Sixth Annual 
GLOBAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT (GITM)
WORLD CONFERENCE
June 5, 6, & 7, 2005, Anchorage, Alaska

Conference Tracks and Track Chairs
Please submit your paper directly to the track chair via email.  The submission deadline is November 15, 2004.

Track Codes Track Name Chair                                                   Email
AFR IT in Africa Paul Licker licker@oakland.edu
ASA IT in Asia En Mao enmao@uwm.edu
AUS IT in Australian Region Kyeong-Soon Kang kyeong@it.uts.edu.au
CDA Culture in the Diffusion, Acceptance and Use of IT Mark Strite msrite@uwm.edu
CHN IT in China William Foster Will.U.Foster@asu.edu
CRM Customer Relationship Management D.Oliver d.oliver@cqu.edu.au
DKM Decision Support and Knowledge Management Luca Iandoli iandoli@unina.it
DCS Doctoral Consortium Choton Basu basuc@uww.edu
EDT Global IT Education and Training Sorin Gudea sorin.gudea@cgu.edu
EGV eGovernance Sushil Sharma SSHARMA@bsu.edu
ERS Global ERP and SCM Systems Barry Shore bshore@hypatia.unh.edu
EUR IT in Europe Joan Mann jmann@odu.edu
FCM IT in Former Communist Countries William Foster Will.U.Foster@asu.edu
GBP Global Business Process Richard Potter rpotter@uic.edu
GEC Global Electronic Commerce Chuleeporn Changchit cchangchit@cob.tamucc.edu
GVN IT for Government and National Development David Paper david.paper@usu.edu
GRS Global IT Research Issues and Challenges Anil Kumar kumar1a@cmich.edu
GSD Global Software Development Pamila Dembla pdembla@cisunix.unh.edu
INF Infonomics in the e-Society Charles A. Shoniregun C.Shoniregun@infonomics.org.uk
MBL Mobile Commerce Lakshmi Iyer lsiyer@uncg.edu
MEC IT in Middle Eastern Countries

A.K. Aggarwal          

aaggarwal@UBmail.ubalt.edu
MFG IT in Manufacturing Purnendu Mandal mandalpx@hal.lamar.edu
MNC IT in Multinational Companies Celia Romm Livermore celia_romm@hotmail.com
NAM IT in North America Greg Butler gbutler@regis.edu
NIC IT in Newly Industrialized Countries Adekunle Okunoye okunoye@xavier.edu
OSR Global IT Outsourcing Achita Muthitacharoen achita.muthita@wichita.edu
SAM IT in South America Carlo G. P. Bellini cgpbellini@ea.ufrgs.br, bellini@exatas.unisinos.br
SCL Social Issues and Ethics in Global IT Keith Roberts Keith_Roberts@redlands.edu
SCR Security and Privacy Toru Sakaguchi sakaguch@nku.edu
SME IT in Small and Medium Enterprises Jim Pick james_pick@redlands.edu
STR Strategic Applications of Global IT Mike Raisinghani mraising@gsm.udallas.edu

Track Descriptions   

IT in Africa

This track is concerned with IT in Africa both as an influence on business and society as well as how local conditions dictate the use and development of IT.  We are interested in finding out about how IT influences social and economic development, but equally interested in hearing about novel techniques for overcoming obstacles to IT implementation in African countries.  While the track focuses on IT in a specific region of the world, a paper that compared IT in Africa with IT elsewhere would be welcomed.  In addition, equally as valuable would be a survey paper that compared several countries in Africa or within a region.   

IT in Asia

IT has played a major role in the rapid development of the Asian "tiger economies" and this fact has not been lost on Asia's newly emerging economies.  Yet while a number of Asian governments are now building their national development plans around IT, others have only just obtained a connection to the Internet.  While the region's major industrial and financial institutions are deploying IT in their bids to brace themselves for a global competitive stance and have proved that leapfrogging exists in IT development, the vast majority of Asians have yet to make a phone call, much less use a computer.  The track on IT in Asia seeks to showcase IT/IS research and implementations that address these and other issues relating to the use of IT in Asia.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), and panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics are invited.  Please mention the name of this track on the cover page.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

IT in Australian Region

Papers related to research, work in progress, IT and IS related case studies are invited in the track “IT in Australian Region”. In this track, we welcome papers that address a wide range of topics in information technology and systems.

