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This chapter will describe and analyze the evolution of the structure, content, and other key parameters of business plans in international business plan competitions from the beginnings of such competitions in 1991 through the current time. In particular, the chapter will describe how these competitions have evolved through the current time, the standardization of the structure and content of the plans submitted to these competitions, and the changes that have occurred in their structure and content over time. Then it will explain why these changes have occurred. Specifically, that most of the changes that have occurred in these various areas is a direct or indirect result of pressures on the competitions from the major judges used in them – namely U.S. venture capitalists. Appendices A and B will describe the evaluation criteria used in two of the major competitions – Moot Corp/Venture Labs^® and the Georgia Bowl^® – in more detail, while Appendices C and D will provide information on the Term Sheets and decision-making processes used by such venture capitalists. Appendix E contains four Exhibits that provide additional insights into U.S. venture capitalists’ thought processes. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of the additional changes that are likely to happen in the future.

E-healthcare has gained importance, particularly in emerging economies, because of its ability to provide health-care products and services while minimizing contact with the external world, which was particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its advantages, consumers seem hesitant to use mobile apps to access such services. Previous research has found that perceived usefulness, time consumption and price significantly impact consumer willingness to purchase e-healthcare products on mobile apps. This study aims to investigate the role of consumer trust in the willingness to purchase e-healthcare products on mobile apps while controlling for the effects of perceived usefulness, time consumption and price.

Data have been collected using non-probability judgmental and snowball sampling techniques from five major cities in India. After the data cleaning process, 238 questionnaires were used for data analysis in this study. The authors used confirmatory factor analysis to validate all the constructs and subsequently used the hierarchical regression technique to conduct this study.

The study’s findings show that consumer trust is the most crucial factor for predicting a willingness to purchase e-healthcare products through mobile apps, despite several other variables that also have a positive impact. These findings present important practical implications for mobile app developers, health-care professionals and lawmakers to further enhance the adoption of e-healthcare products on mobile apps.

The research was conducted by considering primarily young adults (those between the ages of 20 and 45 – above) and targeted five cities in India. This highlights a limitation in the research, as small groups of the intended audience were included (mainly young people).

This study considers perceived usefulness, time and price, in addition to trust, to predict consumer willingness to purchase. Its findings can be valuable in the fields of consumer behavior, health care and technology, especially in emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the growing literature on the relationship between online consumer reviews and sales, with implications on firm actions such as pricing.

This paper takes the form of a literature review.

Interesting results from the literature are organized into six categories: sales and related dependent variables, review dimensions, reviewer characteristics, reader characteristics, product category, and product.

The broad overview of the literature provides insights into potential areas for further research. Several suggestions towards this are provided in the paper. The focus is substantive rather than methodological.

More detailed understanding of the relevant concepts and phenomena will hopefully lead to improved decision making.

While the literature on online reviews is relatively recent, it has expanded quickly during the past five years and this paper fills a need for a broad‐based overview of the field.

The purpose of this paper is to review Amazon's Kindle, and to describe intersections between it, smart phones, and Google Books.

The article is designed as an opinion piece on the nature of electronic books in academia.

The article suggests e‐books will increase in popularity over time, but that the business model for individual download of e‐books will need to support institutional purchase.

The article should generate views, both in support of and in opposition to, the claims of the author; it should serve as a discussion starter.

One of the most famous names in modern computing will turn 80 years old in 2004. And IBM’s new CEO Sam Palmisano will be hoping the birthday celebrations are especially long and jubilant as he sets out on the difficult path of restoring the technology giant to the heady days of its successful past. Similarly, across the US at Hewlett‐Packard, CEO Carleton “Carly” Fiorina is battling to control HP’s most ambitious venture in its 64‐year history.

In the environment of business‐to‐business e‐commerce, both buyers and sellers are uncertain about their roles. Questions abound. What is the role of the Internet in buyer‐seller relationships, and what will be the interface between the Internet and the salesforce as information sources? Data collected from purchasing professionals suggest that traditional information sources, including suppliers’ salespeople, are more useful than the Internet at the present time. Moreover, findings indicate that the Internet plays almost no role in supplier selection decisions and only a moderate role in ongoing buyer‐seller relationships. Additionally, in relationships characterized by high levels of information exchange, trust, cooperation, and/or adaptations, the Internet appears to play a less important role. Based on these findings, implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

The purpose of this paper was to uncover morality and dynamics of community of incentivized reviewers who primarily review products on Amazon.com. and, as of late, on various social media platforms. This study is important because it uncovers unknown dynamics that shapes consumer morality and drives reviewer’s ethics. Given the fact that consumers heavily rely on reviews, findings of this paper are of great values to practitioners, consumers and policymakers and highlight potential area of research particularly related to morality.

This study, conducted over a period of 1.5 years, relying on a netnography to collect data and thematic analysis to make sense of data, uncovered behaviors that contribute to the J-shape distribution of reviews on Amazon.com and questionable reviewer ethics.

Findings of this study suggest suppressed consumer morality driven by desire to gain benefits in form of free products and manipulation of the review system in an attempt to boost sales and the prevalence of biased reviews. The findings shed light on overconsumption driven by an opportunity to receive free products, introduction of review bias into the public domain and attempts to manipulate Amazon’s algorithms.

Findings of this study carry tremendous implications for average consumer who relies on consumer-generated reviews without realizing the presence of bias. Furthermore, the findings shed light of unfair business practices of sellers who demand high ratings. Finally, the findings suggest that there is opportunity for policymakers to address a loophole because incentivized reviewers, regardless of Federal Trade Commission regulations, may be operating in gray area, much less controlled than advertising.

This study is unique because while other studies may conduct similar netnographies of reviewing communities, this community was examined during a span that covered the incentivized reviewing boom, Amazon’s ban on incentivized reviewing, and the revival of reviewing activity post ban. Given recent changes to Amazon’s Terms of Service, the researcher documented changes that future studies will not be able to examine unless data have already been collected. However, post ban activity continues and is likely affecting purchasing decisions of unsuspecting consumers all around.