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Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.

The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.

In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.

The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.

This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

The purpose of this paper is to inform of the development and use of comprehensive system dynamics model for the formulation of robust strategies in project manufacturing business.

Experiences from action research involving field study with project manufacturing businesses are reported.

It is possible, using readily available resources, to develop comprehensive system dynamics model for project manufacturing business which can be used to facilitate the formulation of robust strategies.

Field study involved only five businesses serving three project manufacturing sectors.

The need for better approaches for dealing with dynamic complexity in project business is recognized in the literature. However, extant models deal with single projects or a few aspects of multiple projects. The research suggests that companies can develop system dynamics models that go beyond multiple projects to encompass broader business issues which cause effects within their projects. Further, such comprehensive models can be used to formulate robust strategies.

The originality of the research reported in this paper is that both immediate sources, and ultimate sources, of dynamic complexity are described. Extant system dynamics models are concerned with either, but not both. Hence, extant models are not comprehensive. That is, they do not encompass the full extent of sources of dynamic complexity in project business. The value of this paper is that it offers practical examples to inform the development of comprehensive system dynamics model for project manufacturing business. Moreover, the use of comprehensive model to facilitate the formulation of robust strategies is explained.

The rotor system supported by the cylindrical roller bearings is widely used in various fields such as aviation, space and machinery due to its importance. In the study of the dynamic characteristics of the cylindrical roller bearings, it is important to accurately calculate the stiffness of the cylindrical roller bearings. The stiffness of the cylindrical roller bearings is very important in the analysis of the vibration characteristics of the rotor system. Therefore, in this paper, the method of creating a comprehensive stiffness model of the cylindrical roller bearing is mentioned. The purpose of this study is to improve the dynamic stability of the rotor system supported by the cylindrical roller bearing by accurately establishing the comprehensive stiffness calculation model of the cylindrical roller bearings.

In consideration of the radial clearance of the cylindrical roller bearing, the radial load acting on the cylindrical roller bearing was derived, and based on this, a model for calculating the Hertz contact stiffness of the cylindrical roller bearing was created. Based on the load considering the radial clearance, an oil film stiffness model of the cylindrical roller bearing was created under the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory. Then, the comprehensive stiffness was calculated by combining Hertz contact stiffness and the oil film stiffness of the cylindrical roller bearing, and the dynamic parameters are calculated by using the MATLAB program.

When the radial clearance of the cylindrical roller bearing is considered, the comprehensive stiffness is larger than when the radial clearance is not taken into account, and the radial clearance of the cylindrical roller bearing is an important factor that directly affects the comprehensive stiffness of the cylindrical roller bearing.

In this paper, based on Hertz contact theory and the EHL theory, the authors investigated the method of creating a comprehensive stiffness model of the cylindrical roller bearing considering the radial clearance. These results will contribute to the theoretical basis for studying the mechanics of cylindrical roller bearings and optimizing their structures, and they will provide an important theoretical basis for analyzing the dynamic characteristics of the rotor system supported by the cylindrical roller bearing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of comprehensive performance measurement systems (PMS) – i.e. measurement systems that comprise financial and non-financial indicators, and which also consist of indicators related to different aspects of an organisation’s operations – in the relationship between strategy and company performance.

Survey data of top managers of large European companies were collected and analysed by means of exploratory factor analyses and hierarchical regressions in order to validate the proposed hypotheses.

This research shows that different strategies lead to the use of different types of performance indicators. Also, it finds that the utilisation of a comprehensive PMS enables the implementation of both differentiation and cost-leadership strategies. Specifically, a comprehensive PMS positively mediates the effect of differentiation strategy on organisational and innovative performance, and of cost-leadership strategy on organisational performance.

Further research could be undertaken in other contexts and consider additional factors, such as the structure, maturity and different uses of PMS, and the cost of measuring performance. Qualitative studies could examine the role of PMS in dynamic environments, as well as the evolution of PMS during strategic transitions.

Greater consideration should be given to the utilisation of different types of performance indicators when implementing and re-formulating strategy.

