scholarly journals How The Internet Affects Productivity

Author(s):  
Mika Hannula ◽  
Antti Lonnqvist

During the past decade, there has been a lot of research focusing on the Internets effects on productivity. One of the central themes of this research has been the productivity paradox. Productivity paradox is a phenomenon in which investments in the use of information technology have not resulted in productivity improvements. The objective of this paper is to present the conclusions that this extensive research of the past few years has arrived at concerning the Internets effects on productivity. This paper also includes a practical example which illustrates how the use of the Internet might result in very high productivity improvements by redesigning the entire business model.In the literature, the research results on the issue are conflicting. Some researchers have not found any evidence that would suggest that the use of the Internet increases productivity. However, there are several success stories that imply that the Internet could be an important tool in improving productivity or overall performance of a firm. In addition, it seems that in some cases the productivity paradox has occurred because of defective or unsuitable productivity measures, or even because of conceptual confusions.The key finding of this paper is that the use of the Internet may or may not increase productivity, depending on the way it is used. From the managerial perspective, there are also many other reasons for using the Internet, such as improved customer service or competitive pressure. However, a better customer service means better value for a customer. For a firm this usually means better productivity. To conclude, it seems evident that successful investments in internet technology should lead to better productivity and the greatest productivity improvements are attainable when the Internet is used to create entirely new business models.

Author(s):  
Janusz Wielki

Currently there are many studies which deal with the impact of the Internet and Internet technology-based tools on organizations. Most of them are focused on such issues as the opportunities which have emerged with the development of the digital economy, possible new business models, establishing new kind of relations with customers, and security aspects. The impact of Internet technology-based tools on the internal work environment of organizations is an issue which is relatively rarely analyzed. Although more and more publications concerning this field are being released, they are only focused to a small degree on the challenges connected with the utilization, and, particularly, the misuse, of Internet technology-based tools in the workplace. Thus, this article is an attempt to deal with this issue in a more holistic way.


Author(s):  
Lindsey C Bohl

This paper examines a few of the numerous factors that may have led to increased youth turnout in 2008 Election. First, theories of voter behavior and turnout are related to courting the youth vote. Several variables that are perceived to affect youth turnout such as party polarization, perceived candidate difference, voter registration, effective campaigning and mobilization, and use of the Internet, are examined. Over the past 40 years, presidential elections have failed to engage the majority of young citizens (ages 18-29) to the point that they became inclined to participate. This trend began to reverse starting in 2000 Election and the youth turnout reached its peak in 2008. While both short and long-term factors played a significant role in recent elections, high turnout among youth voters in 2008 can be largely attributed to the Obama candidacy and campaign, which mobilized young citizens in unprecedented ways.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 749-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo Leminen ◽  
Mervi Rajahonka ◽  
Mika Westerlund ◽  
Robert Wendelin

Purpose This study aims to understand their emergence and types of business models in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds upon a systematic literature review of IoT ecosystems and business models to construct a conceptual framework on IoT business models, and uses qualitative research methods to analyze seven industry cases. Findings The study identifies four types of IoT business models: value chain efficiency, industry collaboration, horizontal market and platform. Moreover, it discusses three evolutionary paths of new business model emergence: opening up the ecosystem for industry collaboration, replicating the solution in multiple services and return to closed ecosystem as technology matures. Research limitations/implications Identifying business models in rapidly evolving fields such as the IoT based on a small number of case studies may result in biased findings compared to large-scale surveys and globally distributed samples. However, it provides more thorough interpretations. Practical implications The study provides a framework for analyzing the types and emergence of IoT business models, and forwards the concept of “value design” as an ecosystem business model. Originality/value This paper identifies four archetypical IoT business models based on a novel framework that is independent of any specific industry, and argues that IoT business models follow an evolutionary path from closed to open, and reversely to closed ecosystems, and the value created in the networks of organizations and things will be shareable value rather than exchange value.


