Regional eMarketplaces: Towards a Unified Theoretical Framework

Regional electronic marketplaces (REMs) are currently one of the measures adopted by some local governments and regional organizations to improve uptake of e-commerce by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The rationale behind this move is to ensure SMEs do not fall on the wrong side of a digital divide. REMs are also viewed as a way to improve business efficiency and increase trade within the locality, expand into new markets and develop the region generally. However, while the development and management of REMs can be advised by a number of theoretical frameworks and models, there is no one definitive framework that can be used to comprehensively examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit the successful implementation of such e-marketplaces. This paper reviews the literature on e-marketplaces and IT/IS/ e-commerce adoption by SMEs and discusses how the constructs of existing theories and models can be used to examine REM success. It demonstrates how the constructs can be combined, refined and extended with insights from involvement in a REM in Western Australia and from content analysis of published case studies of e-marketplaces and emarketplace participation, to form an integrated theoretical framework upon which the assessment of REM success can be grounded

Generating Procedural Controls to Facilitate Trade: The Role of Control in the Absence of Trust

Over the years, Trust has been recognized in the Bled community as a key enabling factor to stimulate Electronic Commerce. Authors have discussed formal aspects of trust, the role trust plays in the adoption of both B2B and B2C Electronic Commerce, as well as mechanisms to build trust and/or overcome the lack of it. This article first provides a brief overview of the Trust-related articles in the Bled eConference. It then focuses on one specific aspect of the facilitation of trade in absence of trust: the development of procedural controls that enable Electronic Commerce at arms’ length, summarizing the contributions of the authors on this theme at the Bled Conference since the early 1990s. The paper concludes with the authors’ current view on developing procedural controls, focusing on the design process itself, which is often a rather lengthy process consisting of trial-and -error. Here a more analytical approach is proposed to the identification of control requirements for inter-organizational procedures. The approach involves abstracting the process to identify its basic deontic elements. A model checking approach is then applied to identify needed controls

The First 25 Years of the Bled eConference: Themes and Impacts

The Bled eConference is the longest-running themed conference associated with the Information Systems discipline. The focus throughout its first quarter-century has been the application of electronic tools, migrating progressively from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) via Inter-Organisational Systems (IOS) and eCommerce to encompass all aspects of the use of networking facilities in industry and government, and more recently by individuals, groups and society as a whole. This paper reports on an examination of the conference titles and of the titles and abstracts of the 773 refereed papers published in the Proceedings since 1995. This identified a long and strong focus on categories of electronic business and corporate perspectives, which has broadened in recent years to encompass the democratic, the social and the personal. The conference\u27s extend well beyond the papers and their thousands of citations and tens of thousands of downloads. Other impacts have included innovative forms of support for the development of large numbers of graduate students, and the many international research collaborations that have been conceived and developed in a beautiful lake-side setting in Slovenia

Effective Inter-Organizational Information and Communication Technology Adoption in Business-to-Business Customer Interface

Past research has found that 80-90 percent of IT investments do not meet corporate performance objectives, primarily due to non-technical reasons such as human and organizational aspects. When Inter-organizational Information and Communication Technology (IICT) implementation is properly managed IICT can help manage the flow of goods, services, and information between business partners in the supplier-customer dyad, thus reducing transaction costs along the entire value chain. Using the underlying Resource-Based View theoretical foundation, this research approaches effective IICT implementation capability as a holistic organizational capability that extends beyond tangible IT resources. This research investigates business outcomes of IICT adoption in the customer interface of supplier-buyer dyad from the supplier’s perspective. A conceptual model was developed and tested that examines cultural, strategic, and managerial factors’ effects on successful IICT implementation. The research identified four facets of customer interface IICT adoption impact on business: 1) internal business process efficiency, 2) customer relationships, 3) information diffusion with customers, and 4) competitive position. “Change management”, “industry sector”, “technology opportunism”, and “IT resources” were found to be significant determinants of customer interface IICT adoption effectiveness. Partial support was gained to indicate that also “managerial IT knowledge” and “information dissemination” had a positive relationship with IICT adoption effectiveness. The findings in the respondent profile revealed that the organizational capabilities that were found most to affect IICT effectiveness were the weakest organizational capabilities in respondent organizations. The research results show that the forest industry sector is lagging non-forest products industry sectors in appropriating value from customer interface IICT implementation. In light of the research results, it can not be concluded that forest industry and non-forest industry respondents would have any significant gaps in the investigated organizational capabilities that have a relationship with IICT effectiveness. However, the findings show that forest industry respondents had adopted IICT later and are currently using it less in their business functions than non-forest industry respondents. The findings indicate that websites, extranets, and direct integration are perceived as valuable eBusiness tools, as opposed to eIntermediaries which are not considered to bring as much value, regardless of customer relationship type

Strength properties of rice husk ash concrete under sodium sulphate attack

The use of pozzolanic materials in concrete provides several advantages, such as improved strength and durability. This study investigated the strength properties of rice husk ash (RHA) concrete under severe durability (sodium sulphate attack). Four RHA replacement levels were considered in the study: 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% by weight of cement. The durability performance of the RHA blended cement exposed to sodium sulphate solution was evaluated through compressive strength, reduction in strength, and weight loss. Test results showed that RHA can be satisfactorily used as a cement replacement material in order to increase the durability of concrete. Concrete containing 10% and 20% of RHA replacements showed excellent durability to sulphate attack. The results also indicate that the amount of Ca(OH)2 in the RHA blended cement concrete was lower than that of Portland cement due to the pozzolanic reaction of RH

