The retail observatory 2015: performance analysis and the wgsn trend

The paper analyse the top "global retailers" performance from a financial point of view and in terms of strategies adopted: Thanks to WGSN collaboration, retail trends influencing companies' strategies are studied in detail.ope

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania

Korea\u27s Online Stock Trading Boom: Facts and Implications

The Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 was a major setback for Korea, one of the world’s most successful economies in the post-war era. Nevertheless, the financial crisis has led to some positive changes in Korea’s financial system. The Korean government, in conjunction with the IMF, is carrying out comprehensive structural reforms in the financial system. In the meantime, online stock trading has grown explosively since 1998 to the extent that Korea now has the world’s highest penetration rate in this area. In our paper, we analyze the fundamental factors driving the rapid growth of online stock trading in Korea. We then examine the implications of such growth on the competitive environment of Korea’s retail brokerage industry as well as the liquidity, volatility, cost structure and efficiency of the stock market. We also look at the relationship between financial reform and online trading. In addition to exploring possible changes in the value propositions of brokerage firms, we also examine new regulatory issues that have emerged in line with the rapid growth of online trading. In short, our main objective is to study the causes and effects of Korea’s online trading boom

B2B e-marketplaces : a study of the current industry

The subsequent work is a study of B2B e-marketplaces. These trading platforms are a relatively new creation, having their birth in the ever more widespread adoption of Internet technology throughout business. The implementation of electronic transactions in place of the traditional paper-based order process offers substantial cost reductions to companies. Once a company has decided on changing the procurement process to the electronic medium however it is presented with a multitude of technical incompatible problems to reach all of its trading partners, as there currently exists no technical standard for business transactions. Thus there is an opportunity for an intermediary, a platform where a myriad of companies can ‘virtually’ congregate to trade, this marketplace being accessed through an easy to use Web site. The e-marketplace may generate revenue in part by extracting a fee for each transaction conducted across its platform. This creates a dilemma, the creation of a trading platform is not such a feat that it is beyond large companies. Indeed the transaction fees charged by e-marketplaces compound the desire of companies to create their own platforms. Such private e-marketplaces are appearing, built on proprietary technologies and inciting concerns of fair-trading law infringements. The independent e-marketplace built to service an entire industry must offer more to potential users than a company could provide for itself. It achieves this through being neutral and open to all industry members, highly transparent in operation and explicit in its integrity. Impossible for company-created and therefore biased platforms, the independent platform can create a Virtual Community, supporting networking throughout an industry. Rather than monetary profits for the owners of the platform, the true value of the e-marketplace lies in the use of information to manage inventory, saving large amounts of money usually trapped in stock and in striking redesigns of workflow.The subsequent work is a study of B2B e-marketplaces. These trading platforms are a relatively new creation, having their birth in the ever more widespread adoption of Internet technology throughout business. The implementation of electronic transactions in place of the traditional paper-based order process offers substantial cost reductions to companies. Once a company has decided on changing the procurement process to the electronic medium however it is presented with a multitude of technical incompatible problems to reach all of its trading partners, as there currently exists no technical standard for business transactions. Thus there is an opportunity for an intermediary, a platform where a myriad of companies can ‘virtually’ congregate to trade, this marketplace being accessed through an easy to use Web site. The e-marketplace may generate revenue in part by extracting a fee for each transaction conducted across its platform. This creates a dilemma, the creation of a trading platform is not such a feat that it is beyond large companies. Indeed the transaction fees charged by e-marketplaces compound the desire of companies to create their own platforms. Such private e-marketplaces are appearing, built on proprietary technologies and inciting concerns of fair-trading law infringements. The independent e-marketplace built to service an entire industry must offer more to potential users than a company could provide for itself. It achieves this through being neutral and open to all industry members, highly transparent in operation and explicit in its integrity. Impossible for company-created and therefore biased platforms, the independent platform can create a Virtual Community, supporting networking throughout an industry. Rather than monetary profits for the owners of the platform, the true value of the e-marketplace lies in the use of information to manage inventory, saving large amounts of money usually trapped in stock and in striking redesigns of workflow

The Impact of Information Technology on Mass Customization

Increasingly, companies are adopting mass customization as a business strategy to meet increasing customer demand for product variety to help compete in the global marketplace. This paper examines the effects and impacts of Information Technology (LT) on mass customization and how various IT tools are used as customizing mediums to enable mass customization and provide unique value to customers in the most efficient way possible. Examples are drawn from companies who leveraged IT technologies in their mass customization efforts. Recognizing the critical value of technology professionals, this paper further discusses IT professionals\u27 roles and how they are an integral part of the mass customization decision process. Additionally, some of the challenges that companies face when attempting to adopt Information Technology as an instrument to enable mass customization are examined. In this process, some possible solutions to these challenges are explored. Finally, some of the benefits and outcome of mass customization are discussed

Understanding the Emergence of Disruptive Innovation in the Air Force Science and Technology Organizations

Although innovation is widely discussed in both military and industry venues, many organizations continue to struggle with what it means to be creative as well as maintain a competitive advantage. The United States Air Force has specifically struggled with the balance between improving existing technologies and employing revolutionary technologies. The purpose of this thesis was to study the motivation, focus, barriers, and culture needed to foster disruptive innovation in Air Force Science and Technology (S&T) and to investigate how industry innovation strategies could improve breakthrough Air Force technology emergence. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the primary organization responsible for planning and executing all aspects of the Air Force science and technology program, is the ideal study subject to represent the Air Force S&T community at large. Two previous industry research studies, now replicated in an AFRL organizational environment, provided quantitative and qualitative comparisons between the industry and Air Force S&T communities. The study results showed that Air Force S&T is capable of regaining its prominence as a leader in disruptive technological innovation by applying a basic improvement model, capturing the relevant best practices of industry, and exploiting the positive attributes of the military domain

Manager Unethical Behavior During The New Economy Bubble

This paper investigates factors that brought about the surge in manager unethical behavior within the US economy. Key structural causes are the weak internal control, perverse incentives related to managers’ compensation, conflicts of interest in the banking and auditing sectors. Unethical behavior was further enhanced by the large economic noise specific to the IT bubble, which emerged in the late nineties against the background of increased deregulation in the goods and financial markets. The US administration opposed to the proliferation of CEO unethical behavior the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; we argue why some of its provisions might be taken one step furtherUnethical behavior; CEOs; Financial deregulation; Activism; Sarbanes-Oxely Act

Educating Silicon Valley: corporate education reform and the reproduction of the techno-economic revolution

Silicon Valley is seeking to reform education in its own image, as part of a ‘techno-economic revolution’ that is spreading globally. This essay provides an original analysis of how Silicon Valley is seeking to reproduce its centrality to the techno-economic revolution through technology-based reformatory efforts in education. In so doing, it is becoming a major influence in corporate education reform, seeking to take its new pedagogic practices, technical platforms and economic models to the reform of state education at massive scale