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Digitalization, innovation and changing customer requirements drive the continuous improvement of an organization's business processes. IT demand management (ITDM) as a methodology supports the holistic governance of IT and the corresponding business process change (BPC), by allocating resources to meet a company's requirements and strategic objectives. As ITDM decision-makers are not fully aware of how the as-is business processes operate and interact, making informed decisions that positively impact the to-be process is a key challenge.

In this paper, the authors address this challenge by developing a novel approach that integrates process mining and ITDM. To this end, the authors conduct an action research study where the researchers participated in the design, creation and evaluation of the approach. The proposed approach is illustrated using two sample demands of an insurance claims process. These demands are used to construct the artefact in multiple research circles and to validate the approach in practice. The authors applied learning and reflection methods for incrementally adjusting this study’s approach.

The study shows that the utilization of process mining activities during process changes on an operational level contributes to (1) increasing accuracy and efficiency of ITDM; (2) timely identification of potential risks and dependencies and (3) support of testing and acceptance of IT demands.

The implementation of this study’s approach improved ITDM practice. It appropriately addressed the information needs of decision-makers and unveiled the effects and consequences of process changes. Furthermore, providing a clearer picture of the process dependencies clarified the responsibilities and the interfaces at the intra- and inter-process level.

This paper aims to introduce an information and communication technology (ICT) artifact that uses text mining to support the innovative and standardized assessment of professional competences within the validation of prior learning (VPL). Assessment means comparing identified and documented professional competences against a standard or reference point. The designed artifact is evaluated by matching a set of curriculum vitae (CV) scraped from LinkedIn against a comprehensive model of professional competence.

A design science approach informed the development and evaluation of the ICT artifact presented in this paper.

A proof of concept shows that the ICT artifact can support assessors within the validation of prior learning procedure. Rather the output of such an ICT artifact can be used to structure documentation in the validation process.

Evaluating the artifact shows that ICT support to assess documented learning outcomes is a promising endeavor but remains a challenge. Further research should work on standardized ways to document professional competences, ICT artifacts capture the semantic content of documents, and refine ontologies of theoretical models of professional competences.

Text mining methods to assess professional competences rely on large bodies of textual data, and thus a thoroughly built and large portfolio is necessary as input for this ICT artifact.

Following the recent call of European policymakers to develop standardized and ICT-based approaches for the assessment of professional competences, an ICT artifact that supports the automatized assessment of professional competences within the validation of prior learning is designed and evaluated.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of sustainability as strategic cornerstone for a marketing channel in a mature market, particularly in the hog industry in the Canadian Province of Quebec. Due to the growing attention to sustainability, and the international trend toward agricultural trades and stakeholder involvement in food, there is a need for a system-based approach in the field of food systems sustainability.

In total, 12 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted among marketing managers working for different organizations within the Quebec hog marketing channel. The organizations chosen vary depending on the size, level of integration and involvement in the industry, to create a sample that adequately represents the industry. For the purpose of this research, three primary producers, one veterinarian, three licenced abattoirs, one food processor, one distributor, one independent retailer and two types of food service facility, one from a franchise system and the other from a high-end restaurant were questioned regarding the current state of the industry, as well as the impact of sustainable development on their strategic plans.

The Canadian hog and pork industry is currently facing strong competition from several fronts: the USA and South America, a population with increasingly sophisticated demands, a strong Canadian dollar and a significant increase in input costs, particularly in respect to oil and corn. To be able to meet this competition, and in order to prosper in an uncertain marketplace, marketing channel believes that it must reduce its production costs, increase product awareness in the domestic market and promote cooperation among industry members.

This research is mainly concerned with the Quebec hog industry. External validity has not been achieved with the current research. In addition, a lack of distributor availability to answer the interview questions limits researchers’ capacity to extrapolate results to all retailers. Meetings with other food distributors would be required to verify the accuracy of results. Although this study is exploratory in nature, several appealing research avenues emerge. First, the research focusses primarily on members of the distribution network, but does not consider the consumers’ point of view. It would be fruitful to study the impact of sustainable development on the perceived product quality by measuring consumers’ intent to purchase.

The principal point of interest that makes this case worthy of study and of potential application to future business modeling is how sustainability and sustainable development is perceived throughout various marketing channels. The Quebec hog industry faces strong competition from several countries that are able to offer a similar product at a lower cost. The mature market consists of a limited number of producers interested in offering a product on the market at the lowest possible price.

When it comes to sustainable development and the hog industry, the economic and environmental aspects seem to be well understood by members of the industry. On the other hand, the social aspect of sustainability is not mentioned frequently and is often not a part of the leaders’ main concerns. Nevertheless, members of the industry agree that sustainable development affects the Quebec hog value chain, and will remain a topic of interest in the coming years.

To the knowledge, no study has been conducted to evaluate the use of sustainability as strategic cornerstone for a marketing channel in a mature market, particularly in the hog industry. Many studies have been conducted in a context of emerging markers. However, very few studies addressed the issue in an established economic environment.