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The purpose of this research is to create insight into the way technological, economic or regulatory factors affect broadband rollout in the local loop with the objective of developing a conceptual model that will help us gain insight into critical relationships between these factors and the decision to broadband infrastructure investments, implementation and broadband rollout in the local loop.

To develop a conceptual framework the study used three research methods. A meta‐analysis was conducted to collect and analyze relevant existing literature that discusses broadband rollout in the local loop. Content analysis was used to analyze hypothesis and propositions and network analysis was used to analyze the data extracted from the literature.

The network found provides a valid picture of the complexity involved in broadband rollout. The combination of research methods used has resulted in an approach that is both practical and robust when it comes to describing the state‐of‐the‐art in a coherent and clear way.

One has to consider that broadband is a relative concept. The definition of broadband has changed during the period in which the papers were published (1992‐2004).

Networks, and thus network analysis, always reflect the choice made by the researcher with regard to the key concepts. If the study had started from other dependent variables (nodes in the network), it would have found a different network.

This paper presents a theoretical framework based on a meta‐analysis of existing research with regard to broadband roll out in the local loop. Until now, a coherent theory has been lacking. Most research is based on implicit assumptions or on economic/econometric models that are insufficiently explained.

Companies are increasingly leveraging digital technologies toward innovation strategies that deliver novel features to customers sequentially through successive new product generations (i.e., successive innovation). Extant literature examining successive innovation is both limited and fragmented across marketing and management literatures. Our goal is to synthesize literature on concepts related to successive innovation (such as versioning and upgrades) to identify the core dimensions of successive innovation and provide a cohesive framework to guide future research in this domain.

Given the equivocality in understanding the conceptual domain of successive innovation, we review and synthesize literature across three disciplinary domains: marketing, management, and information and decision sciences. Based on the emerging patterns from the literature review, we develop a conceptual framework of successive innovation with the aim of moving the discussion toward greater theoretical clarity.

Based on the literature review and synthesis, we identify three core-dimensions that define successive innovation and compare these across digital and physical product realms: coexistence, embeddedness, and adoption controllability.

Our proposed conceptual dimensions of successive innovation, and discussion of differences across physical and digital product domains, offer important directions for future research and a common vocabulary.

As physical and digital successive innovations can differ in coexistence, embeddedness, and adoption controllability, firms need to consider relevant barriers to adoption of successive product generations and select appropriate strategies to promote and communicate successive innovation. Our proposed successive innovation conceptual dimensions help managers comprehend the complexity of arranging such innovation in business and consumer segments.

Our contribution to the emerging literature on successive innovation is threefold. First, by conducting a comprehensive literature review, we integrate insights from different fields of inquiry (i.e., marketing, management, and information and decision sciences). Second, based on the synthesis of the literature, we offer a conceptual framework of successive innovation, which aims to move the discussion toward greater theoretical clarity. Third, based on our review and conceptual framework, we discuss a set of future research directions to guide academic research efforts.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are evolving toward sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how innovation can develop these mission-based service industries to value-added manufacturing enterprises. Here, innovation is embedded in altering the understanding of stakeholders toward the objectives and managerial systems of these infrastructures.

This study uses multidisciplinary principles in management, economics and engineering to assess the integration of innovation and quality management with different perspectives. It initially compares the conventional and innovative approach for operating WWTPs. Subsequently, it emphasizes the contribution of the tailor-made managerial system of wastewater treatment enterprises through prospective markets, customers’ preferences, probable competitions and shared values.

The tailor-made managerial system for wastewater treatment can add economic values by manufacturing multiple demand products for local markets. Water, green energy, organic fertilizers and raw materials are the main products that can be simultaneously recovered according to the customers’ demand. The Kano model also verifies that the new managerial system has this potential to turn the conventional must-be treatment systems into delightful enterprises. It can provide different stakeholders with shared social and environmental values. Accordingly, locals and customers can be engaged in monitoring the quality of products to consider their feedback for decision making and upgrading. This indirectly defines shared values among operators and society to reinforce localization and ecosystem protection. Additionally, this research reveals that the market of the aforementioned strategic products is promising as a blue ocean for set sail due to the lack of competitors.

This study introduces wastewater treatment as a promising enterprise for integrating innovation and quality management.

The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of weak acceptance of machine learning (ML) models in business. The proposed framework of top-performing ML models coupled with general explanation methods provides additional information to the decision-making process. This builds a foundation for sustainable organizational learning.

To address user acceptance, participatory approach of action design research (ADR) was chosen. The proposed framework is demonstrated on a B2B sales forecasting process in an organizational setting, following cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) methodology.

The provided ML model explanations efficiently support business decision makers, reduce forecasting error for new sales opportunities, and facilitate discussion about the context of opportunities in the sales team.

The quality and quantity of available data affect the performance of models and explanations.

The application in the real-world company demonstrates the utility of the approach and provides evidence that transparent explanations of ML models contribute to individual and organizational learning.

All used methods are available as an open-source software and can improve the acceptance of ML in data-driven decision making.

