Vertical standards describe products and services, define data formats and structures, and formalize and encode business processes for specific industries. Vertical standards enable end-to-end computing, provide greater visibility of the organization’s supply chain, and enable transactional efficiencies by automating routine tasks, reducing errors, and formally defining all parameters used to describe a product, service, or transaction. Research on standards diffusion has explored either firm-level and institutional variables, without integration of the two areas. This study develops scales for 11 constructs based on concepts culled from diffusion of innovations theory, organizational learning theories of technology adoption, institutional theory and network effects theory. The scales are validated with data collected from the membership of OASIS, a leading international standards-developing organization for electronic commerce technologies. Using data cluster analysis, relationship patterns between the 11 constructs are investigated. Results show that low fit between vertical standards and existing organizational business processes and data formats, low levels of anticipated benefits, and inadequate momentum with critical business partners contribute to slower vertical standards assimilation. However, organizational involvement with influential standards-development organizations, and the right set of technologies, skills, and structures to readily benefit from vertical standards spur their assimilation.
Business Intelligence 2.0 is an umbrella term used to refer to a collection of tools that help organizations extend their BI capabilities using Internet platforms. BI 2.0 tools can enable the automatic discovery of distributed software services and data stores, greatly increasing the range of market options for an organization. The development cycle for these tools is still in its early stage, and much work remains. However, some technologies and standards are already well understood in order to make a significant impact. This paper provides an overview of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and related technologies supporting the deployment of web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA). The author summarizes the critical importance of these technologies to the emergence of BI 2.0 tools. This paper also explores the current state of Internet-enabled BI activities and strategic considerations for firms considering BI 2.0 options.
Vertical standards focus on industry-specific product and service descriptions, and are generally implemented using the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Vertical standards are complex technologies with an organizational adoption locus but subject to inter-organizational dependence and network effects. Understanding the assimilation process for vertical standards requires that both firm and industry-level effects be considered simultaneously. In this paper, the authors develop and evaluate a two-level model of organizational assimilation that includes both firm and industry-level effects. The study was conducted in collaboration with OASIS, a leading cross-industry standards-development organization (SDO), and with ACORD, the principal SDO for the insurance and financial services industries. Results confirm the usefulness of incorporating firm-level and community-level constructs in the study of complex networked technologies. Specifically, the authors’ re-conceptualization of the classical DoI concepts of relative advantage and complexity are shown to be appropriate and significant in predicting vertical standards assimilation. Additionally, community-level constructs such as orphaning risk and standard legitimation are also shown to be important predictors of assimilation.
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