P. Joshi, H. Singh and A.D. Phippen
Distributed computing architecture has been around for a while, but not all of its benefits could be leveraged due to issues such as inter‐operability, industry standards and cost…
Abstract
Distributed computing architecture has been around for a while, but not all of its benefits could be leveraged due to issues such as inter‐operability, industry standards and cost efficiency that could provide agility and transparency to the business process integration. Web services offer a cross platform solution that provides a wrapper around any business object and exposes it over the Internet as service. Web services typically work outside of private networks, offering developers a non‐proprietary route to their solutions. The growth of this technology is imminent; however, there are various factors that could impact its adoption rate. This paper provides an in‐depth analysis of various factors that could affect adoption rate of this new technology by the industry. Various advantages, pitfalls and future implications of this technology are considered with reference to a practitioner survey conducted to establish the main concerns effecting adoption rate of Web services.
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Geoff Simmons, Brychan Thomas and Yann Truong
Given the emergent nature of i‐branding as an academic field of study and a lack of applied research output, the aim of this paper is to explain how businesses manage i‐branding…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the emergent nature of i‐branding as an academic field of study and a lack of applied research output, the aim of this paper is to explain how businesses manage i‐branding to create brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
Within a case‐study approach, seven cases were developed from an initial sample of 20 food businesses. Additionally, utilising secondary data, the analysis of findings introduces relevant case examples from other industrial sectors.
Findings
Specific internet tools and their application are discussed within opportunities to create brand equity for products classified by experience, credence and search characteristics. An understanding of target customers will be critical in underpinning the selection and deployment of relevant i‐branding tools. Tools facilitating interactivity – machine and personal – are particularly significant.
Research limitations/implications
Future research positioned within classification of goods constructs could provide further contributions that recognise potential moderating effects of product/service characteristics on the development of brand equity online. Future studies could also employ the i‐branding conceptual framework to test its validity and develop it further as a means of explaining how i‐branding can be managed to create brand equity.
Originality/value
While previous research has focused on specific aspects of i‐branding, this paper utilises a conceptual framework to explain how diverse i‐branding tools combine to create brand equity. The literature review integrates fragmented literature around a conceptual framework to produce a more coherent understanding of extant thinking. The location of this study within a classification of goods context proved critical to explaining how i‐branding can be managed.
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A.D. Phippen, J. Taylor and R. Allen
To carry out a practical experiment into the feasibility of service orientation to achieve a dynamic, late‐binding service architecture.
Abstract
Purpose
To carry out a practical experiment into the feasibility of service orientation to achieve a dynamic, late‐binding service architecture.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature view to provide a foundation in standards and measure anecdotal opinion regarding service orientation. The review informed an architectural design based on real world requirements from a multinational mobile telecommunications organisation moving toward portal‐based services. The architectural implementation took place in a lab‐based setting and tested with third‐party services that were integrated into the architecture dynamically to test the late bound requirements of the infrastructure. The experimental approach also enabled the testing of the opinions formed regarding service orientation.
Findings
The main outcome of the study related to the open, standards‐based nature purported to be possible with service orientation. The findings on the study highlighted some major problems in interoperability and operational efficiency of service‐oriented technologies when applied to a complex architecture framework.
Research limitations/implications
Currently this represents the findings of a single study based on a specific set of requirements. In order to generalise, further study is needed and currently ongoing.
Practical implications
The study has high implications for people wishing to approach service orientation as a means to integrate both new and legacy systems. The work raises a lot of questions about the supposed ease of integration.
Originality/value
The work contributes to a growing body of work examining and evaluating the usefulness of service orientation.
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The evaluation of virtual community usage and user behaviour has its roots in social science approaches such as interview, document analysis and survey. Little evaluation is…
Abstract
The evaluation of virtual community usage and user behaviour has its roots in social science approaches such as interview, document analysis and survey. Little evaluation is carried out using traffic or protocol analysis. Business approaches to evaluating customer/business web site usage are more advanced, in particular using advanced web analytics to develop greater understanding of their customers' use of their sites. The application of such techniques to virtual communities is discussed and experimentation of such techniques on a specific virtual community project demonstrates the potential for such techniques in the evaluation of social and culture web usage.
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Various forms of IT sourcing used by audit clients create issues of concern for external auditors. This article investigates the nature and basic characteristics of…
Abstract
Various forms of IT sourcing used by audit clients create issues of concern for external auditors. This article investigates the nature and basic characteristics of service‐oriented architecture (SOA), a modern information system architecture strategy, to ascertain whether the use of SOA by a service consumer audit client would have an impact on the activities typically performed by the external auditor. It was found that SOA presents a complete shift in the way IT application functionality is constructed and integrated and inevitably effects changes in the accounting system and the related internal controls of the SOA service consumer. As a result SOA has a significant impact on the activities performed during the audit process and introduces various SOA‐related aspects that need to be considered by the external auditor of a SOA service consumer.
