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This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.

The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.

Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.

The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.

The workforce management model conceptualised for the effective management of the construction workforce was subjected to expert scrutiny to determine the suitability and applicability of the identified practices and their attributed variables to the construction industry. In achieving this, a Delphi approach was adopted using experts from construction organisations in South Africa. These experts comprised workforce management personnel and construction professionals in senior management positions. The data were analysed using appropriate statistical tools such as interquartile deviation, Kendell’s coefficient of concordance, and chi square to determine consensus among these experts. After a two-round Delphi, the seven constructs proposed in the conceptualised workforce management model were adjudged to be important and worthy of adoption by construction organisations seeking to improve workforce management in the current fourth industrial revolution era.

This chapter focused on presenting the result of the Delphi study from the questionnaire distributed to the experts. The Delphi technique was used for modelling the construction supply chain management (CSCM) practice in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. The technique was also used to predict the supply chain management's (SCM) possible trends in the construction industry. A total of 15 experts were selected for this study based on their working experience. The Delphi study also validated the gaps (organisational culture and 4IR component) identified from the existing CSCM model. The findings from the Delphi study revealed that organisational culture has a significant impact on the practice of CSCM in the 4IR era. Regarding adopting the 4IR component for the CSCM in Nigeria, the Delphi study revealed that smart management and virtualisation are the most adopted. Unfortunately, the cyber-physical system, the heartbeat of the 4IR, is yet to be fully implemented for CSCM practice in the Nigerian construction industry.

A company is developing a new product and wants an accurate estimate of the investment's ROI. For that the money in-flows and out-flows for the project have to be forecasted. And to develop those forecasts, the resulting product's life cycle must first be forecasted.

In this chapter, we are considering a real company. The company was in the process of developing a new product – a special purpose computer. In June of a year, the company wished to predict the product's future life cycle before the product had been fully developed. The product would be introduced into the market in January of the following year. However, to predict the locus of a product's future life cycle before the product has been fully developed is known to be very difficult.

This chapter presents a method for predicting a new brand's life cycle trajectory from its beginning to its end before the brand is introduced into the markets. The chapter also presents a combination of two methods to use current information to revise the entire predicted trajectory so it comes closer and closer to the true life cycle trajectory. The true trajectory is not known till the product is pulled from the market. The two methods are the Delphi method and Kalman filtering tracking method.

The company, which this application originates with, and the problem we discuss are real. However, we are prepared to identify neither the company nor the product. This chapter discusses the approach, but the data and the time scale have been masked, so that no identification from the data is possible.

This exercise provides comprehensive coverage of audit materiality, assessing inherent risk, and allocating tolerable misstatement appropriate for an undergraduate auditing course. The Delphi method could be an appropriate tool in any accounting setting where the learning goals involve judgment, consensus, or learning through group interaction.

This chapter describes a classroom exercise that required students to establish planning materiality, assess inherent risk associated with balance sheet accounts, and allocate tolerable misstatement using a modified application of the Delphi method. Additionally, the exercise calls attention to group processing skills and the role played by professional judgment in planning an audit. We assigned students to five-person audit teams and through a series of Delphi rounds asked them to establish planning materiality and assess the inherent risk associated with each balance sheet account for a fictitious company. Students prepared a matrix, both individually and as a team, that compared each statement account to every other account to determine which account in each pairing they viewed as having higher inherent risk. As a final step, they allocated tolerable misstatement mathematically for each account based on pairing results.

The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.

The specific learning objectives of the exercise were to help students understand the concepts of tolerable misstatement and planning materiality, the elements of inherent risk, the Delphi method for reaching group consensus, the need to work as a team, and the importance professional judgment plays in the audit process. The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.

Purpose: The study is designed to investigate internal audit functions in banks’ cyber security governance processes by assessing the pros and cons of blockchain technology through swot analysis.

Need of the Study: The study is needed to clarify the complexities in internal audit fields integrated into cyber security governance and explore the blockchain application opportunities.

Methodology: Blockchain technology is explored from the point of technical concepts and policy framework by swot analysis to propose a set of solutions for continuous audit methods in cyber security governance.

Limitations: The sample of this study is limited to the personal ideas and evaluations of academicians, experts in the banking sector and legal regulators of Türkiye, with the data received between March and December 2021.

Findings: Blockchain technology can be applied as an alternative to conventional risk control methods as a mechanism of continuous audit methods to reduce human mistakes and special causes.

Practical Implications: The control of risk management operations for cyber security processes should be performed with the support of audit units of the banks. Therefore, innovations are being implemented to cyber-risk controls to drop the defects that cause technical and ethical issues with blockchain technology as a way of using automation. So, this advancement can be applied in audit operations practically for unanticipated events which can emerge in cyberspace to mitigate inherent risk to residual levels. However, there is ample room to adapt this technology for cyber security management and audit practices from the point of view of the labour force, regulations and environmental issues.

The development of social media provides new opportunities for recruitment and raises various questions. This chapter aims to clarify areas of agreement and disagreement regarding the integration of social media in recruitment strategies.

A Delphi study was conducted among a panel of 34 French experts composed of 26 practitioners and 8 academics.

Three quantitative results and five qualitative results are presented. Social media appear as an opportunity to raise the strategic role of HR professionals through employer branding strategy, internal skills development, and a greater involvement of managers within the sourcing process.

This study points out several barriers and limits regarding the integration of social media in recruitment strategies and encourage HR professionals to take up the challenge. Multiple recommendations are addressed to HR professionals.

This chapter is based on an innovative application of the Delphi method. Moreover, it offers a more comprehensive and critical look on the integration of social media in recruitment strategies.

HR professionals have identified the power of information sharing for employer branding that could be obtained through the rapid growth of social media usage. The growing interest in and power of social media seem to be important for companies that want to make themselves known as interesting employers and to recruit prospective employees, using techniques that are more common to job seekers and recruiters. This study aims to explore the immediate future of employer branding through social media, as envisioned by academics and HR practitioners.

To look into the future of employer branding, we use the Delphi technique for forecasting, planning, issue identification, and framework development (Bobeva & Day, 2002). Two groups of respondents participated in this three-part study: 11 academics and 20 HR professionals. They were selected because of their research into the integration of HRM and IT from the e-HRM Global mailing list. The panelists participated in the research via electronic communication. The data were collected in three rounds from November 2010 to April 2011.

Research has revealed differences in the opinions of academics and HR professionals on the impact of social media on employer branding. The academics see its general effect as the targeting of audience for recruitment, marketing/company brand, and ways of communication/HR competencies. The practitioners see the image of the employer, visibility of the company, and organization responsiveness. The study presents other findings within the boundaries of employer branding value proposition, internal and external marketing, and the role of HR professionals. According to the academics, HR professionals in the future will need to possess knowledge about marketing and communication studies and web-based applications/develop new skills. They think that social media will impact the image of HR in organizations. On the other hand, HR professionals think that the future of their activities will depend on their awareness of recruitment trends, HR innovative thinking, and HR networking skills. Although the object of their activity will remain recruitment, HR professionals will have to be continuously updated on what is new in the social media in terms of recruitment.

This study presents the results of the Delphi technique, which is itself considered an original research method and not widely accepted in the tough “publish or perish” world. The value of the research is its forecast about the future developments of employer branding through social media, as envisioned by academics and HR practitioners.