Possible topics include:

Culture in the Diffusion, Acceptance and Use of IT

In an increasingly global business environment, there is a growing need to utilize information technology (IT) to achieve efficiencies, coordination, and communication. Additionally, technology has been one of the driving forces behind the internationalization of commerce and service. However, the concept of culture has been has been little studied by information systems (IS) researchers. This track focuses on cultural issues and their impact on the diffusion, acceptance, and use of information technologies. The beliefs and values, regarding IT, that permeate societal groups can be examined from a variety of perspectives such as national, ethnic, organizational, and professional culture.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), and panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics are invited.  Please mention the name of this track on the cover page. 

Topics include, but are not limited to:

IT in China

This is 10 year anniversary of the Internet in China. Information technology has been rapidly adopted in aprocess the Chinese call informatization.  China has
built a world class information infrastructure, but many businesses have been slow to transform their business processes.  As the manufacturing end of global supply chains, many Chinese manufacturers are now under pressure to adopt more advanced information technologies.  This is particularly true of Wall-Mart's suppliers who are being pushed to adopt RFID and ERP technologies. Research is needed to define the appropriate information technology for Chinese organizations.

Sub tracks:

Customer Relationship Management

According to the Computer Dictionary "CRM is an acronym for "Customer Relationship Management", and entails all aspects of interaction between a company and its customer. Computerization has changed consumer buying behavior so more of the relationship is being managed electronically through tools such as help-desk software, e-mail organizers and Web development apps." (http://www.computerdictionary.info/computer-term-details)

This track seeks to explore issues related to this recent phenomenon of computer mediated customer relationship management. Studies of interest in this track may include but are not limited to:

Decision Support and Knowledge Management

ICT can contribute to provide useful means for the coordination and the management of both intra and inter organizational networks at the global scale, nevertheless it is proven that ICT alone represent nothing but a high potential platform. Actually, it emerges more and more the necessity to implement on such platforms advanced tools acting as decision support systems able to manage and elaborate large quantity of information, mainly deriving from computer and network transactions in geographically dispersed areas, and able to support decision making at a global level.

The huge amount of available data collected through network transactions, the possible geographic dispersion of such information, the necessity of interfacing and coordinating different networks systems belonging to different companies of a network, create new management problems usually not solvable through traditional tools and methodologies. Furthermore, and probably even more important, information is not only quantitatively rich but also its content becomes more and more complex; thus, in many cases, it’s the semantic aspect of information that has to be managed, as it happens with language-based information and interaction on the world wide web. Information management becomes more and more difficult because it involves the management of both syntactic and semantic aspects and it requires an approach more oriented to Knowledge management and Decision Support Systems than to traditional Information Systems one.

By keeping into account the remarkable progresses obtained in the field of advanced computation and Artificial Intelligence in the recent years, one may asks if the development of intelligent technologies based on the integration of ICT and computational techniques can provide interesting and promising solutions for the management of organizational networks in a global environment.

The focus of this track is to collect interesting contributions in this direction involving the development and the design of innovative Knowledge Management methodologies and Decision Support Systems for the resolution of problems related to the coordination, knowledge and information management, operations management in complex networked organizations.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics are invited. Please mention the name of this track on the cover page.

Topics in this track include, but are not limited to:

Doctoral Consortium

Doctoral Students are encouraged to apply to this International Doctoral Consortium. The conference organizers have graciously lowered the conference registration fee to $125 per student, which includes a copy of the conference proceedings. The Doctoral Consortium is based on the following requirements and rules:

 

1. The GITMA Doctoral Consortium is open only to Doctoral Students who have identified or started on their dissertation topic or research

2. Each applicant must submit a 2-3 page short paper/abstract on their primary research topic to the track chair by November 15, 2004.

Track chair e-mail: basuc@uww.edu Choton Basu at University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

3. If the paper is accepted for the International Doctoral Consortium you must register for the 2004 GITM World conference. However note highly reduced rates at $125 per student.

4. The chair for the doctoral consortium has arranged for an extra incentive of $200/student for the FIRST three students who qualify and are accepted to the GITMA doctoral consortium. Papers will be judged on significance and originality.

5. Please apply or contact the track chair immediately since only 10 spots are available for the GITMA International Doctoral Consortium.

