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Increasing importance of emerging information technology, especially the data base component, has prompted the examination of the process of diffusion of innovations in the context of data base system development. This paper (1) examines the extent to which information sources and communication channels facilitate the diffusion of data base design tools and techniques, (2) studies how different information sources and communication channels influence diffusion and (3) assesses whether data base design tools and techniques applicable to the different stages of system development are diffused at different rates. In facilitating the diffusion of data base design tools and techniques, organizational resources such as information sources, communication channels and a technical support function are found to influence only certain classes of these innovations.diffusion of innovation, data base design, information sources, communication channels, information technology

This paper considers the question of how much time and effort should be spent in preparing a bid for a single item of known value sold at a first-price sealed-bid auction. A decision-theoretic approach to this bid decision summarizes the decision maker's knowledge of the competitive environment through his or her subjective probability distribution of the highest competing bid. Research activities such as collecting and analyzing bid histories are efforts to obtain additional information that reduces the uncertainty in the highest competing bid. The decision-theoretic concepts of expected value of perfect and imperfect information are used to place an economic value on such research activities. The results presented allow the decision maker to quantify the expected value of imperfect information when the uncertainty is normally distributed. The results show that additional research is most valuable prior to auctions the bidder expects to win.Subject Area: Decision Analysis.

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