IS6600 - Seminar 1
Global Information Systems &
Knowledge Management in
Organizations - Introduction
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Introductions – Me!
• In HK since 1991; Travels in 85 countries.
• Teaching non-technical IS courses to MSc and
MBA students
• Research involves China-focused
– knowledge sharing in SMEs
– virtual work
– IT-enabled organisational change
• I’m interested in learning from you about your
organisations’ IS experiences
• Web http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/staff/isrobert
• Email isrobert@cityu.edu.hk
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Your Expectations for the Course
• The different KM situations worldwide.
• How to apply KM in an organization.
• How IS and KM applications fit into a company's IT
environment and business strategy.
• More practical knowledge about how organizations really
use KM.
• Specific knowledge and skills about how to be a CIO.
• Investigate more case study of KM in organizations.
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Before we get to the IS/KM, what
about Global and Globalisation?
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What exactly is global?
How is global different from international?
What globalisation is not.
Can a country be globalised?
What contribution do individual countries
make to globalisation?
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East or West?
• Many academics and pundits assume an
East-West split (dichotomy)
– There has long been a Western hegemony!
• Globally, it is a little more complex!
– There is also North and South
– Developing and Developed
– There are multiple, competing perspectives
– There are few “correct” practices, but
many cultural alternatives
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Information
• Information is critical to us as
individuals, as well as to organisations
• Without information, business would be
impossible
• Anything Internet-related depends on
information
• So, systems that help us manage
information are also rather important
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And Systems…?
• All organisations operate through systems.
• There are systems for:
– Ordering supplies, tracking inventory,
manufacturing, locating customers, selling
goods, hiring and paying employees, handling
auctions, coordinating supply chains, spying, etc.
– These systems are premised on information
flows about designs, products, orders,
shipments, finances, stories, people…
– These systems can integrate and align different
parts of an organisation, locally and globally.
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So, an Information System is…
• An integrated set of computer-based
components that can be used to …
– analyse data, and
– deliver information
• to support people in their …
– operations,
– management, and
– decision-making functions
• …in a personal or organisational context.
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Information System Components
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Hardware
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Software
• Databases
• Decision models
• Procedures
• Management
• Communications
• Information
• People
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The Impact of IS on Organisations
• Transaction processing systems.
– Information processing efficiency
• Databases
– Any-time access; organizational memory.
• Network & Internet
– Anyplace access to multiple resources.
• Decision/executive support technologies
– Organizational intelligence.
• Organisation changing applications (e.g. KM, SCM, CRM)
– Re-engineering of processes; Competitive Advantage
• Sensors (e.g. RFID)
– Information gathering without presence.
• Communication and Social Systems
– Social Media, ubiquitous systems
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Does Anyone Talk about Systems?
• The more common terms seem to be:
– Apps (now ubiquitous)
– Solutions/Services (consultants’ preference)
• Are systems too scary, oblique and
remote
– Does it matter what terms we use so long
as we understand what we are talking
about?
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Major Global IS Players
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Banks: HSBC & BoC
Airlines: CX, QF & SQ
Shipping/Logistics: OOCL, UPS, SF Express
Consumer: P&G, Philips, Samsung, Sony,
Oil: Shell, Exxon, BP, CNOC
Governments & Agencies: NSA, GCHQ
Intermediaries: Alibaba, eBay, Amazon,
Others: Monsanto, Unilever, Li & Fung
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But What are Global IS?
• Systems used by single organisations
across two or more nations?
• Systems used individually by many
different organisations – in many
nations around the world?
• Systems that track the online activities
globally for a single customer?
• And what issues do these GIS
encounter?
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IS and the Future
• Transaction costs drop to ~0; ‘free’ goods.
• Instant delivery of digital goods.
• Distance, location and time can be bridged
easily, but misunderstandings still occur.
• Customers, suppliers and criminals can be
anywhere.
• Information about anything is available in
almost unlimited quantities.
• Interpersonal interactivity becomes the norm.
• Work is virtualized and globalized.
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Global Spam
• We all get spam emails – 70+% of
email is spam
• Spam is a global phenomenon
– Nigerian 419, V!@gra scams, etc.
• Spam is a global business (opportunity)
– If you can get a 0.2% response rate…
• Combatting spam needs global
solutions
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The Route Behind the Spam
• “In 2011, researchers analysing the money
trail behind one email, advertising Viagrastyle drugs, found that the web domain
involved was registered in Russia, hosted in
Brazil and managed in China, taking
payments through a Turkish server to an
Azerbaijani bank, with the product eventually
dispatched from Chennai in India”.
