The control of information systems (IS) projects is a key activity for deployment of information technology (IT) resources and ultimately for value creation through IT. For the last 20 years, ...research on IS project control has grown to cover a wide range of aspects and issues, including control modes, amounts, and portfolios, control in internal and outsourced settings, and control antecedents, consequences, and dynamics. There is an important theoretical and practical impetus for this research, since the nature of IS projects creates specific and challenging conditions for control, and since control research in neighboring disciplines often neglects temporary endeavors such as projects.
In this study, we provide a systematic review and synthesis of the literature and develop an expanded theoretical framework for IS project control with supporting conjectures. Our review reveals that existing research primarily studies the contextual antecedents and performance consequences of control modes and amounts, and thus focuses on control portfolio configurations (what). In contrast, prior research largely neglects control enactment, that is, how the controller interacts with the controllee to put the portfolio of controls into practice. Our expanded framework points to the importance of studying control portfolio configurations and control enactment (in terms of control style and control congruence) in combination, in order to better understand IS project control effectiveness. Expanding the toolbox of concepts available to IS researchers, our framework helps resolve existing research gaps and inconsistencies, and opens up new avenues for future research on the control of IS projects.
Since the emergence of the Internet, many brick-and-mortar companies from various industries have established an online business model (BM) alongside their traditional offline BM. Despite the ...increasing coexistence of online and offline BMs within a single company, however, most prior research has focused on studying online and offline BMs in isolation. Consequently, still little is known about the interplay of dual BMs in omnichannel businesses. We address this research gap through an empirical investigation of the synergies and tensions that arise from coexisting online and offline BMs as well as the factors that influence the emergence of such synergies and tensions. Drawing on a series of six case studies with three publishers and three retailers, we identify an extended set of BM synergies and tensions, which concern all major BM dimensions. In addition, our case analysis reveals that companies are able to exploit different synergies, but also face different tensions between their online and offline BMs. The observed differences can be traced back to the level of online-offline BM integration, online-offline product distinctions (e.g., in terms of product content and publication cycles), and general organization context factors (e.g., offline brand strength, organization structure). By uncovering both the benefits and the complexity of running online and offline BMs in parallel, our study contributes to the theoretical understanding of omnichannel businesses, and provides managers with practical guidance on how to design, integrate, and manage their dual BMs successfully.
•Many ‘brick-and-mortar’ companies run parallel BMs for online and offline channels.•Still little is known about the interplay of dual BMs in omnichannel businesses.•Case studies uncover an extended set of online-offline BM synergies and tensions.•A high level of online-offline BM integration drives both synergies and tensions.•Synergies/tensions are also influenced by product and organization context factors.
Forced coopetition in IT multi-sourcing Wiener, Martin; Saunders, Carol
The journal of strategic information systems,
09/2014, Letnik:
23, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Display omitted
•Uncovers and conceptualizes a novel form of coopetition (forced coopetition).•Uses ‘forced’ coopetition to describe vendor relationships in IT multi-sourcing.•Identifies factors ...enabling clients to foster high vendor competition and cooperation.•Identifies factors for clients to manage the tensions resulting from forced coopetition.•Proposes a multi-sourcing model classification framework.
IT multi-sourcing refers to the managed delegation of IT projects and services to multiple vendors. While companies increasingly engage in multi-sourcing arrangements, theoretical insights into this important phenomenon are scarce. Drawing on the coopetition and multi-sourcing literatures, we introduce the concept of forced coopetition (i.e., the situation where a third party forces competitors to cooperate) to describe the vendor relationships in IT multi-sourcing models. As an illustration, we present the case of a global sports company that recently introduced a novel IT multi-sourcing model, which is characterized by high levels of both vendor competition and cooperation, i.e., high levels of forced coopetition. Based on a longitudinal case study, we discuss the factors that enabled the client firm to (1) foster vendor competition and cooperation as well as (2) manage the delicate balance between the two. Specifically, we find that vendor number and size, vendor onboarding, vendor business growth, and vendor learning played a critical role in the successful implementation of the multi-sourcing model. The study’s main contributions lie in providing a deeper understanding of how client firms can manage the delicate balance between vendor competition and cooperation in IT multi-sourcing, as well as expanding the theoretical basis of traditional coopetition to include situations of forced coopetition.
Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) affect more than 3% of children and are attributable to single-gene mutations at more than 1000 loci. Traditional methods yield molecular diagnoses in less than ...one-half of children with NDD. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-exome sequencing (WES) can enable diagnosis of NDD, but their clinical and cost-effectiveness are unknown. One hundred families with 119 children affected by NDD received diagnostic WGS and/or WES of parent-child trios, wherein the sequencing approach was guided by acuity of illness. Forty-five percent received molecular diagnoses. An accelerated sequencing modality, rapid WGS, yielded diagnoses in 73% of families with acutely ill children (11 of 15). Forty percent of families with children with nonacute NDD, followed in ambulatory care clinics (34 of 85), received diagnoses: 33 by WES and 1 by staged WES then WGS. The cost of prior negative tests in the nonacute patients was $19,100 per family, suggesting sequencing to be cost-effective at up to $7640 per family. A change in clinical care or impression of the pathophysiology was reported in 49% of newly diagnosed families. If WES or WGS had been performed at symptom onset, genomic diagnoses may have been made 77 months earlier than occurred in this study. It is suggested that initial diagnostic evaluation of children with NDD should include trio WGS or WES, with extension of accelerated sequencing modalities to high-acuity patients.
