ICT Sector Research Articles

A machine learning based sentient multimedia framework to increase safety at work

In the last few decades, we have witnessed an increasing focus on safety in the workplace. ICT has always played a leading role in this context. One ICT sector that is increasingly important in ensuring safety at work is the Internet of Things and, in particular, the new architectures referring to it, such as SIoT, MIoT and Sentient Multimedia Systems. All these architectures handle huge amounts of data to extract predictive and prescriptive information. For this purpose, they often make use of Machine Learning. In this paper, we propose a framework that uses both Sentient Multimedia Systems and Machine Learning to support safety in the workplace. After the general presentation of the framework, we describe its specialization to a particular case, i.e., fall detection. As for this application scenario, we describe a Machine Learning based wearable device for fall detection that we designed, built and tested. Moreover, we illustrate a safety coordination platform for monitoring the work environment, activating alarms in case of falls, and sending appropriate advices to help workers involved in falls.

Migración de talento y transformación de habilidades en el sector TIC: México y el mundo

Migración de talento y transformación de habilidades en el sector TIC: México y el mundo

Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city

Current imaginaries of urban smart grid technologies are painting attractive pictures of the kinds of energy futures that are desirable and attainable in cities. Making claims about the future city, the socio-technical imaginaries related to smart grid developments unfold the power to guide urban energy policymaking and implementation practices. This paper analyses how urban smart grid futures are being imagined and co-produced in the city of Berlin, Germany. It explores these imaginaries to show how the politics of Berlin’s urban energy transition are being driven by techno-optimistic visions of the city’s digital modernisation and its ambitions to become a ‘smart city’. The analysis is based on a discourse analysis of relevant urban policy and other documents, as well as interviews with key stakeholders from Berlin’s energy, ICT and urban development sectors, including key experts from three urban laboratories for smart grid development and implementation in the city. It identifies three dominant imaginaries that depict urban smart grid technologies as (a) environmental solution, (b) economic imperative and (c) exciting experimental challenge. The paper concludes that dominant imaginaries of smart grid technologies in the city are grounded in a techno-optimistic approach to urban development that are foreclosing more subtle alternatives or perhaps more radical change towards low-carbon energy systems.

NEXUS BETWEEN FINANCIAL INNOVATION AND BANKRUPTCY: EVIDENCE FROM INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY (ICT) SECTOR

This study examines the reliability of Altman’s [Formula: see text]-score model to predict the financial failure of the ICT sector in Pakistan. Data for 11 PSE-listed (Pakistan Stock Exchange) ICT companies were collected through Altman’s [Formula: see text]-score model in the period 2013–2018. The innovative Altman [Formula: see text]-bankruptcy forecast technique has been used for the analysis. Results show that the four companies, Pakistan International Airlines Corp. Ltd., TRG Pakistan Ltd., World call Telecom Ltd. and Media Times Ltd. were in the distress zone; Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd. was in the gray zone; and the remaining six companies (i.e., Hum Network Ltd., Nestle Technologies Ltd., Pakistan Int., Container Terminal Ltd., Pak Datacom Ltd., Pakistan National Shipping Corp. and Tele card Ltd.) were able to meet the safe zone criteria. On the other hand, the [Formula: see text]-score analysis suggests that seven ICT companies would not go bankrupt, while the remaining four companies failed financially and would not maintain businesses in the future. Furthermore, according to the innovative outcome analysis, X3-EBIT/TA has a significant positive relationship with X1-WC/TA and X4-TE/TL and X2-RETA has a significant positive association with X1-WC/TA and a negative association with X4-TE/TL.

New Management Approaches in Digitized Work as the Cure for Inequality?

