The influence of college students' shopping orientations and gender differences on online information searches and purchase behaviours

Using the data collected from a survey of 1277 US college students, this study investigated college students' shopping orientations, and examined the relationships between their shopping orientations and searches for information about and purchases of apparel products online and the differences between male and female students in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. Seven shopping orientation constructs were identified: shopping enjoyment, brand/fashion consciousness, price consciousness, shopping confidence, convenience/time consciousness, in‐home shopping tendency and brand/store loyalty. Results showed that participants' shopping orientations were significantly related to their searches for information about and purchases of apparel items online. In addition, male and female participants showed significant differences in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. This study provided suggestions for apparel e‐tailors to develop effective marketing strategies to reach their target market, for consumer educators and for educators in the retail merchandizing area to prepare their students for future careers.     

Internet user behaviour in France and Britain: exploring socio‐spatial disparity among adolescents

The Internet has radically transformed society – although its diffusion has been uneven. Various studies of digital inequality have been undertaken in Anglo‐Saxon communities. Few studies have investigated digital inequality from a socio‐spatial perspective (urban vs. suburban, rather than urban vs. rural) in a French setting. This absence underscores a gap in knowledge and methodology. It highlights the complexities of gathering comparable data on Internet user behaviour beyond national borders. This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigate emerging trends in Internet use across different territories (inner‐city and suburban, as opposed to urban vs. rural) by means of in‐depth interviews with Internet users aged 13–15 years old in France and Britain. The aim is to provide a broad understanding of the way in which teenage Internet users behave online in different territories. The investigation reveals a number of converging trends that are common to both France and Britain and some unexpected disparity.     

Consumer motivations and concerns in online auctions: an exploratory study

This investigates the reasons behind the dramatic growth of Internet auction companies such as eBay, exploring into why so many consumers have been motivated to turn to online auctions to purchase and sell goods. It is found that the ability to purchase items at lower prices than from retail stores is the primary motivation, along with having access to previously unobtainable items. Concerns mainly relate to potential fraudulent transactions, although the negative feedback system is found to be vital in the reduction of fears over fraud. Interaction with other auction users is found to be important for practical reasons such as information seeking, rather than for enjoyment. The main conclusion is that the benefits of using Internet auctions far outweigh the risks involved.     

Adolescent shopping behaviour: Different assimilation and individuation needs in France and the United States

What causes adolescents to prefer to shop with friends rather than family? A study of 570 adolescents assesses the combined effects of the individuation and assimilation needs that underlie adolescent shopping behaviours across two cultures (France and the United States). Whereas assimilation is more important than individuation to explain the frequency of shopping with friends in France, individuation is more important in the United States. Insights into the motives that drive adolescents to shop with friends suggest some cues that retailers might use to attract this growing segment, more effectively and across cultures.     

Anatomy of shopping experience for malls in Mumbai: A confirmatory factor analysis approach

The city of Mumbai has not yet exhausted its potential in terms of availability of mall space. Yet shoppers of Mumbai seem to prefer high-street locations even if the product or format is operating from inside a shopping mall also. It means that shoppers look beyond the basic chore of shopping and experience plays a vital role. This study was undertaken to understand the composition of shopping experience so that mall developers and managers succeed in generating exciting among shoppers by orchestration of shopping experience using components as identified at the end of this research. It is based on empirical investigation of 400 respondents selected from four shopping malls in Mumbai. The study identifies ambience, convenience, marketing focus, safety & security and physical infrastructure as factors vital in defining shopping experience. Results were confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis.     

The Role of the Internet in the Delivery of Export Promotion Services: A Web Site Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of the Internet in the delivery of export promotion services. Based on a content analysis of the Web sites of 250 export promotion organizations (EPOs) representing over 130 countries, it is concluded that the majority of these organizations have not fully exploited the potentials of this technology in the delivery of support services to national exporters. Use of the Internet is primarily limited to dissemination of basic information with little effort made to utilize the interactive and customization features of the technology. The managerial and policy implications of this failure in terms of increased cost of market entry, lost export revenues, and exporter attrition are discussed.     

Forecasting Internet Penetration in China: The Effect on E-Commerce

ABSTRACT

It can be seen that the Internet penetration rate in China has undergone a dramatic increase in the past three years. Beginning in June 2002 China became the third largest user of the Internet in the world following the U.S. and Japan. The Internet penetration rate in China has increased 61.0 percent from June 2001. This study provides a language comparison of Chinese versus non-English speaking Internet users by comparing Chinese Internet usage to: Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Scandinavian, Italian, Dutch, Korean and Portuguese. The four forecasting models to predict future Internet penetration in this study are: the Linear Trend Model, the Quadratic Trend Model, the Exponential Trend Model, and the S-Curve Trend Model. The study provides various forecasts of Internet penetration in China including dial-up and leased line Internet users. The forecasted results indicate that the Chinese speaking Internet user population will be the largest population by the end of year 2005 among all of the selected ten non-English speaking language Internet users' populations. The forecast of nearly 16 million leased line users reveals the necessity involved with choosing the correct leased line connection in China. These forecasts should be useful with respect to conducting electronic commerce with the China Internet market. The design of multi-language Web sites in order to conduct international Internet commerce is also analyzed.     

