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Author: Özgün Imre Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press ISBN: 9176853896 Category : Languages : en Pages : 186
Book Description
Why do organizations adopt information systems? Is it just because of financial reasons, of concerns for efficiency? Or is it due to external pressures, such as competitor pressure, that an organization adopts an information system? And, how does the adoption take place? Is it a linear process, or is the process one of conflicts? Does a specific person govern this process, or do we have multiple parties involved? What happens if these conflicts occur among those involved? How does the organization move on and achieve a successful information system adoption? By investigating two organizations, one international academic journal and one South American manufacturing company, this thesis aims to investigate the whys and hows of information system adoption, and aims to contribute to the discourse on information system adoptions in small organizations – an often underrepresented segment in information system adoption literature. By adopting different theoretical lenses throughout the five research papers included, this body of work suggests that even when seemingly simple, information system adoptions can become rather complex. The cases reveal that the role of information systems and issues related to information system adoptions are often not well thought-out in the early days of the organization. The actors’ understandings of adoption and consequences mature and the information systems become more intertwined. Common use of stakeholder theory introduces general stakeholders and their interaction with the focal organization. The cases reveal that the adoption process involves multiple actors, even within what would initially appear as a stakeholder, and that those actors can be in conflict with each other. These conflicts often lead to negotiations, and the cases reveal that these negotiations are opportunities of learning; the actors engage with the information system and with each other, gaining new knowledge about the issues at hand. The dissertation argues that there are various social worlds in information system adoptions, and various factors – ranging from organizational structure to social norms – that often affect why and how the organization undergoes an adoption process. The multiple power relations and divergent interests of stakeholders in these adoption processes, and how information systems affect other parts of the organization, reinforce the need for a well thought-out, flexible and reflexive approach to information system adoptions.
Author: Özgün Imre Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press ISBN: 9176853896 Category : Languages : en Pages : 186
Book Description
Why do organizations adopt information systems? Is it just because of financial reasons, of concerns for efficiency? Or is it due to external pressures, such as competitor pressure, that an organization adopts an information system? And, how does the adoption take place? Is it a linear process, or is the process one of conflicts? Does a specific person govern this process, or do we have multiple parties involved? What happens if these conflicts occur among those involved? How does the organization move on and achieve a successful information system adoption? By investigating two organizations, one international academic journal and one South American manufacturing company, this thesis aims to investigate the whys and hows of information system adoption, and aims to contribute to the discourse on information system adoptions in small organizations – an often underrepresented segment in information system adoption literature. By adopting different theoretical lenses throughout the five research papers included, this body of work suggests that even when seemingly simple, information system adoptions can become rather complex. The cases reveal that the role of information systems and issues related to information system adoptions are often not well thought-out in the early days of the organization. The actors’ understandings of adoption and consequences mature and the information systems become more intertwined. Common use of stakeholder theory introduces general stakeholders and their interaction with the focal organization. The cases reveal that the adoption process involves multiple actors, even within what would initially appear as a stakeholder, and that those actors can be in conflict with each other. These conflicts often lead to negotiations, and the cases reveal that these negotiations are opportunities of learning; the actors engage with the information system and with each other, gaining new knowledge about the issues at hand. The dissertation argues that there are various social worlds in information system adoptions, and various factors – ranging from organizational structure to social norms – that often affect why and how the organization undergoes an adoption process. The multiple power relations and divergent interests of stakeholders in these adoption processes, and how information systems affect other parts of the organization, reinforce the need for a well thought-out, flexible and reflexive approach to information system adoptions.
Author: Özgün Imre Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Why do organizations adopt information systems? Is it just because of financial reasons, of concerns for efficiency? Or is it due to external pressures, such as competitor pressure, that an organization adopts an information system? And, how does the adoption take place? Is it a linear process, or is the process one of conflicts? Does a specific person govern this process, or do we have multiple parties involved? What happens if these conflicts occur among those involved? How does the organization move on and achieve a successful information system adoption? By investigating two organizations, one international academic journal and one South American manufacturing company, this thesis aims to investigate the whys and hows of information system adoption, and aims to contribute to the discourse on information system adoptions in small organizations – an often underrepresented segment in information system adoption literature. By adopting different theoretical lenses throughout the five research papers included, this body of work suggests that even when seemingly simple, information system adoptions can become rather complex. The cases reveal that the role of information systems and issues related to information system adoptions are often not well thought-out in the early days of the organization. The actors’ understandings of adoption and consequences mature and the information systems become more intertwined. Common use of stakeholder theory introduces general stakeholders and their interaction with the focal organization. The cases reveal that the adoption process involves multiple actors, even within what would initially appear as a stakeholder, and that those actors can be in conflict with each other. These conflicts often lead to negotiations, and the cases reveal that these negotiations are opportunities of learning; the actors engage with the information system and with each other, gaining new knowledge about the issues at hand. The dissertation argues that there are various social worlds in information system adoptions, and various factors – ranging from organizational structure to social norms – that often affect why and how the organization undergoes an adoption process. The multiple power relations and divergent interests of stakeholders in these adoption processes, and how information systems affect other parts of the organization, reinforce the need for a well thought-out, flexible and reflexive approach to information system adoptions.
