Provides answers to key questions affecting the future of electronic data interchange (EDI) and its impact on the business community as a whole. This evolving technology is cheaper than fax, easier to use than electronic bulletin boards and faster than the postal services. It contains practical information and alerts the reader to the level and types of controls necessary to protect data handled through the EDI system interface.

This book covers several new areas in the growing field of analytics with some innovative applications in different business contexts, and consists of selected presentations at the 6th IIMA International Conference on Advanced Data Analysis, Business Analytics and Intelligence. The book is conceptually divided in seven parts. The first part gives expository briefs on some topics of current academic and practitioner interests, such as data streams, binary prediction and reliability shock models. In the second part, the contributions look at artificial intelligence applications with chapters related to explainable AI, personalized search and recommendation, and customer retention management. The third part deals with credit risk analytics, with chapters on optimization of credit limits and mitigation of agricultural lending risks. In its fourth part, the book explores analytics and data mining in the retail context. In the fifth part, the book presents some applications of analytics to operations management. This part has chapters related to improvement of furnace operations, forecasting food indices and analytics for improving student learning outcomes. The sixth part has contributions related to adaptive designs in clinical trials, stochastic comparisons of systems with heterogeneous components and stacking of models. The seventh and final part contains chapters related to finance and economics topics, such as role of infrastructure and taxation on economic growth of countries and connectedness of markets with heterogenous agents, The different themes ensure that the book would be of great value to practitioners, post-graduate students, research scholars and faculty teaching advanced business analytics courses.

The fundamental reason for the existence of any manufacturing organization is to generate wealth by adding value to the products and services it offers. In this new global industrial environment, value is generated from many sources, such as rapid and flexible fulfillment of orders, developing new innovative products and services, providing rapid and responsive product and service support, delivering innovative turn-key solutions to customers, and so on. In the 21st century most manufacturing organizations will have to respond to these challenges through innovative partnerships, by creating virtual enterprises, by operating in agile networks to generate value by exploiting their existing competencies in design, manufacturing, distribution and customer service, whilst building new competencies in information systems, communications and knowledge management. Just as no man is an island, so no business can operate without being part of a network of businesses, which we call the manufacturing value chain. This book brings together the works of leading researchers to present state-of-the-art research and development on the strategic management of the manufacturing value chain' in the broadest sense. The objectives of Strategic Management of the Manufacturing Value Chain are: To provide insights into potential strategies, methods, tools and techniques which could facilitate competitiveness through innovation agility and partnership. To explore the use of enabling technologies, such as IT, in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. To provide practical case studies which demonstrate the use of new approaches to the generation and management of value in manufacturing. Strategic Managementof the Manufacturing Value Chain is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses of management and manufacturing, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry, commerce and government.

This book provides an overview of data mining methods demonstrated by software. Knowledge management involves application of human knowledge (epistemology) with the technological advances of our current society (computer systems) and big data, both in terms of collecting data and in analyzing it. We see three types of analytic tools. Descriptive analytics focus on reports of what has happened. Predictive analytics extend statistical and/or artificial intelligence to provide forecasting capability. It also includes classification modeling. Diagnostic analytics can apply analysis to sensor input to direct control systems automatically. Prescriptive analytics applies quantitative models to optimize systems, or at least to identify improved systems. Data mining includes descriptive and predictive modeling. Operations research includes all three. This book focuses on descriptive analytics. The book seeks to provide simple explanations and demonstration of some descriptive tools. This second edition provides more examples of big data impact, updates the content on visualization, clarifies some points, and expands coverage of association rules and cluster analysis. Chapter 1 gives an overview in the context of knowledge management. Chapter 2 discusses some basic software support to data visualization. Chapter 3 covers fundamentals of market basket analysis, and Chapter 4 provides demonstration of RFM modeling, a basic marketing data mining tool. Chapter 5 demonstrates association rule mining. Chapter 6 is a more in-depth coverage of cluster analysis. Chapter 7 discusses link analysis. Models are demonstrated using business related data. The style of the book is intended to be descriptive, seeking to explain how methods work, with some citations, but without deep scholarly reference. The data sets and software are all selected for widespread availability and access by any reader with computer links.

