2017. No. 3 (41)

Tatiana A. Gavrilova - Professor, Head of Department of Information Technologies in Management, Saint-Petersburg University
Address: 3, Volkhovsky Pereulok, St. Petersburg, 199004, Russian Federation
E-mail: gavrilova@gsom.pu.ru

Artem I. Alsufyev - Assistant Professor, Department of Organizational Behavior and Personnel Management, Saint-Petersburg University
Address: 3, Volkhovsky Pereulok, St. Petersburg, 199004, Russian Federation
E-mail: alsufyev@gsom.pu.ru

Elvira Y. Grinberg - Doctoral Student, Department of Information Technologies in Management, Saint-Petersburg University
Address: 3, Volkhovsky Pereulok, St. Petersburg, 199004, Russian Federation
E-mail: st057454@student.spbu.ru

      The purpose of this article is the analysis of leading European research in the field of knowledge visualization from the point of view of the accumulated theoretical base, practice of application, problems, and trends.
      The need for digital business transformation for survival in the era of high-speed, mobile intelligent applications and big data has become apparent. However, understanding and interpretation of information can be performed only by humans. Modern managers cope with information “explosion” through visualization. Visualization helps them to understand, to compress and to demonstrate the ocean of numbers, words, and ideas. The number of works devoted to the theme of visualization is growing every year. There are numerous studies on the visualization of networks and relationships, and visualization of communication with a consumer. Fewer articles have been devoted to the visualization of knowledge in the implementation of business practices. At the same time, scientists are examining one specific area of application of visualization and only a few contribute to the theory of the subject and study it in a versatile manner. The latter include the works of researchers from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), which we call in this article the St. Gallen School.
      We propose systematization of the following basic stages of research formation of the aforementioned School: 1) the preliminary stage, 2) the stage of empirical data accumulation, and 3) the stage of theory development. The School’s contribution to the theory and practice of management was analyzed. Its contribution to theory includes the classification of visualization techniques, a description of visualization use in business, the development of the boundary objects theory, as well as a detailed description of experimental studies. Contribution to business practices means implementation of educational projects and the development of new visual models. The fragmented nature of research is identified: theoretical work is focused on how several visual models influence the implementation of certain business practices; empirical work often describes consulting projects, but do not provide an understanding of how to apply visualization techniques when there is no researcher-consultant.
      Based on our analysis of the literature, we demonstrate that the major trend in information processing is focus on knowledge representation based on data, not data as such. The challenging areas related to applied research methods are highlighted as follows: lack of consistency, and lack of distinction between the concepts of “data visualization” and “knowledge visualization”. Thus, there is a need to distinguish visualization of knowledge in a separate area of study.

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 15-18-30048)

Elena D. Kopnova - Associate Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Analysis, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Address: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation 
E-mail:ekopnova@hse.ru

Lilia A. Rodionova - Associate Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Analysis, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Address: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation 
E-mail: lrodionova@hse.ru

      The paper studies the problems of food security as the basis for the stability of the country’s economic development. Despite the economic growth of most countries in the world, the problems of hunger continue to be acute in developing countries. This undermines the food security of these countries and can pose a threat to world peace as a whole. Numerous studies show that foreign investment plays an important role in the creation of food security, but this effect is ambiguous. The most common methods of analysis in recent researchеs are descriptive analysis and panel data models.
      In this article, our approach to analyzing the impact of foreign investment is based on panel cointegration models; the interpretation of the results uses the impulse response function based on an error correction model. Countries of North Africa are considered as an example of the implementation of this approach. Data from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization for 1991–2014 for seven countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara) were selected for analysis. In this paper, we have also tested the methodology for selecting the food security indicator based on analysis of the matrix of cointegration relations.
      The results show that foreign investment has a significant long-term impact on food security, but in the short term no effect was detected. The proposed modeling methodology can be extended to any region of the world to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the current economic policy to combat hunger and poverty.

Eduard A. Babkin - Professor, Department of Information Systems and Technology, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Address: 25/12, Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603155, Russian Federation
E-mail: eababkin@hse.ru

Nikita O. Ponomarev - Student, Business Informatics MSc Program, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Software Engineer, Intel Corporation
Address: 25/12, Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, Nizhny Novgorod, 603155, Russian Federation
E-mail:nik4nikita@gmail.com

      Enterprise architecture design is a complex process which makes it possible to synchronize the capabilities and needs of business and information technologies (IT). It can be achieved by clarifying the understanding and formalization of the business processes and the interaction of the elements of the system through their formal description. The large number of interacting business processes and enterprise architecture entities raises the question of verifying their correctness. Therefore, it is necessary to formalize the requirements for architecture and be able to automatically verify them.
      In this paper, we propose a method for detecting logical contradictions in enterprise architecture models based on a model checking approach adopted in the context of business modeling. As an enterprise architecture description language, we use the modern open and independent ArchiMate standard. Developed by The Open Group, the standard provides a general specification for business processes, organizational structures, information flows, IT-systems and the technical infrastructure description of the enterprise. As a verifier, the language and tools of the MIT Alloy Analyzer system were chosen; they facilitate analysis of model constraints in terms of relational logic by automatically generating structures that satisfy the requirements of a logical model.
      In this paper, we propose to simplify and automate the process of specification and verification of enterprise architecture domain models using Archi - the visual editor for ArchiMate models. We have developed the editor plug-in which translates the enterprise architecture models into the language of the MIT Alloy Analyzer system and uses the meta-model of the ArchiMate specification as the basis for constructing specific domain models. The proposed method and software solutions have been tested using the ArciSurance case and their enterprise architecture model.

