New Forms of Regional Inequalities in Greece: the Diffusion of the Internet Across Greek Regions

A large number of studies dealing with the evolution of regional inequalities in Greece insist to make use of improper and outdated indices. Indices such as the number of telephone lines per capita and electricity consumption per capita were suitable to describe regional inequalities during the previous decades however, nowadays, they present insignificant regional variations. Among others, the diffusion of the internet to greek regions, is a useful indication of their growth potential and technological capacity. There is no doubt that internet can powerfully influence individuals, places, societies and economies and these effects are likely to grow over the foreseeable future. Primary data show that there is a notable imbalance at national level in terms of per capita usage levels. The disparity of the internet access around the country has given rise to the issue of a national digital divide. This paper investigates and maps the differences in the internet penetration rate to population and businesses across Greek regions and proceeds to a preliminary identification of the determinants of this unequal Geography. Data limitations, and paucity of earlier research make this a challenging task.

Ukrainos internetinės verslo medijos: tipologija ir specifinės savybės

This article offers a new look at the specific characteristics and key typological factors of online business media in Ukraine. Knowledge of the typological structure and features of business media segmentation can be used in marketing plans and media planning. The empirical part of the article presents a comprehensive definition of the term “business journalism” in the social communication discourse of Ukraine, as well as the typology of online business media based on selected structural and functional and type-forming factors: economic and organizational, structural and functional, professional and technological. As a result of practical analysis and theoretical thinking, the article also proposes the definition of social functions of business media, which was previously overlooked by scientists. Straipsnyje pateikiamas naujas žvilgsnis į specifines Ukrainos internetinių verslo medijų ypatybes ir pagrindinius tipologinius veiksnius. Žinios apie verslo medijų segmentavimo tipologinę struktūrą ir ypatybes gali būti panaudotos sudarant rinkodaros planus ir planuojant medijas. Empirinėje straipsnio dalyje pateikiamas išsamus termino „verslo žurnalistika“ apibrėžimas Ukrainos socialinės komunikacijos diskurse, taip pat internetinės verslo medijos tipologija, pagrįsta pasirinktais struktūriniais ir funkciniais bei tipą formuojančiais veiksniais: ekonominiais ir organizaciniais, struktūriniais ir funkciniais, profesiniais ir technologiniais. Straipsnyje, atlikus empirinę analizę ir pasitelkus teorinį pagrindimą, taip pat pateikiamas anksčiau mokslininkų apžvelgtas socialinių verslo medijų funkcijų apibrėžimas

Digital Opportunity Initiative for Pakistan

“People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them”. By these remarks at Telecom 99 in Geneva, Switzerland, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan warned of the danger of excluding the world’s poor from the information revolution. Although the world has seen exponential progress in terms of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, genetic engineering, neural networks, neurolinguistic programming, information technology management, telematics and infonomics, trade liberalisation, space exploration—but on ground the very pace and velocity of knowledge-driven growth has left a giant crevice between the information haves and the information have-nots, giving birth to a nomenclature called—the Digital Divide. Today information has become the most vibrant force and factor of production in the new economy contrary to the four traditional factors of production. Information has become the most important source of economic activity and the link which drives the info-hungry entrepreneurs to utilise the four factors of production in the optimal manner. Not land, not labour, not capital has done for an entrepreneur which the information alone has done. The world has seen a paradigm shift from scarce economic resources to the Age of Abundance—where plenty of information is available!

Agent-based model of the market penetration of a new product

Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation presents an agent-based model that is used to investigate the market penetration of a new product within a competitive market. The market consists of consumers that belong to social network that serves as a substrate over which consumers exchange positive and negative word-of-mouth communication about the products that they use. Market dynamics are influenced by factors such as product quality; the level of satisfaction that consumers derive from using the products in the market; switching constraints that make it difficult for consumers to switch between products; the word-of-mouth that consumers exchange and the structure of the social network that consumers belong to. Various scenarios are simulated in order to investigate the effect of these factors on the market penetration of a new product. The simulation results suggest that: ■ A new product reaches fewer new consumers and acquires a lower market share when consumers switch less frequently between products. ■ A new product reaches more new consumers and acquires a higher market share when it is of a better quality to that of the existing products because more positive word-of-mouth is disseminated about it. ■ When there are products that have switching constraints in the market, launching a new product with switching constraints results in a higher market share compared to when it is launched without switching constraints. However, it reaches fewer new consumers because switching constraints result in negative word-of-mouth being disseminated about it which deters other consumers from using it. Some factors such as the fussiness of consumers; the shape and size of consumers' social networks; the type of messages that consumers transmit and with whom and how often they communicate about a product, may be beyond the control of marketing managers. However, these factors can potentially be influenced through a marketing strategy that encourages consumers to exchange positive word-of-mouth both with consumers that are familiar with a product and those who are not

Social Component of Journalism and Information Technology in Kazakhstan

The relevance of the study is based on the fact that in sociology, the phenomenon of mass media is included in the object-subject field of several industries: sociology of mass media, sociology of the media means, sociology of journalism, sociology of the Internet, and sociology of online media. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that the analysis of the media was carried out in the framework of various sociological theories, in particular - mass society theory, where the media are considered as one of the main tools for disseminating mass culture; theories of the information society, within which information and the means of its dissemination play a vital role in the development of society. The practical novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the possibility of forming a structure for understanding the social position of the media contributes to the implementation of new social communication protocols

Optimal Income Tax Policy and Wage Subsidy

We show that in an imperfectly competitive economy, if the government cannot use wage subsidy, in a steady state and in the initial period the optimal labour income tax rate is zero. In an imperfectly competitive economy, since investment is primarily triggered by the motive to earn higher profits, over accumulation of capital induces suboptimal level of working hours. We argue that if the government is restricted to subsidize wage, the optimal policy should set zero tax on labour income which will encourage workers to increase working hours back to the optimal level.

STRATEGIC AND VIRTUAL NETWORKS – A POSSIBLE INTEGRATION

One of the best known features of the Italian entrepreneurial system is undoubtedly the industrial district, a network of small and medium size enterprises; the object of this survey is to study the integration between the strategic network, identified by the relationship between the companies in a district, and the virtual Internet network.Industrial Districts; Net Economy; Shoes Maker Industry

NEW MEDIA-NEW ALGERIAN ARAB SPRING?

The paper presents events in Algeria that led to fall of the long-term president of the country, Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika in April 2019 and examines the role of the new media in this process. The analysis explains the reasons of  the failure of the Arab Spring in this country in 2011.  Critical discourse analysis of  Algerian new media conducted by the author shows that despite  lack of active actions in 2011, youth movements appeared in Algeria and  led the protests in 2019 not only in the Internet but also in the “offline” world. Currently, the discussion about political impact of new media focuses mainly on a question whether the power of protesting societies is sufficient to overthrow a  government. According to the author of the paper,  it is a single-dimensional approach to the problem, what has been proven by the example of Algeria. New media have become an inseparable part of contemporary societies and their discourse, serving as a platform for disseminating information, mobilizing and participating . In Algeria, despite the fact that social media "have not yet reached maturity" (among others, because of illiteracy, mismanagement, lack of freedom of speech and true democracy), they are gradually becoming political and media public spaces for those excluded from the mainstream politics and media. The social media have caused a situation where the Algerian government has to meet growing demands of society for a greater degree of democracy, justice and freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. With their help, people learned the techniques of social mobilization, developed  structures of  social movement and civil society. Effects of this activity can slowly be observed not only in Algeria but throughout the Arab world