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Introduction: The CAEP annual meeting presents the latest evidence for clinical practice, but there has not yet been an appraisal of the abstracts presented at this conference. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the level of evidence of research presented at the annual meeting, and assess for trends over a five-year period (2013-2017). Methods: We conducted a scoping review that included all CAEP abstracts from 2013-2017, obtained through the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. Two reviewers assessed eligibility and extracted data from abstracts individually, with conflicts resolved by a third reviewer. Qualitative research was excluded. Extracted data included type of presentation (ex. oral, poster), sample size, study design and type of study (therapeutic, prognostic, diagnostic, education, quality improvement, or systems-wide/economic analyses research). A level of evidence (LOE) was assigned using the 2011 Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine criteria. Results: Abstracts from 2014-2017 have been analyzed thus far, 1090 of which were eligible and 990 included. Inter-rater agreement for screening and data extraction was high ( value 0.87 and 0.84 respectively). Systems-wide/economic analyses research was the predominant type of study (28.6%, 283/990), followed by therapeutic (19.9%, 197/990) and education (19.9%, 195/990). The mean LOE was 2.81 (95% CI 2.77,2.85). The highest proportion of studies were of level III evidence (77.7%, 769/990), followed by level II (9.6%, 95/990) and level I evidence (7.8%, 77/990). 72.1% (124/172) of all level I and II abstracts were presented in 2016 and 2017. A significant change in LOE between years was evident (pConclusion: The majority of abstracts were level III evidence. The lightning oral sessions had the greatest proportion of level I and II evidence presented. Recent years of the conference have also seen the presentation of a greater number of level I and II evidence, which may suggest a shift towards generating and disseminating higher level evidence in emergency medicine.

Introduction: Much of the research presented at conference meetings never go on to be published in peer-reviewed literature, thereby limiting the dispersion of these findings to a larger audience. We sought to assess if this was true with regard to CAEP meetings, by establishing the publication rate and factors correlated with publication of CAEP abstracts in peer-reviewed journals from 2013-2017. Methods: We conducted a scoping review that included all CAEP abstracts from 2013-2017, obtained through the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. Two reviewers screened and extracted data from all abstracts individually, with any conflicts resolved by a third reviewer. Data extracted from abstracts included province of authors, sample size, study design, the presence of statistically positive or negative findings, status of publication, date of acceptance to a journal, and journal of publication. Databases searched for publication status included MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and Ovid Health Star. A level of evidence (LOE) was assigned using the 2011 Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine criteria. Results: All abstracts (1090) from 2014-2017 have been analyzed thus far. Inter-rater agreement for data extraction was high ( value 0.85). 17.1% (186/1090) of abstracts presented at the conference had a corresponding full text publication in the peer-reviewed literature. Articles were published in 102 different journals, with the greatest number of publications in the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine (CJEM) (15.1%, 28/186), followed by Academic Emergency Medicine (10.2%, 19/186). The mean time to publication was 51 weeks (95% CI 43,59). 30.6% (57/186) of published abstracts had statistically positive findings, while 10.8% (20/186) had negative findings. A significant difference was present between publication findings and publication status (pConclusion: A large number of abstracts presented at CAEP are presently unpublished. There may be a publication bias in the literature as a greater number of studies with positive findings have been published. Additionally, two-thirds of studies published are of level III evidence. An increasing emphasis should be placed in publishing studies with higher levels of evidence, and more studies with negative findings.

Objective Enhanced understanding of cognitive deficits, and the neurobiological abnormalities that mediate them, can be achieved through translational research that employs comparable experimental approaches across species. This study employed a multiple-systems framework derived from the rodent literature to investigate visual-spatial memory abilities associated with schizophrenia. Method Using the bin task, a human analog of rodent maze tasks, everyday objects were hidden in visually identical bins. Following a 1-min filled delay, participants with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (n = 30) and healthy community controls (n = 30) were asked to identify both the object hidden and bin used on the basis of its spatial location. Three dimensions of visual-spatial memory were contrasted: (a) memory for spatial locations versus memory for objects, (b) allocentric (viewpoint independent) versus egocentric (body-centered) spatial representations, and (c) event (working) memory versus reference memory. Results Most pronounced was a differential deficit in memory for spatial locations under allocentric (p = .005, d = -0.77) but not egocentric viewing conditions (p = .298, d = -0.28) in the schizophrenia group relative to healthy controls. Similarly, schizophrenia-related spatial memory deficits were pronounced under demands for event memory (p = .004, d = -0.77) but not reference memory (p = .171, d = -0.33). Conclusions These results support a heuristic of preferential deficits in hippocampal-mediated forms of memory in schizophrenia. Moreover, the task provides a useful paradigm for translational research and the pattern of deficits suggests that persons with schizophrenia may benefit from mnemonic approaches favoring egocentric representations and consistency when interacting with our visual-spatial world.