This study clarifies the links between strategy and performance measurement, and it is the first to identify the mediating effect of comprehensive PMS between strategy and company performance.

A comprehensive and computationally efficient modeling strategy for the rapid and accurate simulation of implanted impurity distribution profiles in single‐crystal silicon has been developed. This modeling strategy exploits the advantages of both Monte Carlo simulation and semi‐empirical models by combining the two approaches in a complementary manner. The dual Pearson semi‐empirical model is used to accurately and efficiently model the dose and implant angle dependence of impurity profiles as well as the dependence on energy. This new comprehensive model allows convenient and accurate simulation of implanted boron distribution profiles in single‐crystal silicon as a function of dose, tilt angle, and rotation angle, in addition to ion energy, and it has been demonstrated by implementation in the process simulation code SUPREM III.

This study provides a safety prewarning mechanism, which includes a comprehensive risk assessment model and a safety prewarning system. The comprehensive risk assessment model is capable of assessing nine safety indicators, which can be categorised into workers’ behaviour, environment and machine-related safety indicators, and the model is embedded in the safety prewarning system. The safety prewarning system can automatically extract safety information from surveillance cameras based on computer vision, assess risks based on the embedded comprehensive risk assessment model, categorise risks into five levels and provide timely suggestions.

Firstly, the comprehensive risk assessment model is constructed by adopting grey multihierarchical analysis method. The method combines the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the grey clustering evaluation in the grey theory. Expert knowledge, obtained through the questionnaire approach, contributes to set weights of risk indicators and evaluate risks. Secondly, a safety prewarning system is developed, including data acquisition layer, data processing layer and prewarning layer. Computer vision is applied in the system to automatically extract real-time safety information from the surveillance cameras. The safety information is then processed through the comprehensive risk assessment model and categorized into five risk levels. A case study is presented to verify the proposed mechanism.

Through a case study, the result shows that the proposed mechanism is capable of analyzing integrated human-machine-environment risk, timely categorising risks into five risk levels and providing potential suggestions.

The comprehensive risk assessment model is capable of assessing nine risk indicators, identifying three types of entities, workers, environment and machine on the construction site, presenting the integrated risk based on nine indicators. The proposed mechanism, which adopts expert knowledge through Building Information Modeling (BIM) safety simulation and extracts safety information based on computer vision, can perform a dynamic real-time risk analysis, categorize risks into five risk levels and provide potential suggestions to corresponding risk owners. The proposed mechanism can allow the project manager to take timely actions.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

The paper aims to sum up the principal and original set of information related to the special project covered by Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, which was oriented to quality assurance and assessment at Czech higher education institutions. It brings main results and lessons learned from comprehensive quality assessment methodology pilot testing.

Brainstorming conferences, seminars, comparative analysis, interviews, design review and validation were used by the expert team to develop and to test the comprehensive quality assessment methodology.

The EFQM Excellence Model is the most comprehensive tool for quality assurance and quality assessment. It is pragmatic and practical, but it is necessary to adapt this model for effective use at Czech higher education institutions as a set of assessment criteria. The comprehensive quality assessment approach does not only examine what universities and other higher schools have achieved in the past (through lagging indicators), but it also includes assessment of their potential for the future through the so-called leading indicators.

The pilot testing of designed methodology of comprehensive quality assessment was performed within 12 Czech higher education institutions, but the lessons learned have common validity for any Czech higher education institution.

The proposed methodology of comprehensive quality assessment is a quite new approach from the point of Czech higher education institutions view. It offers new and efficient tool for next higher schools and universities development.

School districts are ongoing organizations which have staffs and organizational structures committed to stabilizing and maintaining their present activities and programs. The authors have attempted to draw together the kinds of information needed to help school district administrators view their organization in a way which examines the consequences of decisions for all of the goals and objectives of the district. This view, which has been labeled comprehensive, is designed to move the administration of the district from solving problems one‐at‐a‐time to an assessment of the complete goal‐activity picture. Implications of a comprehensive approach to school district administration for staff development as well as university and college preparation of administrators are, in the judgment of the authors, substantial.