Globalization and Information Systems - unf.edu · Multinational ¥ Effectiveness ¥ Regional units...

Globalizationand

Information Systems

Richard T. Watson

University of Georgia

[email protected]

Monday, February 2, 2009

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Global%20IS

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Global%20IS

Outline

• Globalization

• Fundamental enterprise & individual issues

• Global information exchange

• Information drivers

• looking forward


Globalization

A synergy of Trade & Technology


Globalization

• Skin boats downstream

• Grain, cloth

• Donkeys upstream

• Skins

Bernstein, W. J. (2008). A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World. Atlantic Monthly Press.


Globalization

Bernstein, W. J. (2008). A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World. Atlantic Monthly Press.


Globalization Today

• Synonymous with the fall of Berlin Wall (1989)

• Technologies

• free-market capitalism

• Information and communication technologies


Globalization

• Today’s trade is highly dependent on Information Systems

• Information is the most globalized of goods & services

• Low cost to transport information

• Information work is readily traded


Fundamental enterprise issues

TransnationalTransnationalTransnationalGlobal

Global

coordination

National di!erentiation

Low High

Low

High

International Multinational


Definition


Global

coordination


Low High

Low

High


• A global information system supports the operations and decision making of an enterprise’s multi-country strategy


Strategies &

Systems


Global

coordination


Low High

Low

High


Remembering the past

(Databases )

People&

technology

Transactions Data

Preparing for the future

(Business Intelligence)

New business

systems

Handling the present

(Transaction Processing)


Global

• Efficiency

• Highly centralized

• Economies of scale

• The “right” information for each employee to enable global coordination

• Use IS for coordination


Global

coordination


Low High

Low

High



Multinational

• Effectiveness

• Regional units are relatively autonomous

• The “right” product or service for each market

• The “right” information in the “right” format for each customer and employee in each market

• Adapt to culture, economy, infrastructure, language

• Use IS to support national differentiation


Global

coordination


Low High

Low

High



Transnational

• Effectiveness & efficiency co-jointly

• Perform functions in the right place for a particular market

• Localization around global platforms

• IS to coordinate and respond

• IS for sharing knowledge


Global

coordination


Low High

Low

High



Fundamental Individual Issues

• Bounded rationality

• Limited capacity to process information

• Attention Deficit society

• Conscious attention is a scarce resource


Amplify


Attenuate


Definition

• A global information system supports the operations and decision making of a person over space and time

• Amplify & attenuate information exchanges to free up conscious attention


The core goal of an IS

Decision

Knowledge

Information

Data

Conversion

Request Interpretation


Data

• Data exchange

• Standards

• XML

• Data conversion

• SQL

• Business Intelligence software


Information & Knowledge

• Dependencies

• Language

• Culture

• Education

• Context


Language

• A local information system

• English is a global information system

• The language of opportunity

• The corporate language

• The language of science

• Production and consumption disparity

• English writers have a comparative advantage


Native Language


Native Language

873


Native Language

873 Mandarin


Native Language

366

873 Mandarin


Native Language

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani


Native Language

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani


Native Language

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani Spanish


Native Language

309

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani Spanish


Native Language

309

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani Spanish English


Native Language

206

309

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani Spanish English


Native Language

206

309

322

366

873 Mandarin Hindustani Spanish English Arabic


Machine translation

1. Substitution via a bilingual dictionary

• Naive

2. Lexical analysis

• Analyze the source language and transfer structure to the target language

• Requires expensive linguistic knowledge

• Ambiguity

• Computing intensive

3. Machine learning

• Google translate


Special English

• Developed by Voice of America in 1959

• About 1500 words

• Describe objects, actions, and emotions

• Short, simple sentences with one idea

• Active voice

• No idioms

Books are a high cost of higher education. But the Global Text Project hopes to create a free library of one thousand electronic textbooks for students in developing countries.