Patients with peripheral neuropathy may present with a constellation of symptoms related the fibers that are affected. Small fiber neuropathy causes sensory and autonomic symptoms. Small fiber neuropathy cannot be confirmed with standard clinical neurophysiological investigations. However, small fiber neuropathy can be evaluated with intaepidermal skin biopsy. Neurofilament Protein clone 2F11 antibody was used to label intraepidermal nerve fibers in skin biopsies from an adult Macaca fascicularis. Small fibers were well visualized with this technique. In summary, the preliminary data suggests that this technique can be utilized to evaluate the intraepidermal fibers in the Macaque fascicularis. As in human beings, qualitative and quantitative techniques may be employed to evaluate the images.

24 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 21-24). ; A relationship between board/management "involvement" and "awareness" with organizational mission and their link to "employee commitment" and "organizational performance" was modeled by drawing on previous research. The model was tested with data from 339 large Canadian and US organizations. It was determined that "mission awareness" on the part of both the board and senior management is an important consideration in the determination of employees' commitment to the mission. However, the impact of board and management involvement with the mission is not identical. The results show especially the strong and important role that the board performs when it is actively engaged in the development of the organization's mission.

28 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25-28). ; "March 2003." How do people think, work and act creatively in diverse domains? Is creativity a general attribute or do different kinds of creativity apply in different domains? These are the main themes of this paper. Our work suggests that not only are there different kinds of creativity, but also that there are different kinds of creativity within the domain of management. This is because there is a need for different kinds of creativity within various kinds of work and jobs in organizations. We may view "applied creativity" as a process with multiple stages or phases. Different kinds of creativity are associated with the various phases or stages of the process. Within organizations, different kinds of work favor specific kinds of creativity, which must be synchronized to achieve innovative results for profitability and competitive edge.

42 p. : ; Includes bibliographic references (p. 35-37). ; "January, 2003." Despite the high expectation that researchers and practitioners put on business-to-business electronic marketplaces (EMs), they have not prospered as expected. Relatively high setup and maintenance costs, the need for organizational changes, uncertainty of investment, and transaction risk are among the reasons mentioned most often that deter the adoption ofEMs. This paper argues that buyer-supplier relationships play a significant role in the adoption decision. Although EMs, by acting more than as a market, make both long- and short-term relationships efficient, this efficiency gain does not necessarily lead firms to favor an EM strategy. Certain aspects of incentives also complicate the decision. A framework is provided to identify the elements (industry type, inter-organizational relationship type, and transaction and product attributes) that affect relationships and thus influence the adoption decision. A case study, which compares EM adoption decisions in fragmented and concentrated industries, is presented as a preliminary verification of the framework.

14 leaves ; Includes bibliographical references. ; "January, 2003." A community of practice is a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who share their knowledge about the topic by interacting on an ongoing basis. In the current turbulent environment of change, communities of practice have been found to be effective tools for sharing knowledge and management strategies and practices within and between organizations, helping to cope with change and to maintain or improve competitive position. We have identified four classes of communities of practice: 1) internally in individual organizations, 2) spanning network organizations linked through formal agreements for a common business purpose, 3) network communities that span organizations but are not a part of other formal relationships, and 4) self-organizing network communities. Characteristics of these communities vary according to their classification, but not as much as might be expected. Our findings indicate that communities of practice in classifications 1) and 2) are more likely to include activities that require transfer oflegally protected intellectual property, while classifications 3) and 4) tend to focus more on managerial issues and strategies

36 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-36). ; "Nov. 2002."; It is often difficult for groups of people to think together innovatively, especially in situations which are ill-defined and involve complex issues. A unique conceptual thinking method for reducing complexity and identifying strategic and tactical challenges (goals) and relating them to one another is introduced. The method, Challenge Mapping, can be deliberately applied to help individuals, groups and whole organizations think through, clarify and conceptualize complex, ambiguous, and strategic issues and increase understanding of fuzzy situations both from big picture and specific standpoints. Challenge Mapping is a special tool of the Simplex system of applied creativity which synergizes analytical and imaginative thinking through four stages, emphasizing problem generation and conceptualization prior to solution development and implementation. Such emphasis is not taught in formal education. On the contrary, most students leave school totally immersed in the solutions they have learned, then find that in every day work these solutions don't often match the ill-structured problems they encounter. The most important skill needed seems to be finding and defining the right problems to work on. Examples of real world applications of Challenge Mapping are shared.

