Online Reverse Auctions: An Overview

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the fastest growing area in the U.S. economy with electronic procurement (e-procurement) being a major component, and online reverse auctions (ORAs) have emerged as a key e-procurement tool. Since the mid-1990s, ORAs have been gaining in popularity because of their potentially significant positive impact on the profitability of both the buyers and the sellers. Much has been written about the new purchasing paradigm and numerous stories have been reported recently. This paper is aimed at providing a critical review of ORAs by examining their historical developments, different forms, advantages, and disadvantages. In addition, 10 important factors to consider for successful implementation of ORAs are identified and discussed

Treatment of palm oil mill secondary effluent (POMSE) using ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes

Malaysian palm oil industry has grown rapidly over the last few decades, to becoming the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. This success story however, comes with a greater challenge and equally required more sacrifices in order to maintain the tempo. In the year of 2004, it has been recorded that 26.7 million tons of solid biomass and approximately a 30 million tons of palm oil mill effluent (POME) were generated from 381 palm oil mills in Malaysia [1]. Although different kind of wastes are generated in the palm oil mills, the perceived harmful waste among all the waste generated is the palm oil mill effluent (POME) due to its associated harm if discharged into the environment untreated [2]. POME is a colloidal suspension originating from mixture of sterilizer condensate, separator sludge and hydro cyclone wastewater in a ratio of 9:15:1 respectively [3]. It is a brownish colored, thick liquid that is containing high amount of oil, solids, and grease with high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) values. Table 15.1 describes the characteristic of POME obtained from Malaysian Palm Oil Board

Analysing B2B electronic procurement benefits – Information systems perspective

This paper presents electronic procurement benefits identified in four case companies. The benefits achieved in the case companies were classified according to taxonomies from the Information Systems discipline. Existing taxonomies were combined into a new taxonomy which allows evaluation of the complex e-procurement impact. Traditional financial-based methods failed to capture the nature of e-procurement benefits. In the new taxonomy, eprocurement benefits are classified using scorecard dimensions (strategic, tactical and operational), which allows the identification of areas of e-procurement impact, in addition the benefits characteristic is captured (tangible, intangible, financial and non-financial)

Electronic government procurement adoption behavior amongst Malaysian SMEs

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between a model of electronic procurement (e-procurement) adoption behavior and the level of Government e-procurement adoption amongst Small Medium Enterprise (SME) in Malaysia. Data was collected through questionnaires that were distributed to SME selected randomly in all SME in Malaysia.The data were analyzed using factor analysis, reliability analysis, independent-sample t-test, descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation and multiple regressions. Regression results reveals that ‘power’, ‘trust’ and ‘value’ have a positive relationship with the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME in Malaysia.All dimensions, namely; the power of supplier, power of procurement, trust on supplier, trust on information technology, value of implementation system efficiency and value of cost efficiency were also correlated with the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME. Past studies on e-procurement are beset by problems of buyer-seller relationship perspective.In addition, these studies are skewed towards Government-SME relationship perspective which the Government possesses more power than SME and provide a better incentive to educate and influence SME to adopt e-procurement.In investigation the relationship between a model of e-procurement adoption behavior and the level of Government e-procurement adoption amongst SME in Malaysia, this study also tries to provides recommendation to Malaysian government for improving the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME

An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing Consumers’ Trust in E-Commerce

In today's business scenario Internet is one of the key contributors in the globalization of markets which have become one of the main sources of capital flows to emerging economies. Internet technology has adopted for various application like E-governance, E-Procurement and E-commerce. E-Commerce has many advantages such as efficiency and flexibility but also disadvantages such as threat, security and fraud. In General Context, the consumer prefers to purchase the product through physical location rather than through E-Commerce. As the approach is based on the trust, there is a need to identify and analyze the factors such as security, privacy and familiarities that are affecting the trust in electronic transactions. Further, this paper provides an overview of role of trust in e-commerce and attempts to answer the questions such as how the trust can be established between the consumer and online vendor so they can purchase the product through E-commerce. In addition, the finding suggests that perceived security of E- transaction on trust is intervened by perceived privacy and perceived familiarities, and consumer’s trust in E- transaction is considerably related with the reliability of E- vendors. Also consumer’s trust is negatively related with perceived risks in E- transactions. However, there is no important impact from perceived privacy, security and familiarities to the trust in E- transactions. Keywords: WWW- World Wide Web,Trust, E-Commerce,

