Summary: This is an applied and original SAGE Business Case, complete with a Teaching Note, designed for teaching quantitative techniques in Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to support strategic decision-making.

Abstract: Headquartered in San Francisco, EdTechAi Inc. (ETA) is a start-up experiencing sharp growth. The company offers a wide range of cutting-edge AI EdTech, including immersive 3D digital twinning attractive to both health tech and engineering companies seeking to enhance their apprenticeship programs. It also holds patents to a GenAI video solution gaining traction in universities for its intuitive educational content that increases student engagement. To provide these technologies, ETA has been sourcing computing infrastructure such as storage, processing power, virtualization, and 3D rendering from BiHub Inc., a private cloud computing company reputed for its exclusivity and high security standards. However, recent market forecasts suggest that BiHub might not be able to meet the projected increase in demand at ETA. The company is considering whether to add CloudComp, GG, and AzurAi to its vendor list, but needs to know if they will fit its important criteria and how to prioritize them. A young executive at ETA tasked with addressing this dilemma has decided to apply multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to help the company make a decision.

Background: Platform ecosystems are a recent business model and organizational form (Gawer, 2014) that have changed the traditional ‘pipeline’ business models and the organization of resources and services. Their greatest advantages are in cutting inefficiencies and hierarchical controls in the traditional model (Jacobides, Cennamo & Gawer, 2018). They link consumers of resources and services directly via a platform (technological intermediary) to producers and suppliers; and they leverage network effects to generate digital innovation. When they gain traction, platforms form ecosystems that attract millions to billions of consumers globally, making it possible for competition and innovation to flourish amongst producers and suppliers seeking to provide their services to such a large market. Problem space: Despite the opportunities presented by platform ecosystems, the trend has been that this business model and form organizing is largely used to generate organizational profit by parent providers. This has meant that most consumer-facing platforms are largely monopolistic (Hovenkamp, 2020). A few parent providers of platforms can have massive control of a significant portion of national and even global services and resources (e.g., online commerce, social interactions, transportation, accommodation, media consumption, etc.). Consequently, they can also wield so much control over some of the most complex aspects of human life. This includes aspects that have traditionally been regulated through national institutions of government that often need to have a social contract with the general population. Thus, current forms of platform organizing complicate the approach to address challenges emerging from such form of organizing, such as over consumption & rampant consumerism, unsustainable sourcing, monopoly & antitrust behaviour, and the spread of mis-dis-information. Research agenda: This new research programme aims to develop an alternative to how platforms are designed and oriented, to focus on utilizing the same principles that make platforms so successful (e.g., critical mass, network effects, collective action, co-sourcing, openness, and generative architecture, etc.) but re-purposing these principles to address major societal challenges – placing sustainability and good will as a critical condition from the very conception and design of platforms. The intention is to move platform ideas from monopolistic “winner-takes all” business models to a “winner benefits all” model, from monopoly to collective action, from single parent providers to large scale inter-organzational collaboration. This research programme will focus on two main areas: (i) the environment and sustainability challenge - covering areas such as sustainable consumption of fashion and food, transportation, and accommodation, and (ii) the societal challenge - covering areas such as promotion of healthy social interactions, open communications, and addressing mis/dis information in online media.

This paper examines how the critical mass challenge manifests itself during inter-organizational platform development. In previous research, critical mass is treated as an issue that occurs after platform launch. Strategies proposed, such as tactful pricing, opening the platform, user onboarding, and side-switching assume the platform to have already been launched. They may not work well in conditions where the platform is still under development. Over a two-and-a-half-year time period, this study traced the development of a data platform in a revelatory case within the New Zealand tourism sector. It revealed five critical mass issues faced by the platform sponsor in phases of development that occur before platform launch:(i) attracting initial interest,(ii) aligning heterogenous goals,(iii) sustaining commitment to the project (iv), negotiating architecture design, and (v) sustaining commitment to implementation. These findings provide a foundation for problematizing critical mass theory and its boundary conditions in inter-organizational platform development.

