Relational marketing in knowledge-intensive business services: an analysis of the computer services sector

This paper addresses the marketing approaches adopted by Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) companies, whose main production factor and outcome is knowledge. Given the key role that client-provider cognitive interactions play in the provision of such services, the study adopts the conceptual framework of Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, that the recent literature considers being fully in line with the core characteristics of KIBS companies. Starting from the assumption that service is the fundamental basis of any economic exchange, this logic suggests a shift from the traditional ‘market to’ approach, which has been developed for tangible goods, to a ‘market with’ approach, where customers and providers collaborate along the whole marketing process. The research was carried out by means of a multiple case study of 20 small computer services companies in Italy, and aimed to understand if (and to what extent) the marketing initiatives of such companies are consistent with the S-D logic, and to discuss the major challenges that they have to face in order to follow the new logic.     

Public sector information management in east and southern Africa: Implications for FOI, democracy and integrity in government

Sound management of information contained in records and other information systems in the public sector is the sine qua non of democratic governance. For effective access to government held information, Freedom of Information (FOI) legislations impose significant duties and responsibilities on public authorities to give access to information. FOI legislation is premised on the principle that effective records management enables authorities to enforce wider government agenda to increase openness, transparency, trust and accountability in the public sector. Effective access, management and exploitation of official information are the means by which governments can demonstrate accountability and transparency in the use of public resources, expose corruption and fraud, protect citizens’ rights, as well as improve overall service delivery to citizens.This paper reviews management of public sector information contained in records and implications for enhancing freedom of access to information, democracy and integrity in governments within east and southern Africa. The authors point out that as democracy and good governance gain momentum especially in developing world, governments in east and southern Africa have one critical factor that is yet to receive adequate attention, namely the role played by information management in enhancing democracy, transparency, accountability and integrity in government. Besides, though constitutions of most east and southern African countries provide for the right and freedom of access to information as a tool to enhance democracy and good governance, state interference from time to time hampers such rights and freedoms to be exercised. The authors proffer the way forward for east and southern Africa.     

公共图书馆文献资源建设模式研究

用排列组合的方法,从经费、业务、产权3个方面对公共图书馆文献资源建设模式进行探讨,形成单一/多元建设主体与经费统一/分散使用排列组合而成的经费模式,采购、分编、流通组合而成的业务模式,文献资源所有权、占有权、使用权的统一与分散/动态与静态/模糊与清晰组合而成的产权模式,以及经费、业务、产权3种模式再组合而成的综合模式.     

Human-computer interaction in information seeking tasks

The third in a series of experiments utilizing a simulated online bibliographic information seeking environment called DBASE is discussed. Variables considered in the study are computer aiding, availability of citation lists, data base structure, and type of search task. Effects of these variables on six performance measures are examined using analysis of variance. Linear discriminant analysis is utilized to provide a more fine-grained analysis of important problem features and to form a basis for investigating differences among individual searchers and the dynamic nature of information seeking tasks.     

Knowledge-intensive consumer services. Understanding KICS in the innovative global health-care sector

This paper explores a case of knowledge-intensive consumer services (KICS). Services have become less neglected in the economics of technical change and innovation studies in general; nevertheless, the advance of this agenda has been uneven. A significant emphasis has been on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Despite their direct impact on social needs and individual desires, innovation in consumer-oriented services continues to be relatively under-theorized and under-researched. This paper brings into focus the sources and patterns of innovation in those innovative services that target human satisfaction and well-being as a final goal. We show evidence from a little-explored health industry, oral care. We address Malo Clinic, a company specialized in the most complex patient situations and a rare instance of an internationalized firm in the health services business. On the basis of a 20-year thread of corporate history, we find that a wide array of qualitative (interviews, newspaper coverage, marketing material) and quantitative evidence (papers, patents, trademarks) illuminates some of the features that may characterize a particular class of dynamic activities tending to consumers’ needs, expectations and quality of life. We argue that these key characteristics may be on course to become more general as the learning economy spreads to fully embrace the realm of the service sphere. One conclusion is that both the technological and non-technological capabilities underpinning more types of innovation are increasingly becoming coupled in consumer-relevant services.     