The proposed framework incorporates existing ML models and general explanation methodology into a decision-making process. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to support organizational learning with a framework combining ML explanations, ADR, and data mining methodology based on the CRISP-DM industry standard.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology based on TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for interactive and multicriteria decision-making) approach for the selection of the best alternative in the context of multi criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) problems under possibilistic uncertainty in interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy (IVPF) environment.

In this paper, IVPF-TODIM method is proposed. Some new point operator-based similarity measures (POSMs) for IVPF sets (IVPFSs) are introduced which have the capability to reduce the degree of uncertainty of the elements in the universe of discourse corresponding to IVPFS. Then the newly defined POSMs are used to compute the measure of relative dominance of each alternative over other alternatives in the IVPF-TODIM context. Finally, generalized mean aggregation operator is used to find the best alternative.

As the TODIM method is used to solve the MCGDM problems under uncertainty, POSMs are developed by using three parameters which can control the effect of decision-makers’ psychological perception under risk.

The decision values are used in IVPF numbers (IVPFNs) format.

The proposed method is capable to solve real-life MCGDM problems with not only IVPFNs format but also with interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers.

As per authors’ concern, no approach using TODIM with IVPFNs is found in literature to solve MCGDM problems under uncertainty. The final judgment values of alternatives using the extended TODIM methodology are highly corroborate in compare to the results of existing methods, which proves its great potentiality in solving MCGDM problems under risk.

Reveals that management information systems (MIS) as a concept is still embryonic in Poland and struggling to adjust to the sea change in Polish politics evidenced since the demise of Communism. Information is key and its gathering must reject the requirements of the now defunct central planning and adapt instead to those of entrepreneurialism. Hence expert management of change is vital with the emphasis on quality rather than quantity. Managers themselves must also change and, as the free market becomes essential to the development of MIS, teachers from the West will be required to upgrade decision making, strategic planning, etc. Concludes that, with the ideal of the mixed economy still inchoate in Poland, it behoves the West to channel that country′s computer naivety and its concomitant wastefulness into new developments.

Adopting interdisciplinary comparative perspective, this paper seeks to study the variety exhibited by the post‐socialist democratic regimes of Central Europe (CE) in the constitutional status of supreme audit institutions (SAI). More specifically, the focus of this work is the degree of independence that SAI enjoy vis‐à‐vis the branches of government, as it is embodied in the constitutional provisions of selected countries of the region.

In the last 20 years wage inequality in the United States has grown significantly. At the same time, the increased popularity of employee involvement or the so-called high-performance work practices seems to offer opportunities for more skilled, autonomous, and participatory work. For many, this is a positive alternative to low-wage jobs, though others suggest that such jobs may raise skill requirements sufficiently to leave many workers behind and thereby contribute to growing inequality. Yet others are more critical and view participatory work systems as merely a method of work intensification. This paper examines the impact of participative work systems on workers’ wages and generally finds modest evidence of significant effects.

The effectiveness of the construction industry highly depends on the quality of the work practices, education and training. Based on the industry’s need to strengthen the productivity and performance improvement scopes in the construction education/training practices, this study aims to develop a guiding tool for designing new training programmes in different qualification levels considering the industry’s near-future challenges.

The study methodology encompassed literature reviews, experts’ discussions/reviews and problem-based communication approaches with qualitative methods to obtain a set of expected competency outcomes (COs) for each qualification level. The necessary mapping frameworks were used to display the cross section of each CO.

The study has presented a guiding model comprising three categories of qualification levels, where each consists of 12 COs with the mapping outcomes against learning domains of a conceptual framework. The guiding model also displays the detailed steps to develop detailed curriculums for different qualification levels of training.

Though the scope of the study was limited to the Sri Lankan context, the findings can be beneficial to many other countries in similar scenarios.

Overall study outcomes are expected to make an impact on the industry’s reskilling and upskilling practices resulting in a considerable level of improvement in the quality and productivity of work operations.

The experts’ reviews highlight the developed model as a valuable tool that provides a platform for upgrading the construction education and training practices based on the industry’s near-future circumstances in productivity and performance improvement practices, also revealing its future influences in training accreditation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that contribute to the successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in manufacturing firms.

The qualitative research method was used to study six diverse manufacturing firms in Virginia. A semi-structure method of data collection was used for the analysis.

The ERP software has emerged as a key enabler of system integration in organizations to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency, productivity and performance. Firms implement ERP not only to improve operations efficiency but to be more responsive to the customer needs in the global economy. The findings provide insights on the factors that these large and global manufacturing firms consider to be important to the success of ERP implementation and utilization.

The study is limited to large manufacturing firms and does not consider service industries or small and medium enterprises.

A considerable amount of time and capital are required for the acquisition and implementation of ERP systems. The results are useful to managers of manufacturing companies who are interested in using, modifying or upgrading an integrative technology software system, such as ERP.

This empirical study provides an in-depth analysis of factors that motivate firms to consider ERP systems, factors that are important when acquiring the system, key factors to implementation and cultural adjustments following implementation. To the best of our knowledge, no single study has examined all of these issues in one report.