A Preliminary Investigation into e-Commerce Adoption by the Grocery Industry In China

Electronic Commerce as a way of conducting business transactions electronically has shown great operational and strategic benefits. Developed countries have actively embraced the concept of e-Commerce and have made it an integral part of business activities. Despite its ability to bridge economic and digital gap between developing and developed countries, developing countries are still slow in e-Commerce adoption. Currently, there is still a lack of e-Commerce adoption research in developing countries to fully assess the relevance of e-Commerce in these unique environments. This study aims to shed light into the e-Commerce adoption process in China, by assessing the e-Commerce use by the grocery industry. The uniqueness of China in various aspects including cultural, economic and political, poses different challenges and requires different strategies to encourage widespread adoption of e-Commerce

An Evaluation of Information Systems Course: A Reflection from Final Year Students

Due to the importance of Information Technology (IT), various IT courses have been introduced in the last few decades. However, there has been a steady decline in the student enrolment in various IT related coursed around the globe after the economy downturn in the early 2000. While some studies have been conducted to investigate the relevance of IT/IS courses for the current market situation, there is still a lack of studies that assess students’ perception regarding the ability of existing IT/IS courses in preparing students for their IT/IS career. This study evaluates the Bachelor of Information Systems (BIS) course offered at one of the leading Universities in Australia by gathering opinions and reflections from students at the final year through a combination of qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings highlights a number of critical skills expected of IS professionals and a number of opportunities for further improving the course

Towards Sustainability Framework Development: Identifying Organisational Capability for Sustainability Practices

The growing awareness of the importance of sustainability motivates companies to engage in sustainability practices. However, practising sustainability is challenging since most initiatives are interorganisational in nature. The implementation depends heavily on the capability of multiple organisations within the supply chain, which are not easily assessed. Although a few scholars have proposed a number of frameworks to help organisations identify the required organisational capabilities, none of them is comprehensive enough due to the limited scope. In order to develop a more comprehensive sustainability framework, a complete understanding of organisational capabilities needed for sustainability practices is necessary. This research-in-progress paper therefore aims to synthesize the required key capabilities based on widely implemented sustainability guidelines/standards. The identification of key capabilities is important to understand and explore how ICT can be used by organisations to develop the required sustainability capabilities. This study will potentially contribute to the development of a holistic sustainability framework

Electronic Commerce Technologies Adoption by SMEs: A Conceptual Study

The use of Electronic Commerce (EC) technologies enables Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to improve their efficiency and competitive position. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive framework that gives a multi-faceted account for the phenomenon of EC technologies adoption by SMEs. This paper therefore develops a theoretical framework of EC technologies adoption which is composed of four dimensions: perceived organisational readiness (micro level), perceived industry readiness (meso level), perceived national readiness (macro level) and the perceived environmental pressure. The proposed framework is then used to develop a more specific research model to guide future study in exploring EC technologies adoption by SMEs. The proposed framework and research model will be empirically validated by administering a survey questionnaire among SMEs in a number of developing countries

Understanding Hospital Information Systems Adoption in China

The introduction of hospital information systems (HIS) into the hospital environment has brought profound changes to the healthcare system around the world. Through an in-depth case study with one of the model digital hospitals in China, this study explores some key factors impacting HIS adoption. To get a holistic view of the HIS adoption process, three different inter-connecting adoption phases were considered in the study, which include the adoption decision making stage, the system implementation stage and the system assimilation stage. The lessons learned from the HIS adoption experiences of the case hospital offer contributions to both theory and practice, particularly within the context of technology adoption within the healthcare sector

EXPLORING THE NATIONAL CONTEXT IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ADOPTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In this era of globalisation, Electronic Commerce (EC) has been promoted as a tool for bridging the gap between the developed and developing countries. However, despite the promises made by various international organisations, the developing countries are encountering difficulties in realising the EC benefits. To address this issue, numerous studies have been carried out in various developing countries in an attempt to identify the keys to EC\u27s successful adoption and diffusion in the developing countries. However, despite the significant differences between developed and developing nations, most studies carried out in developing countries employed the same study frameworks used in developed nations. This paper recognises the unique national context of the developing countries and argues that the national context factors can have significant impact upon EC adoption by organisations in developing countries. As a result, we modified the well tested Technology-Organisation-Environment framework to focus on the national context. By examining the national context together with the technological, organisational and industrial context of an organisation, it is expected that the extended framework will be able to provide a more complete picture of EC adoption in developing countries

UNDERSTANDING E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM BENEFITS USING ORGANISATIONAL ADOPTION MOTIVATION LENS: A CASE STUDY

E-commerce, e-procurement, adoption, motivation, benefits, municipality, case study, Australi

Exploring the Use and Benefits of Web 2.0 for Supply Chain Management

In today’s dynamic environment, managing supply chain processes has been challenging. Various information and communication technologies (ICT) have been adopted for supply chain management (SCM) in the last few decades. The adoption of technologies for SCM, nevertheless, has been difficult and complex because different parties are involved. Recently, with the emergence and popularity of web 2.0 as social technology, innovative companies have started to explore and adopt web 2.0 as an alternative method for supply chain integration. Web 2.0 has many features that are useful for dynamic communication across the globe, which facilitates integration among supply chain parties. However, currently, web 2.0 has not been widely used to support SCM practices. Building upon the existing studies, in this paper, we assess how web 2.0 can be used for supporting SCM practices and highlight the values offered. A number of implications for managing supply chain with web 2.0 are also discussed

Exploring the roles of ICT in supporting sustainability practices

The concern about sustainability has arisen due to the overuse of natural resources and the increased use of energy consumption over the last decades. Information communication technologies (ICT) has the potential to address the three main aspects of sustainability (people, planet, profit) and therefore, several organizations have initiated a sustainable development by integrating ICT within their business activities. However, the roles of ICT in supporting sustainability initiatives have only been discussed in a limited number of studies and there is a lack of practical examples that demonstrate how the different roles of ICT are played out in an organization\u27s environment. Therefore, this research aims to explore how ICT can be used by organizations to support sustainability initiatives. In particular, in this research- in-progress paper, we examine how a leading organization deploys Internet-of-Things as an example of an ICT application to support various sustainability initiatives. The study findings enhance the current understanding of how ICT can support sustainability practices of organizations