Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Digital strategic alignment model'

Title: Digital business strategy - The driver for change in internal and external business environment Authors: Sumera Magsi and Sarah Shaaban Advisor: Andrea Fried Master thesis, 30 credits Background:The effects resulting from a more intense use of digital technologies in companies is visible in the integration between business and IT strategies which creates an urge for digital business strategies to emerge. Thesis aim: The aim is to investigate the current state of digital business strategies which includes highlighting benefits and challenges. By doing that we also are aiming towards answering, in what way ITBA can be questioned due to DBS. Methodology: A qualitative research based on a multiple case study by conducting semi- structured interviews. All the selected case companies are using digital business strategies as a part of their internal and external business environment (IEBE). The respondents have a role in the chosen case companies of being responsible for the implementation and use of strategies, digital business strategies and digital technologies. Findings: This study identifies that their exits a linkage between business strategy and ITBA. The main finding about the current state of DBS involves both internal and external DBS activities. Further findings show that benefit of digital business strategy to be the opportunity to levering costumers and challenges to be connected to the different IT maturity levels of the employees. The way that digital business strategy can question ITBA is based on that it is the driver for change for the case companies.

The merging of business and information technology (IT) strategies, effectively becoming a Digital Business Strategy (DBS), is changing the way that organisations have to leverage resources to create differential value. Due to the DBS being such a novice idea, there is no clear understanding of what the DBS is, what its characteristics and boundaries are, how it impacts alignment between business and IT, and how it impacts organisational performance. Without this understanding, organisations leveraging a DBS run the risk of launching technological initiatives or making organisational changes that are disjointed from their strategic direction. These misaligned efforts may result in unrealised strategy and unsatisfactory organisational performance. The purpose of this study was to define the boundaries and characteristics of the DBS, provide a definition of a DBS and to establish if the DBS has a positive effect on organisational performance. To examine the DBS, it was observed in its natural habitat, through a single case study approach, focusing on an organisation that has been leveraging a DBS as part of their digital journey. The organisation is a South African based financial services provider and is a subsidiary of a larger financial services provider. In this study, the DBS was observed from an intellectual, operational, social and cultural alignment perspective, using a combination of the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) and the Complex Adaptive System (CAS) frameworks. This study subscribed to a mixed-method approach which included both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Staff providing input into this study included senior, middle, junior and non-management employees. The study was conducted over a period of thirteen months. The findings from both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest that to leverage a DBS the organisation must be concerned with more than just leveraging digital resources. For instance, organisations must focus on customer and staff empowerment, use customer and industry-related information to create opportunistic and competitive decision-making opportunities, and create a change-ready culture where bold experimentation and failing forward is embraced. Researchers and practitioners alike can use the findings of this case study as lessons on how to leverage organisational resources in the context of the DBS.

The widespread recognition of Information Technology (IT) as either an agent of enterprise transformation or as a driver of new enterprise forms is due to several factors. Grove (1996) and Lewis (2000) suggests that chief amongst them is the ceaseless and pace of change in both the qualitative and quantitative nature of IT with its use at every level of the enterprise hierarchy, This research study analyses the rise and fall of strategic IT planning tools and with an aim to achieve business impact. The study identifies new approaches for achieving alignment, by considering the concept of the `adaptive enterprise. ' Impact factors are developed from previous research studies covering effectiveness, efficiency, user needs, synergy and market competitiveness. Adaptation behaviours are derived from studies performed by Haekel (1999) with enterprise cultures types researched developed by Trompenaars (2000). Hypothesis aimed at investigating the relationships between these factors are then derived. Initial complex statistical analysis reveal limited significances in the enterprises capability of interpreting and actioning IT solutions effectively to deliver improvements in competitiveness, and derive both internal and external synergy (collaboration), respectively. The research conducted then takes a new path, discovering a new 'middle ground' between reductionist and holistic approaches. For example, Chia (1998) proposes that IT research has tended to focus on the consequences of IT with models based on attempts to algorithmically compress the elements of an enterprise, implying modelling is a reductionist approach. This research discovers new areas of adaptation behaviours and the associated the need to balance the polarisation of views between internal communities of enterprises it also suggests optimum adaptation conditions for both fulfilment and project driven cultures. The research study concludes with implications and suggestions for new approaches and tools to assist IT researchers and consultancy organisations.

The strategic information systems (IS) literature often suggests that there is a need to align IS strategy with business strategy. However, three major limitations in the study of IS strategic alignment have not been adequately addressed. First, IS strategic alignment is usually not well-defined. Second, there are few research studies on appropriate measures of IS strategic alignment. Third, the significance and benefits of IS strategic alignment are difficult to determine. This thesis develops a configurational model on IS strategic alignment that evaluates not only the internal consistencies between IS strategy and business strategy but also contingency approaches to different types of IS strategic alignment. The four alignment types are Business-strategy-led, Conservative, Organisation-led and Technology-led. Quantitative assessments on survey data indicate that there is a relationship between alignment types and IS planning factors, as well as significant differences in IS strategic planning characteristics among the four alignment types. More effective and less effective indicators for both IS strategic planning and IS success have been identified. Qualitative analyses from the survey and multiple case study evaluations have identified good practices and pitfalls to avoid in IS strategic planning, as well as the change processes in the migration of one alignment type to another. The enhancement of the IS strategic alignment configurational model incorporates the "middle-fit" alignment type so that the configurational characteristics could be more distinctive, and the extension of the alignment theory to a capabilitybased resource alignment model by matching users' information management experience against the IT department's capability to develop and deliver high quality IS. Further research initiatives have been also been identified.

A number of attempts have been made to define strategic business and information technology (IT) alignment; several representations of what it is are available in academic and practitioners’ fields. The literature suggests that firms need to achieve strategic business and IT alignment to be competitive. Strategic business and IT alignment impact business performance and IT effectiveness. We propose a unified strategic business and IT alignment model based on four strategic business and IT alignment models: Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (SAMM), information system strategic alignment model and an operational model of strategic alignment. I argue that such a unified model will provide a better understanding of the nature and key aspects of strategic business and IT alignment from different, and sometimes complementary, theories. The unified model represents the concepts and instruments used in these four strategic businesses and IT alignment models. Our principal research goal is to pave the way to develop a common understanding between the different models. The components of the unified strategic business and IT alignment model were ranked with a group of IT experts and business experts from four public universities in Nicaragua. The result can be used as a basis for improving strategic business and IT alignment.

Information Technology (IT) has emerged as an important issue for the public and private sectors. It has been initially identified as a vehicle in supporting business processes by speeding up the process of decision making and easy access of information as required for the competitive advantage of businesses. Organisations regarded IT as an enabler of their business processes. As IT has grown, its shape and definition have drastically changed from being an enabler of the business processes to become a central and strategic concern within the organisation that drives the business processes. The new IT landscape has made organisations completely dependant on IT for their decision making and effective functioning. The dependence on IT has created a need for unified and effective structures, standards and best practices that ensure the effective execution of business processes using IT. The establishment of IT Governance for institutions of higher learning has created the dual challenges of how IT Governance can work within the culture of inclusiveness and shared decision making while better aligning existing IT structures. These dual challenges vary from one university to another based on the culture of the specific university. This study therefore suggests possible ways that IT Governance can shape an institution of higher learning by strategically aligning the institution’s IT strategy with the overall university strategy through the development of an IT Governance Model. To come up with the said proposed model, qualitative research techniques such as document analysis, observations, interviews, a questionnaire and briefing sessions were used during the research process. The comparative analysis of the case studied was used to identify different IT Governance models adopted by other universities. Literature was reviewed to establish the emerging IT Governance practices established and implemented by different authors. The result from this study is that an IT Governance model specific to WSU has been developed. This model can be used as guiding tool in establishing new IT Governance structures and also modify and improve the existing IT Governance structure of different institutions of higher learning. This model can further be used to guide the development of the institution IT Governance implementation architecture framework.

Despite the impact of Information Technology (IT) in today's service economy, its nature and role are elusive or ambiguous to say the least. This ambiguity has made it so difficult to measure the value of IT. To clarify the ambiguity, this study, with a focus on the strategic dimension of IT application in the web of organizational activities, proposes a conceptual model that relates IT application to Knowledge Management and then to Strategy. In this effort, incorporating the Co-alignment model as a theoretical binding agent, the role of IT is defined as a facilitator of organizational knowledge management that is regarded as the core of strategic management. The conceptual model proposed is further developed into a structural model for empirical testing. The goodness of fit of the model is assessed through the technique of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) along with first-order and second-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) using the survey responses of unit managers of multi-unit restaurant companies of the U.S. and Korea. Since the mail survey was conducted in two different nations, relevant multi cultural issues are also addressed to justify the use of combined samples for the study. The results of the statistical analyses indicate that IT application can be incorporated successfully into the domain of strategic management of restaurant companies as the facilitator of Knowledge Management activities. The hypotheses of the links between IT application and financial performance remained unsolved due to invalid data. However, this study made a certain degree of contribution in identifying the dynamics of IT application in the process of strategic management incorporating the principle of the Co-alignment model.
Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007.
Title from file title page. Arun Rai, committee chair; Detmar Straub, Wesley Johnston, Mark Keil, committee members. Electronic text (163 p. : ill. (some col.)) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 15, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-131).

