Business Strategy in the Wired World: Competing for Market Leadership and Mind Share Ajit Kambil
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
akambil@stern.nyu.edu

Replaced by IS-96-23.

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Alex Tuzhilin
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
acroker@stern.nyu.edu, atuzhili@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: Numerous proposals for extending the relational data model to incorporate the temporal dimension of data have appeared over the past decade. It has long been known that these proposals have adopted one of two basic approaches to the incorporation of time into the extended relational model. Recent work formally contrasted the expressive power of these two approaches, termed temporally ungrouped and temporally grouped, and demonstrated that the temporally grouped models are more expressive. In the temporally ungrouped models, the temporal dimension is added through the addition of some number of distinguished attributes to the schema of each relation, and each tuple is "stamped" with temporal values for these attributes. By contrast, in temporally grouped models the temporal dimension is added to the types of values that serve as the domain of each ordinary attribute, and the application's schema is left intact. The recent appearance of TSQL2, a temporal extension to the SQL-92 standard based upon the temporally ungrouped paradigm, means that it is likely that commercial DBMS's will be extended to support time in this weaker way. Thus the distinction between these two approaches - and its impact on the day-to-day user of a DBMS - is of increasing relevance to the database practitioner and the database user community. In this paper we address this issue from the practical perspective of such a user. Through a series of example queries and updates, we illustrate the differences between these two approaches and demonstrate that the temporally grouped approach more adequately captures the semantics of historical data.

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Ajit Kambil
akambil@stern.nyu.edu
EDGAR Homepage
AKAMBIL Homepage

David Meyer

Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University

ABSTRACT: Visual Organizations is a software tool designed to support the representation, analysis and modeling of complex business organizations and networks. This paper describes the motivation for constructing Visual Organizations, highlighting its architecture and key features. We discuss how it can be applied by managers to better understand their organizations and business environments as well as by researchers to systematically describe and collect data in the study of organizations.

We propose that software tools such as Visual Organizations are vitally necessary to the representation and study of complex organizations. The construction and advancement of such tools should provide a basis for advances in MIS and organizational research.

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Gregory E. Truman
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
truman@mary.fordham.edu

Note: Professor Truman, formerly with NYU, is now is a member of the faculty in the Decision and Information Sciences Department, Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham University, New York City (October 1995)

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a measurement instrument for diagnosing the level of data integration at the organization and organization subunit levels. Incorporating consideration for specific theoretical properties elated to data integration into its design, the measurement instrument relies on a discrepancy (or gap) measure to adequately account for these properties. Data from forty-eight organizations of the Group Insurance industry are used to test the reliability and validity of the measurement instrument. The results suggest that the discrepancy measure, based on the difference between respondents' ideal (i.e., normative) and actual estimates of data integration, appears to be a valid indicator of data integration. However, the efficacy of using a discrepancy measure, over the simpler user of its parts, must be considered in light of practical and theoretical considerations.

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Tomas Isakowitz
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
tomas@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: Hypermedia technology is experiencing a rapid growth due, in large part, to the WWW. Many hypermedia applications, especially those on the WWW have a distributed design besides being physically spread among many servers. A distributed design is a design that varies, albeit slightly, form instance to instance. However, such design variances can lead to undesirable inconsistencies that can render a hypermedia application useless. This paper explodes this problem and presents a solution based on a methodological approach to hypermedia design and construction. The methods are illustrated via a sample application.

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Ajit Kambil
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
akambil@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: The Internet and the emerging global infostructure pose new opportunities and threats to businesses. This paper looks at the implications of these emerging low cost communications infrastructures on business practice and strategy. Using illustrative examples based on business use of the Internet, I examine how firms are using the Internet to improve innovation, production, sales, and service processes. Next I consider the effects of lower communications and coordination costs on business practices and strategies. Specifically, I propose that widespread use of the Internet and related technologies will dramatically reduce transaction costs, leading to a growth in electronic commerce and productivity. At the same time, the reduction in transactions and coordination costs will reduce the profit opportunities of inefficient firms, requiring them to re-focus their strategies. This paper identifies foci for strategic responses to the above challenges.

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Hugues Levecq
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
hlevecq@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT for IS-95-21: to be furnished.

