bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Demand Forecasting for the Net Age
Authors: D’Souza Edward , White Ed
Published: May 2011

Picture this. The year is 2025. A customer is watching a new razor blade advertisement on interactive TV. The customer clicks to approve the purchase. When the order is received by the vendor, demand forecasting systems match customer experience data and integrate parameters—frequency of usage, preference of color, style of hand grip, language spoken by the customer, font style for customer’s name to be engraved on the razor, and so forth—into the Global Integrated Supply Chain Systems (GISCS) process. The next interaction is the customer receiving the order with a six-month supply of blades in the shortest possible time at a very affordable price. This will truly represent the process of thought to fulfillment in one click. This chapter explores the role played by demand forecasting for the net age—an age where customers can be anywhere and wants to have their needs addressed the moment they think about them. The organization that can fulfill the needs of these individuals in the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective way will win their business. Such organizations will win over their competition and, in the process, reap profits. Any error in the thought to the fulfillment of the supply chain will result in a dissatisfied customer and, in all probability, loss of future businessto the competition. Meeting the demands of an anywhere-anytime environment requires more than just-in-time Supply Chain Management (SCM). It needs to move to the next level to what we call just-in-mind SCM. Demand forecasting for just-in-mind SCM requires the organization to do global thinking and local linking. The global thinking helps to forecast the demand, and local linking helps to fulfill it. The chapter helps the reader to understand the challenges faced by organizations in forecasting demand in the net age, gives real-life examples of these challenges, provides solutions for addressing them, and takes a look into the future.
Performance Measurement and Evaluation of E-Government and E-Governance Programmes and Initiatives
Authors: Bovaird Tony
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores the ways in which e-government and e-governance have been and can be evaluated and how performance measures can be developed in this field . It begins by examining the aims and objectives of e-government and e-governance, as highlighted by a number of different international bodies and governments of OECD member countries. The chapter then explores some key issues in the performance measurement of e-government and e-governance, and the options for performance indicators for e-government and e-governance. It goes on to consider the scope for evaluation of e-government programmes and initiatives, and possible frameworks by which such evaluation might be undertaken. Finally, it sets out some interim conclusions and recommendations for a range of different stakeholders.
Supervised Learning with Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Charles Darryl , Fyfe Colin , Livingstone Daniel , McGlinchey Stephen
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we will look at supervised learning in more detail, beginning with one of the simplest (and earliest) supervised neural learning algorithms – the Delta Rule. The objectives of this chapter are to provide a solid grounding in the theory and practice of problem solving with artificial neural networks – and an appreciation of some of the challenges and practicalities involved in their use.
Mobile Innovation and the Music Business in Japan
Authors: Takeishi Akira
Published: May 2011

This paper examines the development process and successful factors of the ringing tone melody downloading service, or “Chaku-Mero,” in Japan. Chaku-Mero, arguably the most successful mobile (m)-commerce business in the world, is a mobile Internet service in which a subscriber could download from a wide selection of music melodies his/her favorite for a fee to get it ring when the mobile phone receives a call or message. This chapter describes the process of how this business has evolved from pre-mobile-Internet phase of related business; examines the structure of the business; and analyzes why some content providers have been more successful than others. Some implications for the prospects of mobile Internet businesses for music and other cultural contents will be provided.
Bringing the Enterprise System to the Front Line
Authors: Westelius Alf , Valiente Pablo
Published: May 2011

This paper draws on the need to understand how mobile technology is implemented and used at the organisational level. IT is a general-purpose technology and its use involves a high degree of uncertainty. Therefore, managers have trouble in identifying the real scope, the functionality, and the impact of new mobile applications. However, these three types of uncertainties need to be handled in change management projects where new information technology is involved. Gradual uncertainty reduction at these three different levels—that is, what technology can do, will technology work, and will users adopt it—is studied in this chapter. This is achieved through an analysis of the implementation process of an information system at BT Europe, a leading supplier of forklift trucks. The analysis shows how the computerised parts of the information system are complemented by mindful intertwining with the noncomputerised communication and manual data processing in order for the information system to work.
A Neural-Network-Assisted Optimization Framework and Its Use for Optimum-Parameter Identification
Authors: Ray Tapabrata
Published: May 2011

