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The emergence of new and integrated approaches to information technology projects and web-based service initiatives in libraries poses a number of challenges to those who manage them. Library managers must work closely with specialists in areas that are not always found within the library, yet there is no evidence-based data documenting the factors involved in doing so. The exploratory study summarized in this chapter documents much of what practitioners and scholars alike consider important in this arena, and contributes to the literature in two ways. First, a meta-analysis of what both practitioners and scholars have found to be important in the areas of technology project management and web-based initiatives is presented that can assist professionals currently developing web-based project launches. Additionally, by using bibliometric techniques as the basis of this analysis, a newly developed taxonomy of these approaches is provided that can assist LIS professionals with future cooperative web-based initiatives. Domain analytic techniques are utilized in the study to examine a selection (n=276) of published articles and papers to ascertain what library and information professionals have learned from embarking on such collaborations. A grounded theory approach is taken in order to develop a working taxonomy of topics and themes relating to collaborative online initiatives. The findings illustrate that library and information science project managers involved in online and web-based initiatives face five key areas of concern: information technology management, information retrieval protocols, user-specific applications, user education, and strategic planning.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how Born Global (BG) firms seek to solve the resource scarcity problem typical for them. We discuss how these firms can increase their internationalization progress through the selection of appropriate resource strategies. Our underlying assumption is that with the selection of a suitable strategy, the BG firm can reduce the effects of the liability of foreignness and resource scarcity, and experience faster internationalization. We identified from the literature three categories of resource strategies: (1) externalization strategies, (2) entry strategies requiring minimal resources, and (3) strategies around the Internet and Internet technology. We use case material to explore how these are used by a sample of 10 BG firms.

This chapter discusses the distributed, volunteer nature of an information delivery cooperative which became formally designated as the IDS Project and how a “coalition of the willing” has been able to move the resource sharing community forward on a national scale through innovations in training, support, and technology. The authors use a case study approach to highlight some of the major accomplishments of the IDS Project, such as the Article Licensing Information Availability Service (ALIAS), IDS Search, the Mentor Program, and the Regional Users Groups. The team-based structure of the IDS Project allows for groups to work independently and from multiple locations while still creating a synergistic result through the combination of community and innovation. Distributed teams often provide enriched user skills for the group but often cause difficulties due to the distance, communication, and differing requirements of the different local institutions. The IDS Project’s use of technology and periodic face-to-face meetings has reduced the issues with distributed teams and created highly effective working groups. These groups, such as the mentors and the Technology Development Team, have provided excellent service and training to the member libraries. Through the use of the Best Practices Toolkit, the Getting It System Toolkit, ILLiad Addons produced by IDS, and other national services, the IDS Project has made it possible for libraries that use ILLiad to benefit from its developments.

The response to the call for chapters about mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, partnerships, and joint ventures proved to be rich and resulted in an unprecedented number of proposals. Furthermore, the range of proposals illustrated both variety in scope and a broad range of topics. As a result, the material accepted for publication was split into two volumes. This volume includes those chapters deemed broadest in nature, while Volume 37, to be published later this year, will present material of a narrower and more focused nature and mostly in the form of case studies at the operational level. At a time when the volatile nature of the world economy calls for new approaches to business, these volumes provide an interesting panorama from the nonprofit sector of libraries and information services about the world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A’s) as well as the less riskier, but equally dramatic, activities of collaborations, partnerships, and joint ventures.

Industries’ projects are associated with large amounts of data throughout the project lifecycle. As the size of the projects grows, so does the data associate with the projects. To generate useful information from Big Data, appropriate predictive analysis and data visualisation tools are required. Therefore, the use of visualisation techniques will target this expected evolution of big data. Thus, this study aims to give an overview of the migrations of an existing computer-based application, used to analyse multidata sources of enterprises, to a web-based application. Essential development aspects were concerned with the process of application development, platform development, software utilisation, and efficient display interface according to the enterprise’s requirement. Two solutions such as Microsoft Power Business Intelligence (BI) and the Dynamic Web System have been presented that proven to be widespread because these solutions have met the enterprises’ requirements in terms of expenses, policy, security, maintenance, and interactive interface. Also, an assessment of these solutions and challenges to adopting has been presented. Eventually, the system developed on the web overcomes computer-based systems in solving their problems such as deploying and maintaining applications and providing efficient and richer user interfaces for users. The web-based visualisation application has wide beneficial features; it provides high-performance real-time data analysis, data multimodal visualisation, and friendly to use. Web-based applications will increase confidence in decision-making based on data visualisation, which will positively reflect on comprehensive data analysis processes for project success.

The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.

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.