Blockchain Use Cases and Their Feasibility

Development of prediction model for information technology equipment procurement as the basis of knowledge for an Intelligent Decision Support System based on carbon emissions and End-of-Life phase

The information technology (IT) industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy and has the ability to be a potential employment generator for women in what could be perceived as non-traditional work roles. This paper is a continuing study regarding the perceptions of women in the IT industry. When the IT industry was in its infancy, it was thought of as a gender neutral profession, however even given affirmative action strategies in most Western countries the IT industry appears to be still dominated by men. This study suggests that even though the IT industry does not exclude women, it does little to promote or employ them and the old corporate ‘boys club’ syndrome continues to perpetuate. The effect of this is to add to the overall world shortage of skilled personnel, and perhaps more seriously, does nothing to address the declining trend of women’s representation in the IT industry.

In this paper, the net job contribution of new and small firms in the Swedish Information Technology (IT) industry is investigated. The analysis is based on an extensive data set covering all IT firms in Sweden between 1993 and 1998. The smallest firms and new firms have experienced an extraordinarily fast growth and have created all net jobs in the industry, while large and old firms were major job losers. Private firms and independent firms, furthermore, grew faster than firms owned by the government and firms in enterprise groups. The results raise questions about Swedish economic policy and institutions, which have systematically disfavoured exactly those firms that the analysis shows have generated most of the growth in employment. The conducted policies (mainly introduced in the late 1960s and early 1970s) may partly explain the low economic growth observed in Sweden during the last three decades.

It is generally accepted that knowledge has become a third major factor of production, in addition to the traditional factors — labor and capital. Information technology production is a significant factor in the knowledge economy both because it is a major enabler of that economy and because it is itself highly knowledge intensive. Many countries around the world are looking for ways to promote the development of the knowledge economy, and information technology industries in particular. An important question is to what extent — and how — small developed countries might succeed in this endeavor. This study suggests a modified and more comprehensive version of the Ein-Dor et al. (1997) model of IT (information technology) industry success in small developed countries. Whereas the earlier model of IT industry success was based solely on the macro-economic theory of Grossman and Helpman (1991), the revised model suggested here incorporates Romer’s (1990) work in New Growth economics. A significant advance over earlier work in this area is the use of both longitudinal and time slice data. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the IT industry in four countries over a five-year period: Finland, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore. It analyses some changes that occurred over the period 1994 through 1998 and thus provides a reasonably comprehensive picture of the factors affecting the production of IT in these small developed countries. Our study reveals that four of the five endogenous variables studied have a close relationship to the development of IT industries in small developed countries. These variables are research and development, technological infrastructure, firm strategies, and capital availability. On the other hand, domestic IT use does not seem to be a major factor in IT industry development. Our analysis thus largely supports the more comprehensive model of IT industry success. These findings should be of interest to both researchers and policy makers seeking to develop the knowledge economy and information technology industries in particular.Request access from your librarian to read this chapter's full text.

Workplaces of several industries in the twenty-first century are ergonomically and hierarchically different from those of the earlier days. Information technology industry is a classic example of one such industry in a developing country India. Unlike the workplaces in the manufacturing sector or the fields in the agriculture sector, information technology industry’s workplaces are sophisticated. This paper examines the nature and organisation of work in India’s information technology (IT) industry and its implications on the decent work status of the employees. Choice of IT industry has an underlying logic. Technically qualified youth as well as the general public perceive employment in IT industry as highly remunerative, productive, stable and safe and as a key to secure future. It also represents a typical formal sector employment. The research methodology consists of both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Snowball sampling technique has been used to collect data on a sample of 272 IT employees in the geographical clusters of Delhi–NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad region. Techniques of index construction and range equalisation method have been used to develop decent work index and decent workplace index. Besides, correspondence analysis, cluster analysis, multinomial logistic regression, phi correlation coefficient and Chi-square test have also been used to further analyse the results on the basis of various socio-demographic factors. The findings of the study have contradicted the general myth of work in formal sector jobs as only a small fraction of the sample was found to be availing decent work as per the various parameters of decent work. The deficit in decent work is due to nature of work in the IT industry. The research has developed tools and techniques of measuring and evaluating decent work at micro- and meso-level. Overall, the study is a pilot attempt to quantitatively measure decent work and its variations due to the nature of work organisation in an industry.

U.S. immigration regulations and India's information technology industry

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, competition among IT industries is becoming increasingly fierce. If a company is weak in its competitive advantage, it can have a huge negative impact on its organizational sustainability and ultimately lead to organizational failure. In such a research background, we highlighted that employees’ innovative performance via creativity acts as an alternative lubricant to increase the sustainable competitive advantage and promote overall organizational sustainability. In particular, employees’ innovative performance has a great relationship with organizational culture and types of leadership. Hence, we focused on exploring the ways in which visionary leadership increases employees’ innovative performance, presenting and verifying a moderated mediation research model related to the innovative performance. To verify our research model, this study conducted a survey of 303 employees from the information technology (IT) industry of SMEs in China. According to the results, visionary leadership was found to have a positive influence on both psychological empowerment and employees’ innovative performance. In addition, psychological empowerment partially mediated the impact of visionary leadership on the innovation performance. Finally, the organizational learning culture moderated the effects of psychological empowerment and the innovation performance. Overall, this study contributes to revealing the process that leads to employees’ innovative performance and contributes to expanding the research field by verifying the moderated mediation model for a sustainable competitive advantage and organizational sustainability in IT Industry 4.0 for SMEs.

