Abstract
1. An Empirical Model of Price and Quality
Effects of e-Commerce
Scott E. Sampson and Kendall Hulet, Brigham Young University
During the e-Commerce boom of the late 1990s it was predicted that the Internet would have a significant impact on prices of various goods and services. Whether the net impact would be positive or negative was harder to forecast, there being opposing effects. We develop a model that describes some of those effects, including information asymmetry, search costs, price dispersion, trust premiums, and convenience premiums. The model is discussed, and a major portion is statistically tested with empirical data. As an exploratory gesture, the model is extended to consider product quality effects of online shopping. The final section concludes with direction for future research.
17. Knowledge Management: The Role Of Epss
Denise Johnson McManus, Wake Forest University
Knowledge Management
(KM) has become a key business strategy. KM involves the systematic mapping,
harvesting, storing, sharing, maintaining, and refreshing knowledge from many
sources. An Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) can perform an
essential role of encapsulating and delivering knowledge at the time
needed. Expanding globalization and
reliance on distributed knowledge means that the EPSS delivered via networks
should have a high priority. We present an argument to show the linkage between
components of a KM system and EPSS. The
approach involves the creation of software that is designed to assist
decision-makers and performers while they accomplish organizational
processes.
29. Using Neural Net Technology to
Analyze Corporate Restructuring Announcements
Owen P.
Hall, Jr., Pepperdine University
Charles J.
McPeak, Pepperdine University
It is a rare day when the Wall Street Journal does not
include an announcement that a company is taking a restructuring charge.
Nowadays it is often assumed that this charge is being taken for the purpose of
managing earnings. The problems associated with earnings management are not
limited to Wall Street but can be found throughout the world’s financial
markets. Ongoing developments in artificial intelligence technology hold
considerable promise for helping monitor and detect financial fraud and abuse.
The objective of this paper is twofold: first, to illustrate how neural nets, a
branch of artificial intelligence, can be used to analyze the impact of
corporate restructuring announcements on stock performance and second, to
propose the need for a balanced approach using both tighter accounting
standards and ex-post analysis for better control of excessive earnings
management practices.
41. What Have Happened to Export Intermediaries?
Lee Li, York
University
The Internet has changed significantly business operation
across national borders. However, existing literature about its impacts on
export channels remains limited. This inductive study explored the Internet’s
impacts on the relations between 13 Chinese manufacturers and their export
intermediaries in Canada. Findings from this study suggest that export
intermediaries that provide financing and credit, intensive after-sales
services, and important distribution infrastructure survive the Internet while
those that offer traditional market-sensing and customer-linking services can
hardly survive the Internet.
53. Supplier
Selection Problem: Methodology Literature Review
Supplier selection and
evaluation has attracted serious research attention at both the academic and
the practitioner levels. In this paper, an attempt is made to review the status
of methodology literature in supplier selection. A total of 154 papers from 68
refereed journals were selected and reviewed. This paper provides insights to
the literature by considering the breakdown of journals that have published
research in this area, by classifying the literature into various categories
and considering the various methods/techniques suggested in the literature.
Based on the review, avenues for further research are also discussed.
Trade journals and
magazines define three categories of computer certification: “professional,” industry,” and “vendor.” The
purpose of this study was to compare Information Systems (IS) professionals’
value of professional and vendor certification types in relation to technical
and management positions in IS. It appears that IS professionals value both
certification types equally when not considering job position. Findings suggest
technical and managerial IS professionals value the two types of certifications
differently when job position is considered. Future research is warranted to
determine why the respondents considered these two certifications differently for
both technical (programmers and analysts) and managerial positions.
85.
An Artificial Neural Network Approach to Learning from Factory Performance
in a Kanban-Based System
Many Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing environments
generate operational data reflecting both efficient and inefficient factory
performance. Frequently data for
inefficient performance is lost or discarded for fear of replicating poor
performance. The purpose of this paper is two fold. First, historical JIT shop
data is analyzed using a genetic algorithm (GA) to determine which shop factors
are important determinants of factory performance. Second, subsequent to these
important factors being identified by a GA, an artificial neural network (ANN)
is used to learn the relationships between these factors and factory
performance. The ANN can then be used
to predict factory performance for future shop conditions and enhance shop
performance. While ANN learning
techniques have previously been applied to JIT production systems (Wray, Rakes,
and Rees, 1997) (Markham, Mathieu,
and Wray, 2000), these techniques have only been trained on data sets that reflect
an efficient factory. Mathieu, Wray,
and Markham (2002) investigated inefficient and efficient JIT factory
performance but did not deploy either ANNs or a GA. In this paper an example
application is presented using a GA to specify important shop factors and to
predict saturated, starved or efficient factory performance based on dynamic
shop floor data.
99. TAM: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF
GENDER ON ONLINE SHOPPING
In this study we applied Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to address consumers’ online purchasing intentions and examine the effect of gender as a moderating variable on purchase intention. Six hypotheses were proposed based on our research model. We validate TAM in an ecommerce environment using two split data sets one containing females and the other males. Structural equation modelling and t tests were performed to test the hypotheses. The results show that gender is an important moderating variable in online commerce. Understanding the differences between males and females provides practitioners with better understanding of the behaviour of consumers on the web and allows development of better marketing strategies.
119. An Integrated Model For Improving
Security Managemnet In The E-Commerce Environment
Hossein Bidgoli, California State University,
Bakersfield
Security
issues and threats in the e-commerce environment are varied and can be caused
intentionally and unintentionally by insiders and outsiders. Many experts
believe that insiders create the majority of the security threats and
issues. Security issues and threats
related to e-commerce environment can be categorized as controllable, partially
controllable and uncontrollable. This article presents an integrated model that
identifies various security issues and threats in the e-commerce environment
and then offers a comprehensive e-commerce security plan. The integrated model includes six steps:
identification of basic e-commerce security safeguards, identification of
e-commerce general security threats, identification of intentional e-commerce
threats, identification of e-commerce security measures and enforcements,
identification of computer emergency response team services and formation of a
comprehensive e-commerce security plan.
The integrated model, if carefully followed, should significantly
improve the chances of success in keeping the e-commerce hackers and crackers
at bay (Bidgoli, 2002).