The Legitimation of Young and Emerging Artists in Digital Platforms: The Case of Saatchi Art

This article critically examines the way in which the legitimation of emerging artists occurs in the digitalized art market. Based on a conceptual specification of intermediaries’ practices in the legitimation process, we have conducted a case study of Saatchi Art, a pioneering digital platform for trading artworks. We perform a deductive analysis of introduction, interpretation, and selection of artists based on a variety of qualitative data. Our findings show that the legitimacy of selected artists is constructed mainly by Saatchi Art’s curatorial programs. The exclusive practice of granting legitimacy to selected artists by curators stems from symbolic capital- that has accumulated from their career in the conventional art market, thus, implying a close linkage between the offline and online art worlds. Therefore, the disintermediation that is initiated by the digital art platform gives rise to reintermediation due to the necessity of interpreting and endorsing the uncertain value of contemporary artworks and artists

Internet sales as a new mode of internationalization

The way that organizations explore the Internet has been the focus of a substantial body of scientific studies and non-academic reflection. The main goal of this study is to analyze the potential of the internet as a mode of internationalization and the factors that influence the results of the adoption of this mean to access foreign markets. For this purpose, we examine the determinants of the level of international sales made via internet estimating an ordered probit model. The results show that the importance of previous experience in using the internet and developing international activity, together with the level of internet marketing budget , the level of investment on internet sophistication, the firm dimension, the business age and the type pf activity are variables that determine the results obtain in the international sales trough the internet.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Decentralisation in the blockchain space

Contains fulltext : 233930.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)25 november 202

A customer-focused approach to distribution : the case of SANParks

While the importance of distribution has been recognised in tourism literature, the research has been approached mainly from the perspective of supply, with very little attention given to the customer. To date, there has been even less focus on the distribution channel requirements of the National Park customers. The purpose of this study is to examine how the various distribution channels used by South African National Parks (SANParks) go towards satisfying the customers’ distribution channel requirements and identifying whether there is any relationship between certain variables, such as gender or the frequency of channel use, and the level of satisfaction that customers experience with the various channels. Web-based and paper-based questionnaires are distributed to the customers who have used the SANParks distribution channels before. The results show that, although the SANParks website is the most frequently used channel for making a booking, it is not necessarily the channel with which customers are most satisfied; in fact, they are more satisfied with the satellite walk-in reservation offices and satellite call centres. While the majority of the research studies in the context of tourism distribution channels have shown the importance and popularity of electronic distribution channels among customers, this paper cautions SANParks not to assume the distribution channel requirements of their customers and urges them to continually assess their distribution strategies and to become more customer-focused in their approach.http://www.sajems.org/am2016Tourism Managemen

Internet retailing: the past, the present and the future

The primary aim of this paper is to critically review the literature that explicitly addresses the adoption, application and impact of internet technologies, by retailers, for the promotion and sale of merchanidise. In particular, this paper seeks to present a holistic and critical review of the early predictions, with regard to the uptake and impact of internet retailing; critically reappraise these claims in light of current trends in internet retailing; and explore where e-tailing may be heading in the coming years. The study adopts an extensive and critical review of the literature, with regard to the adoption, uptake and impact of Internet retailing, as published in the academic literature over the past twenty years. In hindsight it can be seen that many of the original predictions, made at the dawn of the Internet era, have not become a reality: retailers aren’t cannibalising their own custom, virtual merchants aren’t dominating the market-place, and the high-street hasn’t, as yet, been put out of business. By contrast other predications have come to pass: electronic intermediaries are playing an increasingly important role, ‘one-to-one’ marketing has become a reality, prices are more competitive, and perhaps most importantly the consumer has become more powerful. Providing a brief review of the past, present and future of online retailing is an extremely ambitious undertaking, especially given the vast amount of literature that has been published in this area. In attempting to provide an overall impression of the broad themes, and most important findings, to emerge from this important body of literature, it is inevitable that we will have either missed or underplayed many important pieces of work. Consequently, there is a need for follow-up studies that aim to provide deeper and richer reviews of more narrowly defined elements of this vast landscape. This study presents one of the first and most thorough reappraisals of the initial literature with regard to the likely development, implications and impact of Internet retailing. Moreover the paper seeks to break new ground by attempting to use the current literature to help predict future directions and trends for on-line shopping

On the innovation mechanisms of fintech start-ups: insights from Swift's innotribe competition

The emergence of nascent forms of financial technology around the globe is driven by efforts to deconstruct and reimagine business models historically embedded within financial services. Entrepreneurial endeavors to this end are diverse. Indeed, the propensity towards complexity across the fintech landscape is considerable. Bridging as it does a diverse range of financial ser-vices, markets, innovations, industry participants, infrastructures and technologies. This study aims to improve the comprehension of the global fintech landscape. It is based on the analysis of start-ups who participated in SWIFT’s Innotribe competition over a three-year period. We used cluster analysis to group 402 fintech start-up firms, and then selected representative cases to create a foundational understanding of the structure of the fintech landscape. We found that six clusters capture the variety of firms and their activities. The main findings of this work are: (1) the development of fintech clusters to classify core services, business infrastructures and underlying component technologies, which characterize the fintech landscape; (2) an analysis of how fintechs synthesize different technologies to restructure and coordinate flows of financial information through competitive and cooperative mechanisms of disintermediation, extension of access, financialization, hybridization and personalization; (3) an analysis of related strate-gies for value creation connected with the competitive and cooperative mechanisms that were identified. Collectively, our results offer new insights into the diversity and range of emergent innovations and technologies which are transforming the financial services industry worldwide

Amazon in action: oder: Wo liegt das Neue der digitalen Technologie?

