Perceived Innovativeness and Privacy Risk of Smart Toys in Brazil and Argentina

A smart toy, such as Hello Barbie, is a device consisting of a physical toy component that connects to a computing system with online services through networking to enhance the functionality of a traditional toy. Whilst these are new educational and entertaining values of smart toys, experts in western countries such as U.S. and Germany have warned consumers of the data security and privacy issues of these toys. In this preliminary research study, we particularly studied Brazilian and Argentinian consumers’ perceived innovativeness, risks and benefits of smart toys and their purchase intention toward such toys. Results indicate that Brazilian consumers have better perception and evaluation of the toy and thus higher purchase intention than Argentinian consumers do. Such difference may be explained by the cultural differences be-tween the two countries, such as relatively low vs. high uncertainty avoidance

Business-to-Consumer eCommerce Adoption in Nicaragua

Electronic commerce has changed the landscape of business reality, enabling conduits that create opportunities for the ones capable of overcoming their challenges. The causes affecting the adoption have been well documented in many regions of the world. However, there are few studies in Latin America and especially in Central America. Therefore, this research aims to describe the factors that facilitate and inhibit Business-to-Consumer eCommerce adoption in Nicaragua. For this purpose, a literature review on eCommerce adoption in developing countries was carried out to find the possible factors that might affect the adoption based on the entrepreneurial characteristics (innovativeness, knowledge, and perceived behavioral control), the communication of the innovation (innovation decision, communication channels,homophily in communication networks, message about the innovation, and the personal proximity network in the information exchange), the characteristics of the innovation (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and purchasing costs), and the socioeconomic context (market eReadiness, transport logistics, logistic services, financial institutions eReadiness, telecommunication eReadiness, legal framework, and government commitment) besides a series of control variables considered and supported by the “Diffusion of Innovation Theory” by Rogers (2003). A questionnaire was developed based on prior empirical studies and tested through a pilot test prior to its application. The research comprises a descriptive approach, presenting secondary data about the country and industry related to eCommerce adoption in Nicaragua, and primary data obtained through the quantitative survey which tests the theoretical concepts from eCommerce adoption in this context. The survey had the participation of 315 managers from micro, small, medium, and large companies from all sectors in Nicaragua. The eCommerce status: connected eCommerce, static eCommerce, interactive eCommerce, transactive eCommerce, and integrated eCommerce were empirically investigated, using the survey to determine the characteristics of non-adopters that correspond to the categories of connected and static adopters from interactive, transactive, and integrated according to the eCommerce literature. A descriptive statistics and logistic regression was used to analyze the data and research hypotheses. The analysis demonstrates the technology, communication, managerial characteristics, and contextual factors that may affect eCommerce. Three hypotheses were confirmed: relative advantage, compatibility, and observability had a significant positive influence on the adoption of eCommerce in Nicaragua. Concerning the control variables analyzed, only the variables related to revenue generation for the National sales of products, revenue generation for International sales of services, and revenue generation for National sales of services were significantly influencing eCommerce adoption. It demostrated the importance of technological factors and revenue on eCommerce adoption among other factors. The result from the logistic regression found among all predictors (34) that three variables have an explanatory power and have a significant effect on the adoption of eCommerce: revenue of International sales of services, eCommerce knowledge, and compatibility. The analysis confirmed the relevance of revenue and a technological factor such as compatibility on the adoption of eCommerce besides the knowledge from the managerial dimensions. The descriptive statistics provide insights about the characteristics of the companies; the great majority belong to the services sectors and are small organizations. Adopters represent 53% of the total of the participants companies which are in the interactive, transactive, integrated level of eCommerce, are mostly small companies with 20 years in the market, are located in the Pacific region, and are not export oriented. The present findings might represent a significant contribution to the theoretical framework of eCommerce adoption in developing countries and as a starting point for supporting the development of organizations in Nicaragua and future research

Cybersecurity and the Digital Health: An Investigation on the State of the Art and the Position of the Actors

Cybercrime is increasingly exposing the health domain to growing risk. The push towards a strong connection of citizens to health services, through digitalization, has undisputed advantages. Digital health allows remote care, the use of medical devices with a high mechatronic and IT content with strong automation, and a large interconnection of hospital networks with an increasingly effective exchange of data. However, all this requires a great cybersecurity commitment—a commitment that must start with scholars in research and then reach the stakeholders. New devices and technological solutions are increasingly breaking into healthcare, and are able to change the processes of interaction in the health domain. This requires cybersecurity to become a vital part of patient safety through changes in human behaviour, technology, and processes, as part of a complete solution. All professionals involved in cybersecurity in the health domain were invited to contribute with their experiences. This book contains contributions from various experts and different fields. Aspects of cybersecurity in healthcare relating to technological advance and emerging risks were addressed. The new boundaries of this field and the impact of COVID-19 on some sectors, such as mhealth, have also been addressed. We dedicate the book to all those with different roles involved in cybersecurity in the health domain

Offshoring of R&D activities by Multinational Corporations

This thesis attempts to extend the current understanding of the R&D offshoring process with specific focus on determinants of location choice for R&D activities. The literature dealing with the determinants of location choice is largely fragmented and hence this thesis attempts to integrate the different prevailing perspectives. Based on transactional cost economics, resource-based view and eclectic paradigm, this thesis adopts a multi-level approach to examine country, firm and project level factors of location choice decision. Moreover, this study investigates the difference between the degree of innovativeness and routineness of R&D activities offshored to developed and emerging countries. Furthermore, it also looks at the difference between the degree of innovativeness and routineness of R&D activities offshored to foreign affiliate and non-integrated suppliers

ON | OFF : risks and rewards of the anytime-anywhere internet

Are you constantly online? Or are you offline sometimes? Are you offline if you are not interacting with your connected devices? Or if no data about you is being collected? Do you check Instagram and Twitter during dinner? Do you turn off your smartphone at night? Do you check work emails on vacation? Do you feel you have to disconnect regularly–to relax, to concentrate, or to protect your privacy? Or do you feel more relaxed when constantly connected because your loved ones, a work emergency, or the news are always at your fingertips? Why are some people–even within networked societies–still completely offline given the tremendous opportunities of the Internet? And what does it even mean to be online or offline in the age of hyper-connectivity? In ON |OFF, Sarah Genner assesses the risks and rewards of the anytime-anywhere Internet, focusing on digital divides, social relationships, physical and mental health, and data privacy. She discusses implications for a variety of decision-makers in the world of work, in education, in families, and in politics. The author deconstructs the online/offline dichotomy and suggests the ON | OFF scale as a new theoretical framework for researchers and practitioners