 

Other requirements:

a) You will be required to make a 15 minute presentation at the conference during the doctoral consortium.

b) Each presentation will be followed by a discussion

c) The accepted short paper will be published in the conference proceedings.

d) Submit all papers in MS-Word or in PDF format. Possible outline may include Abstract, Research Objective, Research Design, Research Questions, Research Model (*strongly recommended), Expected Contribution

 

Please note that you are not expected to have your research completed. The goal of this doctoral consortium is to assist you and provide valuable feedback with your research. Also this is a perfect conference for you to network with international researchers and doctoral students who can provide assistance in data collection, contacts, collaboration and even translation and testing of  your work in other languages.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the GITM Doctoral Consortium Chair, Dr. Choton Basu at University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. His e-mail is basuc@uww.edu or Work: 262-472-5005.

Global IT Education and Training

The Global IT Education and Training track seeks original, innovative papers that explore new approaches and solutions to the challenges posed by the use of information technology for education and training in a global context.

Suggested topics:

Authors are encouraged to submit full research papers as well as conceptual papers, in compliance with the conference's submission guidelines.

eGovernance

E-governance or electronic governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means. Use of IT in government facilitates an efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public and other agencies, and for performing government administration activities. e-Governance is improving the lives of billions of people worldwide and is integrating government services in a way never seen before.  The purpose of E-governance is to explore how the internet and other information technologies (IT) have and will continue to impact on the productivity and performance of the public sector and how e-government fosters new and deeper citizen involvement within the governing process.

The Purpose of e-Governance track in GITMA 2005 is not only to provide a forum of discussing research findings, strategies, policies, and technologies supplemented by the learning from the innovative experiments of e-governance but also aims to resolve agenda for future research/activities and give impetus to this. This conference is scheduled to provide an opportunity of sharing the research findings and learning from successful implementation and the current experiments of e-governance. Participants are expected from every parts of the world including: Faculty/ Scientists, University students, Private sector executive (solution providers), Government officers, policy makers and NGO/ community volunteers.

Global ERP and SCM Systems

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Systems) and SCM systems address the need to integrate the dispersed business units of an organization. While the implementation of ERP and SCM systems, within a local organization, present considerable challenges, those spanning regional and national boundaries introduce even greater  technical, organizational and human challenges. This track addresses these complexities.

Topics include:

IT in Europe

Europe is unique as a region because many nations in the region have a long history of industrialization, plus, there is the ever-growing trend of regional cooperation.  The European region has managed to handle diversity well on several fronts (diversity of language, legal systems, etc.)  On the other hand, there are nations struggling in the early stages of industrialization and industrialized nations that are struggling to become sophisticated in an information and communications technology sense.

Therefore, this track is intended to explore

Special attention should be given to the need for each nation to operate in one or more of the following ways: 1) as an integrated entity in Europe, 2) as a regional player in the European Community and 3) the Global environment as a whole.

IT in Former Communist Countries

The Information Technology in former Communist Countries focuses on IT in the countries that were once part of the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe.

Russia in particular has a very talented well educated pool of engineers and scientists.  Many in this pool have immigrated to the West where they are involved in the computer industry.  Others are still located in Russia, but are involved in outsourcing arrangements with the West.  A shadow side of computer expertise in the former communist countries is the
development and deployment of computer viruses.

As many of the Eastern European nations prepare to join the European Union they are attracting significant investment in their telecommunications infrastructure and are rapidly upgrading their facilities.  Some speculate that they may be able to "leap frog" the West.

We invite submissions that discuss innovation in IT in the former communist countries (FCC)or in a particular FCC.  Sub topics include:

Global Business Process

Over a decade ago, Davenport defined business process as "a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome" and process as "a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an organization."

After a decade of streamlining processes for efficiency, organizations are adopting a more proactive stance toward the future. Post-modern approaches challenge internal and industry rules and norms; make use of technology and have a global perspective; are customer-oriented; and must be based on systems thinking. The GITM track on Global Business Process Management invites contributions that examine how one or more global business processes intrinsic to organizational efficiency and effectiveness are integrated and managed for competitive success. Although business processes are fundamental predictors of  organizational success, there remain considerable gaps in understanding how to drive efficiency through a process approach, especially in the context of global organizations. The track seeks insights into the theory and practice of successful IT-facilitated global business processes. It invites leading edge theoretical advances in the field, illustrations of best practices, case studies and other theoretical and applied examples.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS
Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages),extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the
following topics are invited. Please mention the name of this track on the cover page.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
Global BPM in eBusiness, eCommerce and eGovernment.

