appreciation of the IT department goes hand in hand with a higher influence of IT in the company. The measures are significant as companies, which do have an influential IT department, actually have higher monetary as well as non-monetary business performances.

The study is aimed equally at science and practice, as it provides information on the extent to which more importance should be attached to IT management in the future and what organizational adjustments need to be made.

Despite the ongoing discussions on the importance of IT management for business performance, no existing studies have delivered evidence that there is a significant direct link between the decision-making influence of IT and the extent of corporate performance. The present work therefore has two objectives. The theoretical goal is to clarify the impact of the IT department on business performance and to identify the factors that make up an influential IT department. The practical objective of the research is to provide recommendations on how firms could establish or expand the IT department.

Global and interconnected supply chains are increasingly exposed to systemic risks, whereby individual failures propagate across firms, sectors and borders. Systemic risks have emerged from the decisions of individual firms, e.g., outsourcing and buffer reduction, and are now beyond their control. This paper aims to identify appropriate approaches to mitigating those risks.

Systemic risks require analyzing supply chains beyond a dyadic perspective. This study approaches the problem through the lenses of complex systems and network theories. Drawing on the lessons learned from other systemic-risk-prone systems, e.g. energy and financial networks, both in research and practice, this study analyzes the adequate level of governance to monitor and manage systemic risks in supply chains.

The authors argue that governance institutions should be mandated to overview and reduce systemic risks in supply chains from the top down, as central bankers do for the financial system. Using firm-level data and tools from network analysis and system dynamics, they could quantify systemic risks, identify risk-prone interconnections in supply chains and design mitigating measures. This top-down approach would complement the bottom-up supply chain management approach and could help insurers design policies for contingent business interruptions.

Instead of looking at supply chains purely from the firms’ angle, the perspective of insurers and governments is brought in to reflect on the governance of risks.

This paper addresses decision-making for commercial real estate (CRE) firms and professionals within the context of rapid technological innovations capable of business model disruption. It considers the paradoxical notion of the need for CRE firms to become ambidextrous by simultaneously exploiting their existing business model and exploring possible opportunities and threats. The paper develops a practical approach, the paradox map, for dealing with this paradoxical problem.

This qualitative research draws on work from organizational management, leadership, social sciences and technology. This research frames the definition and development of an ambidextrous mindset and its components. Paradox management is explored as a possible source of useful tools.

The ambidextrous mindset is a paradox in that exploit and explore are ongoing interrelated opposing forces. Further, the mindset is the product of a number of sub-paradoxes that act as levers for its development and adjustment. The paradox map is developed to facilitate dealing with numerous paradoxes.

The paradox map is a useful tool for commercial real-estate firms to understand and develop an ambidextrous mindset.

Commercial real estate is experiencing a wave of substantive technological disruption in the proptech marketplace and beyond. This paper attempts to clarify the paradox of innovation and its underlying sub-paradoxes to help professionals navigate the interrelated landscape of exploiting past products and exploring innovations.

Crowdfunding, an alternative funding source to support entrepreneurial initiatives, has increasingly attracted the attention of scholars. However, knowledge of the drivers and outcomes of crowdfunding is currently scant. This study thus presents a review of the extant literature on new ventures soliciting crowdfunding.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed articles, identifying and thematically analyzing 58 publications.

The thematic analysis revealed six main themes: a) founders and crowdfunding, b) signaling and crowdfunding, c) digitalization and crowdfunding, d) outcomes, e) geography and crowdfunding and f) success factors. In addition, crucial research gaps are identified to guide future research.

Beyond classifying the material on the basis of the thematic analysis and identifying potential future research avenues, the study has main implications. The authors detailed how crowdfunding, as a source of entrepreneurial funding, differed from other funding sources and explored entrepreneurial challenges that may be encountered in managing crowdfunding campaigns. The findings may thus help in the design of crowdfunding campaigns and serve educators in various disciplines when teaching and training participants on designing and promoting crowdfunding campaigns.

After identifying and integrating results from relevant articles on crowdfunding, the authors explained dominant themes in the literature and proposed a conceptual framework wherein the authors highlight factors that influence crowdfunding outcomes. The authors highlight the increasing relevance of crowdfunding for new ventures and elucidate avenues for future research.

The prolonged drought in Chile’s Coquimbo region has created a permanent state of emergency, forcing the state to spend millions each year distributing drinking water to rural communities. The purpose of this article is to detail a study focused on optimizing the supply of drinking water through trucks in the 15 communes of the region and how the problem was faced in a context of a slowonset disaster.

A geo-referenced census and optimization analysis of the 5.541 households that receive drinking water was conducted to determine the feasibility of removing trucks from the system. To generate a greater reduction in distribution costs, it was suggested to incorporate water distribution infrastructure projects, changing the concept of ‘expenses’ to ‘investment’.

The study was born out of the concern for the increased demand for drinking water from rural areas. The proposed and implemented framework allowed an additional 20% reduction in the initial transportation costs; this confirmed the assumption that the proposed optimization model alone would not offer a robust solution and was complemented and integrated with this type of alternative, forming an “integrated model”.

The paper has implications for the resilience of territories affected by climate change.

The methodology can be replicated in other areas where similar interactions occur.

Families impacted by drought can improve their quality of life and reduce distress in the face of the constant emergency.

This research aims to contribute knowledge from the perspective of a slow-onset disaster where water resources are scarce. It presents a framework where two disciplines converge, resulting in an “integrated model” that, through its implementation, reduces the costs of resource delivery while simultaneously improving the sanitary conditions of the beneficiary families.

This paper aims to identify potential barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption for manufacturers and examine the changes that must be made to production processes to implement Industry 4.0 successfully. It aims to develop technology by assisting with the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing process by using smart system techniques.

Multiple case studies are used in this paper by using the smart system and Matlab, and semi-structured interviews are used to collect qualitative data.

Standardization, management support, skills, and costs have been cited as challenges for most businesses. Most businesses struggle with data interoperability. Complexity, information security, scalability, and network externalities provide challenges for some businesses. Environmental concerns are less likely to affect businesses with higher degrees of maturity. Additionally, it enables the Technical Director’s expertise to participate in the measurement using ambiguous input and output using language phrases. The outcomes of the numerous tests conducted on the approaches are extensively studied in the provided method.

In this research, a multiple-case study aims to carry out a thorough investigation of the issue in its actual setting.

In the modern manufacturing environment, it is imperative to apply the manufacturing concepts of lean, agile, resilient and green, collectively known as LARG manufacturing, to achieve excellence in which lean manufacturing eliminates wastes; agile manufacturing makes processes fast, efficient and flexible; resilient paradigm deals with countering the uncertainty while green manufacturing improves environmental performance. The objective of this study is to develop an integration framework that synergizes LARG manufacturing with Industry 4.0.

Through a literature review, the authors have explored the possibility of collaboration between constituents of lean, agile, resilient and green manufacturing with the facets of Industry 4.0.

The authors have developed a comprehensive integration framework that has been divided into 11 phases and 31 steps in which the various Industry 4.0 facets have supplemented the lean, agile, resilient and green paradigms.

This investigation and adoption of technologically intensive automation shall provide clarity to practitioners regarding the synergy of LARG manufacturing & Industry 4.0, so that fast and efficient manufacturing processes can be achieved.

The framework provides detailed insight towards implementation of LARG practices in a manufacturing organization in coalescence with Industry 4.0 practices.