Due to the increasing importance of digitization, ICT and engineering sectors are also growing. In these sectors, there are a lot of high-qualified and well-paid jobs. However, despite the growing importance and popularity of digital solutions, one fact (at least) is, unfortunately, still very stable within the ICT and engineering sectors: When it comes to employees, there are still huge differences with respect to gender and gender stereotypes. (Commercial) technology development can be regarded as having masculine connotations both structurally and culturally. Therefore, we address these connotations, especially the roles of androcentric bureaucracy, which could be described as hierarchical, technocentric, and very controlling-oriented, and (the structural possibilities of) self-efficacy. We discuss, conceptually and empirically with a focus on software development, whether new management approaches like agile frameworks and new management roles like Feel-good Managers and Scrum Master could be seen as a cure for inequality or if there are new stereotypical gender-related ascriptions for specific activities or processes.

The Impact of Government Measures on Business Development in the ICT sector

The Impact of Government Measures on Business Development in the ICT sector

Examining the impact of ICT, human capital and carbon emissions: Evidence from the ASEAN economies

This study examines the effect of ICT and human capital on carbon emissions in the ASEAN economies from 1996 to 2019 using panel estimators. The region has implemented several joint-policies on climate change and ICT sector development. On the one hand, ICT can help reduce carbon emissions through innovative clean technology; however, there are concerns about the production and disposal of ICT. Meanwhile, human capital formation can increase carbon emissions as it indirectly affects growth; yet human capital can enhance the absorptive capacity of an economy and enhance the effectiveness of ICT technologies to reduce potentially emissions. Results show that ICT reduce carbon emissions while human capital formation increases it. However, the results vary when examining the impact of ICT and human capital on carbon emissions from manufacturing, residential, transport and other industries: ICT consistently reduces carbon emissions; meanwhile, human capital decreases carbon emissions for manufacturing and other industries. Subsequently, ASEAN policymakers should develop the ICT infrastructure in order to support the reduction of carbon emissions.

Dynamics of Late-Career Entrepreneurial Intentions in Pakistan – Individual and Synergistic Application of Various Capital Resources and Fear of Failure

Abstract Although prior research on late-career entrepreneurship has explored the effects of financial, human, and social capital on the intentions to engage in entrepreneurial activity within the domains of a developed economy, little research has investigated this scholarship in the context of a push perspective within a developing economy. This study endeavors to meet this gap by investigating the effects of financial, social, and human capital and the personal dispositional traits on the entrepreneurial intentions among early retirees in the ICT sector of Pakistan. Based on the collected data from the web-based questionnaire and personally administered surveys and interviews from 345 respondents who face a survival challenge in the aftermath of a job loss, we make use of hierarchical logistic regression to periodically explore the independent and combined effects of the financial, social and human capital and the impact of a stable dispositional trait of fear of failure on the entrepreneurial intention. Being one of the foremost studies to address the late-career entrepreneurship phenomenon in a developing economy, this study has to offer notable contributions to entrepreneurship literature. Consistent with prior research, we observe support for the individual influence of various elements of financial, social, and human capital and the fear of failure on the intentions to engage in an entrepreneurial career. Results also demonstrate considerable evidence for the interaction effects among financial, human, and social capital as well as among different measures of financial capital, human capital, and the fear of failure. Discussion about the results is furnished followed by limitations and future research implications.

The Use of International Tax Planning in Subsidiaries from the Financial and ICT Sectors in the Czech Republic

Tax avoidance is an important element of management in the global economy. Managers use tax havens for reducing a company’s effective tax rate. The most common practices in international tax planning can be divided into three groups: loans and their related interest, royalties, and transfer pricing. The aim of this article is to find the determinants of the tax burden faced by foreign-owned subsidiaries. Therefore, a model was created for the tax burden, focusing on the special position of subsidiaries within international tax planning. For this purpose, taxes/outcomes was established as a new dependent variable. The panel data used include Czech companies that are owned by parent companies located in other EU countries. The model distinguishes EU tax havens from regular member states; sector dummy variables are also included. The regression model that was created did not confirm the assumed dependencies. Rather, it indicated other important determinants: profitability, the share of intangible assets, size, and the dummy variable for the ICT sector. Based on the regression results, the independent variables connected with known tax planning schemes have relatively low importance. The significance of these results can be seen in the subsequent conclusions. First of all, there is no difference between the subsidiaries’ tax burdens based on the parent company’s location. Corporations use international tax planning whether or not they are owned from a tax haven. The second significant conclusion indicates the importance of certain sectors and their attributes concerning the tax burden. Companies from the ICT sector are linked to a lower tax burden. On the other hand, the dependencies within the financial sector are not statistically significant. From the perspective of further research, it would be constructive to incorporate the subsidiary’s position within the group.

