City networks in cyberspace and time : using Google hyperlinks to measure global economic and environmental crises

Geographers and social scientists have long been interested in ranking and classifying the cities of the world. The cutting edge of this research is characterized by a recognition of the crucial importance of information and, specifically, ICTs to cities’ positions in the current Knowledge Economy. This chapter builds on recent “cyberspace” analyses of the global urban system by arguing for, and demonstrating empirically, the value of Web search engine data as a means of understanding cities as situated within, and constituted by, flows of digital information. To this end, we show how the Google search engine can be used to specify a dynamic, informational classification of North American cities based on both the production and the consumption of Web information about two prominent current issues global in scope: the global financial crisis, and global climate change

The Relationship of Information Systems, Supply Chain Management With Organisational Performance

Purpose In today’s world, Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a key strategic factor for increasing organisational effectiveness and for better realisation of organisational goals such as competitiveness, better customer care and increased profitability (Ganesh Kumar and Nambirajan, 2013). As such, research interest has focused on supply chain practices with SMEs and large organisations in terms of supply chain information systems (SCIS) and organisational performance. Research Approach This study aims at the exploration of the statistical relationship between (SCIS) Effectiveness and Organisational Performance. The findings from a survey involving 168 IT managers show a strong correlation between SCIS and non-financial Organisational Performance across a cohort of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large organisations. Findings and Originality These findings are further confirmed by a recent publication from Ganesh Kumar and Nambirajan, (2013). This study identified the items used by researchers for the measurement of both constructs. Exploratory Factor Analysis was employed as there was no theoretical basis to specify a priori the number and patterns of common factors (Hurley et al., 1997) especially for the extraction of factors measuring the non-financial performance of a firm. Research Impact The analyses also revealed that companies with a high implementation degree show a better supply chain performance. Furthermore, the results show that this paper contributes to the SCM field by providing scales for financial and non-financial performance constructs, and by exploring how those are improved by the adoption of specific Supply Chain Information Systems. Practical Impact The purpose of this study aims at the exploration of the statistical relationship between Supply Chain Information Systems’ (SCIS) Effectiveness and Organisational Performance, when this is measured by financial and non-financial variables and the impacts on SMEs performance

How gamification can influence the webdesign and the customer to use the e-banking systems

The gamification is growing in e-business and the banks are looking for new ways to get more customers on their websites. Therefore, it is important to study what are the most appreciated features of the website that could influence the behaviour of the customer to use an electronic banking system with game features. The gamified e-banking suggests that rich elements/features associated with the games could influence other variables and therefore increasing the client loyalty, to spend more time and increasing the transactions on the website. The aim of this study is to look into the influence of gamification in the e-banking system. Based on the research of 180 publications and 210 variables that could influence the intention to use a certain technology this study develops a theoretical model representing the gamification influence on ease of use, information, web pages characteristics, web design and on the intention to use an e-banking with game features. The results from an online survey of 219 e-banking customers show that the gamification had a positive impact on all variables; special has a medium positive influence in web design and information and a large positive influence on customer intentions to use. Further analysis shows that the website ease of use plays has also a medium positive influence on the intention to use an e-banking gamified. Our findings also show that the clients give more importance to an attractive graphical and architecture website design, and less to web pages with so much information or having pleasure in using an e-banking system.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Software for malicious macro detection

The objective of this work is to give a detailed study of the development process of a software tool for the detection of the Emotet virus in Microsoft Office files, Emotet is a virus that has been wreaking havoc mainly in the business environment, from its beginnings as a banking Trojan to nowadays. In fact, this polymorphic family has managed to generate evident, incalculable and global inconveniences in the business activity without discriminating by corporate typology, affecting any company regardless of its size or sector, even entering into government agencies, as well as the citizens themselves as a whole. The existence of two main obstacles for the detection of this virus, constitute an intrinsic reality to it, on the one hand, the obfuscation in its macros and on the other, its polymorphism, are essential pieces of the analysis, focusing our tool in facing precisely two obstacles, descending to the analysis of the macros features and the creation of a neuron network that uses machine learning to recognize the detection patterns and deliberate its malicious nature. With Emotet's in-depth nature analysis, our goal is to draw out a set of features from the malicious macros and build a machine learning model for their detection. After the feasibility study of this project, its design and implementation, the results that emerge endorse the intention to detect Emotet starting only from the static analysis and with the application of machine learning techniques. The detection ratios shown by the tests performed on the final model, present a accuracy of 84% and only 3% of false positives during this detection process.Grado en Ingeniería Informátic

Disclosing the network structure of private companies on the web: the case of Spanish IBEX 35 share index

