Electronic Service Quality Gaps in the Australian Wine Industry

PDF attached with permission from authorsThe wine industry is very important in Australia and the advent of e-commerce has presented the industry with new challenges. This is especially so for smaller wineries in order to reach a wider audience and secure a competitive advantage. The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ has never been more important, as the foundation stone upon which electronic service quality (e-SQ) lies is customer requirements. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Malhotra, (2002) claim that the elimination of e-SQ gaps will lead to customer satisfaction which results in increased perceived e-SQ, value, purchases and repurchases. This paper proposes a formal mathematical definition for e-SQ gaps and a statistical method of testing for the existence of such gaps. This method was applied to a study of Australian winery customers, managers, and websites and it was found that e-SQ gaps did exist. Hence, Australian wineries are not meeting customer website requirements. Further research is being conducted to determine the extent of, and contributing factors to, these e-SQ gaps.Robyn Davidson and Joan Cooperhttp://ecom.fov.uni-mb.si/ECOMFrames.nsf/pages/bled200

The Emergence of Global Software Development Outsourcing Case Studies of Large Organizations in Australia

Information Technology (IT) is a diverse environment and managing all areas of IT has increasingly become difficult for an organization’s internal Information Systems group. Coupled with the fact that performance requirements have become dynamic, there is a greater need to search the world for the most capable supplier(s). An approach towards global outsourcing of software development or offshore development has been witnessed in the United States; however, organizations in Australia have not been as aggressive in pursuing this strategy. This study aims to document the reasons behind this stance via multiple case studies. Specifically, the study aims to document the awareness, practicality, drivers and risks in adopting a pro-active global outsourcing strategy in Australian industry

The Adoption of the Web as a Marketing Tool by Regional Tourism Associations (RTAs) in Australia

There is little doubt that the emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web has had a strong influence on marketing (Goldsmith, 1999). Through the interactive Web medium, relationship marketing and personalisation can be achieved relatively easily compared to traditional forms of media ( Goldsmith, 1999). In order to assist business to make the move online and to enable them to realise the benefits that the Internet and Web have to offer, Government’s around the globe are providing both education and support, in the form of government policy and financial support programs. However, the success of government funded programs depends largely on business uptake of such programs and their ability to leverage on the benefits stemming from the assistance provided . This paper presents the results of a recent study of the level of uptake of the web as a marketing tool by businesses in the Regional Tourism Industry sector in Australia. The results of the study show that this industry sector is at a relatively advanced stage of adoption of Web Marketing, indicating that to date, Government programs aimed at this industry sector have been successful in getting businesses online

A Model for Self Similar Search in Image Database with Scars

In Thailand, the entire Thai citizens are required to carry a national identity card. Therefore, a personal data of each person such as date of birth, weight, height, blood type, religion, occupation, registered address and individual photograph image are kept in the Central Registration Database Systems (CRDS) operated by the Department of Local Administration under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. And in order to increase the efficiency of the internal administration, this Central Registration Database can be utilized and shared by other authorized government agencies at their best interest. The Thai Royal Police Department and the Crime Combat Section are one of the government agencies that share the information from the CRDS. Frequently, individual registration database and photographs are needed for the crime investigation. In previous research, the author proposed a method called “self-similarity search” to handle searching for photographs image database (PID) to support police officers when searching criminal records [18]. By using the proposed method in comparison with the sequential search employed a database search. As a result the proposed method is faster than sequential searching and requires less space. In this research, it is aimed at the refinement of attribute, which will guarantee much faster result when using our proposed searching method provided that scars of suspected person has been earlier foun

Optimising User Acceptance of Mandated Mobile Health Systems (MHS): The ePOC (Electronic Point-of-Care) Project Experience

From a clinical perspective, the use of mobile technologies such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) within hospital environments is not new. A paradigm shift however, is underway towards the acceptance and utility of such systems within community-based healthcare environments. Notwithstanding, introducing new technologies and associated work practices has intrinsic risks which must be addressed. In situations where end-users of a system are traditionally averse to technology through entrenched paper-based work practices (for example, community health workers), the process of managing change bears considerable determination in system implementation success. The authors propose a novel approach to end user acceptance within the context of a mandated mobile health system in a community health setting. The ePOC (electronic point-of-care) project is used to demonstrate how higher levels of user acceptance are achievable in these implementation environments where traditionally low levels of technology acceptance and use are common

What Prevent B2B eCommerce Adoption In Developing Countries?: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

It is widely believed that B2B e-commerce will help firms in developing countries to reduce cost and to improve their access to global market. Yet, developing countries are still some way from success in their adoption of B2B e-commerce. This paper explores social and cultural perspectives that impact on B2B e-commerce adoption in developing countries. Interviews were conducted with key informants from various industries in Thailand. Some common problems related to social and cultural issues faced by industries are presented. It was found that even though B2B e-commerce was implemented in many firms, its use was still very limited. Firms do not feel that they have benefited much from B2B e-commerce adoption. The problem identified is that the immediate social and cultural expectations of e-commerce users in Thailand are not being met by e-commerce technologies. It appears that technologies that have evolved from Western society are designed to meet needs that do not necessarily exist in the commercial environment of Thailand

Regenerating hyperbolic cone structures from Nil

Let O be a three-dimensional Nil-orbifold, with branching locus a knot Sigma transverse to the Seifert fibration. We prove that O is the limit of hyperbolic cone manifolds with cone angle in (pi-epsilon, pi). We also study the space of Dehn filling parameters of O-Sigma. Surprisingly it is not diffeomorphic to the deformation space constructed from the variety of representations of O-Sigma. As a corollary of this, we find examples of spherical cone manifolds with singular set a knot that are not locally rigid. Those examples have large cone angles.Comment: Published by Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol6/paper24.abs.htm

Use of optoelectronic tweezers in manufacturing – accurate solder bead positioning

In this work, we analyze the use of optoelectronic tweezers (OETs) to manipulate 45 μm diameter Sn62Pb36Ag2 solder beads with light-induced dielectrophoresis force and we demonstrate high positioning accuracy. It was found that the positional deviation of the solder beads increases with the increase of the trap size. To clarify the underlying mechanism, simulations based on the integration of the Maxwell stress tensor were used to study the force profiles of OET traps with different sizes. It was found that the solder beads felt a 0.1 nN static friction or stiction force due to electrical forces pulling them towards the surface and that this force is not dependent on the size of the trap. The stiction limits the positioning accuracy; however, we show that by choosing a trap that is just larger than the solder bead sub-micron positional accuracy can be achieved

Improving the quality of indoor environment through more effective lighting at SCDDSN residential facilities

Recommendations for lighting and daylighting improvements at the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs facilities can be made, supported by appropriate data. Very little targeted emphasis has been placed on indoor lighting in many of the agency's residential facilities, and the potential to improve consumer wellness and quality of life has not yet been tapped