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Hugues Levecq
Bruce W. Weber
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
hlevecq@stern.nyu.edu, bweber@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: The internationalization of financial markets and the increasing demand for risk management products have fueled the growth of derivatives markets. While most exchanges have experienced increasing volumes over recent years, the pace of growth varies widely across exchanges, and the established marketplaces face increasing competitive pressures. In this paper, we investigate whether the trading mechanism offered to derivatives investors influences growth in market volumes. In particular, we distinguish between manual open outcry and electronic trading. In a floor market, traders gather in a pit and announce their orders. They complete trades using a combination of hand signals and eye contact. In an electronic market, orders are submitted to a central order book, and trades are created according to a matching algorithm. Using volume data from 1990-1994 for futures and options exchanges worldwide, we compute growth rates for the largest contracts and find that contracts traded in screen-based exchanges have experienced faster growth than those traded in manual markets. We discuss several interpretations of the data, but conclude that electronic exchanges are developing a competitive advantage.

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Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
hlevecq@stern.nyu.edu, bweber@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: Modern financial markets compete aggressively for trading activity and investor interest. Information technology, once a crucial element in streamlining paper flows and operations, is now a strategic resource used in attracting or retaining market liquidity. Established exchanges introduce technology to enhance their markets. New market venues challenge the status quo and rely on technology to offer diverse services to increasingly sophisticated investors. In this paper, we examine the strategic design decisions embedded in these new electronic trading systems. Design decisions are critical, as they determine the market microstructure which influences investing strategies, pattern of trade, liquidity and volatility. We propose a taxonomy of design alternatives based on six major dimensions: market structure, type of orders, order execution priority rules, price discovery rules, time stamping, and transparency. Using examples of existing systems, we discuss the potential impact of the various alternatives on the eventual attractiveness of the market to the investors.

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Hugues Levecq
Bruce W. Weber
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
hlevecq@stern.nyu.edu, bweber@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT for IS-95-18: to be furnished

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Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
hlevecq@stern.nyu.edu, jturner@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: An important determinant of user performance is the degree of fit between user interface (UI) attributes and user characteristics, moderated by cognitive and demographic variables. Culture is one moderating variable which is often overlooked by UI designers. This study evaluates the effect of the presence of color in the UI on user performance for two distinct cultural groups, Japanese and Americans. We report the findings of a laboratory experiment involving American subjects (N=12) and Japanese subjects (N=12) performing 40 elementary database retrieval tasks using an interface with 8 background colors. The results suggest that American subjects react more strongly than Japanese subjects do to color stimuli, Japanese subjects appear to be disrupted by the use of color in the user interface, and there is no relationship between color preferences and performance.

Keywords: Colors, Human-Computer Interaction, User Interface, Japanese culture, American culture.

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Gregory E. Truman
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
truman@mary.fordham.edu

Note: Professor Truman, formerly with NYU, is now is a member of the faculty in the Decision and Information Sciences Department, Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham University, New York City (October, 1995)

ABSTRACT: Interorganizational information systems (IOS) are increasingly relied on to facilitate the electronic exchange of data among organizations. Though substantive progress by the research community toward understanding IOS technology has been made, one unattended issue is understanding more fully the efficacy of alternative management strategies for assimilating IOS into organizational processes. Referred to here as IOS assimilation strategies, these strategies may offer to management useful alternatives for planning for and proceeding with IOS implementation.

Conceptually based on Keen's (1991) notions of "reach" and "range" regarding organizations' computing infrastructure, two IOS assimilation strategies are tested for their comparative effects on three efficiency and six effectiveness measures. The empirical results, based on data from 48 organizations of the Group Insurance industry and the nonparametric Friedman test for significance testing, indicate that a significantly different ranking on the efficiency measures occurs across groups inhering varying strengths of IOS use pursuant to the alternative IOS Assimilation Strategies. The results suggest that greater efficiency gains may obtain by pursuing a strategy to extend IOS range over IOS reach. Consequently, management is advised to weigh carefully which IOS benefits, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, are more important for substantiating IOS investments, and to make decisions regarding IOS implementation accordingly.

