Editorial

Citation

Ramage, M., Bissell, C. and Chapman, D. (2013), "Editorial", Kybernetes, Vol. 42 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-08-2013-0180

Editorial

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Editorial

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Kybernetes, Volume 42, Issue 6

We are pleased to receive papers of many different sorts for Kybernetes. There is space in this journal for theoretical and conceptual papers, for philosophical papers, for empirical papers, for papers which describe applications, and for those based in applied mathematics. As discussed in our first editorial on taking over the journal, in Volume 42 Issue 1, all these papers need to be accessible to a wide readership, but we welcome a variety of styles.

We do not generally plan issues around particular themes or styles (except for special issues), but it sometimes happens that most papers accepted for an issue turn out to be of the same kind. So it is with this issue: of the nine papers in this issue, six of them are concerned with empirical studies of one kind or another. They frequently have a strong theoretical base (two are based in the technology acceptance model, for example) but also present significant amounts of data about the way that theory operates in a real-world context.

Prior to the six empirical papers, we present a paper concerned with the history and theory of systems; following the empirical papers, are two papers which are essentially applied mathematics, but with a strong relevance to cybernetics.

As ever, we are pleased to say that the papers come from a broad international sweep – they are written by authors based in eight different countries (Austria, Canada, China, France, South Korea, Malaysia, Slovenia, and the USA) on three continents. As far as the empirical papers are concerned, two are concerned with Slovenia, one with China, one compares Malaysia and South Korea, and two consider several countries.

The papers in this issue are as follows.

David Pouvreau outlines a new understanding of the work of the founder of general systems theory (which he argues would better be termed “general systemology”), Ludwig von Bertalanffy. He discusses the roots of Bertalanffy’s ideas, the ways in which they developed, the links he made with others in founding general systemology, and the way the ideas were received.

Eunil Park discusses the adoption of tele-presence systems, through the presentation and analysis of a large-scale questionnaire in 12 different countries on intentions to adopt tele-presence systems. The questionnaire used a combination of two models to guide it: the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, and the technology acceptance model.

Binshan Lin et al. present an empirical study of the use of internet marketing in two fast developing Asian countries, Malaysia and South Korea. Their study is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology approach, and presents implications for the take-up of internet marketing, especially among younger citizens in these countries.

Doris Omerzel Gomezelj and Irena Kušče discuss the importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the role of entrepreneurs in such organisations. They present an empirical study, based around SMEs in Slovenia, of the factors (both personal and environmental) which influence the performance of entrepreneurs in SMEs.

Aleksander Janes and Armand Faganel present a study of the key performance indicators in the management company of a large Slovenian port. Starting with the perspectives found in the balanced scorecard technique, they analyse the relationship between the different aspects of strategic success in the port.

Ma-Lin Song et al. discuss the important relationship between environmental efficiency and total factor productivity, and specifically the development of environmental technologies, throughout China. Through analysing the relationship between these factors in each province of China, they conclude that China’s economic growth depends on progress in environmental technologies.

Yan Cimon examines alliances (cooperative behaviours) within networks of interacting agents, asking the question whether such alliances lead to greater interaction than non-allied agents in the network. He analyses this question using the technique of blockmodelling, a form of data analysis of network patterns. His data are taken from the armed forces, but the analysis is applicable in a wide range of situations.

Gai-Ge Wang et al. present an algorithm for optimization problems (mathematical methods for achieving maximum outcome for minimum resources in some situation), taking a set of algorithms modelling the swarming behaviour of herds of krill, and extending it by the use of chaotic maps.

Sun Bingzhen and Ma Weimin discuss how to present measures of uncertainty information. They combine approaches based on rough sets and fuzzy sets, and present a new measure method drawing on Shannon entropy. Although the article is very mathematical, it is highly applied and provides useful tools for an important area.

Lastly, a more sombre note. We were sad to hear recently of the death of Dr Alex Andrew, a contributor to this journal since its beginning. Dr Andrew was Kybernetes’ Internet Editor, was Secretary-General of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (with which this journal has long been affiliated), and published many articles and columns. His long-standing column “Cybernetics and systems on the web” had its final publication just a few issues ago, in Volume 42 Issue 2, and Dr Andrew’s final piece for Kybernetes was his article “Generalising the Konig-Egerváry theorem”, published in Volume 42 Issue 4. He will be missed, and a longer tribute will be published in a later issue.

Magnus Ramage, Chris Bissell and David Chapman