The architecture of information systems in complex organisations is increasingly becoming platform-based, creating ecosystems of platforms in which several contributors exist to benefit and complement. As such systems become complex, it is necessary to think about the evolutionary dynamics necessary to ensure continued survival and success of the architecture that holds them in place. Of specific interest are three perspectives to IS architecture, its design, governance and context. The premise of this paper is that adaptive evolution of information systems (IS) architecture in complex ecosystems has the necessary attributes to cope with evolutionary dynamics existing in its design, governance and context. The paper presents a theoretical perspective on how the rapidly changing, complex, uncertain and disruptive ecosystem environment in which IS architectural ecosystems are increasingly existing can adaptively evolve. It contributes to theoretical thinking about adaptive evolution in increasingly unstable, volatile and complex IS ecosystems. As it centres on IS architecture, the paper is directly addresses the IS artefact often skirted treated as a black box.

Platforms have recently attracted business and research attention. While a growing body of IS research has addressed platform strategies for single large corporations there is less attention paid to interorganizational contexts when disparate firms seek to create a common multisided digital platform. This is an interesting discrepancy considering the value of such knowledge to many organizations developing platforms for co-creating business value. This research examines the collective action and boundary spanning activities that underpin the initiation and formation of interorganizational digital platforms. The empirical context of this work is the New Zealand tourism industry, which has recently begun work on the design and development of a multi-sided platform that will provide shared data and services under the leadership of its main trade association. It follows a longitudinal case study design. Data access has been secured, with the first phase of interviews and gathering of documentary material completed covering over 40 industry organizations, such as airlines, transport operators, hospitality firms, attraction operators, and economic development agencies. The intention is to have the second phase six months later this year with the same set of respondents, yielding a rich dataset about a phenomenon that is unfolding as the research is taking place. Preliminary results will be ready for the consortium. Knowledge gained in the study will contribute to IS theories on interorganizational systems and digital platforms, by understanding how organizational field actors with conflicting interests and identities negotiate the design and governance of a common multisided platform to serve their collective needs. It has practical relevance to many organizations currently making efforts to develop interorganizational linkages through IT systems.

The thesis examines inter-organisational platform development occurring though collective action. Despite much hype about the benefits of platforms, and burgeoning stream of work on the subject in IS literature, IOP development processes and practices that lead to success or failure remain obscure. Some scholars suggest that this is perhaps because of the secrecy associated with such projects. IS literature shows that the development of inter-organisational platforms is plagued by collective action challenges, such as the conflicting interests, heterogenous goals, and coopetition between members. This is mostly encountered in designing important aspects of the platform such as architecture, governance models, and value systems. These challenges make critical mass difficult to achieve, often derailing platform development projects. Thus, it has become crucial to understand how such platforms are developed through collective efforts by multiple organisations. This study addresses the gaps mentioned using a longitudinal case study. There was an opportunity for unusual research access to real time observations of the development processes from inception. This led to collection of a rich dataset from multiple sources. Over two-and-half years, observations were made as 46 organisations such as airlines, airports, visitor experience providers (e.g., canyon swings, ziptreks), private corporates, hotel chains, and government agencies worked together to develop a platform for sharing data resources and services in the tourism sector in New Zealand. Findings indicate that IOP development processes vary in specific areas of development such as the designing of architecture, governance, value systems, and standards. Whilst some processes can be managed through leadership, coordination, and collective organising by a leading organisation in the collective, others require self-organisation to align complementary resources and interests. Apart from processes of activities and actions, we also found that socio-cognitive processes and joint actions between members co-influence each other during design phases. These co-influences can explain how cognitive distances and incongruencies in technology frames of references are resolved. The primary contribution of this study is to have created theoretical building blocks towards a nascent theory of IOP development processes occurring through collective action. These building blocks include specifications of concepts, process models of design & cognitive processes, propositions of process activities & their observed outcomes, and problematizations of key constructs that extend the theoretical boundaries of such concepts as critical mass (the outcome variable in collective action). The research also contributes to platforms and collective action theories by integrating the two areas in investigating the development of inter-organisational platforms. Practical knowledge can be drawn on how IOPs are constructed in conditions of heterogeneity and coopetition requiring collective organising.

Digital twins have been used in manufacturing to describe, predict, and prescribe responses to complex problems. The digital twin is a constellation of technologies that mirror physical objects in the virtual world, including what has happened, is happening and could or should happen in the future for the mirrored object. What is common in previous conceptualizations of digital twins is that there is a physical boundary to the extent that digital twins can mirror real objects (sometimes including the objects’ environments). We propose a blended approach, using McKinsey’s straw man and Parmar et al.’s.(2020) framework, to offer a more rigorously structured process for arriving at a refined conceptualization of digital twins in the educational service environment.

