Antecedents of business-to-business e-commerce adoption and its effect on competitive advantage in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises: A comparative study of United States of America and Egypt

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce adoption has become a necessity for most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), allowing them to gain and sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic competitive environment. Accepting the fact that B2B is adopted at different levels based on different resources leads to the acceptance that competitive advantage is gained and sustained on a level consistent with the level of adoption. This study employs quantitative method based on the positivism philosophy and deductive approach. A questionnaire survey technique was used to collect the data from the American and Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. Moreover, it used structural equation modelling with a sample of 320 and 260 manufacturing SMEs in the United States of America and Egypt respectively. The structural equation modelling (SEM) findings revealed that each level of B2B e-commerce adoption was affected by different factors from another level of adoption. Besides, there was a significant difference between the issues which faced manufacturing SMEs in USA and Egypt. Furthermore, in Egyptian manufacturing SMEs, relative advantage and competitive pressure have a significant effect on adoption behaviour. On the other hand, when American manufacturing SMEs made their decisions to adopt B2B e-commerce, they considered the main factors to be relative advantage, top management support, firm size and government support. In addition, the findings revealed that the higher the level of B2B e-commerce, which an SME adopted, the higher the level of competitive advantage it gained. However, in developing countries such as Egypt, SMEs remained far behind their peers in developed countries. In terms of theoretical implications, the study could be considered to be a unique study in the field of B2B e-commerce generally and B2B e-commerce in Egyptian manufacturing SMEs in particular. This is because, by looking back at the literature review, is clear that empirical studies into B2B e-commerce issues, including manufacturing SMEs, remained embryonic in developed countries and rare in the developing countries. This is especially so in the Arabic countries. In addition, most previous studies focused on a broad and generic view of the SMEs’ adoption of B2B e-commerce or on the relationship between adoption of IT and competitive advantage. This study was conducted in a cross-country context; it considered the manufacturing SMEs’ adoption of B2B e-commerce from the perspective of the level of adoption. Therefore, it made an original empirical contribution towards the current body of knowledge on the adoption of B2B e-commerce through the identification of manufacturing SMEs adoption levels of B2B e-commerce; their impacts on competitive advantage; and the significant factors which influenced each adoption level of B2B e-commerce in USA and Egypt. In addition, this study used TOE as the theoretical framework in investigating the factors affecting B2B e-commerce in SMEs and focused largely on the factors affecting each level; this is a new contribution to the extant literature. Turning to the study’s practical implications, important implications for the manufacturing SMEs’ owner/managers can be drawn from the findings to help them to understand their environments as, in a cross-country business context, they move through the different stages of adopting B2B e-commerce. In addition to the implication for manufacturing SMEs’ owners/managers, this study presents important implications for governmental, nongovernmental organisations and other institutions linked to manufacturing SMEs. Similar to other studies, this study has a number of limitations. The main one is that it lacks the use of qualitative analysis to depict how SMEs understand the concept of competitive advantages and how this helps them to survive and grow.Iraqi governmen

A New View of Alcohol Metabolism and Alcoholism—Role of the High-Km Class III Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH3)

The conventional view is that alcohol metabolism is carried out by ADH1 (Class I) in the liver. However, it has been suggested that another pathway plays an important role in alcohol metabolism, especially when the level of blood ethanol is high or when drinking is chronic. Over the past three decades, vigorous attempts to identify the enzyme responsible for the non-ADH1 pathway have focused on the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) and catalase, but have failed to clarify their roles in systemic alcohol metabolism. Recently, using ADH3-null mutant mice, we demonstrated that ADH3 (Class III), which has a high Km and is a ubiquitous enzyme of ancient origin, contributes to systemic alcohol metabolism in a dose-dependent manner, thereby diminishing acute alcohol intoxication. Although the activity of ADH3 toward ethanol is usually low in vitro due to its very high Km, the catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) is markedly enhanced when the solution hydrophobicity of the reaction medium increases. Activation of ADH3 by increasing hydrophobicity should also occur in liver cells; a cytoplasmic solution of mouse liver cells was shown to be much more hydrophobic than a buffer solution when using Nile red as a hydrophobicity probe. When various doses of ethanol are administered to mice, liver ADH3 activity is dynamically regulated through induction or kinetic activation, while ADH1 activity is markedly lower at high doses (3–5 g/kg). These data suggest that ADH3 plays a dynamic role in alcohol metabolism, either collaborating with ADH1 or compensating for the reduced role of ADH1. A complex two-ADH model that ascribes total liver ADH activity to both ADH1 and ADH3 explains the dose-dependent changes in the pharmacokinetic parameters (β, CLT, AUC) of blood ethanol very well, suggesting that alcohol metabolism in mice is primarily governed by these two ADHs. In patients with alcoholic liver disease, liver ADH3 activity increases, while ADH1 activity decreases, as alcohol intake increases. Furthermore, ADH3 is induced in damaged cells that have greater hydrophobicity, whereas ADH1 activity is lower when there is severe liver disease. These data suggest that chronic binge drinking and the resulting liver disease shifts the key enzyme in alcohol metabolism from low-Km ADH1 to high-Km ADH3, thereby reducing the rate of alcohol metabolism. The interdependent increase in the ADH3/ADH1 activity ratio and AUC may be a factor in the development of alcoholic liver disease. However, the adaptive increase in ADH3 sustains alcohol metabolism, even in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, which makes it possible for them to drink themselves to death. Thus, the regulation of ADH3 activity may be important in preventing alcoholism development