Surrogate-assisted optimization frameworks are of great use in solving practical computationally expensive process-design-optimization problems. In this chapter, a framework for design optimization is introduced that makes use of neural-network-based surrogates in lieu of actual analysis to arrive at optimum process parameters. The performance of the algorithm is studied using a number of mathematical benchmarks to instill confidence on its performance before reporting the results of a springback minimization problem. The results clearly indicate that the framework is able to report optimum designs with a substantially low computational cost while maintaining an acceptable level of accuracy.
Best Practices in the Assessment of Online Discussions
Authors: Meyer Katrina A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter develops the rationale for several best practices in the assessment of online discussions. It provides instructors with an introduction to the differences between face-to-face and online discussions, how to evaluate online discussions, how to perform these assessments, and how to use assessment information to improve future online discussions. These best practices are intended to be an initial guide to the novice online instructor. The increasing use of online discussions in both traditional and distance classes will likely generate new forms of assessment, new rubrics, and new insights, and the instructor will need to stay informed of these developments.
Teaching with Educational Technology
Authors: Inoue Yukiko , Bell Suzanne
Published: May 2011

There was a time, not too many years ago, when word processing was the most popular computer activity among students. For most students, the computer was little more than a high-powered typewriter. Today, a PC can be a window into the global system of interconnected networks known as the Internet…. The World Wide Web makes the Internet accessible to people all over the planet. The Web is a huge portion of the Internet that includes a wealth of multimedia content accessible through simple point-and-click programs called Web browsers. Web browsers on PCs and other devices serve as windows into the Web’s richly diverse information space. (Beekman, 2005, pp. 16-17)
Hyperbook Features Supporting Active Reading Skills
Authors: Murray Tom
Published: May 2011

MetaLinks is a domain independent authoring tool and web server for adaptive textbooks (“hyperbooks”) that supports active reading. We show how cognitive and educational research and theory from the areas of text comprehension and active reading strategies can be applied to hyperbooks. Adaptivity and other MetaLinks features allow us to create a single hyperbook that serves multiple purposes. A MetaLinks hyperbook can serve as textbook and reference book; can be equally appropriate for novice and advanced readers, and can be coherently read from a number of thematic perspectives. “Active reading/learning” refers to a set of high level reading, searching, problem solving, and metacognitive skills. We describe the MetaLinks system and how its features support a number of behavioral, cognitive, and metacognitive active reading skills.
Research on Educational Technology Policy in the United States, Australia, Canada and the European Union
Authors: Mann Bruce L.
Published: May 2011

This chapter aims to show that educational policy issues can influence a researcher’s choices in conducting his or her research on educational technology. General statements from the “No Child Left Behind Act” in the United States, for example, as well as more specific statements in the NETS-T and ISTE are compared with policies in other countries. A key question for researchers intending to conduct Internet-supported educational research is, “which educational policies are currently affecting Internet-supported educational research”. Another question worth considering, “should I learn about policy evaluation of educational technology?”
Assessment of Students by a Teacher with a Hand Held Device and a Networkable Database
Authors: Newhouse C. Paul
Published: May 2011

For more than a decade, Australian educational systems have been trying to implement curriculum based on an outcomes approach to teaching and learning. A major difficulty in this process has been in applying the approach to the assessment of students’ learning. It has been recognized that teachers require considerably more support in access to information, collection of data, and analysis of data. Much of this support will need to be provided through appropriate computer systems, more than likely using networkable portable devices. Unfortunately research and development into the implementation of such support is in its infancy although the technology is widely available. This chapter describes a pilot project that tested the use of personal digital assistant to collect and analyze assessment data at the point of demonstration of the learning outcome by the student and then provides a background and rationale for continuing research in the area.
Ethereal
Authors: Bremer David
Published: May 2011

Learning the nature of data communication and networks requires understanding of how a theoretical protocol is implemented as actual communication. Taking ARP as a simple example, it is one thing to be able to understand its purpose and operation from readings and lectures. It is another thing entirely to be able to identify the actual ARP traffic from a sample of packets, identify any unusual behavior, and perform troubleshooting activities based on previous practical experience. A theoretical understanding may be enough to describe a particular aspect of networking, perhaps even enough to pass an exam. Practical knowledge, however, shows a deeper understanding that comes from actual experience with the protocol, beyond that of reading and discussion. One issue for educators in the field of networking is the problem of giving the students an “up close and personal” interaction with protocols that are so heavily immersed in theory. How do we make the theoretical protocol a more concrete reality for the students?
The Open Ended Group Project
Authors: Faulkner Xristine , Daniels Mats , Newman Ian
Published: May 2011

