The International Conference on Administration and Business

ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

The International Conference on Economics and Administration, Faculty of Administration and Business, University of Bucharest, Romania ICEA FAA Bucharest, 14-15th November 2009

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IN ROMANIAN ENTERPRISES: A POSSIBLE CULTURAL APPROACH

Claudia Mihaela NICOLAU; Al. I. Cuza University of Iai; Faculty of Law; clau_n2004@yahoo.com; Professor coordinator: Professor Dr. Dumitru ZAI ; Al. I. Cuza University of Iai; Faculty of Economics and Business Administration; Director of the Center of the Research in Management (CEMEX); dzait@uaic.ro

Abstract Business Intelligence (in the present material we will use only the short form BI) and intercultural management are considered, but also framed in the category of the last arrived ( in February 1994 the BI was formally defined in France) management science sub domains (it is used the singular form of the term, because in this context it is mentioned the fundamental sub domain and not the variety of approaches whom it can be assimilated to management case in which it will be used the plural form: the term of the management sciences), resultant of some generalizing tries to propose solutions of success of organizations. Although still fulfills a resumative function regarding the organization of ideas, of its theoretical enunciations and not only, BI represents a discipline in continuous development (mostly because of its intentional and practical elements). These anticipative research will try to propose solutions (which can present interest in the enterprises daily practice, but also in the science) for the difficulties encountered in the enrolling of the BIs activities and practices in the Romanian enterprises, keeping in mind the employees and the managers position towards the BI occurred fallowing an deduced behavior by the Romanian cultural peculiarity. Key words: Business Intelligence, intercultural management, national culture, surveillance, strategy.

1. Introduction The present research paper upon BI uses the constructivist paradigmi, because of the formal abstract approach manner adopted, and its reader difficult to frame into one of the management sciences or into one unique business administration discipline. Is a research with a profound multi and interdisciplinary complex character, and it is situated at the intersection of some fundamental disciplines as strategic management and competitive management with new disciplines as knowledge management, business intelligence and intercultural management influenced by socio human disciplines as sociology, anthropology, psychology (e.g. perception, behaviors adopted by fellows towards BI, used norms, etc.). According to the classification of economic sciences, for example the one proposed in The Journal of Economic Literature (from September 1987), BI is framed in the category Administration; Business finance; Marketing; Accounting, in the major sub domain Administration. The BI, like the general management, is a science/a discipline of action (especially in the French literature approaching) and holds a projective character, through its own nature of proposing projects, that will represent into an intelligible manner possible interventions that take/will take within the enrolling of enterprises activity.

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The International Conference on Administration and Business

ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

Synthesizing upon the thematically area in which the BI is framed in the Romanian national cultural specificity, we outline the process of defining interconnectivity encounters: the research action the gathering informations action the treatment of informations action the action of spreading informations useful take-in strategically decisions. This process situates in the field of interferences between theoretical (a literature review of the present stage of knowledge of BI at international, national, organizational level) and experimental (the interconnection and the pursuance of connection of causality effect between the intercultural management and BI in the context of Romanian enterprises), between subjective and objective (regarding the sampled population), between logical and emotional. Moreover, in the delineation of the research upon BI framed into the Romanian national cultural specificity it will appeal to a stepby-step approach of the subject, from theoretical to experimental to applicative. 2. Literature review The concept of management was and is, frequently, used in different manners. For example, the concept of management can refer simply to the process that the managers fallow for fulfilling the objectives of organization. The term can refer, as well, to a knowledge system; in this context, the management represents a system of informations that offer elements related by the manner in which the organization can be directed. The term of management can refer, as well, to the persons that guide or lead the organizations or to a career devoted to guide and to lead the organizations. But, into a more comprehensive definition, the management is the process of fulfilling the objectives of organization working with and through people, as well as through other organizational resources. Synthesizing the defining enunciations of the concept of management presented above, it can be extracted a few main characteristics, such as: - the managers establish objectives and coworking at their fulfilling; - represents an informational system, that on one side once assimilated transforms in