• How much more global could that be?!
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/09/why-spammers-are-winning-junk-mail
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Look at the Cloud!
• Cloud computing customers generally do not
own the physical infrastructure
• They reduce capital costs by renting
resources (hardware, software, network
bandwidth) from a third-party provider and
pay only for what they use.
– Customers can be billed on a subscription basis
(like electricity, water)
– Major Cloud Providers
• Microsoft, IBM, HP, Amazon, Google,…
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Cloud Components
• SaaS – Software as a Service
– Office, analytical or enterprise software
– Purchasing, sales, project management,…
• PaaS – Platform as a Service
– Application design or development
– E-business hosting, Team collaboration
• IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
– Hardware, netware, storage, …
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Why Use Clouds?
• A key motivation to rely on cloud-based
resources is cost
– It can save a lot of money
– Rent software, networks as you need them
– Store data without the trouble of
maintaining the hardware
– Outsource non-core activities
• Let other people do it better and cheaper
• P&G saved US$800M over 7 years by
outsourcing basic IT services to the cloud
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Cloud Problems
• Some data is just too sensitive
– Key client data
– Would HSBC want to store details of its VIP
customers in the same cloud as BEA or
Bank of America?
• How quickly can you access data if it is
‘in the cloud’?
– You need to have a good Service Level
Agreement (SLA)
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Cloud Consequences
• As more firms relocate IT services to cloud
providers, the traditional technology
ecosystem faces disruption and challenges.
• There are opportunities for the cloud masters
to become bigger and stronger
• Niche-players will have to rethink what they
do, how and who for.
• Non-US-based firms may enjoy an advantage
– Why?
• Disruption is good for some, bad for others.
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Cloud Players 1
• Masters:
– Amazon, Google, Microsoft
• Huge data centres and services for mostly
smaller businesses
• Enterprise Software Specialists
– Oracle, SAP
• Traditional providers to large firms
• Trying to bridge to the SME market, with SaaS
and PaaS services. MySAP.
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Cloud Players 2
• Independent Software Vendors
– Adobe
• Going beyond simple software sales to software
hosting for clients
• Integrated Giants
– IBM, HP
• Cost-effective, large scale, scalable, private,
secure solutions across IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
domains.
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Cloud Consumer Examples
• Dropbox is simple and popular (though not
very secure)
• SugarSync
• Box
• Google Drive / MS Sky Drive
• Spider Oak (very secure)
– Recommended by Edward Snowden
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Culture
• Patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting
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Behaviour styles
Negotiating techniques
Protocol
Business practices
• Cultural misunderstandings can threaten or even
destroy your efforts in a foreign country
– Where and who is foreign these days?
– Are some of us more foreign than others?!
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Understanding Culture
• … is not just about observing.
• “the same behaviour can have different
meanings and different behaviours can have
the same meaning” [Schneider & Barsoux, 1997]
• Why do people behave in this way?
• What are their underlying values and beliefs?
• Do we really live in a global village?
• “We do not see things as they are – we see
them as we are” (Anais Nin)
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Problem of Relativism
Describe the “typical American”
 Brazilians say:
 always in a hurry
 serious, reserved
 cautious
 restrained
 composed
 methodical
 naïve
 Japanese say:
 relaxed
 friendly
 spontaneous
 reckless
 uninhibited
 emotional
 impulsive
What is Culture?
HUMAN NATURE
universal
to laugh
to cry
CULTURE
group level construct
When is it appropriate to laugh? to cry?
Where is it appropriate to laugh? to cry?
way of life passed down from one generation to the next through
education and experience – Concise Columbia Encyclopedia
collective programming of the mind – Geert Hofstede
PERSONALITY
individual
each of us laughs / cries at different times / places
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Iceberg Model of Culture
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Culture Above the Surface
• Greetings
– How should you greet someone?
kiss, hug, bow or shake hands
– Does it depend on who they are, who you are?
• Dress
– What is appropriate attire at work? at a funeral?
• Punctuality
– What does it mean to be “on time”?
– How quickly should you reply to an e-mail?
• Gift giving
– Should you give gifts to business associates?
– What should you give?
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Corporate Logos
– What projects the “right” or “wrong” image?