Suitability of the high performance organization framework for Egyptian ICT companies: a replication study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to answer the research question “Is the high-performance organization (HPO) Framework suitable for non-governmental private sector organizations, specifically the affiliates of international companies operating in the ICT sector in Egypt?”Design/methodology/approachThe research concerns a replication study in which the HPO Questionnaire was used to collect data, and factor analysis was applied to evaluate the reliability and consistency of the HPO Framework. The research approach was the same as applied by de Waal et al. (2016), but this time the research population consisted of affiliates of international ICT companies, instead of local ICT companies as in the de Waal et al. (2016) study.FindingsData gathered by means of the HPO Questionnaire from managers of these affiliates were used to evaluate the reliability and internal consistency of the HPO Framework. The confirmatory factor analysis was done twice, once for the original 35-characteristic HPO Framework and once for the 26-characteristic HPO Framework as proposed by de Waal et al. (2016) for Egyptian local ICT companies. The study results clearly show the applicability of the original 35-characteristic HPO Framework for measuring the organizational strength and identifying performance-gaps of ICT companies that are affiliates of international organizations operating in Egypt.Originality/valueThis study adds to the growing HPO literature on developing countries and helps Egyptian ICT companies to adopt high-performance practices to be able to contribute more to the economic development of Egypt.

A Stepwise Model of Customer Experience Management for Iranian ICT Sector

A Stepwise Model of Customer Experience Management for Iranian ICT Sector

Regional entrepreneurial ecosystems: Technological transformation, digitalisation and the longer term—The automotive and ICT sectors in the UK and Bulgaria

We investigate how regional entrepreneurial ecosystems have adapted to the information revolution as a techno-economic paradigm since the 1960s. Particularly, we look at how the organisation of firms and labour has changed in the automotive and ICT sectors in, respectively, the UK and Bulgaria. Findings show that, in both countries, it was the degree of cooperation between the local enterprises, research institutions and the government that enabled successful innovation in the regional clusters of the West Midlands and Sofia. The resulting ecosystems allowed, on the one hand, the already mature automotive sector in the UK to survive and, on the other hand, the newly developed ICT sector to be installed successfully in Bulgaria.

Learner Attitude, Educational Background, and Gender Influence on Knowledge Gain in a Serious Games-Enhanced Programming Course

Contribution: This research study deploys three serious games with various topics in an entry-level C Programming module and investigates students' learning outcomes. The study also explores whether learners belonging to different subgroups benefit more from the use of serious games than their peers. The subgroups are formed based on learner demographics that capture learners' attitude toward school or STEM subjects, their previous educational performance and gender. Background: Despite the latest rapid economy growth in the ICT sector, many European countries are facing the challenge of retaining students in STEM-related subjects, which could lead to unfilled vacancies in the ICT job markets in the near future. Serious games have been utilized in the classrooms of many STEM subjects to improve students' learning experience and learning outcomes, and potentially encourage their engagement with STEM-related industries. While some prior works had assessed the effectiveness of serious games in improving students' learning outcomes, little research has been done to investigate the impacts among students with different previous educational background and performance, attitude, and gender. Research Questions: 1) Do the proposed serious games improve students' learning outcomes? and 2) Do students with certain previous educational performance, learning attitude, and/or gender benefit more than others from the use of serious games? Methodology: To thoroughly study students' learning outcome, a large-scale pilot was deployed as part of the first-year undergraduate C Programming module at Dublin City University, Ireland. A multidimensional pedagogical assessment toolkit was utilized. In particular, a demographic questionnaire was carried out before the pilot began, based on which students were divided into different subgroups in terms of educational ability, initial attitude to school, attitude toward learning STEM subjects, and gender. Pre- and post-tests were conducted right before and after playing each game. For students belonging to each subgroup and for all students, the average pre- and post-test marks related to each game were compared, while paired-sample t-tests were also conducted to assess the statistical significance of knowledge gain. Findings: Statistically significant knowledge gains were observed in all three games for all students. The students with good previous educational performance or strong attitude toward attending school and learning STEM subjects, tend to gain more by using serious games, as they obtained statistically significant improved learning outcomes in all three games. The students with average starting points, although performed better in the post-test than in the pretest in all games, they achieved statistically significant improvements in some cases only.

