Public service motivation and performance: a critical perspective

Purpose – A growing body of literature points to the importance of public service motivation (PSM) for the performance of public organizations. The purpose of this paper is to assess the method predominantly used for studying this linkage by comparing the findings it yields without and with a correction suggested by Brewer (2006), which removes the common-method bias arising from employee-specific response tendencies. Design/methodology/approach – First, the authors conduct a systematic review of published empirical research on the effects of PSM on performance and show that all studies found have been conducted at the individual level. Performance indicators in all but three studies were obtained by surveying the same employees who were also asked about their PSM. Second, the authors conduct an empirical analysis. Using survey data from 240 organizational units within the Swiss federal government, the paper compares results from an individual-level analysis (comparable to existing research) to two analyses where the data are aggregated to the organizational level, one without and one with the correction for common-method bias suggested by Brewer (2006). Findings – Looking at the Attraction to Policy-Making dimension of PSM, there is an interesting contrast: While this variable is positively correlated with performance in both the individual-level analysis and the aggregated data analysis without the correction for common-method bias, it is not statistically associated with performance in the aggregated data analysis with the correction. Originality/value – The analysis is the first to assess the robustness of the performance-PSM linkage to a correction for common-method bias. The findings place the validity of at least one part of the individual-level linkage between PSM and performance into question.

A Case for CDN-as-a-Service in the Cloud: A Mobile Cloud Networking Argument

Content Distribution Networks are mandatory components of modern web architectures, with plenty of vendors offering their services. Despite its maturity, new paradigms and architecture models are still being developed in this area. Cloud Computing, on the other hand, is a more recent concept which has expanded extremely quickly, with new services being regularly added to cloud management software suites such as OpenStack. The main contribution of this paper is the architecture and the development of an open source CDN that can be provisioned in an on-demand, pay-as-you-go model thereby enabling the CDN as a Service paradigm. We describe our experience with integration of CDNaaS framework in a cloud environment, as a service for enterprise users. We emphasize the flexibility and elasticity of such a model, with each CDN instance being delivered on-demand and associated to personalized caching policies as well as an optimized choice of Points of Presence based on exact requirements of an enterprise customer. Our development is based on the framework developed in the Mobile Cloud Networking EU FP7 project, which offers its enterprise users a common framework to instantiate and control services. CDNaaS is one of the core support components in this project as is tasked to deliver different type of multimedia content to several thousands of users geographically distributed. It integrates seamlessly in the MCN service life-cycle and as such enjoys all benefits of a common design environment, allowing for an improved interoperability with the rest of the services within the MCN ecosystem.

Information Technology Outsourcing: Towards Sustainable Business Value

This book attempts to synthesize research that contributes to a better understanding of how to reach sustainable business value through information systems (IS) outsourcing. Important topics in this realm are how IS outsourcing can contribute to innovation, how it can be dynamically governed, how to cope with its increasing complexity through multi-vendor arrangements, how service quality standards can be met, how corporate social responsibility can be upheld, and how to cope with increasing demands of internationalization and new sourcing models, such as crowdsourcing and platform-based cooperation. These issues are viewed from either the client or vendor perspective, or both. The book should be of interest to all academics and students in the fields of Information Systems, Management, and Organization as well as corporate executives and professionals who seek a more profound analysis and understanding of the underlying factors and mechanisms of outsourcing.

Information Systems Outsourcing: Towards Sustainable Business Value

This book attempts to synthesize research that contributes to a better understanding of how to reach sustainable business value through information systems (IS) outsourcing. Important topics in this realm are how IS outsourcing can contribute to innovation, how it can be dynamically governed, how to cope with its increasing complexity through multi-vendor arrangements, how service quality standards can be met, how corporate social responsibility can be upheld and how to cope with increasing demands of internationalization and new sourcing models, such as crowdsourcing and platform-based cooperation. These issues are viewed from either the client or vendor perspective, or both. The book should be of interest to all academics and students in the fields of Information Systems, Management and Organization as well as corporate executives and professionals who seek a more profound analysis and understanding of the underlying factors and mechanisms of outsourcing.

