An Empirical Model of Price and Quality Effects of e-Commerce

During the e-Commerce boom of the late 1990s it was predicted that the Internet would have a significant impact on prices of various goods and services. Whether the net impact would he p ositive or negative was harder to forecast, there being opposing effects. We develop a model that describes some of those effects, including information asymmetry, search costs, price dispersion, trust premiums, and convenience premiums. The model is discussed, and a major portion is statistically tested with empirical data. As an exploratory gesture, the model is extended to consider product quality effects of online shopping. The final section concludes with direction for future research

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

The Competitiveness of Central and Eastern European (CEE) Financial Markets

Although there has been vivid academic debate as to what extent Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are motivated by political reasons, it is rather clear that countries can use state-owned investment funds as a tool of their foreign policy. Even Barack Obama, during his initial presidential campaign in 2008 commented: “I am obviously concerned if these… sovereign wealth funds are motivated by more than just market consideration and that’s obviously a possibility”. This book looks at SWF activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to determine the main motives for SWF presence in CEE. Are the potential financial gains the only reason behind their investments? Are SWF activities in the region dangerous for the stability and security of the CEE countries? The book is pioneering analyses of SWFs behaviour in the region, based on empirical data collected from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute Transaction Database, arguably the most comprehensive and authoritative resource tracking SWF investment behaviour globally.Rozdział pochodzi z książki: Political Players? Sovereign Wealth Funds’ Investments in Central and Eastern Europe, T. Kamiński (ed.), Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2017.The research seeks to gauge the global competitiveness of Central and Eastern European (CEE) financial markets. The assessment is made using quantitative and hybrid metrics of financial centre development while placing particular emphasis on competitiveness drivers relevant to the activity of global sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the CEE region.This book was published in frames of project “Political significance of the Sovereign Wealth Funds’ investments in the Central and Eastern Europe”. The project was financed by the Polish National Science Centre (Decision no. DEC-2012/07/B/HS5/03797)

The Impact of Investment in IT on Economic Performance: Implications for Developing Countries

This paper reviews quantitative and qualitative evidence on the impact of IT on economic performance in developed and developing countries. Two strands of this literature are considered: the IT-productivity connection and the effects of IT on labor composition and the work environment. Policy implications for developing countries are considered.

Electronic procurement: dealing with supplier adoption

E-procurement systems make purchasing activities more effective in terms of both time and cost. However over the past years there is evidence that some of the expected benefits have not been achieved. Among several appointed causes, supplier‟s adherence to such platforms has been regarded as one. The focus of this research is in supplier adoption of e-Procurement. Such a study is important in order to better address the issues actually faced by suppliers within e-Procurement. We have conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 721 Portuguese companies and performed an empirical analysis of the results. The findings from this work provide empirical evidence that the supplier perceived benefits and business partner pressures are positively related to e-Procurement adoption while some barriers like implementation costs have the opposite effect. The main critical success factors on e-Procurement adoption are also presented.Os sistemas de e-Procurement permitem melhorias significativas no tempo e custo associados aos processos de compra. No entanto, nos últimos anos existe evidência de que alguns dos benefícios esperados não têm sido alcançados. Entre as várias causas apontadas, a falta de adesão dos fornecedores a esse tipo de plataformas foi apontada como uma. O foco desta pesquisa está na adopção dos fornecedores ao e-Procurement, mais especificamente nos factores que levam a sua adesão. Foi realizado um questionário a 721 empresas Portuguesas e os dados obtidos analisados. Os resultados deste trabalho fornecem evidências de que os benefícios percebidos pelos fornecedores e as pressões dos parceiros de negócios estão positivamente relacionados com a intenção de adopção, enquanto algumas barreiras, como custos de implementação têm o efeito oposto. Os principais factores críticos de sucesso na adesão ao e-Procurement são também apresentados

Amazon FBA Aggregators: An analysis of why this new M&A trend has not reached the Italian market

openAmazon has grown a lot in the last years, becoming one of the most important and biggest companies in the world. This growth of Amazon as a marketplace means that the merchants selling in Amazon are growing too. This growth is partly thanks to the opportunities Amazon gives to its merchants to escalate their businesses in a simple way. Opportunities like FBA -where Amazon takes care of the fulfillment- have been a key point in allowing the merchants grow. However, it is also noticeable that e-commerce in general is growing, not only Amazon. In this sense, 2020 was a very important year for the whole e-commerce market because the sector grew more than any other previous year. These factors combined led to a new type of Financial Acquisitions: FBA Aggregation. The “Amazon Aggregators” are companies that look for Amazon sellers with good performance and acquire them. Then, they create a portfolio of acquired companies and improve their financial performances. Since 2020 they have raised billions of US dollars in different investment rounds, breaking various records. Aggregators have emerged in many countries all over the world. In Europe, Aggregators have emerged in many countries, including the most important Amazon European markets. However, something noticeable is that no Aggregator has emerged in Italy. This thesis will study why the Amazon Italy market seems less attractive for aggregators compared to other Amazon markets, especially in relation to other comparable European markets.Amazon has grown a lot in the last years, becoming one of the most important and biggest companies in the world. This growth of Amazon as a marketplace means that the merchants selling in Amazon are growing too. This growth is partly thanks to the opportunities Amazon gives to its merchants to escalate their businesses in a simple way. Opportunities like FBA -where Amazon takes care of the fulfillment- have been a key point in allowing the merchants grow. However, it is also noticeable that e-commerce in general is growing, not only Amazon. In this sense, 2020 was a very important year for the whole e-commerce market because the sector grew more than any other previous year. These factors combined led to a new type of Financial Acquisitions: FBA Aggregation. The “Amazon Aggregators” are companies that look for Amazon sellers with good performance and acquire them. Then, they create a portfolio of acquired companies and improve their financial performances. Since 2020 they have raised billions of US dollars in different investment rounds, breaking various records. Aggregators have emerged in many countries all over the world. In Europe, Aggregators have emerged in many countries, including the most important Amazon European markets. However, something noticeable is that no Aggregator has emerged in Italy. This thesis will study why the Amazon Italy market seems less attractive for aggregators compared to other Amazon markets, especially in relation to other comparable European markets