Information systems

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (1998), "Information systems", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.06727iaa.002

Information systems

Information systems

Information systems research and economics

The themes which were the focal points for discussion at the Ninth Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (WISE '97),which was held in December 1997 on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA, has prompted further discussions and publications. The four related themes were:

1. 1.

   Information systems (IS) research and economics.

2. 2.

   Internet economics.

3. 3.

   The business value of information technology.

4. 4.

   Advances in software engineering economics.

All these theme titles form a major part of any discussions concerning cybernetic systems and economics.

These topics and issues are examined at the WISE '97 meeting on: webfoot.csom.umn.edu/faculty/kauffman/wise97prog.htm

They are further elaborated in a Special Issue of Communications of the ACM, Volume 41 Number 8, 1998, pp. 32-73, where six articles on the related themes are published. They are:

1. 1.

   "The emerging role of electronic marketplaces on the Internet" ­ Yannis Bakos.

2. 2.

   "Internet service providers, proprietary content and the battle for users' dollars" ­ Rajiv H. Dewan, Marshall L. Freimer and Abraham Seidmann.

3. 3.

   "Beyond the productivity paradox" ­ Erik Brynjolfsson and Lorin M. Hitt.

4. 4.

   "International dimensions of the productivity paradox" ­ Sanjeev Dewan and Kenneth L. Kraemer.

5. 5.

   "Progress obstacles and opportunities in software engineering economics" ­ Chris F. Kemerer.

6. 6.

   "Evaluating the cost of software quality" ­ Sandra A. Slaughter, Donald E. Harter and Mayuram S. Krishnan.

An introduction by Robert J. Kauffman and Frederick J. Riggins gives a sound insight into the current state. They write:

Do big dollar expenditures on information systems pay off? Friction -free: is that what we really want markets to be[1]. Is it time for consumers to say goodbye to fixed pricing?[2] The Internet creates an environment in which the cost of the buyer-seller interactions is cheaper than ever, and consumers can participate in the price-setting process/revealing their willingness to pay, making it the most efficient one-on-one selling environment anywhere, approaching the efficiency of the financial markets[3]. In fact such transformation is evident throughout the information economy. We see it in the approximately 1,000 percent annual network growth rates expected by some Internet service providers' senior executives[4]. We also see it in the continued rapid formation of information technology capital in many industries worldwide. And it is evident in the thinking of senior managers who must assess whether computers and software applications that run on them are pulling their weight in value for their firms.