Social media crisis management: Aligning corporate response strategies with stakeholders’ emotions online

The article focuses on how the analysis of stakeholders’ emotions online can help companies facing a social media crisis determine the response strategy that will best minimize the reputational threat. The article indeed questions the relevance of classical crisis management theory to an online environment. Results show that social media have increased the unpredictability of corporate crises. Consequently, on social media, crises cannot be addressed with the methods that have prevailed so far. Rather, incorporating emotion‐based analysis in six case studies showed how crisis analysis, and the subsequent response strategy, could be fine‐tuned. The article builds on recent literature to develop a new analytical framework for response strategies and a model for crisis resolution—the social media crisis management matrix.     

Australia: raising the E-commerce comfort level

On the basis of our involvement in the technology sector, we believe that Australia views e-commerce as the use of modern technologies to conduct business transactions and make online interactions easier. Transactions involve the Internet, as well as smart cards, automated phone systems, and electronic communications to solicit, service, and maintain business relationships. Overcoming trust issues is a top priority for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business e-commerce in Australia     

Business-to-business e-commerce frameworks

Electronic commerce lets people purchase goods and exchange information on business transactions online. Although the Internet's role as a business channel is a fairly recent phenomenon, its impact, financial and otherwise, has been substantially greater than that of other business channels which have been in existence for several decades. The authors believe that e-commerce gives companies improved efficiency and reliability of business processes through transaction automation. There are two major types of e-commerce: business to consumer (B2C), in which consumers purchase products and services from businesses, and business to business (B2B), in which businesses buy and sell among themselves. B2B transactions are a growing segment of the e-commerce market. This article analyzes and compares popular B2B frameworks that attempt to address such issues as interoperability and security between enterprises transacting business over the Internet     

Business information extraction from semi-structured webpages

To protect online consumers, as OECD Guidelines recommend, Internet shopping malls should provide information about their business on their webpages. In Korea, The Consumer Protection Law in Electronic Commerce, forced Internet shopping malls to provide their business information, so that consumers could easily identify them. Since most Korean Internet shopping malls provide consumers with business information in a semi-structured format on their homepages, a software agent can easily identify them.

To investigate automatically the provision of the business information with the Internet shopping malls, this article proposes the methods of gathering URLs of Internet shopping malls, of monitoring alterations of webpages, and of extracting business information. Business information extraction in our research is based on synonyms and indicator words of the attributes. We used inductive learning to raise the efficiency of information extraction. With experiments, we showed the potentialities of our agent system. The average extraction accuracy of our agent system was 89.3%.     

Recommendation strategies in personalization applications

While the initial goal of recommender systems (RSes) was to reduce the information overload for Internet users and make the information retrieval more efficient, they have become a crucial strategic tool for companies in the online markets. According to this evolution, research on RSes has produced a wide variety of approaches and algorithms. As a consequence, the companies deploying RSes in their business applications face the decision of how to generate and deliver personalized recommendations to their users by choosing among many options. The problem has been largely treated from the machine learning performance perspective because there is relatively little research done from the business perspective. The decision of what kind of recommender engines should be used in a personalization application, given certain business conditions, has a strategic value because it affects the way customers perceive the company with respect to its competitors. Choosing the wrong way to personalize recommendations may not only require the redesign of the information systems but also to rebuild the relationships with customers and even the entire brand strategic positioning. The research issues addressed by this paper are (i) which recommendation strategies a company can deploy to generate and deliver recommendations to users, and (ii) which specific strategies should be used depending on the current business conditions. We propose taxonomy based on a literature analysis and a framework to associate each strategy with a certain setting. The proposed framework is empirically supported by four case studies.     

Factors affecting the smartphone users to use the mobile portal services: focusing on Korean mobile portals

This study aims to clarify whether and how the portal sites in wired Internet environments can enhance their positions as market leaders in the mobile environment.The result may explain that the user’s trust in the mobile services of portal sites (the mobile portal services) is related to the site’s quality and the site’s brand equity significantly and is a mediator to increase the user’s intention to use mobile portal services. This study also explains that the user’s experience with a smartphone can encourage portal users to expect that the mobile portal services are useful and that the experience can link brand equity in certain business environments to trust in the brand in other business environments. Site quality including the design quality of portal sites can affect the user’s trust in the mobile services of the portal sites directly and can affect the user’s intention to use the mobile portal services under certain conditions. Practically, this study suggests that portal sites should focus on designing and developing more usable sites with high-quality UI components—convenient menu navigation, a proper UI design, and usable content rather depend on their current position as the leading companies in the wired Internet environment.     

