On Empirical mis Research: The Case of Information Requirements Analysis

A major problem infield research in Management Information Systems (mis) is that of controlling and measuring complex behavioural and organizational factors. This paper addresses the difficulties of field research in the area of Information Requirements Analysis (ira) and examines the relationship between the concept of information value and ira. Measurement of the value of information is thus identified as a major source of experimental difficulty. The use of subjective evaluation by users is suggested as a possible approach, and the absence of conclusive field experiments in ira is noted. Possible reasons why a particular field experiment utilizing subjective evaluations did not yield conclusive results are examined. Re-analysis of the data of that study with a new technique yielded more convincing results demonstrating that obtaining significant results in ira field experiments is possible. It is noted that although statistically significant results are not uncommon in laboratory experiments (e.g., simulations), such successes in mis field experiments are rare. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that meaningful results can be obtained in an ira field experiment if the experimental design and technique of analysis are appropriate. Résumé Un des problèmes majeurs dans la recherche relative aux problèmes de gestion de l'information (sgi) est de contrǒler et mesurer les facteurs complexes de comportement et les facteurs organisationnels. Cette étude traite des difficultés que pose la recherche dans le domaine de l'analyse des exigences requises (aer) et examine la relation entre le concept de valeur de l'information et I'aer. La mesure de la valeur de l'information est donc identifiée comme source de difficulté expérimentale. L'usage d'évaluation subjective par les utulisateurs est suggéré à titre d'approche possible et l'absence d'expériences concluantes dans le domaine de I'aer est notée. Les raisons pour laquelle une expérience particulière menée avec des évaluations subjectives n'a pas fourni de résultats concluants ont ete examinées.     

More bang for the buck: Getting the most from accident investigations

An Incident Investigation system based on a combination of Fault Tree Analysis logic and the Deming Principles of Systems and Quality was developed during a three-year period. The system was given an excellent test in the investigation of the explosion of a tank car filled with methacrylic acid. In this case, the Event Tree constructed during the investigation was easily converted into a Fault Tree. The Fault Tree so constructed was then used to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed corrective changes to the production, loading, and analytical systems before the changes were actually implemented. By making use of these tools to guide the addition of feedback loops (“And” Gates in fault Tree terminology), the intrinsic safety of the methacrylic acid production and shipping system was greatly enhanced at a relatively low cost.     

Economic development lessons from and for North American Indian economies*

This paper reviews the literature on economic development as it relates to indigenous people in the United States and Canada, and focuses on how institutions affect economic development of reservation and reserve economies. Evidence shows that strong property rights to reservation and reserve land and natural resources, whether communal or individual, are and always have been important determinants of productivity. Political and legal institutions that are perceived as stable and predictable to tribal members and to non‐Natives also improve economic opportunities for indigenous people living on reservations and reserves. Research reviewed here also shows that culture and acculturation are important in the development process. Although our emphasis is on North America, the findings are applicable to indigenous people in other parts of the world and shed light on growth questions that loom large for developing countries around the world.     

Counting the cost: the reserve price scheme for wool 1970‐2001

This paper provides a policy commentary on the collapse in 1991 of the Australian Reserve Price Scheme for wool. A key cause of the collapse in the Scheme was a change in the RPS's governance arrangements, which led to increased political pressures to raise prices to unsustainable levels. In addition, in this paper an estimation has been made of the direct, upfront costs of the operation of the scheme, drawing on the financial accounts of the various agencies operating the RPS and subsequent wool stockpile. This was undertaken to determine the scale of the policy failure.     

On globalization ‘with Chinese characteristics’?

This Commentary looks at Globalization ‘with Chinese Characteristics’ (quanqiu hua yu zhongguo tese) as revealed through the lens of President Xi Jinping’s recent speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2017. In this, he sets out a positive role for the PRC in the ‘Globalization’ stakes. He also puts himself forward as ‘Expert’, rather than ‘Red’, in the ongoing polemic on the benefits of further reductions in barriers to doing business. But whether this may be taken at its face value remains to be seen. Whilst the Chinese appear to promote more of ‘Globalization’ and the Americans seem to retreat from the model, the world economic community may well suspend its judgement.     

Zur verteilungsfreien Ableitung der Streuung von Regressionskoeffizienten ohne Voraussetzung der Nullhypothese

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Supplier Development Responsibility and NPD Project Outcomes: The Roles of Monetary Quantification of Differences and Supporting‐Detail Gathering

Firms increasingly rely on suppliers to perform tasks in new product development (NPD). Research has only recently begun to focus on the processes to manage this supplier development responsibility, and has hardly investigated how firms collect and analyze information regarding the cost and performance of alternative supplier offerings. Our study addresses this gap, through a field survey among 144 paired samples of project leaders and cost analysts involved in the same NPD projects. On the basis of literature and qualitative research, we conceptualize a substantive model. We first use a substantive validity assessment to vet the measures for the proposed constructs. We then test the substantive model with structural equation modeling using a multiple‐sample analysis. The results strongly show that monetary quantification of differences and detail gathering play significant roles in successfully leveraging supplier development responsibility. The findings support the hypothesis that the extent of development responsibility that suppliers have leads the development team to a more focused monetary quantification of the differences in alternative supplier offerings. Monetary quantification of differences has a significant, positive effect on the extent of supporting‐detail gathering and on the development speed of the project, whereas supporting‐detail gathering has a significant, positive effect on the product advantage of the new product as well as development speed. These findings are robust across the two functional perspectives. Our study complements the literature on interfirm control and monitoring by demonstrating the effects of selective and focused output controls.