Traceability requirements for information systems in the agro-food sector

Food safety and quality are keys to companies' business survival and great effort and resources are devoted to them. The food production chain, from the farms and feed mills to the finished products leaving the processing plants, is subject to independent examination and auditing either under the sector's own assurance schemes under official regulatory inspection and testing programmes with published results. For farmers and the agro-food industry, this means new market opportunities – and continual change. Food safety is an on-going challenge, demanding the best control systems and day-to-day vigilance on farms, in processing plants and throughout the distribution system. In order to enable consumers to make the right choice when buying their food and in order to build up markets for quality products, labelling has to provide all relevant information about the production process. Besides complete information about its ingredients, food labels should bear information about its place of origin and the way in which it was produced

Why hasn't electronic bill presentment and payment taken off?

The delivery and payment of bills over the Internet could offer many advantages—low processing costs and enhanced marketing opportunities for billers, savings in time and postage for customers. Nevertheless, electronic billing has not found favor with potential users. A lack of coordination among billers and customers, combined with the high fixed costs of the new technology, may help account for the cool reception.Electronic funds transfers ; Electronic commerce ; Technology ; Payment systems

Commercial and Regulatory Aspects of Reverse Hybrid Mail

Driven by market opening and increased competition from electronic communication, postal operators have started extending their scope of business by offering hybrid mail services in addition to physical mail conveyance. This paper discusses commercial and regulatory aspects of reverse hybrid mail, i.e. the electronic delivery and archiving of physical mail messages. It argues that postal operators are well positioned to offer hybrid services due to their established brands and their reputation. The introduction of reverse hybrid mail is able to significantly reduce the cost of postal operations while at the same time fitting customers' needs better than traditional postal services. However, these effects rely on the assumption that a postal operator is actually allowed to introduce an electronic delivery system of letters to entire regions and to thereby partially substitute the physical delivery to the doorstep.Reverse hybrid mail, Regulation, Postal market, Substitution, Intermodal competition

E-commerce and its impact in logistic management: A state of art

Logistics management is defined as that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers' requirements. Traditional logistical issues may be amplified by an e-commerce venture. Adopting e-commerce may greatly expand the marketplace. The organization needs to be concerned with its ability to deliver its product to potential customers. Realizing the importance of E-commerce in logistic management, an attempt has been made in this paper to review the existing literature with the objective to gain insights into the impact of E-commerce in logistic management. The advantages of the E-commerce in logistic management are offered. Finally, summary of findings and calculations are presented

Government Policies toward Information and Communication

The development of what one might call 'modern' systems of information and communication began with the Gutenberg printing press in the 15th century, and progressed through the prepaid postal system, electric telegraph and telephone in the 19th century, radio and television broadcasting in the 20th century, and most recently the Internet. This essay focuses on the response of governments to these innovations, beginning with the printing press. United Nations DESA Discussion Paper No. 21 (October 2001).internet, printing press, telegraph, telephone, broadcasting, information and communication technologies (ICT)

Special Libraries, December 1966

Volume 57, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1966/1009/thumbnail.jp

Tax compliance cost and international trade in Africa

International trade in Africa could be one of the antidotes to the precarious poverty and economic deficiency in which the continent finds itself. An outward orientation towards international trade opens the continent to many opportunities including an increase in productivity and the development of redistributive channels for both natural and manufactured products. Resources in Africa could also be efficiently allocated and other consumption opportunities will be exploited when international trade is encouraged and reformed. However, one of the major bottlenecks which affect the growth of international trade in the continent is tax compliance costs. Taxation and its compliance cost could be the most burdensome and costly business activity which has the potential to discourage business growth and investments. Tax compliance costs which include the cost and time involved in complying with various tax regulations in Africa could be a disincentive to trading firms. Adopting the institutional theory, this study has investigated the impact of tax compliance cost on international trade in Africa. The evidence shows that while the number of taxes paid by firms in a year and the tax rate as a percentage of commercial profit has a negative impact on international trade in Africa. However, the time taken for tax registration/compliance and post-tax filing time of firms seem not to have any immediate impact on international trade in Africa. This paper, therefore, argues that Africa needs tax reforms in the form of self-assessments, simplification of tax administration, risk-based inspections and electronic submissions of tax returns in order to reduce the current level of tax compliance burden on firms in Africa

Engineering at San Jose State University, Fall 2017

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/engr_news/1016/thumbnail.jp

Business method patents and U.S. financial services

A decade after the State Street decision, more than 1,000 business method patents are granted each year. Yet only one in ten are obtained by a financial institution. Most business method patents are also software patents. ; Have these patents increased innovation in financial services? To address this question the author constructs new indicators of R&D intensity based on the occupational composition of financial industries. The financial sector appears more research intensive than official statistics would suggest but less than the private economy taken as a whole. There is considerable variation across industries but little apparent trend. There does not appear to be an obvious effect from business method patents on the sector’s research intensity. ; This working paper supersedes Working Paper No. 07-21 and Payment Cards Center Discussion Paper No. 07-10 ; Also issued as Payment Cards Center Discussion Paper No. 08-05Patents ; Financial services industry

Global ATM banking: casting the net

ACH and ATM systems are examples of networks, where the benefits of one participant enhance the structure's value for the other participants. Some recent results from economic theory suggest that competitive networks are preferable in a social sense to monopoly networks.Clearinghouses (Banking) ; Automated tellers