Modern societies are now beginning to accept that their citizens are diverse but, arguably, have not yet faced up to the challenges of diversity. Schools and universities thus have a role to play in equipping students for the diverse society in which they will live and work. IT students in particular need to appreciate the diversity of society as they specify, design, build and evaluate systems for a wide range of people. This chapter examines the concept of the Open Ended Group Project (OEGP) and uses examples to demonstrate that OEGP forms an effective technique for encouraging students to work together in diverse teams. The appropriateness of OEGP as a means of addressing diversity in the curriculum is examined, and it is concluded that OEGP offers a suitable means of enabling students to develop strategies for accommodating diversity in both their future working life and the wider society.
The Tutor's Role
Authors: Uden Lorna , Beaumont Chris
Published: May 2011

Traditionally, learning has been dominated by explanation and by organisation of a body of knowledge. A typical mode of learning is that the teacher initiates the question, generally aimed at getting the student to display his or her knowledge. The student then responds and the teacher evaluates the response. The aim is often focused on having students learn facts. In PBL, learning is said to be student-centered, with students driving the discussion and teacher serving as guide on the side. Two essential factors that affect the success of a PBL curriculum are: the tutor’s understanding of the educational theories underlying PBL and the group process in the tutorial. Understanding the role of teacher in student-centered learning is important in being able to implement PBL effectively. The facilitatory skills of the teacher are central to the success of PBL. This chapter describes the role of the tutor in PBL. It begins with a brief review of factors such as commitment, resources, design of a good problem or trigger, and assessment of learning. Subsequent sections of the chapter are devoted to the role of the tutorial. This includes skills that a good tutor should possess in order to implement PBL effectively.
Agile Development
Authors: Fioravanti Fabrizio
Published: May 2011

The aim of this chapter is not to compare one Agile methodology against the other but to evidence the common factors that are behind each methodology that can be defined as an Agile one in order to give to the reader a basic understanding needed to better comprehend XP (described in Chapter X) and ADPD (described in Chapter XI and exploited in Chapters XII and XIII). Agile development and Agile methodologies have not been well considered in the past nor in the present by several people that have published papers (Briand, 2003; Rakitin, 2001) and others in different journals considering this approach too similar to hacking to be considered as a methodology for controlling and developing projects. For some project types, it is true, since safety-critical systems and real-time systems can be difficult to approach with Agile methodologies, as already stated in Chapter VII. On the other hand, several other authors and researchers have tried to consider something more — Agile development (paying particular attention to XP but considering Agile methodologies in a large sense) — and to evidence the strong points behind its approach (Beck, 1999, 2000; Boehm, 2002; Cockburn, 2001, 2001a; Paulk, 2001) and also the interaction of social issues with Agile software development (Cockburn, 1996; Highsmith, 2001).
Robert Bosch Corporation
Authors: Sankar Chetan , Rau Karl-Heinz
Published: May 2011

• Analyze the case study presented in earlier chapters (1992-1999), noting the connections between theory and practice • Compare your analysis with that of the authors • Generalize from the particular example and come up with suggestions for managers implementing new ERP systems
A Backgroun in Ethical Theory
Authors: Schultz Robert A.
Published: May 2011

In this book, “ethics” is a general term for concerns about what people should do. The term “ethics” comes from the Greek word ethike, which means “character.” Indeed, the ancient Greeks conceived issues about what people should do in terms of impact upon character—whether people were of good or bad character (Aristotle, 350 BCE). Our concern with good reputation reveals this kind of thinking, but bad actions and bad performance can be more important than any amount of good reputation if they are bad enough. Not even the most capable network troubleshooter could survive the discovery of large amounts of downloaded kiddie porn on his workstation. William Bennett’s A Book of Virtues (Bennett, 1993) is a more recent example of a character-based ethics very similar to Greek ethics. The central term of Greek ethics, ethike arête, is usually translated as “virtue”—the literal meaning is “excellence of character.” “Good character traits” is probably the nearest translation. Bennett’s list of virtues or good character traits includes: self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty, and faith. His selection of virtues overlaps with the classic Greek virtues or good character traits. Plato’s list was: courage, temperance, wisdom, and justice. (Plato, 360 BCE). Aristotle added liberality, pride, good temper, friendliness, truthfulness, and ready wit. Although all of these—Plato’s, Aristotle’s, and Bennett’s—are good character traits to have, having them doesn’t answer many important questions about what actions to do, especially when virtues conflict. Is perseverance in constructing a computer virus a good thing? Clearly the rightness or wrongness of the action in which we are persevering is very important. Or what about loyalty to an organization ripping off poor people? Here honesty (and compassion) may be more important than loyalty and responsibility. Indeed, Bennett’s list omits justice, considered the most important virtue by Plato. Since justice is primarily a virtue of institutions rather than individuals, Bennett’s list leaves out issues about how well society is arranged. We have made some progress on these issues since Greek times.1 The point is that character-based ethics is incomplete. Bennett himself, in replying to critics of his compulsive gambling behavior, seems to believe that as long as an individual has the “virtues,” that is, the good character traits, then other actions are irrelevant. Most of the rest of us in these non-classic-Greek times believe otherwise. Nowadays, “ethics” is an inclusive term for concerns also referred to as “morality,” “value,” and “justice.” Besides character, ethics in this inclusive sense is also concerned with the rightness and wrongness of actions, the value or goodness of things and situations, and with the justness of institutions. The basic terms of ethics are: right, good, and just.
Valuing Information Technology
Authors: Schultz Robert A.
Published: May 2011