knowledge available to the managers of organization, and on the other side helps at holding competitive advantages; - the a priory established objectives can be fulfilled with and through the human resource, but also through other resources (material, financial, know-how, hold informations, etc.); some of them finding also within the BI (fact observable in the conceptualizing of the term below). The analyst Howard Dresner from Gartner Group, proposed the usage of the term BI in 1989. But, the roots of this concept find itself in the '70 in the report systems of the mainframes, when the reports were static, bydimenssional and without analytical facilities, the demand for dynamic reporting systems, multi dimensional, with support for predictive decisions determined the development of BI that became reality with the new technologies emergency. The evolution technological and scientific of the '90 expended and improved the BI domain and it is predicted that BI will became a constitutive part of the enterprise informational system. Appeared in the specialists language since the oldest times, BI outlined and institutionalized as a concept and as a discipline only after it was defined by the General Commission for Plan (The Eleven Rapport) in the paper Business Intelligence and the enterprises strategy, appeared in France in February 1994. The precise definition through which it was institutionalized the concept of BI was included into the Rapport of the Eleven Plan, and it was outlined as being: the ensemble of the researching, collecting, treatment and spreading actions so that the economic agents exploit the useful information. This is a global approach, at the national level, and not only at the organizational one. The conceptualizing covers all the possibilities of investigations susceptible to compete of the firms competitivity growth. The practice of BI doesnt mean only the gathering, the treatment and the spreading of informations but, in the same measure, the undertaken of some actions of influencing the creation of some environmental conditions favorable for the firm. Through these, the ones of competitional and juridical environment are determined for the success of the firms actions. Business Intelligence (either wrongly fitted in the Competitive Management or in the

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ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

Strategic Management, or considered in it a discipline) contributes, nowadays, to the means development and to the methods of exploiting informations. Reverting at the paper edited by the General Commission for Plan in 1994, within the material it was ventured a more precise conceptualizing of the BIii, as it fallows: In the contemporary world the enterprises competitively bases greatly on their capacity of acquiring necessary informations and of treatment transforming it into efficient informations. These co-work at the anticipation of the future undertaken actions, to the discovering of competitors strategies, to the correct spreading in interior of informations and to keep, in the same time the competitional advantages. The importance given to enterprises points out clearly into the formulating of the four recommendations of the Rapport, where the enterprise is place on the first position: - the spreading of BIs practice in the enterprises interior; - the optimizing of fluxes of informations between the public and the private sector; - the conceiving of the data base according to the users needs; - the mobilization of the education world and the forming in this aspect. The final Rapport of The Martre General Commission specifies: The gathering, the treatment and the spreading of useful information determine from now on the enterprises competitivity as well as the economic power of the states. Although the Business Intelligence is a domain and a discipline founded relatively recent (if we keep in mind the fact that the first time when the concept was used was in 1994, and until now doesnt exist a unique ethical code), there are some countries that were already preoccupied with its implementation in enterprise (e.g. Germany, Japan, Sweden, etc.).

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Figure 1. The practice of Business Intelligence in the main countries of the world [ Source : Dijmrescu, Ion, Managementul Inteligenei Economice, Editura Lumina Lex, Bucureti, 1998, pg. 14 ] As any scientific research towards to a yet unexploited domain such as: the interconnection of cultural specificity (national) with the implementation/exploitation and the development of Business Intelligence, we will have firstly to drill in others researches and the materials existent in the domain. At this theoretical level of the scientific knowledge of social constructivism type, because of the projective character of the approached subject, is so imperious as well as useful to realize a synthetic epistemology foray of the existing specialist literature. Once it was realized the conceptualizing of the term and the presentation of a succinct history, to finalize the delineation of the general theoretic frame will be useful also the enumeration of the domains of applying the BIs solutions in an enterprise: - the general reporting; - the sales analysis (in the marketing area); - the planning and the foresight; - the financial strengthen; - the budgeting; - the profitability analysis. The effects of assembling a system of BI are amazing, because this produces the information needed at the moment that is needed assuring one of the ingredients of

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The International Conference on Administration and Business

ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

business success. BI represents the art of knowing and putting in good use the informations, gaining competitional advantages. BI can offer answers at the essential problems of an organization, helping her to take decisions for resolving it. The finding of answers is based on the analyze and on the comparison of historical data, as well on the ones created in the organization frame, but also on the data obtained from external sources.The gathering and the analyze of these data allow the comprehension of the business tendencies, of the strenghts and of the weakness, the analyze of the competitors and of the market situation. There are many reasons for which the Business Intelligence is considered one of the youngest disciplines with economic character, these outlining in the fallowing elements: - spreads global, complete, recent and sure informations; - works with the existing material and human means, soliciting seldom and in a small measure additional economic efforts; - uses modern communication systems such as Intranet, Extranet and Internet. These elements constitute only a few reasons for which it is considered that this discipline, on a long term, will contribute substantial at the growth of the performances in economy. Also, BI gave birth to new vocations that offer to companies new scopes, necessary to face futures challenging trends. These new jobs related to BI appeared without doubts in the interior of the companies, but also in the external. The new adepts of the company will be constituted into a group of Business Intelligence, formal or nonformal, that will have the purpose to face the exigencies imposed by the large and various number of information. From the world's experience it can be appreciated that the adepts in Business Intelligence mission has two significant elements such as: the identifying and the improving of the BI potential of the company and the creation and development of competitional advantage of it. It is considered that the implementation of BI's projects brings along forecast, organizing, leadership and checking actions, fundamental features of the manager. From all of these reveals the necessity of these discipline introduction in the curricula of management universities.

