Mobile Value Added Services: A Business Growth Opportunity for Women Entrepreneurs

Examines the potential for mobile value-added services adoption by women entrepreneurs in Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia in expanding their micro businesses; challenges, such as access to digital channels; and the need for services tailored to women

The celebrity factory: new modes of fashion entrepreneurship

The aim of the paper is to analyze the contribution of celebrity culture to the re-shaping of the fashion industry, distancing from an oppositional view while embracing a systemic one, where celebrity is considered a fundamental engine of the contemporary cultural production of fashion and a global consumerist culture. The scope of our paper tries to overcome the endorsement point of view to address the relationship between celebrity and fashion as a two-way relationship which is re-wiring the fashion industry. The paper will explore the multiple manifestations of the so-called celebrity brand labels, from Kim Kardashian to Victoria Beckham

Innovation Dynamics and Evolutionary Economic Paths in the Music Industry

This work aims at analysing the evolution of music industry, since the beginning of music marketed as a product for the masses until the new frontiers of digital music. Our goal is to identify which factors played a key role in the evolution of the demand in the last years and in the largely discussed crisis of the international music market. In order to reach our goal, it is necessary to contextualise the analysis, starting from the definition of the so-called pop music, or popular music, that must not be confused with the expression “musica popolare†that in Italian defines folk traditional music. We analysed diverse sets of data, ranging from economic ones to sociology-related studies, which helped us to understand, through the contribution of several schools of thought, which factors influence music consumption and to what extent demand and supply influence each other. Our work focuses on the conception of the music market as an eclectic sector of cultural industry, halfway between entertainment, leisure and culture. Music can be used in several ways, and during the years the use has been modified by the implementation of new technological means (particularly referring to the phonograph) by the attempt to satisfy needs that change constantly, such as self-accomplishment, social aggregation or escape from the routine. On the basis of these needs the industry periodically tried to control demand through push strategies, trying to impose new musical trends and pull strategies, adapting to the consumption trends registered. It is important to determine to what extent acting on the market influenced the current situation and whether in this context music is the only element to take into account or not. Our idea is that music does not always play a key role in demand dynamics, that is to say music influences consumption to the extent it is able to meet specific requests by the public, that sometimes are not strictly related to the product itself. Because of the uncertainty of the record industry, technology, market situation and demand become extremely interdependent factors.Schumpeterian dynamics; Music industry; Appropriability; Radical innovations

Mobile IoT adoption as antecedent to Care-Service Efficiency and Improvement: Empirical study in Healthcare-context

Internet of things (IoT) is the buzzword and pioneering breakthrough approach highlighted in today’s industry 4.0, where the devices are seamlessly integrated with each other, sharing vital information in real-time sync. With the wearable IoT devices, the diagnostic readings and physical measurements of the patients can be shared with the physician on the go and suitable diagnosis can as well be shared with patient in the real-time on their own mobile devices through IoT applications. This study empirically examines the importance of m-IoT adoption on the information pervasiveness across the network and patient stakeholders and in turn investigating how efficiency of healthcare services and care process improvement got affected. Study outcomes based on 221 completed responses from the healthcare professionals concludes that, m-IoT adoption opens new opportunities and challenges with the process innovation in the healthcare services and increases the efficiency of services

GeoIntelligence: Data Mining Locational Social Media Content for Profiling and Information Gathering

The current social media landscape has resulted in a situation where people are encouraged to share a greater amount of information about their day-to-day lives than ever before. In this environment a large amount of personal data is disclosed in a public forum with little to no regard for the potential privacy impacts. This paper focuses on the presence of geographic data within images, metadata and individual postings. The GeoIntelligence project aims to aggregate this information to educate users on the possible implications of the utilisation of these services as well as providing service to law enforcement and business. This paper demonstrates the ability to profile users on an individual and group basis from data posted openly to social networking services

The perks and downsides of being a digital prosumer: optimistic and pessimistic approaches to digital prosumption

The recent evolution of users’ position and agency in digital environments absorbs the attention of several scholars in different fields of study. Users’ new ontological status as prosumers, simultaneously producers and consumers, and their role regarding productive paradigms has raised a lot of contrasting opinions. Different discursive techniques are employed to investigate production practices in digital worlds and are often crafted with the conventions of utopian and anti-utopian approaches. Nevertheless, the adoption of optimistic or pessimistic analytical and rhetorical strategies appears to be prejudiced towards the study of emerging online practices. In reality, the analysis of positive and negative approaches to productive paradigms in digital environments results in the detection of their limitations in reaching a comprehensive understanding of the investigated phenomena. Therefore, the adoption of a more neutral perspective is suggested, one that could potentially foster a holistic approach and therefore a broader and deeper comprehension of the analyzed phenomena

DIGITAL TEHNOLOGIES. AN OVERVIEW OF CURRENT EVOLUTIONS AND IMPACT

Various observers describe today's global economy as one in transition to aknowledge economy, as an extension of an information society. The transition requires thatthe rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in aninterconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how andexpertise are as critical as other economic resources. According to analysts of the knowledgeeconomy, these rules need to be rewritten at the levels of firms and industries in terms ofknowledge management and at the level of public policy as knowledge policy or knowledge-related policy. The digital and ICT revolutions are twin revolutions. Information andcommunications technology (ICT) refers to a broad field encompassing computers,communications equipment and the services associated with them. It includes the telephone,cellular networks, satellite communication, broadcasting media and other forms ofcommunication.digital revolutions, communication equipment, broadcasting media

Has the European ICT sector a chance to be competitive ?

The ICT sector is featured by technical progress, convergence and systems integration. This leads to risks of monopolization regimes at the core with higher competition regimes at the periphery. Moreover, some specific component of the system may be essential for its evolution. In particular, networking to some extent creates the system, while software (notably operating systems) is the “glue” which holds it together. In this context, the European ICT industry is potentially smashed between the cost advantages of Asian countries such as China, and the inventiveness and dynamism of the US industry. The way out of this difficult situation is to create in Europe the conditions of restoring knowledge accumulation. By concentrating on an ambitious project of open source software production in embarked and domestic systems, Europe could reach several objectives: to make freely accessible an essential facility of networks, to stimulate competition, to help reaching the Lisbon objectives and to restore the European competitiveness in ICT.information and communications technologies ; industrial policy ; competition regimes ; knowledge based society ; open source

Expertise, the academy and the governance of cultural policy

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