INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE VERTICAL ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY

A model has been developed to study the interdependence between the choice of information technology and industry structure. Advances in information technology might provide incentives for a firm to specialize or focus on its core competence. However, the degree of specialization depends on the extent of industry-level specialization, which is, in turn, the result of the behavior of individual firms and their adoption of information technology favoring specialization. Emerging electronic markets and industries have been chosen as an application domain, as they would not exist without information technology.

Linking Data Sovereignty and Data Economy: Arising Areas of Tension

In the emerging information economy, data evolves as an essential asset and personal data in particular is used for data-driven business models. However, companies frequently leverage personal data without considering individuals’ data sovereignty. Therefore, we strive to strengthen individuals’ position in data ecosystems by combining concepts of data sovereignty and data economy. Our research design comprises an approach to design thinking iteratively generating, validating, and refining such concepts. As a result, we identified ten areas of tension that arise when linking data sovereignty and data economy. Subsequently, we propose initial solutions to resolve these tensions and thus contribute to knowledge about the development of fair data ecosystems benefiting both individuals’ sovereignty and companies’ access to data

The Online Retailing Challenge: Forward Integration and E-Backend Development

This paper aims to categorize some of the fundamental information systems (IS) challenges with the development of consumer-oriented electronic commerce or online retailing. With the emergence of new online intermediaries such as America Online, Amazon and eBay, many traditional firms are at risk and need to respond. Despite their size and retailing experience most of the incumbent retailers such as Wal-Mart in the U.S. or Metro in Europe have been slow to develop successful online channels. IS-based forward integration into customer activities, such as product and price search, and the development of electronic backends (“e-backends”) have been identified as the two major and distinct inhibitors to online retailing success. Our analysis and findings draw from information system design work with retailers in the U.S. and Europe from 1997 through 1999

Towards solving ontological dissonance using network graphs

Data Spaces are an emerging concept for the trusted implementation of data-based applications and business models, offering a high degree of flexibility and sovereignty to all stakeholders. As Data Spaces are currently emerging in different domains such as mobility, health or food, semantic interfaces need to be identified and implemented to ensure the technical interoperability of these Data Spaces. This paper consolidates data models from 13 different domains and analyzes the ontological dissonance of these domains. Using a network graph, central data models and ontology attributes are identified, while the semantic heterogeneity of these domains is described qualitatively. The research outlook describes how these results help to connect different Data Spaces across domains