The Internet is already more widely deployed than any other computing system in history and continues to grow rapidly. New technologies, including high speed wide area network and improved software support for distribution, promise to make the Internet much more useful for general purpose distributed computing in the future. Web Information Systems is dedicated to the new era of information systems on web environments, due to not only the growing popularity of the web technology but also the roles that web technology play in modern information systems. The major elements of web information systems include web semantics, XML technologies, web mining and querying, web-based information systems, information extraction, and web semantics.

This open access book explores the digital transformation of small and rural towns, in particular, how to measure the evolution and development of digital towns. In addition to access to resources, competition from urban and global markets, and population trends, rural communities present lesser access and use of digital technologies and have lower digital competencies and skills than their urban counterparts. Consequently, they experience less beneficial outcomes from increased digitalisation than urban areas. This book defines what a digital town is and explores digitalisation from the perspective of the four basic economic sectors in towns - individuals and households, businesses, the public sector, and civil society - and three types of enabling infrastructure - digital connectivity, education, and governance. Particular attention is paid to how digitalisation efforts are measured by intergovernmental and international organisations for each sector and enabling infrastructure. The book concludes with a Digital Town Readiness Framework that offers local communities, policymakers, and scholars an initial set of indicators upon which to develop digital town initiatives, and measure progress. For those ready to embrace the opportunity, this book is a pathfinder on the road to a more equitable and impactful digital society and digital economy.

Organisational Semiotics occupies an important niche in the research community of human communication and information systems. It opens up new ways of understanding the functioning of information and information resources in organised behavior.

Coordination And Communication Using Signs: Studies in Organisational Semiotics is a cutting-edge volume that bridges the gap between the technical and social aspects of information systems and information technology. The chapters in the book are divided into two major sections. The first section deals with Communication and Pragmatics, and Organisational Systems. In this section the following topics are examined:

• the semiotic framework and natural language;
• coordination and communication using natural language and other artifacts in a real-life setting;
• substantive-level issues of information systems and business processes from several theoretical perspectives;
• language as action;
• communication quality in the context of systems and business processes;
• organisational action and Greimas' semiotics.

Section Two concentrates on organisational systems, which may or may not include a computer system as a component and examines the following topics:

• semiotic strategies and semiotic models of organisational structures;
• the impact of information technology with instructive case studies;
• the impact of information technology with a particular focus on sense-making in the work floor context;
• the design of computer information systems;
• improving the design quality of agent-based information systems;
• the design ofinformation systems, in terms of capacity, and data scheme.

All the chapters in the volume have been submitted to a review process of discussants and peer reviews.

This book examines the shifting role of media trust in a digital world, and critically analyzes how news and stories are created, distributed and consumed. Emphasis is placed on the current challenges and possible solutions to regain trust and restore credibility. The book reveals the role of trust in communication, in society and in media, and subsequently addresses media at the crossroads, as evinced by phenomena like gatekeepers, echo chambers and fake news. The following chapters explore truth and trust in journalism, the role of algorithms and robots in media, and the relation between social media and individual trust. The book then presents case studies highlighting how media creates trust in the contexts of: brands and businesses, politics and non-governmental organizations, science and education. In closing, it discusses the road ahead, with a focus on users, writers, platforms and communication in general, and on media competency, skills and education in particular.

This book combines, for the first time, the operations management and operations research concepts in lean and agile supply chain management (SCM) for achieving decreased uncertainty, increased productivity, and sustainability through the use of quality engineering techniques (QETs). The book serves as a beneficial supplementary read for supply chain management and logistics courses in operations management/operations research for industrial engineering or management departments as the book uses practical examples of QET applications in SCM in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, international shipping, and services. By reading this book, a wide range of audiences from general readers to students in industrial engineering or management fields will learn practical skills that can be utilized in the application of quality engineering techniques in lean and agile SCM.