[EN] EHealth plays an essential role in supporting healthcare in today's digital society; it is perceived as crucial for high quality and cost-effective healthcare. However, getting the expected benefits from eHealth has been difficult to demonstrate. There has been a raising interest in adopting eHealth Governance frameworks to obtain re-assurance that investments return the expected results in health care. How IT Governance is implemented within healthcare, the actual impact on strategic alignment and its influence to the information society progress, remains poorly understood. For this purpose we have explored the application of these frameworks within the National Health Service in Scotland and their impact on the following three aspects: eHealth Governance maturity, strategic alignment with healthcare and local progress of digital societies. This research is a longitudinal study (2008-2013), involving an exploratory and explanatory multi-case analysis of three representative organisations across Scotland. A combination of empiric methods has been used: semi-structured interviews with implementers, surveys (Strategic Alignment Model), cross-sectoral/national benchmarking based on a literature review and a qualitative analysis of established eHealth progress indicators. Ninety-two participants have been involved across three case studies. The outcomes of this study have been published over a period of 5 years representing a composite thesis based on relevant publications. Results sustain that EHealth Governance is in its infancy across sectors and countries. 80% of the organisations worldwide are in a transition point between a "committed" and an "established" process. Our results support that the more mature eHealth Governance is, the better the strategic alignment between eHealth and health care organisations (HCOs), hence the better progress of eHealth and the Digital Society. The Strategic alignment is slowly maturing across organisations (15% since 2008), indicating a faster development than the overall Digital Society (Scotland) progress indicators. The National eHealth Strategy shows signs of steady progress and very positive eHealth uptake in society with an overall growth of 12% since 2008, despite the deep economical recession within the period of this research. The conclusions of this study as a longitudinal analysis are limited and more research over the forthcoming years is required. For this purpose, a simplified and adapted method to monitor these trends in future HCOs research has also been provided.
[ES] La eSalud juega un papel esencial en el desarrollo de la asistencia médica en sociedades digitales; se percibe como un elemento crucial en la provisión de servicios médico-sanitarios alta calidad y costo-efectivos. A pesar de ello, hasta ahora ha sido difícil demostrar la materialización de los beneficios esperados de la eSalud, pero hay un interés creciente en la adopción de marcos de referencia basados en buenas prácticas, y estándares profesionales internacionales para la gestión y dirección de la eSalud, con el propósito de asegurar que las inversiones revierten los resultados esperados en el cuidado y servicios de la salud. Hasta ahora se sabe muy poco sobre el fenómeno de cómo la eSalud es integrada en el cuidado y servicios de la salud, y del impacto que esta tiene en la alineación estratégica de la eSalud. Igualmente, sabemos muy poco de la influencia real que estas prácticas tienen en el progreso de sociedades digitales. Este estudio se centra en explorar la aplicación de buenas practicas y estándares internacionales como marco de referencia en el gobierno de la eSalud en el servicio de salud Escocés; también contrastamos y comparamos el fenómeno con otros países y sectores. Esta investigación es un estudio longitudinal (2008-2013) que incorpora un análisis exploratorio y explicativo de casos. Se obtuvieron un total de noventa y dos participantes a lo largo de los tres casos estudiados, con representación de los principales grupos de interés (médicos y no médicos). Los resultados se han divulgado a lo largo del periodo de investigación en un compendio de publicaciones relevantes que conforman la tesis. Los principales hallazgos muestran que el gobierno de la eSalud está en su infancia en los sectores y países analizados: el 80% de las organizaciones a nivel mundial presentan este proceso en un punto de transición entre "comprometido" y "establecido" (Modelo SAM). Los resultados corroboran que cuanto más maduro es el gobierno de la eSalud, mayor alineación estratégica entre la eSalud y la organización, y mayor progreso de la variable eSalud en los indicadores de la sociedad de la información. La alineación estratégica esta madurando lentamente (15% desde 2008), sin embargo este crecimiento es mas rápido que el progreso observado en los indicadores de la sociedad digital (Escocia). La estrategia nacional Escocesa muestra signos de progreso sostenido y de integración (por uso o adopción) de las iniciativas de eSalud en la sociedad (crecimiento del 12% desde 2008), a pesar de la profunda depresión económica durante el periodo de investigación. Las conclusiones de esta investigación, como estudio longitudinal, son limitadas y requieren la captura de más datos y observaciones durante los próximos anos. Con el fin de facilitar este proceso, se ha propuesto un método simplificado y adaptado al sector salud, que permite capturar observaciones, comparar y monitorizar estas tendencias en futuras investigaciones en el sector salud.
[CAT] La eSalut juga un paper essencial en el suport a l'assistència sanitària a la societat digital de hui en dia; es percep com crucial per a l'alta qualitat i efectivitat del servicis de salut. No obstant això, ha estat difícil de demostrar la obtenció dels beneficis esperats de la eSalut. Hi ha hagut un interès en augmentar l'adopció de marcs de governança de la eSalut per obtenir re-assegurament que les inversions retornen els resultats esperats en els servicis sanitaris. Com s'implementa la governança de les TIC dins de l'assistència sanitària, l'impacte real en l'alineació estratègica i la seua influència en el progrés de la societat de la informació, continua sent poc conegut. Aquest estudi explora l'aplicació d'aquests estàndards i marcs de referència dins dels Serveis Nacionals de Salut d'Escòcia i el seu impacte en els tres aspectes següents: la maduresa de la governança de la eSalut", l'alineació estratègica amb l'assistència sanitària i, finalment, el progrés local de les societats digitals. Aquesta investigació és un estudi longitudinal (2008-2013), que implica una anàlisi multi cas exploratori i explicatiu de tres organitzacions representatives del servici nacional de salut de Escòcia. S'ha utilitzat una combinació de mètodes empírics: entrevistes semi estructurades, enquestes (Model SAM) comparatives de mercat intersectorial i internacional basat en una revisió bibliogràfica i, finalment, una anàlisi qualitativa dels indicadors de progrés eSalut. Noranta dos participants han informat a través de tres estudis de casos. Els resultats s'han divulgat al llarg del període d'investigació en un compendi de publicacions rellevants que conformen la tesi. Els resultats assenyalen que la governança de la eSalut està en la seua infància en tots els sectors i països. 80% de les organitzacions de tot el món es troben en un punt de transició entre un procés "compromès" i "establint". Els nostres resultats apunten que quan més madur es la governança de la eSalut, millor serà l'alineació estratègica entre la eSalut i les organitzacions d'atenció sanitària (HCOs), per tant el millor progrés de la sanitat electrònica a la Societat Digital. L'alineació estratègica està madurant lentament en les organitzacions (15% des de 2008); aquest desenvolupament és més ràpid que el progrés de la societat digital (Escòcia). L'estratègia Nacional de eSalut mostra signes de progrés constant i l'absorció de la eSalut en la societat es prou positiva, amb un creixement global del 12% des de l'any 2008, tot i la profunda recessió econòmica durant el període de temps d'aquesta investigació. Les conclusions d'aquest estudi com una anàlisi longitudinal són limitades i es requereix més investigació en els propers anys.
Beratarbide Sobrado, ME. (2016). Longitudinal analysis of eHealth Governance within healthcare organizations as a critical factor in the adaptation to the Information Society in Scotland [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/63456
TESIS

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.
The Human Resources (HR) outsourcing market in Peru is growing; however, it is dominated by large companies in this area, which prevents the development of new organizations or small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The latter, in spite of providing the same services, fail to reach the expected sales volume, thus reporting low profitability. This article analyzes the different factors that impede the growth of SMEs through a fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram and the assessment of initial indicators. It also proposes a model that is based on the three pillars of Digital Transformation and the importance of their alignment in its implementation. A pilot model has been conducted for validation in an SME that provides HR outsourcing services. The research results denote an increase in the company’s profitability and capacity.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) has clearly become more important over the last decade. However, considerable difficulties remain when attempting to achieve a mature level of BITA. Therefore, research efforts which have resulted in a number of theoretical models have been able to help in devising and applying supportive tools for assessing different components of BITA. However, most of these efforts have either been produced in Anglo-Saxon countries or have been based on specific experiences in those countries. Consequently, they have tended to ignore a number of factors which differ in nature due to variations in cultural contexts. However, organisational culture has been given little consideration. Societal and organisational cultural aspects of BITA are particularly important because the majority of BITA models tend to focus more on the efficiency and effectiveness of BITA components rather than on trying to create ways in which how BITA can be achieved or maintained in different contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of societal and organisational culture on achieving BITA and influencing its maturity. The main result is an extended BITA model developed originally by Luftman, known as; Luftman’s Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (SAM), which is influenced by the organisational culture perspective. The research method and process advocated by Peffers et al. (2007) is used in the thesis to design the extended-SAM, consisting of six activities. The first of these activities involves identifying specific problems. This is achieved by an extensive literature survey of theories related to BITA, an explorative study of the impact of organisational culture on BITA and a classification of the general limitations of BITA. The second activity concerns the requirement for definitions of the designed artifact. The third activity is then specified in terms of designing the artifact; i.e. an extended-SAM. The design is based on constructed hypotheses of the potential impact of organisational culture elements (based on Smit et al.’s model (2008) on BITA attributes (based on SAM), and followed by an empirical study of 6 multinational organisations, for testing the hypotheses. Following that, in the fourth activity, various processes for extending SAM are demonstrated in different seminars within the IT management group at DSV, in conference papers and in different seminars of the Swedish research School of Management and Information Technology (MIT) (Forskarskolan Management och IT. In the fifth activity, the extended-SAM model is evaluated in 5 multinational organisations to test its practicality and utility. In the last activity, a journal paper (Paper III in the thesis) is presented to summarise all the processes. The communication is also carried out through pre-licentiate and the licentiate seminars. The extended-SAM shows in the result of the thesis that organisational culture is a clear factor that should be considered while assessing and studying BITA maturity. In addition, by considering organisational culture, assessing BITA is clearly shown as being more accurate and as reflecting a more detailed picture of the organisation’s BITA.