How cannibalistic is the Internet channel? A study of the newspaper industry in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands

During the past decade, irrational exuberance has turned into a possibly equally irrational pessimism about what the Internet can accomplish. The fear of getting ruined through cannibalization losses has recently deterred many firms from deploying the Internet as a distribution channel. But do Internet channels really cannibalize firms' entrenched channels, or is this widely held assumption exaggerated? To answer this question, we apply recent structural-break time-series econometrics to quantify the impact of an Internet channel addition on the long-run performance evolution of a firm's established channels. Using a database of 85 Internet channel additions over the last 10 years in the newspaper industries of the UK and The Netherlands, we find that the often-cited cannibalization fears have, at least in this information-goods industry, been largely overstated. The Internet therefore need not be disruptive to established companies and channels. This does not, however, imply that firms enjoy free play in setting up Internet channels. In cases where the newly established Internet channel too closely mimics the entrenched channels, substantial cannibalization is more likely to take place.     

Ethnic-immigrants in founding teams: Effects on prospector strategy and performance in new Internet ventures

We investigated differences in strategy and performance between new Internet ventures with ethnic-immigrant members in the founding team and a matched set of Internet ventures with non-ethnic-non-immigrant team members. Results showed that new ventures with an ethnic-immigrant presence in the founding teams tended to pursue a more aggressive prospector strategy than those with non-ethnic-non-immigrant founding team members. Still, performance of the two groups of ventures was comparable. However, the positive effects of ethnic-immigrant presence on founding teams depended on team size and average age of the founding team members.     

互联网金融服务于中小微企业探析

2014年阿里巴巴在纽约证券交易所的正式上市,我国互联网金融企业迎来了一个春天。互联网涉猎于金融行业相关的服务及产品之中。互联网金融的发展在一定程度上促进了相关金融行业的整体发展,实现了相关服务信息的透明化和公开化。一方面,中小微企业相关金融服务存在融资的手续繁琐,成本相对较高,信贷配给量过低,融资渠道单一;另一方面,互联网金融实现了小额信贷的规模化和金融服务的订单化,保证了低成本服务的覆盖面积,实现了融资模式的创新。     

Using Internet Resources in Teaching Financial Reporting and Analysis of Multinational Enterprises

Abstract

There has been an increase in the number and type of sources of corporate financial information on the Internet in recent years. The number of corporations that have web pages which post corporate financial information is increasing; in addition, many government and regulatory agencies are also posting corporate financial information. Furthermore, there are some third-party sites that post corporate financial information. In recent years some software has been developed or is in the process of being developed to gather, analyze, and monitor information available on the Internet to accomplish specific tasks on behalf of users. The purpose of this article is to provide some sources of corporate financial information on the Internet and illustrate how to use these resources in teaching international business and, more specifically, financial reporting and analysis of multinational enterprises and to point out some of the advantages and limitations of these resources.     

The roles of trust and experience in consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce: a cross‐cultural comparison between France and Germany

Based on the Eurobarometer survey data, this study examined the roles of experience and cultural propensity to trust in consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce. Compared with consumers in a low‐trust culture (France), consumers from a high‐trust society (West Germany) exhibit more confidence in conducting e‐commerce. This cultural difference is only evident among consumers with no prior e‐commerce experience but disappears among consumers with prior e‐commerce experience. There is no interaction effect of culture and experience. While consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce declines with age within each culture, consumers of the same age groups tend to have higher confidence in conducting e‐commerce in West Germany than in France. Academic and practical implications were provided.     

The Internet of Things (IoT) in retail: Bridging supply and demand

A sales channel serves two primary functions: delivering information and products to customers. Omnichannel retailing allows for the decoupling of these two functions as consumers can learn about products through channels that differ from those used to purchase them. This separation requires a sophisticated inventory and supply chain operation, as well as integration of all customer touchpoints, in order to match fast-moving supply and demand. The Internet of Things (IoT) can play a fundamental role in channel integration because it allows companies to rebalance supply and demand. We classify IoT initiatives on an opportunity map, presenting a strategic framework that distinguishes initiatives by the value they create and by their major area of impact. We justify the adoption of IoT in terms of its enabling capabilities—those immediately realized by deploying IoT sensor data—but its true potential resides in its enhancing capabilities—unanticipated benefits following IoT adoption—at the intersection of supply and demand.     

