The Economic Impacts of Information and Communication Technology In The Hungarian Economy

As the author could not find a reassuring mathematical and statistical method in the literature for studying the effect of information communication technology on enterprises, the author suggested a new research and analysis method that he also used to study the Hungarian economic sectors. After a brief introduction to the theoretical background of the Information Age, the author examines the question of what factors have an effect on their net income is essential for enterprises. First, the potential indicators related to economic sectors were studied, then the author compared those indicators to the net income of the surveyed enterprises. The data resulting from the comparison showed that the growing penetration of electronic marketplaces contributed to the change of the net income of enterprises in various economic sectors to the extent of 37 %. Among all the potential indicators, only the indicator of electronic marketplaces has a direct influence on the net income of enterprises. It was practical to determine two clusters based on the potential indicators

The Impact of ICT on Economic Sectors

As the author could not find a reassuring mathematical and statistical method in the literature for studying the effect of information communication technologyon enterprises, the author suggested a new research andanalysis method that he also used to study the Hungarian economic sectors. The question of what factors have an effecton their net income is vital for enterprises. The highest increment of specific Gross Value Added was produced by thefields of ‘Manufacturing’, ‘Electricity, gas and water supply’,‘Transport, storage and communication’ and ‘Financialintermediation’. With the exception of ‘Electricity, gas andwater supply’, the other economic sectors belong to the groupof underdeveloped branches (below 50%).On the other hand, ‘Construction’, ‘Health and social work’and‘Hotels and restaurants’ can be seen as laggards, so theygot into the lower left part of the coordinate system.‘Agriculture, hunting and forestry’ can also be classified as alaggard economic sector, but as the effect of the compoundindicator on the increment of Gross Value Added was lesssignificant, it can be found in the upper left part of thecoordinate system. Drawing a trend line on the points, it can bemade clear that it shows a positive gradient, that is, the higherthe usage of ICT devices, the higher improvement can bedetected in the specific Gross Value Added

Social Media’s impact on Intellectual Property Rights

This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in Handbook of Research on Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade, edited by Peggy E. Chaudhry, published in 2017 by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785366451. This material is for private use only, and cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher.Peer reviewe

B2B customer experience factors: understanding the relationship with SME customers – interim report

As part of the 2014 programme, our members asked us to extend the research done in 2013 (“Measuring Customer Satisfaction And Understanding Customer Effort In A B2B Context” - Tony Harrington and Andrew Bryan) to incorporate the SME customer sector. This project was set up to explore customer experience factors in the SME segment and to address a number of questions:- What are the most important factors that contribute to the customer experience from both the supplier’s and the SME customer’s perspectives? From the customer’s perspective, what about the relationship with the supplier requires the ‘most’ or ‘least’ effort and what changes do customers suggest? Where a customer has both a personal and a business relationship with the supplier, how does this impact their views? The approach was to develop an online survey for completion by SME customers and their supplier. Initially, seven companies and the Henley SME Forum volunteered to participate in the research. However, it proved to be extremely difficult to go from agreement to be involved to actually getting survey responses and, in the event, the survey achieved the following result:- A good response was achieved from 2 companies with around 40 SME responses for each company. A poor response was achieved from 1 company and from the SME Group so their data is currently of limited value. There were other companies that would still like to participate and there are 3 offers to participate at a later date. Analysis of the responses showed that useful conclusions could be made from the data collected so far but that it would be more valuable if more companies were persuaded to participate in the future. As a result, this report has been prepared as an interim statement of what has been learnt and to provide specific feedback to the participating companies. With member’s permission, further responses will be sought at a later date to refine the learning and provide feedback to more companies. This report presents the results of analysis from the survey on a company-by-company basis. Most of the data is only relevant at company level but consolidated results are shown where possible. The results from the analysis of responses lead to a number of initial conclusions. SME companies look to their suppliers to deliver against their promises in a responsive, consistent and proactive manner. Their priority is to have their problems solved in a timely manner. Relationship factors are more important in the B2B relationships between large companies than for SME’s. The SME customer is much more interested in just having the service performed with a minimum of fuss and doesn’t really want to develop a relationship. Questions about customer effort (or the ease of doing business) are as valuable in the SME segment as in any other in terms of identifying opportunities for improvement. Businesses should consider whether their SME customers might also be a customer in their personal home life. If so, they should be aware that this will have an effect on their satisfaction – and could be either positive or negative

