Corporate Governance in Indonesia: A Study on Governance of Business Groups

This study deals with the issue of corporate governance in the case of Indonesian business groups. It examines what factors can be attributed to failures of corporate governance. Through case studies of six different types of business groups, it evidences that self-governance by owner-managers can function well if there is no other key stakeholder and no collusion with the government. When this is not the case, however, self-governance does not work, and governance by creditors or professional managers over owner-managers has limitations. For better corporate governance, there is a need not only for building internal governance mechanism of business groups, but also for strengthening external monitoring institutions including creditors, capital markets, the governmental as well as non-governmental systems.

Changes in source of profits and business strategies? : some evidence from the Philippines' universal banks in the 2000s

In the 2000s, the Philippines' local banking sector have conducted very conservative lending behavior and at the same time, gradually but continuously improved their profitability in terms of ROE (return on equity). A set of analyses on the flow of funds and segment reports (information) of local universal banks, whose loans outstanding to the industrial sector have dominated more than three fourths of the total outstanding, shows that (1) they have actively manage assets overseas, (2) their profitability has come from investment activities in the securities markets, and (3) some universal banks have shifted their resources into the consumer/retail segment. Although further refinement in the dataset is needed for a more detailed analysis, diverse business strategies would be expected among the local universal banks in the near future.

Characterization of ICT-based business models of social enterprises

In recent years new models for organizations working on overty alleviation have emerged. One of them, the social enterprise, has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners all over the world. Even if defined in different ways depending on the context, social enterprise has an enormous potential to generate social benefits and to promote local agency and private initiative in poverty alleviation. In this sense, it is fitting to highlight the importance of identifying the main standards that permit the characterization of diverse social enterprises, in order to understand their main specificities and guarantee value generation for low-income populations. Another crucial factor is understanding innovation as a critical factor in promoting social enterprises. A powerful tool to enhance the impact and application of this model is Information and Communication Technologies. In the 21st century,these tools allow users to find new ways of collaboration, new sustainable business models and a cost-effective way of scaling-up initiatives. This paper, a product of the collaborative research between the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the Universidade Federal Fluminense, examines different business models for social enterprises and the role that ICT can play in scale and impact of these initiatives

Efficiency analysis of information technology and online social networks management : an integrated DEA-Model assessment

This paper analyses the relationship between productive efficiency and online-social-networks (OSN) in Spanish telecommunications firms. A data-envelopment-analysis (DEA) is used and several indicators of business ?social Media? activities are incorporated. A super-efficiency analysis and bootstrapping techniques are performed to increase the model?s robustness and accuracy. Then, a logistic regression model is applied to characterise factors and drivers of good performance in OSN. Results reveal the company?s ability to absorb and utilise OSNs as a key factor in improving the productive efficiency. This paper presents a model for assessing the strategic performance of the presence and activity in OSN.

Exploring the economic value of personal information from firms' financial statements

Currently personal data gathering in online markets is done on a far larger scale and much cheaper and faster than ever before. Within this scenario, a number of highly relevant companies for whom personal data is the key factor of production have emerged. However, up to now, the corresponding economic analysis has been restricted primarily to a qualitative perspective linked to privacy issues. Precisely, this paper seeks to shed light on the quantitative perspective, approximating the value of personal information for those companies that base their business model on this new type of asset. In the absence of any systematic research or methodology on the subject, an ad hoc procedure is developed in this paper. It starts with the examination of the accounts of a number of key players in online markets. This inspection first aims to determine whether the value of personal information databases is somehow reflected in the firms’ books, and second to define performance measures able to capture this value. After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of possible approaches, the method that performs best under several criteria (revenue per data record) is selected. From here, an estimation of the net present value of personal data is derived, as well as a slight digression into regional differences in the economic value of personal information.