The Global Text Project aims to fill a Web-based library with 1,000 booksThe aim is to offer subjects that students may take in their first few years at a university. The books could be printed or read on a computer or copied onto a CD or DVD.

Two professors in the United States are leading the Global Text Project.


Culture

• An information system for defining behavior

• The software of the mind

• National

• Childhood

• Professional

• University education

• Corporate

• What gets rewarded


National cultureCultural dimension High

scoreMid

scoreLow

score

Performance orientation Improvement and excellence

Assertiveness Aggressiveness in relationships

Future orientation Planning and investing for the longer term

Humane orientation Fairness, generosity, and caring

Institutional collectivism Collective distribution of rewards

In-group collectivism Pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in organizations or families

Gender egalitarianism lack of gender inequality

Power distance Distribution of power

Uncertainty avoidance Reliance on rules and norms to alleviate unpredictable events

AngloConfucian Asia

Middle East Latin America

Germanic EuropeAnglo

Confucian Asia Nordic Europe


Confucian AsiaMiddle East

Southern AsiaAnglo

Confucian Asia Germanic Europe

Confucian AsiaAnglo

Germanic Europe

Confucian AsiaAnglo Germanic Europe

Nordic EuropeAnglo


AngloConfucian Asia Nordic Europe



Source: Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., Luque, M. S., & House, R. J. (2006). In the Eye of the Beholder: Cross Cultural Lessons in Leadership from Project GLOBE. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 67-90.


Behavior&

Decisions

Behavior&

Decisions

National culture

Professionalculture

Corporateculture

Corporate Global IS

National IS


The Informational & Physical Drivers of

Global IS

Ubiquity

Uniqueness

Unison

Universality


Ubiquity

• Informational

• Access to information unconstrained by time and space

• Physical

• The ready availability of the desired resource


Uniqueness

• Informational

• Knowing precisely the characteristics and location of a person or entity

• Physical

• The capability to tailor precisely a physical resource to one’s particular needs


Unison

• Informational

• Information consistency

• Physical

• Procedural consistency


Universality

• Informational

• Reduce the friction of information systems’ incompatibilities

• Physical

• Reduce the friction of physical differences


U-space

Unconscious/Attenuate(behind or out of conscious awareness)

(extends/enhances awareness)Ultra-conscious/Amplify

Unique(time-space dependent)

Ubiquitous(time-space independent)

Post-humanHyper-real

Node Matrix


• Ultra-conscious & unique

• Remote monitoring

• Enhance interaction

• Extraordinary experience

• Teleimmersion

Hyper-real


Post-human

• Ultra-conscious & ubiquitous

• Permanent enhancement

• Cell phone

• Advanced prosthetics

• Genetic enhancement

• Body change

• The network is always on


Matrix

• Unconscious & ubiquitous

• Move tasks from conscious to unconscious

• Automated consumption

• Congestion pricing

• Smart cards

• Wireless metering


Node

• Unconscious & unique

• reduce the necessity to consciously interact in specific contexts

• Subscription services

• Google alerts


The Critical Global problems

High CO2 emissions

Degradation of the oceans

Declining fresh water supplies

Loss of biodiversity


Green ISThe design and

implementation of information systems that contribute to

sustainable business processes


• Analyzing, designing, and implementing systems to increase energy efficiency

• Collection and analysis of energy data sets

• Optimization of energy distribution networks

• Optimization of energy consumption systems

Energy informaticsEnergy + Information < Energy


Green IS

• IS has been the driver of productivity change for half a century

• Fleet management

• Wireless measurement

• Building management

• Measuring to manage


Global IS

• Global information systems

• Ubiquitous networks

• International standards

• English

• Professional & corporate cultures

• Local information systems

• Culture


Globalization and Information Systems

• Success

• Global information systems furnish goods & services to the developed economies

• Unsolved problem

• Sustainability

• “… meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”


How do we create global information systems that

propel the world to sustainability?


Questions


Globalization and Information Systems - unf.edu · Multinational ¥ Effectiveness ¥ Regional units...

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