Success factors of Internet-based business models

The NASDAQ crash in April 2000 and the widespread stock market upheavals seem to question the success of the Internet economy. Alongside spectacular failures of dotcomes such as boo.com and webvan.com, however, there are also very on successful e-businesses such as eBay. In this paper, key results of empirical studies on critical success factors of Internet-based business models are presented and discussed. Because of several research limitations and the premature stage of development of e-business, much more sophisticated studies are needed in this new field of empirical research. --

Online shopping behavior in offline retail stores : strategic value for companies?

In a world where e-tailing and traditional in-store shopping live together and complement each other in several shopping activities (Chu, et. al, 2010), little is known about the possibility of an emerging reality in which online and offline shopping merge into one single phenomenon. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore whether consumers are willing to engage in a shopping behavior inside retail stores in a way that is similar to the one they have when shopping online. Additionally, it sheds light on the strategic value the online-offline shopping holds. To accomplish these objectives, a smartphone shopping scenario is designed to represent a situation that enables consumers to perform in-store shopping tasks in a digital manner, mixing and enhancing the features and benefits of e-tailing with traditional retail store experience. Moreover, a research model, that includes preliminary assumptions and eleven hypotheses to be tested, is designed to fundament the research methodology used. Based on this research model and the smartphone shopping scenario, a survey is conducted in order to collect empirical data on customer’s appraisal of the online-offline shopping process as well as their availability to permit recording their shopping data obtained after performing shopping tasks via smartphone. Furthermore, to access the strategic value of the online-offline shopping process, Resource-based View theory is used in order to identify the existence of possible sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The findings from the research show that respondents value the characteristics of the online-offline shopping process as well as they are willing to permit recording their own shopping data so that they are able to benefit from a contextual personalized shopping experience while shopping in traditional retail stores. The dissertation concludes that because customers value the characteristics of the online-offline shopping process they have a strong motivation to engage in an online-offline shopping behavior. Moreover, since they are willing to trade their shopping privacy for a contextual personalized shopping experience, it is plausible to admit that a strategy based on contextual personalization has potential to be strategic for retail companies. In fact, to generate such a strategy, the customer knowledge generated in the process is argued to be a firm resource that, combined with dynamic capabilities to leverage its utility in providing a contextual personalization experience, is considered to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage meaning the online-offline process has potential to be strategic to retail firms

An exploration into the practice of online service failure and recovery strategies in the Balkans

© 2018 To help managers better balance online service failures and recovery strategies, organisations are increasingly offering a variety of recovery programmes. Anecdotal reports suggest that organisations are experimenting with various recovery strategies, and particularly transitioning offline recovery strategies into the emerging technological tapestries. Drawing on data collected from two Balkan countries (Kosovo and Albania) with varying service failures, recovery strategies and levels of participation in online environments, this study examines how interactions between the customer and provider impact on recovery strategies. Unlike existing studies regarding online service failure and recovery strategies, we argue that rather than examining the subconscious of the customer as a stand-alone explanation for failure-recovery perceptions, interactions with the provider must also be taken into account. The current study extends the related construct of failure-recovery perceptions and it suggests that service failure generates different recovery strategies based on the contextual social world

Adopting Circular Economy Current Practices and Future Perspectives

The development of a closed-loop cycle is a necessary condition so as to develop a circular economy model as an alternative to the linear model, in order to maintain the value of products and materials for as long as possible. For this motive, the definition of the value must be demonstrated for both the environment and the economy. The presence of these analyses should be associated with the social dimension and the human component. A strong cooperation between social and technical profiles is a new challenge for all researchers. End of life of products attract a lot of attention, and the final output could be the production of technologies suitable for managing this waste

Reframing Urban Design to sequence developing world cities: designing for patterns in Yeoville/Bellevue, Johannesburg

