[AISWorld] JITCAR Volume 12, Number 4 has been published

Fri Dec 31 00:40:59 EST 2010

Dear IS Professors around the world:

As Founding editor of JITCAR, it is my pleasure to congratulate Steven for a super job in enhancing JITCAR in all possible ways during his 3 years' of editorship.  He has taken JITCAR at least two more notches up.

I'd like to wish Suprateek the very best in taking the journal two more notches up, even though it would be pretty tough to follow the record of Steve Gordon.

Sincerely

Dr. Shailendra Palvia
Professor of MIS, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, Brookville, NY 11548

World Conference Chairperson, Ninth Annual Int'l Smart-Sourcing Conference, 
IIT Delhi, New Delhi, INDIA, January 5-6, 2011
http://www.outsourceglobal.org

Founding Editor, Journal of IT Case and Application Research
http://faculty.babson.edu/gordon/jitcar

-----Original Message-----
From: aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org on behalf of Gordon, Steven
Sent: Thu 12/30/2010 4:46 PM
To: AISWorld at lists.aisnet.org
Cc: Sudhanshu Rai; Suprateek Sarker; mk.inf at cbs.dk
Subject: [AISWorld] JITCAR Volume 12, Number 4 has been published

Dear Colleagues:

It is my pleasure to announce the publication of the 48th issue of JITCAR (Volume 12, Number 4) -- The Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research (http://www.jitcar.org).  This is a special issue on ICT Innovation in Emerging Economies, with special issue editors Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen.

This is my last issue as Editor-in-Chief.  Please welcome and congratulate Dr. Suprateek Sarker who will be assuming this role effective January 1, 2011.

Sincerely,
Steven R. Gordon
Editor-in-Chief, JITCAR
Professor, Information Technology Management Babson College, Babson Park, MA  02457
Tel: 781-239-4571
Web: http://faculty.babson.edu/gordon

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Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research
Volume 12, Number 4, 2010

Special Issue on ICT Innovation in Emerging Economies
Special Issue Editors Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen

>From the Editor's Desk
A Bittersweet Farewell
Steven Gordon, Babson College, USA

Editorial Preface
IT Innovation in Emerging Economies
Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen
Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

Research Article One
A Framework for the Co-Creation of ICT Innovation: Empirical Results from India
Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen
Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
Agne Kazakeviciute, Department of Business Administration, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Research Article Two
Digital Divide and Equity in Education: A Rawlsian Analysis
Josephine Anthony and Dr. Sudarsan Padmanabhan
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Madras, India

Research Article Three*
Transition to Market Economy through Information Systems and Organizational Learning: A Case of Sava Company
Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic, University of New South Wales, Australia
Marius Janson, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA
Joze Zupancic, University of Maribor, Slovenia
* Reprinted with permission of the publisher from Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 2008, Vol. 11, Iss. 4.

Book Review
Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets
By Sailesh Chutani, Jessica Rothenberg Aalami, and Akhtrar Badshah
Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 978-0-470-92063-3; 166 pages
Reviewed by Richard G. Platt, University of West Florida, USA

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>From the Editor's Desk
A Bittersweet Farewell
Steven Gordon, Babson College, USA

INTRODUCTION

I have served JITCAR in various capacities with great pleasure since its inception in 1999 as JITCA, the Journal of Information Technology Cases and Applications.  I strongly believe in JITCAR's mission, to publish rigorous case studies that advance the world's knowledge and improve its understanding of how information systems and technology affect organizations.  I believe that case research is as important to the generation of knowledge as statistical research. It provides an indispensable balance to and augmentation of statistical research findings.  Statistical research is needed to identify broad, generalizable truths in our discipline.  However, because organizations are exceedingly complex, these truths need to be interpreted within a context.  Case research provides a nuanced perspective, allowing managers to assess how a general theory might apply to situations they face in their own organizations and providing academicians with a more complicated understanding of the interactions that occur within real organizations; such an understanding is needed to motivate scholars to enrich theory and further its ongoing development.  Until JITCAR's founding, it was quite difficult to publish case-based research.  One reason, of course, is that it is difficult to do case research well.  But, case researchers who followed solid, well-grounded qualitative methods also found that journals were hesitant to publish case-based research because reviewers, concerned that such research was not sufficiently generalizable, failed to understand exactly what case research can contribute.

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Editorial Preface
IT Innovation in Emerging Economies
Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen
Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

ABSTRACT

In this special issue we highlight the role played by IT Innovation in Emerging Economies. To understand this role with some clarity we focus on three theme concepts derived from underlining theoretical frames researchers have used to explain innovation. We identify these as the economic theme, the knowledge theme and the interactive globalization theme. Using each of these themes, we make some observations about the state of the art for IT innovation research. For instance, we conjecture that IT innovation needs to be researched independently rather than in terms of diffusion or adoption studies. In the knowledge theme we propose that IT innovation will flourish only if local knowledge is made mainstream. It means that not all knowledge needs to be scientific knowledge, but it does need to be locally embedded. Therefore, we suggest that local knowledge be given more legitimacy for IT innovation. >From the interactive globalization theme we suggest that co-creation is a form of IT innovation and that co-creation is mutually beneficial.

