A Search for Advertising Placement in Cyberspace: An Analytical Framework

Major commercial uses of the Web include providing customers with product information, promoting products, and conducting transactions (Balthazard and Koh, 1997a, 1997b; Ho, 1997; Koh and Balthazard, 1997a, 1997b). As a new communication medium, the Web requires a new mindset for its use in advertising and promotion. For example, Web marketers cannot rely upon previous research (Assael and Poltrack, 1994) or guidelines designed for choosing advertising placement in television based on using demographic profiles or purchase behavior. Today, although research has been done on Web advertising in general (Berthon, Pitt, and Watson, 1996a, 1996b; Briggs and Hollis, 1997; Ducoffe, 1996; Eighmey, 1997; Harvey, 1997; Kassaye, 1997; Maddox, Mehta, and Daubek, 1997), the issue of advertising placement on the Web has received scant attention from researchers

A Collaborative Framework for Collaborative Commerce

This article proposes a collaborative framework for the process of collaborative commerce (c-commerce) through which prospective partners could employ and configure c-commerce technologies according to the needs of different stages to realize potential benefits promised by the next generation of enterprise application software. This framework details pre-conditions that lead prospective partners to establish a collaborative relationship, including structural, social-psychological, and technological factors. This framework also describes how collaboration in c-commerce is unfolded following a teamwork problem-solving model. Furthermore, the framework discusses a variety of possible outcomes resulting from an initiative of collaborative commerce. Those components of collaborative commerce are structured in the format of the input-process-output model

Planning and Deployment of Collaborative Commerce: A Conceptual Framework

This article proposes a conceptual framework for planning and deploying collaborative-commerce (c-commerce). The framework consists of two dimensions: the type of inter-organizational relationships and the level of engagement that involved organizations want to achieve. The combination of these two dimensions generates nine categories of collaborative-commerce. Each category designates an opportunity for c-commerce initiates. The article characterizes each category with two concepts: focus and linkage interface. Focus means the interest or benefits that one type of c-commerce is expected to achieve. Linkage interface refers to major elements that facilitate the type of c-commerce to move forward and keep the involved parties as a whole. Examples are identified to illustrate the nature of each category. Practitioners can use the framework as a roadmap to assess the commitment and trust level and subsequently, determine the type of c-commerce. Researchers can use the framework to identify issues specific to each category and specify features of enterprise application pertaining to each category. Three main directions are also identified for future research to further understand the phenomenon of c-commerce

Object-Oriented Analysis: A Decision-Driven Approach

Recently, many object-oriented analysis and design approaches (OOADs) have been proposed. This research boom may be attributed to the success of applying object-oriented programming (OOP) in embedded systems and systems software. However, object-oriented analysis (OOA) does not seem as successful as object-oriented design (OOD) or OOP [3]. Whereas the extant OOADs claim to perform systems analysis, this goal is seldom fulfilled [3]. Systems analysis consists of two kinds of activities: requirement analysis (problem analysis) and requirement specification (product description) [1]. During therequirement analysis, analysts aim to understand the problem and identify all possible constraints on the problem\u27s solution through observations, interviews, and discussions with experts in the problem domain. The requirement analysis activity analyzes the requirement space of a problem domain. Here, the requirement space is defined as the range of all possible user needs and constraints in a problem domain. Requirement specification, on the other hand, is intended to resolve conflicting views, to eliminate inconsistencies and ambiguities, and to document some particular requirement which describes the expected behavior of the future system. As Hoydalsvik et al [3] indicate, the extant OOADs are target-system oriented. A target-system oriented OOA aims to construct an object -oriented system and represents the requirement in a way more consistent with the design issues than with the users\u27 perception of the problem domain. In other words, it concentrates on a solution and not on understanding the problem. Finding objects and classes is the prevalent trend in the pure OOA. However, as Rubin et al [5] note, there are several problems in searching for objects: 1) The availability of a written requirement specification is usually assumed. Assuming a narrative specification is accessible, an OOAD searches for nouns as objects and for verbs as methods. This approach ignores that a written specification is barely available; even if it is available, ambiguities of text, synonyms, and homonyms are not unusual, 2) there is a strong bias toward the tangible aspects of a problem, and 3) it tends to incorporate all tangible objects of the analysis results. In order to address these shortcomings, an OOA approach should include a systematic procedure to understand the problem and the organization before finding the objects. Decision making is a major activity of an organization [6]. This article proposes a decision-driven OOA approach, which consists of a set of well-organized guidelines and procedures, focuses on the understanding of organizations through the analysis of decision making, and helps derive requirement specification in the form of object models. In particular, this article aims to address the following issues: •What decision making model is more appropriate for understanding the organization? •What aspects of decision making should be captured for understanding the organization? •What steps should an OOA approach have? •What mechanisms can help verify and validate the process of OOA?We will briefly review several OOADs in the next section. The proposed approach will be discussed in the following sectio

The Perceived Business Benefit of Cloud Computing: An Exploratory Study

The objective of the research is to study the benefits of cloud computing perceived by adopters and examine the impact of moderating factors on the relationship between the type of cloud computing and the perceived benefit. The moderating factors include firm size and value-chain activities. A measurement instrument of a 5-point Likert scale was administered on businesses of different sizes in Taiwan. The benefit of cloud computing measured in the study were: cost reduction, improved capability and enhanced scalability. The results show that the perceived benefit of cloud computing varies depending on the type of cloud computing, the value chain activity where cloud computing is deployed, and the business size. Also, businesses benefit more in enhanced scalability than in cost reduction and increased business capability. After adopting cloud computing, businesses gain more capability in support activities than in primary activities. However, there is no significant difference in composite benefit among Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Furthermore, there is marginally significant interaction effect between the types of cloud computing and the business size

Data Synchronization Technology: Standards, Business Values and Implications

The Internet-enabled connectivity has created opportunities for businesses to conduct various forms of collaborative activities. However, the findings of several surveys indicate that the deficiencies in data quality might compromise the potential benefits of joint efforts. Global data synchronization (GDS), the process of timely updating product data to maintain the data consistency among business partners, is viewed as the key to materialize the benefits of e-collaboration in the global supply chain setting. In the paper, we present the need for data synchronization, discuss the evolution of technical standards of data identification schemes, and introduce the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), the platform on which global data synchronization is substantiated. We detail the structure of GDSN and the protocols for the process of GDS. Furthermore, we discuss business and management implications of GDS, different approaches to implementing GDS, and challenges to the implementation of GDS. The emergence of GDS and GDSN presents research opportunities on issues relating to the implementation of GDS, the relationship between GDSN and EPCglobal Network, the impact of GDS on inter-organizational relationships, the network effect of global standards, and evolution of complementary standards. We discuss these research opportunities. In brief, the article covers the history, present status, and future of GDS and GDSN, as well as their potentials, benefits, and implementation issues