3. Theoretical Background In the first phase of the research the pretesting (which will be presented in the section 4) it will appeal to a statistical analysis, as fallowing: - the frequency analysis for determining the essential aspects of the cultural specificity characteristics; - the content analysis to process the informations related by the manner in which the cultural specificity will impact the implementation and the future development of BI in the Romanian enterprises; - the determining of the -Cronbach internal consistence coefficient (the elimination of the inadequate items so that the consistence coefficient will be bigger then 0.7). Regarding the validation part of the estimated results fallowing the testing itself, it will appeal to an analysis of the Romanian national culture specificity (per ensemble), to the weight and the frequency of apparition of the dimensions specific to each characteristic, and to the connections with BI that emerge as a result of the analysis of the estimated to obtain data. 4. The development of BI in Romanian enterprises: a possible cultural approach 4.1. Scope research and objectives of the

BI represents a process of undertaken some actions of gathering, treatment and spreading of some informations (only the ones useful for the enterprise) to gain a competitional advantage. Concept relatively new appeared and still unexploited sufficiently (certain dimension), undifferentiated initially by industrial/economic espionage, and often framed into the strategic management, the competitive management or the performance managementiii, acquired the title of fundamental discipline on its own (without denying its profound multi and interdisciplinary character). BI covered from its apparition and its conceptualizing an anfractuous and long road from its beginnings in which either it was mistaken with the economic espionage or it was ignored as an integrative element in the enterprises life (e.g. in establishing strategies, practices, in the enrolling of

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The International Conference on Administration and Business

ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

activities), to present in which BI already has undertaken its fulfilling functions, its guiding principles, has defined its undertaken actions, and created its own professions etc. Into an environment of businesses competitional in its depths and precarious (in the middle of economic crisis), BI not reached at all the apogee of its possibilities. Presently, BI doesnt enroll after an ethical and deontological code unanimous accepted by the specialists, and didnt exploit yet all the interdisciplinary interconnections the intercultural management representing a good example in this sense. Regarding the intercultural management, a considerable proportion from the patterns of national cultural orientations didnt take into consideration the East Central European area (e.g. the pattern of R. Nath, of Geert Hofstede, etc) in their researches. Once with the punctuation of the necessity and the novelty of the assumed research direction (it was considered that the Cultural Specificity is a good predictor for the present research), we declare that the purpose of descriptive nature of this scientific research is to observe the measure in which the characteristics of national culture influences the implementation and the development of Business Intelligence, one of the relative new discipline appeared within the management science, in the Romanian enterprises. The present research proposes for fulfilling the declared purpose as specific objectives, the fallowing: - to outline the diagnosis of the Romanian national culture according to the cultural dimensions on the basis of the typologies from the specialty literature; - to realize the delineation of the cultural specificity characteristics of the researched population and the framing of these on the basis of the typologies from the specialty literature; - to distinguish the adopted position and the importance given by the Romanian enterprises (the research sample) to BI; - to distinguish the role of the cultural specificity towards the BIs strategies implemented into the Romanian enterprises; - to explore the relation employee manager performance obtained through BI; - to correlate the cultural specificity with the future development of BI in the Romanian enterprises;

- and, not the last, to putt the basis of a specific methodology through the typologizing or through the construction of a questionnaire of which items can allow the outlining of sampled population according to general criteria (e.g. the financial constitution enterprises with 100% Romanian capital, enterprises with foreign capital, enterprises with mixed capital) and specific criteria (the size of the enterprise according to the number of employees, the nature of the selled products/services), but also to help to the achievement of the above mentioned objectives. The premise of which the research is initiated has a pronounced monographic character, that is the BIs actions are oriented/determined fundamental by the cultural specific, through the results that will be obtained it will present explanatory aspects for this. 4.2. The methodology for data collection The analytical research of Business Intelligence framed into the Romanian national culture specificity is an applicative research in management, using a type of research mixed inductive deductive. This mixed research type is realized into a first part of the research through the presenting of national cultural patterns and the framing of Romania into the typology (doting in the same time its cultural specificity characteristics), so that in the pure monographic/casuistic part through the research tool that will be constructed the questionnaire, to analyze the manner in which the predictor the cultural specificity will influence the future development of BI (at the level of practices, strategies, actions) and to explore the dimension of each cultural characteristics; in the conclusion part realizing the interpretation and the systematizing of the data obtained fallowing the implementation of the research. The present research paper, isnt only a pure analytical research, but also an explicative research (begins from a premise, and from a general hypothesis), in the sense that its proposes to reach the a priory established objectives, but also the discover the eventual causative relations between Business Intelligence, on one side, and the national cultural specificity dimension on the other side. The cultural specificity that involves a universe of values, of motivations, of

