Exploring auction based energy trade with the support of MAS and blockchain technology

This document describes a simulation of the local energy market with support of multi-agent approach and blockchain technology. The investigated points include blockchain technology and its applications, Ethereum platform and smart contracts as a tool for storing data of operations and creating assets, multi-agent approach to model the local energy market. The document explores building a solution for proposed problem with blockchain technology, agent interactions on the simulated market and auction models, that provide sustainability and profit for the local energy market overall

Factors Influencing Clients’ Satisfaction of Agent Banking: An Empirical Exploration

Purpose: The prime intention of this study is to explore client satisfaction with branchless agent banking services during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The roles of service quality, security, transaction cost, trust, and convenience have been explored to assess the client satisfaction of agent banking in Bangladesh.   Theoretical framework: The research model used in this study is based on the theory of Oliver (1980). In the model, dependent variable (client satisfaction) is measured through the service quality, security, transaction cost, trust, and convenience. Oliver (1980) claims that the customer satisfaction model explains why feelings of satisfaction occur when customers assess how well actual products or services perform in comparison to their expectations.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The self-administered questionnaire was deployed for primary data collection purposes. A partial least square-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) analysis was performed on the 286 useable questionnaires that were returned from a total of 300 questionnaires in order to validate the model and assess the validity of the hypothesis.   Findings: The study's conclusions showed that factors including service quality, security, trust, and convenience have a big impact on how satisfied customers are. Transaction costs don't, however, significantly affect how satisfied customers are.   Research, Practical & Social implications: This study's findings will close the existing empirical gap by educating academics about the relationship between consumer happiness, service quality, security, transaction cost, trust, and convenience in the agent banking sector. Furthermore, it aids in their comprehension of theoretical and practical issues. Certainly, this research will serve as the basis for future research in Bangladesh in this field. The results of this investigation will have a wide range of significant ramifications for the sector.   Originality/Value: Agent banking is not a novel concept in Bangladesh, but to the best of our knowledge, there is no literature available that uses PLS-SEM to assess rural consumers' satisfaction. This essay is a wise attempt to close that gap. The research offers some useful practical implications for agent banks to identify appropriate ways to satisfy their consumers, despite some constraints

Resource-Based View and SMEs Performance Exporting through Foreign Intermediaries: The Mediating Effect of Management Controls

Following the resource-based view, this research empirically explores the role of formal and informal management control in mobilizing export resources to develop export capabilities, influencing the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an interorganizational relationship context. Empirical data were collected using a survey administrated online to finance managers in Spanish SMEs which use foreign intermediaries to access export markets. In this setting, evidence mainly suggests, first, that management control systems (MCSs) play a relevant mediating role between the effect of, on the one hand, resources on capabilities, and, on the other hand, resources and capabilities on performance. Second, that MCSs and capabilities play a interrelated double mediating effect between the impact of resources on performance; more specifically, a significant double indirect effect is found (1) between financial resources, behavior control, customer relationship building capability and performance, and (2) between physical resources, behavior control, customer relationship building capability and performanc

Towards a Reuse Strategic Decision Pattern Framework – from Theories to Practices

© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature This paper demonstrates our proposed Reuse Strategic Decision Pattern Framework (RSDPF) based on blending ANP and TOPSIS techniques, enabled by the OSM model with data analytics. The motivation, related work, theory, the use and deployment, and the service deployment of the framework have been discussed in details. In this paper, RSDPF framework is demonstrated by the data analysis and interpretations based on a financial service firm. The OSM model allows 3 step of processed to be performed in one go to perform statistical tests, identify linear relations, check consistency on dataset and calculate OLS regression. The aim is to identify the actual, expected and risk rates of profitability. Code and services can be reused to compute for analysis. Service integration of the RSDPF framework has been demonstrated. Results confirm that there is a high extent of reliability. In this paper, we have demonstrated the reuse and integration of the framework supported by the case study of the financial service firm with its data analysis and service to justify our research contributions – reuse and integration in statistical data mining, knowledge and heuristic discovery and finally domain transference

DISCOVERING THE ROLE OF SCENARIO PLANNING AS AN EVALUATION METHODOLOGY FOR BUSINESS MODELS IN THE ERA OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

Within both scientific literature and practice, there is limited understanding about the evaluation aspect of business model innovation (BMI), especially in the context of digitalization and the Internet of Things (IoT). The aim of our research project is to contribute by validating whether methodologies from strat-egy, such as scenario planning, are appropriate means for evaluating business models in this explicit context. Following a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, we develop an approach to implement scenario planning into a BMI process respective of the features. In cooperation with business innovation employees of a well-known corporation in the technology sector, we apply the methodology to real-world innovation projects, empirically validate its viability, and determine how and to what extent it can be used. As a further result, we aim to scientifically expound its effects on creating competitive strategic advantages in the context of digitalization and the IoT