Global Electronic Commerce

In today’s ever-evolving world, everything imaginable is available on the web. The Internet is growing as more and more people and businesses connect to it on a daily basis.  With Internet usage on the rise, firms are beginning to realize the importance of adopting E-commerce.  Forrester Research report forecasts that online retail sales will grow from $45 billion in 2000 to 269 billion dollars in 2005.  This track intends to collect contributions on this issue.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to

IT for Government and National Development

Tremendous global flux in terms of security, economics, and politics is forcing governments to rethink how technology is being used and how it should be used. However, issues such as terrorism, economic degradation, and geo-political redefinition contribute to global instability, which makes IT planning a very difficult endeavor. Governments are working together like never before to combat terrorism. Although use of IT to facility such activity is definitely on the rise, much more must be done to better coordinate international databases and IT platforms. Shifts in geo-political affiliations also impact such coordination. For instance, NATO allegiances are as fragile as they have ever been, but such allegiances are paramount to battling terrorism. The US and its normal allies seem to be embroiled in a political quandary. What seems to be lost in the turmoil is use of IT to enhance economic and human prosperity. This shouldn’t be a surprise in that there is an unusual shift in resources and priorities to battle terrorism.

 

This track focuses on the potential of IT to battle terrorism and enhance economic development. Topics for this track may include (but are not limited to):

Global IT Research Issues and Challenges

1.      Have we established a theory or theories, which have a clear set of definitions and methods that define this area?

2.      Do we have a consensus on what we are trying to measure while we conduct research in this area?

3.      What are the common threads of research in the global IT area and is there continuity in the research being conducted?

4.      What are the future implications for researchers in this area and are there any concepts that need to be integrated with existing frameworks that would help define this area of research?

5.      Is global IT research addressing the needs of practitioners?

 In an attempt to address one, some or all of the above questions papers ranging from conceptual frameworks, models, theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence are invited.  We would like to encourage author(s) to extend their work beyond examining artifacts in global IT.  Please note that we are looking for articles that present radical ways to address the area of global IT or sub-areas within this domain of research.  Manuscripts raising new research questions and assumptions (challenging existing ones), presenting innovative ways of investigating global IT and finally resulting in articles that can stand the test of time.  We are not interested in articles that stop at examining current issues in global IT.  Author(s) need to dedicate a major effort in extending the current models, frameworks and assumptions in global IT and emerge as visionaries.  Author(s) are encouraged to support their efforts with anecdotal evidence (where appropriate).

RECOMMENDED TOPICS

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics are invited.  Please mention the name of this track on the cover page.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

It is also important to note that all of the above articles can be applied to any (sub) area within the global IT domain. The track chair strongly recommends that author(s) submit a 2-page proposal to receive initial feedback.

Global Software Development

The purpose of this track is to understand the rising trend of global software development. Interest in global software development is rapidly growing as the software industry is experiencing an increase in globalization of business. Global software development projects involve stakeholders from different national and organizational cultures and time zones. Factors related to this diversity generate specific challenges to the software development process and management. This track intends to provide a platform for discussion of the problems during software development in geographically dispersed organizations, of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of such projects, and ways in which technologies can be used to overcome current problems. Topics for this track may include (but not limited to) : 

Infonomics in the e-Society

Infonomics is an interdisciplinary science studying societal and technological dimensions of knowledge evolution in digital society. By its nature, infonomics is the intelligent management of information. Infonomics explores laws of effective information management within information systems, both natural and artificial.

The track session is intent to bring together diversity of international researchers and practitioners who are currently working in the area of infonomics in e-Society.  

Topics of interest relating to the impact or effect of infonomics in the e-Society

•  e-Society

•  e-Government

•  e-Commerce

•  e-Business

•  e-Security

•  e-Art

•  e-Education and e-Learning

•  e-Technology and e-Manufacturing

•  e-Trust and e-Crime

•  e-Risk

•  e-Intelligence

•  Globalisation of Technology

Mobile Commerce

Mobile Commerce is defined as an extension of electronic commerce from wired to wireless computers and telecommunications, and fixed locations to anytime, anywhere and anyone, i.e. the use of mobile technologies and devices to provide, sell and buy services and products. The customers of mobile commerce can be found from various groups, for example B2B, B2C, B2E and P2P (peer-to-peer).