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Research Article One
A Framework for the Co-Creation of ICT Innovation: Empirical Results from India
Sudhanshu Rai and Mogens Kühn Pedersen
Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
Agne Kazakeviciute, Department of Business Administration, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

ABSTRACT

The main aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the co-creation of ICT Innovation. To do this we first review key innovation literature with the argument that each set of innovation literature considers the world of innovation from a sterile perspective, normally linear in nature. We propose an alternative view encapsulated in our idea of 'Co-creation of ICT Innovation'. To illustrate the nature of Co-creation of ICT Innovation, we present three case studies from India and show the distinctness in the nature of problem solving in each case. We then use this distinctness to develop a dual interactive framework. One framework is at a Meta level that develops the conceptual theme for the process of co-creation. The other framework, that populates the conceptual theme with operational drivers, is aimed to populate the Meta level with ideas that can initiate the process of Co-creation of ICT Innovation. Our contribution in this paper is this dual interactive framework that we argue explains the nature and process of co-creation.

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Research Article Two
Digital Divide and Equity in Education: A Rawlsian Analysis
Josephine Anthony and Dr. Sudarsan Padmanabhan
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Madras, India

ABSTRACT

In his magnum opus, "A Theory of Justice" (1971), John Rawls, one of the most influential American philosophers of the twentieth century, emphasizes two principles of justice, one that ensures equal liberties and the second equal opportunity for all irrespective of their status. The most important part of the second principle known as the "difference principle" addresses social inequity by recommending institutional support for the under-privileged segment of the society. These principles of justice serve as guidelines for political institutions to ensure equality of basic political and civil rights and equity in the social and economic conditions. To facilitate equity, Rawls places significant emphasis on the formal notion of "justice" over its substantive notion which is "fairness." If fairness could be achieved in the process of institutionalising justice in any socio-political system then it would reach the position of "reflective equilibrium" which is an ideal condition for any just system. This paper would attempt to apply the Rawlsian principles of justice in the context of the emerging inequitable situation in the education sector and web based education in India. The emerging issue of "digital divide" widens the disparity among the society in education and economic sectors. The burgeoning fields of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the scope of ICT in education at various levels create a complex situation, when resources and opportunities remain inaccessible to the poor. Inequity due to digital divide assumes significance and requires urgent attention of the policy makers, administrators and community as the Indian government has been actively implementing massive schemes in education and rural development, to ensure accessibility, availability and affordability of education and economic opportunities to all citizens of the country. The paper analyses how accessibility to web based learning enhances opportunities for the educated sector and its inaccessibility implies "injustice" to the deprived sector of the society. The efforts of the government to bridge the digital divide could lead to a rapid improvement in the social, political and economic conditions of the poor and underprivileged strata in India. In this paper, the efforts of the Indian government to bridge the digital divide are highlighted and effective measures to tackle inequity due to the digital divide are suggested.

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Research Article Three*
Transition to Market Economy through Information Systems and Organizational Learning: A Case of Sava Company
Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic, University of New South Wales, Australia
Marius Janson, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA
Joze Zupancic, University of Maribor, Slovenia
* Reprinted with permission of the publisher from Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 2008, Vol. 11, Iss. 4.

ABSTRACT

The transition to a market economy has been painful, if not fatal, for many companies in the post-socialist Central and Eastern European countries.  The case of the Slovenian Company Sava, presented in this paper, is remarkable not only due to its highly successful transition from a socialist Company operating in a protected market to a privatized Company competing in the free, global market, but also due to the ways in which it achieved such a transition. Our case study shows that the key to Sava's successful transition (1995-2005) was its reliance on organizational learning enabled and supported by information systems (IS).  Sava's transformation provides a 'natural laboratory' for exploring and extending theories about the role of IS in supporting organizational learning under conditions of radical organizational, social, economic, and political change.  The objective of the paper is twofold: a) to propose a theoretical interpretation of the role of IS in organizational learning in companies in transition economies by drawing from theories generated and tested in the context of developed western economies, and b) to demonstrate how such interpretation can expand our understanding of the relationship between IS and organizational learning beyond its traditional western context.

*****************

Book Review
Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets
By Sailesh Chutani, Jessica Rothenberg Aalami, and Akhtrar Badshah
Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 978-0-470-92063-3; 166 pages
Reviewed by Richard G. Platt, University of West Florida, USA

INTRODUCTION

>From the earliest school days spent learning to program through the current days' efforts to  share knowledge in the field, a period that spans more than forty years, it was this reviewer's basic belief that he had developed a breadth of knowledge about the ICT profession. Then the call went out from JITCAR for a special issue dedicated to collecting the best works available on the subject of ICT innovations in emerging economies. No problem.  Everyone is familiar with Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat and its successor The World is Flat 3.0, all the way to Hot, Flat and Crowded. JITCAR has published numerous articles and book reviews on global IT, outsourcing, smart sourcing, and Chindia just to mention a few topics related to ICT in other countries. The internet is global and provides ubiquitous connectivity around the world, leveling the field just like Friedman says.  So, the book review for this special edition should be a snap; an easy project. And then this reviewer started reading Technology at the Margins.  What an eye opening experience; no, make that a revelation.

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