The clash of interests in computer information services

The University of London is a federal body consisting of over sixty colleges and institutes. These institutions differ in size, function and the degree of autonomy. Each institution has at least one library, some colleges have departmental libraries of considerable independence from the main library. There are five major computer centres within the University, with large resources in hardware and specialist staff, and with many years of experience in the provision of services to the wide population of the University. A Central Library Resources Co-ordinating Committee was formed in 1972 to coordinate the rich documentary resources of the University and to encourage the transfer and dissemination of information accumulated in its libraries. Under its administration, a Central Information Service headed by a Senior Information Systems Officer was initiated in October 1974. Its first task has been to undertake a large evaluation study of computer information services. Academic staff and postgraduate students have been exposed to a variety of experimental services and the impact of these services on the users has been assessed. Out of this work have come recommendations for continued provision of these services to the University in a cost-effective way. The paper considers the successes and setbacks of the project, and the reactions to it of the various parties involved—users, information officers, librarians and computer staff. The conflicts which arose during implementation of the project are discussed. They were caused by economic stringency at the University, technological changes introduced into libraries, and problems of charging for new computerised services.     

Document management systems from current capabilities towards intelligent information retrieval: an overview

Documents circulating in paper form are increasingly being substituted by its electronic equivalent in the modern office today so that any stored document can be retrieved whenever needed later on. The office worker is already burdened with information overload, so effective and efficient retrieval facilities become an important factor affecting worker productivity. This paper first reviews the features of current document management systems with varying facilities to manage, store and retrieve either reference to documents or whole documents. Information retrieval databases, groupware products and workflow management systems are presented as developments to handle different needs, together with the underlying concepts of knowledge management. The two problems of worker finiteness and worker ignorance remain outstanding, as they are only partially addressed by the above-mentioned systems. The solution lies in a shift away from pull technology where the user has to actively initiate the request for information towards push technology, where available information is automatically delivered without user intervention. Intelligent information retrieval agents are presented as a solution together with a marketing scenario of how they can be introduced.     

The U.S. information sector and GNP: An input-output study

The paper presents the results of an Input-Output study of the U.S. information sector, constructed from 1972 tables compiled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The study updates the 1967 transaction table published in The Information Economy (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1977). The results show that between 1967 and 1972, the information sector grew at a slightly slower rate than did the entire economy. While the sector accounted for 25.1% GNP in 1967, its share of GNP had actually declined to 24.8% by 1972. Many of the elements of the sector lagged behind the national economy, including printing and publishing and radio and TV equipment; however, other elements of the sector out-paced the economy, including electronic instruments and telecommunications.     

Reconciling two approaches to critical success factors: The case of shared services in the public sector

Shared services have been embraced by the private, and increasingly, the public sectors. Yet implementation has often proved to be difficult and the factors which are critical to success are not yet well understood. In this paper existing research in the area of critical success factors (CSFs) is examined and it is suggested that that research actually covers two distinct phenomena. One approach is focused on identifying the factors required for a specific individual to achieve their outcomes. The second on determining the general success factors for implementing a project of a certain type. A reconciliation of the two approaches is proposed within a framework that distinguishes between three different types of CSF – outcome, implementation process and operating environment characteristic. A case study of a project to implement shared services in the Australian public sector is examined using the reconciled framework. The case shows that the reconciled approach by including, and differentiating between, outcome, process and operating environment characteristic factors provides a richer and more complete picture of requirements. Further benefits from the synthesis are also highlighted including that factors are a mix of universal and context specific, different perspectives on factors exist and not all environmental factors perceived to be critical have to necessarily be present.     

电子政府的公共信息服务:一个研究框架

公共信息服务是政府的基本职能。本文从探讨传统政府与电子政府的公共信息服务特点开始,从框架体系上设计了一个关于电子政府公共信息服务的研究思路。     

基础设施领域中公私伙伴关系的应用和发展

通过分析公私伙伴关系（PPP）在中国基础设施领域中的重要作用与必备条件,对于利用这种创新机制促进社会经济的有效增长提出了长期的全面解决方案。同时就深化和完善基础设施领域中的公私伙伴关系提出了具有针对性的建议。     

陕西省制造业与服务业互动机制研究

考察制造业与服务业之间的互动机制有助于寻找产业发展的一般规律、服务于产业结构规划和产业政策制定.本文将制造业与服务业的关联效应和间接效应纳入一个理论框架,构建制造业与服务业互动机制模型.在此基础上,探讨了陕西省制造业与服务业的相互依托关系和现存的问题.结果表明,陕西省制造业与服务业呈现出显著的互动关系,但关联效应仍处于初级水平.     