Besides being of interest in its own right, the question of the value of information technology (IT) has ethical implications, primarily for policymakers and managers in organizations. IT professional duty and managerial duty require undertakings that have a reasonable expectation of improving the organization and its prospects. Since IT plays a complex role in providing benefits for an organization, and also since IT projects can fail in ways that have major negative impact on an organization, the valuation of IT impacts the ethical responsibilities of policymakers and managers. In the late 1980s, a number of researchers set out to quantify the value added to an organization by computerization or automation (two terms commonly used in those days). To their surprise, they found no or comparatively little value added. This result became known as the “Productivity Paradox” (Brynjollfson, 1992; Loveman, 1988; Roach, 1991). The ensuing discussion continued through the 1990s and beyond. Whatever else the discussion accomplished, it showed the complexity of questions about the value of information technology. There are cases in which IT has clearly added value to a particular organization at a particular time. It is also true that, in some cases, IT has added more than shareholder or monetary value so that from any social point of view, the result is positive. The World Wide Web is an example. The difficulty in assessing value comes when one tries to reach conclusions about the overall contribution of IT to the economy or to society. It is widely known that IT benefits are far from automatic and sometimes difficult or impossible to achieve. So, overall, do the benefits outweigh the costs? How do we go about answering this question? What are the appropriate points of view from which to determine value?1 The two main appropriate points of view are: 1. The user point of view. The user is whoever employs the technology, whether an individual, organization, or organizational department. 2. The socioeconomic point of view, which is the point of view of the society or economy, whatever promulgates overall economic policies. From the user point of view, typical questions would be as follows: • Individual: Is it worth it for me to purchase this firewall software? • Organization: Should we install ERP software companywide? What are the benefits and liabilities for the organization? Is the investment worth it? • Independent Department: Should we switch our production software to another company’s product? Again, what are the benefits and liabilities for the department? (In the background, there should be a procedure insuring that potential impacts for the rest of the organization are considered.)
E-Partnership Strategy and Structure
Authors: Zhao Fang
Published: May 2011

Now that the Internet bubble has seemingly burst, the days are gone when anyone with Internet and IT knowledge can run a successful e-business. Like other businesses, e-business also needs strategic management skills and traditional business sense. This author argues that the success of e-business requires a well-defined and well-formulated e-partnering strategy. A good e-partnering strategy can make a significant impact on business operations, customer relations and competitive market position of an organization, if it is implemented and executed successfully. E-managers must be able to think forward and strategically. Business partnership, in whatever form, has gone from being a peripheral tool of management to a centerpiece of corporate strategy and competitive advantage over the past decade (Bamford, Gomes-Casseres, & Robinson, 2003). This chapter studies e-partnership from a strategic management perspective because e-partnership has become an important component of the strategy of many successful companies. From a strategic management perspective, e-partnerships should be strategic e-business alliances. Strategic management focuses on the process whereby managers develop and implement strategies for achieving strategic goals within existing conditions, in turn, helping organizations identify and achieve a competitive advantage. By resorting to a strategic management approach, this chapter helps in understanding the complex nature of e-partnering strategy formulation and implementation, which involves changes to existing business models and procedures. The chapter focuses on the strategy of e-partnering and its matching structures and delineates various worked examples of e-partnerships in today’s e-business world, thereby providing a practical guide to e-partnering strategy formation and implementation.
Accessible E-Government through Universal Design
Authors: Peter U.
Published: May 2011