37 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37). ; "November 2002." Competitive advantage no longer depends on access to labor, capital, processes or technology. The real competitive edge comes from the organization's people, smart people who know, who can learn, who can think, and make new things happen. Putting knowledge to work innovatively from top management down and organization-wide at every level for tangible business results is the key. This paper presents a new theory of organizational creativity which integrates elements from previous models of cognition, knowledge, intelligence and learning and a psychological instrument, the Creative Problem Solving Profile (CPSP) Inventory. We suggest that innovative thinking in organizations involves two distinct cognitive processes. The first, Apprehension, concerns the acquisition of understanding or knowledge. The second, Utilization, concerns the application of understanding or knowledge. Two different modes of Apprehension and two different modes of Utilization give rise to four cognitive functions which together delimit the conceptual space of creative thinking and comprise a dynamic four stage process of organizational creativity. An individual's blend of relative preferences for these four stages defines his/her unique process style and is measured by the CPSP. The authors' real world experience how top corporations involve employees at all levels in putting their knowledge to work by doing innovative thinking that is "on the money" is shared.

42, [11] p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p.36-42). ; "September, 2002" Trust is an essential component for any business transaction, and is particularly critical and challenging in the online environment, which is characterized by de-humanized business transactions. If online vendors are not able to establish trust with their customers, business-to-consumer electronic commerce will not realize its full potential. This paper presents an online trust model which distinguishes between product, company and referee trust. This model can help further our understanding of online trust, provide online vendors with approaches to help build customer trust, and direct research in this emerging economy. The concept of humanized website design is introduced as a potential trust instiller along the product, company and trust dimensions. Subsequently, an empirical study is outlined, and results are analyzed to determine the effects of website humanization. Results from this study are shown to be significant, indicating that there is a connection between human elements in design and trust in an online environment. Conclusions from this research are discussed and areas for future research are proposed.

43 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-43). ; "July, 2002." ; This paper is partially supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. This report presents results from a recent research investigation on agent toolkits on the market and their use in post-secondary courses. Data collection comprised the download and trial use of 20 agent toolkits, as well as the completion of an online questionnaire on instructor satisfaction by 87 post-secondary course instructors from around the world. The report identifies four major categories of agent toolkits on the market. It appears that no single uniform toolkit satisfies the needs of all agent-related courses. Research findings also suggest that satisfaction levels are influenced primarily by user interaction with the toolkit, followed to a lesser extent by toolkit performance and functionality. The report identifies features an ideal agent toolkit should possess and concludes with ideas for future research.

47 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-41). ; "July, 2002."

56 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-42). ; "March 2002" Elements of previous models and concepts of cognition, intelligence and learning are integrated with a number of significant themes in creativity research. A simplifying theory of creativity is presented which identifies four basic underlying mental operations (two modes of knowledge apprehension and two modes of knowledge utilization). These four operations in turn are the basis for a dynamic model of the creative process that describes the stages of problem discovery, definition, solution, and solution implementation. Elements of previous models and concepts of cognition, intelligence and learning are integrated with a number of significant themes in creativity research. A simplifying theory of creativity is presented which identifies four basic underlying mental operations (two modes of knowledge apprehension and two modes of knowledge utilization). These four operations in turn are the basis for a dynamic model of the creative process that describes the stages of problem discovery, definition, solution, and solution implementation. Elements of previous models and concepts of cognition, intelligence and learning are integrated with a number of significant themes in creativity research. A simplifying theory of creativity is presented which identifies four basic underlying mental operations (two modes of knowledge apprehension and two modes of knowledge utilization). These four operations in turn are the basis for a dynamic model of the creative process that describes the stages of problem discovery, definition, solution, and solution implementation. Elements of previous models and concepts of cognition, intelligence and learning are integrated with a number of significant themes in creativity research. A simplifying theory of creativity is presented which identifies four basic underlying mental operations (two modes of knowledge apprehension and two modes of knowledge utilization). These four operations in turn are the basis for a dynamic model of the creative process that describes the stages of problem discovery, definition, solution, and solution implementation. Elements of previous models and concepts of cognition, intelligence and learning are integrated with a number of significant themes in creativity research. A simplifying theory of creativity is presented which identifies four basic underlying mental operations (two modes of knowledge apprehension and two modes of knowledge utilization). These four operations in turn are the basis for a dynamic model of the creative process that describes the stages of problem discovery, definition, solution, and solution implementation. The development of a psychological instrument that measures the constructs of the theory is discussed and empirical evaluations of the instrument's psychometric properties in terms of both reliability and validity are presented. Individual preferences for particular stages of this process were found to be related to occupation and to level of organizational responsibility. It was also found that preference for problem discovery, the first stage of the creative process, may be underrepresented in industrial and business organizations. Implications are discussed.

