Communications Policy for 2006 and Beyond

In this Article, the Authors propose sweeping changes to the current telecommunications regulatory regime. With impending reform in telecommunications laws, the Authors argue that an important first step is the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission to examine and recommend implementation of more market-oriented communications policy. Through maximizing the operation of the markets, the authors argue that communications policy will better serve its goals of increasing business productivity and consumer welfare through the better services and lower prices. Important steps to achieve optimal market operation include deregulating retail prices where multifirm competition is available, minimizing the cost of public property inputs, overhauling universal service, assigning greater jurisdictional authority to federal regulators, and significantly reorganizing the FCC. The Authors argue that the timely implementation of these policies is crucial for achieving United States telecommunications policy goals

Understanding information diversity in the era of repurposable crowdsourced data

Organizations successfully leverage information technology for the acquisition of knowledge for decision-making through information crowdsourcing, which is gathering information from a group of people about a phenomenon of interest to the crowdsourcer. Information crowdsourcing has been used to drive business insight and scientific research, providing crowdsourcers access to information outside their traditional reach. Crowdsourcers seek high-quality data for their information crowdsourcing projects and require contributors who can provide data that meet predetermined requirements. Crowdsourcers recruit contributors with high levels of relevant knowledge or train contributors to ensure the quality of data they collect. However, when crowdsourced data needs to fit more than a single usage scenario because the requirements of the project changed or the data needs to be repurposed for tasks other than the one(s) for which it was initially collected, the ability of contributors to provide diverse data that can meet multiple requirements is also desirable. In this thesis, I investigate how the domain knowledge a contributor possesses affects the diversity and quality of data they report. Using an experiment in which 84 students randomly assigned to three knowledge conditions reported information about artificial stimuli, I found that explicitly trained contributors provided less diverse data than either implicitly trained or untrained contributors. In addition, I looked at the longitudinal effect of knowledge on the diversity of data reported by contributors. Using review data from Amazon.com and organism sighting data from NLNature.com (a citizen science data crowdsourcing platform), I studied the impact of knowledge on the diversity and quality of crowdsourced data. The results show that experience reduced the diversity and usefulness of contributed data. The study provides insights for crowdsourcers in industry and academia on how to manage and utilize their crowds effectively to collect high-quality reusable data

Human Dimensions of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: An Overview of Context, Concepts, Tools and Methods

This document aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the economic, institutional and sociocultural components within the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) process and to examine some potential methods and approaches that may facilitate the adoption of EAF management. It explores both the human context for the ecosystem approach to fisheries and the human dimensions involved in implementing the EAF. For the former, the report provides background material essential to understand prior to embarking on EAF initiatives, including an understanding of key concepts and issues, of the valuation of aquatic ecosystems socially, culturally and economically, and of the many policy, legal, institutional, social and economic considerations relevant to the EAF. With respect to facilitating EAF implementation, the report deals with a series of specific aspects: (1) determining the boundaries, scale and scope of the EAF; (2) assessing the various benefits and costs involved, seen from social, economic, ecological and management perspectives; (3) utilizing appropriate decision-making tools in EAF; (4) creating and/or adopting internal incentives and institutional arrangements to promote, facilitate and fund the adoption of EAF management; and (5) finding suitable external (non-fisheries) approaches for financing EAF implementation

From Convergence to Compromise: Understanding the Interplay of Digital Transformation and Mergers on Data Breach Risks in Local and Cross-Border Mergers

In today\u27s digital age, the potential risks and challenges associated with digital transformation (DT) and cybersecurity have received limited research attention. This dissertation consists of three interconnected studies that aim to address this gap. The first study employs paradox theory to demonstrate that DT initiatives can increase a firm\u27s susceptibility to data breaches. Using a unique dataset spanning 10 years and involving 3604 brands, our analysis reveals that DT efforts in mobile and digital marketing are associated with a higher incidence of data breaches. However, firms can mitigate this impact by enhancing their innovative capacities. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationship between DT, data breaches, and innovation. Our second investigation, rooted in complexity theory and matching theory, examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the frequency of data breaches. By analyzing 18 years of data from 5072 US firms, we find that M&As increase the likelihood of data breaches, particularly when the merging firms operate in different business domains. Furthermore, we observe that M&As that receive more media attention are more prone to data breaches, while those involving a more vulnerable target firm have fewer breaches. In our third study, guided by Institutional theory, we explore the relationship between cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMA) and data breaches. Our findings indicate that CBMAs, especially those accompanied by significant media publicity and involving firms from divergent institutional contexts, heighten the risk of data breaches. Overall, these studies provide valuable insights for firms aiming to mitigate data breach risks during their digital transformation (DT) efforts and M&A activities. They emphasize the importance of adopting a balanced communication strategy and considering the security implications of strategic actions. Moreover, our findings contribute to the academic discourse in information systems by illuminating the intricate interplay between DT, M&As, and data breaches