The accessible design of e-government ensures that these offers can also be used by people with disabilities (accessibility). Moreover, experience shows that clarity and comprehensibility of the offers benefit from their careful and deliberate design and structuring while keeping in mind accessibility requirements. Therefore, accessibility is useful for all citizens who want to attend to their administrative issues via the Internet (universal design). Accessibility as a cross-sectional subject has to be considered holistically: On the one hand, following the “universal design” principle, it becomes clear that all users benefit from an accessible solution, independent of their abilities and independent of their situation, environment or conditions. On the other hand, especially in e-government, the complete business process has to be considered: An offer accessible in itself may not be usable if an installation routine or plug-in has to be loaded from a non-accessible page or if the work procedure involves a media break.
Development Stages of Digital Government
Authors: Kaaya J.
Published: May 2011

In recent years, a number of authors have reported studies on the emergence and development of digital government or e-government using various criteria (Forlano, 2004; Holliday, 2002; Kaaya, 2004; Layne & Lee, 2001; Netchaeva, 2002; Reddick, 2004; Silcock, 2001; Stowers, 1999, 2004; UN, 2001, 2002, 2004). From such studies, models have been proposed which indicate two to six stages of e-government development. Some of the models place emphasis on the structural features of government agencies in relation to electronic provision of services; others place emphasis on the nature and evolution of government Web sites and corresponding services. Still, a few models consider the evolution of the use of information technology (IT) to facilitate the undertakings of government tasks. However, with the exception of the latter, the consensus emerges from the models that the development of digital government entails an evolutionary process starting with the creation of simple government Web sites for publishing information on the functions of government agencies. These simple Web sites further develop into sophisticated portal designs which correspond with the services provided, along with the levels of transactions with the users. The majority of the countries of the world are implementing e-government strategies and various assessments have categorized countries according to their stages of development based on the existing models. Apart from the brief description of the models, this chapter will also give examples of the levels of development of e-government services in different regions and countries.
Digital Government Online Education for Public Managers
Authors: Holzer M.
Published: May 2011

The opportunities that arise from the practice of digital government continue to increase. Public managers responsible for adopting and implementing such new practices will be searching for existing best practices to incorporate into their respective communities. They may choose to rely on their information and communication technology (ICT) departments to develop necessary digital government applications, but an appealing option for public managers is to familiarize themselves with the most recent digital government applications through Web-based courses. Online education eliminates distances, allows for flexible scheduling and can incorporate current best practices of electronic-government on a timely basis. Public managers play a critical role in the development of digital government initiatives (Halachmi, 2004; Heeks, 1999; Ho, 2002; Melitski, 2003; Weare, Musso & Hale, 1999). Although public managers can refer to numerous individuals within government municipalities, in the case of digital government, the chief administrative officer (CAO) is often the key individual in deciding the direction of government initiatives. By completing Web-based courses, CAOs can assess and strategically plan for effective and efficient digital government in their communities. Melitski (2003) argues that there is a need for public mangers that are “familiar with both IT and the programmatic goals and missions of public organizations” (p. 389). With respect to implementing digital citizen participation in government, Holzer, Melitski, Rho, and Schwester (2004) state, as their primary recommendation, “governments should work harder to identify, study, and implement best practices” (p. 28). The means to study such best practices, however, have generally been scarce, and the literature has been limited to specialized e-government reports and articles. But Web-based courses now offer the means for a CAO or any other public manager to study digital government practices and theories in a more effective and convenient manner.
Digital International Governance
Authors: Amoretti F.
Published: May 2011

Up to 1980, development, which had been defined as nationally managed economic growth, was redefined as “successful participation in the world market” (World Bank, 1980, quoted in McMichael, 2004, p.116). On an economic scale, specialization in the world economy as opposed to replication of economic activities within a national framework emerged as a criterion of “development.” On a political level, redesigning the state on competence and quality of performance in the discharge of functions was upheld, while on an ideological plane, a neo-liberal and globalization project was to the fore. The quite evident failure of development policies in peripheral countries, on the one hand, has contributed to the debate on the need for reform of governing institutions in the world (de Senarcless, 2004); and, on the other, has pushed them, de-legitimized as they are, in the direction of finding new strategies and solutions. In the 1990s, considering their leading role in government reform, international organizations such as the United Nations Organization (UN), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) classified e-government as a core issue on their agenda. Innovation through information and communication technologies (ICTs) (social and economic advancement among the peoples of the world has become increasingly tied to technology creation, dissemination and utilization) is at the core of the renewed focus on the role of the state and the institutions in this process. Redefining the state—functions, responsibility, powers—as regards world-market priorities and logics, has become a strategic ground for international organization intervention, and ICTs are a strategic tool to achieve these aims.
E-Government Construction and China's Administrative Litigation Act
Authors: Chuanshen R.
Published: May 2011