Author: Bharati, Pratyush Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1615206280 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 410
Book Description
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in rejuvenating and sustaining the modern economy, generating substantial employment and serving as important innovation engines for the global economy. Global Perspectives on Small and Medium Enterprises and Strategic Information Systems: International Approaches aims to spread research conducted on SMEs internationally and place it at the disposal of academics, practitioners, consultants, the vendor community, and policymakers. The goal of this book is to highlight the challenges faced by SMEs and how they are coping with the adverse environment through skillful use of IT and technologies such as Web 2.0, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), e-commerce, open source software, Business Process Digitization (BPD), and other emerging technologies.
Author: Markus Radits Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press ISBN: 9176853055 Category : Languages : en Pages : 411
Book Description
This thesis approaches the phenomenon of open source software (OSS) from a managerial and organisational point of view. In a slightly narrower sense, this thesis studies commercialisation aspects around community-driven open source. The term ‘community-driven’ signifies open source projects that are managed, steered, and controlled by communities of volunteers, as opposed to those that are managed, steered, and controlled by single corporate sponsors. By adopting a business ecology perspective, this thesis places emphasis on the larger context within which the commercialisation of OSS is embedded (e.g., global and collaborative production regimes, ideological foundations, market characteristics, and diffuse boundary conditions). Because many business benefits arise as a consequence of the activities taking place in the communities and ecosystems around open source projects, a business ecology perspective may be a useful analytical guide for understanding the opportunities, challenges, and risks that firms face in commercializing OSS. There are two overarching themes guiding this thesis. The first theme concerns the challenges that firms face in commercialising community-driven open source. There is a tendency in the literature on business ecosystems and open source to emphasise the benefits, opportunities, and positive aspects of behaviour, at the expense of the challenges that firms face. However, business ecosystems are not only spaces of opportunity, they may also pose a variety of challenges that firms need to overcome in order to be successful. To help rectify this imbalance in the literature, the first theme particularly focuses on the challenges that firms face in commercialising community-driven open source. The underlying ambition is to facilitate a more balanced and holistic understanding of the collaborative and competitive dynamics in ecosystems around open source projects. The other theme concerns the complex intertwining of community engagement and profit-oriented venturing. As is acknowledged in the literature, the subject of firm-community interaction has become increasingly important because the survival, success, and sustainability of peer production communities has become of strategic relevance to many organisations. However, while many strategic benefits may arise as a consequence of firm-community interaction, there is a lack of research studying how the value-creating logics of firm–community interaction are embedded within the bigger picture in which they occur. Bearing this bigger picture in mind, this thesis explores the intertwining of volunteer community engagement and profit-oriented venturing by focusing on four aspects that are theorised in the literature: reinforcement, complementarity, synergy, and reciprocity. This thesis is designed as a qualitative exploratory single-case study. The empirical case is Joomla, a popular open source content management system. In a nutshell, the Joomla case in this thesis comprises the interactions in the Joomla community and the commercial activities around the Joomla platform (e.g., web development, consulting, marketing, customisation, extensions). In order to achieve greater analytical depth, the business ecology perspective is complemented with ideas and propositions from other theoretical areas, such as stakeholder theory, community governance, organizational identity, motivation theory, pricing, and bundling. The findings show that the common challenges in commercialising community-driven open source revolve around nine distinct factors that roughly cluster into three domains: the ecosystem, the community, and the firm. In short, the domain of the ecosystem comprises the global operating environment, the pace of change, and the cannibalisation of ideas. The domain of the community comprises the platform policy, platform image, and the voluntary nature of the open source project. And finally, the domain of the firm comprises the blurring boundaries between private and professional