24, [2] p. ; Includes bibliographical references. ; "December 2001" Is m-commerce just an extension or a subset of e-commerce? Will it tum out to be just more hype? In this paper we discuss the realities of m-commerce and the major differences between mobile commerce and Internet-based e-commerce. Based on this understanding, we identify key factors that must be taken into consideration in order to design valuable m-commerce applications. We emphasize that the success of m­ commerce relies on the synergy of three driving forces: technology innovation, evolution of a new value chain, and active customer demand.

22 p. ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 19-22). ; The focus of supply chain management has been shifted from production efficiency to customer-driven and partnership synchronization approaches. To implement this strategic shift requires high-level collaboration between supply chain partners. Software agent technology will have great potential in supporting collaboration in supply chain management. In this paper, we review the trend of supply chain management and analyze how agent technology can be applied to support collaboration in information sharing, operation cooperation, and dynamic cha1n configuration. We also review existing agent systems that support supply chain management at operational and strategic levels. Finally, we analyze the limitations of the agent approach and suggest future research directions.

20 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-20). ; "June 2001". With today's increasing pace of change, managers who are struggling to continuously adapt and survive are turning to an emerging management technique known as organizational improvisation. This field of management science draws from a metaphor based in improvisational theatre and jazz music and is defined as: "The ability to spontaneously recombine knowledge, processes and structure in real time, resulting in creative problem solving that is grounded in the realities of the moment. " As part of these changes, organizations are working across great distances and in groups that include diverse constituents such as suppliers, partners and customers. The distance separating these team members poses a problem for improvisation as improvisation relies heavily on interpersonal communication between group members. The collaborative wealth of creativity, innovation and productivity flows in part from this real-time interaction. The increasing distance between group members hampers the effective reach of organizational improvisation. The proposed concept of e-Improvisation suggests that the adoption of groupware collaborative software, in particular a peer to peer offering called Groove, can extend the reach of improvisation and enhance it's effectiveness.

29, [10] leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 26-29) ; "March 2001". Effective teamwork is becoming increasingly important to organizational success. Advances in network and communication technology have allowed companies to widen their potential team member base, however we still need to better understand how to structure top-performing teams. This paper proposes forming teams based on their cognitive style, rather than personality, within a process framework. An experiment was conducted to investigate the innovative performance of problem solving groups with three different blends of cognitive styles. As predicted, groups with a heterogeneous blend of styles outperformed groups with completely or partially homogeneous blends. On the other hand, team members' satisfaction scores were lower for heterogeneous teams than either the completely or partially homogeneous teams. There was preliminary evidence that among groups with heterogeneous blends, those with smaller style dispersions might be expected to outperform those with larger style dispersions. There was also room for some speculation that a curvilinear relationship might exist for team members' satisfaction as a function of diversity in team member cognitive style. Implications of these findings are discussed.

28 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references: leaves 25-27. ; "March 2001" Computer-based information systems connected to high-speed communication networks provide increasingly rapid access to a wide variety of data resources. However, this connectivity to data resources burdens decision-makers the need to access and analyze a large volume of data to support their decision making processes. Without effective decisional guidance, access to data resources provides only a minor benefit to decision-makers. Intelligent agents are expected to act like human-assistants in support of complex decision processes by anticipating the information requirements of the decision-makers or by autonomously performing a specific set of tasks. In this article, we provide a methodology for assessment of buddy-agents in a multi-agent information system environment in support of complex decision problems. Our findings from an empirical assessment of the methodology that was used to support common stocks selection among investors support the viability of the proposed methodology.

17 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 16-17). ; "February, 2001"; This research was supported financially by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In addition to lack of physical infrastructure, there are other unrelated barriers to the growth of e­-commerce. These result from the unwillingness of customers to engage in online transactions even if the infrastructure is in place. In this paper we discuss a number of these issues, including particularly lack of trust, and propose a model that links the components of the customer-vendor relationship logically. The model provides a structure to analyze and potentially mitigate the causes of the gap between customer expectations from online commerce and their perceptions of what the vendor offers.

22 leaves ; Includes bibliographical references (leaf 23). ; "January, 2001". The media are constantly bombarding us with information about the "new economy" and its impacts on our daily lives. What is this new economy? In what ways does it affect us? What does the future hold for us, as the rate of technological innovation continues to increase, and our traditional ways of interacting with others and conducting business continues to change? This paper is an attempt to address these questions. Topics discussed include the new economy and its close partner, the information society, along with their impacts on productivity growth. Certain aspects of business activity through electronic commerce are related, along with a series of management issues and their potential responses in the face of the fast rate of change in technological innovation in this new economy.

