Dynamic information systems for SME cluster case study of lampang

Transcription

Dynamic Information Systems for SME Cluster: Case Study of Lampang Ceramic Cluster
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Atichart Harncharnchai
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Ph.D. Candidate, Knowledge Management,
College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University
Dr.Paradorn Sureephong
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Lecturer of Department of Knowledge Management,
College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University
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Dynamic Information Systems for SME Cluster:
Case Study of Lampang Ceramic Cluster
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บทคัดย่อ
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ตสาหกรรมขนาดกลางและขนาดย่อมกำลังเผชิญกับความยากลำบากของการดำเนินงาน ภายใต้สภาพแวดล้อมแบบ
พลวัตซึ่งมีการแข่งขันสูงในยุคโลกาภิวัตน์ เพื่อความอยู่รอดของอุตสาหกรรมขนาดกลางและขนาดย่อม มีความจำเป็น
ในการปฏิ รู ป โดยการรวมกลุ่ ม อุ ต สาหกรรมที่ เ รี ย กว่ า “คลั ส เตอร์ ” จากข้ อ มู ล เบื้ อ งต้ น ความร่ ว มมื อ ในกลุ่ ม
อุตสาหกรรมขนาดกลางและขนาดย่อมอยู่ในระดับต่ำ และขาดระบบสารสนเทศที่เหมาะสมสนับสนุนการทำงาน
บทความนี้เน้นการออกแบบและพัฒนาระบบสารสนเทศแบบพลวัตใน 3 ด้าน คือ การตอบสนอง เวลา และเหตุการณ์ โดยมี
วัตถุประสงค์เพื่อสนับสนุนสมาชิกในกลุ่มคลัสเตอร์ ด้วยฟังก์ชั่นสำหรับรายบุคคลในการติดต่อสื่อสาร แลกเปลี่ยน และสร้างความ
ร่วมมือโดยมีเป้าหมายร่วมกัน โดยมีการนำเสนอระบบสารสนเทศบนเว็บ 2.0 กระบวนการดับเบิลสไปรัลและเทคนิคการพัฒนา
โปรแกรมประยุกต์แบบมีส่วนร่วมถูกนำมาใช้ในการสกัดความต้องการและเพื่อการแลกเปลี่ยนเรียนรู้จากการประชุมร่วมแบบ
โครงสร้าง การติดตั้งระบบสารสนเทศแบบพลวัตนำไปใช้กับกรณีศึกษาอุตสาหกรรมเซรามิคคลัสเตอร์จังหวัดลำปาง ผลจากกรณี
ศึกษาพบว่าระบบสารสนเทศส่งผลที่เป็นรูปธรรมต่อการแลกเปลี่ยนเรียนรู้และการสร้างความร่วมมือระหว่างสมาชิก การวัดผลการ
ปฏิบัติงานของระบบพบว่า จำนวนสมาชิกที่มีบทบาท ความรู้ที่ไหลเข้าสู่สมาชิก และกิจกรรมความร่วมมือของสมาชิกในกลุ่ม
คลัสเตอร์ มีจำนวนเพิ่มมากขึ้น 52
วารสารบริหารธุรกิจ
ปีที่ 34 ฉบับที่ 129 มกราคม-มีนาคม 2554
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ABSTRACT
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mall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are faced with operation difficulties under the dynamic and
competitive circumstances of globalization. In order for SMEs to survive, they have to reform their
ways of running their businesses by linking together to form a cluster. From the initial findings, the
collaboration among SME firms is quite low and there seems to be little support of proper
information systems. This paper focuses on the dynamic design and development of information systems in
three aspects: response, time, and event. The purpose of the paper is to provide the cluster members with the
individualized functions to communicate, share, and collaborate for a shared goal. A Web 2.0-based information
system is proposed. The double spiral process with joint application development is a technical approach to
elicit the requirements and to share knowledge in a structured group session. The implementation of the
dynamic IS has been used in the case study of the Lampang ceramic cluster. The case results have shown that
the IS gives concrete impact to member’s knowledge sharing and collaboration. The measurement of IS
performance has also shown that there is an increasing number of active members, knowledge inflows, and
collaborative activities among cluster members.