Business Process Management (BPM) maturity models are tools that help organizations in determining the capabilities required to progress in their BPM ambitions. However, the disparity of key components across different maturity models and lack of assessment tools to gauge maturity, limits the applicability of the models. Following Design Science Research and Content Analysis methods, this research presents two artifacts to address these issues: (i) a meta-model that captures the structure of BPM maturity models and (ii) a maturity grid for BPM Strategic-Alignment capabilities as an example of a ‘ready to use’ assessment tool to measure BPM maturity in organizations.

Idag tar allt fler verksamheter egna initiativ till att driva en lättare typ av teknik för att på ett snabbare och effektivare sätt kunna uppfylla sina behov. Ett populärt exempel på en sådan teknologi är Robotic Process Automation (RPA) som används i verksamheter för att automatisera processer. Det som skiljer RPA från mer traditionella tekniker är att robotiseringsmjukvaran interagerar med användargränssnittet på samma sätt som en människa gör. Detta innebär att RPA inte är beroende av programmeringskunskaper och därmed kan hanteras av verksamheten själva, utanför IT-avdelningar. Detta utmanar strategic alignment som haft stor betydelse för hur organisationer bygger ett strategiskt sätt att arbeta med IT i verksamheten för att stödja affärsprocesser. Denna studie ämnar därför att undersöka hur relationen mellan IT-avdelningen och verksamheten påverkas genom att RPA införs i en organisation. Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ forskningsansats på tre olika organisationer. Resultatet visade att relationen mellan IT-avdelningen och verksamheten påverkas genom organisatoriska förändringar som sker när RPA införs i verksamheten där en ny avdelning uppkommer, RPA-avdelningen. Resultatet visade att det inte finns en tydlig uppdelning mellan IT-avdelningen och verksamheten, vilket gör att organisationer behöver hitta nya sätt att samarbeta och upprätthålla relationer på.
More businesses are taking their own initiative to drive a lightweight type of technology in order to be able to fulfill their needs in a faster and more efficient way. A popular example of such a technology is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) used in organization to automate processes. What distinguishes RPA from more traditional techniques is that the robotisation software interacts with the user interface in the same way as a human being does. This means that RPA is not dependent on programming skills and can be managed by the business itself, outside the IT-function. This challenges Strategic alignment, which has been of importance to how organizations built a strategic way of working with IT in the organization to support business processes. This study therefore aims to investigate how the relationship between the IT-function and the business is affected by the introduction of RPA in an organization. The study was based on a qualitative research approach at three different companies. The result showed that the relationship between the IT-function and business is affected by organizational changes that take place when RPA technology is introduced into the business where a new department arises, the RPA-function. The result showed that there is no clear division between the IT department and the business, which means that organizations need to find new ways to cooperate and establish relationships.

Cette recherche a pour objectif clé de créer un modèle conceptuel et numérique, basé sur le machine learning, permettant aux académiques et praticiens de repenser le management stratégique mais aussi de prédire l’évolution de la performance organisationnelle (e.g., la profitabilité) en fonction de la variation des facteurs organisationnels étudiés (alignement stratégique, capacités stratégiques).Cette thèse compare et intègre deux approches conceptuelles (approche par les ressources et la théorie de la contingence) et deux approches analytiques (linéaire et non linéaire).Le modèle développé appelé MSM (Modèle de Management Stratégique) est basé sur les données recueillies auprès de 239 hauts dirigeants, les résultats montrent que le MSM capture la non-linéarité (complexité) de l’organisation et offre une bonne capacité de prédiction des performances de l’entreprise basée sur les variables du MSM. De plus, les résultats suggèrent que les approches basées sur les ressources et la contingence devraient être considérées comme complémentaires plutôt que comme des approches concurrentes
A key goal for this dissertation has been to create a conceptual and numerical model based on machine learning that allows leaders and scholars to reimagine strategic management, and predict the evolution of organizational performance (e.g., profitability) based on the variation of the considered organizational factors (strategic alignment, strategic capabilities).This dissertation compares and integrates two conceptual (resource-based and contingency-based), and two analytical (linear and nonlinear) approaches.The model developed called MSM (Model of Strategic Management) was validated using the data gathered from 239 senior executives, the results showed that MSM captures the organization nonlinearity (complexity) and offers a good prediction capability of firm performance based on the MSM variables. Also, the results suggest that resource-based and contingency-based should be viewed as complementary instead of competing approaches

Safety and security have emerged as a major force driving change in the multinational hotel industry. As a problem area not well-developed in the literature but considered a crucial force influencing hotel firms' value by the multinational hotel community, safety and security provide an excellent opportunity for industry professionals and academic researchers to improve the value creation of multinational hotel firms. A research need is more urgent in the upscale sector of the industry, and thus, an upscale brand of multinational hotel firm was selected for this study. This case study investigated how a multinational hotel firm developed a process of valuing its investments in safety and security for its properties under an upscale brand. This European hotel firm operates in twenty countries with a variety of business climates. The differences in the remote environments, namely the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological environments, presented a great opportunity to gather different views regarding safety and security investments from hotel managers. The dimensions of hotel safety and security were identified by management teams running the firm's hotels to provide scope for decision-making. With this scope, the management teams continued to develop a framework for assessing the value generated from investments in safety and security by identifying the components of an investment decision-making model. A framework as a result of this exploratory study is suggested for future research where causality can be specified and a descriptive decision-making model can be built.
Ph. D.

As competition has changed and made the environment more dynamic and complex for the hospitality and tourism industry, the concept of strategic management has become more important. However, under the force driving change of technology innovation, information has gone digital and electronic for business development and management. Adopting information technology (IT) for strategic management becomes an important issue for an organization. The co-alignment model is believed to be one of the effective models for the purposes of strategic management in the field of hospitality and tourism. The primary objective of this study was to investigate important considerations for the design of an information system (IS) to improve the utility of the model. Once the important considerations are taken into account for constructing the system, such an IS is expected to facilitate the information flows associated with the co-alignment model and further work in concert with the model to strengthen the processes of strategy formulation and implementation. Together, the co-alignment model and the IS can be viewed as a Coordination Strategy Framework which also has theoretical underpinning from the review of the literature of strategy, hospitality and tourism, management information system (MIS), computer science (CS), and information science. Because this research topic or its similar kind has not been studied in the field of hospitality and tourism, this study is exploratory in nature. A qualitative research approach adopting a single-case study method was used. Using the co-alignment model as one of its theoretical supports along with other techniques to collect and test the interview data, the study achieved reliability and validity of the research findings. As a major part of the conclusions of this study, the findings are the important considerations for the design of the future IS. They included the seven key issues in five dimensions, eleven recommendations, and ten propositions that explained the relationships among the managerial aspects implicated in the framework implementation, especially the interactions between the future IS and the co-alignment model. Furthermore, as the framework is an integration of a strategy model and an IT application, it also gives a new perspective to the term "strategic IT" that denotes the strategic use of IT.
Ph. D.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM)
The purpose of the research case study was to assess the current state of alignment of business processes to Provincial Strategic Goals (PSGs) and services in the Provincial Government and to identify the way to align business processes to PSGs and services for an effective e-government implementation. Existing literatures were reviewed in order to identify relevant models to achieve the purpose of the research case study. An empirical research case study and comparative approach were used in order to identify suitable models, by means of strengths and weaknesses of the identified models and discussed. A qualitative research design and methodology was applied while assessing existing models from various literatures. A model to identify the current state of business processes was identified by the researcher and tested to assess the current state of business processes in the Provincial Government in question. There was no existing model to assess the alignment of business processes to Provincial Strategic Goals and services. Alignment elements that were cited by various literatures were used by the researcher to design and propose a Business Process Alignment Model (BPAM). The BPAM was tested and accepted by the Provincial Government where the study was conducted. The research case study predominantly used a qualitative research design and method. The quantitative illustrative approach was applied only to validate the proposed model that was designed by the researcher. A questionnaire was used to conduct interviews with research participants that were selected within the Provincial Government in question. It should further be noted that a quantitative approach was used to illustrate some findings that were analysed by the researcher. Results confirmed that the current state of business processes within the Provincial Government in question was still at level two (repeatable state). Yet the alignment of business processes to Provincial Strategic Goals and services did not exist; this alignment was assessed using the proposed BPAM which was designed by the researcher during this research case study. The effectiveness of e-government services is dependent on proper alignment of business processes and the maturity level of business processes across the organisation. Without proper alignment of business processes, it is a challenge for the public sector organisations to realise effective e-government implementation, not excluding other factors that have been identified by other literatures. This research case study will contribute to the current body of knowledge regarding effective e-government implementation, particularly in the public sector at Provincial level. Public sector organisations in South Africa could leverage on this work to address issues associated with business process alignment.