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Jon A. Turner
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
and
Copenhagen Business School
jturner@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: Over the last decade, the use of information technology to support the exchange of information, both within and between organizations, has been constantly growing. One of the most important areas of growth has been the application of technology to the exchange of structured information between companies, generally referred to as "Electronic Data Interchange" or just EDI. While some reports indicate widespread adoption of EDI in the US (Benjamin et al. 1990; Masson 1992; O'Callaghan et al. 1992; Swatman and Swatman, 1991), reported usage of EDI in Europe is scanty (CEC [Ed.] 1991, Pfeiffer 1991). In this chapter, we will describe the "basics" of EDI. We focus on a typology of EDI, discuss some theoretical notions that underpin EDI, and describe the normative expectations about EDI benefits, before we conclude with some remarks on EDI message standards.

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Jon A. Turner
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
and
The Copenhagen Business School
jturner@stern.nyu.edu

January 1995

ABSTRACT: Reengineering and business process design (BPR) both seek to transform organizations. It is generally acknowledged that information technology (IT) plays an important role in organization change, although there is little agreement on what that role is, the key technologies that could be used, and how they might be applied. We describe reengineering and BPR and then consider ways that IT can be used in organizational transformation. Specific technologies are identified along with areas of application. We conclude with a discussion of the role the information systems staff plays in this process.

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Jon A. Turner
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
jturner@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: Much has been written about transforming organizations. At the heart of this activity is the notion of Business Process Redesign (BPR), the restructuring of a firm's basic business methods. We describe some of the forces that are behind this need for major organizational change. Next, we provide an overview of BPR and raise several questions concerning its suitability as a theoretical underpinning for radical organizational transformation. We then describe the transformation of Oticon, an international manufacturing firm with headquarters in Denmark. We have called this transformation a Metamorphosis because of the complete re-conceptualization of the firm that took place. Using the example of Oticon, we speculate about the prerequisites for change of this extent, paying particular attention to the role of technology, which has been enabling rather than driving.

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James Clifford
Vasant Dhar
Alexander Tuzhilin
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
vdhar@stern.nyu.edu, atuzhilin@stern.nyu.edu

February 15, 1995

ABSTRACT: More and more application domains, from financial market analysis to weather prediction, from monitoring supermarket purchases to monitoring satellite images, are becoming increasingly data intensive. The result is massive databases that are growing at a rapid rate - it has been estimated that the world's electronic data almost doubles every year. With this rate of data explosion, there is a pressing need for computers to play an increasing role in analyzing these huge data repositories which are impossible to penetrate manually. The challenge is to ferret out the regularities in the data that will prove to be interesting to the user.

A group in the Information Systems department at the NYU School of Business has been working in this area for a number of years. The focus of our project is now on the discovery of patterns from time series data. In this paper we give an overview of the kinds of databases we are "mining" and the kinds of temporal patterns and rules which we are attempting to discover. In the first phase of this research, we have developed a taxonomy of patterns as a way to organize our research agenda. We wish to share the taxonomy with the research community in the "knowledge discovery in databases" area since we have found it useful in classifying the universe of regularities or patterns into distinct types, that is, patterns which differ in terms of their structure and the amount of search effort required to find them. Although the primary focus of our project is on time series data, and the examples we will present are chosen from this arena, the taxonomy is general enough to apply to any type of data.

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Donald J. Berndt
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
berndt@bsn.usf.edu

Note: Mr. Berndt is completing requirements for a Ph.D. degree at New York University and is currently on the faculty at the University of South Florida.

July 18, 1995

ABSTRACT: In many organizations, both business and scientific, we collect ever increasing amounts of data using information technology. indeed, the technology for collecting data has outpaced our ability to analyze and interpret these very large databases. In this paper, we discuss the interaction of heuristic search and domain knowledge in the AX knowledge discovery tool. The search process rests on the use of rule quality measures and the organization of domain knowledge. As small loan application database from the machine learning repository is used to illustrate the process.

Keywords: knowledge discovery, machine discovery, domain knowledge, heuristic search.

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Mark Ginsburg
Tomas Isakowitz
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
mginsbur@stern.nyu.edu,tisakowi@stern.nyu.edu

July 17, 1995

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the shortcomings of unparameterizable image maps and presents a solution to the problem through the use of PATH_INFO and textual substitution in the mapping configuration file. After some discussion on why this scheme was chosen instead of he alternative, two example of actual use are given: passing parameters to the mapping file (1) as a path and (2) as arguments to a CGI script. Both Techniques offer convenience and ease of design to the web site administrator and we explore these advantages.

