Archipelago's move towards exchange status: An analysis of Archipelago trading in NYSE and NASDAQ stocks

Archipelago began reporting trades and quotes to the Pacific Stock Exchange in 2002 for NYSE-listed securities and in 2003 for NASDAQ-listed securities. These events mark the time that Archipelago began migrating stocks from its ECN platform to the exchange platform, thereby becoming a stand-alone exchange. We examine the impact of becoming a stand-alone exchange on execution quality and market share of Archipelago to gain insight into its ability to compete for order flow in NYSE and NASDAQ stocks. We find that the change has a positive effect on Archipelago's execution quality for NYSE stocks, while it has a negative effect for NASDAQ stocks. A possible explanation is that Archipelago lost the large pool of liquidity that SuperMontage provided when it became a stand-alone exchange, and that loss may offset any gain associated with having exchange status. Overall, exchange status helped Archipelago slowly make headway in the NYSE-listed securities arena.     

艺术通感与现代包装设计

从人的心理通感角度出发,分析了现代包装设计中艺术通感的三个审美层次,论证了包装设计中运用通感的视觉传达表现形式实现消费者和设计师之间情感的对接,从而可以更全面地向消费者传递包装设计中蕴含的信息。     

绿色包装在解决环境问题中的应用

面对空前的生态危机,绿色包装因其独特的内涵、物质征和作用,在席卷全球的“绿色浪潮”中占有举足轻重的地位。绿色包装在开发产品时着重强调生态要求和经济要求的平衡,考虑产品开发过程中所有阶段的环境方面影响,致力于那些在整个生命周期内产生最低环境影响的产品。它在强调包装材料的选用上要求经济便利的同时,更注重安全、健康、高效、低环境副作用、可重复利用、循环再生利用等特征。本文从我们的环境问题角度着眼,初步探讨了绿色包装在解决生态环境问题,走出环境资源困境方面起到的推动作用     

无铅组装技术浅析

从无铅组装的角度出发,详细分析了无铅组装技术涉及的无铅焊料和导电胶组装技术,阐述了传统的锡铅焊接与无铅焊接的工艺差异,提出了该技术要推广应用所面临的技术难点。     

Incentivized methods to generate electronic word-of-mouth: Implications for the resort industry

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) via social media and the internet is a popular channel through which consumers are communicating with other consumers. To increase eWOM effectiveness, some resorts have developed alternative methods to incentivize consumers to generate eWOM. These methods include: hiring reviewers, providing social currency to acquire products at a later date, or providing free product (stays at their resort). Under the theoretical framework of the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright, 1994), the impact of these methods on consumers’ perception of the resort’s image, moral judgments regarding the methods, and attitudes toward the resort was studied through an experiment. We found that the different methods to incentivize eWOM yielded significantly different moral judgments, which then predicted consumers’ attitudes toward the resort and the resort’s image. Additionally, different levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumers’ perception of industry practice norms also had effects on consumers’ moral judgments.     

eHealth in Egypt: The demand-side perspective of implementing electronic health records

The present study sheds light on the expected factors that would impact the adoption of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) service in Egypt from the demand-side perspective, i.e. the healthcare consumer's standpoint. This empirical study is motivated by the use of EHR in many countries as a method of promoting healthcare services. Another incentive for the present study is to look at EHR as a top layer in the Next Generation of Information Infrastructure (NII). EHR is considered an efficiency-enhancing and cost-effective technology. Moreover, the issue of developing the healthcare sector in Egypt has the attention of government policymakers, who have a comprehensive healthcare and social insurance law that will be discussed in the Egyptian Parliament, in the near future. The study highlights the socio-technical approach used in analyzing the EHR as an eHealth application in Egypt. The underlying theoretical framework of this study implicates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology in the Consumer Context (UTAUT2) model. It also applies an integrated framework of multifaceted perceptions used to explain the expected adoption or behavior of the Egyptian consumer vis-à-vis EHR. The study relies on primary data collected after surveying 559 respondents. Results reveal that determinants of EHR include demographics such as place and gender, but more importantly constructs such as price value, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions are key factors that play a part in the decision made by the Egyptian consumer to adopt EHR technology. Finally, additional insight and recommendations are offered to the policymakers.     

Packaging logistics in supply chain practice – current state,trade-offs and improvement potential

Packaging affects the logistical and environmental efficiency of supply chains. The purpose is to increase knowledge of the current state, trade-offs and improvement potential of packaging logistics in supply chain practice. The research is based on 22 cases, each of which consists of supply chain mapping and structured interviews with three supply chain actors (manufacturer, distributor and retailer). The paper identifies and explains improvement areas, trade-offs and gaps in packaging systems from a supply chain perspective for the whole packaging system, each packaging level and each actor. The results highlight a supply chain potential of better incorporating the packaging system requirements from actors not responsible for developing or selecting packaging. The paper discusses models for cost and benefit sharing and for identification and decision-making about trade-offs in packaging systems. Companies should collaborate, apply an integrated approach and find new approaches to integrate customers and suppliers into the packaging development process.     

The internet as an opportunity to rethink the role of the intermediary

The advent of the Internet and the attending increase in the value chain inter‐linking has been understood as a harbinger of the death of the intermediary. This paper uses Williamson's (1975) forms of specificity (human‐, site and physical asset‐specificity) and the components of the traditional value proposition (content, context and infrastructure) to suggest that the function of the intermediary will be changed, but not eliminated. In this discussion, I draw on the cases of Volvo and Electrolux. Both companies have recently launched web sites in order to regain control of the interface with customers, or context, which thanks to the Internet, can now be virtualised. This allows their intermediaries to focus on their specific advantage, namely handling the activities related to the delivery and logistic infrastructure. The main implication for firms is to re‐examine the various steps along their value chains with a view to bringing in‐house, virtually, those components where the intermediaries had specific advantages‐but which moved to the producer's side as a result of the Internet. Hence intermediaries acquire a more specific and focused role. To the extent that this role lies at the heart of their core competence, involving the provision of convenient locational and infrastructural delivery systems and services they enjoy competitive advantage vis‐a‐vis the producer.     

A study of the internal control structure for electronic data interchange systems using the analytic hierarchy process

Electronic data interchange (EDI) systems involve the direct exchange of structured business data between trading partner computer systems. A reliable internal control structure is the primary means of providing assurance of information integrity in EDI systems. This paper reports the results of a study that examined information system (IS) managers' and computerised information system (CIS) auditors' judgements of the relative importance of elements of the internal control structure for EDI systems, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). It then assessed the degree of consensus in their judgements. Generally consensus was found to be high. However, the areas where there was lack of consensus may indicate potential areas of control weakness in EDI systems.     

The market microstructure approach to foreign exchange: Looking back and looking forward

Research on foreign exchange market microstructure stresses the importance of order flow, heterogeneity among agents, and private information as crucial determinants of short-run exchange rate dynamics. Microstructure researchers have produced empirically-driven models that fit the data surprisingly well. But FX markets are evolving rapidly in response to new electronic trading technologies. Transparency has risen, trading costs have tumbled, and transaction speed has accelerated as new players have entered the market and existing players have modified their behavior. These changes will have profound effects on exchange rate dynamics. Looking forward, we highlight fundamental yet unanswered questions on the nature of private information, the impact on market liquidity, and the changing process of price discovery. We also outline potential microstructure explanations for long-standing exchange rate puzzles.