O setor de compras nas empresas tem se deparado com a necessidade de tornar-se mais eficiente e eficaz em suas aquisições, por isso, as organizações têm aderido ao uso de ferramentas estratégicas de compras adequadas às suas necessidades. Por este motivo, o presente trabalho objetivou propor um modelo de gestão de compras de materiais e serviços em uma empresa privada do agronegócio Matogrossense de nutrição animal, alinhado às suas estratégias. Desta forma, o trabalho estruturou-se em dois artigos. No primeiro artigo foi realizada uma análise no processo de compras praticado na empresa, para verificar o alinhamento do modelo de gestão do setor de materiais e serviços às estratégias da empresa, através do mapeamento do processo de compras e de uma entrevista semi estruturada com a direção da empresa responsável pela área, no intuito de verificar o alinhamento do processo utilizado com as estratégias da empresa. No segundo artigo, realizou-se a proposição do modelo de gestão de compras de materiais e serviços para a empresa, partindo das necessidades estratégicas identificadas no primeiro artigo e do levantamento dos principais modelos de gestão estratégica de compras de materiais e serviços existentes na literatura. Um modelo estratégico de gestão de compras para a empresa em estudo, foi estruturado através de um diagrama SIPOC e de um fluxograma detalhado do processo e, posteriormente, validado junto à diretoria da empresa. Obteve-se então, como resultado, um modelo de gestão capaz de alinhar o setor de compras de materiais e serviços às estratégias da empresa. O modelo contém, além do detalhamento das etapas do processo de compra, a proposta do uso de ferramentas de compras estratégicas adequadas ao perfil da empresa, como a Matriz de Kraljic (1983) aliada ao modelo de Ogden (2003), ambas adaptadas ao contexto analisado.
The purchasing department in companies has been faced with the need to become more efficient and effective in their acquisitions, so organizations have joined the use of strategic tools appropriate to their shopping needs. Therefore, this study aimed at proposing a purchasing management model of materials and services in a private company in Mato Grosso agribusiness animal nutrition, aligned to its strategies. For this purpose, work was structured in two articles. The first article it was done an analysis in the shopping process practiced for the company, to check the alignment of the materials and services sector of the management model to business strategies, through the purchasing process mapping and a semi structured interview with the company´s management responsible for the area, in order to verify the alignment process used, with the company's strategies. On the second article, took place on purchasing management model proposition of materials and services for the company, starting from the strategic needs identified on the first article and the survey of the main models of strategic management purchases of materials and services available in the literature. A strategic model of purchasing management for the company under investigation, it was structured through a SIPOC diagram and a detailed flow chart of the process and subsequently validated by the company´s staff. There was thus, as a result, a management model able to align the purchasing department of materials and services to the company's strategies. The model contains, in addition to detailing the stages of the buying process, the proposed of use of strategic purchasing tools appropriate to the company profile, such as the Mother of Kraljic (1983) combined with the model of Ogden (2003), both adapted to the analyzed context .

O objetivo do trabalho é analisar o processo competitivo em ambiente de economia digital sob a ótica do marketing estratégico, fundamentado no Projeto Delta, de Arnoldo C. Hax e Dean L. Wilde II, que examina três posicionamentos estratégicos alternativos. O trabalho focaliza precipuamente um desses processos adaptativos críticos – o foco no cliente – e se justifica porque amplia a visão do processo estratégico no nível da unidade estratégica de negócios. As duas abordagens exclusivas de conquista de vantagem competitiva propostas por Michael Porter – baixo custo ou diferenciação – enfatizam, respectivamente, as vertentes rentabilidade do produto e entrega do melhor produto. Nesse sentido, embora relevantes, elas não descrevem todas as situações de competição que caracterizam o ambiente contemporâneo de negócios. Sob o aspecto metodológico, é feita, preliminarmente, uma fundamentação da literatura pertinente ao tema, a partir de uma perspectiva do marketing estratégico, sequencialmente são mostrados os resultados de uma pesquisa empírica sobre o caso de uma empresa de relações públicas.
The most influential contemporary strategic framework, espoused by Michael Porter, is based on two exclusive ways to compete: low cost or differentiation. Although the best-product strategy continues to be relevant, Arnoldo C. Hax and Dean L. Wilde II argues that it does not describe all the ways companies compete in the current environment. In that way, the focus of this work is to analyze the competitive process on the digital economy environment, under strategic marketing optics and based on the Delta Model, which looks to three strategic positioning options. The work focuses on one of those adaptative processes: customer targeting. On the methodological point of view, a literature review is done in the field of strategic marketing; sequentially are shown the results of an empiric research on the case of a public relationship company.

The previous chapters described in detail the literature, theory and research on Co-alignment, RBV and SHRM that was the basis for the development of a construct for the conceptualization of HPWP in the casual theme restaurant sector of the US hospitality industry for management. Firms able to implement such HPWP systems possessing universality, i.e. complementary internal fit, have been shown to increase the intangible value of their human capital (employees) and create greater economic value (Delery, 1998). This study used the co-alignment principle in conjunction with concepts in SHRM and RBV to develop a theory for a HPWP system for casual theme restaurants in the US, which is named a High Performance People System (HPPS). The co-alignment model for hospitality organizations which is the foundation of the theoretical model for this research (Olsen, West, and Tse;1998) describes the relationship between four key constructs, i.e. the environment, strategy choice, firm structure, and firm performance. Briefly, the four constructs in the model must be in alignment with each other in order for the firm to produce the greatest value for its stakeholders. Co-alignment theory purports that, "if the firm is able to identify the opportunities that exist in the forces driving change, invest in competitive methods that take advantage of these opportunities, and allocate resources to those that create the greatest value, the financial results desired by owners and investors have a much better chance of being achieved" (Olsen et al. 1998, p.2). SHRM researchers have been advocates of the theory that supports the causal relationship between HRM practices, sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and firm performance. Several strategic human resource management researchers such as, Cappelli & Singh (1992),Wright & McMahan (1992), Pfeffer (1994), Lado & Wison (1995), Huselid (1995), Jackson & Schuler (1995),Becker & Gerhart (1996), Delany & Huselid (1996), Boxall (1998), Pfeffer (1998), Schuler & Jackson (2000), Ulrich & Beatty (2001), Lepak & Snell (2002), Hartog (2004) and others have directly or indirectly made attempts to theorize the effects of single or multiple human resource management variables on firm performance. These efforts have led to the incremental development of the strategic human resource management literature that stresses the relationships between the HRM practices, SCA and firm performance. There is an emergent body of evidence demonstrating that "the methods used by an organization to manage its human resources can have a substantial impact on many organizationally relevant outcomes" (Delery, 1998, p. 1). Convoluting the research on HPWP is incongruity among researchers on the micro HRM practices which are included in the SHRM system; there is little concurrence among scholars with respect to specifically which human resource practices should be incorporated (Becker & Gerhart, 1996; Rogers & Wright, 1998; Chadwick & Cappelli, 1999). RBV is one of the ten schools of thought in the field of management theory (Mintzberg, 2000) and is predicated on the concept that in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage and produce value for the firm, individual policies or practices produce the greatest results when they operate in a complex system that is not easily imitated (Barney, 1995). Resources are the "physical things a firm buys, leases or produces for its own use or the people hired on terms that make them effectively part of the firm" (Penrose, 1959: 67). Wernerfelt (1984) defines a firm's resources as "tangible or intangible assets which are tied semi-permanently to the firm" (p. 172). Barney (1991) further suggested that resources which can be used to create a SCA must have value, rareness, inimitability and substitutability The research focused on the discovery of the components of a HPWP system construct in the US casual theme restaurant segment for operating managers and the performance metrics used to judge their effectiveness. An exploratory study, in part using the Delphi method, serves as the overall research approach. A cross section of restaurant industry experts including company executives, consultants, academics and investors/owners contributed to the study. The outcome is a list of HRM work practices that are common to the casual theme restaurant industry and performance metrics. Based on prior empirical work the study started with 14 HRM work practice dimensions (See Table 3.1) and 3 performance measurements of productivity, turnover and financial performance (Huselid, 1995; Huselid & Becker, 1995; Delery & Doty, 1996; Becker & Huselid, 1996; Huselid & Becker, 1997; Hartog, 2004). These dimensions and performance metrics were presented to the panel of expert's making up the pilot study group as a starting point in the development of the HPWP system construct for the casual themed restaurant industry. After compiling the results of the pilot study and pretesting the survey instrument, the first Delphi survey (see Appendix 3) and a subsequent reminder were sent out electronically to the preselected Delphi participants for the study. A consensus on the research questions was not reached from the first-round survey according to the protocol Therefore, the second round was administered which provide opportunity for participants to change their position to help the group reach a consensus. Since consensus was reached according to the protocol (see tables 4.9, 4.12 & 4.13), the Delphi was concluded at this point. In summary, figure 1.1 put forth a conceptual model to clarify the relationships between the above mentioned schools of thought and firm performance. Figure 1.2 presented a working theoretical model which expounds on the relationships between the key concepts in the conceptual model and firm performance. Finally, figure 5.1 displays the results and the relationships of the study which methodically confirms the components of a HPPS for unit level managers, and identifies appropriate evaluation criteria for determining the performance of HPPS in the US casual restaurant market.
Ph. D.