Bigger share of a smaller pie [digital rights]

Do you like your music in Apple format (AIFF), Microsoft format (WMA), Real Networks style (RA), or in a public standard (MP3 or Ogg Vorbis)? Anyone listening to Internet radio stations or other online sounds is familiar with the frequent need to choose between format and player (typically, for streaming, between Real Networks and Windows Media). This is not a technological issue: the various sound formats all provide acceptable quality. Under typical listening conditions Such as walking along a street with traffic next to You or in in office with small and inadequate speakers; any difficulty you have hearing the music won't be from the encoding method's limitations. Instead, we have a set of companies who think the best way to dominate the online music business is to tie the format and player together to lock in customers. We're in the middle of a contest to see whether one company can dominate the legal downloading business by controlling the format in which music is sold. The article looks at whether Apple, Microsoft, or someone else can establish a monopoly, so that people will buy only their software and audio format.     

Electronic Commerce Internet Strategies and Business Models-A Survey

Today, any doubts about possibilities of significant profits over the Internet are a distant memory. Such has been the proliferation of Internet-based business on the public network. But electronic commerce has turned out to be more difficult to master than previously assumed. For many, ventures have been less lucrative than expected. The problem is that integrating business models with technology is a multifaceted and largely open question (Shaw, et al. 1997). How do businesses of various sizes and industries actually start their Internet activity and how do their business models change over time? More specifically, how do their different Internet strategies play out? This article is the result of a survey of the Internet strategies and business models of 280 companies that sell products and services on the public network. The results show that electronic commerce has penetrated companies of all sizes. Based on this survey it is apparent that while many companies have participated in electronic commerce for years, their business models are still in their infancy stages.     

Leveraging Web-Based Information Systems

Internet technologies, including the Web, Web browsers, and search engines, have provided unprecedented opportunities for conducting business online. Together, these technologies enable the creation of Web-based information systems, which are changing market dynamics and the way companies conduct business. This article presents a framework for an internetworked business model using Web-based information systems.     

Is Electronic Commerce Ready for the Internet?

Although electronic commerce cannot yet support secure financial transactions, some financial institutions have already begun to conduct business online. This article reviews the experiences of one financial services provider in setting objectives for and establishing an Internet presence. Integral to the process is a checklist of strategic, tactical, and practical management issues that must be resolved before an Internet connection is made.     

开发电子商务应用的若干因素分析

许多公司正在或打算通过因特网做生意。由于电子商务环境与组织习以为常的传统环境有天壤之别,这直接导致了两种环境下应用的需求差异,文章将为这些公司提供一些有关构建电子商务应用的建议。那些深刻理解电子商务环境的组织无疑是本世纪的胜者,其它组织只能处于挣扎的边缘或注定失败。     

The effect of SDLR and self‐efficacy in preschool teachers by using WS learning

This study examined whether self‐directed learning readiness (SDLR) moderates the association between Internet self‐efficacy and approaches to learning by web searching (ALWS). A total of 329 valid questionnaires were used for the correlation and path analysis. The results revealed that preschool teachers' SDLR significantly moderated the influence of Internet self‐efficacy and ALWS. Thus, this result suggests that spending more time on SDLR may increase preschool teachers' ALWS, which may enhance their teaching practice via web‐based professional development. Findings from this study may have implications for preschool teachers who aim to improve their teaching practice by targeting web‐searching environment and approaches to learning. The findings suggest that the positive mediation role of SDLR between Internet self‐efficacy and ALWS, especially effective learning, active learning and independent learning of SDLR. Because SDLR has the great influence on the online learning domain, preparing teacher's self‐directed learning ability is important for educational authorities to facilitate teachers' better performance when learning online.     

互联网金融与传统银行业的比较

2013年,互联网金融是最受关注的话题之一。本文以相对狭义的互联网金融,即互联网企业在金融领域的创新与发展为关注点,分析比较互联网金融与传统金融在客户对象、业务性质、监臂环境等方面的差异,并提出有关互联网金融与传统行业之间关系、未来需要进一步讨论的问题。     

Does Culturally Adapted Online Communication Work? A Study of American and Chinese Internet Users’ Attitudes and Preferences Toward Culturally Customized Web Design Elements

Various scholars have argued that today's multicultural online marketplace necessitates cultural adaptation of Web communications. This argument has largely been based on the assumption that culture, as a source of acceptable norms and behaviors, influences online expectations, preferences, and experiences. Few, however, have questioned the validity of this assumption. Our study aims to fill that gap. It examines whether Internet users' cultural backgrounds are reflected in the attitudes toward Web design elements. A survey of American and Chinese Internet users and a content analysis revealed that cultural backgrounds play a substantial role in determining Web design preferences and attitudes. The findings of this study represent an important step in developing and validating a framework that international marketers can use to customize Web sites and improve targeting in online environment. The findings also suggest that cultural customization of online communication is particularly effective when users have strong ethnic identities.     