M/C Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Crawfoot

Cities are an important symbol of our contemporary era. They are not just places of commerce, but are emblems of the people who live within them. A significant feature of cities are their meeting places; areas that have either been designed or appropriated by the people. An example of this is the café. Cafés hold a unique place in history, as sites that have witnessed the growth of revolution, relationships great and small, between people and ideas, and more recently, technology. Computers are transcending their place in the private home or office and are now finding their way into café culture. What I am suggesting is that this is bringing about a new way of understanding how cafés foster community and act as media for social interaction. To explore this idea further I will look at the historical background of the café, particularly within Parisian culture. For W. Scott Haine, cities such as Paris have highly influential abilities. As he points out "the Paris milieu determined the consciousness of workers as much as their labor" (114). While specifically related to Paris, Haine is highlighting an important aspect in the relationship between people and the built environment. He suggests that buildings and streets are not just inanimate objects, but structures that shape our habits and our beliefs. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, Paris was developing a new cultural level, referred to as Bohemia. Derived from the French word for Gypsy (Seigel 5) it was used to denote a class of people who in the eyes of Honoré de Balzac were the talent of the future (Seigel 4). People who would be diplomats, artists, journalists, soldiers, who at that moment existed in a transient state with much social but little material wealth. Emerging within this Bohemian identity were the bourgeois. They were individuals who led a working class existence, they usually held property but more importantly they helped provide the physical environment for Bohemian culture to flourish. Bourgeois society had the money to patronize Bohemian artists. As Seigel says "Bohemian and bourgeois were -- and are -- parts of a single field: they imply, require, and attract each other" (5). Cafés were a site of symbiosis between these two groups. As Seigel points out they were not so much established to create a Bohemian world away from the reality of working life, but to provide a space were the predominantly bourgeois clientèle could be entertained (216). These ideas of entertainment saw the rise of the literary café, a venue not just for drinking and socialization but where potential writers and orators could perform for an audience. Contemporary society has seen a strong decline in Bohemian culture, with the (franchised) café being appropriated by the upper class as a site of lattes and mud cake. Recent developments in Internet technology however have prompted a change in this trend. Whereas in the past cafés had brought about a symbiosis between the classes of Bohemian and bourgeois society they are now becoming sites that foster relationships between the middle class and computer technology. Computers and the Internet have their origins within a privileged community, of government departments, defence forces and universities. It is only in the past three years that Internet technology has moved out of a realm of expert knowledge to achieve a broad level of usage in the average household. Certain barriers still exist though in terms of a person's ability to gain access to this medium. Just as Bohemian culture arose out of a population of educated people lacking skills of manual labor and social status (Seigel 217), computers and Internet culture offer a means for people to go beyond their social boundaries. Cafés were sites for Bohemians to transcend the social, political, and economic dictates that had shaped their lives. In a similar fashion the Internet offers a means for people to explore beyond their physical world. Internet cafés have been growing steadily around the world. What they represent is a change in the concept of social interaction. As in the past with the Paris café and the exchange of ideas, Internet cafés have become places were people can interact not just on a face-to-face basis but also through computer-mediated communication. What this points to is a broadening in the idea of the café as a medium of social interaction. This is where the latte and mud cake trend is beginning to break down. By placing Internet technology within cafés, proprietors are inviting a far greater section of the community within their walls. While these experiences still attract a price tag they suggest a change in the idea that would have seen both the café and the Internet as commodities of the élite. What this is doing is re-invigorating the idea of the streets belonging to the middle class and other sub-cultures, allowing people access to space so that relationships and communities can be formed. References Haine, W. Scott. The World of the Paris Cafe: Sociability amongst the French Working Class 1789 - 1914. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1996. Seigel, Jerrold. Bohemian Paris: Culture, Politics and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Life, 1830 - 1930. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Joseph Crawfoot. "Cybercafé, Cybercommunity." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1.1 (1998). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/cafe.php>. Chicago style: Joseph Crawfoot, "Cybercafé, Cybercommunity," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1, no. 1 (1998), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/cafe.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Joseph Crawfoot. (1998) Cybercafé, cybercommunity. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1(1). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/cafe.php> ([your date of access]).


Web Services ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 2161-2171
Author(s):  
Miltiadis D. Lytras ◽  
Vijay Raghavan ◽  
Ernesto Damiani

The Big Data and Data Analytics is a brand new paradigm, for the integration of Internet Technology in the human and machine context. For the first time in the history of the human mankind we are able to transforming raw data that are massively produced by humans and machines in to knowledge and wisdom capable of supporting smart decision making, innovative services, new business models, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For the Web Science research, this is a new methodological and technological spectrum of advanced methods, frameworks and functionalities never experienced in the past. At the same moment communities out of web science need to realize the potential of this new paradigm with the support of new sound business models and a critical shift in the perception of decision making. In this short visioning article, the authors are analyzing the main aspects of Big Data and Data Analytics Research and they provide their own metaphor for the next years. A number of research directions are outlined as well as a new roadmap towards the evolution of Big Data to Smart Decisions and Cognitive Computing. The authors do hope that the readers would like to react and to propose their own value propositions for the domain initiating a scientific dialogue beyond self-fulfilled expectations.