E-government has become a part of our society gradually as a derivative of the current information society. To adapt to international affairs, the country’s economic development and social progress, China should expedite the transfer from a traditional superintendent government to a modern service government by building an e-government. However, there are many obstacles in the way of popularizing e-government. The “validity” and “reliability” of e-governance are key problems, because China’s administrative legal system hasn’t made specific laws and regulations on e-governance administration. In the current situation, it is of great and practical importance to discuss the new characteristics of e-government administration and understand the influence of information on the administrative legal system.
Information Society Industrial Policy
Authors: Henten A.
Published: May 2011

In order to discuss e-government in the context of industrial policy, it is necessary to examine the industrial policy concept as such. Industrial policy is not a term often appearing in encyclopedias or handbooks of economics and there is no general understanding of the concept in the economics literature. Nevertheless, it is a concept which has played and continues to play and important role in discussions on the economic development of nations and regions.
Social Critiques of Electronic Voting
Authors: O’ Baoill A.
Published: May 2011

The use of computers in the electoral process—to count punch-card ballots, or to maintain a register of voters—has been in place in many countries for some time. We now see many countries move to more thoroughly integrate computers into the voting experience, by introducing what are commonly known as “electronic voting” systems. The use of such systems in public elections combined with the role of voting in creating and maintaining democratic institutions requires that we pay attention to the impact that changes to the electoral process have on the construction of the public nature of elections.
Businesses and Consumers as Online Customers
Authors: Bridges Eileen , Goldsmith Ronald E. , Hofacker Charles F.
Published: May 2011

The emergence of e-commerce as a way of doing business has created an environment in which the needs and expectations of businesses and consumers are rapidly evolving. Marketing managers must decide how often and how radically to adapt to the dynamics of the marketplace. Firms may simply offer a Web site, or they may embrace change as evidenced by frequent and/or major updates to obtain the maximum potential from e-commerce activities. Managers need to continuously evaluate their marketplaces to assess how much adaptation makes sense. The more managers know about customers’ expectations and their likely reactions to e-commerce activities, the better they will be able to attract, satisfy, and retain online buyers.
Distributed Workflow Management Based on UML and Web Services
Authors: Lucia A.D.
Published: May 2011

The definition and the management of business processes are considered a relevant issue to support organizations in their activities. Indeed, in the last few years many organizations have been changing their business processes to keep competitive in the global market. Workflow management is an emerging technology enabling process performance improvement in a cooperative working environment. In particular, a workflow management system (WfMS) enables processes automation through the integration, the coordination, and communication of both human and automatic task of business processes. WfMSs provide a process definition language (PDL) for modeling business processes. A PDL sentence is named process model and is enacted by a component of the WfMS, namely the process engine. The main task of this component is executing the enactment rules and the activities specified in the Process Model. A huge number of PDLs based on several formalisms have been proposed in literature. Recently, some authors suggest exploiting the unified modeling language (UML) proposed by the Object Management Group (OMG, 2002) to model business processes (Aversano, Canfora, De Lucia, & Gallucci, 2002; Di Nitto, Lavazza, Schiavoni, Tracanella, & Trombetta, 2002; Eriksson & Penker, 2000, Jager, Schleicher, & Westfechtel, 1999; Marshall, 2000). UML is a natural choice for representing business processes, as it is a well known notation that can be easily understood and used by any kind of users. In this article, we propose a Web services-based WfMS that lets users manage and enact business processes. The proposed system offers a visual environment based on an extension of UML activity diagrams that allows to graphically design a process model and to visually monitor its enactment. Since UML does not have a well defined operational semantics and is not executable, we had to make the process model executable by appropriately enriching the syntax and semantics of UML activity diagrams. The architecture of the proposed WfMS is based on Web services to manage and enact distributed business processes.
E-Commerce in Enron
Authors: Wang John , Chen Qiyang , Yao James , Xing Ruben
Published: May 2011