Keywords: Collaboration, Dynamic Information Systems, Web 2.0, Joint Application Development, SME Cluster
คณะพาณิชยศาสตร์และการบัญชี มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์
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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have
long played a crucial role in the economic
development of many countries (Beck et al., 2005).
However, in the last decade, changes in rivalries in
the global market and knowledge-based economy
drove SMEs to adapt themselves to the new
management paradigm. Companies that are capable
of utilizing knowledge and shift their businesses into
a new market will survive (Glenn, 2009). The study of
Young and Molina (2003) has shown that one way for
SMEs to survive in today’s unsteady business
environment is to form strategic alliances or merge
with other similar or complementary business
companies. This supports the idea at the industrial
cluster approach where groups of core firms,
specialized suppliers, service providers, and
associated institutions in a particular industry within a
specific geographic region are interlinked (Porter,
1990). The development and success of the industrial
cluster is determined by relationships among its
members which generally involves sharing information
and experiences, sharing resources, and developing
common strategies in areas such as product
development, marketing, and training (Ecotec
Research and Consulting, 2004). The way to increase
relationships is to encourage collaboration among
firms to achieve greater economies of scale without
increasing additional costs. Collaboration is defined
as a process to achieve mutual benefit or a common
goal by exchanging information, altering activities,
sharing resources and enhancing each other’s
capacity (Himmelman, 1995). The key point is that
organizations and individuals are willing to learn from
each other to become better at what they do.
Collaboration is now becoming the basis for
successful organizations that support sharing and coproduction through leveraging dispersed resources
and capabilities (Hansen and Nohria, 2004; Gloor and
Cooper, 2007), and knowledge creation is a
significant benefit of collaboration (Lotia, 2004, p. 58).
Knowledge Management (KM) is one of the
leading approaches that helps create new working
environments where knowledge and experience can
easily be shared, and also enables information and
knowledge to emerge and flow to the right people at
the right time so they can efficiently use it to support
their tasks (Smith and Farquhar, 2000). KM uses
information systems (IS) as an extension tool to
manage organizational knowledge by supporting and
enhancing the processes of creating and sharing
knowledge (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). Knowledge
sharing often requires social processes and
interactions because of the tacit nature of knowledge
(Granovetter, 1985, p.491), which corresponds to
knowledge conversion processes where the exchange
of tacit knowledge in the socialization stage depends
on the social relation (Nonaka, 1995). Recently, social
networking has become a major organizational focus
in the development of communities and collaboration,
which is the key factor for knowledge creation and
the sharing process. The new concept of Web 2.0
has initiated a strong impact on social networks in
the online community for its dynamic concept of
“web for participation” or “web for individual
services” (O’Reilly, 2005). Web 2.0 provides a set of
social networking tools such as wikis, blogs, and
social network services that enable new ways of
collaboration, transaction, and participation
(Dearstyne, 2007; Tapscott and Williams, 2006).
From the definition, industrial cluster
comprises various sectors of enterprises. This paper
aims at the development of web-based information
systems by focusing on the dynamic design concepts
in response to different user requirements. However,
due to rapid changes in both technologies and
business environments, information systems
development must be carried out in a way that will
lead to success in both technical and organizational
aspects. An evolving software development process
is applied in accordance with the evolving business
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1. Introduction
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shared value of information and knowledge. Social
networking is a crucial factor for cluster development
as it facilitates the knowledge creation process where
the transformation between tacit knowledge and
explicit knowledge can be supported through social
interactions among the individuals (Granovetter, 1985,
pp.498-502).
Knowledge management is the approach that
helps spread the knowledge of the individuals or
groups within and across the organizations in a way
that directly affects performances. Knowledge
creation and learning have become the vital source of
sustainable competitive advantage (Boisot, 1999).
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) suggest that continuous
innovation is the product of new knowledge created
from the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit
knowledge. It is difficult to express tacit knowledge,
such as experience and skills, while it is easier to
express explicit knowledge, which comes in the form
of hard copy, such as documents and electronic files.