Enterprise Architecture is so far the highest development step in IT's architectural description of enterprises. At the beginning, just technological architecture existed. However, with the quickly growing complexity of IT other domains occurred, that had to be described. Information or application architectures can serve as examples. IT then realized, that it needed to add to its IT architectures a business view and consequently the discipline Enterprise Architecture came into being. Strategic management is crucial for the development of each enterprise. The thesis focuses on the strategic management of business and the strategic management of IT. The strategic management of business consists of a business strategy and an operating model. To the strategic management of IT then belongs an information strategy and IT governance. Business-IT alignment further explores and ensures the accord between the strategic management of business and the strategic management of IT. The aim of the thesis is to describe the relationship of Enterprise Architecture and the different forms of strategic management and to express to which rate Enterprise Architecture supports them. The explored relationships are: - The relationship of Enterprise Architecture and business strategy - The relationship of Enterprise Architecture and operating models - The relationship of Enterprise Architecture and information strategy - The relationship of Enterprise Architecture and IT governance - The relationship of Enterprise Architecture and business-IT alignment The goals of the thesis are reached via theoretical research and subsequent deduction. The author's personal asset consists of creating a hierarchical model of Enterprise Architecture, of defining Enterprise Architecture's reaction to business strategies, of modifying the methodology MMDIS in respect of information strategy, of depicting, how Enterprise Architecture can be used in IT governance, of illustrating, where Enterprise Architecture contributes to business-IT alignment and of assessing, to which rate Enterprise Architecture supports the different forms of strategic management.

This thesis presents a computational tool to aid the Strategic Personnel of Estrada. The Model of Strategic Personnel Planning of Estrada is composed of five areas of expertise or performance: individual planning, professional planning, family planning, business planning and personal social participation planning. The developed tool is simple to use, and can be accessed by who is doing the planning and who is helping the planning. The planning is always tied to a period, and should be reviewed periodically to keep in line with the desires of the person, so the system should also allow the same person to have different plans.
Esta dissertação apresenta uma ferramenta computacional para auxiliar o Planejamento Estratégico Pessoal de Estrada. O Modelo de Planejamento Estratégico Pessoal de Estrada é composto por cinco áreas de atuação ou desempenho: planejamento individual, planejamento profissional, planejamento familiar, planejamento de negócios pessoais e planejamento da participação social. A ferramenta desenvolvida é simples de usar, e pode ser acessada tanto por quem está realizando o planejamento como quem está auxiliando o desenvolvimento. O planejamento está sempre vinculado a um período, e deve ser revisado periodicamente para que se mantenha em consonância com os anseios da pessoa, por isso o sistema deve também permitir que a mesma pessoa tenha diferentes planejamentos.

This thesis presents a substantive grounded theory that provides an understanding of how the University Librarian or Library Director can ensure the library's relevance to stakeholders in the face of digital disruption caused by online open access information sources. The theory suggests that the University Librarian responds to these problems in a cyclical pattern where the following strategies interact with each other: aligning strategic vision with the university; reinventing the library; engaging with stakeholders; building an agile and engaged culture; and demonstrating value to the university. These mutually dependent strategies sustain a library culture that is continually striving for improvement.

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Nos últimos 30 anos os executivos têm consistentemente identificado o alinhamento estratégico entre TI e negócio como uma das suas principais preocupações ainda não devidamente endereçadas. Existem diversos conceitos definidos sobre o significado deste alinhamento e suas consequências na performance das empresas, mas os estudos ainda são vagos em relação a como ele pode ser atingido e focam principalmente no alinhamento entre executivos, explorando pouco o nível operacional nas organizações. O objetivo deste estudo foi aprofundar-se no alinhamento entre TI e unidades de negócio na dimensão operacional, através de um estudo de caso avaliando o impacto na percepção de alinhamento entre as áreas após a criação de uma área dedicada ao relacionamento entre TI/Negócio, composta por profissionais de TI especializados e com conhecimentos específicos das unidades de negócio que atendem, visando um melhor entendimento dos objetivos da organização. Para tanto, foi aplicada uma abordagem multi-metodológica utilizando-se de Insider Action Research, que investiga um fenômeno partindo de uma intervenção no ambiente (em que o pesquisador faz parte), em conjunto com Design Research, que realiza o estudo de forma qualitativa centrada na construção e avaliação cíclica de um artefato. Para este estudo de caso, o artefato criado foi o método de trabalho utilizando-se de uma área responsável pela gestão do relacionamento entre TI/Negócio e a intervenção foi a implantação deste artefato na organização. As percepções foram capturadas através de reuniões com gestores da organização. As avaliações de efetividade foram apoiadas no framework de Luftman que mede o nível de alinhamento entre TI/Negócio em seis dimensões (Comunicação, Mensuração, Governança, Parceria, Escopo/Arquitetura e Competências). Os resultados mostraram que a criação da área de relacionamento TI/Negócios teve um claro impacto positivo na percepção de alinhamento entre as áreas, principalmente nas dimensões de comunicação e parceria. O estudo mostra que este tipo de abordagem gera uma maior sensação de confiança e proximidade e, portanto, pode ser utilizada para evoluir o alinhamento operacional entre as áreas.
Over the past 30 years, strategic alignment of information technology (IT) and business strategy has always been among the top concerns not properly addressed by executives. Although there are many studies about the meaning of this alignment and its consequences regarding the company´s performance, they often focus on the alignment between executives and few explore the operational level alignment and how it can be achieved. The main goal of this study is to approach the alignment between IT and business units from the operational level´s point of view. A case study is used in order to evaluate the impact on the perception of alignment after the creation of a dedicated team, responsible for managing the relationship between IT and business units, consisting of IT professionals with specific knowledge of the business units they are responsible for, in order to have a better understanding of the organizational objectives. In order to achieve that, a multi-methodological approach has been used, combining Insider Action Research, a methodology that investigates a phenomenon by evaluating the effects of an intervention on the environment (in which the researcher is a part of) with Design Research, another methodology that enables the study to be based upon the creation and cyclic evaluation of an artifact. In this study, the artifact created was a working method using a centralized unit responsible for the management of the IT and business unit´s relationship and the intervention was the implementation of this method on the organization. The perceptions were captured through meetings with the organization managers and directors. The evaluations were based on Luftman´s framework for measuring IT/Business alignment and had six dimensions (Communication, Metrics, Governance, Partnership, Scope/Architecture and Competences). The results shows that the creation of the unit dedicated to managing the IT/Business relationship had a positive impact on the alignment perception, mainly on the communication and partnership dimensions. The study also shows that this kind of structure results in a greater feeling of trust and, so, can be used to increase the operational alignment among the units.

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The Information Technology (IT) is a concept which has gained importance for organizations. It is expected that the strategic use of IT not only sustain the business operations of enterprises, but mainly leverage the initiative of new competitive strategies. However, these expectations on the earnings with the IT not have been achieved and questions arise about the return of the investments in IT. One of the causes is credited to the lack of alignment between the strategies of business and IT. The search of strategic alignment between IT and business takes to the necessity of measure it. This assessment can help identify whether the perceptions of business executives and IT executives, about the strategic alignment of IT, are similar or different. The objective of this work is to investigate the perceptions of business executives and IT executives in relation to the IT strategic alignment implemented in a selected organization. It was conducted a case study, in a company that provides services to the financial market. As a result, this work identified that there is no statistically significant difference between the perceptions of business executives and IT executives, related to the level of IT strategic alignment maturity implemented in the organization, and highlighted factors that promote this alignment: (a) senior management supports the IT (b) IT takes part of strategic planning, (c) IT understands the business of the company, and (d) there is a partnership between business and IT executives. Additionally, it was proposed that these similar perceptions result from the sharing of assumptions, knowledge and common expectations for the IT strategic alignment between the two groups of executives interviewed, and that led the company to achieve a higher level of IT strategic alignment. Each Practice of Strategic Alignment was examined separately. Although not have statistically significant differences between the perceptions of business executives and IT executives, the practices of Communication, Measures of Value and Competence, and Skills were better assessed by business executives and the practices of Governance and Partnerships have been better perceived by IT executives. The practice of Scope and Architecture and the IT Strategic Alignment, showed no differences in perceptions between the two groups of executives.
A Tecnologia da Informação (TI) é um conceito abrangente e que vem ganhando importância para as organizações. Espera-se que o uso estratégico da TI não só sustente as operações de negócio das empresas, mas, principalmente, permita a iniciativa de novas estratégias competitivas. Entretanto, estas expectativas sobre os ganhos com a TI não têm se concretizado, surgindo questionamentos sobre os resultados obtidos pelos investimentos realizados em TI. Uma das causas é creditada à falta de alinhamento entre as estratégias de negócio e de TI. Da busca deste alinhamento estratégico da TI com os negócios, surge a necessidade de medi-lo. Esta avaliação pode ajudar a identificar se as percepções dos executivos de negócio e de TI, quanto ao alinhamento estratégico de TI, são semelhantes ou divergentes. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar as percepções dos executivos de negócio e de TI em relação ao alinhamento estratégico de TI implementado em uma organização. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo de caso, em uma empresa que presta serviços para o mercado financeiro. Como resultado, o trabalho identificou que não existe diferença estatisticamente significante entre as percepções dos executivos de negócios e de TI, com relação ao nível de maturidade do alinhamento estratégico de TI implementado na organização pesquisada, e apontou uma série de fatores que promovem este alinhamento: (a) alta direção apóia a TI; (b) TI participa do planejamento estratégico; (c) TI entende os negócios da empresa; e (d) existe uma parceria entre executivos de negócios e TI. Adicionalmente, foi proposto que estas percepções semelhantes resultam do compartilhamento de suposições, conhecimentos e expectativas comuns relativas ao alinhamento estratégico de TI, pelos dois grupos de executivos entrevistados, e que levaram a empresa a alcançar um nível mais alto de alinhamento estratégico de TI. Cada Prática de Alinhamento Estratégico foi analisada separadamente e, apesar de não haverem diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre as percepções dos executivos de negócio e de TI, as práticas de Comunicação, Medidas de Valor e Competência, e Habilidades foram mais bem avaliadas pelos executivos de negócio e as práticas de Governança e Parcerias, foram mais bem percebidas pelos executivos de TI. A prática de Escopo e Arquitetura e o Alinhamento Estratégico de TI, não apresentaram diferenças de percepções entre os dois grupos de executivos.