Enron was formed in 1985 when a Houston natural gas company merged with InterNorth, a gas provider in Nebraska to operate an interstate natural gas pipeline that linked the Great Lakes with Texas. Kenneth Lay, a former Exxon executive, became chief executive officer (CEO) of Enron in 1986. Enron began trading gas commodities in 1989 and soon became the largest supplier in the USA. The business activities of Enron spread all around the world and included activities in countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China India, Indonesia, Mozambique, and the Philippines (Chatterjee, 2000). Enron also diversified its product range and expanded on to the Internet trading in a wide range of products from pulp and paper to petrochemicals and plastics. It also traded in esoteric products such as airport landing rights, railroad hauling capacity, and clean air credits. In less than two decades, Enron grew from a small gas pipe line company into the world’s leading energy trading company with $100 billion in revenue, $60 billion market value and 21,000 employees in 40 countries. In 2000 the Fortune magazine named Enron as the most innovative company in the USA for the fifth year in succession. In the same year Energy Financial Group ranked Enron as the sixth largest energy company worldwide. Enron’s mergers brought the company much success, but Enron wanted more. Enron wanted growth which eventually led to its demise. This phenomenal growth was made possible by the use of new market strategies that tilted towards knowledge and innovation in place of traditional ownership of physical assets. The central strategy at Enron was to totally use the financial derivatives in the market to acquire commodities that anybody wanted to sell and dispose it at a profit to anyone who required it. This started with oil and natural gas and then just expanded into electric power generation and pipeline capacity, broadband communication, and freight capacity of modular containers. All these were the factors that were responsible for Enron’s growth and corporate greed led to its downfall (Ekbia, 2004).
Failure of Furniture.com
Authors: Wang Jijie , Ding Yi , Straub Detmar
Published: May 2011

The growing U.S. furniture and home furnishing market is highly segmented (Bransten, 2000). Although many large manufactures and retailers have 100 years or longer history in this industry, none of them dominate the market. In the e-commerce boom starting from mid 1990s, many companies began to use the Internet as a new channel selling furniture to customers. Among those new online furniture businesses, some were traditional furniture retailers setting up a Web site as an additional channel reaching customers, and others were pure-play e-tailers, owning only online presences but no physical stores. This article traces the history of furniture.com, a once-famous pure-play retailer in the furniture retail industry, and analyzes the reasons of its failure theoretically. We believe that the narrative and the analysis will provide valuable insights for pure-play e-tailer managers from many aspects, including product selection, online and offline services, and management of relationships with suppliers, etc.
Forecasting the Stock Market with ANNs and Autonomous Agents
Authors: Castro Christiano Leite , Braga Antônio Pádua
Published: May 2011

Investment strategies usually aim at achieving maximum profitability what, according to current management theory (Refenes, Burgess, & Bentz, 1997), can be obtained by the construction of well balanced investment portfolios that seek to maximum return and minimum risks. In order to provide users with information to plan a good investment portfolio, we present an e-commerce Web site solution that enables users to estimate in advance investments return and risks. The application, which is based on computational intelligence techniques, aims at forecasting and divulging the share prices of the main companies listed in the stock market. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) (Haykin, 1999) that have been used successfully in many other financial time series applications (Braga, Carvalho, Lurdemir, Almeida, & Lacerda, 2002; Refenes, et al., 1997; Zhang, 2003) were used as the main forecasting engine of the system. Autonomous agents (Paolucci, Sycara, & Kawamura, 2003; Russel & Norvig, 1995) are responsible for collecting, on a daily basis, information regarding sale and purchase of shares. The information collected is then used by the ANN to forecast future stock market trends and closing values. The Web site offers free of charge services, such as access to forecasting charts, simulation of investments and general guidelines for buying and selling shares.
Global Marketing on the Internet
Authors: Ortega Egea José Manuel , Menendez Manuel Recio
Published: May 2011

One of the most differential characteristics between the Internet and other traditional media relates to the relatively easier “global market reach” enabled on this new medium. Internet technologies foster direct, fast, and flexible communication between producers, suppliers, and final customers across countries (Bridges, Goldsmith, & Hofacker, 2005). The Internet global reach is likely to have relevant implications for both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets. Internet-related technologies are also argued to have “equalizing effects” (Cavusgil, 2002; Hamill, 1997; Samiee, 1998a), as skills and information assets tend to be more critical factors than financial resources or firm size in order to achieve success in global e-markets. Nevertheless, companies will necessarily have to face important challenges and risks in this new global business environment. Global marketing practices are especially likely to be changed by the introduction of Internet technologies, owing to the differential characteristics of the Internet medium—speed, ubiquity, interactivity, and two-way communication. This article examines the impact of Internet technologies on global marketing activities: global e-marketing.
Innovation Translation and E-Commerce in SMEs
Authors: Tatnall Arthur , Burgess Stephen
Published: May 2011

