Learning in Multi-Agent Information Systems - A Survey from IS Perspective

Multiagent systems (MAS), long studied in artificial intelligence, have recently become popular in mainstream IS research. This resurgence in MAS research can be attributed to two phenomena: the spread of concurrent and distributed computing with the advent of the web; and a deeper integration of computing into organizations and the lives of people, which has led to increasing collaborations among large collections of interacting people and large groups of interacting machines. However, it is next to impossible to correctly and completely specify these systems a priori, especially in complex environments. The only feasible way of coping with this problem is to endow the agents with learning, i.e., an ability to improve their individual and/or system performance with time. Learning in MAS has therefore become one of the important areas of research within MAS. In this paper we present a survey of important contributions made by IS researchers to the field of learning in MAS, and present directions for future research in this area

Streaming the beautiful game: exploring big tech's growing presence in the soccer industry

This study investigates the evolving role of major technology corporations—namely, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, and Google—in the sports industry, with a specific focus on soccer. By employing a qualitative content analysis of media reports, scientific literature, and annual reports from 2000 to 2021, the research scrutinizes the varying approaches and investments of these tech giants in the domain of sports. The findings classify these companies into three distinct categories: (1) those actively securing broadcast rights for major competitions and leagues (Google, Facebook, Amazon); (2) those primarily producing and disseminating soccer documentaries (Netflix); and (3) those not directly engaging in media rights but advancing the technological aspects of clubs and leagues (Apple and Microsoft). This study underscores the escalating significance of Big Tech in reshaping the sports media landscape and calls for further research to comprehend the broader implications of their presence in sports broadcasting and fan engagement

The role of cross-cultural B2B relationship marketing: an investigation of Saudi Telecom Company (STC)

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyWith the increasing expansion of companies into the global markets, Relationship Marketing (RM) has become more significant than ever, drawing to it the interest of scholars and the attention of practitioners. One aspect of the subject, which this research addresses, is the need to understand the nature and importance of relationships across cultures, since such understanding is critical to organizational expansion. The focus of this research is B2B relationship marketing, with cross-cultural marketing as a major component of analysis. Building on and extending relevant cross-cultural theories, this research investigates B2B relationship marketing in a Middle-Eastern telecom company, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), a company that is well placed for providing fertile illustrations of the mechanism of B2B relationship marketing. It is, furthermore, a key company in Saudi Arabia with hundreds of partners worldwide, and its economic importance to the country is second only to SABIC, the state-owned national oil company. Adopting a case study research strategy, the research explores how a growing organization absorbs cultural awareness into its B2B relationships. Data are garnered by interviewing 35 STC managers, 29 STC Small Medium Enterprise SME business partners, and three of STC’s Major Enterprise partners, as well as accessing and analysing secondary data from the company. The findings to date suggest that as the company grows it needs to develop B2B cross-cultural awareness at local and global level. This research extends cross-cultural models which have been developed in a business-to-consumer (B2C) context such as cross-cultural marketing theories proposed by Hall and Hofstede to understand cross-cultural theory in a B2B context. By exploring the role of culture in B2B relationships in the telecom industry in the Middle East in general and Saudi Arabia in particular, in light of a case study conducted on a specific and major company, STC and its global partners, and by investigating and assessing how it conducts its B2B relationships, this research aspires to extend the understanding of cultural awareness in B2B relationship and thereby to make a useful contribution to scholarship

The Turkish market: creating a customerdatabase for potential market development; a need for the Socem Molding Group

The Portuguese mold industry is one of the most important industries for the economical and social development of the central region. The Socem Group contributes for its value through the production and exportation of molds and services related. This report is based on an internship made at Socem ED, one of the firms of Socem Group. It attempts to fulfill a specific requirement of Socem; to potential their sales for the Turkish market. The aim is to: a) Understand the Turkish market: culturally, politically, socially, and economically; b) Research mold industry in Turkey, and understand the impact of the automotive and home appliances, and plastics industries in the Turkey economy; c) Make market segmentation and create a customer database; d) According to marketing strategy and segmentation, contact with the potential customers and try to do business with the molding, the automotive, home appliances and plastics companies in Turkey. It is worth to note that during the last 10 years Turkey’s mold industry has improving sharply. The current research provided a creation of a customer database that potential the commercial relationships between the two countries, i.e. Portugal e Turkey, specifically for the mold industry. Secondary data source from 2010 to 2016, to build up the database, was used

Understanding Collaborative Value Co-creation from Stakeholder Perspective: A Literature Review