Infopreneurial behaviour amongst University graduates has the potential to guarantee employment and bridge the gap between job-security and the perceived insecurity of an own information business. At present, the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe offers infopreneurship and entrepreneurship courses to students in the faculty of Communication and Information Science. The course content and presentation are similar in nature as they all relate to the selling, marketing and promotion of information products and services. However distant and limited research has been done to find out the impact of this course in creating an infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students. The researchers conducted a questionnaire-based survey to find out the infopreneurial behaviour among students who graduated from 2008 to 2012 in the faculty. The exploratory investigation reported by this paper brings out the status of these graduates in utilising their acquired knowledge in infopreneurship and entrepreneurship with regards to the selling and marketing of information products and services, especially through small physical or online/internet-based businesses. The major finding of this study was that the later crop of students between 2011 and 2012 have been making initiatives to establish internet-based information businesses but lack further business and technical skills necessary to translate these initiatives into „real. businesses. These business and technical skills are lacking in the course contents. The researchers conclude by making recommendations on possible adaptations that can be introduced to the courses to improve infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students in information science.

Maternal mortality remains a problem in low-income countries (LICs). In Zimbabwe, there has been an unprecedented increase in maternal mortality in the last 2.5 decades. Effective prenatal care delivery, particularly early visits, appropriate number of visits, and receiving recommended care is viewed as key to reducing fatal care outcomes. This study sought to model and identify gaps requiring service and care delivery improvement in prenatal care pathways for pregnant women visiting Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This was a case study of the services offered by an antenatal care department at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Evidence from literature in low-income countries was used to develop prenatal care pathway guidelines as a tool to guide care delivery and identify gaps in care and service delivery. One hundred cases of prenatal care records were reviewed to determine the prenatal care pathway and care delivered to pregnant women. This data was complemented by interviews with 20 maternity care clinicians. In 100 maternity case records studied, 53% booked for prenatal care. Of the 53% (n = 53) pregnant women who booked, their first visit on their pregnancy was late at an average gestational age of 27.1 weeks with extremes of 30 to 40 weeks in 38% (n = 20) cases. Missing scheduled prenatal care appointments was prevalent, with only 11% (n = 6) having attended all the expected 5 visits, whilst 60% (n = 32) missed 3 or more. There were inadequacies in the care delivered to women in each visit compared to that expected in such areas as obstetrics, physical examinations and haematological tests. Maternity care clinicians attributed the cost of prenatal booking fees in the background of poverty and poor family support systems as key factors hindering women’s access to prenatal services. The current prenatal care pathway at MCH requires improvement in the areas of referral, adherence to appointment by pregnant women and visiting prenatal care early. Clinicians also need to adhere to standard clinical tests recommended for each specific pregnant woman’s visit. In the Zimbabwean setting with limited resources, where the number of visits is already low, pathways with reduced visits may not be appropriate. An investment into prenatal care by the government is recommended to enable the utilisation of interventions such as e-health technologies that may improve care delivery as well as adherence to best practices. E-health and mobile health technologies involving e-referrals, e-booking, decision support, and reminder systems are recommended for clinicians to manage and deliver appropriate care to patients as well as pregnant women to adhere to scheduled visits.

This project aimed to assess the impact of online citizen science (OCS) participation on the science education of primary school children in New Zealand. Four exploratory cases were used to examine the nature and impact of embedding OCS projects that use web-based online tools within primary classroom environments. Findings provide key insights into primary teachers' perception of OCS. They offer initial insights into how teachers embed OCS in a classroom environment, and why this improves science learning aptitudes, inquisitiveness, and capabilities in primary school children. They also show how successfully embedding OCS projects in education is affected by the project context, human computer interaction (HCI), and dissemination of results, among other factors. Recommendations are made for further research that provides comprehensive coverage beyond this exploratory study.