The transformation between tacit knowledge and
explicit knowledge is referred to as the SECI model,
where the process of knowledge creation moves
through four different conversion modes:
Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and
Internalization.
Socialization is the process of sharing tacit
knowledge, i.e. experiences, expertise, and skills,
through social interaction between individuals in
different formal and informal communities.
Externalization is the process of articulating tacit
knowledge into explicit knowledge expressed in the
concepts or prototypes which will be crystallized and
become the basis of new knowledge. Combination is
the process of converting explicit knowledge into
more systematic knowledge through exchanges or in
combination with such media as documents,
meetings, online communication networks, and
databases. Finally, the created explicit knowledge is
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2. Related works
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process. The “Double Spiral” process, with joint
application development (JAD) technique, is
proposed. JAD is a method whereby systems
stakeholders work together in facilitated group
sessions to specify and perform preliminary
development (requirements gathering and analysis) of
a system (August, 1991). Typically, JAD stakeholders
include leaders, users, developers, and sponsors.
Incremental prototyping and knowledge conversion
processes are the two technical approaches used
during the JAD sessions. As a result, developing
software content and sharing knowledge content
gradually increase throughout the double spiral
process. The paper starts with a review of the
industrial cluster concept, the knowledge conversion
process, and the software development process. The
architecture of dynamic information systems is then
proposed. The case of the Lampang ceramic cluster
is tested to evaluate the IS performance and
collaborative outcomes.
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SMEs have been of considerable interest to
many countries over the last decade as they
associate with the country’s development. Over 95
percent of the economy with an average total of
employed workers of 65 percent labor forces in AsiaPacific region comes from SMEs (Kotelnikov, 2009).
In recent years, with fierce global competition and in
response to customer satisfaction, SMEs have been
required to become more productive and competitive.
However, due to a lack of both skilled workers and
resources, SMEs require an innovative capacity of
skills and expertise (Burgelman et al., 2003) which
can be increased by incorporation into a form of
SME cluster. The inter-relationships among core firms,
suppliers, and supporting industries generate socalled external economies such as an emergence of
specialized suppliers, a pool of skilled workers, and a
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information systems are required by dispersed
knowledge workers to seek common solutions by
effectively sharing their expertise. Therefore, the
development of IS for SME cluster can be achieved
by adopting social networking tools and Web 2.0 as
a platform to enhance knowledge sharing and
collaborative activities. A number of IS for SMEs have
been proposed, but few of them focus on
collaboration among SME clusters (Levy, Powell and
Yetton, 2001, 2002). For SME cluster, business
processes keep changing regularly, based on
environmental changes while collaboration and
knowledge sharing are crucial factors. Moreover,
technologies in both hardware and software also
change very rapidly. The following criteria for the
development of the IS for SME cluster are therefore
to be concerned.
(1) There are many types of users in SME
cluster located at different remote sites and whose
requirements are different.
(2) Collaborations among members are
usually uncertain, based on changes in business
process.
(3) Software development for SME cluster
must be dynamic in response to changes in
technologies and in collaborative activities.
There are many different methods used to
direct tasks in software development. The typical
tasks of the most common models include analysis,
design, development, and maintenance of information
systems. Most software development processes used
today have evolved from three traditional approaches:
Ad-hoc development, the Waterfall model, and the
Iterative process, each of which has its own
advantages and limitations (Sommerville, 2001). For
SME cluster where business processes and software
development tools rapidly change, the development
of the IS must be dynamic to cope with such
changes. Prototyping approaches that provide fast
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shared throughout the organization and converted
into tacit knowledge among individuals, which is the
approach of “learning by doing”. The learning
process continues to grow in a spiral loop and
knowledge is created and expanded over time. In this
way, the dynamism of cluster for organizational longterm competitiveness can be achieved (Bell and Albu,
1999).
As globalization transforms organizations to
move towards a knowledge-based economy, the era
of virtual enterprise is a new model for social
networking. Communities of Practice are groups of
people who share a concern or a set of problems,
and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in
this area by interacting on an ongoing basis (Wenger
and Snyder, 2000). In the evolution of internet-based
technologies, social networking takes place online.
Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) are
becoming widespread. Many VCoPs rely on webbased collaborative environments to communicate,
connect, and conduct community activities. The new
concept of Web 2.0, announced by Tim O’Reilly in
2004, has initiated a strong impact to social
networking in VCoPs. Hoegg et al. (2006) defines
Web 2.0 as the philosophy of maximizing a shared or
group intelligence and added values for each
participant by formalized and dynamic information
sharing and creation. Technologies of Web 2.0 create
new features for online networking and collaboration
(Tapiador et al., 2006). Various networking tools such
as blogs, wikis, and social network service (SNS)
allow users to create and maintain an online network
for social and professional needs.
Social network software encompasses a
range of software systems that allow users to interact
and share data. Information systems are types of
software systems that combine technologies with
people’s activities to support operations, management,
and decision-making. For SME cluster, the
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This section starts with findings from a
survey and then proposes the architecture of a
dynamic information system. The double spiral
process with JAD and application are then discussed.
An initial survey has been done to the
members of the ceramic cluster in Lampang province.
The survey method is based on questionnaires and
personal interviews. A total of 62 questionnaires were
sent to 6 groups of the ceramic cluster (Trust, Active,
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3. Methodology
Believe, Harmonize, Sira, and Ceracluster groups) and
cluster development agent (CDA), which is the
government enterprise. There are between 5 to 8
firms in each group, except the Ceracluster, which
has 25 firms representing all types of members,
including core firms, suppliers, and related sectors. A
total of 45 questionnaires, or 72.6%, were returned.
Subsequent personal interviews have been conducted
with cluster leaders who acted as the groups’ leaders.
The result in Table 1 shows that the use of basic
tools, such as telephone, fax, and E-mail in
communication, is high. However, the use of webbased applications is low. This indicates that most of
the SMEs have used primitive technology for
communication purposes only, while few of them
have used more advanced technology for
collaborative purposes.
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results (Agresti, 1986) and multiple JAD sessions that
capture incremental requirements from collaboration
and knowledge sharing are adopted.
Technology
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1. Telephone/ Fax
2. E-mail
3. Messaging tools
4. Web-based applications
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Table 1: Usage of Technology
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Table 2 shows the present level of
collaborative activities among cluster members. Most
of them agree that communication and information
sharing is useful. However, the completion and
correction of communication is quite low. One of the
most important issues is that the collaboration
between partners cannot solve the problems of each
other. This indicates that the SMEs consider
communication among their group members as an
important aspect, but they have less use for
technologies in collaboration and information sharing.
From the personal interviews of group leaders,
collaboration among group members is uncertain and
Percentage of use
100.00
100.00
46.00
32.00
occurs by chance, varying from task to task. For
example, one firm may subsequently place some part
orders to another firm with which they have good
personal contacts. In addition, most ceramic SMEs
run businesses from generation to generation and no
new management approaches are used. From the
survey results, the following observations have been
found and are to be considered:
(1) SME cluster members are willing to adopt
the IS and consider the IS as a potential tool to
support communication and information sharing.
(2) SME cluster members realize that
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(3) The requirements of web-based
information systems are to be considered to help
improve the collaboration among firms within the
cluster.
Table 2: Degree of collaborative activities
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information sharing is important, yet they prefer to
share only the information that they are willing to
share.
Percentage
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1. Open and frequent communication
2. Communication completed and reliable
3. Communication is prompt and punctual
4. Members trust each other
5. Continued sharing of information
6. Collaborative problem solving
7. Sharing of confidential information
8. Sharing of orders
9. Joint R&D and investment
10. Finding new market channels together
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3.1 The dynamic design concept of
information systems
The concept idea in developing information
systems for SME cluster is to provide services
through a webpage so that all the members can
communicate and exchange information. Users
generally want to express their needs to the system,
and the system must “respond” with the right
information for the user. Therefore, a webpage must
be designed based on individual needs in three
dynamic aspects: response, time, and event. For
example, the web contents for managers may include
information about market, finance, and product
trends, while knowledge workers require different
information, such as production and technical
knowledge. Moreover, web pages for individuals must
also change differently based on their collaborative
activities in SME cluster. For example, one firm’s
webpage automatically displays information about the
Bangkok International Gift fair while others do not.