Technological and Institutional Innovations for Marginalized Smallholders in Agricultural Development

Agriculture; Agricultural Economics; Geography, general; Innovation/Technology Managemen

Communicating with, through, and as the Recipient: Changing the Rules in Strategic Communication and Journalism

In today's world, technological innovations and societal changes are increasing both in frequency as well as in the seriousness of their effects on all parts of our day-to-day life. With that, various institutions need to reconsider the rules they adhere to when handling a crisis or communicating with consumers. This book takes a look at the trends that are shaping the communication profession of tomorrow, within the fields of strategic communication and journalism, and their consequences as well as how to implement them. The publications given consider trends such as corporate podcasts, artificial intelligence in journalism, prosumers, and possibilities of fostering resilience and corporate social listening as well as effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on dialog communication. Six individual papers, developed over the course of a research seminar at Leipzig University, give insights into the future of communication within their respective fields, focusing on communication with, through, and as the recipient. Together, they formulate implications for the practical field and future research, offering insights and pathways for communication to come

Business Ethics

Business Ethics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester business ethics course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including case studies, application scenarios, and links to video interviews with executives, all of which help instill in students a sense of ethical awareness and responsibility.https://commons.erau.edu/oer-textbook/1006/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Business Models in Tourism

We invite you to read the Special Issue on business models in tourism, in the context of considering the principles of sustainable development. It is a collection of 14 articles published in a Special Issue of Sustainability MDPI in 2019–2021. The dynamic changes taking place in the world economy, social life, and the natural environment force entrepreneurs to change their business models. This also happens in the tourism business. The SARS-COV2 virus pandemic has increased the need for change. It is necessary to offer managers modern management tools that cover the broadest possible scope of integration of the elements of the conducted business activities, at the same time adjusted to the specificity of the market and needs of the natural environment in which the enterprises managed by them operate. This book, formulated in the light of the presented needs, aims to use the concept of business models and sustainability business models in the context of a tourism enterprise adapted to the existing conditions of tourist and spa activities

Towards Sustainable Innovation

With sustainability having gained a lot of momentum over the last years and companies implementing strategies to create corporate sustainability, there are lots of opportunities for innovation. Thus, the two concepts of sustainability and innovation should not be considered separately – they are closely interlinked with one another. The main goal of sustainable innovation is to develop new products and technologies that have a positive impact on the company’s triple-bottom-line. To meet this aim, they have to be ecologically and economically beneficial as well as socially balanced. In order to help companies to improve their sustainable innovation process practically, this book is structured into five possible phases of a sustainable innovation process: Awareness of a sustainability problem Identification & Definition of the problem Ideation & Evaluation of the solutions Testing & Enrichment of the solutions Implementation of the solutions & Green Marketin

The market role of local governments in urbanization

This research explores from the perspective of new institutional economics the role played by local governments in the Chinese urbanization process. In conventional wisdom of city planning and economics, government is often considered as the opposite of the market: the public goods can only be supplied in special ways, different from that of the common goods. Institutions, planned economy or market economy, are often labelled by how much the government intervenes in its economy. However, theories based on such paradigms can hardly explain the behaviours of governments in the real world. This research argues that government is a part of the market mechanism, but not the opposite of market. A city government is in nature an enterprise that sells its products and services within its territory. Correspondingly, a city is in nature a place to trade public services, which makes the key institutional difference between a city and a village. In light of his argument, the theoretical debate on public goods is first examined. Then the behaviours of Chinese local governments are investigated and explained with a new framework, which cannot be achieved with traditional theory. Case studies in China demonstrate that the rapid growth of Chinese cities in recent years results mainly from the success of the business model of Chinese local governments. Lastly the inadequacies and mistakes of traditional urban planning theories in the Chinese context are analyzed and suggestions are made to transfer planning theory to the new paradigm, which is based mainly on the assumption that the behaviours of governments is to maximise their surplus. In the appendix a new pricing theory is formulated to extend the theoretical ground of this research. With this theory, the public goods can be supplied on a competitive market without substantial distinction from other good