Citizen involvement in scientific projects has become a way of encouraging curiosity and greater understanding of science whilst providing an unprecedented engagement between professional scientists and the general public. In this paper we specifically focus on the impact of online citizen science (OCS) participation in the science education of primary school age children in New Zealand. We use four exploratory cases within a broader research project to examine the nature and impact of embedding OCS projects that use web based online crowdsourcing and collaboration tools within classroom environments of primary school science learners. Our findings provide insights into primary school teachers' perception of OCS. They offer initial insights into how teachers embed OCS in a classroom environment, and why this improves science learning aptitudes, inquisitiveness and capabilities in primary school age children. We also notice that successfully embedding OCS projects in education is affected by the project context, how the results are disseminated, and inclusivity in socio-cultural aspects.

This project aimed to assess the impact of online citizen science (OCS) participation on the science education of primary school children in New Zealand. Four exploratory cases were used to examine the nature and impact of embedding OCS projects that use web-based online tools within primary classroom environments. Findings provide key insights into primary teachers’ perception of OCS. They offer initial insights into how teachers embed OCS in a classroom environment, and why this improves science learning aptitudes, inquisitiveness, and capabilities in primary school children. They also show how successfully embedding OCS projects in education is affected by the project context, human computer interaction (HCI), and dissemination of results, among other factors. Recommendations are made for further research that provides comprehensive coverage beyond this exploratory study. It is important that support is provided on how OCS can be utilised by schoolteachers in science education. We take a step towards achieving this by releasing a digital resource on the Science Learning Hub, 1 available to all teachers in New Zealand, that provides an inventory of OCS projects along with descriptions about how these can be used in alignment with The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007)(NZC).

Choosing a cost-effective document management approach has become a priority to many organisations, especially in view of the rapidly changing technological environment in which information is being created and managed. A literature survey indicated that document management strategies have the potential to provide some substantial cost-saving benefits if they are used judiciously. This study investigated a commercial bank’s document management approaches in a bid to ascertain the costs and benefits of each strategy and related issues. A quantitative research approach was employed through a case study which was used to gather data from a sampled population in the bank. The document management approaches used were not coordinated to improve operational efficiency. There were regulations governing documents management. The skills and competences of staff on both document management and cost analysis are limited. That is partly due to limited training opportunities availed to them. That means that economies are not achieved in the management of records. That has a negative impact on the overall efficiency, effectiveness and legal compliance of the banking institution. The financial institutions should create regulations enabling periodical cost-benefit analysis of document management regimes used by the bank at least at quarterly intervals as recommended by the National Archives of Australia. A hybrid approach in managing records is recommended for adoption by the financial institution. There should be on-the-job staff training complimented by attendance at relevant workshops and seminars to improve the staff’s understanding of both the cost-benefit analysis concept and document management.

This exploratory paper investigates the terms and conditions offered by cloud service providers, questioning whether these are a safe environment for personal health record-keeping with regards to privacy, security and intellectual property control among other factors. We focus on evaluating the extent to which the privacy of sensitive information is protected in these systems as well as the extent to which terms provided comply with relevant regulations. Whilst many people may be excited about the introduction of cloud solutions to managing their personal health information, there are questions that we urge the public to ask before entrusting their sensitive health records to any cloud-service system. This is an exploratory research based on Internet resources about terms and conditions offered by common cloud service providers used by many people. The researcher explores terms and conditions of four common cloud-servers, namely: Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Health Vault and Microsoft’s SkyDrive. To further augment the study, the researcher conducted a randomized, questionnaire-based survey at a local university in Zimbabwe, and engaged 100 users to provide responses regarding their use of these cloud-servers as processing and storage centres for their personal health records. The study establishes that users rarely read the terms and conditions; very few are concerned with finding out about the privacy, confidentiality and intellectual property issues pertain to their information stored in the cloud; yet, there is a potential loss of valuable information, or at least un-monitored transfer of property rights that may need careful scrutiny to decipher. Several recommendations are made, among which include education of users to understand the meaning of terms and conditions offered, a call for the simplification of the terms and conditions and probable use of local ‘home-grown’ solutions.

