Success Factors for Implementation of Electronic Commerce by Small and Medium Enterprises

Electronic commerce becomes an essential part of business processes for many business firms. Electronic commerce has a particularly important implication for small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SME\u27s) because the form of competition and business process has dramatically changed in the recent years due to the internet and on-line business activities. This paper investigates various issues about implementation of electronic commerce by surveying a group of Korean SME\u27s as a sample. This study focuses on finding out the critical factors for successful implementation of electronic commerce by SME\u27s. Our research model is more comprehensive than the ones used in the previous research by including moderating variables in the contex

Building Co-Operative Supply Chain in Auto Parts Manufacturing Industry

As competition becomes more intense, it is becoming increasingly important for a firm to build an efficient supply chain for its survival and prosperity. One way to build an efficient supply chain is to integrate the supply chain activities by the member firms of different levels on the supply chain by developing cooperative relationships between firms. Many factors are involved in developing cooperative relationships between firms, and their effects need to be studied. This paper investigates what factors are critical to build a cooperative buyer-supplier relationship in auto parts manufacturing industry. Data was collected from two groups of firms in Korean auto parts manufacturing industry, 1st-tier parts suppliers and 2nd-tier parts suppliers. Our study reveals that there are significant differences in the way of collaboration depending on the level of the relationships

Comparison of E-Commerce Practices between Large Enterprises and Small to Medium Enterprises

E-commerce becomes an important element of the business strategy for both small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises as online business and cyber market space continue to expand its size and volume. E-commerce has a particularly important implication for SMEs because it can help SMEs overcome many handicaps of the SMEs, such as the economies of scale, and compete against the large enterprises on the level ground. The two groups of business firms, large enterprises and SMEs, are often different in not only their sizes but also their business practices. This may also extend to how they use e-commerce in their business. This paper is to study whether there are differences in using e-commerce between large enterprises and SMEs, and what are the differences and why the differences are made. We compare the two groups of business firms in two aspects, format of implementation and their performance. Data used for the study is collected from a group of Korean firms

Heritage and Resilience: Issues and Opportunities for Reducing Disaster Risks

This paper examines the unique role of cultural heritage in disaster risk reduction. Itintroduces various approaches to protect heritage from irreplaceable loss and considers ways to draw upon heritage as an asset in building the resilience of communities and nations to disasters. The paper proposes ways forward and builds on the current momentum provided by the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters” (HFA) and the advancement of a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction (HFA2) and the post-2015 development agenda. Cultural heritage is often associated with grandiose monuments and iconic archaeological sites that can hold us in awe of their beauty, history and sheer scale. However, the understanding of cultural heritage has undergone a marked shift during the last few decades in terms of what it is, why it is important, why it is at risk and what can be done to protect it. Cultural heritage today encompasses a broader array of places such as historic cities, living cultural landscapes, gardens or sacred forests and mountains, technological or industrial achievements in the recent past and even sites associated with painful memories and war. Collections of movable and immoveable items within sites, museums, historic properties and archives have also increased significantly in scope, testifying not only to the lifestyles of royalty and the achievements of great artists, but also to the everyday lives of ordinary people. At the same time intangibles such as knowledge, beliefs and value systems are fundamental aspects of heritage that have a powerful influence on people’s daily choices and behaviors. Heritage is at risk due to disasters, conflict, climate change and a host of other factors.At the same time, cultural heritage is increasingly recognized as a driver of resilience that can support efforts to reduce disaster risks more broadly. Recent years have seen greater emphasis and commitment to protecting heritage and leveraging it for resilience;but initiatives, such as the few examples that are presented here, need to be encouraged and brought more fully into the mainstream of both disaster risk reduction and heritage management. These are issues that can be productively addressed in a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction and, likewise, in the post-2015 development agenda

Conjugated Poly(fluorene-quinoxaline) for Fluorescence Imaging and Chemical Detection of Nerve Agents with Its Paper-Based Strip

Conjugated polymer of poly­(fluorene-co-quinoxaline) was synthesized via Suzuki coupling polymerization. The emission color of the polymer can be tuned depending on the concentration of the polymer in solution. A low-energy bandgap is observed both in the concentrated solution and in the solid state, caused by aggregation of the polymer chains, resulting in long wavelength emission from the quinoxaline moiety, while short wavelength emission can be seen in diluted, well-dissolved solution. The presence of quinoxaline units enables us to demonstrate fluorescence switching and imaging. Paper-based strips containing the polymer are prepared via simple immersion of filter paper in the polymer solution for practical use in the detection of nerve agents. The emission of the paper-based strip is quenched upon exposure to diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP), a nerve agent simulant, and the initial emission intensity can be almost restored by treatment with aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, making a possible reversible paper-based sensor

Regioselective Synthesis of 6-<i>O</i>-Acetyl Dieckol and Its Selective Cytotoxicity against Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Dieckol, a phlorotannin from Ecklonia cava, has shown potential for use as an anticancer agent that selectively kills cancer cells. However, it is necessary to amplify its potency without damaging its inherent safety in order to develop it as a competitive chemotherapeutic. Here, we explored the controlled O-acylations of dieckol. Acyl groups could be consistently introduced to the 6-O position of dieckol with a high regioselectivity, which was confirmed by NOESY, HMBC and HSQC spectroscopies. In cytotoxicity studies on the newly synthesized 6-O-acetyl, 6-O-benzoyl dieckols and previously synthesized 6-O-alkyl dieckols against A549 vs. normal cells, all of the derivatives showed low cytotoxicity in normal cells with an IC50 of 481–719 μM, and highly structure-dependent cytotoxicity in A549 cells with an IC50 of 7.02 (acetyl)−842.26 (benzyl) μM. The selectivity index also showed a large structure dependency in the range of 0.67 (benzyl)–68.58 (acetyl). An analysis of the structure–activity relationship indicated that the activity was dramatically reduced in the presence of a benzene ring and was highly increased in the presence of small polar substituents. Conclusions: Controlled mono-O-modifications of dieckol could be a powerful tool to enhance the anticancer activity of dieckol, thus contributing to the development strategy for dieckol-based chemotherapeutics

Nanochannel-Confined TAMRA-Polypyrrole Stained DNA Stretching by Varying the Ionic Strength from Micromolar to Millimolar Concentrations

Large DNA molecules have been utilized as a model system to investigate polymer physics. However, DNA visualization via intercalating dyes has generated equivocal results due to dye-induced structural deformation, particularly unwanted unwinding of the double helix. Thus, the contour length increases and the persistence length changes so unpredictably that there has been a controversy. In this paper, we used TAMRA-polypyrrole to stain single DNA molecules. Since this staining did not change the contour length of B-form DNA, we utilized TAMRA-polypyrrole stained DNA as a tool to measure the persistence length by changing the ionic strength. Then, we investigated DNA stretching in nanochannels by varying the ionic strength from 0.06 mM to 47 mM to evaluate several polymer physics theories proposed by Odijk, de Gennes and recent papers to deal with these regimes