The Impact of Demographic Variables and Consumer Shopping Orientations on the Purchasing Preference for Different Product Categories in the Context of Online Grocery Shopping

This study examines the impact of demographic variables and consumer shopping orientations on the purchasing preference for different product categories in the context of online grocery shopping within the UK. The data for this study was primarily collected from a web-based survey of consumers in the UK using a questionnaire. The quantitative data was enhanced by qualitative data in form of semi-structured interviews to enhance the quantitative results. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to analyse the quantitative data and to measure the relationships between the respective constructs. The findings show that the purchasing preferences vary by product category. Keywords: Demographic Variables, Consumer Shopping Orientations, Product Categories, UK, and Structure Equation Modelling. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/52-0

Dose-Dependent Change in Elimination Kinetics of Ethanol due to Shift of Dominant Metabolizing Enzyme from ADH 1 (Class I) to ADH 3 (Class III) in Mouse

ADH 1 and ADH 3 are major two ADH isozymes in the liver, which participate in systemic alcohol metabolism, mainly distributing in parenchymal and in sinusoidal endothelial cells of the liver, respectively. We investigated how these two ADHs contribute to the elimination kinetics of blood ethanol by administering ethanol to mice at various doses, and by measuring liver ADH activity and liver contents of both ADHs. The normalized AUC (AUC/dose) showed a concave increase with an increase in ethanol dose, inversely correlating with β. CLT (dose/AUC) linearly correlated with liver ADH activity and also with both the ADH-1 and -3 contents (mg/kg B.W.). When ADH-1 activity was calculated by multiplying ADH-1 content by its Vmax⁡/mg (4.0) and normalized by the ratio of liver ADH activity of each ethanol dose to that of the control, the theoretical ADH-1 activity decreased dose-dependently, correlating with β. On the other hand, the theoretical ADH-3 activity, which was calculated by subtracting ADH-1 activity from liver ADH activity and normalized, increased dose-dependently, correlating with the normalized AUC. These results suggested that the elimination kinetics of blood ethanol in mice was dose-dependently changed, accompanied by a shift of the dominant metabolizing enzyme from ADH 1 to ADH 3

Attitudes of Japanese Medical Students towards Disclosure of a Diagnosis of Life-threatening Illness

In this study we investigated the attitudes of Japanese medical students toward being informed of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness. Fourth-year medical students from 20 randomly sampled universities were administered questionnaires that examined their opinion about whether they would welcome disclosure of medical information if they were diagnosed as having an ultimately fatal disease. Data from 1,619 students (male 1,074, female 545, effective collection rate 90.6%) were analyzed. With regard to attitudes about disclosure of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness, 87.7% of the students stated that they would wish to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery, and 11.6% expressed a wish to be informed of their condition only if there was a chance of recovery. Students who did not wish to be informed even if there was a chance of recovery accounted for 0.7% of those surveyed. Our study reveals that medical students are more positive than are members of the general population with regard to being informed of the truth. The proportion of those who wished to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery was higher among students from national and public universities than among those from private universities, and the inter-group difference was statistically significant. Among male students, answers to the survey were significantly correlated with 12-item General Health Questionnaire scores and mental health status, suggesting that mental health status may have affected how this study population viewed being informed of their diagnosis.</p

In vivo contribution of Class III alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH3) to alcohol metabolism through activation by cytoplasmic solution hydrophobicity

