Richard Vidgen, Julian Mark Sims and Philip Powell
– Chief executives (CEOs) have turned to blogging. This research asks: do CEO blogs attract commenters leading to genuine discussion and community building?
Abstract
Purpose
Chief executives (CEOs) have turned to blogging. This research asks: do CEO blogs attract commenters leading to genuine discussion and community building?
Design/methodology/approach
The 30 most popular CEO blogs are analysed, community structure is graphically represented using social network analysis, measuring cohesion using connectedness. A review of content assesses whether richness and type of media affect community building.
Findings
By modelling a CEO blog as an affiliation network the structure is exposed. Community cohesiveness is assessed using a measure of connectedness. The connectedness ranking differs from the original Technorati Rank (TR) although the top blog in both is the same. Community building relates more to external reputation, writing style or topicality than to the type of media used.
Practical implications
CEO bloggers must engage commenters to build community. TR and connectedness scores measure different things but both affect community building. CEO blogs with high community scores post regularly, attract many comments and have an active core membership that bind the community. Top scoring CEO blogs build community and stimulate genuine discussion. Mid ranking blogs have little cross-post commenting and a fragmented network. Others attract few comments with low connectedness. “Wilderness” blogs may have no commenters. This suggests inefficient use of valuable CEO time. Because CEO credibility affects CEO blog success, a low-ranking blog depreciates CEO's reputation indicating little social capital.
Originality/value
There is little research into CEO blogging, this research contributes to the understanding of CEO blogging and community building.
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Mahmood Hajli, Julian M. Sims and Valisher Ibragimov
Since the 1970s productivity growth in most economies slowed, while information and communication technology expenditures increased: the “information technology (IT) productivity…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the 1970s productivity growth in most economies slowed, while information and communication technology expenditures increased: the “information technology (IT) productivity paradox.” Some researchers reported an end to the paradox, but this is most likely due to IT industry growth approaching the Year 2000 phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to update IT productivity paradox research.
Design/methodology/approach
For comparability this research replicates methods employed by previous studies but employs a two-level approach: first macroeconomic indicators; second labor and multi-factor productivity.
Findings
Findings suggest IT investment has high positive correlation with gross domestic product growth, but not labor or multi-factor productivity. This ambiguity suggests the paradox is still poorly understood.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are not conclusive; the authors cannot confirm or reject the existence of the productivity paradox. The global recession and banking crisis makes it prudent to wait until recovery before analyzing data from that period.
Practical implications
Lack of convincing evidence supporting positive effects from IT investment suggests some firms benefit from IT investment, but not others, and that IT investment has questionable returns.
Social implications
Firm level studies might find IT investment benefits some firms, but lack of convincing macroeconomic level evidence of positive effects of IT investment suggests the paradox still exists.
Originality/value
This research updates the IT productivity paradox demonstrating the phenomenon is still poorly understood and thus worthy of further study, questioning the benefits of IT investment for industry and national economies.
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Nick Hajli, Julian Sims and Mohana Shanmugam
Developing countries are still challenged by infrastructural and cultural issues related to the adoption of e-commerce although with the emergence of social commerce, a new stream…
Abstract
Purpose
Developing countries are still challenged by infrastructural and cultural issues related to the adoption of e-commerce although with the emergence of social commerce, a new stream has been introduced. Iran is a developing country, in which the adoption of e-commerce by small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is challenged by such barriers; it is now applying models for the adoption of new technologies by SMEs. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This research attempts to develop a model, based on existing models of e-commerce, which can be applied in Iranian conditions. The study uses data gathered by a survey, together with existing models in this area, in order to propose a new model, which has been empirically tested.
Findings
The results of this research demonstrate that e-commerce barriers in Iran are related to a lack of awareness of the benefits of e-commerce adoption, as well as organisational issues related to its application. The paper also discusses the results and implications of this research, which can be applied to other developing countries. The paper also gives a better picture of Iranian market. Finally the paper discusses possible future directions of this research, as well as its limitations.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the theoretical basis of IS and e-commerce adoption studies by proposing and testing a pre-adoption model for e-commerce. The adoption of e-commerce in SMEs in Iran has not been substantially investigated. This is despite the fact that SMEs play an important role in all economies. The results demonstrate a significant relationship between organisational readiness and the adoption of e-commerce. It also shows that there is a positive relationship between awareness of e-commerce and its adoption.
