Innovative Business Models in Tourism Industry

[ES] This study examines the business models of four emblematic Digital Disruptive Intermediaries (DDIs), Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Expedia and Booking.com. The sources are constituted mainly by surveys, articles and expert opinions which are the main argumentation sources. The best practices for ideal business models in tourism industry through the analysis of the DDIs are the findings of the study. The main functions of the DDIs are Cataloguing, Reordering or filtering, Ranking and Recommending, Bundling, Sharing, Intent Casting, Channelling Actors, Pricing and Matching Actors. The originality of the paper derives from the SWOT analysis of the business models of the four well known DDIs. There is no previous analysis which evaluates the business models and discloses the main functions they perform.Valsamidis, S.; Maditinos, D.; Mandilas, A. (2020). Innovative Business Models in Tourism Industry. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 279-290. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10146OCS27929

INTERNET ADDICTION IN BALKAN AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The use of Internet has increased dramatically in recent years. Although there is no standardized definition of Internet addiction, there is acknowledgement among researchers that this phenomenon does exist. In this study, we identify various similarities and differences among people in the Balkan and South-Eastern European countries about Internet addiction. There are many factors such as cultural differences, gender differences, psychosocial variables, computer attitudes and time.We present the experience from studies concerning Internet addiction in all over the world. A specific research with the use of Young's 20-scale was also conducted in five Balkan and South-Eastern European countries (Republic of Moldova, Romania, Republic of Bulgaria, Hellenic Republic, Republic of Cyprus).The findings are interesting. Although there is a need for Interest using, there are also cases where the addiction, dependence and abuse is apparent

Greek Accounting Standards and Debt Covenants. Changes in Contracting

Businesses, organizations, and even more governments are strongly related with information provided by accounting in order for CEO’s or managers and even more members of parliament to make decisions. Financial statements which contain multiple criteria, and how managers or shareholders treat them influence the decisionmaking of organizations and all types of businesses, public and private. Auditing financial statements ensures their reliability and validity. Both lenders and borrowers must choose the right set of debt covenants to minimize risk from their respective perspectives. It is critical to use and select debt covenants in relation to the side of interest. For instance, in past decades, financial covenants based on balance sheet variables are more likely in debt contracting. Nowadays, the trend of choosing a batch of covenants in contracting changed. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between changing the Greek direction and accounting standard setting. Greek accounting standards are moving away from “old-fashioned” book- and record-keeping standards. This was a great change that took place in 2015, and since then, new notions of accounting practice have been introduced. Fair value, net realizable value, present value, cash equivalents, and useful economic life are some concepts that were first used in accounting the process in Greek economy. Changes were massive and everyone involved with accounting, financial statements, and the way they were introduced should change the way they are analyzed. We hypothesized that this significant shift in accounting standard setting reduces the value of analyzing balance sheets in debt contracting. Since 2015, balance sheet-based covenants started to vanish, especially from private debt contracting. We tried to correlate borrowers and their likelihood in using balance sheet-based covenants. The correlation between the change in accounting standard setting and the concurrent change in trend of choosing accounting-based covenants in debt contracting is being investigated. The results are consistent with our hypothesis. A mechanism that separates multiple covenants and correlates them with significant debt characteristics will be an innovative tool for managers and credit institutions, as well as a more definite way of auditing, for instance, by digitalizing it, which will be a great tool for everyone involved in businesses. Keywords: accounting-based covenants, debt contracting, Greek accounting standard

Application of quality function deployment on an alternative transportation system (paratransit system)

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology is applied in the planning of new products/services or the improvement of existing products/services, with the active participation of all departments of the organization, minimizing the initial time of planning and also the cost of planning, with parallel minimization of the failure possibilities of the product/service to enter the market. The basic idea behind this method is to take into serious consideration the “Wants” of the customers, so that they can be translated to engineering characteristics of the product/service. The methodology was introduced in Japan in the late ‘60s and about 15-20 years later entered USA, while it is now applied in many organizations in Europe. In our work, we will apply QFD in the planning of an alternative transportation system (paratransit) in a “Kapodistrian” Municipality which constitutes many villages.peer-reviewe

The Use of Internet and Social Networks During covid-19 in Greece

Human civilization has been transformed dramatically due to the increase of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The new digital era, and more particularly the digitization of information has contributed to many changes in all areas of life. More specifically the social relations among people developed new social and cultural structures. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic forced humanity to adopt digital technologies in most aspects of economic and social life. Internet, telework, remote work, and distance learning are now part of everyday life in society, and users of online social networks have increased dramatically in comparison with those of recent decades around the world. On the other hand, the situation that human experience due to the pandemic produced by COVID-19 disease may have increased the negative effects of excessive use of social networks. This study aims to explore the attitudes of Greek citizens toward the use of the Internet and social media before and during the pandemic. A primary survey on random 525 Greek citizens was conducted from September–November 2021. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the main attitudes of Greek citizens toward the use of social media during COVID-19 era. Therefore, two main attitudes were derived from PCA: (a) use of social media to be informed, and (b) use of social media for entertainment. Cluster analysis was performed to classify those citizens into groups according to their attitudes toward the use of social networks during COVID-19 period. It identified three groups of citizens: (a) those who are indifferent to the use of social networks (b) those who use social networks mainly to be informed, and (c) those who use social networks only for entertainment. Following that, a Friedman nonparametric test was performed to determine the primary reasons why Greek citizens use the Internet and social networks prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonparametric tests, including the Chi-square and Friedman nonparametric tests were performed to develop the profile of each of the identified groups of citizens toward the main reasons they use the Internet and social networks, for what purposes, and their demographic characteristics. Keywords: social networks, Internet, COVID-1

