Strategic Implications of eCommerce for Papermakers

It is expected that the paper and office products supply chain will move online in the very near future. The hubris of new eBusiness models has ended in a fragmented picture of a multitude of personal views relating to future developments on the eEconomy, eIndustry and eEnterprise levels. This paper endeavors to compile the currently existing knowledge in this field and to identify the basic drivers and inhibitors of the new economy that are of relevance to the forest industry. On the eEconomy level, acceleration in macro-economic growth can be expected due to efficiency and productivity improvements that are triggered by the elimination of information barriers thereby creating more efficient markets. On the eIndustry level, globally operating and more adaptive industry networks will improve economic performance by reaping economies of scale. Less volatile markets will result from improved planning and coordination thereby eliminating redundant capacities. An overly horizontally concentrated market structure might bear the danger of locking the paper industry in an underdevelopment trap of innovation exhaustion and organizational inertia. Business entities on the eEnterprise level will have to adopt the principles of openness, connectivity and strategic integration to fully benefit from networking and integration effects along the entire value chain. However a number of issues, such as sharing critical data in a networked economy, will increase demands for newly adapted business culture and management models

Examining Inefficiencies and Consumer Uncertainty in E-Commerce

The popularity of e-commerce can be attributed to open (and mostly unbridled) competition with minimal barriers to entry. Yet, recent surveys suggest a general lack of consumer confidence in transacting online. Such findings are troubling — pointing to probable inefficiencies in e-commerce. The question then is: what are these inefficiencies and how do they prompt such consumer uncertainty? In answering the question, this paper surfaces three core e-commerce inefficiencies: seller anonymity, lack of product transparency, and lack of process transparency. It is also contended that consumer uncertainty is not an intrinsic buyer characteristic. Rather, it is contingent upon the information specificity of specific products that consumers transact in B2C and C2C e-commerce. Tying together threads from behavioral economics, this paper offers a novel perspective toward understanding electronic market inefficiencies and its consequent effects on consumer uncertainty. Apart from proposing a model of consumer uncertainty in e-commerce, the study offers a preliminary empirical validation of the proposed model. Findings suggest that inherent Ecommerce inefficiencies of anonymity and lack of product and process transparencies cause consumer uncertainty. The findings further evidence how buyer uncertainty increases when planning to buy products with high information specificity, especially when product transparency is lacking

The Data Driven Decision RACE in eRetailing

This study takes a customer centric approach to investigate small eRetailers’ data driven decisions. The research is based on an edited version of Chaffey and Smith´s (2013) RACE framework and an edited version of the business analytics framework by Delen and Demirkan (2012a), divided in knowledge and data driven decision-making. By combining these two frameworks we create the Data Driven Decision RACE model. The empirical research is a survey among small Finnish eRetailers. The findings indicate that a majority of the studied eRetailers do analyze data and understand customer online behavior especially in the Reach and Engage stages of the Data Driven Decision RACE model. However, the study also indicates that the data driven decision-making is fairly low within all three stages of the model, which implies that small eRetailers primarily rely on experience and gut instinct rather than on customer data when they make decisions concerning their online activities

Analysis of Mobile Commerce in the SMEs of the European Union

This paper examines the situation of e-commerce and m-commerce in SMEs in the European Union and analyses if their behaviour in this field is determined by a series of factors, such as the size of the company, the type of business, turnover, etc. which may also influence their needs of specific training for their employees. This study is based on an online survey responded by 674 SMEs from eight different countries in Europe, aimed at providing training assistance to SMEs to support their efforts towards m-commerce. The objective is the analysis of the skills and knowledge to be recommended to employees of SMEs for a better preparation to implement the companies\u27 strategy of m-commerce. Although analysis of results from survey has supported the initial goal of developing training courses for m-commerce which include different economic, legal and technical topics, it has mainly provided very relevant conclusions on the factors which impact the adoption of e-commerce and m-commerce by SMEs