Value Co-creation (VCC) has succeeded to grasp the attractiveness as a research stream from the scholars and practitioners due to its significant role in achieving competitive advantages. From the introductory period of VCC, the concept has been studied under the light of numerous contexts. However, lack of research papers can be noticed within the stakeholder’s perspectives, more specifically, managing stakeholder’s expectational complexities and generating maximum value from the multi-stakeholder’s collaboration. The aim of this thesis resides in understanding the collaborative VCC process from the stakeholder’s perspective. The primary purpose here is to develop a theoretical framework of the VCC process after identifying the stakeholder’s expectations from the collaboration and triggering those expectations as motivators for ensuring active participation within the process. Another goal of this research is to provide recommendations on ensuring an effective collaborative approach for capturing the mutual objectives after mitigating the interest conflicts among the stakeholders. Thorough research has been conducted on the existing literature to accomplish the specified motives. The theoretical background part of the paper has represented the value nature, VCC-concept from stakeholder’s involvement, along with existing challenges and stakeholder’s alignment within the VCC process. A preliminary VCC framework has also been introduced in the theoretical part. All the potential value drivers, modes of collaboration, available resource types and potential value indicators are provided in the findings part of the paper. The value drivers work as motivators for stakeholder’s engagement and represent stakeholder’s expectations. Based on these expectations, stakeholders collaborate with each other for mutual betterment by integrating resources. The collaboration results in value outcomes of the VCC process, which are represented as the value indicators. Finally, a theoretical framework of the collaborative VCC process from the stakeholder’s perspective is proposed with identified value drivers, modes of collaboration and value indicators in it. The proposed framework will provide insights on the process of transforming expected value towards realized value and ways to motivate stakeholders for active participation within the VCC process

Electronic institutions with normative environments for agent-based E-contracting

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Informática. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Beyond anecdotes: The development of social capital through inter-community sport events

Sport events are believed to promote dialogue, integration and peaceful understanding among groups, even when other forms of negotiation have not been successful (Croft, 2005; Sugden, 2006). At the same time, sport events are thought to play a role in the construction, reproduction or consolidation of social identities in politically, socially or ethnically divided societies. Better publicised events, such as the Olympics, may demonstrate this social utility of sport, where diverse communities stand and feel together as one. However, the social outcomes from sport events are largely anecdotal. This paper argues that for disparate communities to experience lasting benefits from sport events there is the need to move beyond symbolism and anecdotes. There is a need to examine the active engagement of groups with `others in participatory sport event projects where they experience first hand the impacts of cooperation and diversit

D i g i t a l i z a t i o n a n d N e w B u y e r B e h a v i o r i s C h a n g i n g B 2 B R e l a t i o n s h i p M a r k e t i n g

Problem definition: The increasingly informed customer will lead to an even greater demand for expertise and knowledge of marketers. Firms need to find new ways to utilize the informed customer as a co-creator of value by more proficiently analyzing behavior, both online and offline. An uncertainty lies in to which extent the operational standards of KIBS firms translate to their marketing and sales efforts, or to what degree they are using potential customers to help shape their value propositions. The research question that has been identified is how the relationships seen in knowledgeintensive B2B marketing are affected by the digitalization of society and the change in buyer behavior that is a result of these societal changes. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis will be to identify the effects of digitalization and changing buyer behavior on relationships seen across marketing and sales of knowledge-intensive services in a B2B context. This will lead to a recommendation for the case company’s future direction of its marketing and sales functions. Methodology: The research approach of this master’s thesis has been a combination of a descriptive and !! ! IV! Digitalization and New Buyer Behavior is Changing B2B Relationship Marketing Tobias Olsson Emil Uhlin an explorative study. The descriptive approach intends to describe the overall areas of the problem formulation, while the explorative approach aims to collect as much information as possible regarding these areas. The goal of research has been to put more weight on the explorative approach. The research is approached as a case study focusing on a company that is both B2B and in a sector that includes many interesting angles of the problem. Case company: The choice of Company X as case company for this thesis was rooted in three overall observations. First off, the area of digital marketing is currently seeing increased urgency in B2B. The sector of IT and business consultancy is also interesting. The companies in this sector often have many different ways of working within the same company. The choice of a B2B company is motivated by the fact that the new wave of digital marketing has seen greater advancements in B2C. B2B is historically stronger in much of the relationship marketing basics, like close network relationships. The digital advancements in B2B deviate from those in B2C, and are probably not as standardized. Lastly, an interesting aspect of Company X is that it offers business units on opposite sides of the spectrum in regards to overall digital advancements. Conclusions: Information really is the common denominator for everything that pertains to the power balance of supplier and customer. The authors believe that the presented framework provides a good intersection of assessing relational strength in B2B, the ability to grade strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats in digitalization, and lastly the level of current buyer insight. The models are secondary and may be modified, but the choice to observe relationships, digitalization and more in-depth buyer behavior should provide a holistic view for similar studies

The Rock, Winter 2013 (vol. 82, no. 2)

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