Communities in a world of open systems

In the past, communities tended to be closed systems with relatively clear boundaries, stable memberships, and few linkages to other communities. We are now entering into an ‘age of open systems.' Mobility creates new communities and kinds of communities. The impacts of mobility are far less than those of information and communications technology. Cyberspace has become a new kind of social terrain, crowded with ‘virtual communities.' Television and radio create communities of people thinking and talking about the same things. Both mobility and the growth of communications networks reduce the predominance of geography as a force in shaping community. Many communities are much more fluid, and some are placeless. There are many different kinds of social groups and networks that people describe with the word ‘community.' Most people are multi-community individuals, with many memberships, and many kinds of memberships. Although the world's major religions still have some historic identification with specific regions, those geographic attachments are no longer as clear as they once were, and these religions are tending to become open systems. Some people prefer relatively closed social systems, while others flourish in freer environments. Choice is one of the most powerful forces in the lives of people being exposed to the forces of globalization. Community will continue to be a profound human need but will be redefined, perhaps many times over.     

A vision for communities in the 21st century: back to the future

Globalization, in its capitalistic and popular cultural form, is impacting communities around the world. This paper uses two models to show how globalization actually arose several millennia ago and how the process has greatly accelerated in recent times. One model describes the ‘information technology system’ and the second is James Miller’s living systems model. Using these models as a foundation, this paper argues that globalization can severely weaken communities and is antithetical to future-oriented perspectives. If current globalization trends continue unabated, globalization may result in a future world characterized by satiated consumers whose every desire is met by a totally efficient but completely impersonal economic system. In this world, people do not depend directly upon face-to-face interaction for their economic well being. Because of this, community and even culture collapses. Contrasted to this soulless world, it is argued that a new future could evolve where concern about the future replaces individualistic and market-oriented concerns as the prime motivator of public policy. This future has a good probability of occurring since current populations are being socialized to understand the broad concept of globalization. Additionally, new technologies will allow the development of small, mostly self-sufficient communities which will facilitate the re-emergence of community life and obligations.     

Complementary controls and ERP implementation success

Many organisations have sought to improve their competitiveness by investing in advanced information technology, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. They have implemented ERP systems for a variety of reasons, including solving year 2000 issues, reengineering business processes, and facilitating e-business. The implementation of an ERP system and associated changes in business processes, however, is not straightforward. ERP implementation projects are but another example of an information systems development project that needs to be controlled, yet the implementation of an ERP system is significantly different than a traditional system implementation. Control can be exerted by both formal and informal means [Kirsch, L.J., V. Sambamurthy, D-G. Ko, and R.L. Purvis. 2002. Controlling information systems development projects: The view from the client. Management Science. 48(4): 484–498]. Research has demonstrated that single modes of control are not sufficient, rather that a portfolio of control modes should be utilized. We expand upon this concept and suggest that this need for a mix of overlapping and redundant control mechanisms identified in the literature is explained through the use of the theory of complementarity [Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts. 1990. The economics of modern manufacturing: Technology, strategy and organization. American Economic Review 80: 511–528; Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts. 1994. Comparing equilibria. American Economic Review 84: 441–459; Milgrom, P. and J. Roberts. 1995. Complementarities and fit: Strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing. Journal of Accounting and Economics. 19: 179–208; Topkis, D.M. 1998. Supermodularity and Complimentarity. Princeton University Press]. Surveys of chief information officers and internal auditors were conducted to obtain data on the controls used in ERP implementations. We find that groups of complementary controls need to be employed in the implementation of ERP systems to achieve a successful implementation.     

基于ESB和Mule的数字化校园应用集成设计

数字化校园是校园信息化建设的重要内容,针对高校信息化建设的现状,分析数字化校园建设的重点解决的问题,提出了具有高开放性和扩展性的数字化校园建设模型,即以企业服务总线ESB为框架,集成高校现有应用系统,整合信息资源,构建校园数据中心、统一身份认证和信息门户,并以数据中心为核心,建立数据交换和共享机制。以此模型为基础,结合ESB和Mule开源框架,给出了应用系统间实现用户数据同步的消息处理流程设计实例。     

银行业面对互联网金融挑战的应对策略——基于大数据背景下的思考

伴随着信息技术及互联网的快速发展,社会正在走向全面数字化。大数据、云计算等技术的异军突起使得居民的生活行为方式和企业的生产经营方式都发生了显著变化,科技进步带来的数字化变革正在影响并形成全新的生活习惯和商业模式。在这种大背景下,以网络为载体的互联网金融改变了金融运营模式,传统的银行业正在面临严峻考验。商业银行必须全面认识大数据技术变革带来的影响,转变经营策略,积极应对互联网金融带来的深刻变革。     

Accounting information systems research: Is it another QWERTY?

