Research Papers - Dept of Information of Management

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Open Access
Towards an Information Systems Excellence Model
(University of Canterbury. Accountancy Finance and Information Systems., 2004) Cragg, P. B; Mills, A; Suraweera, T; Todorova, N
This paper proposes an IS excellence model based on the concept of business excellence. The Baldrige excellence model contains seven criteria, including: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; human resource focus; process management; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; and business results. For each of these criteria, the paper explores significant IS literature to develop corresponding criteria in the IS context. The proposed model extends the existing work on IS Success and provides an holistic framework that brings together many topics that are often researched in relative isolation, eg, IS leadership, IS strategy, IS service quality, and IS user satisfaction
Open Access
Measurement of IT Management Sophistication in Small Firms
(AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 2005-12) Cragg, p; Mills, A; Suraweera, T
This study developed an instrument to measure IT management sophistication in small firms. Multiple-case studies were used to explore the concept of IT management sophistication in small firms and provide a pool of indicators representing IT management sophistication. Small chartered accountancy firms in New Zealand were surveyed and the data was analysed using PLS. The final model of IT management sophistication included three dimensions: IT planning, IT controlling and IT leading. The validity and reliability of the measurement instrument was examined thoroughly. The results provide a significant foundation for researchers of IT management in small firms.
Open Access
Identification of the Poor in Sri Lanka: Development of Composite Indicator and Regional Poverty Lines
(researchgate.net, 2006-03) Siddhisena, p; Jayathilaka, R
The identification of the poor and the definition of poverty is rather complex since poverty dimensions are multifaceted. Poverty is not just an inadequacy of income to meet basic needs or the inability to spend. It is largely associated with numerous demographic, socio-economic, cultural, environmental, health and psychological factors. The aim of this study is therefore to compute a composite indicator of multidimensional poverty and regional poverty lines to identify the severity of poverty and regional disparities of poverty. The study was based on the two data sets and the main objectives of the study are: Identification of the poor by using a broader definition of poverty; Measurement of regional differences on poverty using the poverty indices and constructed poverty lines; and Development of a Composite Indicator of Multidimensional Poverty to identify poverty by severity and also to examine regional disparities of poverty.
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Managing the implementation of IT projects in SMEs: An exploratory investigation
(IEEE, 2006-12-06) Suraweera, T; Pulakanam, V; Guler, O
The implementation of IT projects such as acquiring and implementing accounting software systems has become widespread among small and medium sized enterprises (SME). Invariably the SMEs face numerous difficulties, especially at the initial stages of IT project implementation. Using case study approach, this paper explores the nature of and the processes related to managerial aspects of accounting software systems implementation projects in SMEs. The results provide valuable insights to the project management processes with respect to the implementation of software applications in the SMEs.
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IT driven banking services in Sri Lanka: customer acceptance and service quality
(IEEE, 2006-12-06) Suraweera, T; Pulakanam, V; Guler, O
The implementation of IT projects such as acquiring and implementing accounting software systems has become widespread among small and medium sized enterprises (SME). Invariably the SMEs face numerous difficulties, especially at the initial stages of IT project implementation. Using case study approach, this paper explores the nature of and the processes related to managerial aspects of accounting software systems implementation projects in SMEs. The results provide valuable insights to the project management processes with respect to the implementation of software applications in the SMEs.
