E-strategy in the UK retail grocery sector

After a decade of Internet trading, retailers in the UK have experienced mixed fortunes with their Internet-based ventures. Online shopping success stories include; Tesco’s, which has positioned itself as a world leader in online grocery retailing by providing an Internet-based home delivery of over 40,000 products and making the service available to almost 95 per cent of UK residents. Similarly, Sainsbury’s offers 71% per cent of UK residents the opportunity to shop online however the company does not have the same international recognition. Waitrose too has expanded its Internet-based shopping services, aided by its acquisitions in OCADO. By contrast, Somerfield, and more recently Iceland have stopped their Internet shopping operations due to poor trading results and economic difficulties, despite the fact that Iceland was the first grocery retailer to offer online shopping to the majority of the UK mainland. The key aims of this paper are to explore how major grocery retailers coming to the one line market; to consider why some are more successful than others and to develop an understanding of the role of strategic thinking in online retailing. More specifically, the paper will initially, investigate the strategic options open to retailers developing activities online and finally, discuss the extent to which e-strategies represent a long-term approach to planning. The paper presents a literature review, which provides the conceptual foundations for investigation of the significance of e-strategy development within retailing. This model is then compared with evidence from secondary data sources and business results from leading UK grocery retailers in order to debate and analyse the likely importance of e-strategies in the success of online grocery retailing in the UK

Exploring the adoption of interactive digital television services as a retail shopping platform

The aim of this research is to consider the possible effect of an emerging technology platform on the uptake of online shopping: interactive (digital) Television (iTV), which enables viewers to select a variety of viewing options, publicity materials, games, entertainment and more recently shopping. An augmented version of the original TAM is applied to this study. Two new constructs are considered namely access and awareness together with perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment and security. The results show that indeed the augmented TAM can be used as a predictive model for the adoption of iTV as an online shopping platform. It is concluded that access, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness are significant factors to determine the consumers’behavioural intentions towards the use of digital TV as a new shopping platform. However, awareness and security are considered to be insignificant with no effect on consumers’ behavioural intentions towards the new shopping medium

Observing choice of loan methods in not-for-profit microfinance using data envelopment snalysis

Distributing loan using group lending method is one of the unique features in microfinance, as it utilises peer monitoring and dynamic incentive to lower credit risks in extending collateral-free loan to the poor. However, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) eventually perceive it to be costly and restricting loan growth thereby resorted to individual lending method to enhance profitability. On the other hand, village banking method was developed to boost outreach and to create self-sustaining village microbanks. We thus seek to empirically observe the loan method – efficiency relationship and to examine the best loan method regionally; focusing on not-for-profit MFIs that are widely regarded as best microfinance provider. Non-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis with regional meta-frontier approach is used for efficiency assessment of 628 MFIs from 87 countries in 6 regions, followed by Tobit regression. We also investigated factors affecting efficiencies such as borrowings, total donation, cost per borrower (CPB), portfolio at risk (PAR), interest rates, MFI age, regulation status, and legal format. The results support our argument that appropriate performance analysis should best be performed on regional basis separately as we find different results for different region

Determinants of ICT innovation and imitation in the agrifood sector

Diffusion of innovations has gained a lot of attention and concerns different scientific fields. Many studies, which examine the determining factors of technological innovations in the agricultural and agrifood sector, have been conducted assuming the widely-used Technology Accepted Model (TAM), for a random sample of farmers or firms in agricultural sector. In the present study, a holistic examination of the determining factors that affect the propensity of firms to innovate or imitate, is conducted. The diffusion of ICT tools of firms which are engaged in the NACE 02/03 as well as in the NACE 10/11 classifications for 49 heterogeneous national markets is examined, using the Bass model. The innovation parameter is positively associated with rural income, female employment, export activity and education of farmers, while the imitation parameter is increased in societies with large uncertainty avoidance

Reinforcing the security of corporate information resources: a critical review of the role of the acceptable use policy

