Abstract—Understanding how to implement software process improvement (SPI) successfully is arguably the most challenging issue facing the SPI field today. The SPI literature contains many case studies of successful companies and descriptions of their SPI programs. However, the research efforts to date are limited and inconclusive and without adequate theoretical and psychometric justification. This paper extends and integrates models from prior research by performing an empirical investigation of the key factors for success in SPI. A quantitative survey of 120 software organizations was designed to test the conceptual model and hypotheses of the study. The results indicate that success depends critically on six organizational factors, which explained more than 50 percent of the variance in the outcome variable. The main contribution of the paper is to increase the understanding of the influence of organizational issues by empirically showing that they are at least as important as technology for succeeding with SPI and, thus, to provide researchers and practitioners with important new insights regarding the critical factors of success in SPI.

Total quality management has proven to be more than just a quickly disappearing management fad or fashion. It has been considered one of the most influential management innovations of the 20 th century. TQM is based on a rather naïve and overly rational view of an organization but, without a doubt, it has had a significant influence on contemporary management practices. The ISO 9000 family quality standards and quality award criteria have led to the practical development and diffusion of the discipline, and at the moment, they provide the most comprehensive definition for TQM. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has been selected as the practical definition of TQM for this study. The role and impact of TQM is examined based upon how it ensures an organization will meet its mission and ultimate objective of long-term survival. The means of how to achieve survival are specific to an organization, and depend on multiple factors. At the basic level, organizational survival is based on the processes of external adaptation and of internal integration. The role of TQM is analyzed based on the impact it has on those

This paper studies organizational change following a shift in an industry environment, in the context of how a focused factory adapts to a change in its manufacturing objectives. We use the organizational nature of production operations to suggest that the effectiveness of adaptation will depend on how well the manufacturing requirements of the new objectives match manufacturing capabilities at the production line level. We test our hypotheses using primary data from the Hartselle, Alabama compressor manufacturing focused factory of the Copeland Corporation. The results suggest that factors that influence adaptability derive from individual and organizational competence, and that the direction and extent of their influence depends on the systemic nature of the operational activity concerned. The results highlight roles of carefully designed complexity in operations and of processoriented decision making on the shop floor in successful adaptation. This work contributes to our understanding of how business organizations overcome constraints to change.

Innovation has emerged as a ‘hot ’ research topic in the management field. Currently, considerable research effort is being applied to developing better understanding of how it can be effectively developed within organisations. However, recent trends in the literature suggest that there is a lack of convergence of ideas and that the knowledge in the area is still in a relatively ‘untidy’ state. This is despite an excellent foundational literature base. In this paper, the role of research is investigated. An analogous approach is taken whereby some research shortcomings in the area of quality management are examined to demonstrate how similar problems have arisen in the innovation management area, and ways in which researchers in the area can avoid these pitfalls. These, hopefully, will be taken into consideration in future innovation management studies, and will result in increased quality and more credible research findings. Key words: innovation management; quality management; ontology; epistemology; research methodology.

I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of PhD is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work.

We are grateful to the 15 companies we visited for permitting us to interview their employees. We thank

Drawing on the resource-based theory of the firm and using Ohlson’s (1995) residual income valuation framework, this paper investigates the relationships between IT Capability, IT spending and market value. We also examine the role of industry context by empirically investigating the moderating role of three industry characteristics (munificence, dynamism, and complexity). A firm’s IT Capability refers to its capacity to leverage the potential of information technology. Using a matched sample design methodology and publicly available ratings, and after controlling for firm-specific determinants as well as industry fixed-effects, we find that IT capability is value relevant; i.e., the stock market values of firms with superior IT Capability are both economically and statistically higher than the values of a control sample. This result is remarkably robust to variations in the matching criteria, sampling method, and model specifications employed. Additionally, we show that IT capability is valued differently across industries, with IT capability being more value relevant in industries characterized by high levels of munificence (growth) and complexity. Moreover, consistent with resource-based expectations, our results find IT capability to be value relevant whereas IT spending did not explain variation in market values. These results are shown to hold using two unique archival

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Abstract—The concepts of knowledge creation and innovation have a strong relationship but this relationship has not been examined systematically. This study examines the utilization of knowledge creation processes of the Theory of Knowledge Creation in Higher Education Institutions. These processes consist of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization. This study suggests that the utilization of these processes will give impacts on innovation in academic performance. A cross-sectional study was conducted using survey questionnaires to collect data of the utilization of knowledge creation processes and classroom’s innovation. The samples are Business Management students of a Malaysian Higher Education Institution. The results of this study could help Higher Education Institutions to enrich the learning process of students through knowledge creation and innovation. Keywords—Knowledge creation, innovation, business schools. I.

Impasse is more common in our society when dealing with complex social problems than its opposite, breakthroughs. Impasse is common in diplomacy, in budgeting, and in dealing with cantankerous issues like health care and tax reform. Impasse also affects the corporate world. The movement from one set of technologies and administrative arrangements to another rarely occurs without difficulty. There are obstacles in the journey and many barriers, which have to be overcome. Incremental progress and learning may accompany a deadlock, but the hoped for progress in achieving a new managerial competence is stalled and the new competence itself is only imperfectly realized. When it comes to relations between business and government, impasse is especially irksome. A history of adversarial relations and mistrust often prevents useful reforms from being introduced. While businesses increasingly have developed new managerial competencies by working closely with their suppliers, customer, and employees, and by forming alliances and joint ventures with traditional rivals and competitors, businesses and governments have not been as successful in moving rapidly toward such mutually beneficial arrangements. Ways of relating that would make both sectors more effective