The research was carried out with financial support of Russian Fund of Basic Research No. 16-06-00184 A “Development and investigation models of online-discussion based on materials of political news” 

Ruslan A. Dolzhenko - Professor, Department of Labor Economics and Personnel Management, Ural State University of Economics; Associate Professor, Department of Personnel Management and Socio-Economic Relations, Altai State University
Address: 62/45, 8 Marta / Narodnoy Voli Street, Ekaterinburg, 620144, Russian Federation  
E-mail: snurk17@gmail.com

      In this article we examine the possibility of using geomarketing as a tool for modeling the spatial location of a bank’s offices serving individuals and legal entities. Geomarketing is a marketing concept of modern production management based on geo-information technologies which involves the use of spatially localized information to support decision-making. This concept is particularly timely for commercial banks which present their services to customers in an extensive network of service offices, because for the majority of banking services the determining factor in the consumer’s choice of bank for a given service will be the convenience of the location of its office.
      The article describes a sequence of typical steps in geomarketing simulations and makes recommendations for the implementation of each selected stage. Methodical approaches to the implementation of geomarketing modeling for an optimal network of the bank’s service offices are highlighted. Problems in the organization of the network of service offices of the bank which can be solved with the help of geomarketing design are studied. Recommendations are presented for evaluating the capacity of a commercial bank’s office service network depending on their specialization in serving individuals or legal entities. An algorithm is presented for calculating the service office network capacity for individuals together with respective formulas. An approach to evaluating the capacity of the office network servicing legal entities is described. Recommendations are offered for implementing the evaluation of planned location of offices servicing the bank’s clients, as well as for determining the habitats of their preferred location to facilitate the most effective coverage of the local market while taking into account the return on investment in offices.

Pavel V. Malyzhenkov - Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems and Technologies, National Research University Higher School of Economics   
Address: 25/12, Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, Nizhniy Novgorod, 603155, Russian Federation  
E-mail: pmalyzhenkov@hse.ru

Marina I. Ivanova - Student, Business Informatics MSc Program, National Research University Higher School of Economics   
Address: 25/12, Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, Nizhniy Novgorod, 603155, Russian Federation  
E-mail: miivanova_1@edu.hse.ru

      Information technologies have evolved from their traditional back-office role to a strategic resource role that can not only support but also shape business strategies. Still, different analytical sources indicate that only a small number of projects complete on-time and on-budget, leading to initially specified goals and results. The main problem is the creation and formalization of an IT–business alignment mechanism which for over a decade has been ranked as a top-priority management concern and is widely covered in theoretical literature. However, the field is dominated by conceptual studies, while there is little research on practical ways to achieve the alignment. Moreover, most of the existing research focuses on the alignment assessment using questionnaire methods based on the subjective judgement of IT and business executives. From this point of view, Enterprise Architecture development as a methodological approach to the mutually aligned business and IT architectures’ design, represents a suitable tool for solving this problem. However, most of the existing EA approaches do not distinguish between different IT–business alignment perspectives. This paper attempts to provide practical guidance for IT–business alignment as well as strategic guidance for EA development by integrating the traditional Strategic Alignment Model and the TOGAF framework. 

Marina V. Tumbinskaya - Associate Professor, Department of Information Protection Systems, Kazan National Research Technical University named after A.N. Tupolev
Address: 10, Karl Marx Street, Kazan, 420111, Russian Federation
E-mail: tumbinskaya@inbox.ru

      Currently, users of online social networks increasingly use them to promote business, distribute advertisements for goods and services, engage in leisure, hobbies, personal communication and information exchange. Thus, social networks have become an open source of information for malicious users. Hackers use various ways to implement attacks, one of which is the spread of unsolicited (targeted) information. Successful distribution of unsolicited information entails the implementation of an attack scenario and achievement of the hacker’s aim. In this regard, hackers have an interest in involving so-called social networking community leaders (users who have a high level of trust and influence among a large number of community users), who are able to successfully implement part of the attack scenario of the attacker.
      This article presents the results of the study in three situations: the user/potential hacker’s dissemination of targeted information on the social network, receipt of targeted information by users of the social network, and counteraction and prevention of the dissemination of targeted information on the social network. Experimental data are described and their analysis is presented.    
      A method of protection from targeted information disseminated on social networks is identified, allowing for an increase in the level of protection of social network users’ personal data and personal information and ensuring the reliability of information.
      The results of the research will help prevent threats to information security, counteract attacks by hackers, who often use methods of competitive intelligence and social engineering through the use of countermeasures, develop a model of protection against targeted information and implement specialized software for its integration into social networks.