Increasingly users are seen as the weak link in the chain, when it comes to the security of corporate information. Should the users of computer systems act in any inappropriate or insecure manner, then they may put their employers in danger of financial losses, information degradation or litigation, and themselves in danger of dismissal or prosecution. This is a particularly important concern for knowledge-intensive organisations, such as Universities, as the effective conduct of their core teaching and research activities is becoming ever more reliant on the availability, integrity and accuracy of computer-based information resources. One increasingly important mechanism for reducing the occurrence of inappropriate behaviours, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal ‘acceptable use policy (AUP). Whilst the AUP has attracted some academic interest, it has tended to be prescriptive and overly focussed on the role of the Internet, and there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the purpose, positioning or content of real acceptable use policies. The broad aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to fill this gap in the literature by critically examining the structure and composition of a sample of authentic policies – taken from the higher education sector - rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: 1) the primary role of the AUP appears to be as a mechanism for dealing with unacceptable behaviour, rather than proactively promoting desirable and effective security behaviours, and 2) the wide variation found in the coverage and positioning of the reviewed policies is unlikely to be fostering a coherent approach to security management, across the higher education sector

The information security policy unpacked: A critical study of the content of university policies

Ensuring the security of corporate information, that is increasingly stored, processed and disseminated using information and communications technologies [ICTs], has become an extremely complex and challenging activity. This is a particularly important concern for knowledge-intensive organisations, such as Universities, as the effective conduct of their core teaching and research activities is becoming ever more reliant on the availability, integrity and accuracy of computer-based information resources. One increasingly important mechanism for reducing the occurrence of security breaches, and in so doing, protecting corporate information, is through the formulation and application of a formal information security policy (InSPy). Whilst a great deal has now been written about the importance and role of the information security policy, and approaches to its formulation and dissemination, there is relatively little empirical material that explicitly addresses the structure or content of security policies. The broad aim of the study, reported in this paper, is to fill this gap in the literature by critically examining the structure and content of authentic information security policies, rather than simply making general prescriptions about what they ought to contain. Having established the structure and key features of the reviewed policies, the paper critically explores the underlying conceptualization of information security embedded in the policies. There are two important conclusions to be drawn from this study: 1) the wide diversity of disparate policies and standards in use is unlikely to foster a coherent approach to security management; and 2) the range of specific issues explicitly covered in university policies is surprisingly low, and reflects a highly techno-centric view of information security management

Factors affecting innovation and imitation of ICT in the agrifood sector

Diffusion of innovations has gained a lot of attention and concerns different scientific fields. Many studies, which examine the determining factors of technological innovations in the agricultural and agrifood sector, have been conducted using the widely used Technology Accepted Model, for a random sample of farmers or firms engaged in agricultural sector. In the present study, a holistic examination of the determining factors that affect the propensity of firms to innovate or imitate, is conducted. The diffusion of ICT tools of firms which are engaged in the NACE 02/03 as well as in the NACE 10/11 classifications for 49 heterogeneous national markets is examined, using the Bass model. The innovation parameter is positively associated with rural income, female employment, export activity and education of farmers, while the imitation parameter is increased in countries whose societies are characterized by uncertainty avoidance

E-strategy in the UK retail grocery sector: a resource-based analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the expansion and development strategies used by retailers based in the UK for creating sustained competitive advantage in online grocery retailing. Design/methodology/approach – The objectives of this research were addressed by using a qualitative research strategy consisting of two specific methods of data collection: primary and secondary data collection. Findings – The study suggests that retailers have tended to follow an incremental approach towards the development and expansion of their online service provision. This route to expansion involves the trialling of new ideas, keeping close watch on the competition while endeavouring to introduce innovative new services to capture consumer interest and deliver customer benefits. Research limitations/implications – The major limitation associated with this study is with respect to its heavy reliance on secondary sources. Consequently, assumptions have had to be made about the retailers' strategic thinking, as we were not able to secure any first hand accounts. However, in terms of the research implications, this study has both demonstrated the value of secondary data sources, and highlighted the benefits of adopting a resource-based analysis. Practical implications – The findings highlight the importance of viewing an organisation's web-based IT resources, as being only one element of its e-commerce strategy. Originality/value – This study makes a major contribution in two ways. First, it has mapped out the strategic pathways followed by the UK's five leading grocery retailers, in terms of their adoption of e-commerce during the first complete decade of online retailing. Second, the paper has demonstrated how the resource-based theory provides a very useful lens through which these pathways can be viewed and ultimately explained