A crescente importância do mercado de serviços terceirizados de TI no Brasil e o interesse por pesquisas nesse tema no Brasil e em nível mundial, são os principais argumentos que justificam a realização deste estudo. Este trabalho teve por objetivo entender questões que envolvem os aspectos considerados em decisões de terceirização de funções de TI em empresas brasileiras, visão ainda pouco explorada na literatura. Para que o objetivo fosse atingido, foram propostas quatro questões de pesquisa respondidas utilizando-se de uma revisão bibliográfica, simulação e dois surveys. Os resultados encontrados permitiram identificar um modelo final que facilita um melhor entendimento sobre como a decisão de terceirização é tomada em empresas brasileiras. Tal modelo engloba seis aspectos de decisão usualmente considerados pelas empresas, o inter-relacionamento entre estes aspectos e mostra fatores externos que contribuem para a definição do nível de importância de cada aspecto na decisão. Como produto secundário, a discussão dos resultados encontrados frente à literatura que trata do tema terceirização em TI validou resultados já apresentados por outros autores e, gerou a necessidade de estudos futuros ao encontrar divergências. Do ponto de vista prático, o trabalho apresenta importante contribuição, pois ajudou a estruturar o processo de decisão de terceirização de funções de TI.
The growing importance of IT service market in Brazil and the interest for researches in this area in Brazil and worldwide are the main arguments that justifies the development of this study. The objective of this work was to understand the issues that involve the aspects considered on IT outsourcing decisions in Brazilian companies, theme that is not well explored in the literature. To achieve this objective, it was proposed four research questions answered by a bibliographic revision, simulation and two surveys. The founded results allowed the identification of a final model that facilitates a better understanding about how outsourcing decision making process occurs in Brazilian companies. This model considers six decisions aspects usually considered by the companies, the inter-relationship between this aspects and shows external factors that contributes to the definition of the importance level of each of these aspects in the decision making process. As secondary product, the discussion of the founded results against the literature that covers IT outsource theme, validated the results already presented by other authors and created the need of future researches by presenting some different results. From practicing stand point, this work presents an important contribution, by helping to structure the IT outsourcing decision making process.

Abstract Sharing is emerging as one of the megatrends influencing future business opportunities, and wireless communications is no exception to this development. Future mobile broadband networks will operate on different types of spectrum bands including shared spectrum, which calls for changes in the operation and management of the networks. The creation and capture of value by the different players in the mobile broadband ecosystem is expected to change due to regulation, technology, and business landscape related drivers that concern not only spectrum sharing, but also sharing of other resources such as infrastructure, technologies, or data. This thesis examines the key business and technology enablers needed to exploit spectrum sharing in mobile broadband networks, and presents the business model characteristics and strategic choices that spectrum sharing concepts support. Action research and integral scenarios methodologies were applied for strategic and business analysis utilizing the capacity and expertise of the policy, business and technology research communities. The thesis introduces a new approach to analyze the scalability of the spectrum sharing concepts and their business model elements utilizing sharing economy antecedent factors. The results indicate that all analyzed sharing concepts meet basic requirements to scale. The Licensed Shared Access (LSA) leverages existing assets and capabilities of the mobile network operator domain, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) extends the business model dynamics from connectivity to content, context and commerce, and the hybrid usage of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band by Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) and downlink Long Term Evolution (LTE) (HUHF) enables new collaborative opportunities between converging communication, Internet and media domains. The thesis validates the feasibility of spectrum sharing between mobile broadband networks and other types of incumbent spectrum users utilizing Finnish cognitive radio field trial environment (CORE), and expands the notion of spectrum sharing beyond the mobile broadband domain to be applied to other wireless systems including the media and broadcasting. The presented results can be used in developing the future mobile broadband systems enhanced with innovative spectrum sharing enabled business models to cope with the growing demand for capacity and new services by humans and machines
Tiivistelmä Jakamistalous on yksi suurista tulevaisuuden liiketoimintamahdollisuuksiin vaikuttavista trendeistä, eikä langaton tietoliikenne ole tässä poikkeus. Tulevaisuuden laajakaistaiset matkapuhelinverkot tulevat hyödyntämään erityyppisiä radiotaajuuksia, kuten jaettuja taajuuskaistoja, mikä vaatii muutoksia verkkojen toimintoihin ja hallintaan. Eri toimijoiden arvonluonti- ja ansaintamahdollisuuksien odotetaan muuttuvan näissä liikkuvan laajakaistan ekosysteemeissä regulaation, teknologian ja liiketoimintaympäristön kehittyessä, ei vain taajuuksien jakamisessa, vaan myös kun kyseessä on muiden resurssien kuten infrastruktuurin, teknologioiden tai tiedon jakaminen. Väitöskirja tutkii teknologia- ja liiketoimintaedellytyksiä taajuusjakomenetelmille matkapuhelinverkoissa, sekä esittelee ja analysoi menetelmien mahdollistamia liiketoimintamalleja ja strategisia valintoja. Strategia- ja liiketoiminta-analyyseissä käytettiin toimintatutkimus- ja skenaariomenetelmiä poikkitieteellisissä tutkimusprojekteissa yhteistyössä reguloinnin, liiketoiminnan ja tekniikan tutkimusyhteisöjen kanssa. Tutkimus esittelee uuden lähestymistavan taajuusjakotekniikoiden liiketoimintamallien skaalautuvuuden analysointiin jakamistalouden määritelmiä hyödyntäen. Tulokset osoittavat, että kaikki tutkitut tekniikat täyttävät perusedellytykset skaalautuvuudelle; Licensed Shared Access (LSA) hyödyntäen matkapuhelinoperaattorin olemassa olevia resursseja ja kyvykkyyksiä, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) laajentaen liiketoimintamalleja tietoliikenteestä sisältöön, kontekstiin ja kaupankäyntialustoihin, sekä digitaalitelevision ja langattoman LTE-tekniikan hybridikäyttö UHF-taajuuskaistalla (HUHF) mahdollistaen uusia liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia lähentyvien tietoliikenne-, Internet- ja mediaekosysteemien välillä. Väitöskirja tulokset vahvistivat taajuuden jakamisen soveltuvuuden liikkuvan laajakaistaverkon ja saman taajuusalueen eri teollisuudenalan haltijan välillä suomalaisessa CORE kenttätestausympäristössä, ja laajensivat taajuusjakotekniikan sovellettavuutta myös muihin langattomiin järjestelmiin sisältö- ja mediajakelussa. Esitettyjä tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää tulevaisuuden langattomien laajakaistaverkkojen kehitystyössä vastaamaan ihmisten ja koneiden kasvaviin tietoliikennepalveluiden ja -kapasiteetin tarpeisiin hyödyntäen tehokkaita taajuusjakotekniikoita ja niiden mahdollistamia innovatiivisia liiketoimintamalleja