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The International Conference on Administration and Business

ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

aspirations, of attitudes and of creativity; a world in which the aspirations, the dreams and the projects aims in the same time the soul and the heart, not only in the humans spirit, but moreover in collectivities heart (according to Jon Hawkes, 2001), being without doubts an assumed culture and not a constructed one (as in the case of organizational culture, for example). This study of interpretative type used as a research strategy the casuistic quantitative analysis method (the monograph will be realized on a sample of subjects within the Romanian enterprises from different regions) to collect the data. The phasing of this scientific research includes the fallowing aspects: - the consulting and the epistemological treatment of the specialty literature and of the national legislative framework under the auspices under which the enterprises uses BI; - a pretesting (filter role) with the purpose of gathering data through the applying the research tool the questionnaire (will be applied only to the managers), to fulfill the objective of identifying the Romanian enterprises that understand and apply BI; The research tool applied within the pretesting the questionnaire can be framed into the general category of the opinion questionnaire, self-administrated (by the questioned subject), having in its body five questions (semi-opened as well as semiclosed). - the mainly testing: using as a research tool (analytical) a questionnaire (applicable to the employees and as well to the managers) more ample and more complex; The research tool that will be used in this phase of testing will be a more complex one, such as a combination between the questionnaire of factual data (its first part) and the opinion questionnaire, that had the role not only to investigate the subjects opinion on the given theme the implementation and the development of BI, and even the perceptions (undertaken elements from the socio human methodology) towards the Romanian managerial system that uses BI (per ensemble), the employees and the managers behaviors as a consequence of the subjects perceptions, behaviors that transform in norms which will influence the adopted strategies regarding the BIs activity.

- the processing the resulted data as a consequence of the quantitative analysis through systematizing, tabling, graphical representations of the future obtained data etc.; - the preliminary/finale analysis (the correlation of the obtained data with the objectives settled a priory to the research itself) and the generalizing of the obtained data; - the determining of - Cronbach internal consistence coefficient for the two questionnaires (the one used in pretesting and the one used in the mainly testing) and the elimination of the inadequate items so that the consistence coefficient will be bigger then 0.7. The election of this analytical research method for the data collection owed to the fact that allows a better measurement, plus that because of the researched population (especially the managers constitution) in this study the time economy in the implementation of the researched tool will represent a plus. 5. Conclusions and implications The actions of Business Intelligence have to be legally conducted, with all the guarantees necessary to the patrimonial protection of the firms and in the best quality conditions, terms and costs. Through these requests is necessary to be understood the clear appeal for the manifestation of the willing of eliminating all the ambiguities regarding the Business Intelligence practice. In some countries the Business Intelligence is still be darken by economic espionage or by the espionage in general. Other countries promotes however in jobs related by Business Intelligence former members of the secret services, they enjoying of trust because of the old activities. The unclear image of Business Intelligence activities doesnt correspond to the reality, even if there are a few exceptions that trespasses the law. Business Intelligence it is based on the observation and the active surveillance of the firms environment through the documents reading, the interlocutor listening or attentively looking around to form an opinion. Although this young discipline is still at its first stages of development, the necessity of the existence of a deontology appears today more important, because it constitute a decisive

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ICEA - FAA 2009 14 15 NOVEMBER 2009 http://conference.faa.ro