基于公共描述框架的文献采集指标体系用户准则分解

文献选择是文献采集的核心,文献选择的基本原理是在成本相同的情况下,优先选择概率使用价值大的文献。文献的概率使用价值运用层次分析法分解后,需要一个相应的描述空间来实现,即公共描述框架。公共描述框架是一个文献集的学科等级结构框架,文献采集指标体系中与用户有关的准则可以基于这个框架加以分解。     

The role of the internet in information seeking. Putting the networked services in context

The author explores the place of the internet among other sources and channels in information seeking. Both qualitative and quantitative data were combined in the study. In 1997, the author conducted 23 theme interviews in Tampere, Finland, Secondly, the data of the national survey on the use of information technology at Finnish households conducted in 1996, based on the interviews of 2360 persons, aged 10–74 yr, were utilized. Both the features of job-related and nonwork information seeking will be discussed; however, the emphasis is on the latter. The conceptual framework of the study draws on the findings of the studies of computer-mediated communication and the uses and gratifications approach; the ideas of the ‘media richness’ theory and the ‘social influence’ theory are also utilized. E-mail and WWW appeared to be the most frequently used services in information seeking, but discussion groups and IRC were also utilized to some extent. The major research criteria for preferring the internet are the (relative) easiness of accessing a huge amount of data, savings in time and money, the opportunity to consult a number of experts simultaneously and a greater independence of certain time and place in information seeking. Thus far, the internet has not been able to supplant other sources and channels but rather complements them. This is evident, for example, in the utilization of electronic newspapers in the search for orienting information.     

Selected roles of information goods and services in the U.S. national economy

The study examines selected roles of the information sector in the national economy. Among the findings are the following: (1) the information sector conducts relatively little international trade, in comparison to its domestic activity. Roughly 12% of U.S. exports are attributable to the information sector; over 97% of the sector's output is sold within the U.S.; and the sector's exports account for only a small fraction of 1% of GNP. (2) The historical pattern of employment shows that the portion of information workers has risen from 8% of the U.S. work force in 1870 to 41% in 1970. Relatively little of this growth is the result of new technological innovations such as telephones, radio, television and, more recently, computers. Rather, the growth of public and private bureaucracies, which now total 26% of our total work force, largely explains the growth of the sector. (3) Unemployment within the information sector has consistently been lower than in either the manufacturing or agricultural sectors of the national economy. (4) Since 1967, the high technology elements of the information sector, such as electronic components, computers and telecommunications equipment have experienced appreciably less price rise than has the economy as a whole. However, over the same time period, the service elements of the sector, including finance and insurance, education and medical care, have experienced greater rates of inflation than has the economy as a whole.     

专业与规范：文献传递中的职业道德观

在认识与理解图书馆职业道德,以及概述文献传递工作的流程及职业特征的基础上．指出图书馆职业道德规范着文献传递工作,但在对文献传递工作专业素养强化的过程中,亦将促进图书馆职业道德的建设。     

Sales information systems in the UK financial services industry: an analysis of sophistication of use and perceived barriers to adoption

This paper evaluates the use of sales information systems (SIS) in the UK financial services sector. The study is based on a quantitative survey of a sample of sales and marketing managers in banks, building societies and insurance companies. Seventy-two usable responses were received and our analysis reveals that the systems that have been adopted are being used to provide information for little more than mailing lists. Further, the aspirations for our respondents for further data capture and analysis are low—such that their overarching goals of improving customer retention, customer relationships, and customer acquisition are unlikely to be achieved. This mismatch between our respondent's data capture and their strategic goals is associated with the further finding that our respondents place more importance on technical barriers to implementing SIS—such as fragmented market and sales information, high cost of development and poor data quality—as compared to the lowered importance placed on organizational barriers. Importantly, the latter barriers have been recognized in the literature as the true barriers to achieving the strategic potential of marketing information. We argue that the future promise of sophisticated use of the capabilities of current SIS is thus likely to be compromised, due to the lack of awareness, amongst our respondents, of the criticality of organizational and strategic barriers.     

论信息与通讯技术对服务劳动的替代和补偿机制

信息与通讯技术(ICT)给服务业带来的深刻变化,不亚于由电力技术和内燃机而引发的第二次工业革命。ICT对服务业劳动就业的影响是一个备受关注的课题。运用技术创新与就业的相关理论,从服务生产要素、服务劳动过程、服务产品创新、组织创新、服务价格和收入等角度分别探讨了ICT对服务业就业的替代和补偿机制。     

Sharing knowledge in the public sector: two case studies

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - In important areas of the public sector, client service depends on cooperation and collaboration among workers in different organizations or agencies....