This thesis is being submitted for the Degree of Masters In Urban Design at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Current understandings of Urban Design point towards the fact that it is the art and science of city making. Like other aspects of Architecture, it begins with a site analysis, followed by the formulation of a vision for the built environment and thereafter a process of transforming the vision into reality (Carmona et.al, 2003). Thus, Urban Design is perceived as a discipline that gives rise to the form and defi nition of the full spectrum of forces including social, economic, cultural, ecological, political and aesthetic dynamics (Dixon, 2005). The role of the Urban Designer can therefore be understood as central to a number of other stakeholders such as Traffi c Engineers dealing with vehicular movement, Civil Engineers concerned with structural design, Architects designing built form, Landscape Architects designing open space, Urban Planners formulating policy and the Property Developers involved in aspects of land investment. However, as urban populations grow, become more diverse and fragmented, the function of Urban Design and the role of the Urban Designer becomes questionable (Madanipour, 1996). The past tradition of thought in Urban Design (visual artistic approach) incorporated a fi rm belief in the physical aspects of city making relying on built form as a primary informant. This tradition has, however, been replaced by a more recent tradition (social usage approach) which incorporates a fi rm belief in interpreting phenomena occurring in public space. This served as a response married to the phenomenon of increased population density and rapid urbanisation persistent in the developing city context due to global migration patterns (Watson, 2009). Consequently, in its plight to reframe Urban Design to sequence developing cities, this thesis conducts a comparative analysis between developed and developing world cities regarding national migratory, population density and urbanisation trends and the effects that it poses on regions, cities and localities. In so doing, it progresses to a realisation that increased living densities in turn spills over into the public realm and onto the street edge for retail and social service access purposes. Thus, a greater mix of uses in the built environment is forged. The increased density of people on sidewalks in essence stimulates transport movement as a collector service which structures street connectivity systems around retail facilities and social services. From the analytical fi ndings here, this thesis recognises that there exist relationships between built form confi guration and socio-economic activities occurring in public space. In light of the above, the thesis employs the combination of the visual artistic and social usage approaches to form the making places approach, which can be appropriate for Urban Design in developing cities. After establishing a new approach, the thesis structures the above-mentioned operations into an evolved conceptual framework. Thus, the conceptual framework recognises that time change in developing cities in conjunction with population density and migration cause overlapping relationships between building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales and within the formal, semi-formal/semiinformal and informal realms. With this being the case, the thesis analyses current literature which argues that the broader problem is the fact that the interrelatedness of the above-mentioned concepts is negated in theory. It develops the problem statement further by stating that a lack of the interrelatedness of the concepts contained in the conceptual framework has in turn infl uenced a lack of such in current research and urban design practice in developing cities. This is confi rmed through measuring the extent to which three South African Urban Design practice case studies consider concepts of building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales and acknowledging the lack thereof. As a means of responding to the problem identifi ed above, a set of research techniques is investigated using a Yeoville/Bellevue, Johannesburg site-specifi c case with the aim of assisting designers to better apply the evolved conceptual framework. Simultaneously, the thesis uses Yeoville/Bellevue as a focus area to illustrate the manner in which building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity can be considered across various scales. This essentially progresses into the creation of an Urban Design Framework for Yeoville/Bellevue that strengthens the linkages between housing and social services, retailing and transport/movement through using principles of street connectivity, land use mix and building density creation. An implementation strategy for the Design Framework is then established. Through the execution of the above process the collective consideration of building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales serves as the basis for reframing Urban Design to suit developing cities

The effects of ethical governance on public trust : a comparative analysis of anti-corruption policies and procedures in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon

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Personalized marketing - A qualitative study on tailored marketing online from a consumer's perspective

When consumers today navigate and shop online they meet different types of advertisements, both directly on the e-commerce website and through other channels. Many companies use personalized marketing as a way to create relationships with consumers. However, personalization today is a sensitive area and often twinned with privacy issues. Many consumers feel as they are being stalked. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how consumers perceive personalized marketing in purchasing situations online when it is used as a customer relationship management-tool. The result should be of great use for practitioners that deal with retailing online in order to maximize the effect of their marketing efforts. Through qualitative interviews we intend to investigate consumers’ sensitivity concerning e-retailers data gathering on the Internet. Our main findings concern the degree of personalization in marketing messages, when personalization strengthens the consumer-company relationship and when it is seen as an intrusion on privacy