External Expertise Research Articles

Influence of Managerial Technical Competences on Performance of Teachers in Public Primary Schools

This study investigated the influence of managerial competencies and performance of teachers in upper primary in selected public schools in Mayuge District. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional survey design to examine the relationship between managerial competences and teacher performance. A sample of 92 respondents was categorized as school managers, head teachers, teachers, and management committee members. The study used simple random techniques and purposive sampling techniques. The study analyzed quantitative data collected using structured, closed-ended items in questionnaires and coded using a five-point Linkert response scale. Raw data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product moment correlation to determine the influence of managerial competences on the performance of teachers. The study found out that managers' managerial competencies play a role in influencing the performance of teachers in public primary schools. Level of education, professional qualification of head teachers, and managerial human relations competencies all influence performance. The study concluded that poor managerial technical competences affect the performance of teachers in a negatively in form of less preparation of schemes of work and lesson planning, not following the timetable, and many others. The study recommended that there is need to encourage professional growth and training in both managerial technical competences and human relations competences in order to improve the performance of teachers in the schools. The study further recommended that for Managerial competences and performance of teachers to be effective in upper primary schools, head teachers should continue to motivate their teachers to improve on their performance, the school should hire external expertise that can facilitate professional development experiences and external expertise.

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS THROUGH DATA ANALYTICS IN THE BANGLADESHI RETAIL INDUSTRY

This qualitative study aims to investigate the state of customer behavior analysis in the Bangladeshi retail industry, with a particular focus on the role of data analytics. The research seeks to explore the current practices, challenges, opportunities, and best strategies employed by retailers in understanding and responding to customer behavior. The Bangladeshi retail industry has witnessed substantial growth driven by factors such as economic development, urbanization, and evolving consumer preferences. In this evolving landscape, retailers increasingly rely on data analytics to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, optimize business operations, and enhance customer experiences. Understanding customer behavior is vital for retailers to tailor their strategies to meet the ever-changing needs and preferences of Bangladeshi consumers. This study employs qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the Bangladeshi retail industry. The sample size comprises 40 participants, and data analysis involves a thematic approach. The study explores the current state of customer behavior analysis, challenges, opportunities, best practices, and strategies related to data analytics within the retail sector. The findings reveal a growing integration of data analytics in customer behavior analysis, with retailers utilizing various data sources such as point-of-sale data, online transactions, and customer surveys. Challenges include data security concerns and the need for skilled data analysts, while opportunities encompass improved customer retention, enhanced personalization, and more effective marketing campaigns. Best practices emphasize fostering a data-driven culture, collaborating with external data analytics experts, and continuous staff training. The study’s insights have implications for the Bangladeshi retail industry, highlighting the transformative potential of data analytics in adapting to evolving customer preferences and remaining competitive. Recommendations include clear objective setting, investment in data security measures, and the pursuit of external expertise when needed.

Distant but close: Locational, relational and temporal proximity in cloud computing adoption

We show that proximity is significant during cloud computing’s adoption. This is counter to the prevailing assumptions of cloud adoption as being more impersonal and distant, with less interaction between provider and purchaser than on-premise technologies. We do this through an interpretive study of cloud computing adopters across Europe. We develop a conceptual framework of cloud proximity which draws attention to its locational, relational and temporal proximal dimensions. Our proximal analysis leads us to identify three aspects of cloud adoption where proximity plays a key role: mercantile aspect (e.g., cloud sales support), counsel aspect (e.g., access to internal and external expertise) and organi-technical aspect (e.g., the understanding of cloud technology and services alongside their organizational adoption context). By challenging assumptions of distant and remote adoption, we contribute to the cloud computing adoption research and raise questions for IT adoption in general.

Exploring Cybersecurity Awareness and Resilience of SMEs amid the Sudden Shift to Remote Work during the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Exploring Cybersecurity Awareness and Resilience of SMEs amid the Sudden Shift to Remote Work during the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Using Consulting and External Expertise in the Digital Transformation of Russian Corporations

The paper considers the possibilities of developing management methods in the implementation of digital transformation programs for Russian corporations with a focus on industries through the use of specialized IT consulting. The article compares consulting teChnologies for various subjeCt areas and highlights the neCessary modifiCations to solve problems in the digitalization of industry. The promising approach of "technological tunnel" has the necessary modifications. To be successfully applied in an environment of rapid technological evolution, high uncertainty of external economic factors and various restrictions that have become significant since 2020. The proposed approach can be recommended for practical application in industrial enterprises during digital transformation.