While IS development (ISD) projects are essential for deploying digital technologies in organisations, they are notoriously challenging to control and complete successfully. Prior ISD project control ...research mostly conceptualises control activities in terms of formal and informal control modes and frequently focuses on performance effects at the project level. We argue that new insight can be gained by moving beyond these conventions to include control enactment as well as individual-level control effects. In this study, we present new findings that could precipitate a change in how researchers think about, and practitioners exercise, control in ISD projects. Specifically, we provide a first test of the recently proposed Integrated IS Project Control Theory by analysing the impacts of control modes (what) and control styles (how) on project team members' task performance and job satisfaction. Employing data from 171 ISD projects, we find significant support for this theory by confirming the positive impact of an enabling control style on both task performance and job satisfaction, and by demonstrating that control style is more important than control modes in explaining individual-level control effects. Further, the results of a post-hoc analysis suggest complex interaction effects between an enabling control style and formal controls.
With the emergence of the Industrial Internet of Things, a growing number of manufacturing firms has started to adopt non-ownership business models (NOBMs). NOBM providers maintain ownership of ...offered machinery and sell only the machine use and/or performance as a service to their clients. While the adoption of NOBMs is found to be associated with novel business opportunities related to client-side uncertainties, it is also found to result in a considerable increase in provider-side uncertainties. Drawing on a multiple-case study with three leading manufacturers, we find notable differences in terms of NOBM designs, ranging from a primary focus on exploiting client-side uncertainties to a primary focus on mitigating provider-side uncertainties. Moreover, our study uncovers four context factors that help explain key differences in NOBM designs. In particular, we identify two machine attributes (human dependency and energy efficiency) and two market attributes (average client size and antitrust regulations) that “push” providers toward either uncertainty-exploiting or uncertainty-mitigating NOBM designs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Genetic disorders and congenital anomalies are the leading causes of infant mortality. Diagnosis of most genetic diseases in neonatal and paediatric intensive care units (NICU and PICU) is not ...sufficiently timely to guide acute clinical management. We used rapid whole-genome sequencing (STATseq) in a level 4 NICU and PICU to assess the rate and types of molecular diagnoses, and the prevalence, types, and effect of diagnoses that are likely to change medical management in critically ill infants.
We did a retrospective comparison of STATseq and standard genetic testing in a case series from the NICU and PICU of a large children's hospital between Nov 11, 2011, and Oct 1, 2014. The participants were families with an infant younger than 4 months with an acute illness of suspected genetic cause. The intervention was STATseq of trios (both parents and their affected infant). The main measures were the diagnostic rate, time to diagnosis, and rate of change in management after standard genetic testing and STATseq.
20 (57%) of 35 infants were diagnosed with a genetic disease by use of STATseq and three (9%) of 32 by use of standard genetic testing (p=0·0002). Median time to genome analysis was 5 days (range 3-153) and median time to STATseq report was 23 days (5-912). 13 (65%) of 20 STATseq diagnoses were associated with de-novo mutations. Acute clinical usefulness was noted in 13 (65%) of 20 infants with a STATseq diagnosis, four (20%) had diagnoses with strongly favourable effects on management, and six (30%) were started on palliative care. 120-day mortality was 57% (12 of 21) in infants with a genetic diagnosis.
In selected acutely ill infants, STATseq had a high rate of diagnosis of genetic disorders. Most diagnoses altered the management of infants in the NICU or PICU. The very high infant mortality rate indicates a substantial need for rapid genomic diagnoses to be allied with a novel framework for precision medicine for infants in NICU and PICU who are diagnosed with genetic diseases to improve outcomes.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Human Genome Research Institute, and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
The control of information systems (IS) projects is central to creating and capturing value from digitalization. However, the current understanding of IS project control is too restrictive and not ...well attuned to the digital era, in which collaborative value creation in open-ended digital innovation and transformation efforts is critical to firm competitiveness, ecosystem evolution, and societal advancement. Reviewing earlier research, we find that the dominant view of IS project control emphasizes value capture/appropriation and virtually ignores value creation. To address this shortcoming, we introduce the concept of control purpose (
why
) and advocate for broadening control activities to encompass the two control purposes of value appropriation and value creation. This implies that practitioners need to strategically decide on and actively manage the balance between different purposes of control activities. By doing so, they will be better equipped to achieving success in digital innovation and transformation initiatives.
In this research commentary, we argue that the current digital era compels a reconsideration and problematization of research on information systems (IS) project control. IS projects are key to the pursuit of digital innovation and transformation activities, and the control of IS projects is central to creating and capturing value from these activities. However, IS project control research has not kept pace with current developments in the digital era. Specifically, we find that existing research has been dominated by an underlying agency theory perspective, which is not attuned to salient aspects of current control settings, such as digital innovation initiatives, and thus restricts our understanding of IS project control. To address this shortcoming, we problematize core assumptions underlying existing IS project control research and draw on stewardship theory to present an alternative set of assumptions complementing the prevalent agency theory perspective; introduce the concept of control purpose (
why
); offer empirical support for its conceptual distinction between value-appropriation and value-creation control purposes; and develop a research agenda that helps move IS project control research into the digital era.
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