Mapping information technology

This study investigates the features and determinants of the horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade (HIIT and VIIT, respectively) and firms’ investment strategies of the information technology (IT) industry in the Asian, European Union (EU) and US markets from 1996 to 2005. The respective evolutions of the HIIT and VIIT of the IT industry indicate that HIIT has often dominated VIIT in the IT industry, which is obviously contrary to the present pattern of world trade. The empirical results further reveal the principal pattern of the IT firms’ foreign direct investment strategies as facilitating the market rather than seeking efficiency in the host regions. The effect of revealed comparative advantage in relation to VIIT and HIIT demonstrates that vertical specialization is significant between Asia and the EU whereas horizontal specialization plays a key role between Asia and the US. The Asian financial crisis significantly promoted VIIT in regard to Asian IT firms in the US market. Finally, regional trade associations such as the EU and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have strengthened the vertical specialization of EU IT firms in Asian countries.

The field of “Artificial Intelligence (AI)” plays a crucial role in promoting employee equality and gender justice in the Information Technology (IT) industry. Gender inequality in the IT industry is a prevalent issue that can lead to discrimination against female employees. Using “Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)” techniques can help identify and prioritize the factors that contribute to gender inequality in the workplace. AI professionals can use these techniques to create policies that promote equal opportunities, support diversity, and eliminate gender-based biases. By implementing these policies, the IT industry can foster a more inclusive and diverse workplace, leading to increased innovation and success.

This chapter discusses the state and the growth of the information technology (IT) industry in Ireland. Ireland has become the most invigorated economy of Western Europe, a model for the European Union (EU) new entrants, with one of the world's most successful IT industries. This achievement has been attributed largely to the Irish developmental agencies that, promoted this accelerated growth by utilizing a series of industrial and S&T policy initiatives. This impressive feat has been achieved while both politicians and bureaucrats have strongly adhered to a neoliberal interventionist ideology, an ideology significantly different from Israel's or Taiwan's. A brief analysis of the Irish IT industry reveals dissonance between the operations of the foreign multinational corporations and those of the indigenous industry.

This paper discusses professional women's perceptions of the skills required for working in the information technology (IT) industry with respect to the skills women bring to IT work and how the skills contribute to their career progression. The paper references interviews with ten women IT professionals who were asked to describe their entry into the IT industry, their perceptions of IT careers and the skills requirements for success. It was found that an ability to switch between different types of skills (people skills and technical skills) and to adapt to different IT environments contributed to the career progression of women in the IT industry. In the newer areas of IT such as electronic commerce, the ability to switch between one skill set to another is important for the success of such applications. It is suggested that the misrepresentation of the specialization available in the IT industry is an important factor contributing to the gender gap at higher managerial levels and it can only be closed if the range of skills, aptitudes and career paths are made clear to the women.

The article considers the application of information and communication technologies in the professional training of future of physical training and sports masters in modern conditions. It is noted that informatization of higher education is one of the most important means of improving the quality of training. The main parameters for the classification of information and communication technologies used in the masters’ training are determined. The main distinctive features of e-learning and distance learning are analyzed. The purpose of the study is the application of information and communication technologies in the training of future physical training and sports masters in terms of modernity. Theoretical analysis of scientific and methodological literature on certain issues, data comparison and generalization, comparison of different views on the research problem is used. Information and communication technologies used in the training of future PT and sports masters are: text editors, Power Point presentations, spreadsheets, online tests, Internet resources, training programs, multimedia dictionaries, electronic textbooks, distance learning, online competitions and contests, student research papers. The main directions that require additional research on the application of interactive learning technologies based on information tools are summarized. Information and communication technologies can significantly increase the efficiency of the educational process, solve the tasks set before the education institution to educate a comprehensively developed, creatively free personality. The analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature on the research problem shows that in modern conditions of educational development the interest of scientists in information technologies, their didactic potential and possibilities of application in the field of physical education and sports is being growing.

Interest in industrial clusters as a means to accelerate regional development has attracted renewed attention in recent years, particularly after the boom in the information technology (IT) industry in Silicon Valley (Sturgeon, 2003). At the same time, efforts by several states and countries to recreate Silicon Valley-type regions have had mixed results. Why does it happen so? Our enquiries through case studies of two Indian states produce four sets of factors central to the successful formation of IT clusters. While the role of industry attractiveness and factor conditions are well known, the role of the local entrepreneurship pool is less well discussed. Our findings suggest that the role of state as an entrepreneur in attracting and encouraging entrepreneurship is important in the creation of IT clusters. Indian IT Industry Technological revolutions sometimes bring unexpected opportunities for countries. India, a laggard among developing countries in terms of economic growth, is demonstrating a high degree of competitiveness in knowledge-intensive software development and IT-enabled services and is a favoured location for investment. The Indian IT industry has experienced a major boom over the last decade and has emerged as a major player in the Indian economy. The software industry in India grossed an annual revenue of US$ 12 billion during 2002–03, up from US$ 10.1 billion in 2001–02, registering an overall growth of 18.8 percent in dollar terms. More than 8 000 firms, located in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi and Pune...

This article presents the current state of Information Technology (IT) industry in Armenia where this industry is considered one of the major forces behind economic development and growth. It presents an overview of the IT industry in Armenia as well as spreads light on major elements behind its development. Nowadays, many Armenians choose this discipline due to the high income, mobility and the multitude of job opportunities it offers. Over 17,000 specialists or 2.5% of the total employed work in this sector with an average annual salary of about 12,000 USD. Due to infrastructure development, the number of IT companies has grown in other parts of the country. Armenia-based IT companies specialize in software development, semiconductor design, multimedia and web design. The steady growth of the IT industry increasingly attracts new players. Investors acknowledge Armenia as a hotspot for high-quality IT product development and start-ups. However, some disadvantages still remain, including disintegrated regional ecosystem, lack of financing, and corruption.