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65.00
62.50
69.17
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39.17
40.00
30.00
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Collaborative Activities
Information and knowledge sharing among only
concerned members will then be initiated. The
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is a useful tool for this
purpose, as different CSS can be designed to match
different purposes (Bos, et al., 2004). Finally, the
system must have the capability of “event”
management. Either planned or unplanned
information, private or public information, must be
easily managed and customized by individuals or
groups. Calendar and social networking tools can
serve this purpose. With the three dynamic aspects,
individuals are connected with one another as they
are socialized by the given information (the right
information is sent to the right users without request).
The sharing of information and knowledge will then
be initiated in several groups of social networking
that share a common business goal. Therefore, the
use of the IS will be motivated and encouraged
sustainably, and in turn, knowledge sharing and
collaboration shall be enhanced. Participants will get
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information systems which is supported by various
collaborative services is proposed in Figure 1. รบร
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the right information at the right time from the
dynamic, web-based IS. The architecture of dynamic
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Figure 1: Architecture of dynamic information systems
Software Requirement Specification (SRS) which
meets the IEEE-830 standard, is used to create the IS
specification (IEEE-SA Standards Board, 1998). It
describes what the system will do and how it is
expected to perform. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show
examples of requirement specifications and functional
specifications concerning users’ personalization
support, communication support, and knowledge
sharing support. Dow
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From Figure 1, different cluster participants
require and share different information and knowledge.
This means that knowledge sharing and collaboration
within clusters will be developed if members are willing
to share information. The design of IS considers that
sharing levels among cluster members can be
classified into three types: 1-to-1, 1-to-many, and
many-to-many relationships. Social networking services
of Web 2.0 and the dynamic design concept are
important tools to achieve such requirements. Figure 2: Examples of requirement specifications
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Figure 3: Examples of functional specifications
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3.2 Double spiral with JAD: management
of IS requirements and knowledge sharing
In section 3.1, the development of the IS
focuses on the dynamic functions to serve the
individual needs. This will encourage and motivate the
cluster members to sustainably use the IS. However,
for knowledge-based IS, the system requirements are
more obvious as new information and knowledge
i n c r e a s e s t h r o u g h k n o w l e d g e s h a r ing and
collaboration during the system use (Hickey and
Davis, 2003). Figure 4 shows the double spiral
process with JAD technique, in which the software
content (IS functions) and the knowledge content
(shared information and knowledge) gradually
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increase from JAD1 to JAD4. Each JAD session
results in the increasing functions of IS (through the
prototyping development) and increasing knowledge
(through the SECI process). The four different types
of knowledge created in each mode of the SECI
process include sympathized knowledge, conceptual
knowledge, systemic knowledge, and operational
knowledge. As shared tacit knowledge transforms to
explicit knowledge, the collaboration among the
members naturally takes place in a variety of
activities to achieve the mutual benefits of a shared
goal.
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Figure 4: Double spiral process with JAD technique
outcomes. For SME cluster, these outcomes can be a
new product, a new production method, or a new
marketing strategy, etc. Similarly, at the end of the
JAD4 session, the final result of the system is a
completion of the IS. Therefore, in circumstances
where business processes for SME cluster regularly
change due to the dynamic changes of business
environments and the rapid advance in technologies,
the double spiral process seems to be a very useful.
To clarify how the double spiral process with JAD
technique works, the scenario of new product
development based on 1-to-many collaborations is
illustrated (See Table 3).
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The process of JAD is divided into four
sessions corresponding with the SECI process. In
every JAD session, the system requirements are
increasingly elicited from the visualization of the
system prototype and the incremental functions are
then added. The prototype will be used by the SME
members after each JAD session has been finished.