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Edward A. Stohr
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
estohr@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: LPFORM for Windows is a general purpose Computer Aided Model Manager (CAMM) with strong emphasis on model formulation, scenario management, graphical user interface, and relationship database management. Its graphical interface is designed to enhance the productivity of the MS/OR modelers who are currently using matrix generators such as GAMS. This paper describes the rationale underlying the design of LPFORM with particular emphasis on the user interface.

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Mark Ginsburg
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: mginsbur@stern.nyu.edu

June 23, 1995

ABSTRACT: I present a brief introduction to exchange-based clearance and settlement, and current practical and research problems posed by various inefficiencies that exist in this process. Then, open network protocols are reviewed to set the stage for the design of a hypothetical clearance and settlement network (CSnet). Important and desirable attributes such as security, robustness, and extensibility will be discussed. A practical networked implementation of order flow and execution, the Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol will be discussed since it parallels in several key areas the CSnet proposal. Further directions for study in the area will be indicated.

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Kenneth C. Laudon
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: klaudon@stern.nyu.edu

Kenneth L. Marr
David Sessions
Hofstra University

June 1995

ABSTRACT: Previous literature on IT and productivity does not take into account different organizational goals and different management strategies for achieving these goals. But productivity and ROI relationships can easily differ as organizational goals and management strategies differ. Therefore, we argue, it is no longer appropriate to ask, "Does IT lead to productivity enhancement." or "Is the ROI on IT investments large or small or nonexistent?" The better question is under what conditions of organizational climate and management choice does IT enhanced productivity result.

To illustrate the powerful effect of organizational goals and management strategy on IT-productivity relationships, we examine the twenty year history of two of the largest IT users in the world: the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. And we find that these two very similar agencies experienced very different results from massive investments in IT despite sharing a similar production function. There is nothing in micro economics however to explain the different strategies pursed by these managers. Instead we must turn to political and sociological models of organizations to understand the social construction of productivity results.

The research reported here was supported by grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Information, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems (NSF #IRI-8619301), 1986-1990. We are grateful for support form the Center of Research on Information Systems (New York University, Stern School of Business) in assistance obtaining additional data sets for this study. We would also like to thank TRAC, Syracuse University, and Sue Long (Director) for support in obtaining additional data.

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Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: atuzhili@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: The issue of periodicity is generally understood to be a desirable property of temporal data that should be supported by temporal database models and their query languages. Nevertheless, there has so far not been any systematic examination of how to incorporate this concept into a temporal DBMS. In this paper we describe two concepts of periodicity, which we call strong periodicity and near periodicity, and discuss how they capture formally two of the intuitive meanings of this term. We formally compare the expressive power of these two concepts, relate them to existing temporal query languages, and show how they can be incorporated into temporal relational database query languages, such as the proposed temporal extension to SQL, in a clean and straightforward manner.

The work of the authors was supported in part by the NSF Grant #IRI-93-18773.

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Gregory E. Truman
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: truman@mary.fordham.edu

Note: Professor Truman, formerly with NYU, is now is a member of the faculty in the Decision and Information Sciences Department, Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham University, New York City (October, 1995)

ABSTRACT: Interorganizational Systems (IOS) are increasingly used to support exchange of business documents in many industries. Though clear improvements in organization performance are forthcoming in many cases, the research evidence is based largely on anecdotes and suggests that performance improvements may not be uniformly attained across organizations. Though integration of IOS with internal systems is recommended, the affects afforded through integration remain largely unexplored. This research study formulates a theoretical model of the complex interplay of relationships among IOS Usage, Systems Integration and Organization Performance, and tests the model's validity using a dataset of 48 organizations in the Group Insurance industry. The model recognizes two conceptually distinct ways in which IOS may be used more intensively, includes two notions of systems integration which are argued to differentially affect the organization performance advantages, and uses a multidimensional organization performance construct to more adequately reflect the diversity of anticipated organization performance impacts presumed to extend from IOS use. The results are mixed in terms of direct organization performance impacts, and suggest that both notions of integration play a key role in facilitating attainment of the organization performance advantages.