The Mobile Commerce Track encourages the submission of quality papers, dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics: Case Studies of Wireless and M-commerce Implementations, Success Factors and Guiding Principles to Successful Implementation, Application Development for Handheld and Wireless Devices, Technology enablers for mobile applications, Usability and Human Computer Interaction issues related to mobile devices and applications, Wireless business models and their impact on different sectors of commerce.

IT in Middle Eastern Countries

IT is emerging in the US and the western countries, but it is still not viable in many other countries. Many third world countries, especially, the middle eastern countries, are struggling to compete with the west.  Many people and organizations in these countries cannot benefit from advances in IT because of the lack of "infrastructure", "affordability" or "political environment". Though ‘Digital Divide’ is creating many societal structures and threatening to leave these countries behind, all is not bad. Governments in many middle eastern countries are opening up their economies and trying to push laws favorable to external investment and the internet environment. Advances in technology is creating "time" and "place" and even, “language"  independent solutions for  applications.  IT is diffusing in many traditional disciplines of business education, including finance, accounting, management and marketing and making eGovernment, eCommerce, eLearning and eCommunication feasible at minimal cost. World organizations like the World Bank, UNESCO, UN and many private organizations are providing financial support to create balance between the west and the middle eastern countries. This track proposes to address issues related to IT diffusion across functional areas and boundaries. Papers are invited, but not limited, on following topics:

Authors are expected to describe theoretical or conceptual issues that give meaning to data, or motivation for a particular system design. Papers should show how concepts (e.g., prior theory and the current study or design) are relevant to our evolving understanding in this area. Finally, all papers should clearly answer the question "What's interesting here?"

IT in Manufacturing

Information technologies and systems have imparted a new dimension to manufacturing in the new century. Manufacturing companies have been able to streamline design, production, purchasing, quality control and other business functions with the help of IT. More importantly, IT has improved manufacturers’ abilities to compete locally and globally. This track focuses on the use of IT in manufacturing and how IT influences manufacturing competitiveness. If you have an interesting paper or topic, but not sure if it fits within the theme of this track, please contact the track chair, Dr. Purnendu Mandal at mandalpx@hal.lamar.edu or call (409) 880 8634.

We invite complete research or discussion papers in the following areas:

IT in Multinational Companies

This track focuses on a range of issues to do with IT in multinational companies, including: Communication patters (virtual teams, virtual communities, virtual organizations), production issues (supply chain management across borders, across regions, across cultures). Issues such as outsourcing, IT Governance and IT management within multinational companies would also fit within this track

IT in North America

The information technology industry in North America is in a state of rapid change driven by emerging architectures and technical capabilities, the spread of wireless devices, the increasing need for information systems to demonstrate value, new economic realities such as globalization and poor national economic performance, and government regulations. Defining, conducting, and sharing the results of research that can help us understand how organizations and individuals do or might thrive in this reality is critical.

Papers and work in progress describing quantitative research and qualitative research are invited. A wide range of papers relating to IT and IS in North America are welcome.  Be certain to place the name of this track (NAM- IT in North America) on your cover sheet or email subject.

Some topics to consider are: 

IT in Newly Industrialized Countries

While the recent switch from agricultural to industrial economies is the main shared feature among the newly industrialized countries (NIC’s) they are nevertheless characterized by high rising incomes and high growth rate. Most of the NIC are also actively involve in production and consumption of information Technology. Cases of organizations in NIC could result into theories that could explain IT implementations and other related issues in least developed countries (LDC).  The particular progress made by NIC’s in harnessing IT in their development process shows the possibility of digital leapfrogging and the role of IT in national development.  We encourage submission of papers that specifically focus on IT issues in NIC’s (e.g. Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea, India, Mexico and South Africa) and how IT has contributed to the local and global developments. Paper that compares (or that can be used to compare) IT issues in NIC’s with other countries (outside NIC’s) is also of particular interest to the track. 

IT in Newly Industrialized Countries Track encourages the submission of quality papers with the following and other topics:

Global IT Outsourcing

Recent trend of offshore IT outsourcing has influenced many businesses to reexamine the role of their IT departments. Offshore outsourcing has become a viable option for organizations to save costs, increase competitive advantages, reduce risk in IT investments, access to new IT skills, etc. Such phenomena introduce several new business models and partnerships in today’s economy. While the topic of offshore outsourcing has been an on-going research for more than a decade, it could be asserted that previous results are inconclusive. This track invites conceptual, theoretical, practical, and empirical research papers that target academic and/or practitioner audiences, with a sound methodology.