Open Access
Economic Demographic Characteristics of Poor Female Headed Households in Sri Lanka
(Population Association of Sri Lanka, 2007) Jayathilaka, R
Economic demographic characteristics of poor female headed households in Sri Lanka are an important area to study to formulate better policies to alleviate poverty in Sri Lanka. The study uses the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2001/02 that covered 16,924 households (71,293 population) in the seven provinces in Sri Lanka. This study uses the method of Cost of Basic Needs approach to derive poverty line and it use to identify the poor households. The study used the cross sectional approaches with special techniques of radar diagrams to highlight the economic demographic characteristics of poor female headed households. The characteristics compared are age, sex, dependents, marital status, level of education, usual activities, occupations and the level of income and expenditures. The findings reflect some facts which merit careful attention in the task of Sri Lankan poverty alleviation policies
Open Access
Dynamics of Knowledge Leverage in ERP Implementation
(AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 2007) Suraweera, T; Remus, U; Wakerley, S
This paper reports the results of an in-depth investigation of the knowledge management (KM) activities of an ERP implementation project within a dynamic business setting. Using a case study approach, this research examines the challenges faced by the ERP project team with respect to KM and the effectiveness of KM strategies. In addition to gaining insights into typical KM activities within the ERP project lifecycle, the research reveals that major barriers for effective KM are created by external business changes and the business process life cycle. These changes trigger a chain reaction resulting in the weak performance of key KM activities such as knowledge capture, sharing and retention. The need for a comprehensive array of KM initiatives that are capable of managing such changes by recognizing the dynamics of all three life cycles is highlighted.
Open Access
Alcohol and Poverty: Are they Related? Empirical Study from Sri Lanka
(Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA), 2007-06) Jayathilaka, R
The relationship between alcohol and poverty in Sri Lanka is an important area to study to formulate better policies to eliminate poverty in Sri Lanka. The study used the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of 2001/02 that covered 16,924 households (71,293 individuals) in seven provinces in Sri Lanka. This study identified the poor by the Sri Lankan official poverty line base which is calculated by the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. The probit model was applied to measure the impact on alcohol and poverty. The findings reflect some facts which merit careful attention in the task of Sri Lankan poverty alleviation policies. Illegal alcohol consumption is prevalent in the rural and estate sector poor households. Developing the Sri Lankan alcohol policy would have positive impact towards the society, particularly in addressing poverty reduction issues
Open Access
Japanese-Sinhalese machine translation system Jaw/Sinhalese
(National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, 2007-06-26) Thelijjagoda, S; Imai, Y; Ikeda, T
This paper describes a machine translation system, J aw I Sinhalese, that translates Japanese into Sinhalese (Sinhala). This is the first Japanese-Sinhalese machine translation system. Both Japanese and Sinhalese are agglutinative languages. The Japanese language contains bunsetsu (Japanese basic linguistic units), which consist of a content word (a lexical root) with one or more function words. Sinhalese also has bunsetsu-Mks units, but the grammatical structure is not necessarily fully revealed. The paper proposes a method of analysis for the bunsetsustructure of Sinhalese which shares features with Japanese, and translation solutions for Japanese function words after predicates and nouns. Function words after predicates express tense, modality, conjunctions, etc., while function words after nouns express the case, topic, thematic roles, etc. This paper clarifies,the bunsetsu-stmctme of Sinhalese. It also distinguishes case marker (a leading group of function words after nouns) correspondences using three types of pattern-based translation rules and solves the multi-layered problem of the translation of function words after a predicate by means of translation rules in a table format. Translations were implemented on the pilot machine translation system, J aw I Sinhalese. As an experiment, 200 sample sentences were evaluated. The results (72% rate of success) indicated that this approach is within an acceptable accuracy range.
Embargo
Sinhala to english language translator
(IEEE, 2008-12-12) De Silva, D; Alahakoon, A; Udayangani, I; Kumara, V; Kolonnage, D; Perera, H; Thelijjagoda, S
This paper describes a machine translation system that is capable of translating a grammatically correct Sinhala sentence in to its corresponding English sentence. This is the first Sinhala to English machine translation system, which comes with features such as an inbuilt keyboard, an inbuilt dictionary, an integrated word processor based on Unicode fonts, a grammar tool, a Sinhalese grammar checker, an add word tool, and a debugging tool. With the expansion of the world, English has become an important language that people should learn, as the majority of the worldwide population understand and carry out their day-to-day work in English. In addressing this need, we thought of taking up the challenge of building, a Sinhala to English language translator. To build this system, we used the transfer-based machine translation approach, which is a rule-based approach. At present, the system has achieved a success rate of 75% with a corpus of 150 sentences.