Business-to-business e-commerce: an innovative tool for food chain management

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished goods, and the distribution of the final goods to customers. The management of food chains, particular of fresh produce chains, need to achieve two goals: (a) create efficient physical flows of products by minimising logistics cost, and reducing lead times (b) run an effective value chain by safeguarding mutual gains for all members of the chain, building trust between suppliers and buyers and at the same time maintaining quality for end consumers. Food chain management was always at a loss for tools to leveraging its efforts on achieving value for chain members and eventually the end-consumers. Although food industry, both in USA and Europe, has experimented with various alternative solutions to this multimillion chain management, yet more can be expected. Business-to-business e-commerce (B2B) appears to be an innovative tool that meets the high standards of the industry and the potential growth. This study examines the uses of B2B in food industry to give chain management solutions. It reviews the uses of B2B and, in particular, highlights the applications of B2B by small agribusiness in order to forge their ring in food chains. It builds upon communication in supply chain. It describes contracting as an example how B2B e-commerce can advance supply activities and reports the development of a B2B olive oil supply chain application. It concludes that B2B can be a strong leverage for food chain management to achieve its goals and produce value for the members of the chain and the end consumers

Kesan pembelajaran koperatif terhadap pencapaian pendidikan alam sekitar dalam kalangan pelajar sekolah menengah rendah

Pembelajaran koperatif merupakan satu teknik pembelajaran yang melibatkan pelajar bekerjasama dalam satu kumpulan untuk mencapai matlamat tertentu. Dalam topik Pendidikan Alam Sekitar, pelajar didapati agak lemah dalam memahami sesuatu istilah dan tidak dapat mengaitkan topik dengan pengalaman serta persekitaran mereka. Sebelum ini, pengajaran dan pembelajaran lebih berpusatkan guru. Pembelajaran koperatif pula hanya melibatkan mata pelajaran yang menggunakan makmal atau bengkel. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau kesan pembelajaran berkumpulan terhadap pencapaian pelajar dalam Pendidikan Alam Sekitar melalui mata pelajaran Geografi. Bentuk kajian yang digunakan ialah kuasi-eksperimen yang dijalankan dengan menggunakan ujian pra dan ujian pasca ke atas kumpulan eksperimen dan kumpulan kawalan. Sampel kajian adalah dua kumpulan pelajar tingkatan 1 dari Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Luar Bandar di negeri Johor. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 37 orang pelajar kumpulan eksperimen dan 35 orang pelajar kumpulan kawalan. Kumpulan eksperimen merupakan kumpulan yang menggunakan kaedah pembelajaran koperatif manakala kumpulan kawalan diajar tanpa pembelajaran koperatif. Instrumen kajian ialah ujian pencapaian, borang soal selidik, jadual pemerhatian dan temubual. Hasil kajian mendapati min pencapaian kumpulan eksperimen adalah tinggi iaitu 18.16 berbanding dengan min kumpulan kawalan, iaitu 13.91. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat peningkatan pencapaian bagi pelajar yang menjalani pembelajaran koperatif berbanding dengan pelajar yang tidak mengamalkan kaedah pembelajaran tersebut. Pelajar juga dapat menerima penggunaan pembelajaran koperatif dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Kesimpulannya, pembelajaran koperatif bukan sahaja dapat meningkatkan hasil malah dapat meningkatkan kualiti proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran

E-commerce and its impact in logistic management: A state of art

Logistics management is defined as that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers' requirements. Traditional logistical issues may be amplified by an e-commerce venture. Adopting e-commerce may greatly expand the marketplace. The organization needs to be concerned with its ability to deliver its product to potential customers. Realizing the importance of E-commerce in logistic management, an attempt has been made in this paper to review the existing literature with the objective to gain insights into the impact of E-commerce in logistic management. The advantages of the E-commerce in logistic management are offered. Finally, summary of findings and calculations are presented