lives, the difficulty of estimating costs, and firm dependencies. Based on these insights, a framework for analysing community-based value creation in business ecosystems is proposed. This framework integrates collective innovation, community engagement, and value capture into a unified model of value creation in contexts of firm–community interaction. Furthermore, the findings reveal demonstrable effects of reinforcement, complementarity, synergy, and reciprocity in the intertwining of volunteer community engagement and profit-oriented venturing. By showing that this intertwining can be strong in empirical cases where commercial activities are often implicitly assumed to be absent, this thesis provides a more nuanced understanding of firm involvement in the realm of open source. Based on the empirical and analytical insights, a number of further theoretical implications are discussed, such as the role of intersubjective trust in relation to the uncertainties that commercial actors face, an alternative way of classifying community types, the metaphor of superorganisms in the context of open source, issues pertaining to the well-being of community participants, and issues in relation to the transitioning of open source developers from a community-based to an entrepreneurial self-identity when commercialising an open source solution. Furthermore, this thesis builds on six sub-studies that make individual contributions of their own. In a broad sense, this thesis contributes to the literature streams on the commercialisation of OSS, the business value and strategic aspects of open source, the interrelationships between community forms of organising and entrepreneurial activities, and the nascent research on ecology perspectives on peer-production communities. A variety of opportunities for future research are highlighted. Denna avhandling undersöker fenomenet öppen källkod, ’open source’, ur ett lednings och styrningsperspektiv. Mer konkret studeras aspekter på kommersialisering av ett community-drivet open source projekt (OSS, open source software). Uttrycket ’community-drivet’ hänvisar till open source projekt som drivs och styrs av volontärgrupper, till skillnad från open source projekt som drivs och styrs av enskilda företag. Genom att tillämpa ett affärsekologiperspektiv fokuserar denna avhandling på det vidare sammanhang som karaktäriserar kommersialisering av OSS, såsom globala och kollaborativa produktionssystem, värderingarna öppenhet och samarbete, marknadsstrukturer, och diffusa organisationsgränser. Aktiviteterna i open source communityn och dess kringliggande ekosystem kan bidra till många fördelar för företag, och därför kan ett affärsekologiperspektiv vara en användbar analytisk lins för att förstå de möjligheter, utmaningar och risker som företag står inför när de kommersialiserar OSS. Två övergripande teman lyfts fram i denna avhandling. Det första temat handlar om de utmaningar som företag står inför när de kommersialiserar community-driven OSS. Det finns i litteraturen om affärsekologier och open source en tendens att betona fördelar, möjligheter och positiva aspekter på beteende på bekostnad av att undersöka utmaningar som företag står inför. Affärsekologier innebär dock inte enbart möjligheter för företag, utan kan också orsaka en rad utmaningar som företag behöver hantera för att lyckas. Med utgångspunkt i denna obalans i litteraturen fokuserar det första temat på de utmaningar med kommersialisering av community-driven OSS. Detta görs för att bidra till en mer balanserad och holistisk förståelse av den på samma gång kollaborativa och konkurrerande dynamiken i affärsekologin runt ett open source projekt. Det andra temat handlar om sammanflätningen (intertwining) mellan community-deltagande och vinstdrivande verksamhet. Såsom det framgår i litteraturen har frågan om samverkan mellan företag och communities blivit allt viktigare, eftersom communityernas överlevnad, framgång och hållbarhet har blivit strategiskt viktiga för många organisationer. Även om många strategiska fördelar kan uppstå som en följd av samverkan mellan företag och communities saknas forskning om hur värdeskapande uppstår i en vidare kontext. Med ett bredare perspektiv i åtanke undersöker denna avhandling sammanflätningen av frivilligt community-deltagande och en vinstdrivande verksamhet genom att fokusera på fyra aspekter av sammanflätning som förekommer i litteraturen: förstärkning, komplementaritet, synergi, och ömsesidighet. Denna avhandling är utformad som en kvalitativ utforskande fallstudie. Det empiriska fallet är Joomla, ett innehållshanteringssystem som bygger på open source. Inom ramen för avhandlingen undersöks fallet i termer av samspel inom Joomla-communityn och de kommersiella aktiviteterna som sker runt Joomla-plattformen (t.ex., webbutveckling, rådgivning, marknadsföring, anpassningar, och extensions). För att uppnå ett analytiskt djup kompletteras affärsekologiperspektivet med idéer och förslag från andra teoretiska områden, såsom intressentmodellen, community-styrning, företagsidentitet, motivationsteori, prissättning, och buntning. Resultaten visar att utmaningarna