Investigating affordances of virtual worlds for real world B2C e-commerce

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional (3D) online persistent multi-user environments where users interact through avatars. The literature suggests that virtual worlds can facilitate real world business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. However, few real world businesses have adopted virtual worlds for B2C e-commerce. In this paper, we present results from interviews with consumers in a virtual world to investigate how virtual worlds can support B2C e-commerce. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted to uncover affordances and constraints of virtual worlds for B2C e-commerce. Two affordances (habitability and appearance of realness) and one constraint (demand for specialised skill) were uncovered. The implications of this research for designers are (1) to provide options to consumers that enable them to manage their online reputation, (2) to focus on managing consumers’ expectations and (3) to facilitate learning between consumers

Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

Team to Market (T2M): Creating High Performance Teams in the Digital Age

1. Teams are the essential means of product or service delivery and the fundamental building blocks of modern organisations. An effective team can produce results far outperforming a collection of even the most talented individuals when team members coalesce and jell into a single, well-functioning, fully-aligned organism. This report advances the notion of “Team to Market” (T2M) to help business leaders and knowledge workers understand, create and lead high performance teams in the digital age

Virtual cities management and organisation

This paper presents a recent overview of the increasing use of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for the simulation of urban environments. It builds on previous research conducted on the identification of three-dimensional (3D) city models and offers an analysis of the development, utilization and construction of VR city models. Issues pertaining to advantages, barriers and ownership are identified. The paper describes a case study of the development of a VR model for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK and outlines the role that academic institutions can play in both the creation and utilization of urban models. The study offers a new approach for the creation, management and update of urban models and reflects on issues which are emerging. Areas for future research are discussed

New Business Models Enabled by Digital Technologies:A perspective from the fashion sector

Challenging the sceptical view that consumers would not buy apparel and accessories without feeling the fabric and testing for size and look, online fashion sales is growing fast. Yet, the myriad of recent business model developments in the sector depicts a disorderly environment lacking frameworks and typologies to facilitate understanding and explain different business propositions. This document reports the findings of a sectoral exploratory study that was developed in the fashion retail sector. The main objective of the project was to provide the parent project NEMODE with a perspective of new business model developments and improvements that emerged in the fashion retail sector through developments in the digital economy. The report points out example cases showing business model innovations in the sector, the core functionalities the models implement and key digital technologies and platforms enabling the core functionalities of the business models. The project was an exploratory investigation that was developed in a short period of time (3 months). Thus, an exploratory approach involving environmental scanning was the investigation method used to identify business model innovations in the sector. The environmental scanning comprised searches on the internet, literature review of academic journals, business reports and press articles, and visits to fashion retailers in the UK. The study focused upon business models in the fashion retail sector which are using digital technologies to implement conceptual models based upon personal subscription, mass customisation, social merchandising and collaborative consumption concepts and functionalities. The main findings of the study show a widespread adoption of customer-oriented and social networking concepts and practices across different business models in the sector, which now faces a more complex scenario of relationships to manage. The study also shows that many fashion retailers are using digital technologies to “dematerialize” fitting or dressing rooms in form of “virtual fitting rooms” or “interactive mirrors” in order to create optimum value/cost outcomes. On the other hand, the “materialization” of customised designs through 3D printers is liberating people from constraints of time, space, actor and constellation. It is also possible to notice different degrees of technological mobilisations (i.e. different technological densities) created by different fashion retailers and these densities seem to be gradually shaping new “time-space-actor-constellations” models in the fashion retail sector where digital technologies play a vital role

A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service

This paper presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. We illustrate this integration using two services; Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS) in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Advanced techniques are used to demonstrate statistical services and 3D Visualisation services under the remit of RMaaS and Monte Carlo Simulation as a Service behind the design of RAaaS. Computational results are presented with their implications discussed. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly and accurately with the use of BIaaS. This case study confirms the benefits of BIaaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management and stakeholders of University of Southampton