22 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 20-22) ; "January 2001". Use of computer mediated communication, specifically electronic mail ( e­ mail), has grown exponentially in recent years reaching 50% penetration in Canada households (AC Neilson, 2000). The penetration rate is even higher for corporate environments (Wareham, 1999). E-mail is the communication medium of choice for most businesses and can therefore be construed as a proxy for codified knowledge flow in organizations (Bontis, 1999a; 1999b). This paper advances the intellectual capital body of literature by empirically examining several knowledge management phenomena. Specifically, a comparison is made between inter-and intra-departmental knowledge flows in organizations. Furthermore, knowledge flows within functional departments as well as knowledge flows to and from the external environment are examined. Data was collected from the header information of 15,500 e-mails logged over five random days in a high-tech organization of 480 employees. This data was then mapped onto the organizational chart and compared with the perceptual responses of a survey administration. Quantitative results were then triangulated with qualitative data gathered during focus groups. The research results yielded two important findings: 1) individuals showed an interesting bias towards over-estimating their perceived knowledge flow throughout the organization and 2) the eFlow Audit is an insightful managerial tool which provides a snapshot for knowledge management evaluation.

25 leaves ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 23-25). ; "January 2001". Due to changes ranging from the globalization of markets, to the accelerated improvements of technology, and from the tacit skills of knowledge workers, to the ubiquitous access we have to information, organizations must be able to learn efficiently and effectively_ in order to survive in today's increasingly fierce competitive environment. As a result of futs need, the academic field of organizational learning has prospered (Crossan and Guatto, 1996). The study of organizational learning is important because it provides academics and professionals with more insight into the system, processes and behaviours that enable organizations to generate new knowledge and adapt to change (Crossan, Lane and White, 1999). Organizational learning also enables companies to build capabilities, and intellectual capital, which can provide the firm with the ability to manage intangible resources for a sustainable competitive advantage (Bontis, 1999; Bontis et al., 1999). In order for organizations to keep up with the onslaught of challenges inherent in the new century they must continuously learn. From a normative perspective, groupware technologies facilitate organizational learning by providing a means of disseminating and codifying organizational knowledge. However, in practice the potential learning benefits of groupware are rarely achieved. This paper aims to contribute to the fields of organizational learning and information systems by examining possible reasons for groupware failures, which lead to lost potential learning benefits and thus unsustainable advantage. It is now common for computer applications to offer intangible, strategic benefits to organizations by supporting organizational learning behaviours (Venkatraman, 1991). From a normative perspective, groupware applications facilitate organizational learning by supporting collaboration amongst organizational group members. However, in practice, the full learning benefits of using groupware are rarely achieved because these applications are often resisted (Ciborra, 1996; Neilson, 1997; Orlikowski, 1996). For this study, groupware was examined using the push-pull theory of implementation, drawn from the disciplines of engineering and marketing (Zmud, 1984). The main research proposition of this paper is that groupware applications that have been introduced as a result of a need (a pull strategy) are more successful than those that are forced onto organizational members by senior management (a push strategy). Research was conducted in the United Kingdom at a global information provider (InfoProv). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a project coordinator, quality manager, user and project manager. The first two interviews focused on Teamlinks, which is an organization-wide groupware application similar to Lotus Notes. The latter two interviews focused on a Problem Management System (PMS), which is a knowledge database that is being rolled out on a global scale. Results indicate that there is a general lack of emphasis on pull strategies in groupware implementations, and that this may be contributing to their high failure rates. However, given the qualitative nature of this study, more empirical research is needed to confirm the results. Accordingly, guidelines for further research are suggested.

57, [7] leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57). ; "December, 2000". In an era of rapidly accelerating change , thriving organizations are not merely efficient but adaptable, that is, innovative. They act as open systems, that is, they are sensitive to their environment and transform continuously changing inputs into continuously changing outputs. Organizational innovation is modeled as a continuous, creative process of deliberately generating and formulating new problems and opportunities and creating and implementing new solutions. Success in this four stage process depends on four creative thinking skills: active diverging, active converging, and horizontal and vertical deferral of judgment. By deliberately encouraging people to develop skills in applying such a creative process to their work daily, an organization can simultaneously achieve both the economic outputs they crave and also the people outputs they must provide to assure motivation and continued economic success in the long run. The continuous creative process is integrated into an open systems model that features both economic and people inputs and outputs and also features two environments - internal and external through which the people and economic inputs/outputs must filter.

