Measuring Frictional Costs in E-Commerce: The Case of Name-Your-Own-Price Auctions

Frictional costs are defined as the disutility related to the conduct of an online transaction. Thus,frictional costs can accrue through the consumer‘s decision-making process prior to an onlinetransaction, e.g., bidding in interactive pricing mechanisms like auctions. We present two models forthe measurement of frictional costs in Name-Your-Own-Price auctions where these costs can either bemeasured through a discount factor or in absolute values. We compare the fit and estimation results ofthese models by analyzing bidding data from a German NYOP seller. Our results show that bothmodels are equally parsimonious, explain a comparable fraction of variance and both models yieldrobust and reasonable parameter estimates

Project orientation: a proposal to develop a service-oriented architecture

A service-oriented architecture (SOA) is occasionally seen as a complex and undefeatable challenge (Serman, 2007). This feeling is motivated by the lack of attention from practitioners and from the academy on the means for its construction. The work aims to bring the portfolio management of IT projects as an option to guide the SOA development. A review of the literature on SOA was carried out, including case studies on the SOA adoption. A case study was also done, which analyzed some projects of a particular organization, focusing on the evolution of its services architecture. The results show a gradual development of SOA in the case studied based on projects execution and sequencing. It concludes with a proposal of a process for building SOA as well as suggestions and limitations for future research.A arquitetura orientada a serviços (SOA) é ocasionalmente encarada como um desafio complexo e intransponível (Serman, 2007), sentimento motivado pela falta de atenção de praticantes e da academia sobre os meios para sua construção. O trabalho visa trazer a gestão da carteira de projetos de TI como opção para orientar o desenvolvimento de SOA. Para isso, realizou-se uma revisão da literatura sobre SOA, incluindo estudos de caso sobre sua adoção. Também foi executado um estudo de caso, no qual foram analisados os projetos de uma determinada organização, focando-se na evolução de sua arquitetura de serviços. Os resultados mostram a construção gradual de SOA no caso a partir da conclusão e sucessão dos projetos. Conclui-se com uma proposta de processo de construção de SOA e as limitações e sugestões de pesquisas futuras