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M.P. Evans, A.D. Phippen, G. Mueller, S.M. Furnell, P.W. Sanders and P.L. Reynolds
The World Wide Web has experienced explosive growth as a content delivery mechanism, delivering hypertext files and static media content in a standardised way. However, this…
Abstract
The World Wide Web has experienced explosive growth as a content delivery mechanism, delivering hypertext files and static media content in a standardised way. However, this content has been unable to interact with other content, making the Web a distribution system rather than a distributed system. This is changing, however, as distributed component architectures are being adapted to work with the Web’s architecture. This paper tracks the development of the Web as a distributed platform, and highlights the potential to employ an often neglected feature of distributed computing: migration. Argues that all content on the Web, be it static images or distributed components, should be free to migrate according to either the policy of the server, or the content itself. The requirements of such a content migration mechanism are described, and an overview of a new migration mechanism, currently being developed by the authors, is presented.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to provide an overview of postmodern marketing in the consumer context, integrating the relevant literature around two contrary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to provide an overview of postmodern marketing in the consumer context, integrating the relevant literature around two contrary arguments. Second, it seeks to reveal the potential of the internet as a marketing tool that can address the complexities inherent in postmodern consumer markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a general review.
Findings
This paper reveals that complexity reigns supreme in the postmodern marketing consumer context, with postmodern consumers seeking both individualistic and communal brand experiences. Within this complexity, the paper identifies the internet as an enabling tool, which allows direct, real‐time individualised interaction with postmodern consumers. Further, the internet's ability to provide these consumers with the opportunity to express this individuality within homogeneous groups is also presented.
Practical implications
This paper reveals how the internet can allow an individualised one‐to‐one connection with postmodern consumers to a level unparalleled offline. Correspondingly, the paper also reveals how the internet is precipitating significant new opportunities for marketers to engage in and create enticing experiences for postmodern consumers, who crave the ability to appropriate consumption and brands as a means of individualised self‐expression within homogeneous groups.
Originality/value
This paper provides a contemporary and original overview of the opportunities proffered to marketers by the internet, in dealing with the inherent complexities erupting from within consumer markets in the postmodern era.
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Cherian Samuel, Kasiviswanadh Gonapa, P.K. Chaudhary and Ananya Mishra
The purpose of this paper is to analyse health service supply chain systems. A great deal of literature is available on supply chain management in finished goods inventory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse health service supply chain systems. A great deal of literature is available on supply chain management in finished goods inventory situations; however, little research exists on managing service capacity when finished goods inventories are absent.
Design/methodology/approach
System dynamics models for a typical service‐oriented supply chain such as healthcare processes are developed, wherein three service stages are presented sequentially.
Findings
Just like supply chains with finished goods inventory, healthcare service supply chains also show dynamic behaviour. Comparing options, service reduction, and capacity adjustment delays showed that reducing capacity adjustment and service delays gives better results.
Research limitations/implications
The study is confined to health service‐oriented supply chains. Further work includes extending the study to service‐oriented supply chains with parallel processing, i.e. having more than one stage to perform a similar operation and also to study the behaviour in service‐oriented supply chains that have re‐entrant orders and applications. Specific case studies can also be developed to reveal factors relevant to particular service‐oriented supply chains.
Practical implications
The paper explains the bullwhip effect in healthcare service‐oriented supply chains. Reducing stages and capacity adjustment are strategic options for service‐oriented supply chains.
Originality/value
The paper throws light on policy options for managing healthcare service‐oriented supply chain dynamics.
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Pablo Farías, Miguel Reyes and Jenny Peláez
This study aims to assess how department store websites can add online retail brand equity. A quick, relatively easy and low-cost diagnostic tool for stakeholders (e.g. retailers…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess how department store websites can add online retail brand equity. A quick, relatively easy and low-cost diagnostic tool for stakeholders (e.g. retailers, investors) is presented.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis of department store websites in the USA and Latin America was conducted.
Findings
The findings show that Latin American and US department store websites exhibit acceptable use of online retail brand equity dimensions related to emotional connection and trust. In contrast, compared to their US counterparts, Latin American department store websites show weak usage on some of the dimensions of responsive service nature, online experience and fulfillment. The results also show that higher online retail brand equity is positively associated with average daily time on site. This indicates the usefulness of this index for developing effective websites to creating online retail brand equity.
Practical implications
This study suggests that Latin American department stores should improve three dimensions of online retail brand equity: responsive service nature, online experience and fulfillment. The online retail brand equity index presented can serve as a diagnostic tool for department store managers to monitor the online retail brand equity they are building on their websites. It is also possible to analyze the websites of competing department stores and monitor the long-term impact of modifications made to their websites and those of competitors.
Originality/value
This paper proposes an easy-to-apply index to assess online retail brand equity through website design partially. In addition, this research is the first to evaluate how Latin American department store websites, compared to those in the USA, are building online retail brand equity.
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Hennie Kruger, Lynette Drevin and Tjaart Steyn
The dependence on human involvement and human behavior to protect information assets necessitates an information security awareness program to make people aware of their roles and…
Abstract
Purpose
The dependence on human involvement and human behavior to protect information assets necessitates an information security awareness program to make people aware of their roles and responsibilities towards information security. The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of an information security vocabulary test as an aid to assess awareness levels and to assist with the identification of suitable areas or topics to be included in an information security awareness program.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire has been designed to test and illustrate the feasibility of a vocabulary test. The questionnaire consists of two sections – a first section to perform a vocabulary test and a second one to evaluate respondents' behavior. Two different class groups of students at a university were used as a sample.
Findings
The research findings confirmed that the use of a vocabulary test to assess security awareness levels will be beneficial. A significant relationship between knowledge of concepts (vocabulary) and behavior was observed.
Originality/value
The paper introduces a new approach to evaluate people's information security awareness levels by employing an information security vocabulary test. This new approach can assist management to plan and evaluate interventions and to facilitate best practice in information security. Aspects of cognitive psychology and language were taken into account in this research project, indicating the interaction and influence between apparently different disciplines.