Der Beitrag behandelt die Frage nach der Bedeutung der digitalen Technologie in der Entwicklung Amazons zum heutigen digitalen Konglomerat. Ausgehend von der Unterscheidung zwischen Verkettungs-, Vermittlungs- und Intensivtechnologie (J. D. Thompson) wird argumentiert, dass aufgrund der sequenziellen Struktur der Algorithmen die digitale Technologie als Verkettungstechnologie einzuordnen ist. Als solche setzt sie Standardisierung voraus und schreibt diese weiter fort. Neuartig ist, dass die algorithmische Verkettung und die darauf aufbauende Vernetzung die Rigidität der analogen Verkettung überwinden und somit das Anwendungsfeld der Verkettungstechnologie erweitern. Es wird gezeigt, wie beide Dimensionen Amazon kennzeichnen. Zum einen führt das algorithmische Management in den Verteilungszentren zur Industrialisierung von manueller Dienstleistungsarbeit, die Arbeitsverdichtung und erhöhte Kontrolle der Arbeitsleistung nach sich zieht. Zum anderen findet im Bereich der Vermittlungstechnologie, wo Amazon ebenso wie auch die anderen digitalen Plattformen zu verorten ist, eine neuartige Hybridisierung ("algorithmische Vermittlung") statt. Diese Hybridisierung geht bis in den technischen Kern von Amazon hinein und begründet die Quelle seiner Innovationsstärke und wirtschaftlichen Macht.This article investigates the relevance of digital technology for Amazon’s development into a digital conglomerate. Starting from the differentiation between long-linked (concatenation), mediating and intensive technologies (J. D. Thompson) the article argues that because of the sequential structure of the algorithms digital technology has to be understood as a long-linked technology. As such it presupposes standardisation and develops it further. What is new is that the algorithmic sequence and the network based on it overcome the rigidity of the analogous inter-linkage and thus extend the field of application of the concatenation technology. The article demonstrates how these two dimensions characterise Amazon. On the one hand, the algorithmic management in the distribution centers leads to the industrialisation of manual work in the service sector which implies work intensification and increased control of the work performance. On the other hand, a new form of hybridisation ("algorithmic mediation") takes place in the field of the mediating technology which forms the basis of Amazon as well as the other digital platforms. This hybridisation extends into the technical core of Amazon and constitutes the source of its innovation strength and its economic power

The rise of customer-oriented banking: electronic markets are paving the way

The banking industry has been a pioneer in adopting electronic markets with exchanges, clearinghouses, and multilateral trading facilities having become the backbone of today’s globally integrated financial transactions. While most banks use the services of these electronic markets to handle interbank processes, they still strive for bilateral relations in the field of customer-facing processes. This position paper argues that the financial crises, the changing behavior of customers, upcoming innovations based on information technology (IT) and financial services offered by non-banks are strong drivers towards more customer-orientation in the financial industry. A large variety of banking IT innovations has emerged and illustrates that traditional banks are expected to have less power to impede competition at the customer interface and in consequence need to re-position themselves. Building on these developments on the one hand and existing electronic market infrastructures in the banking industry on the other, the concept of a customer-oriented financial market infrastructure is proposed as a possible future solution. The impact is illustrated using a competitive analysis of the banking industry and analogies to the media industry where new entrants from the computing industry have caused disruptive changes. Besides describing the threat to existing banks, the position paper also discusses the perspectives for banks

ICTs in medium-sized farms in developing countries: a case study in Mexico: conventional banana and organic rice cultivation

This research examines how farmers working medium-sized farms in Mexico have adopted and enacted Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and how these ICTs have impacted work practices. The effects of ICTs on farmers’ economic relations are explored from a business process perspective using a framework that combines Transaction Cost (TCT) and Social Embeddedness theories. A single case study in Mexico with two embedded units of analysis from different crop sectors, a cluster of banana producers from Tabasco and an organic rice grower from Campeche, provide an in-depth understanding of the adoption of ICTs and their impact. We examine issues of learning and co-operation, and how ICTs have affected production and distribution and the positioning of farmers in the context of their work practices and economic relations. The thesis discusses the ICTs used in the business process cycle of farming and their impact on business development and economic exchange. The research elaborates on and confirms the existence of network forms of organisation that operate in the farmers’ communities and analyses their social embeddedness. The findings show that information technologies bring improvements to the agricultural business process, facilitating not only the collection, collation and analysis of data to support informed decisions, but also innovative farming and business practices through learning and co-operation. We find that ICTs complement and support social relationships, both preexisting (traditional community connections and business links) and novel (virtual contacts and social media) to stimulate business development. The significance of social context is corroborated and should help inform development policy