Is more IT offshoring better?: An exploratory study of western companies offshoring to South East Asia

We explore the link between a company's performance and the extent of its offshoring of IT-enabled services, focusing on large western companies. Our performance measures comprise sales, profit as percentage of sales, profit/employee and sales/employee over 1999–2004. To measure offshoring, we consider the extent to which these companies have offshored: (1) software development and other IT-related development and maintenance, (2) business processes such as payroll or claims processing, and (3) call centers. We performed cluster analysis using the three corresponding offshoring variables to obtain broad patterns of offshoring. Then we compared the average performance of the companies in different clusters using ANOVA; did a regression analysis of the performance measures against the three offshoring variables; and performed non-parametric correlations within industry sectors. None of these tests indicated any clear link between company performance and the extent of offshoring thus suggesting that further study is needed to understand when to offshore and how best to do it.     

Pattern of information technology use: The impact on buyer–suppler coordination and performance

The use of information technologies between supply chain organizations has been shown to promote organizational coordination and have a positive impact on performance. Drawing from organizational theories of learning, we build on this research by proposing a model that relates the pattern of supplier use of IT to specific types of supply chain coordination activities and a comprehensive set of organizational benefits. Specifically, we evaluate how two patterns of IT use by suppliers (exploitation and exploration) relate to two specific types of coordination activities with their buyers (operational and strategic coordination), which in turn are posited to promote specific organizational benefits. Using data from 241 first-tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, our findings show that each pattern of IT use directly promotes a specific type of coordination activity. Although both types of coordination activities are needed to achieve both strategic and operational benefits, we find each coordination activity to be uniquely promoted by a specific pattern of IT use. IT use for exploitation is found to be an antecedent to operational coordination; IT use for exploration is found to be an antecedent to strategic coordination. No crossover between pattern of use and coordination activities is found. Our findings show that to achieve a complete set of benefits, suppliers must ultimately use IT for both exploration and exploitation. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the pattern of IT use can result in a comprehensive set of organizational benefits for supplier firms.     

IT外包项目的团队管理研究

团队管理是IT外包项目成功的重要因素之一。文章分析了IT外包项目的团队体系架构和矩阵结构管理模式,着重介绍了团队的动态管理,包括流失预警、职业规划、培训及绩效评估等多种机制。在此基础上,结合激励及约束手段来维护团队的优质稳定。     

企业信息安全问题及解决方案

企业信息安全是目前我国企业普遍存在的问题,企业信息系统的安全成为企业信息化建设的一个重要课题,文章从企业网络防护体系、操作系统防护体系、防病毒体系等方面论述、探讨了如何将企业的信息安全提高到一个较高的水平。     

Information technology investment strategies: a review and synthesis of the literature

In spite of high importance of information technology (IT) investments, managers do not have sufficient guidelines to formulate IT investment strategy of a firm. In this paper, we review the literature to determine the factors that influence the IT investment strategy. The concept of IT investment strategy so far considered two domains: intensity and proactiveness; we enhance this concept by adding the domain of investment focus. Through this review, we made an attempt to answer three strategic questions related to IT investments: (i) level of investment that a firm should make in IT, that is, investment intensity; (ii) areas of firm where these investments should be more focused, that is, investment focus; and (iii) timing of investment, that is, whether to be an early mover in adopting IT or whether to invest relatively late compared to competitors.     

银行信息系统外包及其风险管理研究——以C银行风险管理为例

银行投入了大量的资金进行IT建设,优化业务流程,提高服务效率,其普遍采用的方法是外包。但是,在开发和外包过程中,由于缺乏对项目的风险管理,问题不断产生,可能直接影响项目的上线。银行IT外包风险管理的一个有效手段就是对该风险的预先防范,对每个风险事件的风险影响程度、风险产生概率进行评估,为IT外包风险管理提供科学的依据,提高风险管理的效率和质量。本文详细地辨识了银行IT外包风险的风险源,并以C银行IT外包为背景,运用Borda方法对各种风险进行了评估。在此基础上,分析了风险的控制和防范策略,为银行业IT外包风险管理提供了一个实用而有效的菅理范式。     

管理创新的动态适配力提升案例研究——基于领导者系统思考的视角

本文从领导者系统思考的视角,对某个省级合作金融机构的IT资源监控管理系统的建设过程进行深入分析,分析结果表明,领导者的系统思考行为和能力能够帮助发展落后的企业弥补资源能力和创新能力的不足,提高由Beer等人归纳的包括合作能力、竞争能力等在内的七大组织能力,从而提升企业的动态适配力,保证管理创新的成功。验证了Beer等人构建的组织适配力模型对于发展落后企业的适用性。     

“国外引进”还是“自主发展”？——对我国政府信息系统审计发展途径的探讨

对于我国政府信息系统审计发展途径这个问题,学界一直有着不同的看法,其中存在＂国外引进＂与＂自主发展＂两种典型的观点。事实上,单纯依靠＂国外引进＂是行不通的,＂自主发展＂虽然还存在很多问题,但却是最终发展的方向。因此当前除了对国外理论进行消化外,研究者和审计人员还需要不断探索、试错和创新,逐步形成适合我国现状的政府信息系统审计体系。     

政府制度性资源与IT中小企业创新——相关研究述评与未来研究展望

文章系统梳理了政府制度性资源和IT中小企业创新的研究文献。首先立足于理论研究,总结了政府制度性资源的国内外理论流派,以及政府制度性资源如何影响企业创新的相关理论基础;其次归纳了前人的相关实证研究,分别从技术创新政策体系的实证研究、技术创新主体宏观层面的实证研究、技术创新主体微观层面的实证研究三方面进行综述;最后对相关领域研究前沿进行了展望,指出关注发展中国家情境因素、细分制度性资源种类、引入效果逻辑理论、关注制度交互等方面将是未来研究的突破口。     

制造商IT资源、合同治理与分销商渠道投机

从交易成本视角入手并结合信息系统相关研究,文章分析了制造商IT资源对其合同治理手段的影响,以及对分销商渠道投机的抑制作用。经由实地收集的数据实证检验发现：第一,制造商的IT设备越先进,越有助于其与分销商制定更细致的一般合同条款与意外情况合同条款。第二,制造商IT人员提供的支持越多,则越有助于其与分销商制定更细致的一般合同条款与意外情况条款。第三,只有更细致的一般合同条款可以有效地抑制分销商投机,但更细致的意外情况条款则无助于降低分销商的投机。最后,根据上述研究结论,文章给出了企业怎样使用IT资源来提高渠道合同控制效率的相关建议。