Auditing can support national democratic processes, national development and government good will. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), such as offices of Auditor General, publish consolidated reports on audit outcomes for local authorities, government departments, parastatals and related public entities. These reports identify broad areas analysed during audit exercises that often include financial management, governance, asset management, risk management, revenue collection and debt recovery. They highlight trends that were detected during audit exercises at the end of a financial year. The reports further show how records and records management affect audit exercises as well as financial management within the audited institutions. The intention of the research was to ascertain the contribution of records management to audit opinions and accountability in financial management in Zimbabwean government entities. A document analysis of Comptroller and Auditor General of Zimbabwe (CAGZ)'s reports was used to identify the types of decisions and recommendations (audit opinions) issued, in juxtaposition to the records management issues raised. This study shows that there is a strong correlation between records management concerns and audit opinions raised by the CAGZ's narrative audit reports. Inadequate records management within government entities was associated with adverse and qualified opinions and, in some cases, unqualified opinions that had emphases of matter. There was a causal loop in which lack of documentary evidence of financial activities was the source cause of poor accounting and poor audit reports. Errors resulting from incomplete or inaccurate records meant that government entities were not showing a true picture of their financial status and their financial statements could be materially misstated. As an important monitoring and control system, records management should be integrated into the accounting and auditing processes of government entities. 

Developing countries face the challenge of providing quality healthcare to rapidly increasing populations without adequate infrastructure. Health information management infrastructures are important for the smooth flow of important health information required for efficient service delivery. They form the essential physical, logical and intellectual link that facilitates the provision of health care services for a country. This study was carried out to assess the health information management infrastructures for communication in the Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe, particularly focusing on border line health facilities that stretch from Southern boarders with Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana. The researchers employed an exploratory survey research strategy through the use of observation and structured interviews. Elements from the eHealth Architecture Model (eHAM) developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO TR 14639) [1] as a roadmap tool for capacity based eHealth architecture were used as guiding principles. The researchers identified that there is a wide spread lack of health communication technology, particularly computers and related technology. Health staff capacity to process information and communication is low and information management infrastructures are dilapidated. Health information management infrastructures for communication in the area studied are inadequate, and underserviced. This is coupled by a low quality in data and service delivery mainly due to lowly qualified staff and dilapidated information management infrastructure. Current researchers recommend the use of computers, related technology and improvement of communication connectivity solutions, staff capacity and servicing of information management infrastructure to improve health communication efficiency.

Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form. While teachers, lecturers and other education specialists have at their disposal a wide range of primary, secondary and tertiary sources upon which to relate and share or impart knowledge, OH presents a rich source of information that can improve the learning and knowledge impartation experience. The uniqueness of OH is presented in the following advantages of its use: it allows one to learn about the perspectives of individuals who might not otherwise appear in the historical record; it allows one to compensate for the digital age; one can learn different kinds of information; it provides historical actors with an opportunity to tell their own stories in their own words; and it offers a rich opportunity for human interaction. This article discusses the placement of oral history in the classroom set-up by investigating its use as a source of learning material presented by the National Archives of Zimbabwe to students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Interviews and a group discussion were used to gather data from an archivist at the National Archives of Zimbabwe, lecturers and students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at NUST, respectively. These groups were approached on the usability, uniqueness and other characteristics that support this type of knowledge about OH in a tertiary learning experience. The findings indicate several qualities that reflect the richness of OH as a teaching source material in a classroom set-up. It further points to weak areas that may be addressed where the source is considered a viable strategy for knowledge sharing and learning. The researchers present a possible model that can be used to champion the use of this rich knowledge source in classroom education at this university and in similar set-ups.

This study examines the management of financial records at a local authority Municipality of Marondera. Field work and document analysis were used to gather data that is analysed and presented in this study. The sample was purposively selected from key financial and records management staff at the municipality and the National Archives of Zimbabwe. The major finding in this study was that financial records were not properly managed. This was evidenced by a large number of records of enduring importance which were intermingled with those of transitory value. Findings revealed that staff were not trained to effectively manage financial records. Furthermore, there was no clear framework or programme within which financial records were managed. There was some disconnect between the municipality and the National Archives of Zimbabwe. The researchers recommend that the municipality should employ qualified and experienced records personnel to design and implement a proper financial records management programme in compliance with relevant legislation. The municipality should also develop an integrated framework for managing its records in general and financial records in particular. The municipality should also seek to work with the National Archives of Zimbabwe so that it gets guidance on the management of its records, especially with regards to matters pertaining to retention, appraisal and disposal of financial records.