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Culture Below the Surface
• Attitudes
– “I can’t live without a iPhone/Blackberry”
• Assumptions
– “Only unsold products are advertised””
• Values
– “Being online is critical to my life and work”
• Beliefs
– “My purpose in life is …”
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Colours in Different Cultures
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
White
Anglo
Danger
Strong;
reliable
Success
Green
Coward
Purity
French
Aristocrat
Freedom;
peace
Crime
Lucky;
temporary
Neutral
Chinese
Happy;
Success
Heaven
Hats =
Cuckoldry
Wealthy;
powerful
Death;
purity
Japanese
Anger;
danger
Villain
Young;
energetic
Grace;
nobility
Death
Arab
Death
Virtue
Fertile
Wealthy
Joy
Life
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Islam
Success
Death
Colour
Culture
Indian
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Adapted from Russo & Boor (1993) http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm
Corporate eLogos
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Culture and Workplace Issues
• Global transfer of IS applications (across
cultures) is problematic at best.
• Few researchers have investigated these
issues - probing the iceberg.
• Most textbooks assume a monocultural,
ethnocentric and universalist perspective
– “If it works for us, it’ll work for them”
– “They are ‘human’ aren’t they?!”
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Culture and Workplace Issues
• Limited understanding of why failures
occur beyond a generic “culture”
explanation.
• Descriptions of successful global IS
stories – but little in the way of detailed
understanding.
• Few empirically-tested prescriptions or
experiences.
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The Global Flavour of IS6600
• Studying IS in different contexts
• Analyzing the opportunities for IS with some
cultural and contextual sensitivity
• Identifying lessons learned in one context
that may (not) be transferable to other
contexts
– This does not mean American lessons for
everyone else. Quite the opposite.
• Sharing your global experiences
– I hope that you have some!
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Key Components of IS6600
• Internet, Web technologies & E-commerce
– These are at least superficially global
• Culture
– This varies considerably around the world
– It should influence Global IS use
• Strategic management issues
– Including BPR, BSC, BPO/ISO
– Green IS
• Application areas: ESS, ERP, KM,
Security/Surveillance
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IS6600 - Activities
• 3-hour Seminars (not Lectures)
• Background material to read in advance, to
be referred to as we go along
• Discussion, argument, interaction
• Case studies to analyse
• Experiences to recount, share and learn from
• Facilitated knowledge seeking
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My Suggested Learning Styles
• Learning together, not just me talking
– So you have a role to play, a responsibility to
engage with your own learning
– The more you participate, listen, criticise,
challenge… so the more you will learn.
• Each class will have
– Opportunities for interaction, discussion,
debate, as well as your own work-life examples
– There will be some hands-on exercises
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Assessment
• 60% - coursework
– A small group case write up based on your
own Global IS experiences (40%)
• 4000-word essay
– Continuous assessment of class
contributions (20%)
• 40% - exam
– Application & integration of skills from
seminar materials, our discussions and
your own practical experience
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Grading Definitions
• A: Excellent
– Strong evidence of original thinking, analysis &
synthesis; extensive knowledge base
• B: Good
– Good awareness of the importance of the subject; some
analytic ability; reasonable understanding of issues &
literature
• C: Adequate
– Understanding is reasonable, but much room for
improvement
• D: Marginal, basic familiarity with the subject
• F: Very weak, few critical/analytical skills; plagiarism
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Sources and Consequences...
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There are no specific GIS textbooks
I’ll draw material from a variety of sources
Note: Passing is optional! Failing is possible!
You must pass both exam and coursework to
pass the course as a whole.
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Course Outline
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Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
1: Introduction
2: Global E-Commerce
3: Social Media in and Around the Enterprise
4: Knowledge Management
5: Strategic Knowledge Mapping
6: Global ERP Cases: The Extended Enterprise
7: Global IT & BP Outsourcing & Offshoring
8: Global Information Systems for Work
9: The CIO / CKO and Strategic Planning
10: Green IT
11: Big Data, Intelligence & Surveillance
12: Project Presentations
13: Revision
Seminar Materials
• Notes & ppts are available on the web:
– http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/staff/isrobert/is6600.htm
• These notes are not comprehensive, i.e.
if you come to class, you will hear, see
and do many things that are not visible
in the notes.
• So please do come to class. On time if
possible, but late is better than never.
Coursework
• There is a document on the class
website that describes the coursework
• This is a single group project
– There is no weekly ‘homework’
– There are no other ‘tests’ during the
semester
• Please form groups now! Start thinking
about topics.
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