The relationship between technology adoption and strategy in business-to-business markets : The case of e-commerce

Firms have been traditionally advised to adopt information and communication technologies (ICT) to support the achievement of existing business objectives. However, entry into business-to-business e-commerce may require the concurrent adoption of new business strategies. This paper argues, therefore, that ICT analysis needs to be considered at the same time and at the same strategic level, as internal, competitor and market analysis. This is because the source of the competitive advantage brought by ICT has changed, to be largely obtained through increase in customers' perceived value. The literature presents a confused picture of the likely consequences to a firm of its adoption of e-commerce. This paper concludes that any such adoption must be evaluated in the environment of the individual firm. A multidimensional analytical framework, taking a combined informational and marketing perspective, is presented to assist with such evaluations.     

Groupware adoption in a distributed organization: transporting and transforming technology through social worlds

In this paper, we draw on theory from social worlds to analyze how different organizational contexts affect groupware adoption. We report on a study of the adoption of data conferencing in a large distributed organization. Our data show that the diffusion process, which was driven by the users, was a result of communication and transformation of the technology across different social worlds. We also discovered that membership in multiple social worlds in an organization creates a tension for the potential adopter who is in a distributed team. To function effectively, team members must uniformly adopt the technology, yet some may face resistance from other social worlds to which they belong. Our study showed that adoption was affected by organizational sites having conflicting views of the value of collaboration, different amounts and needs for resources, and different acceptance of technology standards. Potential technology adopters on distributed teams are faced with conflicting loyalties, constraints, and requirements between their distributed collaborations and organizational homes.     

Technology Adoption under Production Uncertainty: Theory and Application to Irrigation Technology

We propose a theoretical framework to analyze the conditions under which a farmer facing production uncertainty (due to a possible water shortage) and incomplete information will adopt a more efficient irrigation technology. A reduced form of this model is empirically estimated using a sample of 265 farms located in Crete, Greece. The empirical results suggest that farmers choose to adopt the new technology in order to hedge against production risk. In addition, we show that the farmer's human capital also plays a significant role in the decision to adopt modern, more efficient irrigation equipment.     

河南省认养农业发展策略研究

认养农业属于现代农业,而河南省以传统农业为主,认养农业尚处于初步发展阶段,探索阶段不免会产生一些问题。本文针对认养农业发展过程中存在的特色发展不深入、相关配套系统不完备、农业主体专业性有待提高等问题进行了分析,提出了从提升认养农业发展空间、完善相关系统、培养新型农民等方面促进认养农业发展,促进传统农业向现代农业发展模式转变,从而更好地振兴乡村。     

电商采纳与农民合作社内部信任

电商采纳使合作社被嵌入进新资源与技术环境之中。在电商情境下,合作社电商采纳通过提升社员与合作社交易忠诚度、增多社员与合作社交易环节来增强合作社内部人际信任;通过增强社员对信息技术的信任、促进合作社推广新型农业技术来增强合作社内部技术信任;通过促进合作社完善制度建设、建立公平机制来增强合作社制度信任。人际信任、技术信任和制度信任构成了合作社稳定的信任“三角架构”,建构了合作社内部信任的混合治理机制,其中,技术信任起到调节作用,其在有效促进人际信任向制度信任转化的同时,既能避免人际信任浓度被过分稀释,又能保障在合作社信任结构中制度信任的演进方向。     

农户科学储粮技术认知与采用意愿研究——基于山东省的实证分析

山东是经济发达的产粮大省,农户科学储粮技术在山东的试点对全国其它地区具有示范作用与借鉴意义。文章基于山东361户农户调查数据资料,首先考察"农户科学储粮专项"试点背景下农户2010~2012连续3年的小麦与玉米年末存量、储存方式、储藏损失、储粮目的及储存效果,然后对农户科学储粮技术的认知、采用及其效果进行描述性统计分析,并运用Logistic模型深入探究影响农户科学储粮技术采用意愿的个人及家庭特征因素。结果表明:农户近3年来粮食储量稳定,主要储粮方式是袋装与缸装,损耗来源于鼠害、虫害及霉菌;科学储粮技术效果明显,但普及率低;大多数农户具有技术采用意愿;家庭人口学特征与粮食生产、消费和储备情况及农户对技术的了解情况在不同程度上影响其技术采用意愿。主要政策建议与启示为:扩大试点范围,开发不同技术满足各类农户需求,并探索适当的补贴机制、构建技术服务体系,融"科学储粮工程"于新农村建设及农业服务体系之中。     

An analysis of the effect of mandatory adoption of IAS/IFRS on earnings management

This paper examines whether mandatory adoption of international accounting standards, IAS/IFRS, by French companies is associated with lower earnings management. In addition, the impact of six factors that may be related to earnings management level are also considered: the independence and the efficiency of the board of directors, the separation of roles of CEO and Chairman of the board, the existence of an independent audit committee, the existence of block shareholders, the quality of the external audit and the listing on foreign financial markets.Based on a sample of 353 French listed groups relating to the period 2003–2006, our results show that the mandatory adoption of IAS/IFRS is associated with a reduction in the earnings management level. In addition, the independence and the efficiency of the board of directors, the existence of an independent audit committee, the existence of block shareholders, the quality of the external audit and the listing on foreign financial markets are important factors for enforcement of IAS/IFRS in France. Mandatory adoption of IAS/IFRS has decreased earnings management level for companies with good corporate governance and those that depend on foreign financial markets.     

国际财务报表准则(IFRS)导入方法的多样性——对欧盟,澳大利亚,美国,日本以及中国的考察

IFRS的导入方法存在多样性。但大致可以分为"趋同"和"采用"这两种方法。在110多个已经或即将导入IFRS的国家及地区当中以"采用方法"为主。但同为"采用"也存在完全或部分采用等区别。另一方面,使用"趋同方法"的代表性国家只有美国,日本及中国等国家。但在2009年后,美国及日本前后暗示了导入IFRS方法转变的可能性。因此,对于仍贯彻使用"趋同方法"的中国需要更广泛的关注。     

Mapping the benefits and costs associated with process innovation: The case of RFID adoption

The successful implementation of any innovation requires an understanding of its benefits and costs. This study examines the changes in the magnitude of costs and benefits associated with technology process innovation adoption as the innovation diffuses across different industries. Using RFID as an exemplar technology, the study shows that the magnitude of benefits and costs associated with technological process innovation adoption within different industries varies as technology diffuses beyond early adopters to the early majority. During the early stages of technology evolution, the development cost, the cost of capital, ethical costs and simple direct implementation costs (in the form of the cost of tags) predominate. As a dominant design emerges the profile of costs changes with the emphasis on initiation costs, more holistic direct implementation costs and indirect implementation costs. A similar change in the emphasis of benefits is observed, with a shift from direct to indirect benefits being noticeable as the technology moves from early adopters to early majority adopters. Our findings help to explain the difficulties in consistently measuring innovation outcomes observed in the innovation implementation literature, and emphasize the need to take into consideration the stage of technology development as a significant factor that influences the realised outcomes from innovation implementation.