Enabling mobile commerce through mass customization

Mobile Commerce is a new degree of electronic commerce arises from the convergence of Internet and mobile communication technologies. In order to be successful in mobile business, it is not sufficient to simply transfer conventional Internet applications or E-Commerce business models on mobile devices. Added values for the customer are necessary. Typical informational added values in Mobile Commerce originate from ubiquity, context-sensitivity, identifying functions or command and control functions. Mobile devices implicate disadvantes, which can be equalized by individualization. For the simplest devices, this is satisfied with simple features like housings, ring tones or logos. The more upmarket the device is, the more the individualization focus is laid on the applications instead of the device itself. In terms of mass customization, the individualization of mobile devices and applications can be categorized as soft customization. Below this level, three kinds of customization habe to be distinguished: The first on is device adaptation which means the customization of the device itself. The next one is application adaptation and describes the customization of the applications through the customer or as self-individualization of the software. The last one is service composition and means the package of services or the customer-individual composition of applications and services, which ca be done either by the customer, by the provider or by collaboration of both. In this paper we show the importance of mass customization and its techniques for the success of mobile commerce.mass customization; M-Commerce; mobile added values; point-of-delivery-customization; service composition

SERVICE-PROCESS CONFIGURATIONS IN ELECTRONIC RETAILING: A TAXONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC FOOD RETAILERS

Service-processes of electronic retailers are founded on electronic technologies that provide flexibility to sense and respond online to the dynamic and complex needs of customers. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of service-processes in electronic retailing and demonstrate their linkage to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The taxonomy is grounded in a conceptual classification scheme that differentiates service-process stages on a continuum of flexibility. Using data on electronic service-processes collected from 255 electronic food retailers, we identified eight configurations for the taxonomy. We also collected and analyzed publicly reported customer satisfaction survey data that were available for 52 electronic food retailers in the study sample. The results of this analysis indicate positive and significant correlation of the ordering of the taxonomy configurations with (i) customer satisfaction with product information, product selection, web site aesthetics, web site navigation, customer support, and ease of return, and (ii) customer loyalty. Taken together, the results of our empirical analyses demonstrate that the taxonomy captures information and variety within and across the electronic service-process configurations in ways that can be related to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Added Value-based Approach to Analyze Electronic Commerce and Mobile Commerce Business Models

In this contribution we propose to apply the theory of informational added values (IAV) on electronic commerce (EC) and mobile commerce (MC). We state that for the success of electronic and mobile offers it is not sufficient to merely make a conventional offer available with new media. Instead, the use of electronic and mobile communication technology is only remunerative if it results in obtaining distinct supplementary IAV. This depends on the exploitation of certain faculties of the used technology. For EC, we call these the four electronic added values (EAV): reduction of temporal and certain spatial limitations, reduction of technical limitations, multi-mediality of access and egalitarian access. For MC, we call these the four mobile added values (MAV): ubiquity, contextsensitivity,identifying functions and command and control functions. We can find EAV and MAV as typical properties of EC or MC applications. EAV are the basis for the superiority of Internet applications compared with offline solutions. The relationship between the separate EAV and IAV will be explained and analyzed. Proceeding analogously for mobile applications, we analyze the relationship between MAV and resulting IAV. The outcome is an extension of the theory of informational added values with the concept of electronic and mobile added values. This allows for an application of the theory to both EC and MC in order to analyze and qualitatively evaluate any given business model. For determining its crucial added value we have to identify the EAV/MAV which are capitalized and can deduce the IAV resulting for each party involved. The concept put forward is a suggestion to approach business models, with the focus on typical evaluation criteria for Internet/mobile business models. It is also suitable to compare different business models and to put their added value for the involved parties in a context. In this way, objective criteria are established reducing subjectivity and allowing to make certain predictions. The paper ends with a critical review and the perspective for further research

Lex Informatica: The Formulation of Information Policy Rules through Technology

Historically, law and government regulation have established default rules for information policy, including constitutional rules on freedom of expression and statutory rights of ownership of information. This Article will show that for network environments and the Information Society, however, law and government regulation are not the only source of rule-making. Technological capabilities and system design choices impose rules on participants. The creation and implementation of information policy are embedded in network designs and standards as well as in system configurations. Even user preferences and technical choices create overarching, local default rules. This Article argues, in essence, that the set of rules for information flows imposed by technology and communication networks form a “Lex Informatica” that policymakers must understand, consciously recognize, and encourage

Laboratories of Reform: Virtual High Schools and Innovation in Public Education

Virtual schools are growing rapidly, serving over 700,000 students in the 2005-06 school year. But these schools are proving to be more than just another delivery system for students; they are bringing about reforms that have long eluded traditional public schools

Book Review ---Getting to Transformation

The book is presented in four parts; containing 23 chapters which includes glossary, bibliography, subject index and name index. The author has used tables and diagrams besides lucid expression. The objective of the book is to understand how organizations can UNLEASH the power of internet and e-business and can reinvent themselves. The organization cannot transform itself in a single day and needs an integrated approach which involves various key concepts and components in transformations. The book talks about all such concepts and components aimed at to serve the customers better and to sell the products to generate more revenue.Transformation, e-government

Insurance Industry and E-Business

亀井利明教授古稀記念特

The Role of the Mangement Sciences in Research on Personalization

We present a review of research studies that deal with personalization. We synthesize current knowledge about these areas, and identify issues that we envision will be of interest to researchers working in the management sciences. We take an interdisciplinary approach that spans the areas of economics, marketing, information technology, and operations. We present an overarching framework for personalization that allows us to identify key players in the personalization process, as well as, the key stages of personalization. The framework enables us to examine the strategic role of personalization in the interactions between a firm and other key players in the firm's value system. We review extant literature in the strategic behavior of firms, and discuss opportunities for analytical and empirical research in this regard. Next, we examine how a firm can learn a customer's preferences, which is one of the key components of the personalization process. We use a utility-based approach to formalize such preference functions, and to understand how these preference functions could be learnt based on a customer's interactions with a firm. We identify well-established techniques in management sciences that can be gainfully employed in future research on personalization.CRM, Persoanlization, Marketing, e-commerce,

Merge-in-transit (MiT) retailing: rapid fulfillment, mass customization, and postponement

Purpose: The paper discusses the links between Rapid Fulfilment, Mass Customization, and Postponement in the light of Merge-In-Transit Retailing. The value offering of MiT can be exploited only if this operational strategies can be understood for implementation. Research Approach: The paper reviews concepts in the literature of highly regarded journals in Logistics, SCM, Operations Management to build a conceptual framework framing MiT and the supporting concepts. Findings and Originality: With the explosion of on-line retailing in the last decade a deeper understanding of MiT is required for it evolution in the practical feel. So far limited work has been published on MiT and their operational supporting strategies. Research Impact: The paper contributed in the deeper understanding the logistics under the Internet Retailing therefore his impact is promising. Practical Impact: Managers and people in charge in the design and operations of logistics systems supporting internet retailing can find this paper of interest as the fourth linked concepts have not been yet discussed together

The Development of Citizen Oriented Informatics

We define the concept of citizen-oriented computer application. Quality characteristics are set for computer applications developed in the conditions of citizen-oriented computing and outline the development cycle for these applications. It defines the conditions of existence for citizen-oriented applications. Average and long-term strategies are elaborated.Distributed Applications, Metrics, Citizen-Orientation, Strategies