43, [19] leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-43) ; "September, 2000" The psychome tric properties of CPSP 1, the original version of the Ba sadur Simplex Creative Problem So lving Profile Inventory (Bas adur, 19 9 8a), were improved in previ ous research (Bas adur, 19 98 b). A second, experimental vers ion, coded CPSP 2, resulted. The present paper more thoroughl y evalua tes the ext ent of the improvement. Ove rall, CPSP 2 was found to be substantially better than CPSP 1. In reliability, there were impor tant increases in te st -retest and parallel split -half correlations and within scale intracorrel ati ons. There remains room for improvemen t in intracorrela tions of items within the four columns, especia lly column 3. There remained 26 relatively weak intracorr elations withi n column 3 (com pared to 41 for CPSP 1) . In colu mns 1, 2 and 4 there remai ned 9, 2, and 9 such relatively weak item intracorr elations respec tively (vs 34, 21, and 23 for CPSP 1 ). CPSP 2 was poorer than CPSP 1 in independence of the two bi-po lar scales and in indepen dence of two of the four adjacent column pairs. Further reliability refinement work is recommend ed. In terms of valid ity, CPSP 2 correlated with the Myers -Briggs Type Indi cator ( MBTI) in predicted ways even more so than CPSP 1. Also, correla tions of preferred CPSP st yle and preferred ideation-evaluati on ratio with field of endeavor and level of org anizational resp onsibility for strateg ic thinking matched predictions very well and simila rly to CPSP 1.

27 leaves ; ; "September 2000". A number of studies have suggested that women in managerial positions are more likely to be participative (involving subordinates in their decision-making) than their male counterparts. The research described here was initially designed to determine whether there are features in the culture of particular organizations (professional firms) that make this gender gap more or less likely to occur. However, the results suggested that the higher scores for participation obtained by women on a well-known instrument (the Vroom-Y etton problem set) may not reflect their actual workplace behavior. Implications of the findings for researchers are discussed.

14 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references. ; "August, 2000". In today's digital economy, involving customers as partners in business relationships is a criterion of success. In the business-to-business marketplace, there are three areas in which corporations can enhance their focus on business customer relationships. These include relational marketing, supply chain management, and customer relationship management. In this paper, we describe how shifts are occurring in these three areas, and how information systems have evolved to play a critical role in supporting the changing focus on the customer business. This is especially important in the context of the current rapid deployment of industriaVvertical marketplaces. Finally, we highlight the difference in emphasis between traditional business and electronic business operations that is needed to support a shift to a customer-focused strategy.

18 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 17-18). ; "August, 2000". Electronic marketplaces (EMs) are virtual marketplaces where buyers and suppliers meet to exchange information about prices and product and service offerings, and to negotiate and carry out business transactions. They are at the centre of the current growth in Internet electronic commerce, both in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, although the value of B2B electronic commerce is proportionately five times B2C and is expected to exceed ten times its value by 2003. In this paper, we trace the evolution of EMs, from their initial beginnings as computer-to­-computer links between corporate trading partners, to their current forms as multi-vendor Web­ based catalogs and ordering systems that service B2B customers. We also describe in detail B2B electronic marketplaces, including sell-side, buy-side, and intermediary-supported multi-vendor catalog systems that link customers and suppliers. We discuss the role of management in guiding firms through this difficult transition period, including choices that depend on the economics and the advantages and disadvantages of each form of electronic marketplace for both suppliers and customers.

33 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-33). ; "July, 2000". This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Software agents are a major innovation in how people use information systems, and they have parallels with how Decision Support Systems (DSS) support human decision-making. A DSS approach to the development of software agents suggests a highly interactive and flexible interface between the agent and its user, and addresses some potential barriers to the successful adoption of agent technologies. Within a DSS model, agents can be classified as providing search, choice or interface support. Each of these classifications uses techniques originating from separate disciplines and requires different performance measures. We use a real estate agent as a metaphor to examine the descriptive, procedural and semantic knowledge bases that agents can use to support search and choice activities in an exchange of goods or services.

25 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 22-24). ; "June, 2000". In this paper, a theoretical framework for privacy protection in electronic commerce is provided. This framework allows us to identify the key players and their interactions in the context of privacy violation and protection. It also helps to discover the responsibilities of the key players and areas for further research.

73 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-70). ; "March, 2000". This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Software agents are computer programs that run in the background and perform tasks autonomously as delegated by the user. Although there has been much research on this topic recently, usable software agents are at an early stage of development, and are only now starting to appear in real applications. A fruitful application area for software agents is in the area of electronic commerce where agents can help buyers and sellers deal with the flood of information that can be exchanged and processed. Current developments in agent technology are reviewed, however this paper takes a product­ focused approach to examine the functions that agents can perform in the commerce process. A model of decision support systems is used to classify agents as providing search support, choice support and interface support. In order to delegate activities to software agents, the user must trust that the agent will perform in a predictable and controllable manner. A framework based on marketing research is used to identify purchasing situations where this trust can develop and where agent technology is therefore likely to be adopted.