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Kenneth C. Laudon
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: klaudon@stern.nyu.edu

Kenneth L. Marr
Department of Business Computer Information
Systems and Quantitative Methods
Hofstra University

ABSTRACT: A central tenet of much popular and scholarly literature is that computers -- and more broadly speaking "information systems" -- bring about significant change in organizations. Some scholars focus on change in organizational structure -- the division of labor and its coordination through authority and power (Blau, 1976; Danziger, et al., 1982; Laudon, 1976; 1986; Keen 1981; Kling and Iacono, 1984; Orlikowski and Robey, 1991; Robey, 1981; Walton, 1989; Barley, 1986; 1990). Others focus on IT induced changes in the design of work (Zuboff, 1984; Bikson, et al., 1985; Kraut, et. al., 1987; Sproull and Kiesler, 1991; Turner, 1984; Iacono and Kling, 1987). Still others have argued that IT significantly alters occupational structure in organizations -- the distribution of employment among occupations and skill classes of workers (Braverman, 1984; Kling and Turner, 1987; Berndt, et al., 1992; Howell and Wolff, 1993; Cyert and Mowry, 1988; 1989). In general, the impact of IT on occupational structure of firms and organizations is a neglected area of empirical research despite the fact that scholars have strong opinions, and convincing theories, about such occupation shifts.

In this paper we report the results of a twenty year longitudinal study of occupational users of IT in the United States. For benchmarking purposes we also examine occupational change at the aggregate society level and in the federal government sector over a twenty year period. The results of our research question the claim that IT brings about significant change in occupational structure. While the organizations we examine did experience significant change in occupational structure during periods of intense computerization, these changes did not conform to theoretical predictions and they were inconsistent from one organization to another. We conclude that organizational structures are quite stable in the face of massive IT change and claims that IT brings "revolutionary" changes in organizational structure have little empirical foundation even though there may be isolated cases where such rapid and drastic changes do occur.

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Tomas Isakowitz
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: tisakowi@stern.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT: We present the design of a computer-aided environment, RMCase, to support the design and construction of hypermedia applications. The environment is based upon the Relationship Management methodology. RMCase supports hypermedia design and development activities. Support for cognitive design processes is achieved through three fundamental premises that form the foundation of RMCase: (1) fluid feedback loops between the various methodological stages, (2) manipulation of objects at the instance level, and (3) lightweight prototyping. To achieve this, RMCase itself is designed as a hypermedia application, where hypertextual navigation implements feedback loops. Instance objects can be cloned and abstraction/instantiation mechanisms are envisioned to facilitate designers back and forth movements between the abstract and the concrete layers of an application. As a result, RMCase will support bottom-up, top-down and middle-out software development styles.

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Luis L. Martins
Department of Management
e-mail: lmartin@stern.nyu.edu

Ajit Kambil
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: akambil@stern.nyu.edu

March 7, 1995
Minor revisions March 31, 1995

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the results of an empirical study that examines how a manager's experience with a specific strategic information technology in their industry influences cognitive managerial tasks associated with new information technologies as threats or opportunities for the firm, the perceived uncertainty associated with responding to new information technologies, and the seeking of information about new information technologies. We undertook this study in the tax preparation industry and examined how managerial perceptions of new information technologies were shaped by managers' previous experiences with electronic filing technology for tax returns.

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Ajit Kambil
Department of Information Systems
Stern School of Business
New York University
e-mail: akambil@stern.nyu.edu

Eric van Heck
Department of Management Studies
Wageningen Agricultural University
(now at Tilburg University, The Netherlands)

ABSTRACT: The Dutch flower auctions have play a critical role in the world cut-flower industry by providing efficient centers for price determination and transactions of flowers between buyers and sellers. These auctions owned by Dutch cut-flower grower cooperatives have traditionally used the "Dutch auction" as the mechanism for price determination. This paper considers how changing patterns of international competition, buyer preferences and information technology are likely to effect the organization of the Dutch flower auction. We provide a framework for analyzing the merits of different transaction models and use this framework to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing and proposed electronic auction models for trading flowers. We propose information technology will enable new forms of trading that will partly replace and supplement the traditional Dutch auction as a method of organizing price determination and transactions. We identify how electronic trading will differ from prior mechanisms, and consider key challenges to the implementation of new auction models. Specifically we illustrate how the current auctions have been structured to serve the interests of growers, while electronic markets will primarily benefit buyers. Thus we highlight the importance of altering incentive and ownership structures in the Dutch flower industry to effectively transition to new electronic markets. This case illustrates the various complex issues that arise in the design and implementation of electronic markets, in settings characterized by changing technologies, pre-existing organizational process and power structures.

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