This article examines the research within accounting information systems (AIS) as found in articles published in leading accounting, management information systems, and computer science journals from 1982 to 1998. Trend analysis is performed on AIS articles found in the following journals: The Journal of Information Systems; Advances in Accounting Information Systems; Journal of Accounting Research; The Accounting Review; Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory; Behavioral Research in Accounting; Journal of Management Accounting Research; Management Science; MIS Quarterly; Decision Sciences; Information Systems Research; and Communications of the ACM, among others. The trend analysis is structured across underlying theory, research method, and information systems lifecycle topics of AIS articles in these journals. This article identifies the extant research streams in AIS, where AIS research has been published from 1982 to 1998, and seeks to provide insight into the question: should AIS exist as its own separate research domain? Is AIS research like the QWERTY keyboard (David, 1985), widely adopted due to popular demand, but ineffective and inefficient, with a better AIS research and teaching model available?     

VISION AND PRACTICE OF E-GOVERNMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

With the internet expanding rapidly in the 1990s, most of the reform agendas of Western countries embedded information technologies in their vision for change (Heeks, 1999; and Holmes, 2001). Existing studies into the diffusion of e-government has mainly centred on the USA and exposed a limited diffusion of digital delivery systems. This paper focuses on e-government by way of the adoption and use of ICT and internet for the delivery of information and services and explores the extent to which local governments endorse the e-government agenda by looking at the strategies and policies of municipalities and their actual use of e-government for the delivery of services and information. The paper utilizes data from a survey conducted during the winter of 2005-2006, addressed to the Chief Information Officers at Italian MUs with a population greater than 40,000. The results show that despite a certain degree of endorsement in terms of strategies for e-government, the use of e-government for the delivery of services is still quite limited.     

Banking the poor: The role of mobiles

It is estimated that about 90 per cent of the people living in developing countries do not have access to financial services. Also, in some developing countries including Ghana, some people live below the international poverty line of US $1 a day. Some of the issues related to this phenomenon include; difficulty in accessing banking services owing to geographic distance, bureaucratic nature of banking services and misconception regarding the inability of the poor to repay their loans. This article argues that if the traditional financial setting does not allow the poor to access to the financial services like banking, the poor could be offered banking services through mobile technologies. This article therefore proposes a Mobile Banking Model that conceptualizes key ways by which mobile phone technology can be used to increase pathways to banking access for poor people. Future research will focus on empirically testing this model.     

Discrete hedging of American-type options using local risk minimization

Local risk minimization and total risk minimization discrete hedging have been extensively studied for European options [e.g., Schweizer, M., 1995. Variance-optimal hedging in discrete time. Mathematics of Operation Research 20, 1–32; Schweizer, M., 2001. A guided tour through quadratic hedging approaches. In: Jouini, E., Cvitanic, J., Musiela, M., Option pricing, interest rates and risk management, Cambridge University Press, pp. 538–574]. In practice, hedging of options with American features is more relevant. For example, equity linked variable annuities provide surrender benefits which are essentially embedded American options. In this paper we generalize both quadratic and piecewise linear local risk minimization hedging frameworks to American options. We illustrate that local risk minimization methods outperform delta hedging when the market is highly incomplete. In addition, compared to European options, distributions of the hedging costs are typically more skewed and heavy-tailed. Moreover, in contrast to quadratic local risk minimization, piecewise linear risk minimization hedging strategies can be significantly different, resulting in larger probabilities of small costs but also larger extreme cost.     

On the relationship between citations and appearances on “top 25” download lists in the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems

Citations from existing sources like the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) have long been used to evaluate impact and importance of research. However, in addition to SSCI becoming digital, additional citation sources have been developed, such as SCOPUS and Google Scholar. Further, information now is available regarding papers that are among the most frequently downloaded, providing a new potential measure of impact and importance. This paper analyzes the use of digital and web citations, and newly available digital download information in the form of “top 25” most downloaded paper lists for the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems.This paper finds that any of the number of three types of “downloads” (abstract, paper and denied accesses) are highly correlated with each other. Further, in an analysis of the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems papers in “top 25” downloads, this paper finds that the number of citations and the number of times that a paper is in a “top 25” of downloaded papers are statistically significantly correlated. Finally, this paper finds that the set of “top 25” downloaded papers has a disproportionate number of citations.     

Investigating individual privacy within CBDC: A privacy calculus perspective

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are a digital innovation based upon distributed ledger and smart contract technology. In this paper we examine how potential users of CBDC technology willingly disclose their personal information. The researchers conducted an online quantitative survey which investigates the privacy perceptions of consumers. Using the privacy calculus theory lens, this study looks at the potential benefits of CBDC and how these influence user perceptions towards privacy disclosure. While this research suggests that participants in the study had negative perceptions in relation to the disclosure of personal information, many were willing to offset these concerns if there are significant benefits in the usage of CBDC. Factors such as ease of use, convenience, availability, and credibility were viewed as key benefits in this scenario. Thus, future banking strategies and marketing approaches need to consider these components to foster CBDC adoption.     