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the following topics are invited. Please note the name of this track on the cover page.

Recommended Topics

IT in South America

IT plays a central role in the developing countries, like in improving production efficiency and supporting more transparent political processes. In South America, IT has been also considered a means to boosting local economies through the exportation of IT-related products and services, as well as a shortcut for promoting the emergence of individual talents.

But not all South American nations seem to be already prepared for joining this somewhat new social realm; indeed, only countries like Brazil, Chile and Argentina currently have some stake in the international IT community - both in the academia and the industry. So it is of need that we foster solid IT initiatives in the region for mobilizing people and social structures to make this new world order profitable for their local interests. One way to achieve this is to promote the open discussion of issues impacted by and resultant from such an intent.

On the other side, remarkable IT experiences in South America have been consistently reported over the years. Low salaries in the region have attracted companies to implement facilities for application development and support, or to sub-contract the activities to locals. The opportunity of personal growth - aligned with innate or educated skills - have also pushed young South American professionals to pursue successful IT careers overseas.

In such a context, we suggest the research community to submit quality papers (completed or in-progress research) dealing with any from a diverse list of
topics on South American experiences, including (but not being limited to):
 

Social Issues and Ethics in Global IT

Information technology has had profound impacts upon our personal and professional lives and the communities in which we live and work.  The technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that in many cases the social consequences and resulting ethical issues have not been fully considered.  The ease and speed with which digital information traverses the globe means there are global considerations as well.

All social issues resulting from information technology that affect organizations, groups, or individuals are included.  Key topic areas for the track include, but are not limited to: (1) Culture, (2) Ethics, (3) Human Interaction and Relationships, and (4) Security, and (5) Social Justice.

Examples of research topics that fit within this track include:

 Security and Privacy

The focus of this track is on all aspects of security and privacy related to Information Systems in the globally networked environment of organizations, households and individuals. Teaching, technical and research issues in relation to the global IT are of interest to the track. Topics can deal with security and privacy of multinational organizations, with home broadband security, and with wearable PCs forthcoming security and privacy challenges. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

We invite papers that address any of the areas listed above, as well as any related issues. Reviewers are also needed.

IT in Small and Medium Enterprises

IT is crucial for small and medium sized businesses today.  Small/medium businesses need to increase their efficiency, productivity, and performance through IT.  At the same time, IT outsourcing plays a role as a way to reduce costs.  In the internet and e-business era, IT becomes more competitively important than in the past, since markets and competition are potentially wider.  Small and medium sized businesses need to plan, strategize, and execute IT in order to compete and gain customers and market share.  There are special problems of being smaller that research in this track can address.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS

Papers (comleted or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research, panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) dealing with (but not limited to) the follow topics are invited.  Please name the track on the cover page.

Strategic Applications of Global IT

    Strategic and competitive considerations have long been separated from the technological innovation activities of the firm due to the complexities involved in integrating technology and innovation issues into the firm’s overall strategic planning.  The key question is what will it take to be a success in the business environment of tomorrow?  Three forces account for most of the convergence of business strategy with organizational structure and information systems. They are rapid innovation of new information technologies, widespread creation of new ideas and concepts about information itself, and extensive development of new information-intensive organizational forms and business strategies.  As more countries join the ranks of the industrialized nations, the sophistication of the global market and number of global competitors have eliminated any advantage to a simple presence in international markets. Companies tied to the information economy are typically global from their inception - the Internet does not permit them to compete in only national markets. At the same time we see massive consolidations of industries from automobiles to banking to pharmaceuticals to cell phones and Internet service providers around the globe. Today the international/global/multinational/transnational organization must employ strategic thinking to compete successfully.  The focus of this track will be on understanding the fundamental conditions of the industry and the firm in order to generate and sustain a competitive strategy.

RECOMMENDED TOPICS:

Papers (completed or in-progress: about 20 double spaced pages), extended abstracts (completed or in-progress research: about 4-6 pages), panel and workshop proposals (2-4 pages) include (but not limited to) the following topics are invited.   Please mention the name of this track on the cover page. Topics include, but are not limited to: