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Knowledge
Management Systems and Performance Analysis in Electronic
Business Models
-- Ilídio
Tomás Lopes and
Ana Maria G Rodrigues
The
convergence of several fundamental strands has resulted
in the digital economy as an economy of knowledge which
is in character, brawny virtual, molecular, network-based,
convergent, innovative, participative and global. It tends
towards gradually eliminating intermediaries in trade. The
traditional value chain, whose scope of application is essentially
industrial, has ceased to be meaningful, and has been replaced
by business models structured around powerful "networks".
Today, traditional rules have been replaced, increasing
innovation has cut both the costs and time needed to produce
and distribute a product and/or service, and innovations
are imitated by rivals almost instantaneously. Some examples
of electronic business models in the digital economy are
models of an aggregating and integrating nature based on
alliances, or simply open market-type models. Strategy maps
help companies to better understand their knowledge management
processes in order to create value and achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage. The new dimension and typology of
business, the failure of traditional indicators with the
trend in the financial markets, and the re-organization
of corporate structures require specialized tools. Every
business model is an expression of a new dimensional logic,
where information sharing, the use of communal structures,
the speed of technological developments, the heightened
use of resources, and its modular nature, demand for different-strategies.
This paper focuses on the balanced scorecard tool as an
effective tool in achieving a sustainable value standard.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Offshoring
Knowledge-worker Jobs: Boom or Burst for the US Economy?
-- Balaji
Janamanchi and James R Burns
This
takes a system dynamics perspective of the contemporary
trend of "Offshoring Knowledge-worker Jobs from the
USA" to gain a better and deeper understanding of the
results and implications of the trend, its impact on the
jobs and workforce dynamics. The results not only support
the viewpoint of economists that offshoring is beneficial
to the economy, but also highlight another impending phenomenon
just round the corner, namely, the slow rate of growth of
workforce. Net US workforce growth is slowing because 71
million baby boomers are beginning to retire. In this context,
model outputs suggest that offshoring is postponing the
undesirable state of US jobs outstripping the US workforce
for nearly five years. Thereby, policy-makers have longer
time to find effective solutions to tackle the impending
shortage of workforce in decades to follow. The model suggests
that offshoring could not have come at a better time for
the US economy.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Learning
Object Repositories: An Emerging Knowledge Management Tool
for Sharing and Reusing Learning Resources
--
Gayatri
Doctor and Smitha Ramachandran
In
today's knowledge-driven economy, academic institutions
are finding it difficult to manage their knowledge resources
and cope with demanding situations. Knowledge resources,
on the other hand, have gained importance and hold the key
to scholarly teaching and learning environment. Against
this backdrop, academic institutions want to equip their
students with necessary skills to make them ready to take
on the challenges of an ever-evolving enterprise. This requires
an educator who is no longer only a "dispenser of knowledge"
but also a "facilitator of learning". A Learning
Object (LO) is a "modular digital resource," a
discrete piece of content that has educational value. Learning
objects that are stored in databases or archives are called
as Learning Object Repositories. Faculties/teachers can
make use of these LOs simultaneously within and between
academic institutions and enhance the teaching and learning
quality. This paper introduces the concept of a Learning
Object Repository (LOR) and discusses the need for a learning
object repository in academic institutions for effective
teaching and knowledge sharing. It explores the practical
problems emerging in this context, like faculty participation,
quality of learning objects, quality of metadata, etc.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
E-nnovation:
The Imperative
-- Manoj
Pandey
E-business
is the integration of technology with business processes
and leveraging it to gather or enhance information about
customers' and fine-tuning activities. It provides companies
on edge over others, by allowing them to make strategic
adjustments and to take decisions according to the customer
needs. This paper talks about the effect of e-business innovations
and the need to streamline organizational processes, products
and services accordingly. It identifies customer, competition,
change and innovation as the most important components of
organizations adopting e-business, and enunciates that innovation
is significant to the survival and growth of such organizations.
It advocates the need to distinguish between production-based
thinking versus innovation-based thinking and to have successful
customers rather than satisfied customers. The paper suggests
that the scale and scope of technology investments require
a clear understanding of the e-business fundamentals and
that the challenge lies in mapping business needs to e-business
solutions.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Case
Study
Knowledge
Management at BP
-- Amit Singh
Sisodiya
BP,
previously called British Petroleum, one of the largest
oil companies in the world, has benefited immensely by embedding
Knowledge Management (KM) into its strategy. The company,
whose operations span across 100 countries in six continents,
has successfully used a host of KM tools in its exploration
activities, saving millions of dollars in cost and reduced
project time.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
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