Post-implementation analysis of a B2B e-marketplace

The advent of Business-to-Business (B2B) e-Marketplaces gave the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) firms the opportunity to conduct more efficient and effective commercial interaction with their supply chain partners. Despite the large body of literature in generic Information Systems (IS) domain, there has been a very little work done to-date to investigate the B2B e-Marketplace systems implementation by AEC firms. By adopting a case study research method with a longitudinal approach to data collection, the study on which this paper is based explored the challenges in the adoption and on-going use of a large UK contractor firm’s eMarketplace systems from the perspective of end-users. Utilising a well-established theoretical model from the IS body of knowledge, the analysis revealed several important challenges related to system (functionality and usability), information (content quality) and service (training and support) dimensions of e-Marketplace systems implementation. Through incorporating the case study findings to the conceptual model, the study offers several suggestions for AEC firms to take on board during implementation of the B2B e-Marketplace systems

Implementing inter-organisational information systems for the integration of construction supply chains

Two trends are currently driving the need for supply chain firms to form closely integrated relationships: collaboration and digitisation. One of the ways to achieve digitisation of supply chain operations is to implement Inter-Organisational Information Systems (IOIS) with selected supply chain partners for a much more efficient, streamlined and orchestrated supply chain operations. Whilst IOIS can be implemented to support various cross-functional business processes (ranging from operational information exchange to pursuing strategic initiatives such as sharing ideas, identifying new market opportunities, and pursing a continuous improvement approach), in the context of this thesis, the purpose of IOIS implementation is to facilitate the inter-firm procurement-related operations with downstream supply chain firms. The study undertaken in this research project was initiated in response to an industry requirement to investigate the implementation of IOIS against a backdrop of improved Supply Chain Management and integration practices by large contractor organisations. A case study research strategy was adopted to investigate the IOIS project related, IOIS (system) related issues encountered in ex-ante and ex-post implementation stages of the IOIS. The study concludes that it is the non-technical factors that are critical to the successful delivery of IOIS projects and provides a guideline on IOIS implementation by large contractor organisations. The findings of this research project have been published in a number of peer-reviewed papers

Assessing the success and evaluating the benefits of government-sponsored regional internet-trading platforms for small and medium enterprises: A Western Australian perspective

The Internet has been viewed as an opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to efficiently compete in the global arena with their larger counterparts by overcoming distance and size. However, research has shown that actual uptake of Internet e-commerce by SMEs has been lagging behind that of larger companies. Fearing a growing digital divide between large companies and SMEs, some governments have taken specific measures to encourage SME participation in ecommerce. One of the more direct government initiatives to hasten the progression of SMEs on the e-commerce adoption curve is the creation, sponsorship and management of regional Internet trading platforms for these enterprises. Such a move is predicated on the belief that these platforms will offer SMEs a low-cost introduction to participation in Internet trading platforms without the need for significant technology investments, allowing them to reap benefits like lower costs, improved customer service and new levels of innovation through knowledge-sharing

Fatores antecedentes do uso de um consumidor num mercado digital

Este trabalho, tem como objetivo entender de que forma é que o consumidor é influenciado, na hora de optar pelo consumo de bens ou serviços no mercado digital. Assim, pretende-se conhecer detalhadamente os fatores determinantes do comportamento de uso do consumidor, assim como aqueles que mais contribuem para a sua satisfação no consumo de produtos através deste mercado. O estudo empírico realizado é de natureza quantitativa e correlacional, integrando um conjunto de variáveis preditoras e moderadoras habitualmente consideradas pelo modelo TAM (technology aceptance model), utilizado na compreensão dos principais fatores do uso do mercado digital. A análise da dissertação partiu de uma hipótese principal, em que os fatores previstos no modelo eram antecedentes da aceitação da tecnologia e poderiam igualmente prever o comportamento de uso e a satisfação. Por sua vez, foram analisadas diversas variáveis de forma a perceber se assumiam algum papel preditor ou moderador das relações entre as variáveis do modelo de análise. No estudo participaram 250 pessoas, das quais 131 homens e 119 mulheres. A maioria das pessoas situa-se na faixa etária superior a cinquenta anos e entre os dezoito e os vinte cinco anos. Os resultados revelaram que as condições facilitadoras, a loja física e a perceção de utilidade são preditores do uso, enquanto que o preço, a performance esperada e a influência social são preditores da satisfação. Para além disso, a reputação da marca, o hábito, a segurança, a idade, os "influencers" e o género, assumem um papel moderador de algumas relações do modelo.This work aims to understand how the consumer is influenced, when choosing to consume goods or services in the digital market. Thus, it is intended to know in detail the determinant factors of consumer use behavior, as well as those that contribute most to their satisfaction in the consumption of products through this market. The empirical study carried out is of a quantitative and correlational nature, integrating a set of predictive and moderating variables usually considered by the TAM model (technology acceptance model), used to understand the main factors of the use of the digital market. This dissertation analysis started from a main hypothesis, in which the factors originated in the model were antecedents of the acceptance of the technology and also predict the usage behavior and satisfaction. In turn, several variables were analyzed in order to understand whether they assume any predictive or moderating role in the relationships between the variables in the analysis model. In this study, 250 peoples have participated, of which 131 men and 119 women. Most people are over the age of fifty and between eighteen and twenty-five. The results revealed that the facilitating conditions, the physical store and the perception of usefulness are predictors of use, while price, expected performance and social influence are predictors of satisfaction. In addition, the brand's reputation, habit, safety, age, influencers and gender, assume a moderating role for some model relationships