Information and knowledge is then exchanged,
shared, and accumulated into the system. Throughout
the JAD4 session, the movement from tacit
knowledge to explicit knowledge usually creates the
collaborative activities among different social
networking members and comes up with new explicit
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Table 3: Double spiral process with JAD (the scenario of new product development)
Software content
Knowledge content
JAD1
S1 Incremental functions
- E-mail, SMS
- Social network service
- Calendar
- File manager
- Search tools, FAQ
S4 Final system
- Final IS prototype
K1 Sympathized knowledge
- Product ideas/ specifications
K2 Conceptual knowledge
- Product concept/ prototype
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JAD2
JAD3
JAD4
K3 Systemic knowledge
- Finished product
K4 Operational knowledge
- New knowledge/ experiences
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JAD3 Session
JAD3 session starts with the discussion of
new product concepts and prototypes. Various
information and knowledge concerning new product
concepts such as the mixture of raw materials and
production processes are discussed. After JAD3
session has finished, the final version of the system
prototype with incremental functions of search tools
and FAQ is developed. Knowledge among individuals
is then exchanged and combined to reconfigure the
new product prototype with the existing information.
At this point, the collaborative activities among
members are deepened. The different tasks
concerning the production process are assigned to
selected cluster members. In this case, for example,
the clay-mixing preparation for producing a white
ceramic noodle bowl is given to the supplier, while
the molding and firing process is assigned to core
firms. As a result, the conceptual knowledge is then
transformed into the “systemic knowledge,” which is
the finished ceramic noodle bowl.
JAD4 Session
After the JAD3 session, the ceramic noodle
bowl is used in the customer marketplace. Various
suggestions about the product, in terms of its
benefits, problems, and limitations, are proposed and
shared. The operational knowledge learned from
practice is discussed in the JAD4 session. The 1st
cycle of the double spiral process with JAD has
ended and the next cycle can be repeated. Due to
the advance of technology and the dynamism of
business processes, additional software tools may be
added to system functions or the new system
development can be done in response to changes of
the new business process cycle.
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product. Several product prototypes were sent into
the system to visualize how they best correspond to
the new product concept.
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JAD1 Session
Before the JAD1 starts, requirement
checklists based on requirement specifications are
sent to all JAD team participants (as described in
section 3.3) asking what they need from the system
and the workflow of business processes that they
involved in the SME cluster. The functional
specification and design specification are then
prepared. An extensible prototype is developed based
on the design specification. The extensible prototype
helps all JAD members to visualize how the system
works and gives benefits to participants.
Communication functions such as E-mail and SMS
are added to the system. After the JAD1 session has
finished, communication and information sharing
among members via E-mail and SMS take place.
Results from sharing experiences create tacit
knowledge among individuals. This “sympathized
knowledge” is created through the socialization
process. In the case of developing new products for
customers, new product ideas or specifications are
examples of the sympathized knowledge acquired
from sharing experiences through online discussions.
JAD2 Session
JAD2 session starts with the discussion of
new product ideas or specifications proposed in
JAD1 to create a draft of new product concepts/
models. Social networking functions such as social
network service (SNS), calendar, and file manager are
added to the system. After JAD2 session has
finished, discussion among the individuals and groups
takes place. New product concepts are proposed and
uploaded by several members into the system using
the Web 2.0 file manager. Calendar is also beneficial
for announcements and appointments during the
discussion. Through externalization, the results from
exchanging explicit knowledge create “conceptual
knowledge,” which is in the form of electronic files. In
this case, a new ceramic noodle bowl is
conceptualized as a “white, boat-shaped, and light”
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distribution of critical knowledge. It is well used in
many cases of industrial cluster to understand linkage
among members (Bergman and Feser, 1999).
To identify social networking in cluster,
reputation methods, where a list of participants
proposed by knowledge experts (e.g.: cluster leaders),
are adopted. This approach is useful for the analysis
of networks across organizational boundaries (MüllerProthmann, 2007). Based on Porter’s definition,
industrial cluster comprises core firms, government
agencies and various supporting sectors along the
value chain of industry (Porter, 1998). A chain of
networking is, therefore, originated from key persons
of every sector who will recommend their social
network. The intensity of the relationship is also
considered to illustrate the strength of the ties
between members to determine whether it is strong,
medium, or weak (see Figure 5).