Platforms and firm capabilities : a study of emerging global value chains

This paper discusses globalization’s impact on production and distribution systems in emerging economies. On one hand, globalization has resulted in an increasing number of multinational corporations to adopt a platform strategy for their customers in emerging markets. On the other hand, developing countries have witnessed the integration of an increasing number of traditional marketplaces into a powerful distribution system, characterized as a specialized market system. Consequently, an unique industrial organization has developed in emerging economies, regarded as emerging global value chains (EGVCs). They comprise a large number of small firms together with a small number of large platform providers and display the "market" type general governance patterns. Firms in EGVCs are more likely to realize functional upgrading and grow into strong lead firms.

Establishing global value chains through the liberalization of trade in services

This paper addresses the importance of establishing global value chains through the liberalization of trade in services. A database has revealed rather disconnected policy arrangements across APEC members in terms of service trade liberalization. While the economic benefits arising from harmonized and liberalized policy across APEC members are widely recognized in the business sector, relevant policy coordination seems to be missing. With this in mind, APEC could work on establishing its own harmonized "service trade commitment table" that would be centered on simple foreign capital participation criteria. This would surely contribute to forming an APEC-wide global value chain.

An extended approach for service innovation study: an empirical research

Initially, service sector was defined as complementary to manufacturing sector. This situation has changed in recent times; services growth has resulted in a dominance of employment and economic activity in most developed nations and is becoming a key process for the competitiveness of their industrial sectors. New services related to commodities have become a strategy to differentiate their value proposition (Robinson et al., 2002). The service sector's importance is evident when evaluating its share in the gross domestic product. According to the World Bank (2011), in 2009, 74.8% of GDP in the euro area and 77.5% in United States were attributed to services. Globalization and use of information and communication technology has accelerated dissemination of knowledge and increasing customer expectations about services available worldwide. Innovation becomes essential to ensure that service organizations respond with appropriate products and services for each market segment. Customized and placed on time-tomarket new services require a more developed innovation process. Service innovation and new service development process are cited as one of the priorities for academic research in the following years (Karniouchina et al., 2005) This paper has the following objectives: -To present a model for the analysis of innovation process through the service value network, -To verify its applicability through an empirical research, and -To identify the path and mode of innovation for a group of studied organizations and to compare it with previous studies.

Auto component supply chain: a path to global India

Supply chain management works to bring the supplier, the distributor, and the customer into one cohesive process. The Supply Chain Council defined supply chain as ‘Supply Chain: The flow and transformation of raw materials into products from suppliers through production and distribution facilities to the ultimate consumer., and then Sunil Chopra and Meindl, (2001) have define Supply chain management as ‘Supply Chain Management involves the flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximize total profitability.’ After 1950, supply chain management got a boost with the production and manufacturing sector getting highest attention. The inventory became the responsibility of the marketing, accounting and production areas. Order processing was part of accounting and sales. Supply chain management became one of the most powerful engines of business transformation. It is the one area where operational efficiency can be gained. It reduces organizations costs and enhances customer service. With the liberalization of world trade, globalization, and emergence of the new markets, many organizations have customers and competitions throughout the world, either directly or indirectly. Business communities are aware that global competitiveness is the key to the success of a business. Competitiveness is ability to produce, distribute and provide products and services for the open market in competition with others. The supply chain, a critical link between supplier, producer and customer is emerged now as an essential business process and a strategic lever, potential value contributor a differentiator for the success of any business. Supply chain management is the management of all internal and external processes or functions to satisfy a customer’s order (from raw materials through conversion and manufacture through logistics delivery.). Goods-either in raw form or processed, whole sale or retailed distribution, business or technology services, in everyday life- in the business or household- directly or indirectly supply chain is ubiquitously associated in expanding socio-economic development. Supply chain growth competitive performance and supporting strong growth impulse at micro as well as micro economic levels. Keeping the India vision at the core of the objective, the role of supply chain is to take up social economic challenges, improve competitive advantages, develop strategies, built capabilities, enhance value propositions, adapt right technology, collaborate with stakeholders and deliver environmentally sustainable outcomes with minimum resources.

Reverse logistics systems for waste generated throughout vehicles life-cycle

Waste produced during the service life of automobiles has received much less attention than end-of-life vehicles themselves. In this paper, we deal with the set up of a reverse logistics system for the collection and treatment of use-phase residues. First, the type of waste arising during vehicles? service life is characterized. Data were collected in collaboration with SIGRAUTO, the product stewardship organization in charge of vehicles? recovery in Spain. Next, three organizational models are proposed. The three alternatives are benchmarked and assessed from a double organizational and operational perspective for the particular case of the Madrid region in Spain