Focusing on modern business systems from within the modern Russian context, this book examines how companies can become leading competitors globally within their industries through new decision making processes. Whilst current practices support the sustainability of a business system in terms of maintaining normal functionality and the prevention of crises, there is a need to consider the goals of leading organizations with larger business systems and greater resources. These goals can be more global in their focus and envisage the creation or strengthening of competitive advantages. Contributors of this book explore large scale industries specializing in hi-tech spheres of economy and instigate innovative activity in the face of high-levels of competition. Specific industries analyzed in this content include digital medicine, energy efficiency and car manufacturers. Using models of optimization and a range of real-world case studies, the book provides tools, technological analysis and techniques for practitioners to use within their own decision-making practices. For scholars researching business management, leadership and decision-making, this book also offers a useful insight into how optimized decision-making processes can be applied to the modern business system.

This concise yet comprehensive one-volume guide, the first to encompass the interrelated functions of information and records management, is designed to meet the needs of office records and information decision-makers, planners, and administrators. Focusing equally on theory and practice, it offers complete instruction on how to assess an organization's systeM's requirements, plan and develop an information and records management system, select vendors and equipment, set the system in motion, and use it effectively. Emphasizing the importance of the systeM's long-term effectiveness, the author provides guidelines on monitoring procedures, keeping abreast on industry and information-processing trends, and avoiding obsolescence. He includes many useful examples, forms, and other illustrative materials reflecting current business practice.

In an article for Wired Magazine in 2006, Jeff Howe defined crowdsourcing as an idea for outsourcing a task that is traditionally performed by a single employee to a large group of people in the form of an open call. Since then, by modifying crowdsourcing into different forms, some of the most successful new companies on the market have used this idea to make people's lives easier and better. On the other hand, software testing has long been recognized as a time-consuming and expensive activity. Mobile application testing is especially difficult, largely due to compatibility issues: a mobile application must work on devices with different operating systems (e.g. iOS, Android), manufacturers (e.g. Huawei, Samsung) and keypad types (e.g. virtual keypad, hard keypad). One cannot be 100% sure that, just because a tested application works well on one device, it will run smoothly on all others.Crowdsourced testing is an emerging paradigm that can improve the cost-effectiveness of software testing and accelerate the process, especially for mobile applications. It entrusts testing tasks to online crowdworkers whose diverse testing devices/contexts, experience, and skill sets can significantly contribute to more reliable, cost-effective and efficient testing results. It has already been adopted by many software organizations, including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. This book provides an intelligent overview of crowdsourced testing research and practice. It employs machine learning, data mining, and deep learning techniques to process the data generated during the crowdsourced testing process, to facilitate the management of crowdsourced testing, and to improve the quality of crowdsourced testing.

The production and consumption of information and communication technologies (or ICTs) are becoming deeply embedded within our societies. The influence and implications of this have an impact at a macro level, in the way our governments, economies, and businesses operate, andat a micro level in our everyday lives. This handbook is about the many challenges presented by ICTs. It sets out an intellectual agenda that examines the implications of ICTs for individuals, organizations, democracy, and the economy. Explicity interdisciplinary, and combining empirical research with theoretical work, it is organised around four themes covering the knowledge economy; organizational dynamics, strategy, and design; governance and democracy; and culture, community and new media literacies. It provides a comprehensive resource for those working in the social sciences, and in the physical sciences and engineering fields, with leading contemporary research informed principally by the disciplines of anthropology, economics, philosophy, politics, and sociology.

The digital traces that people leave behind as they conduct their daily lives provide a powerful resource for businesses to better understand the dynamics of an otherwise chaotic society. Digital technologies have become omnipresent in our lives and we still do not fully know how to make the best use of the data these technologies could harness. Businesses leveraging big data appropriately could definitely gain a sustainable competitive advantage. With a balanced mix of texts and cases, this book discusses a variety of digital technologies and how they transform people and organizations. It offers a debate on the societal consequences of the yet unfolding technological revolution and proposes alternatives for harnessing disruptive technologies for the greater benefit of all. This book will have wide appeal to academics in technology management, strategy, marketing, and human resource management.

This book presents the many facets, concepts and theories that have influenced knowledge management and the state of practice concerning strategy, organization, systems and economics. The second edition updates the material to cover the most recent developments in ICT-supported knowledge management. It also provides a more coverage of its theoretical foundation including a new account of knowledge work, discusses the potentials and challenges of process-oriented knowledge management, adds a new chapter on modelling that plays an important role in knowledge management initiatives and contrasts architectures for centralized and distributed or peer-to-peer knowledge management systems.

This book takes an in-depth look at the economics of digital transformation. Presenting a variety of perspectives from experts, it deals with the socioeconomic changes associated with the digital transformation of production systems. The chapters also address the impacts of digital transformation on the sustainable functioning of socioeconomic and environmental systems. Select chapters also investigate the consequences of adopting intelligent learning systems, both in terms of replacing the human labor force. and their effects on the smart digital management and security of cities, places, and people. Lastly, chapters discuss important questions regarding innovations leading to sustainable change.

Recent years have seen a radical upheaval in use of IT in the service and financial sectors. The turbulent conditions created by economic deregulation, political re-regulation and privatisation have produced considerable challenges to the effective and efficient management of IT. Managers Divided is concerned with the use and development of IT in commercial organisations. Its particular focus is on the major shifts that are taking place in the management and use of IT in organisations struggling to come to terms with a rapidly changing market and regulatory environments. It examines the deeply political nature of IT management, innovation and change. The authors analyse the shift from a technology-led to a strategic and marketing-led use of IT. They study the use and development of IT through detailed localised studies of management practice that are understood to be influenced by, and have consequences for, broader socio-political, economic, organisational, and technological conditions. Graduates and undergraduates studying corporate and strategic management, management information systems, work and employment gender research, organisation studies and finance will find this book an invaluable asset. Information Systems specialists and practitioners in financial services will find the book a useful source of information.

E-government faces huge challenges in achieving interoperability and integration, taking into account differences in laws, regulations, services, administrative processes and languages across regions and countries. On the other hand, issues like service, data and process integration have been researched by the Semantic Web community for several years now, and in the last two to three years we have witnessed the first applications of semantic technologies in real, operational e-government systems in both Europe and the US which address exactly these challenges.

With this book, the editors present the latest research results on how to use semantic technologies in order to improve or even revolutionize the use of ICT in public administration systems. The contributions are organized into three parts: architectures and process integration, ontologies and interoperability, and portals and user interactions. They give a broad overview of how semantic technologies have been applied in different e-government projects funded from the European program for ICT Research and Development, and they cover a wide spectrum of semantic technologies such as development of domain and service ontologies, semantic enhancements of business process models, semantic Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs) based on Semantic Web Services (SWS) frameworks, and ontology-based knowledge management.

In this volume, researchers of Semantic Web technologies will find a wealth of challenging real-world scenarios to stimulate new fields of research, while developers of e-government systems as well as other stakeholders in public administration will appreciate the detailed presentations and discussions of numerous applications in areas such as e-government portals, personalization of Web-based public services, or integration and orchestration of public administration processes.

This book provides a brief synthesis of the known implementations, opportunities and challenges at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and modern industry beyond the big-four companies that traditionally consume and produce such advanced technology: Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. With this information, the author also makes some reasonable claims about the role of AI in future industries. The book draws on a broad range of material, including reports from consulting firms, published surveys, academic papers and books, and expert knowledge available to the author due to numerous collaborations in academia and industry on AI. It is rigorous rather than speculative, drawing on known findings and expert summaries, where available. This provides industry leaders and other interested stakeholders with an accessible review of contemporary perspectives on AI's forward-looking role in industry as well as a clarifying guide on the major issues that companies are likely to face as they commence on this exciting path. Examines the likely role of AI in industries of the future, both known and unknown Presents use-cases of AI currently being explored across Big Tech, multi-national corporations and start-ups Explores the regulation of AI and its potential impacts on the workforce

A much-needed addition to literature, this timely edited collection aims to provide clarity and understanding on how modern organizations work. The authors explore the characteristics of hybrid organizations in contemporary society, taking into account the complex societal challenges that face businesses today. Arguing that hybrid organizations are in fact not a new phenomenon, this thought-provoking collection goes beyond existing research and re-evaluates our traditional understanding of this concept. Scholars of organization, management and innovation will find this book an insightful read, as it sheds light on the fundamental aspects that shape today's hybrid organizations.

Three years ago, the first Liquid Legal book compelled the legal profession to reassess its identity and to aspire to become a strategic partner for corporate executives as well as for clients. It also led to the foundation of the Liquid Legal Institute (LLI) - an association that sparks innovation and drives collaboration in the legal industry. This second Liquid Legal book builds on the LLI's progress and on the lessons learned by a legal community that has moved beyond focusing purely on LegalTech. It not only presents an outlook on how legal professionals will operate in the future, but also allows readers to develop a genuine understanding of the value of digitalization, standardization and new methodologies. Further, the book outlines a Common Legal Platform (CLP) and makes it the common point of departure for every author, offering inspiring insights from a wide range of forward-thinking experts who are all invested in driving new thinking within the legal ecosystem. The book also features "Liquid Legal Waves," which provide links between the various articles, connecting concrete ideas, practical solutions and specific topics and putting them into perspective, and so creating a true network of ideas for readers. A must read, this book is vibrant proof of the power of sharing, collaboration and coopetition, helping the legal profession to shape its digital future and revitalize its relevance while retaining a focus on the human lawyer.

This book responds to the increasing speed with which the domain of electronic procurement has been evolving, as well to the significant advances predicted to take place in the near future. Covering the fundamentals of electronic procurement as well as advanced applications, the main focus is on the critical importance of information technology for modern supply management professionals. Tracing the evolution of electronic procurement over the last 20 years, the book illustrates how the concept has evolved from a novel idea into a standard approach that cannot be neglected, fundamentally transforming business as usual. The transformation is highlighted by the evolution of online reverse auctions, as well as the ensuing expansion of technology to virtually all aspects of strategic sourcing in the form of integrated electronic sourcing suites. Several advances and new applications of electronic procurement are presented, with an emphasis on how social media can be leveraged for supply management and its associated significant potential.

This book provides state-of-the-art descriptions of smart service innovations in the industry, supported by novel scientific approaches. It gathers findings and insights presented at the fourth Smart Services Summit, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in October 2021, which primarily focused on how smart services have enabled companies to adapt during and to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book includes examples of remote and collaborative working that actively involve customers in service processes, requiring a change in mindset for more traditional firms. Moreover, it explores how services can be delivered faster and more affordable with the aid of new technologies and in collaboration with the customers, leading to new value propositions and business models and thus an evolution of smart services. Given its scope, the book offers an essential guide for practitioners and advanced students alike.

This book pulls together robust practices in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) from other disciplines and shows how they can be used in the area of Banking and Finance. In terms of empirical analysis techniques, Banking and Finance is a conservative discipline. As such, this book will raise awareness of the potential of PLS-SEM for application in various contexts. PLS-SEM is a non-parametric approach designed to maximize explained variance in latent constructs. Latent constructs are directly unobservable phenomena such as customer service quality and managerial competence. Explained variance refers to the extent we can predict, say, customer service quality, by examining other theoretically related latent constructs such as conduct of staff and communication skills. Examples of latent constructs at the microeconomic level include customer service quality, managerial effectiveness, perception of market leadership, etc.; macroeconomic-level latent constructs would be found in contagion of systemic risk from one financial sector to another, herd behavior among fund managers, risk tolerance in financial markets, etc. Behavioral Finance is bound to provide a wealth of opportunities for applying PLS-SEM. The book is designed to expose robust processes in application of PLS-SEM, including use of various software packages and codes, including R. PLS-SEM is already a popular tool in marketing and management information systems used to explain latent constructs. Until now, PLS-SEM has not enjoyed a wide acceptance in Banking and Finance. Based on recent research developments, this book represents the first collection of PLS-SEM applications in Banking and Finance. This book will serve as a reference book for those researchers keen on adopting PLS-SEM to explain latent constructs in Banking and Finance.

Business schools have been criticized for several things, such as lacking relevance, a too weak ethics orientation, dated paradigms, or commercialization. Simultaneously, there has been much positive change and accelerated dynamics toward forming future-ready companies and graduates. This book outlines how to better understand and master the digital transformation challenge. It is essential that business school deans, program directors, and faculty members embrace new opportunities to bring the UN-backed Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) to life successfully. Part of the Humanism in Business series, this book constitutes a valuable resource for leaders in universities and business schools, as well as individual faculty members aspiring to optimize how they respond to digital transformation. It can also be of use to those studying responsible management education, leadership and business ethics more generally.