Secure E-Commerce: Understanding the Public Key Cryptography Jigsaw Puzzle

Abstract

Today almost all organizations use the Internet extensively for both intra- and inter-organizational communications. The Internet is also the exclusive vehicle for E-commerce transactions involving customers and other business partners. This eliminates the significant infrastructure costs of private data communications networks and enables even small companies to participate in E-commerce. However, extensive use of public media for transferring sensitive data poses serious security challenges.     

Challenging Intellectual Property Law in the Internet: An Overview of the Legal Implications of the MP3 Technology

This paper attempts to provide an understanding of the contrast between the fundamental notion surrounding the Internet that global society should benefit from access to free flow of information, whilst unauthorised copying of material normally protected by copyright can be facilitated. The paper focuses on the legal implications of the emergence and widespread use of the MP3 technology for the digital compression and distribution of audio music files over the Internet. The analysis explores issues of copyright infringement and unauthorised reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music over the Internet as highlighted in two separate cases concerning two start-up Internet companies, MP3.com and Napster. Additionally, to the extent that the outcome of the aforementioned cases are likely to influence the future of copyright protection in the online environment, the paper addresses the legal implications of the MP3 technology in relation to the applicability, adequacy and effectiveness of the existing legal framework to reach to a fair balance between the rights of the users of the Internet to free access to information and the protection of the rights of copyright holders thus providing us with the opportunity to question the fundamentals of copyright protection in the electronic environment.     

What we have here is a failure to communicate: the criticality of writing in online instruction

This article addresses how online instructors can improve their email communications with students. The characteristics and demands of online instruction are described and characterized as depending on the instructor’s ability to communicate in writing. A model to guide instructors in their online communications, the Golden Triangles of Online Communication, is presented. The first triangle underscores the criticality of considering (a) the online learning environment context, (b) the learner, and (c) the learning task. The second triangle presents three critical questions that instructors using online communications must quickly answer (a) What is this about? (b) Why should I care? and (c) What am I supposed to do? The Golden Triangles represent an effort to provide assistance to instructors in the difficult task of providing high quality instruction with high student satisfaction in online learning. In the final analysis, we underscore the importance of instructors’ writing skills in effective and appealing online in teaching.     

Ignorance is no Defence, but is Inaccessibility? On the Accessibility of National Laws to Foreign Online Publishers

The article examines, first, to what extent the legal exposure of online actors to multiple foreign laws creates a legal obligation on states to make their laws easily accessible to them and whether a state by failing to do so breaches any human rights. Second, it is examined what 'easy accessibility' actually entails. The discussion builds upon the premise that the Internet has created an environment where transnational trade or publications are no longer the prerogative of resource-rich multinational companies with large inhouse legal departments to advise them on their respective legal position in different jurisdictions. Yet, there is growing worldwide consensus that online content providers have to comply with the laws of the places where their sites can be accessed. This raises the issue of whether the legal expectation of states on foreign online actors goes, or should go, hand-in-hand with an obligation to cater for the special regulatory needs of foreign actors.     

Crisis Management and Corporate Strategy in African Firms: Towards a Contingency Approach

Crisis management logic suggests that preparing for a crisis should be a critical part of organizational strategy. This article aims to explore the difficulties in translating this logic into business practices in the African context. By comparing the application of the three most popular theoretical perspectives used in the field of strategy with the context of African firms, we come to the conclusion that another approach, the contingency perspective, must be integrated in order for African companies to manage small business crises successfully. This study is based on four case studies. It ends with two proposals for future research and practice in crisis management in African firms: (1) introducing a logic of solidarity; and (2) introducing the idea of the ‘palabre’. 1     

Converging on The Customer

Three categories of information—computing, knowledge, and communications—are converging in a model that places the consumer at the center of a technological and business revolution. As an enabler of communications, and the aspect of the convergence model getting the most press, the Internet encourages companies to rethink the enterprise and to change the way they do business.