The view on business strategy has changed significantly over time. In the past, a functional-level strategy prevailed in which IT strategy was subordinate to, and needed to align with a deliberate business strategy. Recently, the rapid development in digital technologies has left no industry untouched, and digital transformation has become an enabler and differentiator for businesses. Therefore, IT strategy transcends the view of alignment and moves towards a fusion of business and IT strategies, which is coined as digital business strategy. But its alignment with organisational design is yet to be realised to achieve sustainable business performance, particularly in the Saudi water industry. In Saudi Arabia, the water industry is undergoing a program of privatisation, large-scale restructuring and tremendous digital transformations to meet the needs of stakeholders (i.e. the government, shareholders, employees, partners, customers and society). This industry is fragmented within the public and private sectors wherein Saudi water companies are responsible for the supply of potable water, collection and treatment of wastewater and have government mandate to reorganise using new digital technologies, which would benefit the industry and be financially, socially and environmentally feasible for all. However, the water industry has had little research in the use of digital business strategy and its alignment process with organisational design that will lead to sustainable business performance. Therefore, the question is what extent the digital strategic alignment between digital business strategy and organisational design factors enhances sustainable business performance? Drawing on information processing view and knowledge-based view, this research aims to explore the impact of digital business strategy on organisational design factors, namely, structure, processes, people and rewards, to identify the success factors needed for digital strategic alignment that improves sustainable business performance in water companies. The research adopted the Star model of organisational design (Kates & Galbraith 2007) that includes these factors and used a qualitative approach with two case studies (Saudi public and private water companies). Qualitative data were collected using interviews, focus groups and document analysis, in addition to reviewing the existing literature. The data were analysed using a content analysis approach with a computer-aided open-access tool (QCAmap) developed by Mayring (2014). Through this study, 24 propositions were developed, 18 critical success factors (CSFs) were explored, and six criteria and nine metrics for sustainable business performance were identified. The 18 CSFs were divided into three groups—strategic, organisational and digital factors. Strategic factors include a shared digital strategic vision, shared digital strategic objectives, top management support, knowledge integration, simultaneous incremental–comprehensive development, digital partnerships management, quality management with key performance indicators (KPI), and change management. Organisational factors include agile structures, shared digital units, task redetermination, unified digital processes, unified digital flows of information, renewed digital skills and knowledge and digital governance in addition to the existing organisational design factors (i.e., people and rewards). Digital factors include integrated digital solutions, digital centralisation, and interoperability and compatibility. Together all help shape the novel digital organisational design to achieve digital strategic alignment. Thus, this study developed a Digital Strategic Alignment Model (DSAM), which includes all CSFs for the digital strategic alignment process that ensures sustainable business performance. Three factors, namely, renewed digital skills and knowledge, change management, and quality management with KPIs, support people and rewards in the existing organisational design literature as they influence organisational design factors to improve performance. The other (additional) 15 CSFs can be considered as novel knowledge contributions to elaborate the organisational design theory in the context of digital business strategy and sustainable business performance. However, there remain other factors to consider. Therefore, this study emphasises on future research in that these CSFs need quantitative investigation using survey to test how these CSFs affect the triple bottom line of sustainability. Practically, it informs managers that achieving digital strategic alignment is key to process improvement that benefits organisations, employees and users.

碩士
國立中央大學
高階主管企管碩士班
102
This paper explores the application of the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) to the formulation of strategies for SCSR (Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility) in corporations, assisting corporations to gain competitive advantages through corporate social responsibility. SAM was created during the 90s in order to bridge the gap in terms of objectives, competences between business and IT professionals to achieve competitive advantages. The present study applies SAM to SCSR-SAM (Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility SAM) to align development on business strategies and corporate social responsibilities. This paper proposes a new framework to represent alignment in a way that multiple strategies and pathways can be recognized, favoring dialogue and coordination, and provides a path to competitive advantages through corporate social responsibility.

博士
國立清華大學
工業工程與工程管理學系
98
The business and technology strategy provides the foundation for sustainable development of a business. The challenge of a strategic planning process to integrate technology and business strategy is to match technology push to market pull. Based on this perspective, the research issue of this study is “How to align the strategy of a business to new product development?” This dissertation proposed a Strategic Alignment Model for New Product Development (SAM-NPD), which includes Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), Six-Echelon Model (SEM) and Systematic Innovation Process (SIP). Finally, the application of this methodology to develop two projects is illustrated.

While earlier studies have discussed such individual factors as motivation, retention, and productivity as they relate to effective and productive sales force management, organizational factors, such as organizational development interventions, are also critical in developing salespeople and identifying their value, and have not been sufficiently studied. In response to the research gap, this study presents a salesperson lifecycle management model for identifying and optimizing salespersons’ value using effective and productive organizational development interventions. Such organizational development interventions should be proven valid for recognizing the proper alignment of people strategies with organizational goals. Surprisingly, this important aspect of sales management has not gained serious attention thus far. To fill the research gap, this study develops a quantitative basis that measures salesperson value and salesperson lifetime value for identifying an optimal organizational development intervention decision. To address the research objective, this study conducts a simulation with four different organizational development investment strategies and, under each strategy, three different sales performance types. This study also empirically tests the quantitative basis developed in the study two with an actual salesperson performance data from one of global consumer financing company and finds that sales organizations can utilize the quantitative basis for effective and productive organizational development intervention strategies.

Abstract in English, Afrikaans and Sesotho
The study was inspired by the global phenomenon of failure rates of outsourcing ventures; yet, the outsourcing value proposition of 3PL providers is promising and potentially lucrative. The approach of the outsourcing venture was thus investigated, specifically how to align and integrate outsourcing parameters appropriately at the inception of the outsourcing venture in order to attain the benefits brought about by the outsourcing decision over the projected life of the outsourcing venture. To this effect, a strategic decision-making model, with the objective of ascertaining optimal alignment and integration was developed. The model comprises a dualistic development followed by a methodological process path to operationalise the strategic decision-making model. A services continuum (development one) is established, which is a permutation matrix that classifies four aspects of importance (service type, category of 3PL provider, strategic alignment and investment), in order to align the aspects optimally and enable appropriate model application. The services continuum is a conglomeration of nine models:  a capabilities matrix for 3PL provider services;  a framework for evaluating the supply chain role of 3PL providers;  a mathematical model;  a supplier selection and evaluation process;  a presentation of the Hayes–Wheelwright framework;  an outsourcing variables differentiated model;  four categories of the 3PL providers model;  an estimated path model; and  a process integration via survey data collection model. The services continuum was extended for utilisation with risk management practices, and an outsourcing risk matrix (development two) was established. The enablement of the outsource risk matrix is an element review, consisting of three categories: collaboration and integrated planning systems; performance measurement; and broad-based black economic empowerment. The strategic decision-making methodology process path was developed as having three phases, which operationalise the strategic decision-making model. The research was primarily focussed on literature reviews, with the models classified according to the services continuum. To a lesser extent, the research focussed on primary data, which served as model application input specifically for application requirements related to Sasol. The study established a universally applicable strategic decision-making model, as well as the application of the model for Sasol’s outbound (final packaged product) supply chain.
Thuto e ile ya kgothaletswa ke tshebetso ya lefatshe mabapi le maemo a ho hloleha ha ho nyaolwa/ntshuwa ha diprojeke kgwebong; leha ho le jwalo, tlhahiso ya boleng ba ditshebeletso tsa 3PL e a tshepisa ebile e ka ba le hlahiso ya tjhelete e ngata. Ka tsela eo, mokgwa wa ho tswa kgwebong o ile wa phenyekollwa, haholoholo mabapi le ho tsamaisana le ho kenyelletsa maemo a ho ntshetsa pele maruo ka mokgwa o nepahetseng ha ho thehwa kgwebo ya ho ntshetsa pele ho fumana melemo e tliswang ke qeto ya ho ntshetsa pele ka bophelo ba morero wa ho nyaolwa kgwebong. Ka lebaka lena, ho ntshetswa pele mokgwa/motlolo o motle wa ho etsa diqeto, ka sepheo sa ho netefatsa hore ho na le boemo bo nepahetseng le ho kopanngwa ho tsitsitseng. Motlolo ona o na le ntshetso pele e habedi e latelwang ke tshebetso ya mokgwa wa ho kenya tshebetsong tsela ya ho nka diqeto. Tatellano ya ditshebeletso e tswelang pele (ntshetsopele ya pele) e a thehwa, e leng phethoho ya tikoloho e kgethollang dikarolo tse nne tsa bohlokwa (mofuta oa tshebeletso, mokga wa mofani wa 3PL, kemiso ya moralo le matsete), e le ho dumellana le dintlha ka tsela e nepahetseng le ho etsa hore ho sebediswe motlolo hantle. Ditshebeletso tse tswelang pele ke kopano ya dimotlolo tse robong:  bokgoni ba maemo a tikoloho bakeng sa ditshebeletso tsa bafani ba 3PL;  sebopeho sa ho hlahloba phepelo ya tatellano ya ho nka karolo ha bafani ba 3PL;  mokgwa/motlolo wa mathemathiks;  kgetho ya mofani le mokgwa wa o hlahloba;  tlhaloso ya moralo wa Hayes-Wheelwright;  mefuta e fapaneng ya ho nyaola dikarolo tse fapaneng;  ntho tse mene tsa bafani ba 3PL;  mohlala wa tsela ya dimotlolo; le  mokgwa wa ho kopanya ka mokgwa wa ho bokella lesedi la dipatlisiso. Dishebeletso tse tswelang pele di ile tsa atoloswa bakeng sa tshebediso ya mekgwa ya taolo ya dikotsi, mme maemo a tikoloho a kotsing ya boipheliso (ntlafatso ya bobeli) a thehwa. Ho kengwa tshebetsong ha kotsi ya maemo a tikoloho ke ntho e shejwang botjha e nang le mekga e meraro: mekgwa ya ho sebedisana le meralo e kopanetsweng; tekanyo ya tshebetso; le ho matlafatsa bofuma ba batho batsho lehlakoreng la moruo. Mokgwa wa ho etsa diqeto o ile wa ntlafatswa e le o nang le mekgahlelo e meraro, e sebetsang ka mokgwa o motle wa ho etsa diqeto. Phuputso e ne e lebisitswe haholo ditabeng tsa tlhahlobo ya dingodilweng, le dimotlolo tse kgethollwang ho latela ditshebeletso tse tswelang pele. Ho ya ka tekanyo e nyenyane, dipatlisiso di lebisitse tlhokomelong ya lesedi la mantlha, le neng le sebetsa e le mokgwa wa ho kenya letsoho bakeng sa ditlhoko tsa kopo tse amanang le Sasol. Phuputso ena e thehile mokgwa wa ho etsa diqeto tse amohelehang lefatsheng ka bophara, hammoho le ho sebediswa ha setshwantsho sa phepelo ya tlhahiso ya Sasol (thlahiso ya ho qetela).
Dié studie is deur die globale verskynsel van die falingstempo van uitkontrakteringsondernemings geïnspireer; ten spyte hiervan lyk die uitkontrakteringswaardevoorstel van 3PL-verskaffers belowend en is dit potensieel winsgewend. Die benadering wat die uitkontrakteringonderneming volg, is derhalwe ondersoek en in die besonder hoe om die uitkontrakteringparameters by die aanvang van die uitkontrakteringonderneming toepaslik in lyn te stel en te integreer om die voordele te benut van die uitkontrakteringsbesluit oor die geprojekteerde lewe van die uitkontrakteringsonderneming. ’n Strategiesebesluitnemingsmodel wat ten doel het om optimale inlynstelling en integrasie te verseker, is dus ontwikkel. Die model bestaan uit ’n dualistiese ontwikkeling, gevolg deur ’n metodologiese prosesbaan om die strategiese besluitnemingsmodel te operasionaliseer. ’n Dienstekontinuum (ontwikkeling een) is op die been gebring, wat ’n permutasiematriks is wat vier aspekte van belangrikheid (dienssoort, kategorie van die 3PL-verskaffer, strategiese inlynstelling en investering) klassifiseer, ten einde die aspekte optimaal in lyn te stel en toepaslike modeltoepassing moontlik te maak. Die dienstekontinuum bestaan uit ’n versameling van nege modelle:  ’n bekwaamheidsmatriks vir 3PL-diensverskafferdienste;  ’n raamwerk om die voorsieningskettingsrol van 3PL-verskaffers te evalueer;  ’n wiskundige model;  ’n verskafferseleksie en evalueringsproses;  ’n aanbieding van die Hayes-Wheelwright-raamwerk;  ’n uitkontrakteringsveranderlike-gedifferensieerde model;  vier kategorieë van die 3PL-verskaffersmodel;  ’n geraamde baanmodel; en  prosesintegrasie deur middel van ’n ondersoekdata-insamelingsmodel. Die dienstekontinuum is uitgebrei vir gebruik by risikobestuurspraktyke en ’n uitkontrakteringrisikomatriks (ontwikkeling twee) is op die been gebring. Die bemagtiging van die uitkontrakteringsrisikomatriks is ’n elementhersiening, wat uit drie kategorieë bestaan: samewerkings- en geïntegreerdebeplanningstelsels; prestasiemeting; en breë swart ekonomiese bemagtiging. Die strategiese besluitnemingsmetodologieprosesbaan is met drie fases ontwikkel, wat die strategiese besluitnemingsmodel operasionaliseer. Die navorsing het hoofsaaklik op literatuuroorsigte gefokus, met die modelle wat volgens die dienstekontinuum geklassifiseer is. Die navorsing het in ’n mindere mata op die primêre data gekonsentreer, wat as die modeltoepassingsinset gedien het, in die besonder vir die toepassingsvereistes wat op Sasol betrekking het. Die studie het ’n universele, toepaslike strategiesebesluitnemingsmodel daargestel, asook die aanwending van die model op Sasol se uitgaande voorsieningsketting (finaal verpakte produk).
Business Management
D. Phil. (Management Studies)

