A Technology–Organisation–Environment (TOE) - based m-business value instrument

Mobile business (m-business) creates new business opportunities. Yet, existing research focuses on customer adoption factors rather than an assessment of the value of m-business for organisations. This study fills this gap through the development of a conceptual model of m-business value at the organisational level, which is grounded in the technology–organisation–environment (TOE) framework and the resource-based view (RBV) theory. The model suggests seven determinants of m-business use and value: technology readiness, firm size, managerial obstacles, competitive pressure, regulatory environment, partner pressure, and mobile environment. M-business value is a second order construct comprising the impact on downstream dimensions (e.g., sales support, customer service, market growth), on internal dimensions (e.g., internal processes, staff productivity), and on upstream dimensions (e.g., procurement, coordination with suppliers). This study develops an instrument to assess m-business usage and value. Data collected from 111 professionals is then used to test the proposed instrument. Implications and contributions are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A novel Rho GTPase-activating-protein interacts with Gem, a member of the Ras superfamily of GTPases.

Gem is a Ras-related protein whose expression is induced in several cell types upon activation by extracellular stimuli. With the aim of isolating the cellular partners of Gem that mediate its biological activity we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen and identified a novel protein of 970 amino acids, Gmip, that interacts with Gem through its N-terminal half, and presents a cysteine-rich domain followed by a Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) domain in its C-terminal half. The RhoGAP domain of Gmip stimulates in vitro the GTPase activity of RhoA, but is inactive towards other Rho family proteins such as Rac1 and Cdc42; it is also specific for RhoA in vivo. The same is true for the full-length protein, which is furthermore able to down-regulate RhoA-dependent stress fibres in Ref-52 rat fibroblasts. These findings suggest that the signalling pathways controlled by two proteins of the Ras superfamily, RhoA and Gem, are linked via the action of the RhoGAP protein Gmip (Gem-interacting protein)

Warehouse Societies

International audienceWhen we are trying to imagine what the world of the warehouse was like in the last few centuries of the Republic and the first three of the Empire, we have to consider a particular type of storehouse and economic context at a time when commercial exchanges in the ports in which goods were stocked and redistributed reached their apogee. This was a time when ports were centres of constant activity in which goods were stored and redistributed and commercial exchange was at its height

Ports, routes et trafics en Occident: le cas de Narbonne

The exploration of this subject is based principally on epigraphic evidence, as illustrated in Hatzfeld’s ground-breaking work of 1919, to which may now be added the epigraphy of production and commerce, which goes hand in hand with trade and to which it owes its existence. The case studied here deals with the most westerly part of the Mediterranean, providing access to the continent through the network of routes from the areas around the Aquitaine isthmus and the Rhône isthmus as far as the Rhine and Garonne basins and out to the Atlantic Ocean. It looks at dynamic trends, phenomena which vary over time, just as contexts and economic circumstances may vary. These trends are integrated within the space formed by the routes created and used by people. The study deals with the commercial activities related to the production, transportation and consumption of goods, as well as the networks and directions of trade routes. Ports are important points of passage, places where goods are transferred, stored and distributed, as well as being the principal or secondary places of business