19 leaves ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 18-19). ; "January, 2000". The three cases in this chapter were selected for illustration and discussion about the key roles and accountabilities of the CKO. All names, dates, places and organizations have been disguised at the request of the authors and/or organizations. Each case is presented from both a practitioner's and academic's perspective. Our main content ion is that a CKO must embrace a generalist's perception of what drives value-based performance gains. The following three cases emphasize the important orientation a CKO must have to HR management, IT management and strategic management.

13 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 13). ; Software is the intellectual capital output of the codified knowledge of a programming team. The development cost is high, but the variable cost of sale is substantially lower (negligible) than for hard goods. Unfortunately, there does not exist a valid or reliable measure to value software. Software is further complicated by architectures. Client-server architectures and combined software-service solutions bring new factors to the pricing decision. With high development costs and low variable costs, one must ponder the methodologies and assumptions used to price software. This paper will examine three cases detailing the rationale behind the pricing decision made and their effectiveness in achieving the business goals of the product (and service). The three cases were chosen with an interest in diverse architectures, usage, and vendor business objectives. Architecture can change many factors such as the dynamfos of a market and the cost of ownership to the buyer. Usage stems from both buyer business processes and architecture. Usage is one of the typical metrics of value. However, as the cases are investigated it is shown that in some cases other variables such as flexibility are more important generators of value. To the vendor, the most important metric is the ability to achieve the business goals of the product. A product may be produced as a test platform for future products, thereby lowering the financial performance objectives and increasing the volume and degree of usage as the objective. The business objectives of an application are determined by business strategy that takes into account factors internal and external to the vendor. The negligible variable cost and varying value (per buyer) provides a great deal of flexibility to vendors. The trend has been to align pricing to the activities that buyers realize value from. However, new architectures change the nature of where value is realized and how service becomes pait of the equation. There does not exist a perfect generic pricing model. Vendors must understand the value they provide to their customers and create a price structure that aligns pricing with value realization, but more importantly facilitates their business objectives of the product (and service).

38 leaves ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-37). ; "January, 2000". Organizations can weaken their competitive positions by having either an excess or an insufficiency of dynamic capabilities, and/or by failing to assemble a resource configuration that includes basic resources as well as the key resources that give competitive advantage. Resources must also be appropriate at both the infrastructure and functional levels. These propositions are based upon an elaboration of the resource based view of the firm that provides refined characterizations of the organizational environment and the three categories of resources identified by Barney, and gives a clearer understanding of the nature of position and the kind of resource infrastructure needed to sustain dynamic capabilities. The argument that the dynamic capabilities model is a nee-contingency approach is addressed.

20 leaves. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-20). ; The use of web-site metrics such as "number of page hits" is very popular. Web-site counters are widely used on personal home pages and corporate sites but offer little insight into the value created by investing in a web presence. The search for more effective web metrics is important to companies that are betting their entire business on Internet advertising and sales. The value of a web site is inherently related to the number of potential customers who come to the site for information and eventually purchase a product or execute a service. However, financial analysts are having difficulty in valuing e-businesses. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an evaluation of cunently used web metrics. We intend to consider the relationship between stock prices and web metrics in addition to traditional accounting information for a sample of 15 top Internet companies. Specifically, we developed various regression models with the following four variables: unique visitors, revenues, gross margin and sales & marketing expenses. Our results support the hypothesis that web metrics do as good a job at explaining Internet stock prices as traditional accounting measures do. It appears that traditional accounting measures do not do an adequate job of explaining Internet stock prices. In sum, the predictive power of the web-based metric "unique visitors" appears to be a substantive and significant predictor of stock pnce.

40 leaves. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-39). ; "January, 2000". Attempts to resolve control issues in networks of internationally dispersed technology units using managerial techniques such as increased communication and/or the application of hierarchical control have had limited success because the control issues are rooted in the strategy of the firm. In this paper a linking of the Resource Based View of the firm, Resource Dependency Theory and the Vroom-Yetton model of leadership is used to show that when important technical resources are located offshore for strategic reasons, resource-based power goes with them. The extra-national technology units that embody those resources should be managed with methods that respect that power shift. Theoretical, empirical and managerial implications are drawn from this analysis.

63 p. ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-63). ; "November, 1999" Prepared under a research contract from the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel.