Strangers in a strange land: Knowing, learning and education for the global knowledge society

Profound changes to established patterns of life, root metaphors, necessary expertise and habits of mind are occurring as a consequence of globalization, information and communications technologies and the shift to a knowledge society. There is now a widening cultural mismatch between what members of the knowledge society need to succeed and what current systems of higher education are geared to offer. Increasingly, the result of this gap is that the products of today's Enlightenment-based socializing systems such as the colleges and universities are ill prepared for the actual challenges of contemporary life, often feeling bewildered and overwhelmed and like “strangers in a strange land.” A paradigmatic revolution in education is needed, but current discussion about reform is couched in the logic of market economics and draws inspiration largely from business strategies such as total quality management. It also remains firmly within the habits of mind and frames of reference of an Industrial Age. To adequately prepare people and communities to thrive in the global knowledge society, revolutionary changes are required in mission, curriculum content, pedagogy and modes of inquiry. The purpose must become explicitly aimed at producing a shift in the deep structures of consciousness and towards the development of transdisciplinary expertise—entirely new literacies and new approaches to learning that both fit the current economic realities and are more attuned to the socio-cultural, psychological and spiritual needs of an emerging global knowledge society.     

Indian IT outsourcing industry: Future threats and challenges – A reassessment

A recent paper has argued that the future of the Indian IT outsourcing industry is uncertain. This uncertainty emanates from paucity of quality manpower, inability of the industry to move up the value-chain, underdeveloped state of the domestic market and unpreparedness of the industry for disruptive technologies. These factors may erode the competitive advantage of the industry and inhibit the growth momentum. This paper is an attempt to reassess the findings considering a longer time horizon, encapsulating a broader set of information and supporting evidences from literature. Our findings suggest that the exponential growth the industry has exhibited over the years has not shown any significant reversals in recent times. Further, reassessment of the concerns outlined earlier makes it a bit difficult to believe that the industry is likely to face any serious threats and challenges in the foreseeable future. Instead, our findings suggest that the future of the Indian IT outsourcing industry is not that uncertain, and in all probability the industry would retain its competitive standing in the global market and make promising strides ahead.     

DNA Mining and genealogical information systems: Not just for finding family ethnicity

The primary expected use of DNA and genealogy sites has been their ability to help users find their family, find their ethnicity and to help them connect with distant relatives. In so doing such sites help users to “learn more about themselves.” Such systems have also been proposed to have the broader goals of helping connect mankind and show people how their similarities are greater than their differences. However, the use of DNA and genealogy information recently turned away from just finding family connections, ethnicity and origins. Recently it was announced that the “Golden State Killer” had been caught using information generated from using DNA and consumer genealogical websites. This paper investigates some of the questions and unanticipated consequences raised by this alternative use of these technologies and their impact on individuals, organizations and society. As part of that analysis we analyze some of the immediate consequences on the firm from which the DNA information was gathered, the new emerging approach used by law enforcement, some privacy concerns and provide a network game formulation as a means to model user behavior. Finally, we examine some potential emerging research issues.     

ATTRACTING AND RETAINING MAORI STUDENTS IN ACCOUNTING: ISSUES,EXPERIENCES AND WAYS FORWARD

The literature of social and educational research reflects the significance that issues of culture and ethnicity have gained in such research. This is evident, for example, in concerns to analyse and redesign social practices and to elaborate a critique of dominant Western institutions. In the research literature upon the accounting focus, evidence of such concerns has been comparatively scarce. While some research has been done@8ifor example, researchers have pointed to the Eurocentric character of accounting and critically analysed ethnic minority experiences of accountancy@8ithere is much more to do. Particularly scarce in the accounting literature have been studies concerned to focus upon accounting from an indigenous cultural perspective or to promote multicultural accounting education. Such a silence is of significance in the light of increasing worldwide concerns to learn from and to protect the cultures of indigenous peoples and to question the universal validity of Western practices, notably such as those of Eurocentric education. In this paper we focus upon Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and critically assess and explore their participation in and experiences of accounting education. We concentrate upon university accounting education which is central to the process of gaining admission into the accountancy profession of Aotearoa New Zealand. We provide a historical and contextual analysis which elaborates upon the oppression and marginalisation of Maori people. The study reflects our concern that, in inquiring into why particular ethnic groups, including indigenous peoples, are under represented and lack influence in particular social activities and occupations, we need to give consideration to the role of cultural as well as socioeconomic factors. And in this respect we need to critically analyse the very institutions and practices of Western accountancy and Western accounting education as forms of insensitive cultural imperialism. These forms can change rather than the culture of peoples. For us, increasing the participation of Maori in accounting education and accounting practice and changing the character of these practices so that they are more reflective of Maori indigenous culture are two dimensions of the struggle for change which can be mutually reinforcing. We are supportive of such change and seek to bring this about in the Eurocentric institutions of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our contention is that a deeper critical analysis of issues of ethnicity in Western society can help to inform a critique of Eurocentric practices and institutions including in the sphere of accounting. In brief, we explore a range of interconnected themes: the complex character of the marginalisation and oppression of Maori; focusing in, the position respecting accounting education and the very practice of accounting; how this relates to ways forward and connects up with wider issues.     

非银行金融科技与上市公司借贷成本——竞争压力还是信息溢出？

金融科技作为技术驱动的金融创新,是深化金融供给侧结构性改革、增强金融服务实体经济能力的重要引擎。基于我国A股上市公司数据,本文实证分析了针对中小微企业和个人的非银行金融科技发展对上市公司借贷成本的溢出效应。结果表明,非银行金融科技发展每提高10%,上市公司借贷成本平均下降1.6个百分点。进一步分析表明,这一结果同时受到“竞争压力”与“信息溢出”两种机制的作用:前者表现为在银行业竞争程度更高的地区,非银行金融科技的发展更能显著降低企业的借贷成本;后者表现为,非银行金融科技的发展能够显著降低商业银行不良贷款率,同时也能降低商业银行业务及管理费用开支。本文探索金融科技如何影响上市公司融资成本,为金融科技进一步增强金融服务实体经济能力提供了新的启示。     

Managing the landscapes of the Australian Northern Territory for sustainability: Visions, issues and strategies for successful planning

The Northern Territory in Australia is a unique place. The region covers one sixth of the land mass of Australia with a population of only 200 000 people. One third of this population is indigenous and just over half of the land is under Aboriginal land title (mostly communal ownership). The landscapes in this region are still in a relatively good condition yet a large proportion of the indigenous population that reside within them are seen to be living with major social and health problems. The governance of the region is a complex mixture of Federal, Territory, and local Government, as well as indigenous and non-indigenous land ownership. To date, planning has largely been ad hoc and influenced by external factors, with little regard for Aboriginal aspirations for the future. Currently there is growing interest in developing the region which would appear to be associated with a drought that is adversely affecting the agricultural potential of southern States of Australia. This paper discusses some of the issues associated with the lack of a shared vision for the future of the NT. It recommends the use of an integrated holistic approach to planning, as defined by a Leitbild, as a strategy for creating a shared vision and working towards successful sustainable landscape planning. Other strategies put forward include placing an economic value on the ecological and cultural significance of the region, in particular providing real jobs on remote Aboriginal communities through developing enterprises based on sustainable use of wildlife and payment for the ecosystem services that Aboriginal land management provides, and applying more empowering methods of participation in scenario modelling for the future using Geographic Information Systems and other visualisation technology.     

River stories: Genealogies of a threatened inland river system

Most people now living in Australia's “bread basket”, the much-degraded Murray Darling Basin, are like my family, descendants of convicts or free settlers who came to the inland in the 19th or early 20th centuries. Our legacy includes the dispossession of indigenous peoples, species extinction and the ongoing degradation of the ecological communities which now sustain us. My own family's river stories which “begin” with a pair of impoverished Gaels who migrated with their offspring from the Scottish Highlands, can be considered paradigmatic. I re-narrate it in this essay in response to philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's challenge—I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’Some of these family stories I find myself part of, especially those that have been enacted within the catchment of the now-threatened Lachlan River, are very discomforting, but where do they “truly” begin? In seeking to understand my relationship with the river and its catchment, and with the indigenous peoples “my mob” displaced, I explore several possible “beginnings” and ask a further question: what stories do I want to be part of as co-author, co-narrator and protagonist. I then offer my own yet-to-be enacted “truth and reconciliation” stories about the future of the inland plains I love.     

The birth of a nation: Accounting and Canada’s first nations, 1860–1900

The 1860–1900 period was both the “birth” of Canada but also the birth and institutionalization of a specific set of social relations between the federal government and First Nations peoples. This study examines the roles played by accounting and funding relations within the process of nation building. Throughout this formative period in Canada’s history, governance was attempted via the introduction of financial legislation and enacted by the Indian Department and agents in the field. As our analysis highlights, legislative initiatives, Indian Department pronouncements and the activities of agents imposed, enlisted and implied a variety of accounting technologies. This study not only explores how the federal government has used accounting/funding mechanisms in the attempt to translate government policy regarding indigenous peoples into practice but also provides a history of the present by examining the historical consequences of these interventions.