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3.3 Identification of key players for JAD
team
One of the most difficult tasks of
collaborative software is to motivate users to use and
share information and knowledge. Even harder is to
make them use the system in a sustainable way.
Research on software failures has shown that two
major factors include: lack of user involvement
(12.8%), and incomplete requirements (12.3%) during
the design stage (Standish Group, 1995). Therefore, it
is essential to know the key players of social
networking in the cluster so that proper system
requirements can be captured. Since there are many
related firms and different types of users in SME
cluster, it is hard to develop IS to support every
individuals needs. By visualizing social networks in
cluster, it is possible to see the pattern of network
relationships. Social network analysis (SNA) is a
common method used to evaluate the availability and
Figure 5: Identification of network key players
The questionnaire design aims to collect
social network data among ceramic cluster members
to identify the network relationships and strength of
ties. The questions include a list of the three mostcontacted persons, frequency and level of satisfaction
of communication, types of information exchange,
and sources of information. The questionnaires were
sent to all members of 6 groups of the Lampang
ceramic cluster (as described in Section 3). The
social network data is collected and analyzed using
social networking software. UCINET is one of the
social networking software used by many researchers
63
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Figure 6 shows the degree of centrality of social
networking of the ceramic cluster in Lampang.
Mr.Anurak, for example, has the highest degree of
centrality with 16, representing the total connections
of cluster members from and to him. In this paper, a
total number of 10 persons from all member types of
the cluster who have a high degree of centrality are
selected as the key players of the JAD team to work
in the JAD sessions. รสา
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to analyze social networking relationships as it
supports different formatted text files, provides all
types of analysis functions, and requires minimum
hardware specifications (Huisman and Dujin, 2005).
Using NetDraw, the pattern of social networking can
be visualized and measured. By calculating degree
centrality, the extent to which a network is organized
around one or more central people, it is possible to
illustrate the role of individuals within social networks.
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Figure 6: Degree of centrality of social networking within the ceramic cluster in Lampang
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3.4 Application
The IS development is based on the
requirement specifications and functional
specifications. PHP scripts are used for web
development, while MySQL is used to manage the
database system. As different types of users require
different information and are concerned with different
activities in the business process, customizing web
pages can be done individually. Figure 7 shows two
64
different web pages customized by individual users.
The web page on the left displays only a banner of
upcoming events while the one on the right displays
two events within a certain period. The customization
of the web pages can be done by each member,
based on their involvement in the SME cluster.
Background color, font color, and web contents are
also different. Therefore, only the information that the
individuals are concerned with will automatically
display on the web.
Figure 7: Customizable webpage
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and search tools are also useful features of designed
web pages for communication, knowledge sharing,
and collaboration among social network members of
SME cluster.
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Social networking among cluster members
can be managed and customized individually (see
Figure 8). Individuals are able to invite, accept, reject,
and delete members within and between groups at
any time. E-mail, SMS, Calendar, file management,
4. Experimental Results
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Figure 8: Social networking among members
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The system experiment has been done with
the ceramic cluster members in Lampang. Three
types of collaboration scenario can be classified: 1to-1, 1-to-many, and many-to-many collaborations.
The scenario of 1-to-1 collaboration and 1-to-many
collaboration are illustrated.
4.1 The scenario of 1-to-1 collaboration
With collaboration between a specified firm
and the cluster development agent (CDA) from JAD1
to JAD4, a new practice of production process is
adopted. It is found that production efficiency
increases from an average of 8.0 to 10.6 items per
man-hour, a 33% increase (see Figure 9). This is
equal to an increase of 129,792 items per year, or
4,542,720 baht in revenue.
Figure 9: Production efficiency from 1-to-1 collaboration
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versions of product prototypes are proposed after
JAD2 (see Figure 10). Final product prototype is
selected in JAD3 session and production tasks are
distributed to various SME cluster members.
Collaboration on production is discussed after JAD3.
The product is used in the marketplace after JAD4
(see Figure 11) and learning takes place from
practice. Suggestions from cluster members have
noted that the top part of the noodle bowl is too
slippery to place the chopsticks.