med kommersialisering av community-driven OSS kretsar kring nio olika faktorer som kan grupperas i tre områden: ekosystemet, communityn, och företaget. Ekosystemsfaktorerna innefattar den globala verksamma miljön, förändringshastigheten och kannibalisering av idéer. Community-faktorerna innefattar plattformspolicy, plattformsimage, och att deltagandet i open source projektet sker på frivillig basis. Slutligen innefattar företagsfaktorerna suddiga gränser mellan privatliv och arbetsliv, svårigheten att uppskatta kostnader samt beroendeförhållanden mellan företag. Baserat på dessa insikter föreslås en modell för att analysera communitybaserad värdeskapande i affärsekologier. Modellen integrerar kollektiv innovation, community-deltagande, och value capture i en holistisk modell för community-baserad värdeskapande i kontexten samverkan mellan företag och communities. Vidare beskrivs effekterna av sammanflätningen av frivilligt community-deltagande och vinstdrivande verksamhet i termer av förstärkning, komplementaritet, synergi, och ömsesidighet. Genom att visa att sammanflätningen av frivilligt community-deltagande och vinstdrivande verksamhet kan vara stark i fall där det ofta antas implicit att kommersiella aktiviteter inte förekommer ger denna avhandling en mer nyanserad förståelse av företags roll i kontexten open source. Baserat på empiriska och analytiska insikter diskuterar denna avhandling ett antal teoretiska konsekvenser, såsom rollen som intersubjektiv tillit spelar i förhållande till den ovisshet som kommersiella aktörer står inför, ett alternativt sätt att klassificera community-typer, metaforen superorganismer i kontexten open source, community-deltagares välbefinnande, samt hur open source utvecklare hanterar övergången från en community-baserad självidentitet till en entreprenöriell självidentitet vid kommersialisering av OSS. Dessutom ger de sex delstudier som avhandlingen bygger på egna bidrag som presenteras i respektive delstudie. I stora drag bidrar denna avhandling till litteraturen om kommersialisering av OSS, affärsmässiga och strategiska aspekter på open source, samspelet mellan community-driven entreprenörsverksamhet samt den framväxande forskning som använder ett affärsekologiperspektiv för att studera kollegial produktion baserad på allmännytta. En mängd olika möjligheter för framtida forskning lyfts fram.
Author: Che, Ferdinand Ndifor Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1799848507 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 333
Book Description
Due to such factors as poor economic conditions, climate change, and conflict, food security remains an issue around the world and especially in developing nations. Rapid changes in technology over the last decade has brought a renewed focus on how information and communication technologies (ICTs) and application systems are deployed to improve rural competitiveness. Unfortunately, agricultural stakeholders in developing countries, particularly in Africa, have not been able to reap comparable benefits from adopting agricultural information systems as compared to their counterparts in the developed economies. Understanding the challenges that hinder the effective adoption of agricultural information systems and identifying opportunities or innovations is imperative to improve the agricultural sectors and overcome the problems in these developing economies. Opportunities and Strategic Use of Agribusiness Information Systems is an essential reference book that examines the key challenges that hinder the effective adoption of agricultural information systems. Moreover, it identifies and evaluates opportunities for the strategic deployment of ICTs and information systems to drive agricultural development for the benefit of agricultural sector stakeholders in emerging countries. While highlighting such topics as agricultural entrepreneurship, food value chain, and innovation systems, it is intended to provide sound and relevant frameworks and tools that will aid agricultural industry practitioners, smallholder farmers, and managers of agricultural extension systems looking to make more effective and responsible decisions when selecting, planning, deploying, and managing agribusiness information systems. It is additionally targeted for agricultural funding organizations, government policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students concerned with exploiting the potential of a variety of ICTs and information systems in the quest to achieve food security and poverty reduction in emerging economies.
Author: Tom McMaster Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 038772804X Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 525
Book Description
This volume presents papers from the 10th Working Conference of the IFIP WG 8.6 on the adoption and diffusion of information systems and technologies. It explores the dynamics of how some technological innovation efforts succeed while others fail. The book looks to expand the research agenda, paying special attention to the areas of theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and organizational sectors.
