Enterprise 2.0- Business Value of Social Computing at Lockheed Martin Corporation

The emerging fad in the business world is the social computing and networking platforms, also known as the Enterprise 2.0 technologies. While no one knows how it is going to play out, everyone wants a piece of the action lest they miss the bus. This ongoing research project deals with many questions currently doing rounds in the CIO offices around the world: How do we define the applicability of these new breed of technologies? If we adopt such technologies, can the firm generate any value in terms of $$$ or does it lead to loss of productivity? What are the
fallouts if organizations embrace these platforms- both internally and externally? We are working with Lockheed Martin Corporation to study the adoption of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and discussion forums within Lockheed. This research is also sponsored by the Institute for Business and Information Technology at Temple University. For more on this, visit www.ibit.temple.edu. This study is published in the Journal of Management Information Systems.

Travel & Social Network Systems

Consumer generated content has become a powerful business force that few organizations can afford to ignore. Given this tremendous importance, it is worthwhile to understand what the underlying dynamics of these information sources are, how consumers use them in their decision making process, and how it all aggregately impacts the businesses. This research project addresses the following questions specific to online reviews in sites such as Tripadvisor.com:

Q1: What do consumers look for in a review/feedback? Are there specific features/types of reviews that consumers perceive to be more persuasive?
Q2: How do consumers use these reviews while shopping online? What impact do reviews have on the final act of travelling to a place or booking a hotel/restaurant?

The research paper based on this study is forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Behavior.

Online Reviews

This working project is supported by Flipkey.com, a community driven travel site that is dedicated to vacation rental properties around the world. Product review systems have also become an important aspect of travel planning ever since the Internet permeated the tourism and hospitality industry. There has been a proliferation of online platforms wherein consumers can exchange travel related information and experiences. Tripadvisor.com, Flipkey.com, Hotels.com and IgoUgo.com are some of the many online platforms that provide this service to consumers. The present study investigates the patterns and properties of consumer reviews in Flipkey.com. The primary objectives of the present study are as follows:

Q1. Explore the underlying patterns associated with the consumer reviews in Flipkey.com
Q2. Analyze the relationship between various attributes of the vacation rental properties and the consumer characteristics.
Q3. Analyze the textual content of of the large corpus of reviews to identify various issues that consumers talk about in the online reviews.

Healthcare Industry Survey & Economic Impact Study

This project is supported by the generous funding on Harrington Regional Medical Center (HRMCI) in Amarillo, TX. HRMCI makes a notable contribution to the region?s economic health and social health of the region. With WTAMU serving as the independent research consultant this study aims at understanding the critical role of regional healthcare industry in the socio-economic landscape of panhandle region of the USA. By maintaining a longitudinal study of economic factors; demographics of the region; campus development factors; workforce analysis; and medical and scientific research and advances this report provides valuable data to management, strategic planners, grant writers, program developers, employers and educators (workforce development) and agencies involved with health care planning. Additionally, this project will provide WTAMU College of Business with the opportunity to enhance the value of its new concentration in health care administration.

Read Amarillo Globe News report here