When does the EU commission listen to experts? Analysing the effect of external compliance assessments on supranational enforcement in the EU

ABSTRACT How does the European Commission respond to external expert reports about member states’ non-compliance? We theorise that expert compliance assessments affect the Commission’s monitoring costs and information about governments’ probability of compliance. More precisely, the Commission is likely to launch infringements, when information is provided by institutions with extensive expertise that reveals practical non-compliance. However, reports about severe non-conformity indicate that governments will not reform their policies. Therefore, the Commission is expected to initiate infringements if the domestic conditions are favourable for compliance (government and societal EU support and active civil society). Analysing 63 EU directives and 27 countries, we find that enforcement depends on external expertise and practical non-compliance. Moreover, the Commission launches infringements against severe non-conformity when it is supported by civil society. Thus, the Commission utilises expert assessments strategically and it does not necessarily prioritise high levels of non-conformity.

Supporting Information System Integration Decisions in the Post-Merger Context

Consolidation of organizations and assets through Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is one of the strategies for organizational growth. However, despite the big popularity, the results of M&A initiatives are questionable. The main idea behind M&A is to create a new organization by combining several existing organizations. This new organization is created through a transformation process often called a post-merger. A significant part of the post-merger process is the integration of information systems. The success of post-merger information systems integration is the result of successful integration decisions. This study focuses on the problem of how a novice organization in post-merger initiatives can handle complexity in the decision-making process of post-merger information systems integration with its internal resources, without involvement of an external expertise, but with a support method to compensate the lack of expertise for informed decision-making. The extended decision-making process can be divided into three phases – identification of necessary decisions, decision-making, and decision implementation. This study focuses on the first two phases. For each of the phases, a specialized sub-method was developed, focused, respectively, on the identification of necessary decisions (AMILI) and decision-making as a choice between possible integration options (AMILP). Supporting tools were also developed for each of the sub-methods.

Analysis of Factors Related To The Application Of Accounting Information Systems In Small Medium & Micro Businesses

The purpose of this study is to determine how big influence time constraints, financial constraints and external expertise constraints on the successful application of accounting information systems in Small and Medium-sizedEnterprises (SMEs) in Bandung, Indonesia. The population in this study consisted of accounting and finance staff in Bandung. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. The data that has been obtained was processed using Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Squares (SEM PLS). The statistical analysis technique uses SEM because there is a causal relationship between variables and each variable is unobserved. Research has shown that time constraints, financial constraints, and external expertise constraints can affect the success of implementing accounting information systems. According to the concept, a successful implementation of accounting information system will help users in making decisions.

THE ABILITY TO CONTROL SPACE AND PROPERTY IN A MUNICIPALITY

The author's research is based on the need for control over the development of the public space of the municipality by its residents. The article is devoted to the study of the processes of formation of the public space of the city of Perm. The author shows that with today's approach to the processes of forming public space, a number of documents are mainly executed, but attention is not paid to the needs of city residents. Proposals have been formed for the development of urban public space and control over municipal property within the framework of the Strategy of Socio-economic Development o. In practice, the author presented a decision on the need to “digitize” municipal property, which was included in the draft Strategy for the socio-economic development of the municipality and in the plans (road maps) of subordinate institutions. The development of information systems, the growth of infrastructure services, an increase in the amount of processed and stored information in databases shows the need to increase the working capacity of service equipment and the volume of data storage systems, which in turn will lead to the need to determine a single method for assessing the result of using digital technologies, which in turn the queue will lead to the need to protect the results obtained f the city of Perm. It is presented in the analysis of materials characterizing the use of methods of analysis and systematization of theoretical fundamental research, applied developments and documentation. An analysis of the practice of project management and the specifics of the regulatory framework can make it possible to identify problematic points in the application of project management technologies at the municipal level: lack of synchronization of the processes of strategic socio-economic development, portfolio management and budget planning; lack of external expertise of the proposed results of government projects with justification of their effectiveness, sufficiency and necessity for local communities. The results of the study can be used in the development of public spaces of municipalities.

Inclusion of IMF in Eurozone Crisis Management: Legitimacy Through External Expertise and Internal Depoliticisation

ABSTRACT A new technocratic knowledge regime emerged in Europe in 2010. Known as the Troika, it included the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the IMF. The Greek Stand-By Arrangement was the IMF’s first Eurozone financial assistance involvement, controversial for both the EU and the IMF. We trace how the IMF entered the process, focusing on why EU institutions involved it. We used official documents, statements, and a unique set of 129 interviews with IMF and EU decision-makers and Member State officials. We argue that the EU sought the IMF’s expertise in loan and conditionality negotiation, public image credibility, perceived guarantee for austerity, and depoliticisation. They were internally motivated by lack of confidence in the European Commission among EU Member States. Legitimacy was sought externally through the IMF’s expertise. The IMF continued its previous depoliticising role, a crucial strategy in crisis management, now in a novel multilevel context.