AbstractAlcohol metabolism in vivo cannot be explained solely by the action of the classical alcohol dehydrogenase, Class I ADH (ADH1). Over the past three decades, attempts to identify the metabolizing enzymes responsible for the ADH1-independent pathway have focused on the microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) and catalase, but have failed to clarify their roles in systemic alcohol metabolism. In this study, we used Adh3-null mutant mice to demonstrate that Class III ADH (ADH3), a ubiquitous enzyme of ancient origin, contributes to alcohol metabolism in vivo dose-dependently resulting in a diminution of acute alcohol intoxication. Although the ethanol oxidation activity of ADH3 in vitro is low due to its very high Km, it was found to exhibit a markedly enhanced catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) toward ethanol when the solution hydrophobicity of the reaction medium was increased with a hydrophobic substance. Confocal laser scanning microscopy with Nile red as a hydrophobic probe revealed a cytoplasmic solution of mouse liver cells to be much more hydrophobic than the buffer solution used for in vitro experiments. So, the in vivo contribution of high-Km ADH3 to alcohol metabolism is likely to involve activation in a hydrophobic solution. Thus, the present study demonstrated that ADH3 plays an important role in systemic ethanol metabolism at higher levels of blood ethanol through activation by cytoplasmic solution hydrophobicity

The Impact of Organisational Justice and Job Autonomy on Employee Retention: The Mediation of Psychological Ownership

Employee retention is critical to human resources practices in the high turnover rate tourism industry. Job autonomy, organisational justice and psychological ownership have become crucial concepts for customer retention. The present study aims to examine the contribution of organisational justice, job autonomy and psychological ownership to employee retention in the travel agencies sector in Egypt and Iraq. Data were gathered from employees of the Egyptian and Iraqi travel agencies and tested using PLS-SEM. Findings showed that organisational justice, job autonomy, and psychological ownership have significantly affected employee retention in travel agencies. It is also reported that psychological ownership partially mediates the relationships between employee retention, organisational justice, and job autonomy. The findings provide significant theoretical and practical inferences

Correlations between APACHE IIScore and Plasma Levels of Cytokines in Postsurgical Patients

This study was designed to assess whether plasma cytokines correlated with the clinical status of postsurgical patients. Plasma levels of cytokines in 72 patients admitted to the intensive care unit were measured using an Enzyme Linked Immuno Solubent Assay. The clinical status was evaluated with the Acute Physiology Age and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) 11 scoring system. There were significant correlations between the APACHE 11 score and the plasma levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor(TNF)α and interleukin(IL)-1 β.But IL-8 and IL-6 did not correlate with the APACHE II score. Three patients died within postoperative 20 days. The plasma levels of TNF α,IL-1,β,IL-8 and IL-6 were significantly higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors. There was no significant difference in the APACHE II score and the plasma levels of IL-1β,IL-8 and IL-6 between the survivors with Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) and those without SIRS. The survivors without SIRS had a higher concentration of TNFα than those with SIRS. The results indicate that TNF α and IL-1 β correlate well with the severity of illness in the postsurgical patients, whereas IL-8 and IL-6 does not

A large Kerr constant polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal

A polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (BPLC) composite with a large Kerr constant (K similar to 13.7 nm/V(2)) is developed and its electro-optic properties characterized. In addition to the reduced operating voltage, this BPLC also exhibits a fast response time (similar to 1 ms), high contrast ratio ( \u3e 1000: 1), and relatively small hysteresis ( \u3c 6%). It will undoubtedly accelerate the emergence of BPLC for next-generation display and photonic devices

Expressions of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)-D and VEGF Receptor-3 in Colorectal Cancer: Relationship to Lymph Node Metastasis

Angiogenic factors play a major role in tumor growth and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)- D is a ligand for VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3/Flt-4), which mainly expressed on the lymphatic endothelium. Recent experimental studies have shown that VEGF-D induces tumor lymphangiogenesis and promote metastatic spread of tumor cells via lymphatic vessels. However, the contribution of VEGFD to lymph node metastasis in human colorectal cancer is less understood. We therefore examined VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 expression in patients with colorectal cancer. Sections of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens from 76 colorectal cancers were immunohistochemically stained for VEGF-D and VEGFR-3. Staining for VEGF-D was positive in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in 43 of 76 examined tumors (56.6%). Staining for VEGFR-3 was positive in endothelial cells in 38 (50.0%) tumors. Univariate analysis showed that both VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 expressions correlated significantly with lymph node metastasis, histological type and depth of tumor invasion. However, logistic regression analysis indicated that VEGF-D expression, but not that of VEGFR-3, was an independent predictor for lymph node metastasis. Our data suggest that VEGF-D plays an important role in lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer