Outsourcing of Information Systems Functions in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: A Test of a Multi-Theoretical Model

In this paper determinants of information systems (IS) outsourcing are deduced from transaction cost economic theory, resource-based theory and power theory. They are summarized in a theoretical framework which is tested using a sample of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany. The results show that internal performance and know-how deficits vis-à-vis external service providers are key determinants that explain why different IS functions are outsourced to varying degrees in SMEs. Moreover, the determinants of IS functions were found to partially differ between IS functions. Revised reprint of an article from WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK 43(4)2001:339–350.

INDUCING VARIETY: A THEORY OF INNOVATION CONTESTS

This article analyzes the design of innovation contests when the quality of an innovation depends on the research approach, but the best approach is unknown. Inducing a variety of research approaches generates an option value. We show that suitable contests can induce such variety. The buyer‐optimal contest is a bonus tournament, where suppliers can choose only between a low bid and a high bid. This contest implements the socially optimal variety for a suitable parameter range. Finally, we compare the optimal contest to scoring auctions and fixed‐prize tournaments.     

The changing economic order in China

Far-reaching changes in the People's Republic of China's economic and social policy have been decided and carried out since 1978. The following article analyses a number of selected aspects of the economic order to illustrate the direction the reforms are taking and the limitations to which they are subject.     

Statistical Inference,Learning and Models in Big Data

The need for new methods to deal with big data is a common theme in most scientific fields, although its definition tends to vary with the context. Statistical ideas are an essential part of this, and as a partial response, a thematic program on statistical inference, learning and models in big data was held in 2015 in Canada, under the general direction of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute, with major funding from, and most activities located at, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. This paper gives an overview of the topics covered, describing challenges and strategies that seem common to many different areas of application and including some examples of applications to make these challenges and strategies more concrete.     

Unemployment and Right‐wing Extremist Crime*

It is frequently argued that unemployment plays a crucial role in the occurrence of right‐wing extremist crimes (RECs). We test this hypothesis empirically using data from Germany. We find that right‐wing criminal activities occur more frequently when unemployment is high. The substantial difference in the numbers of RECs occurring in the East and West German states can mostly be attributed to differences in unemployment. This finding reinforces the importance of unemployment as an explanatory factor for RECs, and it questions explanations based solely on the different socialization in former communist East Germany and the liberal West German states.     

Crowdfunding models: Keep-It-All vs. All-Or-Nothing

Reward-based crowdfunding campaigns are commonly offered in one of two models via fundraising goals set by an entrepreneur: “Keep-It-All” (KIA), where the entrepreneur keeps the entire amount raised regardless of achieving the goal, and “All-Or-Nothing” (AON), where the entrepreneur keeps nothing unless the goal is achieved. We hypothesize that AON forces the entrepreneur to bear greater risk and encourages crowdfunders to pledge more capital enabling entrepreneurs to set larger goals. We further hypothesize that AON is a costly signal of commitment for entrepreneurs yielding a separate equilibrium with higher quality and more innovative projects with greater success rates. Empirical tests support both hypotheses.     

The financialisation of business ethics

Business schools have become implicated in the widespread demonisation of the financial classes. By educating those held most responsible for the crisis – financial traders and speculators – they are said to have produced ruthlessly talented graduates who have ambition in abundance but little sense for social responsibility or ethics. This ethical lack thrives upon the trading floor within a compelling critique of the complicity of the pedagogy of the business school with the financial crisis of the global economy. An ethical turn within the curriculum is now widely encouraged as a counteractive force. Within this paper, however, we argue that taking this ethical turn is not enough. For business ethicists to learn from the financial crisis, the crisis' legacy needs to be taken account of, and financialisation needs to be taken seriously. Pedagogical reform cannot bracket itself off from the crisis as if it were coincidental with or separate from it. Post-crisis pedagogy must rather take the fact that it is requested now, in light of the crisis, as its very point of departure. The financial crisis must not be understood as something to be resisted in the name of Business Ethics. Instead, the financial crisis must be understood as the very foundation for contemporary Business Ethics in particular and for contemporary business and management education more generally.     

Converging technologies: Visions, increased contingencies of the conditio humana, and search for orientation

Scientific and technological progress broadens humanity's options and decreases its dependency on the given. With the increase in contingency in the conditio humana associated with it, however, not only new freedom of choice, but also problems of orientation arise. This shows itself at present clearly in the debate on Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, in which the nature of the human body and mind increasingly appear to be formable. In this contribution, I will investigate the role of communication of the future against this background. On the one hand, it plays the role of a medium through which the increase of contingency takes place. On the other, visionary communication is also used in order to provide new orientation in view of this increase of contingency. This succeeds only if certain prerequisites are met. The analysis of these prerequisites leads to the identification of requirements on methodical elaboration in the field of prospective analysis, in particular, of technology assessment.