New Nordicities for Northern communities: exploring synergies between spatial planning and place branding in Edmonton, Alberta

ABSTRACT We analyse the construction of new Nordicities, as in new and guiding discourses for urban development which engage with a Northern location. Spatial planning and place branding are proposed as mutually reinforcing instruments to support the strategic positioning of cities located in northern climes. Planning in such an environment must take on board urban and landscape design, not merely for esthetics but as necessary tools to integrate scales of spatial organization, and to relate discursive Nordicities to spaces and spatial interventions which embody that discourse. Empirically, we draw on the city of Edmonton, Alberta, notable for its cold climate, increased planning ambitions, as well as recent initiatives towards embracing both the North and the winter. Different qualitative methods allow us to reconstruct changes in the understanding of the winter, the North, as well as changes in ideas on the role of planning and design. We argue that the deliberate construction of strategy around new Nordicities, adapted to local conditions and aspirations, and selectively incorporating foreign examples and external expertise, is a worthwhile pursuit for any northern community rethinking its relation to a northern context, and hoping to go beyond adaptation to the less pleasant features of climate and geography.

Influence of e-auditing on credibility and reliability of financial information within public shareholding companies

The current study aimed to find out the role of electronic auditing (e-auditing) in the positive impact on the reliability and credibility of financial information by adopting the dimensions and specifications of e-auditing (relevance, competence, sufficiency, and timeliness) and demonstrating the ability of these specifications to impart reliability and credibility to the financial information. The quantitative approach was adopted for this purpose and a questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 117 financial managers in public shareholding organizations in various sectors in Jordan. Relying on Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), the study concluded that all e-audit variables have a positive impact on increasing the reliability and credibility of financial statements, and the most influential was timeliness with a value of R = 0.851. The study recommended intensifying the possibility of using external expertise with better knowledge in the field of software and technology, if there is a need to do so, and focused on the need for a periodic and permanent update of the accounting audit systems. Further recommendations were presented in the study.

Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS) – Capabilities and Features for Real-Time Testing in Cloud

Testing-as-a-service (TaaS) comes along with the advancement in technology to meet the various demands in software testing currently on the rise as multiple organizations seek to enforce new technology and personal software tailoring their organization needs. Information Technology (IT) has facilitated the rise as various organizations upgrade their system, which demands the continuous testing of the software as exemplified by the multiple types; regression testing and penetration testing (PTaaS). TaaS contains various features and capabilities, enabling software testing presented by cutting-edge technology, external expertise provision to companies, public cloud, test library, and community-driven and simplified infrastructure and operations.

Theoretical and applied aspects of assessing the efficiency of professional pedagogical associations in Russia

Introduction. The article presents a comprehensive study on the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of professional pedagogical associations. A structural model for evaluating the effectiveness of professional pedagogical associations at the theoretical, methodological and methodological levels is presented and substantiated. The key indicators of evaluation are identified and an integral map for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities of professional pedagogical associations is described as a technological component of the model and tools for conducting internal self-examination and external expertise in the context of delegating new socially significantfunctions to them. Materials and Methods. The materials were compiled by domestic and foreign studies that reflected the experience of professional pedagogical associations and the results of monitoring studies with the participation of respondents from various professional groups involved in the field of education. In the course of the study, methods of system-structural analysis and generalizations, monitoring, design and modeling were used. Results. The ideas about the activities of psychological and pedagogical associations in the context of the challenges of modern education have been expanded. A structural-functional model for evaluating the effectiveness of professional pedagogical associations at the theoretical, methodological and methodological levels has been designed and substantiated. Discussion and Conclusion. The practical significance of the developed structural-functional model for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities of professional pedagogical associations is substantiated. It is clarified that the prospects for research are associated with the introduction of the developed model into a practical circuit.

Untangling the authority of external experts in the corporate implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human (UNGPs) explicitly ask corporations to rely on “external expertise” for policy guidance, human rights due diligence (HRDD), and remedy. The broad conceptualization of expertise in the UNGPs signifies an amorphous, neutral, and largely unregulated community of consultants, human rights institutions, NGOs, impact assessors, and auditors (among other actors). I argue that external experts exert significant governance authority in the business and human rights space. Through empirical analysis of experts orbiting two multinational corporations, I identify experts as knowledge providers, diplomats, critics, and legitimizers in the corporate implementation of the UNGPs. In doing so, this work adds nuanced political dimensions to expert authority in business and human rights, offering evidence of its manifestations and limitations. Finally, I advance some considerations and suggestions for future research, particularly vital in the context of incoming mandatory HRDD legislation.