A methodology for cooperation between electric utilities and consumers for microgrid utilization based on a systems engineering approach

In recent years, the energy market has experienced important challenges in its structure and requirements of its actors, such as the necessity for more reliable electric service, energy efficiency, environmental care practices, and the incorporation of decentralized power generation based on distributed energy resources (DER). Given this context, microgrids offer several advantages to the grid and its actors. However, few microgrid projects have been implemented, and the participation of electric utilities is lower than the expected. Hence, this research explores how electric utility - customer interactions can accommodate mutual benefits for both parties through the proposal of a Microgrid Reference Methodology (MRM) that guides the cooperation of these actors for future microgrid projects. For this research, an understanding of the microgrid system was imperative; hence, the interests and concerns of electric utilities and industrial customers were determined via questionnaires, interviews, and a literature review of specialized articles, books, and magazines. In addition, the MRM development was based on different frameworks and concepts from the fields of Systems Engineering, System of Systems, Management Science, and Infrastructure Architectures. The proposed MRM uses a four-level microgrid system in which the delta (business) level is added to the other three levels that are traditionally analyzed in microgrid design and modeling. The steps and processes necessary to determine the actors in the system and their interests, goals, criteria, and factors are exemplified with a generic case study, in which the proposed MRM evaluates the impact of different alternatives on the objectives of both parties. In addition, it was possible to identify external factors that can be influenced by other actors, such as regulators and government, to incentivize the implementation of microgrid projects

An Empirical Study in the U.S. Hotel Industry: How Quality Assurance, Customer Satisfaction, Brand Signaling, and Guest Loyalty Impact Revenue

The hotel industry is a major area of the U.S. economy, contributing nearly $176 billion to Gross Domestic Product in 2014 (AHLA, 2017). For large hospitality brands (franchisors), quality and customer satisfaction are important in driving customer stays or occupancy. In this study, secondary data from a large hospitality company (with more than 3,600 hotels) with a portfolio of brands were used to explain the relationship between revenue, or RevPAR, and market share (Smith Travel Research [STR] Revenue per Available Room Index or known as RPI), customer satisfaction, and quality assurance moderated by brand signaling and loyalty. Looking through the lens of the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), this study shows how expectations and satisfaction play a role in predicting revenue implications based on customer behavioral decisions. The model proves the relationship between the various aspects of the customer experience, including how quality assurance scores measure hotel delivery and execution, which standards are set by the brand, and the extent to which customers’ expectations are moderated by brand signaling and loyalty. Additionally, how resulting disconfirmation (or confirmation) measured by customer survey results of meeting or not meeting expectations, and satisfaction which are determinates of post-purchase adoption or repurchase (market share captured). This study proves that brand managers should spare no costs to ensure that quality assurance is a priority to protect the tangible and intangible aspects of their brands. The data support that on average, a 10-point increase in Quality Assurance results in up to a$1.05 increase in RevPAR; a 5- to 8-point increase in Customer Experience (Overall Experience and Problem Free Stays) results in up to a $1.05 increase in RevPAR; a 4- to 8-point increase in Customer Recommendation results up to a$1.05 in RevPAR; and a 2-point increase in Market Share (RPI) results in up to a $1.05 increase in RevPAR

Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in a Post-Crisis Context. Prediction-Oriented Modeling to Enhance the Particular Importance of a Social and Sustainable Approach

Research into the influence of service quality on customer loyalty has typically focused on confirming isolated direct causal influences regarding particular dimensions of quality, usually undertaken in the context of positive, firm-customer relations. The present study extends analysis of these factors through a new lens. First, the study was undertaken in a market context following a crisis that has had far-reaching consequences for customers’ relational behaviors. We explore the case of the Spanish banking industry, a sector that accurately reflects these new relational conditions, including a rising demand for more socially responsible banking. Second, we propose a holistic model that combines the effects of four key factors associated with service quality (outcome, personnel, servicescape and social qualities). We also apply an innovative predictive methodological technique using partial least squares (PLS) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) that enables us not only to determine the direct causal effects among variables, but also to consider different scenarios in which to predict customer loyalty. The results highlight the role of outcome and social qualities. The novelty of the social qualities factor helps to underscore the importance of social, ethical and sustainable practices to customer loyalty, although personnel and servicescape qualities must also be present to improve the predictive capability of service quality on loyalty

based on K-water case

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Public Management,2020.1. Introduction 2. Big data in water resources sector 3. Big data Policy and Technology Trends 4. Big data in water resources 5. Changes of the Data Usage in the Big Data Era 6. In the Big Data Era, the limitations of traditional systems development and management 7. Development Method and Governance in Big Data System 8. Big Data Operation Case in K-watermaste