[EN] Purpose - It is common for an international company to have different brands, products or services, information for investors, a corporate blog, affiliates, branches in different countries, etc. If all these contents appear as independent additional web domains (AWDs), the company should be represented on the web by all these web domains, since many of these AWDs may acquire remarkable performance that could mask or distort the real web performance of the company, affecting therefore on the understanding of web metrics. The purpose of this paper is to determine the amount, type, web impact and topology of the AWDs in commercial companies in order to get a better understanding on their complete web impact and structure. Design/methodology/approach - The set of companies belonging to the Spanish IBEX-35 stock index has been analysed as testing bench. The authors proceeded to identify and categorise all AWDs belonging to these companies, and to apply both web impact (web presence and visibility) and network metrics. Findings - The results show that AWDs get a high web presence but relatively low web visibility, due to certain opacity or less dissemination of some AWDs favoring its isolation. This is verified by the low network density values obtained, that occur because AWDs are strongly connected with the corporate domain (although asymmetrically), but very weakly linked each other. Research limitations/implications - The categories used to classify the various AWD, although they are clearly distinguishable conceptually, have certain limitations in practice, since they depend on the form adopted by companies to publish certain content or to provide certain services or products. Otherwise, the use of web indicators presents certain problems of accuracy that could be softened if applied with caution and in a relational basis. Originality/value - Although the processes of AWDs creation and categorisation are complex (web policy seems not to be driven by a defined or conscious plan), their influence on the web performance of IBEX 35 companies is meaningful. This research measures the AWDs influence on companies under webometric terms for the first time.This research has been funded under the project APOSTD/2013/002 from the Regional Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (Generalitat Valenciana) in Spain.Orduña Malea, E.; Delgado López-Cózar, E.; Serrano-Cobos, J.; Lloret Romero, MN. (2015). Disclosing the network structure of private companies on the web: the case of Spanish IBEX 35 share index. Online Information Review. 39(3):360-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-11-2014-0282S36038239

The Impact of Social Media on the Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Developing Countries:A Quantitative Approach

PurposeOver the last few decades, microfinance industry is argued to have played a constructive role in alleviating poverty level and providing the underprivileged with access to financial services. Statistics from the World Bank reveal that, currently, only 4% of the underprivileged have been served out of the 3 billion+ potential clients. Such results are due to several claims, particularly the operational and financial challenges faced by microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the constant flux inviting more attentions towards its performance. While explicit attention is given by many researchers towards mobile banking and information and communication technology (ICT) in improving the MFIs’ performance, the study on how social media, as a rapidly growing online phenomenon, can impact on the MFIs’ performance remains scarce. As such, this study aims to investigate this impact based on four dimensional performance indicators: efficiency, financial sustainability, portfolio quality and outreach.Design/methodology/approachA model is proposed and tested to ascertain the relationship between social media applications and organisational performance. In so doing, web-based questionnaires have been used to collect data from MFI employees in developing countries. Results reveal a significant influence of the social media over the MFIs’ performance, offering valuable insights into both researchers and practitioners in the domain of microfinance, as well as social media—conforming that the adoption of social media as marketing, advertising and communication tools may significantly improve the MFIs’ performance.FindingsThe results demonstrate that there is a positive and significant impact of social media use within microfinance on the key indicators of MFIs. They also show that the highest impact of social media usage within the microfinance is on the portfolio quality. In addition, it was found that marketing and advertising; communication and sales and distribution are the main areas where social media is able to support while social networking websites are the most popular platforms employed in MFIs.Originality/valueThis study adds to the existing literature few theoretical and practical aspects. First, this study developed a model for assessing the value of social media as a new phenomenon within this type of organisation. Second, it offers microfinance sponsors, managers and policy makers with a frame of reference to understand what social media platform can be deployed for each purpose. Third, with the identification of the main MFIs’ performance indicators, this research provided a reference of performance measurement guide for microfinance industry when assessing different technological employment

Estimating the wage premium to supervision for middle managers in different contexts: evidence from Germany and the UK

The analysis of wage distribution has attracted scholars from different disciplines seeking to develop theoretical arguments to explain the upward or downward trend. In particular, how the middle management wage premium changes in different contexts is a relatively neglected area of research. This study argues that wage distribution changes in different contexts, representing different forms of capitalism. To shed light on this, we considered the size and the shape of the wage premium to supervision paid to middle managers in Germany and the UK. We find evidence of two forms of context: middle managers are paid differently for the same task according to the economy where they work; of this amount, about half of the difference is related to the context. We frame the analysis within the literature on varieties of capitalism