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Knowledge management implications in ERP implementations: Evidence from Sri Lankan Cases
(IEEE, 2008-12-12) Suraweera, T; Mahagederawatte, S; Kahandawaarachchi, C; Hewamallikage, P; Periyapperuma, D; Adipola, M
Knowledge management (KM) plays a major role in the success of implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in business organizations. This research aims to provide an in-depth understanding of ERP implementation processes in Sri Lanka. The major issues associated with KM in ERP implementations are brought into light and possible strategies for overcoming such issues are identified. The research builds on the work of Baskerville et al. (2006), and focuses on the importance of 'operational level' knowledge practices of capturing, integrating and sharing during ERP system implementations. Results of multiple case study interviews have been analyzed using cognitive maps to determine the issues deem to have a major impact on the success of ERP implementations. Some of the key strategies that can be used to overcome the problems associated with KM in ERP implementations are presented.
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Adverse Selection Effect for South Asian Countries in FTA Formation: An Empirical Study on the Determinants of FTA among the Bilateral Trading Partners
(SAGE Publications, 2009-01) Jayathilaka, R; Keembiyahetti, N
This study examines the economic and non-economic factors governing the decision of forming Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between two non-zero trading partners by estimating a Probit model using 9,178 country pairs having 705 active and operational bilateral FTAs. This study works on the implied hypothesis that FTA is an endogenously determined variable dependent on a number of economic and non-economic factors which are usually omitted from gravity type trade models. The study finds economically important and statistically significant evidences that the likelihood of forming an FTA by a pair of countries is positively related to the economic mass of the partners, similarity in economic size, differences of relative factor intensity, political stability, past import tariffs and the existence of FTAs in the close neighbourhood, whereas it is negatively related to the distance, economic remoteness and geographic continuity. Based on these findings, this study provides a good explanation as to why South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are still far behind the FTA negotiation process and how SAARC countries are subject to adverse selection effect by rest of the world.
Open Access
Effectiveness of Foreign Aid: A Critical Assessment
(Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA), 2009-06) Jayathilaka, R; Bandara, R
The studies on effectiveness of foreign aid have come through three generations and contain many arguments. Some experts charge that aid has enlarged government bureaucracies, perpetuated bad governments, enriched the elite in poor countries, or just been wasted. Others argue that although aid has sometimes failed, it has supported poverty reduction and growth in some countries and prevented worse performance in others. This paper explores the main arguments of the effectiveness of foreign aid and expounds the relationship between aid, growth and development. The findings of this paper reveal that the aid and growth during the last decade has found a positive relationship, in contrast to popular perceptions, particularly studies that have allowed for diminishing returns and have controlled for other factors that affect growth. However, it should be noted some studies have found that the aidgrowth relationship is conditional on the policy or institutional environment, but many of those results have been fragile
Open Access
Partners Empirical Study on the Determinants of FTA among the Bilateral Trading Adverse Selection Effect for South Asian Countries in FTA Formation: An
(SAGE Publications, 2009-10-01) Jayathilaka, R; Keembiyahetti, N
This study examines the economic and non-economic factors governing the decision of forming Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between two non-zero trading partners by estimating a Probit model using 9,178 country pairs having 705 active and operational bilateral FTAs. This study works on the implied hypothesis that FTA is an endogenously determined variable dependent on a number of economic and non-economic factors which are usually omitted from gravity type trade models. The study finds economically important and statistically significant evidences that the likelihood of forming an FTA by a pair of countries is positively related to the economic mass of the partners, similarity in economic size, differences of relative factor intensity, political stability, past import tariffs and the existence of FTAs in the close neighbourhood, whereas it is negatively related to the distance, economic remoteness and geographic continuity. Based on these findings, this study provides a good explanation as to why South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are still far behind the FTA negotiation process and how SAARC countries are subject to adverse selection effect by rest of the world.