Business model for healthcare interoperability services

En la situación actual donde los sistemas TI sanitarios son diversos con modelos que van desde soluciones predominantes, adoptadas y creadas por grandes organizaciones, hasta soluciones a medida desarrolladas por cualquier empresa de la competencia para satisfacer necesidades concretas. Todos estos sistemas se encuentran bajo similares presiones financieras, no sólo de las condiciones económicas mundiales actuales y el aumento de los costes sanitarios, sino también bajo las presiones de una población que ha adoptado los avances tecnológicos actuales, y demanda una atención sanitaria más personalizable a la altura de esos avances tecnológicos que disfruta en otros ámbitos. El objeto es desarrollar un modelo de negocio orientado al soporte del intercambio de información en el ámbito clínico. El objetivo de este modelo de negocio es aumentar la competitividad dentro de este sector sin la necesidad de recurrir a expertos en estándares, proporcionando perfiles técnicos cualificados menos costosos con la ayuda de herramientas que simplifiquen el uso de los estándares de interoperabilidad. Se hará uso de especificaciones abiertas ya existentes como FHIR, que publica documentación y tutoriales bajo licencias abiertas. La principal ventaja que nos encontramos es que ésta especificación presenta un giro en la concepción actual de la disposición de información clínica, vista hasta ahora como especial por el requerimiento de estándares más complejos que solucionen cualquier caso por específico que sea. Ésta especificación permite hacer uso de la información clínica a través de tecnologías web actuales (HTTP, HTML, OAuth2, JSON, XML) que todo el mundo puede usar sin un entrenamiento particular para crear y consumir esta información. Partiendo por tanto de un mercado con una integración de la información casi inexistente, comparada con otros entornos actuales, hará que el gasto en integración clínica aumente dramáticamente, dejando atrás los desafíos técnicos cuyo gasto retrocederá a un segundo plano. El gasto se centrará en las expectativas de lo que se puede obtener en la tendencia actual de la personalización de los datos clínicos de los pacientes, con acceso a los registros de instituciones junto con datos ‘sociales/móviles/big data’.---ABSTRACT---In the current situation IT health systems are diverse, with models varying from predominant solutions adopted and created by large organizations, to ad-hoc solutions developed by any company to meet specific needs. However, all these systems are under similar financial pressures, not only from current global economic conditions and increased health care costs, but also under pressure from a population that has embraced the current technological advances, and demand a more personalized health care, up to those enjoyed by technological advances in other areas. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a business model aimed at the provision of information exchange within the clinical domain. It is intended to increase competitiveness in the health IT sector without the need for experts in standards, providing qualified technical profiles less expensively with the help of tools that simplify the use of interoperability standards. Open specifications, like FHIR, will be used in order to enable interoperability between systems. The main advantage found within FHIR is that introduces a shift in the current conception of available clinical information. So far seen, the clinical information domain IT systems, as a special requirement for more complex standards that address any specific case. This specification allows the use of clinical information through existing web technologies (HTTP, HTML, OAuth2, JSON and XML), which everyone can use with no particular training to create and consume this information. The current situation in the sector is that the integration of information is almost nonexistent, compared to current trends. Spending in IT health systems will increase dramatically within clinical integration for the next years, leaving the technical challenges whose costs will recede into the background. The investment on this area will focus on the expectations of what can be obtained in the current trend of personalization of clinical data of patients with access to records of institutions with ‘social /mobile /big data’.

Impact of automatic meetering infrastructure on multiutility business models

In the last decade energy utility sector has undergone major changes in terms of liberalization, increased competition, efforts in improving energy efficiency, and in new technological solution such as smart meter and grid operations. There are new information technology solutions (e.g. Advanced Metering Infrastructure /AMI ) on the horizon that will not only introduce new technical and organizational concepts, but have a very strong potential to radically change modus operandi of utility companies. Coordinated, multi-utility programs can help accelerate the development and market success of new high-efficiency technologies. These programs provide opportunities for researchers to develop new high-efficiency equipment for manufacturers to sell this new equipment with utility help, for utilities to increase the amount of energy they save from incentive programs, and for consumers to benefit from lower utility bills and a cleaner environment (as energy is reduced, pollutants produced at power plants decline).

Inter-organizational information systems adoption for service innovation in building sector

The building sector has experienced a significant decline in recent years in Spain and Europe as a result of the financial crisis that began in 2007. This drop accompanies a low penetration of information and communication technologies in inter-organizational oriented business processes. The market decrease is causing a slowdown in the building sector, where only flexible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survive thanks to specialization and innovation in services, which allow them to face new market demands. Inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) support innovation in services, and are thus a strategic tool for SMEs to obtain competitive advantage. Because of the inherent complexity of IOIS adoption, this research extends Kurnia and Johnston's (2000) theoretical model of IOIS adoption with an empirical model of IOIS characterization. The resultant model identifies the factors influencing IOIS adoption in SMEs in the building sector, to promote further service innovation for competitive and collaborative advantages. An empirical longitudinal study over six consecutive years using data from Spanish SMEs in the building sector validates the model, using the partial least squares technique and analyzing temporal stability. The main findings of this research are the four ways an IOIS might contribute to service innovation in the building sector. Namely: a) improving client interfaces and the link between service providers and end users; b) defining a specific market where SMEs can develop new service concepts; c) enhancing the service delivery system in traditional customer?supplier relationships; and d) introducing information and communication technologies and tools to improve information management.

An Evening with Dr. Venus Opal Reese, Motivational Speaker, Business Woman, and Author

This Droppin' Knowledge Lecture Series will challenge the audience to "defy the impossible". Dr. Venus Opal Reese will offer insight on how to achieve success on Thursday, September 17, at 6:30pm in Martin Luther King Hall-Thomas Pawley Theature, 812 E. Dunklin Street. Reese, an inspirational speaker, business mentor and marketing strategist, offers training to professionals, particularly entrepreneurs and executives, on how to "defy their impossible" to reach million-dollar success. Reese has consulted for O Magazines, and appeared on ABC and CBS News. For more information on Dr. Venus Opal Reese, please visit http://defyimpossible.com.