杭州文化创意产业竞争力因子分析

通过对我国十大城市2011年文化创意产业的基础、收获、结构、环境因子等分析发现,杭州文化创意产业宏观发展环境在全国居中等偏下水平,政府专项资金投入额度有待增加,文化事业单位要进一步改造和发展,要采取措施引导居民进一步扩大在教育文化娱乐服务等方面的消费。杭州市政府要增加文化体育娱乐方面的投资,加大对知识产权的保护力度,以增强文化创意产业的整体实力和竞争力。     

贫困地区民营经济发展的制约因素及对策分析

民营经济发展水平低是贫困地区经济发展不发达的重要原因。制约贫困地区民营经济发展的因素有脱贫致富的思想、人力资源状况、金融生态环境和技术创新水平等。促进贫困地区民营经济发展与脱贫致富必须根据民营经济产业发展需求,大力发展职业教育;优化环境,承接产业转移;创新贫困地区新型城镇化发展机制,推动地区民营经济发展;大力发展交通基础设施,破解民营经济发展瓶颈;创新民营企业管理,做大做强民营经济。     

INTERNET网上零售中顾客忠诚的构筑——关注价值感知、满意体验和信任的关系及相对影响力

基于先行研究文献,本文开发了一个构筑Internet网上顾客忠诚的概念化模型,界定了价值感知、满意体验和信任作为影响顾客忠诚的主要前提心理变量,并对该模型及各变量间的动态因果关系进行了实验性验证。结果显示,本文提出的概念化模型和绝大部分研究假设获得了实证研究的支持。这些研究结果在理论上有助于深化对网上顾客忠诚构筑的认识,在营销实践中对网络零售商开发和实施网上顾客忠诚战略具有启示意义。     

高科技企业知识型员工管理的影响因素研究

本文认为,发展机会、激励措施、工作动机、能力发挥、工作环境、努力程度、工作特征、工作资源、组织承诺等9个方面是影响高科技企业知识型员工管理的主要因子,在所有主要影响因素中,知识型员工更注重个人发展因素、精神和物质激励因素以及工作动机等长远因素的考虑,即他们更加注重自我价值的实现。文章提出,要从根本上解决我国高科技企业知识型员工管理效率低下的问题,就必须采取相应的管理策略:第一,努力打造知识型员工的个人发展平台;第二,积极强化对知识型员工的培训与教育;第三,加强知识型员工激励体系建设;第四,充分发挥知识型员工的独立自主性;第五,鼓励知识型员工参与企业管理,为他们营造一个良好的软环境。     

Arrow: A flexible architecture for an accounting and charging infrastructure in the Next Generation Internet

Current pricing and charging methods for the Internet are not based on actual usage of this service, which leads to unfairness and more important, it does not deliver the right signals through financial incentives to network providers to upgrade critical links of their networks. The development of new multimedia applications and the convergence to an integrated services network will foster the tremendous growth of the Internet even more. With the Next Generation Internet not only technical services like bandwidth reservation will be introduced, but also new applications will emerge within the Internet. Charging the Internet in a fashion that provides feedback to users and providers has been proposed since the early '90s, however, only a few implementations and real-world examples are known today. This is due to subsidizing the Internet in its early stages and due to a technical development that did not care much about charging. With the recent redesign of the Internet protocol suite and discussions on multiple service classes in the Internet, architectures for charging and accounting have to be revisited, too. Economic models for the Internet cannot be tested fully and validated in non-real-world environments, because of the unknown user behavior. With this uncertainty over what models and pricing schemes to choose, it is evident that a specific charging and accounting platform will never be accepted by the community. In this paper a novel and flexible architecture for charging and accounting is proposed that provides a wide range of mechanisms and lets researchers experiment in an environment as close as possible to the targeted system. As a first step, four different pricing schemes are described, qualitatively assessed on the proposed platform, and a prototypical implementation performed. One of the economic models that have been implemented on Arrow is based on different service classes including reservation and recalculates prices dynamically depending on the traffic situation. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Factors affecting attitudes and behavioural intention towards social networking advertising: a case of Facebook users in South Korea

This study examined factors (e.g., ad values and social networking advertising characteristics) influencing consumers' attitudes and behavioural intention towards three types of social networking advertising (SNA) on Facebook – home page ad, social impression ad, and organic impression ad. Findings demonstrate that peer influence had the most significant impacts on attitude and behavioural intention across all types of SNA. The significant interaction term of invasiveness and privacy concern indicates that both attitude and behavioural intention were diminished, particularly when perceived invasiveness and privacy concern were high simultaneously. In addition, results suggest that attitudes towards the ad played a mediating role between SNA characteristics and behavioural intention. Lastly, among the types of SNA, consumers preferred organic impression ads that featured friends' names on their newsfeed more than paid ads located on the sidebar of their Facebook pages.     

中国的集体工业:规模、效率及其影响因素

本文从规模、效率和影响因素三个层面考察了集体工业的运营状况。研究结果表明,集体工业地位发生了从"主导"到"边缘"的质变;TFP呈进步趋势,但贡献来源全部为技术进步,而技术效率和规模效率均起到了拖累作用;集体股份占比、资本深化因素、国有和外资相对份额因素对集体工业TFP表现为负面的影响,只有平均规模对TFP的增长呈一定的正向影响。我国集体工业企业总体呈持续衰落的特征。