Adoption of a new technology cannot be automatically assumed. The implementation of an e-commerce system in a small to medium enterprise (SME) necessitates change in the way the business operates, and so should be considered as an innovation and studied using innovation theory. In this article we argue that the decision to adopt, or not to adopt a new technology, has more to do with the interactions and associations of both human and nonhuman actors involved in the project than with the characteristics of the technology. As e-commerce necessarily involves interactions of people and technology, any study of how it is used by SMEs must be considered in a socio-technical context for its true complexity to be revealed (Tatnall & Burgess, 2005). This complexity is due, to a considerable degree, to the interconnected parts played by human actors and by the multitude of nonhuman entities involved: small business managers, sales people, procurement staff, computers, software, Web browsers, Internet service providers, modems and Web portals are only some of the many heterogeneous components of an e-commerce system. In this article we will argue that the complexity of these systems is best seen and understood by taking this heterogeneity into account and finding a way to give due regard to both human and nonhuman aspects. The implementation of an e-commerce system in an SME necessitates change in the way the business operates and we contend that this is best studied in the light of innovation theory. In this article we examine how innovation translation, informed by actor-network theory, can be usefully applied in analysis of the adoption, or nonadoption, of e-commerce. We illustrate this in two Australian case studies.
Open Source LMS for Management and E-Business Applications
Authors: Boateng Beatrice A. , Boateng Kwasi
Published: May 2011

Advances in computer technology have led to the increase in the use of information technology in business (Barron, 2002). Computer-mediated communication in the form of the Internet offers unprecedented avenues for the exchange of information and the delivery of instructional materials globally and locally (NHDP, 2003; Robey, Boudreau, & Rose, 2000). Through the Internet and related technologies, people are able to acquire skills and knowledge, adapt learning experiences to their own needs, and assimilate information faster (Azad, Erdem, & Saleem, 1999; NHDP). An organization that is making use of such e-technologies for the advancement of e-business is the Advance Information Technology Institute’s Kofi Annan Center of Excellence for Communications and Information Technology (AITI-KACE), established in 2003 in Ghana. The center is a collaborative initiative between Ghana and India, and is aimed at bridging the gap between education and industry. This initiative was in response to Ghana’s recognition of the social and economic benefits of information and communications technologies. The center is considered part of a national initiative to educate Ghanaians and unleash their creative potential in the use of digital communication technologies for business and education. It is a major skills-development and training institution whose graduates can transition into industry immediately as employees or employers. Ghana’s main challenge is that computer education at all levels is inadequate, and businesses are struggling to incorporate computer applications in their operations. Despite the relative advances made in the adoption of e-technologies in businesses and education, the greatest challenge lies in the fact that a greater part of the adult population does not have adequate knowledge and skills in computer software applications or hardware in order to explore their use in everyday activities or at their workplaces. It is therefore expected that by enrolling in the programs at AITI -KACE, a participant1 can either be employable or have skills to venture out into self-employment. AITI -KACE targets adults—at least those who have completed high school.
SME's Perceptions of B2B E-Commerce
Authors: Lawson-Body Assion , Illia Abdou
Published: May 2011

The primary objective of this study is to examine the effects of the Internet’s Web tools (the level of Web content and the level of security on the Internet) on the interorganizational relationships (IOR) between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their loyal customers. This article focuses on B2B electronic commerce because according to a recent report, the value of goods and services sold via B2B electronic markets will reach $2.7 trillion by the year 2004 (Gartner Group, 2000). While these figures give the impression that B2B electronic commerce is expanding fast, the fact remains that many SMEs are still sitting on the sidelines (Caldeira & Ward, 2002; Lam, Shankar, Erramilli, & Murthy, 2004; Teo, Wei, & Benbasat, 2003). Many SMEs that maintain IOR with their customers have difficulties achieving the benefits as suggested by media and early research (Lituchy & Rail, 2000; Poon, 2000; Tagliavini, Ravarini, & Antonelli, 2001). In addition, there is little existing research that has empirically tested the impact of the Internet’s Web tools on IOR which lead to customer loyalty.
Telecentres and Their Impact on Information Technology Investment for Small Business
Authors: Buthelezi Maxwell M. , Sikhakhane Marcus
Published: May 2011

This study is evaluating the effective use of telecentres by small business owners. The world has changed and new ways of accessing information and obtaining knowledge is around. Telecentres can therefore play an effective role in facilitating communication between customers and small business owners. Telecentres will enable customers to access information such as services, prices, statements, information regarding a product, missed payments, history of credit supplied, etc. The study used a questionnaire to collect data. The study comes up with some recommendations that can be used by small business owners to improve their use of ICTs and telecentres.