The Faculty of Business and Administration University of Bucharest

factor of recognition and of integration of Business Intelligence in the firm. Still doesnt exist until at this date a unique deontological code for all the professionals in the world. Different organizations existing in the world that promotes the Business Intelligence and the competition suggests the necessity of establishment of a common deontological code (in U.S.A. existed such a try in 1994). Having as an origin the strategic surveillance, the Business Intelligence appears as a strong strategic tool at the firms disposal, especially, regarding the concurrencies and the environmental surveillance. The gathering, the treatment and the spreading of the informations useful to the firm is the most important vocation of Business Intelligence, but aside this exist another active action that wasnt a lot taken in account, the establishment and the undertaken of some actions of influence; these includes not only the ensemble of spreading and informations usage actions within the firms, but also the firms actions through which the environment is influenced, the lobbying is one of the known one. The analysis of intelligent data was always important because through this analysis it is generated the comprehension. The importance of comprehension of "competition" was recognized by the military strategic Sun Tzu since VI century before Christ. This necessity for knowing the opponent was asserted through the spy usage: Advance knowledge cannot be gained from ghosts and spirits, inferred from phenomena, or projected from the measures of Heaven, but must be gained from men for it is the knowledge of the enemy's true situation. References
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Cook, Michelle and Cook, Curtis. Create an intelligent organization and compete to win. London: Kogan PAGE, 2000. Dijmrescu, Ion. Managementul Inteligenei Economice. Bucureti: Editura Lumina Lex, 1998. Dresner, Haward, Why enterprisses must make business intelligence an imperative,http://www.gartnergroup.com. Hawkes, Jon. The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Cultures Essential Role in Public Planning. Melbourne : Common Ground and the Cultural Development Network, 2001. Hislop, Donald. Knowledge management in organizations: a critical introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Hourst, Bruno and Plan, Denis. Management et intelligences multiples. La thorie de Gardner applique l'entreprise. Paris: ditions Dunod, 2008. Hurbean, Luminia. Tehnologia Business Inteligence n managementul strategic al firmei,http://www.Business Inteligence.ro. Jacob, Nina. Imtercultural management. London: Kogan Page, 2003. Jakobiak, Franois. L'intelligence conomique en pratique. Comment btir son propre systme d'intelligence conomique. Paris: ditions d'Organisations, deuxime edition, 2001. Jakobiak, Franois. L'intelligence conomique. La comprendre, l'implanter, l' utiliser. Paris: ditions d'Organisations, 2004. Koen, Carla J. Comparative international management. London: McGraw Hill Education, 2005. Moscovici, Serge, Buschini, Fabrice et al., Metodologia tiinelor socioumane. Iai: Editura Polirom, 2007. Moss, L. T. and Atre, S. Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications. Boston: Addison Wesley, 2003. Nicolescu, Ovidiu. Management comparat Uniunea European, Japonia i SUA. Bucureti: Editura Economic, third edition, 2006. Phatak, Arvind V., Bhagat, Rabi S. and Kashlak, Roger J. International management. Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment. New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin, 2005.

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Pohoa, Ion. Paradigme de gndire, Introducere n epistemologia economic. Iai: Editura Universitii Al.I.Cuza, 1994. Raisinghani, M. Business Intelligence in the Digital Economy Opportunities, Limitations and Risks. Hershey: Idea Group INC, 2004. Sasu, Constantin. Management internaional. Iai: Editura Universitii Alexandru Ioan Cuza, 2004. Schneider, Susan C. and Barsoux, Jean Louis. Managing across cultures. Essex: Pearson Education Limited, 2003. Silai, G., Stanc, A. and Sava, V. Inteligena Economic, arm a rzboiului global. Timioara: Editura Orizonturi Universitare, 2002. Singly, Franois, Blanchet, Alain, Gotman, Anne and Kaufmann, Jean Claude. Ancheta i metodele ei: chestionarul, interviul de producere a datelor, interviul comprehensiv. Iai: Editura Polirom, 1998. Thompson, Olin. Business Intelligence Succes, Lessons Learned, http://www.technologevaluation.com Vitt, Elizabeth. Business Intelligence: Making better decisions faster. Redmond: Microsoft Press, 2002. Zai, Dumitru et al. Management intercultural. Valorizarea diferenelor culturale. Bucureti: Editura Economic, 2006. Zai, Dumitru and Spalanzani, Alain. Cercetarea n economie i management. Repere epistemologice i metodologice. Bucureti: Editura Economic, 2006. *** Wikipedia The http://en.wikipedia.org. free encyclopedia,

Is dominated by subjective, because the object and the subject of the research mix up and to research its attributed a priory a social construction a premise. ii In the mentioned paper the concept was named Intelligence Economique, the translation into french of BI. iii Only the finality of BI holds of the competitive management (one of the BIs objectives is the one of gathering informations for obtaining competition advantage) and of the performance management (the obtaining of competition advantages being desired that the enterprise reaches the financial objectives or only to survive on the market).
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