Design and implementation of a SMART Learning environment for the Upskilling of Cybersecurity professionals in Mauritius

Teaching and Learning confined to within the four walls of a classroom or even online Learning through Massive Online Courses (MOOCs) and other Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) are no longer seen as the optimal approach for competency and skills development, especially for working professionals. Each of these busy learners have their own training needs and prior knowledge. Adopting the one-size-fits-all teaching approach is definitely not effective, motivating and encouraging. For some learners, the content might be too easy and for others, it might be too difficult. This is why this research presents the use of SMART Learning Environment that makes use of Intelligent Techniques to personalise the learning materials for each learner. This mismatch in skills is becoming a pressing issue and is having a direct impact on the ICT Sector, which is one of the pillars of the Mauritian Economy. This research, therefore, besides proposing a novel approach to learning, also attempts to address an issue of national importance. Data was collected during three phases, namely an Expert Reference Group Discussion, a pre-test questionnaire and a survey questionnaire. The Expert Reference Group Discussion was carried out to further understand the training needs and expectations of Cybersecurity professionals in Mauritius. A SMART Learning Environment making use of Artificial Neural Networks and Backpropagation Algorithm to personalise learning materials was eventually designed and implemented. The major findings of this research were that personalisation of learning materials through the use of a SMART Learning Environment can be used to address the training needs of Cybersecurity professionals in Mauritius.

Refitting Stakeholder Integration Strategies: Case ICT Projects in Kenya

The ICT sector in Kenya is projected to be a leading contributor of the country’s developmental blueprint yet despite this, ICT projects that have been initiated in the country continue to face several challenges. In a review of the sustainability of these projects initiated in the country suggest that the biggest challenge in the ICT project implementation is relatable to the issues of stakeholder management. Particularly, the integration of various stakeholder clusters within the project schema still remains a challenge for the implementation of these projects. The research study examined existing stakeholder management models within the context of stakeholder integration from the ICT projects in Kenya. A Delphi (Qualitative) research model was employed to obtain data. Forty senior project practitioners were interviewed through the Delphi technique. The responses were analyzed through content analysis. The study has proposed a strategic stakeholder management model that could be used to enhance existing stakeholder integration practices in Kenya.

Analysis of Competition Policies between U.S. And EU in the Era of Inter-Industry Convergence

In the era of inter-industry convergence, abuses of substantial market power by large digital platforms such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, and their increasing number of acquisitions towards small- and medium-sized tech-firms suspicious of eliminating potential competitors are recent representative issues in the ICT sector. Alternative competition policies have been discussed to effectively deal with those firms’ anti-competitive behaviors in a changing environment of competition such as a digital platform economy instead of traditional policies. In this regard, we examine the U.S. and EU competition policy responses to ICT firms’ anti-competitive behaviors in order to provide policy implications to our competition authority. According to our case studies, the U.S. and EU competition and legal authorities consider characteristics of the digital platform economy when they conclude whether firm behaviors are anti-competitive. Furthermore, we find that Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp leads to a tipping effect and harms market competition. Given these results, we suggest that our competition authority has to consider the balance between innovation and competition when they implement competition policies in the era of inter-industry convergence.