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Sustainability needs to be considered to be dynamic and evolving, a verb and not a noun. The systems which need to be considered must be understood within a time frame which needs…
Abstract
Sustainability needs to be considered to be dynamic and evolving, a verb and not a noun. The systems which need to be considered must be understood within a time frame which needs a metric much larger than the current “inter‐generational” ruler and one which takes into consideration that, as a species, humans, both biophysically and socio‐culturally, may not be in their optimum, or final, evolutionary manifestation. Sustainability provides the resilience which allows learning through mistakes and evolving visions not tied to a past that never was and a future that never will be. By renorming the time frame, and the concept of history, sustainability mandates that human intelligence not abdicate its responsibilities by attempting to defer to a static, mythic, external force. What is important in a world where a clock “ticks” once a century, or where a diorama in the museum of the future has, as its only artefacts of the 20th century, a suit of chain mail and a can of Diet Coke?
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Bernadette Förster, Jonas Keller, Heiko A. von der Gracht and Inga-Lena Darkow
Consumer goods supply chains (SCs) are characterized by continuously changing customer trends. Early detection of these trends is crucial for deriving successful long-term SC…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer goods supply chains (SCs) are characterized by continuously changing customer trends. Early detection of these trends is crucial for deriving successful long-term SC strategies. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic process to support decision makers in assessing future-relevant issues and developing strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to contribute to the quality of long-term decision making for SC strategy, we combine strategic issue management (SIM) and corporate foresight methodology. The authors develop a procedure that integrates the Delphi technique and SIM to empirically demonstrate how “Delphi-based SIM” can support SC strategy development.
Findings
The paper demonstrates how to craft a strategy for consumer goods SCs supported by Delphi-based SIM. The authors are able to include and evaluate uncertain and ambivalent future developments. Pertinent strategic issues for the consumer goods SC include: consumer demographics, automated ordering, city supply, and concept stores. For the reference company, five different strategic paths were created and evaluated.
Practical implications
It is challenging for companies to be well prepared for dynamic business environments and to successfully establish a robust SC strategy. The authors develop a systematic Delphi-based SIM for detecting and evaluating signals and integrating them into SC strategy development.
Originality/value
To date, a structured approach to integrate uncertain and ambivalent issues into SC strategy development is missing. With SIM and corporate foresight, the authors provide novel methods for strategy development in the consumer goods SC.
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to scholarly work on the role of sell-side financial analysts in corporate governance (CG). It examines the more recent work products…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to scholarly work on the role of sell-side financial analysts in corporate governance (CG). It examines the more recent work products pertaining specifically to CG that analysts based in the USA and UK have generated in the past two decades, namely, their CGCG reports. Specifically, this paper focusses on analysing how analyst CG reports constitute a comparative space in which the governance procedures of companies are evaluated and “best practices” are created.
Design/methodology/approach
This study involves a social constructivist textual analysis of 48 CG reports produced by analysts based in the USA and UK between 1998 and 2009.
Findings
Analyst CG reports textually construct a comparative space comprising four dimensions. First, the space is constructed for some carefully edited users to evaluate the governance of companies. Second, the construction of this space requires the selection of “building materials”, i.e., governance issues included in the space that render companies amenable to evaluation and comparison. Third, by linking the range of governance issues chosen to formal regulations, firms are rendered governable and regulatory requirements reinterpreted. Lastly, by using different types of inscriptions, such as narratives and tables, the space highlights “winners”, i.e., those companies which do better than others, and constructs their governance procedures as “best practices”.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides a first step towards an in-depth understanding of analyst CG reports. The insights from this paper generate a range of areas for future research, including how these reports are produced and used.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the existing literature focussing on the role of analysts in CG. It extends previous studies by examining the more recent and debatable work products generated by analysts, namely, their CG reports, and suggests an extended CG role for them. Theoretically, analyst CG reports are conceptualised as “inscriptions” that construct “documentary reality”. The notion of “editing” is also drawn upon, to analyse a particular way in which documentary reality is constructed. Accordingly, this paper broadens the theoretical perspectives used in CG research.
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Barrie O. Pettman and Richard Dobbins
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
Abstract
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
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Rachel Ashworth, Tom Entwistle, Julian Gould‐Williams and Michael Marinetto
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School,Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005
Abstract
This monograph contains abstracts from the 2005 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 6‐7th September 2005