G. Buonanno, P. Faverio, F. Pigni, A. Ravarini, D. Sciuto and M. Tagliavini
Proposes providing an insight about enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption, highlighting contact points and significant differences between the way small to medium‐sized…
Abstract
Purpose
Proposes providing an insight about enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption, highlighting contact points and significant differences between the way small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies approach such a task.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on a wide literature review, focused on the identification of a taxonomy of business and organizational factors influencing ERP adoption. The deriving research model was incorporated in a questionnaire that was preliminarily tested and finally provided to a sample of 366 companies of any size. Responses were collected through personal interviews made by a dedicated team to a top manager.
Findings
The analysis of the empirical data shows that business complexity, as a composed factor, is a weak predictor of ERP adoption, whereas just company size turns out to be a very good one. In other words, companies seem to be disregarding ERP systems as an answer to their business complexity. Unexpectedly, SMEs disregard financial constraints as the main cause for ERP system non‐adoption, suggesting structural and organizational reasons as major ones. This pattern is partially different from what was observed in large organizations where the first reason for not adopting an ERP system is organizational. Moreover, the decision process regarding the adoption of ERP systems within SMEs is still more affected by exogenous reasons or “opportunity of the moment” than business‐related factors, contrary to large companies that are more interested in managing process integration and data redundancy/inconsistency through ERP implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The research model is based on the assumption that business complexity and organizational change are the most relevant variables influencing ERP adoption, and such variables are explained through a set of factors inherently limited by the results of the literature review.
Practical implications
The results of the empirical research provide indication to SMEs willing to take into consideration the adoption of an ERP system. The same outcomes could be incorporated into the development strategies of ERP software houses.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to enhancing the understanding of the factors influencing the evolution of information systems within SMEs with respect to large companies.
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Pierre Dal Zotto, Sylvain Colombero, Federico Pigni and Meyer Haggège
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has facilitated consumers’ involvement in firms’ value creation processes through increasingly near…
Abstract
Purpose
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has facilitated consumers’ involvement in firms’ value creation processes through increasingly near real-time information exchanges. This strategic opportunity configures new forms of ICT-enabled collaboration between firms and consumers. Firms can now immediately react to consumers’ requests/complaints, having gained real-time visibility of consumers’ actions and behaviors. Despite the increasing deployment of ICT-enabled value co-creation projects, managers still poorly apprehend them as high-potential strategic initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates this gap through a multiple qualitative case study based on 17 organizations that successfully implement ICT-based value co-creation initiatives, including Lego, Netflix and Blablacar.
Findings
This study identifies two dimensions of the ICTs’ value co-creation process, namely, the firms’ involvement and customers’ role, in this co-creation process. Through these dimensions, four ICT-based co-creation initiatives are observed and defined: community, customers’ contributions create the firms’ value proposition (FVP); customization, customers’ service consumption personalize FVP; reputation, customers’ contributions about the offered services completes the FVP; and sense, an algorithmic approach, designed to focus on learning from customers’ consumption tailors FVP.
Originality/value
This study advances a framework supporting managerial decision-making concerning the aptitude of co-creation initiatives to meet organizational goals. Managers may gain insight from its use especially in assessing emerging opportunities to engage consumers in the value creation process.
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Dejan Kosutic and Federico Pigni
The purpose of this paper is to help companies address the problem of ever-increasing cybersecurity investment that does not produce tangible business value – this is achieved by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to help companies address the problem of ever-increasing cybersecurity investment that does not produce tangible business value – this is achieved by explaining the relationship between cybersecurity and competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
The impact of cybersecurity on competitive advantage was explored through a qualitative research study – the authors conducted an extensive literature review and conducted two rounds of semi-structured interviews with executives and security professionals from companies in four countries, from the financial, IT and security industries.
Findings
The analysis of the findings enabled the conceptualization of the Cybersecurity Competitive Advantage Model that explains how to build up cybersecurity dynamic capabilities to achieve long-term competitive advantage.
Research limitations/implications
The research presents the theorization of the model based on an extensive literature review, gathered information, insight from qualified respondents and the authors’ experience in the field. While we controlled for saturation and rigorously collected and analyzed the data, the inductive approach followed may limit the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
The proposed model helps explain to executives how to differentiate their company in a novel way and how to retain that competitive advantage; security professionals can use the model to organize cybersecurity and communicate to their superiors more effectively.
Originality/value
The presented model differs from existing literature, cybersecurity frameworks and industry standards by presenting a method of avoiding technological bias and for achieving competitive advantage.
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Canchu Lin, Anand S. Kunnathur and Long Li
The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual understanding of Big Data practices in organizations, which will enable exploring the operational and strategic roles of Big…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual understanding of Big Data practices in organizations, which will enable exploring the operational and strategic roles of Big Data in organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Both academic and non-academic literature studies on Big Data were reviewed so as to capture what was known about Big Data practices. Qualitative interviews were conducted with firm executives about Big Data practices in their organizations. Both literature review and interview results were analyzed based on the dynamic capabilities perspective.
Findings
The analysis of the results suggests that Big Data capability develops when the resources parts of Big Data and the skill and competency parts are integrated and then grow into a dynamic capability.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature with the concept of Big Data capability that best characterizes Big Data practices in organizations. Validity of this concept should be tested in empirical studies.
Originality/value
The development of the concept of Big Data capability helps to fill a gap in the research literature that theoretical understanding of big data practices is lacking or needs to be updated. It motivates practitioners to develop this capability so as to create and maintain their strategic advantage.
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Zuopeng (Justin) Zhang, Wu He, Wenzhuo Li and M'Hammed Abdous
Employees must receive proper cybersecurity training so that they can recognize the threats to their organizations and take the appropriate actions to reduce cyber risks. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees must receive proper cybersecurity training so that they can recognize the threats to their organizations and take the appropriate actions to reduce cyber risks. However, many cybersecurity awareness training (CSAT) programs fall short due to their misaligned training focuses.
Design/methodology/approach
To help organizations develop effective CSAT programs, we have developed a theoretical framework for conducting a cost–benefit analysis of those CSAT programs. We differentiate them into three types of CSAT programs (constant, complementary and compensatory) by their costs and into four types of CSAT programs (negligible, consistent, increasing and diminishing) by their benefits. Also, we investigate the impact of CSAT programs with different costs and the benefits on a company's optimal degree of security.
Findings
Our findings indicate that the benefit of a CSAT program with different types of cost plays a disparate role in keeping, upgrading or lowering a company's existing security level. Ideally, a CSAT program should spend more of its expenses on training employees to deal with the security threats at a lower security level and to reduce more losses at a higher security level.
Originality/value
Our model serves as a benchmark that will help organizations allocate resources toward the development of successful CSAT programs.
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Edeltraud Guenther, Timo Busch, Jan Endrikat, Thomas Guenther and Marc Orlitzky
The purpose of this literature review is to reorient empirical research on the causal links between corporate ecological sustainability (CES) and corporate financial performance…
Abstract
The purpose of this literature review is to reorient empirical research on the causal links between corporate ecological sustainability (CES) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Toward this end, we summarize the findings of four meta-analyses (conducted between 2012 and 2016), which indicate that there is, on average, a small positive association between CES and CFP. In addition, these empirical associations seem to be contingent on the firm’s strategic approach with regard to ecological sustainability (e.g., proactive vs reactive approach) and on the operationalization of both constructs. We conclude that future research may benefit from an even more explicit, analytic shift to the circumstances under which it pays for firms to go green. The main research limitations we point out are model misspecifications, endogeneity, and problems in the measurement of both CES and CFP.
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Kaneez Masoom, Anchal Rastogi and Shad Ahmad Khan
Knowledge management (KM) is an important topic in the age of big data, and this study adds to the existing body of literature by providing a novel KM perspective on the…
Abstract
Knowledge management (KM) is an important topic in the age of big data, and this study adds to the existing body of literature by providing a novel KM perspective on the technological phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI). This study aims to discover how AI might facilitate knowledge-based business-to-business (B2B) marketing. In this chapter, the authors take a close look at the building blocks of AI and the relationships between them. Future research directions and also the effects of the various market information building components on B2B marketing are discussed. The study’s approach is theoretical; it tries to provide a framework for characterising the phenomenon of AI and its constituent parts. Additionally, this chapter provides a methodical analysis of the three categories of market information crucial to B2B marketing: knowledge of customers, knowledge of users, and knowledge of external markets. This research looks at AI through the lens of the conventional data processing framework, analysing the six pillars upon which AI systems are founded. It also explained how the framework’s components work together to transform data into actionable information. In this chapter, the authors will look at how AI works and how it can benefit B2B knowledge-based marketing. It’s not aimed at AI experts but rather at general marketing managers. In this chapter, the possible effects of AI on B2B marketing are discussed using examples from the real world.
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Aysha A-Zayani and Muneer Al Mubarak
This chapter explains the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) powered by big data in technology and its contribution in knowledge-based marketing in B2B and its impact on…
Abstract
This chapter explains the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) powered by big data in technology and its contribution in knowledge-based marketing in B2B and its impact on rational decision-making in B2B marketing that affects business performance. This chapter is literature review prepared by compiling and reviewing previous literature, studies, articles, books and other sources related to the contribution of big data-enabled AI to B2B marketing. According to the information analysed, the findings show that big data supported by AI plays a significant role in creating user knowledge, external knowledge and customer knowledge, all of which are factors that significantly influence the ability of business-to-business marketers to make rational decisions that affect the performance of their companies. This chapter explains to them the phenomena of AI powered by big data and its effect on B2B marketing rational decision that will enhance company performance and its contribution on knowledge-based marketing in B2B. This chapter contributes to understanding main functions and interactions of AI system powered by big data and how such a system helps in B2B marketing by generating knowledge about customers, users and markets.