Open Access
FTA Negotiations in Asia-Pacific Region: An Empirical Study on the Determinants FTA among the Bilateral Trading Partners
(researchgate.net, 2009-11) Jayathilaka, R; Keembiyahetti, N
Historically, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have been, and will continue to be, an important gateway for improving world trade, given that the world trading system is substantially hampered by man-made barriers. This paper examines into the deterministic key factors and their relative importance for FTA negotiations among the bilateral trading partners using a Probit Model based on 9,178 nonzero trading pairs having 705 active and operational bilateral FTAs. Based on the estimated model, the study projects the future potentiality of FTA negotiations in the Asia-Pacific region. The study works on eleven hypotheses regarding the dependency of FTA on the economic and non-economic characteristics of the bilateral trading partners and the findings support 9 out of the 11 hypotheses. The likelihood of forming an FTA between a pair of countries is higher: (1) the closer in distance the two trading partners are; (2) less remote a natural pair is relative to other countries; (3) economically larger the trading partners are; (4) more similar the trading partners are in economic size; (5) larger the differences in relative factor intensity are; (6) greater is the political stability; (7) more discontinued than connected by a common border; (8) for countries having higher import tariffs in the past; and (9) larger the number of FTAs the neighborhood countries have already signed up. These factors have economically important and statistically significant effects on the probability to form an FTA. However, this study rejected the null favouring alternative that (10) sharing a common language or having colonial relationships has no influence on negotiating for an FTA. Furthermore, our findings rejected (11) the null that countries having a higher degree of export/import intensity tend to form FTAs leading to the conclusion that the past trade or existing level of trade is not a good motivation to form FTAs. Based on the estimated model the study shows that the Asia-Pacific region is well beyond the South Asian region in terms of FTA potentiality, but the European region shows more potentiality than Asia-Pacific and any other region in the world.
Open Access
Status of Poverty in Sri Lanka: In a Perspective of Headship
(Population Association of Sri Lanka, 2009-12) Jayathilaka, R
The gender aspect of poverty in Sri Lanka is an important area to formulate better policies to empower the status of women and to alleviate poverty status by household level in Sri Lanka. This study examines the impact of poverty levels in relation to change in headship from male to female to understand whether female headed households contribute disproportionately to overall poverty in Sri Lanka. The study used the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2001/02 that covered 16,924 households (71,293 individuals) in seven provinces in Sri Lanka. This study identified the poor by the Sri Lankan official poverty line which is calculated by the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. The logit model was applied to measure the effect of poverty on changing the age, family size, income, level of education and the headship. The findings reflect some facts which merit careful attention in the task of Sri Lankan poverty alleviation policies. The results suggest that poverty and female headship are strongly linked in the estate sector. Finally, predicted logit values suggest that Monaragala and Ratnapura are the districts which are relatively deprived by having a high probability of poverty for female headed households.
Open Access
Implementing accounting software in small businesses in New Zealand: An exploratory investigation
(Academia, 2010) Pulakanam, V; Suraweera, T
The implementation of off-the-shelf small business accounting (SBA) software has become widespread among small and medium sized enterprises as it has become affordable and technically powerful. At the same time, selecting and implementing a suitable accounting software from among the numerous available software packages is often difficult for small businesses. Using interpretive approach based upon a qualitative research methodology, this paper explores the challenges faced by small businesses in New Zealand implementing SBA software. User confusion, lack of external guidance and support, and lack of accounting skills have been identified as major issues faced by small businesses in implementing SBA software. The external consultant’s play significant role in successful implementation of SBA software, but currently very little research has been done in this area.