Blended Learning Evaluation In Higher Education Courses

Although traditional learning was a necessity for centuries and distance learning is sometimes the only way for learning for many learners, the last two decades a supplementary mode to the other modes of learning emerged, the e-learning. However, the last few years, blended learning has dominated as the only mode which combines perfectly the advantages of the other modes of learning. The role of educational content in blended learning is crucial. The key factor to success is high quality educational content, appropriate for learning and able to fulfill course educational aims and objectives. Most of the times it is not an easy task to give feedback to instructors about the online educational content.  However, some course characteristics and students’ actions may reflect the quality and quantity of the educational content. This study evaluates the use of blended learning in TEI of West Macedonia with the use of structured questionnaires exposed to the learners. The learners express their attitude about how useful the blended learning is and how this blended means facilitates their studies. It proposes two variables Richness and Usefulness, taking into account statistics concerning the courses. These variables aim to help course instructors and administrators review course usage and find course weaknesses. Keywords: Blended learning, evaluation, questionnaire, richness, usefulnes

The Impact of the Digital Divide on the Adoption of e-Government in Greece

The adoption of e-government services and the active e-participation of citizens may be affected by the pre-dominant socio-economic inequalities. The current study examined the impact of the digital divide to the use of e-government and e-participation services. We used the micro-data from the national survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies by the Greek households and individuals. This survey was conducted by the Greek Statistical Authority in 2017, in a representative sample of the Greek population (n = 3321). We analyzed the data using logistic regression equations. According to the results, the social exclusion factors may influence the use of e-government services. The most important socio-economic factors affecting the decision to use e-government services are the educational level, age and citizenship. The e-participation of the citizens in various democratic processes is only influenced by their educational attainment. This work highlights the impact of the digital divide to every aspect of our digital life. The state should implement policies to address the digital divide focusing on the vulnerable social subgroups, such as the low-educated and older people. The findings of our research may help the policymakers to conceptualize the effect of the digital divide to e-government adoption, in a multidimensional and integrative way. Keywords: e-government, Greece, digital divide, e-services, digital skill

An empirical evaluation of e-learning usage in the higher education context

[EN] E-learning has been adopted for several years in Greece and abroad, and it is considered an integral part of blended learning. E-learning systems accumulate a vast amount of data which may be very valuable. The educational organizations may exploit the power provided by e-learning, if they analyze the usage and the content of the courses. An early assessment of the of e-courses use may provide useful information to the educators, in order to make educational interventions in their teaching material. This study suggests that the evaluation of e-learning usage may be carried out with the assesment of variables and metrics related to teacher training material and student trafficking. We propose three metrics which are combined efficiently, in order to quantify the quality characteristics of the courses and offer useful insights about the educational material and e-learning usage. This case study was implemented in the e-class platform of a Greek Higher Education educational institute. This platform created by the Greek Universities Network (GUNET) is very popular in Greece, since the majority of the Greek universities have adopted it. The results of our study confirmed the validity of our suggested approach, and highlighted the need for a more learnercentered focus and active participation of the students.Petasakis, I.; Kontogiannis, S.; Gounopoulos, E.; Kazanidis, I.; Valsamidis, S. (2020). An empirical evaluation of e-learning usage in the higher education context. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 291-300. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10147OCS29130

Labour Digitalization in Europe

Purpose – the purpose of this research is the study of the effects of digital transformation on employment and the possible correlation to the labour deficit; the labour deficit of the European countries and especially those of the European Union is studied

Labor Digitalization in Europe

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0The purpose of this research is the study of the effects of digital transforma- tion on employment and their possible correlation with the labor deficit. The labor deficit in European countries, and especially those of the European Union, is studied. Secondary data regarding Information and Communications Technology (ICT) specialist skills, the employment rate, and the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) are collected and analyzed. Data analysis reveals that, on one hand, the labor deficit is undeniable; however, the greatest deficit relates to the lack of digital competences. On the other hand, with rapid technological advancements and the introduction of Artificial Intelligence to the production process, a new environment will be formulated both at the economic and social level. This study is based on the secondary data of specific indexes; in future research, an empirical study will be conducted in European countries to study labor digitalization in depth, especially in the post-COVID-19 era, as this pandemic has increased digitalization in all countries. The adoption of new legislative and prescriptive frameworks is necessary to address the labor deficit. It is necessary to take measures both at the European and national level, as well as to effectively utilize programs and initiatives that will protect the preexisting workforce and will establish the ground for new employees. This can be activated mainly through training, either in the form of new education (reskilling) or re-education (upskilling). The originality of this research is based on the fact that it explores the impact of ICT Skills on employment and the dependence between ICT Skills and DESI. Its value is in revealing the structural problems of the labor market in Europe and the cross-country comparison of how digitalization can help to solve the labor deficit problem in European countries