Author: Management Association, Information Resources Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1668438860 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 1235
Book Description
The Sustainable Development Goals are an ongoing focus around the world as the needs of people and society continue to evolve at a rapid pace. The need for a more sustainable future has never been more pressing as issues such as climate change, natural disasters, and overpopulation present unique difficulties for the decision makers of the world. In order for them to make the best decisions regarding current priorities and strategies, up-to-date and detailed research regarding where we currently are as a society, where we want to be, and the many challenges that stand in the way is crucial. The Research Anthology on Measuring and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals is a comprehensive assessment of the current innovative research and discussions on the challenges to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the measures that have already been put in place to achieve them. Covering topics such as green consumer behavior and peace promotion, this book is vital for academicians, scientists, researchers, students, postdoctoral students, specialists, practitioners, businesses, governmental institutions, decision makers, environmentalists, and policymakers.
Author: Mikko Korpela Publisher: Springer ISBN: 0387356959 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 458
Book Description
Organizational Information Systems in the Context of Globalization exemplifies the role of social theory in approaching ICT utilization challenges in a globalization context. The debates raised on implementation, policy, organizations and organizing, and social dynamics, increase our awareness of the diversity of perspectives we need to delve into when framing the role of ICTs in the globalization agenda. The equal representation of managerial and non-managerial decision making contexts alerts us to the fact that ICTs should not be considered only as a corporate wealth creation prerogative. This book contains the selected proceedings of the Working Conference on Information Systems Perspectives and Challenges in the Context of Globalization, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in Athens, Greece in June 2003.
Author: Pagani, Margherita Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1591407966 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 1218
Book Description
"This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive knowledge of multimedia information technology from an economic and technological perspective"--Provided by publisher.
Author: Fredrik Lindeberg Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press ISBN: 9179299350 Category : Languages : en Pages : 366
Book Description
Många självklarheter i vårt digitala samhälle är beroende av Internet för att fungera. Allt från smarta dörrar för hemtjänster, till självscanningsapparaterna på ICA, till nyare bilar, moderna tillverkningsrobotar, telefoner och affärssystem. Den här licentiatavhandlingen reder ut vad Internet är, hur det styrs och vad det har för praktiska konsekvenser. Tidigare forskning finns bland annat inom telekommunikation där Internet liknas vid andra telekommunikationstjänster, så som kabel-TV eller mobiltelefoni, och inom digitalisering både inom management och informationssystem där Internet i det närmaste tas för givet som teknisk infrastruktur. Här tar jag en ansatts där jag förklarar Internet ur ett kombinerat tekniskt och organisatoriskt perspektiv. Studien är principiellt uppdelad i tre delar. Den första delen fokuserar på att begreppsmässigt hitta ett sätt att diskutera Internet utan att essentiella aspekter faller bort, såsom styrningen eller konsekvenser av den tekniska designen. Jag landar i att Internet är både ett tekniskt och ett organisatoriskt fenomen. Tekniskt i bemärkelsen att det handlar om digital paketbaserad kommunikation (dvs att olika paket kan ta olika väg och att det inte finns ett beroende på en viss specifik väg, eller “krets”), vilket kan särskiljas från exempelvis kretskopplad kommunikation (dvs en specific väg från sändare till mottagare) eller rent analog kommunikation. I denna tekniska dimension är Internet förhållandevis likt klassisk telekommunikation såsom kabel-TV och mobiltelefoni, och förlitar sig på best-effort paketbaserad kommunikation. I den andra dimensionen, styrning och organisation, är Internet ett explicit bottom-up fenomen som styrs med andra principer och ideal än klassisk telekommunikation. Till sin utformning är denna minsta möjliga koordination som krävs för att möjliggöra koordinering av de tekniska unika identifierare som behövs för att Internet ska fungera (dvs idag DNS- och BGP-flororna av protokoll för användning av namn och nummer på Internet). Båda dimensionerna, de organisatoriska och tekniska, följer samma designprinciper, och generellt är det meningsfullt att se Internet som en ekologi av aktörer snarare än en organisation i strikt teoretiska termer (exempelvis finns ingen tydlig övergripande strategi, organisationsnummer eller löneutbetalare). Det är dessa designprinciper, som ligger väl i linje med systemarkitektursprinciper för datorsystem, som är orsaken till Internets lager-design där man (generellt) inte ska bry som om vad som händer på andra lager än sitt eget (beskrivet som “separation of concerns” eller i dubbel negation “high cohesion” i texten) samt att ha en minimalistisk ansatts till koordinering och enbart koordinera eller skapa beroenden mellan enheter (både tekniskt och organisatoriskt) när det verkligen behövs (beskrivet som “minimum coordination” eller “low coupling” i texten). Den andra delen fokuserar på hur Internet kan socialt påverkas eller förändras till något annat, eller till något med en annan funktion sett som en styrd organisation. Jag använder begreppet social robusthet, som motpol till teknisk robusthet som i hur man tekniskt kan förstöra Internet, för att diskutera dessa aspekter. Slutsatserna här mynnar ut i att Internets explicita bottom-up och problemsuppdelnings-design gör det märkbart svårt för någon att medvetet påverka Internet för att ändra dess beskaffenhet, och dessutom visar jag att även om man praktiskt lyckas ta över de formellt beslutande råden (exempelvis ICANNs och IETFs styrelser) så finns det inga formella eller praktiska hinder för att bara ignorera dem (dvs switching costs för just ICANN eller IETF är låga, om än tekniskt omständligt med att konfigurera om rötter och routing-tabeller, och betydligt enklare än att gå från IPv4 till IPv6 då utrustning kan behöva ersättas och därmed en betydligt högre switching cost). Med andra ord, det är enklare att byta ut Internets koordinerare än att byta ut Internet mot något som fungerar annorlunda. Däremot är den rådande politiska världsordningen ett hot mot Internet, eftersom den regelstyrda och koordinerade världsordningen inte längre är lika självklar som den varit tidigare. Den tredje och sista studien fokuserar på nätneutralitet, dvs rätten nätverksoperatörer har att fånga värde i andra dimensioner än trafikmängd, som en praktiskt effekt av hur Internet styrs och fungerar. Det primära praktiska bidraget är att nätneutralitet inte får ses som enbart en reglerings och lagstiftningfråga utan det är mer relevant att prata om i termer av nätneutralitet i praktiken. I den bemärkelsen är lagstiftningens vara eller inte vara mindre intressant än praktisk nätneutralitets vara eller inte vara och en tyngdpunktsförskjutning i den offentliga debatten hade fört diskussionen närmare hur Internet fungerar. Sammanfattningsvis ger Internets designprinciper att marknadskrafter, och ej direkt reglering, ska möjliggöra nätneutralitet. För att förtydliga, tanken är att det ska finnas konkurrens inom de flesta nivåer eller lager, och att det är av vikt att det finns konkurrens rakt igenom så att en kundvilja för paketneutralitet på tjänstenivå även påverkar nätägar- och infrastrukturnivå, så att det är användarnas efterfrågan som leder till nätneutralitet (om den användarviljan finns). Dock kan det mycket väl vara så att man som användare inte är intresserad av nätneutralitet och då ska tjänsteleverantörer, nätägare och infrastrukturoperatörer inte heller tvingas vara neutrala genom lagstiftning då det går stick i stäv med designprinciperna. Inte heller ska en grupps vilja kring nätneutralitet påverka andras möjligheter att välja. Genomgående identifierar jag två kolliderande världsbilder, den distribuerade regelstyrda och koordinerade ordningen i sitt perspektiv med sina förkämpar, och den mer integrerande och suveräna världsordningen med sitt perspektiv och sina förkämpar. Rent praktiskt uppfyller Internet en önskad funktion i den tidigare men ej i den senare, då Internet designmässigt är byggt för att tillåta snarare än kontrollera och bestämma. Exempelvis finns det inte inbyggda (tekniska) mekanismer i Internet för att till exempel möjliggöra statlig övervakning eller kontroll av material som finns tillgängligt, och då ligger det mer i statens intresse att ha kontrollerade telekommunikationstjänster, såsom kabel-TV, mobiltelefoni och liknande lösningar där man inte helt enkelt kan lägga på ett “extra lager” för att uppnå kryptering, anonymitet eller tillgång till andra tjänster. I texten använder jag perspektiven tillsammans med teknologi, marknader och byråkrati för att fånga upp dynamiken och strömningarna i Internet-ekologin och jämför med tekniska samhällsförändringar, som exempelvis järnvägsnät, postverk och finansiella marknader. Jag konstaterar att Internet har varit styrt av teknologiskt baserade värderingar, till skillnad från de andra exemplen som i huvudsak har utformats av dynamiken mellan byråkrati och marknad. I denna mån förelår jag att teknologi kan användas som strömning och motperspektiv till den klassiska uppställningen med byråkrati och marknad för att beskriva fenomen i digitaliseringens tidsålder. Avhandlingen sätter även pågående trender i ett bredare perspektiv mot både organisation och teknik, och trycker på vikten av att förstå delarna var för sig och tillsammans för att på ett rikare sätt måla upp helheten. The modern society is to a large extent Internet-dependent. Today we rely on the Internet to handle communication for smart doors, self-scanning convenience stores, connected cars, production robots, telephones and ERP-systems. The purpose of this thesis is to unbundle the Internet, its technology, its coordination, and practical and theoretical consequences. Earlier research has, in telecommunications, focused on the Internet as one