Putting More Union in European Customs

The European Commission (2021) decided to call on external expertise to advance the debate on the future of the European Union (EU) Customs Union. To that end the Commission established a ‘Wise Persons Group on challenges facing the Customs Union.’ The Wise Persons Group (WPG) was an independent, high-level group comprised of people with experience in politics, law, industry, the public sector, international trade and academia. The WPG’s primary goal was ‘to reflect on the development of innovative ideas and concepts and deliver a report that contributes to a general inter-institutional debate on the future of the Customs Union.’ The Group published its report and recommendations in March 2022 under the title Putting more Union in the European Customs. Ten proposals to make the EU Customs Union fit for a Geopolitical Europe (European Commission, 2022a). Walsh has now joined the debate to demonstrate how necessary pragmatic compromises on the implementation of customs law have militated against the fundamental concept of the Customs Union since its inception and will continue to do so in the future unless there is the required political will to remedy the known fault lines.

An institutional view on the leverage of external patent law expertise and patenting performance: Insights from China

Drawing on the institutional setting in China, this study examines how firms seek legal resources and their effects on patenting performance in a weak and transitional intellectual property regime. We illustrate that due to weak protection of intellectual property rights in China, firms rely on external legal resources, which are found to be positively related to patenting performance in terms of the capability of external patent law expertise, but negatively related in terms of knowledge diversity. The marginal effect of the level of external patent law expertise on patenting performance is positive when research and development (R&D) investment is low and negative when it is high, illustrating the negative interaction between R&D investment and the level of external patent law expertise. Furthermore, institutional pressure and support moderate the effect of the level of external patent law expertise on patenting performance. This study advances the understanding of the impact of patent institutions on patent strategies in transition economies and provides novel implications for policy and patent management.

Barriers to SME Computerization in Developing Countries: Evidence from SMEs in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

SMEs are widely recognized as the development enablers in developing countries. They contribute to job creation and, in so doing, to poverty reduction. To remain competitive, SMEs use several tools, including computerized information systems. However, given their characteristics, several constraints hinder their computerization; these constraints are even more accentuated in developing countries. This study attempted to identify the barriers to computerization as outlined in the literature and to ascertain them in the DRC context. In order to achieve this, we examined the relevant literature and carried out a survey of 53 respondents, principally local ICT stakeholders. Using descriptive statistics, we established that Congolese SMEs face the same computerization challenges identified in the literature. These constraints include the local SME characteristics - poor financial resources, low internal and external expertise, and low management involvement -, high infrastructure costs - expensive software and hardware - and the availability of the technological infrastructure - poor internet access -. The Congolese digital ecosystem stakeholders can, each at their own level, use these results to assist the digitalization of Congolese SMEs and thus make them more agile in the achievement of their goals. Keywords: ICT, Barriers, Computerization, DRC, SME.

Municipalities as key actors in the heat transition to decarbonise buildings: Experiences from local planning and implementation in a learning context

Municipalities are key actors in planning and enabling the transition in the built environment to sustainable heat systems. Literature on the municipal experiences in the early phases of the heat transition is scarce. This paper addresses this gap by depicting the approaches of twenty-eight municipalities in the Netherlands. It aims to assess the municipal approaches to data collection, technology choice, and area prioritisation during the planning and (early) implementation stages and the barriers municipalities face. Identifying and choosing the optimal solutions per area requires numerous data, in-house knowledge and societal support. The lack of municipal capacity and know-how has led to a strong dependency on external expertise. District heating networks and heat pumps are presently seen as the most promising alternative systems, while building improvements are planned in areas when the technological choice is uncertain. Two important lock-in effects have hampered the local efforts to execute projects: a lack of binding policies to terminate natural gas use and poor affordability of the alternative heating systems. An overarching lesson is that the timely establishment of these aspects is critical to support the starting phase of the transition and that effective local governance cannot be achieved without centrally-established supportive mechanisms.

Factors affecting expert performance in bid evaluation: An integrated approach.

Experts play a crucial role in underpinning decision-making in most management situations. While recent studies have disclosed the impacts of individuals’ inherent cognition and the external environment on expert performance, these two-dimensional mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, we identified 14 factors that influence expert performance in a bid evaluation and applied cross-impact matrix multiplication to examine the interdependence of the factors. The results indicate that the two dimension-related factors affect each other within a person–environment system, and a poor situation perception gives rise to the deviation of expert performance. Expert performance can be improved if external supervision and expertise are strengthened through deliberate practices. The study proposes a new expert performance research tool, elucidates its mechanism in bid evaluation from a cognitive psychology perspective, and provides guidelines for its improvement in workplace contexts.