Which B2B e-business model to adopt: the case of Taiwan agribusiness firms

The research reported in this paper investigated the reasons which led Taiwanese agribusiness firms to adopt specific e-business models. Initially, the study was based on a prior study conducted in the context of Australian agribusiness firms. Its relevance lies in the importance of agribusiness to the economies of both nations and because whereas Australia has developed a reputation as an efficient exporter of agribusiness products, Taiwan needs to develop export markets for its agribusiness produce as it is facing increasing competitive pressure in such global markets, particularly with its entry into the WTO. Findings enhanced the preliminary model as two additional factors, the influence of buyers and suppliers and the influence of government agencies, were found to also influence the selection of e-business models

A Semi-Parametric Factor Model for Interest Rates

Understanding the dynamics of interest rates and the term structure has important implications for issues as diverse as real economic activity, monetary policy, pricing of interest rate derivative securities and public debt financing. Our paper follows a longstanding tradition of using factor models of interest rates but proposes a semi-parametric procedure to model interest rates. In a semi-parametric approach one typically parameterizes the object of interest while leaving unspecified the rest of the model. We construct factors as linear functionals of key economic time series involving unknown parameters, but treat the response of interest rates to the factors in a nonparametric way. The Average Derivating Estimator, which is a semi-parametric procedure proposed by Hardle and Stoker (1989) and Powell, Stock and Stoker (1989), allows us to proceed in two steps, namely we first identify factors without assuming knowledge of the response function of interest rates to the factors. Once the factors are identified, we proceed with estimating the response function using nonparametric methods. We can view our semi-parametric approach as a prelude to a fullblown parametric formulation for a factor term structure model. Indeed, our empirical results suggest a short term rate specification which deviates from standard parametric models often considered in the literature. Dans cette étude nous proposons des modèles à facteurs semi-paramétriques pour taux d'intérêts. Nous construisons les facteurs comme des fonctions linéaires de variables clés normales et réelles. L'estimateur de dérivée moyenne, proposé par Hardle et Stoker (1989) et Powell, Stock et Stoker (1989) nous permet d'estimer ces facteurs comme fonctions linéaires sans connaître leurs relations avec les taux d'intérêts. Une fois les facteurs identifiés et estimés nous estimons dans une deuxième étape cette dernière relation par méthodes non-paramétriques.Interest Rates, Term Structure, Factor Models, Semi Parametric Models, Average Derivative Estimator, Taux d'intérêts, Structure par terme, Modèles à facteurs, Méthodes semi-paramétriques, Estimateur de dérivée moyenne

Strategies to improve retention of postgraduate business students in distance education courses: an Australian case

In spite of the clear value of postgraduate business students to many providers of distance education courses, the factors affecting the retention of these students have received limited attention in the literature. In addressing this gap, this paper presents the findings of a qualitative study into the factors affecting the retention of postgraduate business students at a major Australian distance education university. The findings of this study suggest that a range of situational, dispositional and attitudinal factors impact upon student retention on this context, both as enablers of and obstacles to ongoing participation. In many cases, these factors differ to those identified in the existing literature on student retention. Based on these findings, we present a range of strategies designed to improve the retention of postgraduate business students by maximising enabling factors and minimising the impact of any identified obstacles. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also presented

Which B2B e-business model: the case of Australian agribusiness organisations

The growing importance of B2B e-commerce has seen the need for the development of a model to assist in the choice of e-business models. This paper explores the internal and external factors influencing the choice of e-business models using depth interviews and case studies conducted with Australian agribusiness organisations. Sixteen factors, were identified with only 11 regarded as important to the selection of e-business models

An exploratory study on consumer travel agency information sources: an Australian regional analysis

[Abstract]: The research reported in this paper explores why regional consumers choose to book their travel arrangements with travel agencies. Consumers can now access on-line bookings for airlines, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing tours and other related products so why do they still go to travel agencies for reservations? This paper identifies the information sources consumers used when selecting a travel agency. The research design involves two stages. The first stage has been completed and was a series of in-depth interviews with 10 users of regional travel agencies and three experienced travel agency consultants. The second stage will be a mail-out survey to travel agencies in the Darling Downs area of Queensland, Australia. Despite its locality, the region is a significant consumer of travel with approximately eight retail travel agencies in the city of Toowoomba alone. The in-depth interviews highlighted the need to de-emphasize three particular information sources considered for inclusion in the survey for stage two. They were, travel guidebooks, travel or automotive clubs and local travel offices which were deleted from the intended survey and replaced with television lifestyle programs as an information source worthy of investigation

An exploratory study of Australian agribusiness organisations and their selection of e-business models for conducting B2B e-commerce

The increasing importance and complexity of selecting appropriate e-business models has seen the need to develop a framework to assist businesses in this process. Through depth interviews and case studies, this paper explores the behaviour of Australian agribusiness organisations in their choice of e-business models for conducting B2B e-commerce. The results show that the choice of model is a complex multi-stage process

Augmentations are Sheaves

We show that the set of augmentations of the Chekanov-Eliashberg algebra of a Legendrian link underlies the structure of a unital A-infinity category. This differs from the non-unital category constructed in [BC], but is related to it in the same way that cohomology is related to compactly supported cohomology. The existence of such a category was predicted by [STZ], who moreover conjectured its equivalence to a category of sheaves on the front plane with singular support meeting infinity in the knot. After showing that the augmentation category forms a sheaf over the x-line, we are able to prove this conjecture by calculating both categories on thin slices of the front plane. In particular, we conclude that every augmentation comes from geometry.Comment: 109 pages; v2: added Legendrian mirror example in section 4.4.4, corrected typos and other minor changes; v3: accepted versio

Rank-finiteness for modular categories

We prove a rank-finiteness conjecture for modular categories: up to equivalence, there are only finitely many modular categories of any fixed rank. Our technical advance is a generalization of the Cauchy theorem in group theory to the context of spherical fusion categories. For a modular category $\mathcal{C}$ with $N=ord(T)$, the order of the modular $T$-matrix, the Cauchy theorem says that the set of primes dividing the global quantum dimension $D^2$ in the Dedekind domain $\mathbb{Z}[e^{\frac{2\pi i}{N}}]$ is identical to that of $N$.Comment: 25 pages (last version). Version 2: removed weakly integral rank 6 and integral rank 7 section, improved rank 5 classification up to monoidal equivalence. Version 3: removed rank 5 classification (note title change)--this will be published separately. Significantly improved expositio