Abstract: This paper is to clarify the relationship between ICT
and income inequality. To do so, we develop the general equilibrium
model with ICT investment, obtain the equilibrium solutions, and then
simulate the model with these solutions for some OECD countries.
As a result, generally, during the corresponding periods we confirm
that the relationship between ICT investment and income inequality
is positive. In this mode, the increment of the ratio of ICT investment
to the aggregated investment in stock enhances the capital’s share of
income, and finally leads to income inequality such as the increase
of the share of the top decile income. Although we confirm the
positive relationship between ICT investment and income inequality,
the upward trend for that relationship depends on the values of
parameters for the making use of the simulations and these parameters
are not deterministic in the magnitudes on the calculated results for
the simulations.
Abstract: Acquiring commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications is becoming routine in organizations. However, eliciting user requirements, finding the candidate COTS products and making the decision is a complex task, especially for SMEs who do not have the time and knowledge needed to do the task properly. The existing models intended to help the decision makers are originally designed for professional use. SMEs are obligated to rely on the software vendor’s ability to solve the problem with the systems provided.
In this paper, we develop a model for SMEs for the acquisition of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products. A leading idea of the model is that the ICT investment is basically a change initiative and therefore it should also be taken as a process of organizational learning. The model is designed bearing three objectives in mind: 1) business orientation, 2) agility, and 3) Learning and knowledge management orientation. The model can be applied to ICT investments in SMEs which have a professional team leader with basic business and IT knowledge.