Open Access
Understanding IT management in SMEs
(Academic Press, 2010-01-01) Cragg, P; Mills, A; Suraweera, T
There is evidence in the ITliterature indicatingthat IT management is one factor that influences IT success. In addition, there is much literature indicatingthat IT management is important in the SME context. However, much of this literature has focused on the important role of the owner and/or other senior managers. For example, Thong et al (1996) focused on top management support and its influence on IT success. This paper argues that top management support is only one aspect of IT management and other aspects of IT management havereceived little attention in studies of SMEs. The study commenced with a review of the literature which identified many different definitions of IT management. However, the broader management literature indicated that the classical functions of planning,organising, controlling and leading provide an excellent way of conceptualising the many activitiesinvolved in managing (Carroll andGillen, 1987). The management literature also provided working definitions for the four management functions. A multiple-case study approach was then used to collect evidence from four SMEs (with between fourand 50 employees). The data identified IT management practices associated with each of the four IT functions, ie, IT planning, IT organising, IT controlling and IT leading. For example, one firm had an IT committee made up of staff from different levels of the firm. Some on the committee would be assigned specific IT responsibilities, eg, training of other staff. This practice provided an example of IT organising, ie, of defining tasks and assigning personnel. Similarly, many other IT management practices were both identified and classified. The results provide a significant foundation for researchers of IT management in SMEs. For example, the conceptualisation indicatesfourIT management functions. Also, the definitions clarify important aspects of IT management. The study also indicated that some aspects of IT management have received little attention in prior studies. For example, while IT planning has received considerable attention, IT leading in SMEs has only been examined in the narrowercontext of top management support. Furthermore, few studies have examined the role and importance of IT organising and IT controlling in the SME context. Thus the study also indicates directions for future research, including the identification of IT management best practices
Open Access
Change management in the context of IT project implementations
(SLIIT, 2010-12) Suraweera, T; Kumarapperuma, C. U; Wijayasinghe, P. M. T; Madushani, P. L. B; De Silva, G. H. K; Jayathilaka, Y. C. P
This research titled Change Management in the context of IT project Implementations is focused on identifying empirical and knowledge gap between ERP implementation and change management processes through answering the research questions ‘why ERP system implementation projects fail’ and ‘how change management practices influence ERP implementation project success?’. A case study methodology was adopted in this research to study the current ERP implementation process adopted by Sri Lankan organizations.
Open Access
Trade Liberalisation and Poverty in South Asia
(Taylor & Francis Books, 2011) JAYATHILAKA, R; DE MEL, D
The relationship between trade and poverty has long been debated in academic and policy circles. The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to this debate through an in-depth study of the experience of Sri Lanka, the first country in South Asia to break away from the protectionist past by embarking on a decisive process of economic opening in 1977. During the first decade after independence in 1948, Sri Lanka continued with a liberal trade regime, until growing balance of payments problems induced a policy shift towards protectionist import substitution policies from the early 1960s. By the mid-1970s the Sri Lankan economy had become one of the most inwardoriented and regulated outside the group of centrally planned economies. In 1977, Sri Lanka responded to the dismal economic outcome of the closedeconomy era by embarking on an extensive economic liberalisation process, becoming the first country in the South Asian region to do so. Despite major macroeconomic problems and political turmoil, market-oriented reforms have been sustained over the ensuing years. Sri Lanka is now classified as one of the few developing countries outside East Asia that have achieved a clear policy shift from the entrenched import-substitution era. This policy transition has brought about notable structural changes in the economy (Athukorala and Rajapatirana 2000; World Bank 2005b; Kelegama 2006). However, the impact of liberalisation reforms on the incidence of poverty and poverty reduction has not yet been systematically studied. Therefore, the main objective of this chapter is to systematically examine the link between trade liberalisation and poverty reduction through employment channels. The chapter is arranged as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of trade policy shifts and the role of trade in the economy. Section 3 surveys the incidence and patterns of poverty. Section 4 examines key channels through which trade policy impacts on poverty. Section 5 examines some cross-cutting issues. Section 6 reports the results of an econometric analysis undertaken to examine the determinant of poverty at the household level with emphasis on the impact of trade policy. The chapter ends with a summary of key findings and policy inferences.