Cities Online: Urban Development and the Internet

Examines how institutions in Austin, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., are adapting to the Internet as an economic development and community building tool

Assessing the success and evaluating the benefits of government-sponsored regional internet-trading platforms for small and medium enterprises: A Western Australian perspective

The Internet has been viewed as an opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to efficiently compete in the global arena with their larger counterparts by overcoming distance and size. However, research has shown that actual uptake of Internet e-commerce by SMEs has been lagging behind that of larger companies. Fearing a growing digital divide between large companies and SMEs, some governments have taken specific measures to encourage SME participation in ecommerce. One of the more direct government initiatives to hasten the progression of SMEs on the e-commerce adoption curve is the creation, sponsorship and management of regional Internet trading platforms for these enterprises. Such a move is predicated on the belief that these platforms will offer SMEs a low-cost introduction to participation in Internet trading platforms without the need for significant technology investments, allowing them to reap benefits like lower costs, improved customer service and new levels of innovation through knowledge-sharing

Technology Pooling Licensing Agreements: Promoting Patent Access Through Collaborative IP Mechanisms

In patent communities several patentees cooperate contractually to licence the respective patented technologies to third parties. In consideration of the rising relevance of this business practice, this book discusses crucial courses and strategic considerations, which are the basis for the establishment of patent communities, both in legal and empirical regard, in order to identify the optimal conditions for successful conversion in a competitive surrounding. Thus the best conditions for the promotion of innovation are to be created

Global Diffusion of the Internet - I: India: Is the Elephant Learning to Dance?

With his proclamation in 1998 that IT is India\u27s tomorrow , Prime Minister Vajpayee captured a vision of a 21st century India substantially different from that of the previous century, with its high levels of poverty, bloated bureaucracies, and protectionist policies. He envisioned the new India as a major IT power, fully integrated with the global economy, bringing about substantial domestic and international benefit. The Internet is a key to this vision, both as an enabler of technology-based change, and as an indicator of the vision\u27s fulfillment. Using an analytic framework developed by the authors and others, this study documents the growth of the Internet in India, from the pre-Internet networks through the boom of the Internet from 1998 to 2003. The Indian experience provides an example of how fundamental, focused changes in policy and legislation can unleash forces that accelerate Internet diffusion. Private sector initiatives greatly expanded the Internet infrastructure and Internet services market. At the same time, Government initiatives promoted the expansion of the Internet into parts of the country not well served by private ISPs. Poverty and limited telecommunications infrastructure currently limit the rate and extent of Internet expansion. However, time is an ally; the basic elements for continued growth of the Internet are largely in place

A Critical Investigation into Identifying Key Focus Areas for the Implementation of Blockchain Technology in the Mining Industry

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.The value of digital information is ever-increasing as more companies utilize digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to gain deeper insight into their business operations and drive productivity gains. It is therefore important to safeguard and ensure the integrity of digital information exchange. Blockchain technology (BCT) was identified as potentially providing the mining industry with a trusted system for securely exchanging digital value. However, there is little evidence or understanding of how/where BCT can be implemented and what benefits the industry could obtain. This research study provides a fundamental understanding of what the technology is in order to identify the associated capabilities and potential application benefits for the mining industry. From a technology push perspective, blockchain capabilities are used to evaluate how the technology’s value drivers map to the mining industries core value chain processes. This was done to identify potential focus areas within the mining enterprise for further research and development of blockchain applications.ARMMining EngineeringMEngUnrestricte

The role of e-procurement in purchasing management

This exposition summarises research published in several academic articles, in order to meet the requirements of PhD by publication. The focus of the work is on the role of electronic procurement in management of the purchasing function. From the late 1990s a number of independent e-procurement mechanisms were launched which offered potential benefits such as increased order accuracy, transaction efficiency and greater integration between trading partners. At the outset of this programme of research, e-procurement was therefore an emerging phenomenon with little academic research and presented an opportunity to investigate a largely unexplored area. Edmondson and McManus (2007) suggest that for nascent, as opposed to mature areas of research, where few formal constructs or measures exist, an exploratory, qualitative approach is required. This research followed such an approach through the use of case studies, involving observation, participation and interviews with key organisational actors. Each paper makes use of several cases in order to compare and contrast results from different organisations and to draw conclusions from multi-case analysis. The published articles focus on the impact of core applications within e-procurement, including online reverse auctions, electronic marketplaces, online catalogue sites, and buying systems covering the ‘requisition to pay’ cycle. The findings from the papers address a number of core themes in purchasing management. In considering buyer-supplier relationships, it was observed that such dyads are driven by traditional buyer negotiation factors such as segmentation, power and price and that use of eprocurement applications tended to enforce such traditional behaviours. In relation to the potential for integration, the study found that integration between firms was barely affected, as the concept of integration was neither an objective nor a business case driver for e-procurement adoption. This situation reflects the finding that procurement managers pursue functional targets rather than supply chain-level objectives. However, other significant effects from e-procurement adoption were noted such as the tendency by buyers to reduce supplier numbers and a move to re-engineer the procurement function in buying firms, through automating transactional processes. The research finds that e-procurement does not have a deterministic impact on purchasing management, and that it acts as an enabler to more effective management of the function though the way its different mechanisms are deployed. The exposition establishes that e-procurement is used in relation to supply conditions which are characterised by both ‘markets’ and ‘hierarchies’, but that it is the predefined purchasing strategy of the firm, rather than available technology solutions, which determines when markets and hierarchies are used. Additionally, an original model is introduced, focusing on developing an e-procurement policy which can support strategic purchasing goals. This model extrapolates findings from stages in the research, and marries together elements from various papers and frameworks therein, to produce some guidelines for adoption of this technology