Impact of e-commerce on European containerboard demand

This master’s thesis investigates the impact of business-to-consumer electronic commerce (later e-commerce) on European containerboard demand. In e-commerce, products are usually shipped separately to consumers, which increases secondary package’s role in distribution. The main functions of e-commerce packaging are protection, convenience and brand communication. In addition, consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable packaging solutions. The most used packaging material in e-commerce is corrugated board, followed by flexible plastics. Corrugated board uses containerboard as raw material in liners and flutings. The overall European containerboard market is well known but the impact of e-commerce on the European containerboard demand is unclear. Due to robust growth of e-commerce and lack of research on e-commerce packaging, the main goal of this research is to investigate the demand drivers for containerboard used in e-commerce packaging, paying attention to the growing sustainability concerns. The research was done for a case company, which is a global business advisor in industry and energy sectors. The objectives of this market research were achieved with literature review and by having in total 42 answerers in interviews and online survey. The biggest drivers for containerboard demand in e-commerce packaging are overall economic situation and e-commerce development. As well, competition between packaging materials and growing sustainability concerns are big drivers. Fibre-based packaging materials are currently perceived as more sustainable than plastics due to recyclability. On the other hand, corrugated packaging may face challenges due to overpackaging, which needs to be reduced. Policies may arise due to sustainability concerns and they can have both positive and negative impacts on future e-commerce packaging demand. Big online retailers are followed in the market and their packaging decisions are observed by other retailers. Containerboard related trends in e-commerce packaging are requirements of lighter but stronger material and favour of recycled fibre-based containerboard. E-commerce packaging material decision is made based on need of protection, cost, perceived sustainability, brand image and compatibility. Corrugated packaging has advantage over substitute materials when protection is needed. On the other hand, plastics and other flexible solutions are often less expensive than corrugated board, which means that they are usually favoured when protection is non-relevant. Packaging should be compatible with requirements of the supply chain, involving increase of automated packaging processes and intelligent packaging solutions. Good printability, opening experience and returnability are increasingly demanded from e-commerce packaging. As part of market research, the current demand of containerboard used in e-commerce packaging was estimated. Approximately 10% of the total containerboard demand in Europe is e-commerce packaging, of which 85% represent recycled fibre-based containerboard. To conclude, the growth of e-commerce and overall consumption, together with need of protective packaging create the containerboard demand in e-commerce packaging

Redesign and Content Creation for the New Lightsource Website — Internship Report

Every year the number of Internet users expands, and consequently, eCommerce has become part of our daily life. As a result, companies have held the digital transformation as an opportunity to gain visibility, credibility and approach targets that, without the magnitude of the online, couldn't be reached. And the United Kingdom is an impressive example of how online shopping has become a buying phenomenon, being named the most advanced eCommerce market in Europe. And to be successful in this highly competitive digital world, a humanised website that gathers valuable and relevant content for the user is imperative. The present report describes the six-month curricular internship performed at Lightsource, a lighting company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This project aimed to assist in the development of the new Lightsource website, focusing on the redesign and content creation for the new eCommerce platform. This involved using a combination of human-centred design methods to study the users' requirements, needs and obstacles that needed improvement in this new eCommerce solution. In line with the redesign process, new content was created for the platform to push the Content Marketing and SEO strategies of the website, always supported by the best practices described in the literature. The final result is a clear improvement on the Lightsource digital presence that integrates informed decisions and outputs compiled from exploring the users' needs.Todos os anos o número de utilizadores de Internet atinge consecutivamente novos valores recordes, fazendo, consequentemente, que fenómenos como o eCommerce se tornem hábitos cada vez mais comuns. Como resultado, as empresas têm vindo a agarrar a transformação digital como uma oportunidade para ganhar visibilidade e credibilidade, com a vantagem de alcançar mercados que sem a magnitude do digital seriam inalcançáveis. O Reino Unido é um exemplo prático de como as compras online são um fenómeno em expansão, sendo considerado o mais avançado mercado eCommerce na Europa. E para atingir o sucesso neste mundo digital incrivelmente competitivo, um website focado nas necessidades do utilizador que reúne conteúdo valioso e relevante é imperativo. O presente relatório descreve as atividades realizadas durante o estágio curricular de seis meses realizado na Lightsource, uma empresa do setor da iluminação sediada em Belfast, Irlanda do Norte. O projeto conduzido durante o estágio teve como objetivo a prestação de suporte no desenvolvimento do novo website da Lightsource, com especial foco no redesign e na criação de conteúdo para a nova plataforma de eCommerce da marca. Para isso, envolveu a aplicação de uma combinação de metodologias de design centrado no humano para identificação de requisitos, necessidades e obstáculos que exigiram melhoria nesta nova solução digital. Paralelamente, foi criado novo conteúdo para o website de forma a otimizar as estratégias de Marketing de Conteúdos e SEO, sempre suportado por aquilo que são as boas práticas salientadas pela literatura. O resultado final revela uma melhoria na presença digital da Lightsource que integra decisões informadas e validadas pelas conclusões obtidas no estudo conduzido sobre as necessidades do utilizador

Online Trust & Internet Entrepreneurs: A Kantian Approach

Being a successful entrepreneur often requires long hours. Competing on the internet adds the intense “hypercompetitive” nature of this fast paced environment. As a result of all these time pressures, most online entrepreneurs are not giving important ethical decisions their adequate consideration as they release new products and services. Additionally, the academic entrepreneurship literature does not provide any reference for these entrepreneurs to actively ensure they are acting responsibly as they innovate. The paper attempts to fill in this hole by answering answer the question “What constitutes responsible behavior for internet entrepreneurs?” Employing lessons from Immanuel Kant and John Rawls, we have come up with an internet model of online behavior based on respectfulness, transparency and universalizability. Ultimately this model is used to update the FCC’s Information Practice Principles with select additions to help guide internet entrepreneurs

WebTrust - 2000; Assurance services alerts

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_indev/1719/thumbnail.jp