Perceptions of e-commerce as an academic discipline in Australian universities

This paper presents findings from a study on perceptions of e-commerce as an academic discipline in Australian universities. The study examined Australian universities\u27 perceptions on whether e-commerce should be regarded as a business-oriented discipline or a technology-oriented discipline and further whether e-commerce should be considered as a distinctive discipline. Data was collected from official websites of all Australian universities and was categorized in accordance to award titles, host faculty and program structures. Findings showed that most Australian universities perceived e-commerce as a business-oriented discipline. However, there was no consensus on whether e-commerce should be considered as a distinctive discipline.<br /

Predicting the outcome of roulette

There have been several popular reports of various groups exploiting the deterministic nature of the game of roulette for profit. Moreover, through its history the inherent determinism in the game of roulette has attracted the attention of many luminaries of chaos theory. In this paper we provide a short review of that history and then set out to determine to what extent that determinism can really be exploited for profit. To do this, we provide a very simple model for the motion of a roulette wheel and ball and demonstrate that knowledge of initial position, velocity and acceleration is sufficient to predict the outcome with adequate certainty to achieve a positive expected return. We describe two physically realisable systems to obtain this knowledge both incognito and {\em in situ}. The first system relies only on a mechanical count of rotation of the ball and the wheel to measure the relevant parameters. By applying this techniques to a standard casino-grade European roulette wheel we demonstrate an expected return of at least 18%, well above the -2.7% expected of a random bet. With a more sophisticated, albeit more intrusive, system (mounting a digital camera above the wheel) we demonstrate a range of systematic and statistically significant biases which can be exploited to provide an improved guess of the outcome. Finally, our analysis demonstrates that even a very slight slant in the roulette table leads to a very pronounced bias which could be further exploited to substantially enhance returns.Comment: Revise

The e-factor

E-business and e-commerce are now common terms, but what do they really mean, asks Michael Tse

Auctioning of EU ETS Phase II allowances: how and why?

The European Directive on the EU ETS allows governments to auction up to 10% of the allowances issued in phase II 2008-2012, without constraints being specified thereafter. This article reviews and extends the long-standing debate about auctioning, in which economists have generally supported and industries opposed a greater use of auctioning. The article clarifies the key issues by reviewing six `traditional' considerations, examines several credible options for auction design, and then proposes some new issues relevant to auctioning. It is concluded that greater auctioning in aggregate need not increase adverse competitiveness impacts, and could in some respects alleviate them, particularly by supporting border-tax adjustments. Auctioning within the 10% limit might also be used to dampen price volatility during 2008-2012 and, in subsequent periods, it offers the prospect of supporting a long-term price signal to aid investor confidence. The former is only possible, however, if Member States are willing to coordinate their decision-making (though not revenue-raising) powers in defining and implementing the intended pricing mechanisms

E-definitions: Review, rethink and redefine

E-business and e-commerce are commonly used to describe business ventures and activities that make use of computing and telecommunication technologies, especially those related to the use of the Internet. However, despite widespread use of these terms, there are no generally accepted definitions of them.This paper reviews contemporary definitions of e-business and e-commerce and examines problems of these definitions.A new valuecentric approach is proposed to redefine e-business and e-commerce.Examples of e-business and e-commerce organizations are provided to illustrate this new approach.Implications of the new approach to practitioners and potential research opportunities based on the new approach are discussed

Managing ICT costs in e-commerce organizations with the time-driven activity-based costing model: a note

As online business activities continue to grow, it is important for organizations to understand the implications of being an e-commerce organization and the appropriateness of applying existing business techniques to e-commerce organizations. This paper examines issues in managing information and communication technologies (ICT) costs in e-commerce organizations and the potentials of the Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) model as a solution to these issues. The reliance on ICT in value creation, the unique natures of ICT costs and the need to maintain updated costing models present new challenges to e-commerce organizations in management of ICT costs. The TDABC model, as a variant of the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) model, inherits the strengths of activity-based paradigm and has unique features that can provide additional benefits to e-commerce organizations