Open business intelligence: on the importance of data quality awareness in user-friendly data mining

Citizens demand more and more data for making decisions in their daily life. Therefore, mechanisms that allow citizens to understand and analyze linked open data (LOD) in a user-friendly manner are highly required. To this aim, the concept of Open Business Intelligence (OpenBI) is introduced in this position paper. OpenBI facilitates non-expert users to (i) analyze and visualize LOD, thus generating actionable information by means of reporting, OLAP analysis, dashboards or data mining; and to (ii) share the new acquired information as LOD to be reused by anyone. One of the most challenging issues of OpenBI is related to data mining, since non-experts (as citizens) need guidance during preprocessing and application of mining algorithms due to the complexity of the mining process and the low quality of the data sources. This is even worst when dealing with LOD, not only because of the different kind of links among data, but also because of its high dimensionality. As a consequence, in this position paper we advocate that data mining for OpenBI requires data quality-aware mechanisms for guiding non-expert users in obtaining and sharing the most reliable knowledge from the available LOD.

A system to communicate hidden information using color images

The objective of this paper is to present a system to communicate hidden information among different users by means of images. The tasks that the system is able to carry on can be divided in two different groups of utilities, implemented in java. The first group of utilities are related with the possibility to hide information in color images, using a steganographic function based on the least significant bit (LSB) methods. The second group of utilities allows us to communicate with other users with the aim to send or receive images, where some information have been previously embedded. Thus, this is the most significant characteristic of the implementation, we have built an environment where we join the email capabilities to send and receive text and images as attached files, with the main objective of hiding information.

Information systems offshore outsourcing: managerial conclusions from academic research

In the light of the growing interest raised by Information Systems Offshore Outsourcing both in the managerial world and in the academic arena, the present work carries out a revision of the research in this area. We have analysed 89 research articles on this topic published in 17 prestigious journals. The analysis deals with aspects such as research methodologies, level of analysis in the studies, data perspective, economic theories used or location of vendors and clients of these services; and it additionally identifies the most frequent topics in this field as well as the most prolific authors and countries. Although other reviews about the research in this area have been published, the present paper achieves a greater level of detail than previous works. The review of the literature in the area could have interesting implications not only for academics but also for business practice.

Applying model-driven engineering to the development of Rich Internet Applications for Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) applications have been gradually ported to the Web in search of a global platform for the consumption and publication of data and services. On the Internet, apart from techniques for data/knowledge management, BI Web applications need interfaces with a high level of interoperability (similar to the traditional desktop interfaces) for the visualisation of data/knowledge. In some cases, this has been provided by Rich Internet Applications (RIA). The development of these BI RIAs is a process traditionally performed manually and, given the complexity of the final application, it is a process which might be prone to errors. The application of model-driven engineering techniques can reduce the cost of development and maintenance (in terms of time and resources) of these applications, as they demonstrated by other types of Web applications. In the light of these issues, the paper introduces the Sm4RIA-B methodology, i.e., a model-driven methodology for the development of RIA as BI Web applications. In order to overcome the limitations of RIA regarding knowledge management from the Web, this paper also presents a new RIA platform for BI, called RI@BI, which extends the functionalities of traditional RIAs by means of Semantic Web technologies and B2B techniques. Finally, we evaluate the whole approach on a case study—the development of a social network site for an enterprise project manager.

An overview of the Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems

This introduction provides an overview of the state-of-the-art technology in Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems. Specifically, we analyze the need for such technologies to successfully address the new challenges of modern information systems, in which the exploitation of the Web as a main data source on business systems becomes a key requirement. It will also discuss the reasons why Human Language Technologies themselves have shifted their focus onto new areas of interest very directly linked to the development of technology for the treatment and understanding of Web 2.0. These new technologies are expected to be future interfaces for the new information systems to come. Moreover, we will review current topics of interest to this research community, and will present the selection of manuscripts that have been chosen by the program committee of the NLDB 2011 conference as representative cornerstone research works, especially highlighting their contribution to the advancement of such technologies.

Control of Redundant Joint Structures Using Image Information During the Tracking of Non-Smooth Trajectories

Visual information is increasingly being used in a great number of applications in order to perform the guidance of joint structures. This paper proposes an image-based controller which allows the joint structure guidance when its number of degrees of freedom is greater than the required for the developed task. In this case, the controller solves the redundancy combining two different tasks: the primary task allows the correct guidance using image information, and the secondary task determines the most adequate joint structure posture solving the possible joint redundancy regarding the performed task in the image space. The method proposed to guide the joint structure also employs a smoothing Kalman filter not only to determine the moment when abrupt changes occur in the tracked trajectory, but also to estimate and compensate these changes using the proposed filter. Furthermore, a direct visual control approach is proposed which integrates the visual information provided by this smoothing Kalman filter. This last aspect permits the correct tracking when noisy measurements are obtained. All the contributions are integrated in an application which requires the tracking of the faces of Asperger children.