of many potential telecommunications services, such as cellphones or cable-TV, and the management and information systems field has by and large treated the Internet as black-boxable infrastructure. This thesis explains the Internet from the combined perspectives of technology and coordination. This text contains three empirical studies. The first is focused on conceptualizing and discussing the Internet in a meaningful way using both technology and coordination frameworks. I unceremoniously conclude that the Internet is both a technological and a coordination phenomenon and neither of these aspects can be ignored. The Internet is technological in that it concerns digital packet switched digital communication (as opposed to circuit switched) or purely analog communications. The technological dimension of the Internet is similar in its constituency to classical telecommunications networks, and has best-effort mechanisms for packet delivery. In the other dimension, coordination, the Internet is an explicit bottom-up phenomenon minimally coordinated (or governed) by other ideals than classical telecommunications networks and systems. At its core this least necessary coordination concerns technical unique identifiers necessary for inter-network communication (in practice today manifested as naming with the DNS protocol suite, and numbering with the BGP protocol suite). Both dimensions follow similar design characteristics; the design of the technical Internet is similar to the design of the coordination of the Internet. These design principles, which are well aligned with software design principles, is the cause of the Internet’s layered design (“separation of concerns” in practice) and minimal view of coordination (the “least coordinated Internet”). In general terms it is fruitful to view the Internet and involved actors as an ecology, rather than one organization or entity in need of governance or control. The second study looks at the social resilience of the Internet. That is, is it possible through social means to change what the Internet is or can be viewed as. I use social resilience as a counterpart to technical resilience, i.e. resilience to technical interference. In essence, the bottom-up and separations of concerns design of the coordination aspect of the Internet minimizes possible influence of actors intent on mission disruption. I also practically show that even a take-over of the central councils have little effect the constituency of the Internet, since these councils are not invested with formal powers of enforcement. This thesis suggests that the cost of switching from ICANN and IETF to another set of organizations is quite low due to the nature of the coordination of the Internet, compared to for example, switching all equipment to IPv6 capable equipment. However, the current political situation is a threat to the current Internet regime, since an international and rule-based world order is no longer on all states’ agendas. The final empirical study focus on the practical and theoretical implications of the Internet on the case of net neutrality. The primary contribution is that de facto and de jure net neutrality differ in practice, and as such de facto net neutrality deserves more attention. Also, I suggest that any regulation, either for or against net neutrality, is problematic, since such regulation would interfere with the inherent coordination mechanisms of the Internet. As such regulation should focus on providing the necessary markets for Internet function given the coordination and design of the Internet. As a net neutrality example, net neutral Internet access options should exist as part of a natural service offering if wanted by customers, not due to direct regulation. Throughout the thesis I identify two colliding world orders, both in terms of digital communication networks and terms of organizing society in general: the rule-based and coordinating order with its champions, and the integrated or sovereign order with its champions. In practical terms, the Internet can be considered a want in the former (the distributed perspective), but not the later (the integrative perspective), since the Internet lacks inherent (technical) controls for surveillance and content control which are necessary in a world order where borders are important. Regardless of if that importance stems from state oversight or intellectual property rights legislation. I use these perspectives together with technology, markets and bureaucracy to catch the dynamics of the Internet ecology. I then compare these dynamics with other technological and societal phenomena, such as railway networks, postal services and financial markets. And conclude that the Internet (as conceptualized in this thesis) can best be explained by technological values, in opposite to the other examples which can best by explained by the dynamics of markets and bureaucracies without any real influence of the values of technology. As such, I suggest that the classical frame of markets and bureaucracy can fruitfully be expanded with technology to better explain the Internet and similar digitization phenomena. This thesis puts current trends in a broader perspective based on technology and organization, where the two perspectives together better can draw the full picture in a rich fashion.