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4.2 The scenario of 1-to-many collaboration
In 1-to-many collaboration, the customer’s
new product requirement of ceramic noodle bowls is
initially proposed to the CDA. Preliminary information
is discussed and uploaded to the system during
JAD1. Online discussion among cluster members
begins after JAD1. Various product specifications,
such as style, shape, and color, are proposed from
several core firms’ members via e-mail. Final product
specification is selected in JAD2 session and different
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Figure 10: Product specification and prototypes
Figure 11: Final product and product in use
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4.3 Information system evaluation
In this paper, the performance assessment is
used to measure the effectiveness of the proposed
system. To support the cluster concept that
knowledge sharing and collaboration among the
clustering members are the key factors of cluster
development, the analysis of system performance
focuses on three measurement categories: the
increase in the number of active members in the
social network, the increase in the number of
collaborative activities, and the increase in the
number of knowledge inflows. The IS users were
66
asked to identify the increase level of those three
categories using the 5-point Likert scale. For data
analysis, the specified increase level of 1 and 2 is
combined and classified as low, 3 as medium, 4 and 5
as high. Forty-five questionnaires were distributed to
the respondents, but only 32 of them were returned. As
shown in Table 4, this indicates that 23 respondents, or
71.9%, have more active members in their social
network at a high level after using the system. A total
of 17 users, or 53.1%, have more collaborative activities
at a high level, as well as 25 users, or 78.1%, receive
more knowledge inflows at a high level.
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Table 4: The performance measurement of IS
Increase level
Performance categories*
Medium
Low
Increase in the number of active members in
social network
Increase in the number of collaborative activities**
23
6
3
10
5
Increase in the number of knowledge inflows***
25
6
1
17
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High
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* Performance categories refer to the key result areas that reflect a set of benefits and outcomes/ results that
individual users identified from sharing and collaboration through the use of the system.
** Collaborative activities refer to the activities that the cluster members work on together in order to complete a
shared task. A variety of activities such as developing a collaborative product can be based on 1-to-1, 1-tomany, or many-to-many collaborations.
*** Knowledge inflows refer to knowledge that the individuals gain from knowledge sharing and collaboration.
knowledge inflows among members also increase.
This indicates that the adoption of dynamic
information systems in SME cluster helps increase
communication and knowledge sharing. The increase
in the number of collaborative activities also assures
that the dynamic IS contributes knowledge creation
process where new knowledge is created at the end
of the double spiral process.
JAD sessions are typically manual processes
and the scattered JAD members rarely have
committed time for every JAD session. In future work,
therefore, it is possible to extend JAD sessions to an
automatic JAD. This “JAD Automation” process can
be done in several ways. Virtual JAD sessions
supported by video conferencing applications are
alternative. Mobile technology is also helpful.
Moreover, for knowledge-based economies, where
the development of web technologies, web
applications, and knowledge contents is at a high
speed of growth, it is recommended that the
organizations should rapidly apply the management
approach, the IT approach, and the structural
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5. Conclusion and future work
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The main objective of this paper is to
develop an information system that provides dynamic
and personalized web services for members within
SME cluster. The architecture of the IS focuses on
the dynamic functions on three aspects: response,
time, and event. Web 2.0 technologies and tools are
used for the IS development to provide social
networking communication and knowledge sharing
among the participants in VCoPs. The double spiral
process with JAD technique allows users to configure
their requirements during the JAD sessions. During
each JAD session, the IS functions gradually increase
through rapid prototyping development while
knowledge increases from sharing experiences
through system use. Collaboration takes place
through the effects of knowledge sharing
performance and the collaborative result will ensure
the cluster’s success.
Findings have shown that the number of
active members in social networking increases while
67
References
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The author gratefully acknowledges the
contributions of Dr. Nopasit Chakpitak and
Dr.Pharadorn Sureephong for their suggestions to the
work of this paper. The author also would like to thank
the support of Yonok University and the College of
Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University.
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A v a i l a b l e :

Dynamic information systems for SME cluster case study of lampang

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