18, [17] leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 16-18). ; The purpose of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) when used to measure leadership behaviours in self­ managed teams. Many leadership theorists argue that leadership plays a fundamental role in the success of teams. Research by Bern ard M. Bass and associates suggests that transformational versus transactional leadership results in positive outcomes for individuals, groups, as well as organizations. This study sought to assess whether Bass and Avolio's (1998) MLQ scale can be used to accurately measure transformational and transactional behaviours in a leaderless team setting. Results suggest the MLQ does not retain its factor structure in such a setting, thereby eliminating any practical use for the scale in that setting. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

23 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 21-22). ; "October, 1999". This paper provides a simple and robust method for detecting cheating. Unlike some methods, non-cheating behaviour and not cheating behaviour is modelled because this requires the fewest assumptions. The main concern is the prevention of false accusations. The model is suitable for screening large classes and the results are simple to interpret. Simulation and the Bonferroni inequaltty are used to prevent false accusation due to 'data dredging'. The model has received considerable application in practice and has been verified through the adjacent seating method.

24 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 20-24). ; "August, 1999". This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada The development of relationships has always been important to successful inter­ firm trade. The advent of electronic commerce, supported by interorganizational and internal information systems and the Internet, has increased the pace at which business transactions are arranged and completed, and the size of the potential market has also increased. To establish good relationships between supplier and customer in the face of these changes requires adapting existing practices in marketing, supply chain management, and procurement, to take advantage of the new technologies. To demonstrate the current state of inter-firm relationships, we have developed a seven phase customer relationship life cycle that characterizes the procurement process. We use this life cycle to explain interactions between supplier and customer firms, and the technologies that support relationships during the life cycle. Some of these approaches encourage market-based short term efficient relationships, while others support longer term collaborative relationships. We conclude with some observations that highlight the current and future impact of electronic commerce technologies on business-to-business relationships.

39 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-27). ; "August, 1999". A new method is devised to calculate the confidence intervals for estimated distances. Using this method, the confidence intervals for estimated actual distances are developed for the ℓp-norm and ℓbp-norm. Our empirical study in the seventeen geographical regions indicates that better confidence intervals for the unknown actual distances are obtained with the ℓbp-norm than the ℓp-norm.

32 p. : ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-32). ; "June, 1999". A common lament of the preventive maintenance (PM) crusaders is that production supervisors are often unwilling to lose valuable machine time when there are job waiting to be processed and do not assign high enough priority to PM. Maintenance activities that depend dynamically on system state are too complicated to implement and their overall impact on system performance, measured in terms of average tardiness or work-in-process (WIP) inventory, is difficult to predict. In this article, we present some easy to implement state-dependent PM policies that are consistent with the realities of production environment. We also develop polling models based analyses that could be used to obtain system performance metrics when such policies are implemented. We show that there are situations in which increased PM activity can lower total expected WIP (and overall tardiness) on its own, i.e., without accounting for the lower unplanned downtime. We also include examples that explain the interaction between duration of PM activity and switchover times. We identify cases in which a simple state-independent PM policy outperforms the more sophisticated state-dependent policies.

26 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 23-24). ; "June, 1999". We consider the two -machine flow-shop problem with release times where the objec­ tive is to minimize the makespan. We derive a new dominance order and incorporate it into an efficient branch and bound algorithm which uses an adaptive branching scheme. The algorithm performed very well. It solved within a few seconds 953 of the test prob­ lems with up to 500 jobs in a large scale computational experiment. For the unsolved problems, the average gap between the best solution found and the optimum was less than 0.53. Experiments also indicate that the speed of the algorithm is largely due to the use of the dominance order which cut solution times roughly in half.

28 leaves : ; Includes bibliographical references (leaf 28). ; "June, 1999". This research was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, under Grant No. OGPOOOl 798. We consider the two-machine flow-shop problem with release times where the objective is to minimize the maximum lateness. We derive a new dominance order and incorporate it into an efficient branch and bound algorithm which uses an adaptive branching scheme together with new fuzzy dominance properties for scheduling and searching. The algorithm performed very well. It solved within a few seconds more than 973 of the test problems with up to 200 jobs in a large-scale computational experiment. For the unsolved problems, the average gap between the best solution found and the optimum was less than 0.53.

29, [7] leaves. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 28-29)

26, [6] leaves ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 19-25) ; Despite its considerable appeal, the Resource Based View of the firm as currently articulated is inadequate for the job of explaini ng transnational technology strategy, although it does explain some phenomena. Its explanatory power can be significantly increased through the inclusion of a resource por tfolio perspective and by the acknowledgement that imitation as well as the pursuit of the unique can be a viable resource strategy.

84 p. ; Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-78). ; "May, 1999".;"Prepared for the South African Department of Labour, 1998".