The Economic Impact of Laws that Weaken Encryption

The Economic Impact of Laws that Weaken Encryption

The impact of lending availability and conditions for SMEs on the global development of venture financing systems

Research background: The current situation, which caused global economy recession, has shown that all participants of the venture capital market are not ready for such occasions. Small and medium-sized businesses found themselves in a in a pickle that completely limited the ability to conduct business in most sectors of the economy and venture investors had to urgently reassess their capabilities and their requirements for investment objects. Different events have been constantly influencing the venture financing system to change and develop during decades of its existence. The most important changes are happening today in new world order dictated by COVID-19. Purpose of the article: The aim of this article is to analyse the current state of venture financing, find out how VC is related to the ICT development in European countries, compare VC to other lending mechanisms for SMEs and assume how the global venture industry may be changed by global isolation. Methods: The ARDL model for panel data is used to assess the impact of ICT developments on VC. Comparative and statistical analysis of available datasets on financing mechanisms is conducted. Findings & Value Added: The results show that the increase in value-added in the ICT sector is driving the growth of venture capital in leading countries in terms of innovation activity. Venture capital will be forced to transform towards globalization and centralization, but with the delegation of authority to local representatives, through new communication forms. Countries with high ICT development may be more attractive for venture financing.

Značaj sektora industrije i uključenost Srbije u globalne lance vrednosti

The share of industrial production in GDP has expressed accelerated decrease for several last decades, while at the same time the sector of services gains an ever-increasing role in the modern society. A general impression is that the process of deindustrialization is an unavoidable global phenomenon. However, the fact that seems to be neglected is that historical observations indicate industrial sector as the pillar of longstanding development and progress, and that its role in overcoming the stages of crisis is of crucial importance, just as showed the episode of COVID-19 pandemic. The modern industrial sector cannot be observed out of the context of international production and trade, which acknowledge and express the final purpose of industrial investments, since they ensure possible overcoming of the national market limits, the achievement of economies of scale in relatively short time, and most importantly - the access to modern technologies. The development of global value chains, i.e. the production fragmentation based on the international division of labour, presents a revolutionary, global phenomenon, which has provided a chance for every country to get included into the process of global industrial production according to its comparative advantages. Serbia takes part in the global value chains owing to its geographic position, respectful human resources/professional staff, infrastructure, and the national openness; however, the implied question is the quality of the participation and what can be done to achieve better results. Can we regard Serbia just as the hub where final products are assembled or there is a considerable value added created in our factories? This paper offers an overview of the subsectors with the highest inclusion in the global value chains, as well as the analysis of their exports, output and gross value added trends, and the parameters of efficiency of investment in the most profitable subsectors. Identifying the areas with low investment efficiency is an important diagnostic tool for decision makers and presents a challenge as regards the adequate allocation of resources leading to increased profitability of investments and exports. Finally, we present the overview of the developments in ICT sector that is recognized as a valuable chance for Serbia, having in mind its increasing share in GDP, and its significance for the forthcoming process of digitalization and Industry 4.0.

Effect of Brand Equity on Consumer Behaviour Among Students of Veritas University, Nigeria: A Study of Apple Smartphones

The mobile phone industry is a very innovative segment within the ICT sector, and the smartphone is gradually becoming the standard configuration of mobile devices and currently represents the fastest growing market in the telecoms industry. Previous studies on brand equity tend to focus on telecommunications, banking, hospitality, banking, construction, fast-moving customer goods, etc., while ignoring the education sector. Therefore, the general objective of the study is to evaluate the brand equity of apple smartphones and customer behavior in Abuja. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The study used primary data through a questionnaire using 341 samples. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to establish the extent to which brand awareness, brand association, and brand loyalty affect customer behaviour among students of Veritas University. The resutls revealed that brand awareness, brand association, and brand loyalty positively and significantly affect customer behaviour among Veritas University students. It was concluded that when consumers are attached and loyal to a brand, they are likely to make repeat purchases. This only happens when the relationship between the brand and the user is very in-depth and has an emotional connection with the mobile brand. The study recommended that firms interested in extending customer behaviour to repurchase their product categories should pay special attention to brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association linked to the functions of guarantee, social identification, and status.