E-commerce adoption by European firms: a cross-country multilevel analysis

E-commerce has been recognized as a new form of commerce and a fresh way to identify, target, and retain customers. However, firms are often uncertain about investing in the online channel as there is no guarantee this will result in consumers engaging in online transactions. The studies on e-commerce adoption usually distinguish the following three dimensions: environmental, technological, and organizational (Rodríguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2010; Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2003). There are few purely virtual firms, and the traditional channel and multichannels continue to be the predominant types of retail channels used by firms (Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2006; Li, Troutt, Brandyberry, & Wang, 2011). This is due to the many obstacles faced by firms adopting e-commerce; more specifically, they must overcome important technical, cognitive, socio-political, economic, legal, managerial, financial, and cultural challenges (Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2003; Molla & Licker, 2005; Kshetri, 2007). Given the heterogeneity of contexts, the factors constraining the adoption of ecommerce are not the same across firms and countries (digital divide). In light of this, our focus will be on firms that have not yet taken the decision to adopt e-commerce due to a set of restraints, and on analyzing the differences within- and between-countries. The research question to be answered is: What are the inhibitors of e-commerce adoption in each EU country? An analysis is made of the overall attitudes towards e-commerce adoption in European firms, linking specific deterrents of e-commerce adoption (e.g., higher delivery costs or the nature of business) and the following retailer characteristics: size, type of product, retail channels, and respondent’s position in the firm and engagement in distance selling. To explore the overall attitude towards e-commerce adoption, we propose a conceptual model that combines a two-level structure: the individual level, which models the attitudes towards barriers that prevent adoption of the online channel within each country; and the country level that highlights the similarities (and differences) between EU countries. The statistical model combines factorial and regression components. This model was estimated by the maximum likelihood method using the MPlus 6.12. CFI is 0.989, TLI is 0.984, and RMSEA is 0.034; therefore, model fit is excellent (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Results show that aspects such as firm size and the job position of respondents do not influence the attitudes toward e-commerce adoption. Three covariates point to theiv aversion to e-commerce: telesales/call center retailing, direct retail channels, and selling non-food products.A adoção do comércio eletrónico tem vindo a ser reconhecida como uma nova forma de retalho, bem como uma forma inovadora de identificar, adquirir e reter clientes. As empresas têm tendência a enfrentar a incerteza no momento de decidir se irão ou não investir num canal na Internet, dado que são necessários recursos internos e a oferta de um serviço que faça os clientes quererem efetuar novas compras pela Internet. Os estudos nesta área focam-se principalmente em três dimensões: organizacional, tecnológica e contextual (Rodríguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2010; Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2003). São poucas as firmas que usam apenas canais virtuais para vender produtos/serviços/informações, sendo o retalho tradicional e o multicanal os canais mais utilizados pelos retalhistas (Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2006; Li, Troutt, Brandyberry, & Wang, 2011). Em consequência, a adoção de comércio eletrónico enfrenta vários obstáculos, nomeadamente técnicos, cognitivos, sociopolíticos, económicos, legais, financiais, culturais e organizacionais (Zhu, Kraemer, & Xu, 2003; Molla & Licker, 2005; Kshetri, 2007). Tendo em consideração a heterogeneidade contextual, torna-se evidente que os fatores que dificultam a adoção do comércio eletrónico não são os mesmos em diferentes empresas ou países, o que origina um fosso digital a nível global. Assim sendo, o nosso foco ao longo desta dissertação será em empresas que ainda não adotaram o comércio eletrónico, considerando os diferentes inibidores no momento da tomada de decisão pelos gestores, bem como as diferenças que existem em cada países e entre países da União Europeia. A questão principal a ser respondida será: Quais os fatores que inibem a adoção do comércio eletrónico em cada país europeu? Considerando esta questão basilar, irão ser analisadas as atitudes das empresas europeias perante a adoção de comércio eletrónico, cruzando impedimentos específicos à adoção de e-comércio (como por exemplo, os elevados custos associados à entrega ou a natureza do negócio) com características específicas dos retalhistas (covariáveis): dimensão da empresa, tipo de produto transacionado, os canais de venda, a posição dos entrevistados na empresa, bem como se estão já ou não a exportar produtos ou serviços. Para explorar estas atitudes das empresas europeias perante a adoção de comércio eletrónico, foi proposto um modelo conceptual que combina uma estrutura em dois níveis: a nível individual, o modelo analisa as atitudes em cada país relacionada com as barreiras associadas à adoção do comércio eletrónico; e ao nível do país, onde são identificadas as diferenças e as semelhanças entre os paísesii europeus. O modelo estatístico combina uma componente fatorial e uma componente de regressão. Para além disso, foi estimado usando o método de máxima verosimilhança, recorrendo ao software MPlus 6.12. Como o CFI é 0,989, o TLI é 0,984 e o RMSEA é 0,034, podemos concluir que o ajuste do modelo é excelente (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Os resultados revelam que aspetos como a dimensão da empresa e a posição dos entrevistados não influenciam as atitudes em relação à adoção do comércio eletrónico. Contudo, são três as covariáveis identificadas como tendo aversão à adoção do ecomércio: as empresas que usam as televendas, as empresas que usam o call center como canal de vendas e os retalhistas que optam pelas vendas diretas (comércio tradicional), bem como as que vendem produtos não alimentares

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved