Relationship marketing and brand involvement of professionals through web-enhanced brand communities: the case of Coloplast

More and more firms are recognizing the advantages of web-enhanced brand communities as a lever for relationship-marketing communication. Brand communities, not only provide companies with an additional communication channel, but also allow the possibility of establishing linkages to devoted users. So far, brand community has only been discussed in relation to B2C marketing. However, the effect of using web-enhanced brand communities in a B2B context may be even greater inasmuch as professional users have a strong and long-standing interest in exchanging product-related information. Based on the Coloplast case study, this contribution outlines a conceptual model for linking web-enhanced brand community activities and relationship building in B2B markets.     

Conceptualizing executive hubris: the role of (hyper‐)core self‐evaluations in strategic decision‐making

Researchers have long been interested in how an executive's self‐concept affects his or her behaviors, but have lacked a theoretically grounded, validated construct for conducting systematic inquires. The concept of ‘core self‐evaluation’ (CSE), which has been recently validated in the psychology literature, concisely encompasses and consolidates the common, overlapping portions of four previously unconnected personality dimensions: self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability. CSE has great potential to provide substantial leverage for research on executive self‐concept. We review and reconcile prior research on related constructs in executive settings (including narcissism, hubris, and overconfidence) and argue that CSE should be adopted as a robust, well‐validated umbrella construct for research on executive self‐concept. Indeed, a very high level of CSE, or hyper‐CSE, aligns closely with what is often colloquially called ‘hubris.’ We anticipate that hyper‐CSE executives—who possess supreme levels of self‐confidence, self‐potency, and conviction that they will prevail—will manifest this trait in their job behaviors. We develop a set of integrated propositions that describe the implications of CSE for strategic decision processes, strategic choices, and organizational performance. Finally, we propose additional avenues for research. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于隔离和免疫的蠕虫传播模型及稳定性分析

网络蠕虫已经对网络基础设施和因特网服务造成了巨大的影响,为有效防御蠕虫病毒的入侵,提出了基于隔离和免疫的蠕虫传播SEIQV模型。利用SEIQV模型,得到了蠕虫是否灭绝的阈值,并从理论上证明了模型在无感染平衡点保持全局稳定性,在地方病平衡点保持局部稳定性,同时分析了其他参数对模型的影响,为蠕虫病毒的控制和预防提供了理论基础。     

Local social environment and the speed of leverage adjustment

This study examines the impact of social capital on firms’ leverage adjustment speed. Using a comprehensive dataset of 83,374 firm-year observations for 744 US counties for 1990–2016, we find that both underleveraged and overleveraged firms located in US counties with higher levels of social capital incur slower leverage adjustment towards their optimal target capital structure. This finding is robust to alternative measures of leverage and social capital, different model specifications, controlling for county- and firm-level characteristics, and endogeneity. We further identify two mechanisms through which social capital affects leverage adjustments: monitoring (channel for underleveraged firms) and disciplinary (channel for overleveraged firms) mechanisms.     

Divergent patterns of engagement in Internet standardization: Japan,Korea and China

This article analyzes the engagement of Japanese, Korean and Chinese participants in the development of Internet standards at IETF on the basis of four quantitative metrics: attendance, patenting, authorship and leadership. The results are strikingly divergent. Japanese involvement in Internet standardization began early and Japan was, for many years, second only to the U.S. in terms of IETF participation. Though Japanese participation has declined since the early 2000s, Japan remains a major contributor to IETF standardization. Korean involvement in IETF has always been significant, but below the levels of Japan and major European countries. Korean participation in IETF has also declined over the past decade, and has been dominated by one firm, Samsung. Though meaningful Chinese involvement in IETF did not begin until the mid-2000s, it has rapidly expanded in recent years. Today, China is a major player in numerous areas of Internet standardization in terms of three metrics (participation, patenting and leadership), and is rapidly gaining in terms of document authorship as well. Most of China׳s recent IETF involvement can be attributed to Huawei, though other Chinese firms have recently begun to increase their participation in the organization. Thus, contrary to some views that China׳s engagement with standardization is primarily one of indigenous innovation and “catching up”, China׳s experience with IETF demonstrates deliberate and effective engagement with a major Western standards-development organization on its own terms.     

Online job search in the Spanish labor market

Using data from the Spanish survey on equipment and use of ICTs in households for the period 2007–2011, we study the decision of Spanish jobseekers to search for a job online, and explore potential differences between unemployed and employed workers. Since only those jobseekers that have accessed the Internet can perform an online job search, we use bivariate probit selection models to correct for potential selection bias. Our results show that Internet Spanish jobseekers tend to be younger, better educated, more Internet-savvy, and live in urban areas compared to those that only use traditional search channels. However, we find that employment-to-employment and unemployment-to-employment transitions differ by gender, nationality, household income, and time aggregate factors. We find evidence of a digital divide in adoption and usage by age and educational attainment. These findings suggest that policy makers and human resources managers should take into account these disparities in Internet usage to guide their public programs and recruiting strategies.     

Information communications technology and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A panel data approach

This research empirically analyzed the impact of mobile phone and the Internet on per capita income of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period of 2006–2015 using a panel data of 40 countries. We have employed the robust two-step system GMM. Results showed that growth in mobile phone penetration has contributed significantly to the GDP per capita of the region after controlling for a number of other variables. A 10% increase in mobile phone penetration results in a 1.2% change in GDP per capita. Therefore, improving access to mobile phones will play a critical role in reducing the poverty level of the region through raising the per capita income of the population.However, the Internet has not contributed to the per capita GDP during the study period. The insignificant impact of the Internet could be due to low penetration of the technology, low ICT skill of Internet users, lack of or insufficient local content on the global network, and the relatively immature state of the technology in the region. Therefore, governments and other stakeholders should design policies that encourage expansion of the Internet. In addition to improving Internet access, policies which focus on ICT skill development and local content creation should also be designed and implemented.     

Internet of Things,big data and the economics of networked vehicles

The evolution of special purpose standards for networked vehicles towards IP based communication networks and the high-volume data processing requirements call for the introduction of a new concept – the big data virtual network. The virtual network operator, which may be integrated with the operators of networked vehicle applications, combines sensor and camera devices with big data, either using large data centers (cloud computing) or local processing (fog computing), and complementary QoS (Quality of Service) differentiated bandwidth capacities from the all-IP network. The growing importance of camera-based sensors as well as geo-awareness requirements create a need for more pronounced QoS differentiated bandwidth as well as big data processing efforts. In particular, combining QoS differentiated all-IP bandwidth capacities with local data processing within the edge cloud constitutes a new task for big data virtual network service providers, enabling deterministic guarantees for ultra-low latencies required for networked fully automated (driverless) vehicles.     

Obtaining indirect internet access: An examination how reasons for internet non-use relate to proxy internet use

Internet non-use is increasingly concentrated in vulnerable groups of people, especially among ageing populations and those with low socio-economic status. As participation in society becomes largely dependent on use of internet-enabled technologies, internet non-users may seek alternative ways of using the internet. Proxy internet use (PIU), where internet non-users ask internet users to perform online activities on their behalf, is a strategy for obtaining (indirect) internet access. This study examines factors for engagement in PIU, focusing specifically on how non-users’ reasons for disengagement relate to their engagement in PIU. The results from multivariate analyses of survey data from a nation-wide representative sample show that 47% of internet non-users in Slovenia who report having someone available for PIU in fact engage in PIU. In analysing four types of reasons for internet non-use—those related to interest, access, costs and skills—the results show that access issues are negatively related to engagement in PIU. Conversely, reasons related to skills issues are positively related to engagement in PIU. Considering that access to online services through PIU offers an important degree of digital inclusion, the results of this study have important policy implications. Policy initiatives tackling digital inequalities should be sensible to access and skills issues resulting in disengagement. For example, policies directed at providing and maintaining internet access at a household level may result in non-users’ increased opportunities for PIU. In contrast, skills policies should be directed at creating opportunities for informal and person-centred learning of digital skills, considering that non-users who are more aware of their deficiency in skills might be more aware of online opportunities.