Revising the U.S. Vertical Merger Guidelines: Policy Issues and an Interim Guide for Practitioners

Mergers and acquisitions are a major component of antitrust law and practice. The U.S. antitrust agencies spend a majority of their time on merger enforcement. The focus of most merger review at the agencies involves horizontal mergers, that is, mergers among firms that compete at the same level of production or distribution. Vertical mergers combine firms at different levels of production or distribution. In the simplest case, a vertical merger joins together a firm that produces an input (and competes in an input market) with a firm that uses that input to produce output (and competes in an output market). Over the years, the agencies have issued Merger Guidelines that outline the type of analysis carried out by the agencies and the agencies’ enforcement intentions in light of state of the law. These Guidelines are used by agency staff in evaluating mergers, as well as by outside counsel and the courts. Guidelines for vertical mergers were issued in 1968 and revised in 1984. However, the Vertical Merger Guidelines have not been revised since 1984. Those Guidelines are now woefully out of date. They do not reflect current economic thinking about vertical mergers. Nor do they reflect current agency practice. Nor do they reflect the analytic approach taken in the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines. As a result, practitioners and firms lack the benefits of up-to-date guidance from the U.S. enforcement agencies

Please, talk about it! When hotel popularity boosts preferences

Many consumers post on-line reviews, affecting the average evaluation of products and services. Yet, little is known about the importance of the number of reviews for consumer decision making. We conducted an on-line experiment (n= 168) to assess the joint impact of the average evaluation, a measure of quality, and the number of reviews, a measure of popularity, on hotel preference. The results show that consumers' preference increases with the number of reviews, independently of the average evaluation being high or low. This is not what one would expect from an informational point of view, and review websites fail to take this pattern into account. This novel result is mediated by demographics: young people, and in particular young males, are less affected by popularity, relying more on quality. We suggest the adoption of appropriate ranking mechanisms to fit consumer preferences. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

A planned study of the impact of B2C logistics service quality on shopper satisfaction and loyalty

Purpose of the paper: This paper reports on an in-progress study of the impact of business to consumer (B2C) logistics service quality (LSQ) on in-store shopper satisfaction and loyalty. Methodology: A comparative research approach is being used across the UK, France and Germany to also investigate country-specific differences of consumer shopping behaviour and channel strategies. The first stage, in-line with a deliberate integrated supply chain approach, consists of structured in-depth interviews conducted with managers at the producer/retailer interface, e.g. producer category captains and retail category managers. This qualitative stage will be followed-up by a quantitative survey stage targeting consumers as shoppers to determine how their expectations of retail LSQ and associated activities influence their satisfaction and ongoing loyalty. Findings: A broad literature review has generated over 40 variables of interest for both LSQ and loyalty, and almost 10 variables of satisfaction. This study will contribute theoretically by considering a B2C setting for LSQ, which is the final aspect of point of origin to point-of-consumption, whereas most general LSQ literature and LSQ’s impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty has been dominated by business to business (B2B) designs from point-of-origin to point of sale, that is they assume consumer expectations are a given or a different domain. Research limitations: Although covering three major European grocery retail markets, this study might not be considered as representative, especially when adopting a world-wide perspective. Practical implications: As this study emphasises consequences of B2C LSQ on downstream or consumer satisfaction and loyalty, rather than considering the upstream origins of related problems that dominate extant research, it will contribute practically by providing managers with an understanding of the components of LSQ considered critical by consumers