碩士
大同大學
資訊經營學系(所)
98
The business model has become complex comprising telecommunication, fixed Network and cable TV due to the integration of digital and internet technologies. The service providers continue to offer various packages for voice, data, multimedia consolidated services. The circumstances create the new business opportunities as well as the competitions in telecommunication industry. This study has investigated the impact of technology evolution to the telecom industry and its business model. The rising strategy for these succeeding stories. This including the leading enterprise in the past, such as Google and Apple, etc… It is hoped that using these methods through the comparison in non-homogeneous industries, it will present different strategy or policy for Telecommunication industry. The study found: 1. An innovative and unique business model is crucial to the success of the business. 2. In order to have an effective service a bandwidth is necessary to be provided. The service provides in the fixed network or action of should continue to grow, to provide digital convergence services. 3. Abundant service content is the key successful factor to maintain the growth of the business. Promote of add-in value of services, increase the service contents and income. 4. The successful story of an advanced telecommunication industry shortened the learning curve of a late comer.

博士
國立政治大學
資訊管理研究所
96
Digital divide (DD) is the byproduct of the fast development of information technologies and digital economy. Previous researches indicated that the existence of digital divide implies the vanishment of digital opportunities, and furthermore, it reflects the presence of servere social problems including literacy, poverty, medical systems, etc. As long as there is a gap, the development of economy, national competitiveness, and the advance of human lives will be affected. As the matter of fact, the issues of the causes, the measurements, the impacts as well as the reducing of digital divide have been constantly discussed over a decade. Governments and international organizations have put a lot of efforts in pursuit of establishing a society in which people would equally share the benefits of e-society by minimizing the gaps. Unfortunately, research findings have indicated that the efforts for reducing digital divides were inconvincible. Major themes, such as the observation as well as the evaluation of the status of digital divide in an integrated view, the establishment of cause-and-effect relationship between strategies and the outcomes, are still absent in the discussions or researches. By reviewing literatures and analyzing the documents collected, this research first provides an integrated framework for simultaneously analyzing domestic and international digital divides. The framework is later incorporated with the BSC to form the strategic management platform for reducing DD. To ease the process for a nation to build its own DD-BSC and to refine its DD strategies, this research also presents a systemized approach to locate strategic gaps. The AHP is adopted in this research to verify the consistency of the structure of the framework as well as to calculate the weights of the indicators. In summary, this research contributes the following results: 1. An integrated model, containing ICT Diffusion, Equal Opportunity, Information Society and National Competitiveness dimension for the measurement and evaluation of digital divide, is presented in this research. 2. Research findings suggest the strategies of reducing DD should be planned based on Beneficiaries, Governmental Functions and Processes, Nation-Wide Learning and Growth and Public Finance perspectives. 3. The research proposes and defines four types of horizontal strategic theme gaps, five types of horizontal strategic objective gaps, two types of vertical strategic theme gaps and three types of vertical strategic objective gap types. The ultimate goal of strategic gaps analysis is to ensure the qualities of the strategies of reducing DD. 4. The measurements proposed in this research can be used to measure the status of DD and to evaluate the performances of the strategies of reducing DD. 5. The case study of Taiwn reveals that in the issue of reducing DD, the government could initiate more effective strategies by referencing other developed countries. Major problems of Taiwan regarding to reducing DD include the lack of strategic objectives, the lack of proper measurement, the broken links among strategies as well as between strategy and its objectives. Suggestions proposed to the government including the reexamination the scopes and strutrucures of measuring the status of digital divide, designing a strategic planning and control system for reducing DD, seeking for cross-nation cooperations and focusing on improving the qualities of the DD strategies. Future studies may focus on the refinement of the frameworks proposed in this research; determine the changes that are affected by the new concept of digital opportunities; define more clearly and precisely the terms used in observing or measuring DD; design questionnaires and collect data regularly. Finally, more interviews and case studies are to be conducted to improve the practical values of this research.

In the field of craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgery, surgical planning is an important and necessary procedure due to the complex nature of the craniofacial skeleton. Computed tomography (CT) has brought about a revolution in virtual diagnosis, surgical planning and simulation, and evaluation of treatment outcomes. It provides high-quality 3D image and model of skull for Computer-aided surgical planning system (CSPS). During the planning process, one of the essential steps is to reestablish the dental occlusion. In the first project, a new approach is presented to automatically and efficiently reestablish dental occlusion. It includes two steps. The first step is to initially position the models based on dental curves and a point matching technique. The second step is to reposition the models to the final desired occlusion based on iterative surface-based minimum distance mapping with collision constraints. With linearization of rotation matrix, the alignment is modeled by solving quadratic programming. The simulation was completed on 12 sets of digital dental models. Two sets of dental models were partially edentulous, and another two sets have first premolar extractions for orthodontic treatment. Two validation methods were applied to the articulated models. The results show that using the proposed method, the dental models can be successfully articulated with a small degree of deviations from the occlusion achieved with the gold-standard method. Low contrast resolution in CBCT image has become its major limitation in building skull model. Intensive hand-segmentation is required to reconstruct the skull model. Thin bone images are particularly affected by this limitation. In the second project, a novel segmentation approach is presented based on wavelet active shape model (WASM) for a particular interest in the outer surface of the anterior wall of maxilla. 19 CBCT datasets are used to conduct two experiments. This model-based segmentation approach is validated and compared with three different segmentation approaches. The results show that the performance of this model-based segmentation approach is better than those of the other approaches. It can achieve 0.25 +/- 0.2mm of surface error distance from the ground truth of the bone surface. Field of view (FOV) can be reduced in order to reduce unnecessary radiation dose in CBCT. This ROI imaging is common in most of the dentomaxillofacial imaging and orthodontic practices. However, a truncation effect is created due to the truncation of projection images and becomes one of the limitation in CBCT. In the third project, a method for small region of interest (ROI) imaging and reconstruction of the image of ROI in CBCT and two experiments for measurement of dosage are presented. The first experiment shows at least 60% and 70% of radiation dose can be reduced. It also demonstrates that the image quality was still acceptable with little variation of gray by using the traditional truncation correction approach for ROI imaging. The second experiment demonstrates that the images reconstructed by CBCT reconstruction algorithms without truncation correction can be degraded to unacceptable image quality.