Author(s):  
Sana Moid

The internet has already revolutionized many aspects of modern business and living and promises to bring even more radical future changes. In contrast, tax laws are normally slow to changing realities. It is anticipated that trade in tangible (physical) goods with e- commerce will not introduce problems. However, trade in intangible (electronic or digital) goods can be problematic because they will be difficult if not impossible to track. The chapter discusses the important concepts woven around the idea of taxing e tailing transactions and aims at coming up with a conclusion which will help further to determine the appropriate tax policies for e retailers keeping in mind the global framework. The chapter aims at discussing the concept of Internet Taxation, E- Retailing laws and regulations in Global Context. The chapter also discusses broad outlines relating to taxability of E Retailing transactions from VAT and CST angle under different scenarios and arguments in favor and against of taxing the e tailing transactions. The chapter also discusses important acts passed in different economies for taxing online retailers including Marketplace Fairness Act 2013 and Internet Tax Freedom Act. It is concluded by discussing the possible effects of the online retail tax. It could be argued that e- commerce for most part will not require new tax principles. Existing principles still apply only the old ways of doing things need to be digitized. The internet and e- commerce certainly does introduce some new business models and products that would not have been possible with old technology. And in some case, new laws may be required or old laws amended. Trade in intangibles or goods that are in digital format promises to be the main problem area.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2126-2133
Author(s):  
Delyth Samuel ◽  
Danny Samson

This article explains how and why, during and through the dot.com bubble that was built and burst, one new economy company in Australia survived and prospered. The challenges were severe. The infrastructure, funding for development, and consumer behavior were key challenges that had to be overcome. Between 1999 and 2000, around 190 Australian companies evolved selling something over the Web. In early 2000, local e-tailers such as Dstore, ShopFast, ChaosMusic, TheSpot.com, and Wishlist.com.au were being discussed as shining examples of a new way of retailing: smart, aggressive companies that were showing traditional retailers how to operate in the new economy (Kirby, 2000). Then it all started going wrong. Examples are as follows: • ChaosMusic’s shares, issued at $1.40 in December 1999, finished from 1999 to 2000 at $0.28 as the online music retailer slashed its marketing budget and staff. • The share price of Australia’s other online music retailer, Sanity.com, peaked at $2.05 soon after the company was listed in December 1999; on June 30, 2000, it was $0.44. • On June 29, 2000, Australia witnessed its first major e-tailing failure when the department-store retailer David Jones acquired the assets of TheSpot.com, a toy and health and beauty products e-tailer that ran out of money after spending $12 million in 14 months. Later in the same year, on November 28, 2000, the founders of Wishlist.com.au, Huy Truong and his sister Jardin Truong, accepted an award at the Australian Internet Awards ceremony for the most entrepreneurial Internet site, an award given for an Australian Internet-related achievement that is innovative, provides strong current or future financial returns, and demonstrates rapid business expansion via a unique business strategy. The site also won as the best e-commerce site on the Web. The head judge said, “Wishlist didn’t follow the standard supermarket model on the Internet. It’s an adaption of a gift store buying presents for other people not just for yourself.” He said the judges were impressed with the novelty of the delivery model, whereby Wishlist.com.au had arranged with the oil company BP to deliver parcels to BP service stations that can be picked up by customers at anytime (Lindsay, 2000). Huy Truong was also awarded B&T Weekly’s 2000 e-Marketer of the Year Award. Golden, Hughes, and Gallagher (2003) conducted a descriptive study that examined the key success factors related to e-business in the retail sector of Ireland. Through their postal survey, they found that the early adoption of Internet technologies and information systems expertise were important factors in contributing to success. Loane (2004) has suggested that there is now significant evidence that many new firms are embracing the use of the Internet from their inception. This is clearly the case with Wishlist.com. They suggest that the Internet is not just an improvement tool but a core capability, including IT competency. Global Reviews, Australia’s online retail performance and reliability gauge for e-consumers, in December 2001 stated that Wishlist.com.au was the standout Australian online retailer, achieving an overall score of 97%, with a perfect rating in four of the five evaluation categories: fulfillment, site usability, security, products, and customer service.


Author(s):  
Dieter Fink

While much attention is currently being devoted to solving technological challenges of the Internet, for example increasing the bandwidth on existing narrowband network platforms to overcome bottlenecks, little attention appears to be given to the nontechnical aspects. This has been a mistake in the past as human resistance to, or incompetence during, the introduction of new Information Technology (IT) often caused Information Systems (IS) to fail. By focusing on a broad range of technical and nontechnical elements early in the adoption of Internet technology, we have the opportunity to avoid the mistakes made in the past. The Internet has given rise to electronic commerce (e-commerce) through the use of the World Wide Web (Web). E-commerce, by its nature, offers enormous possibilities but in an uncontrolled environment. Therefore, for e-commerce to be accepted, trust must be established as soon as interaction with a Web site begins. In the virtual environment of the Web trust has become even more important because the parties are not in physical proximity. There are no handshakes or body language to be observed when closing a deal. Furthermore, jurisdiction is unclear. Developments on a global scale are required that provide assurance that e-commerce can be conducted in a ‘trusting’ manner.


Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk

As companies expand their use of the Internet from electronic commerce to elec-tronic business, the CIO emerges as the most important executive for performance improvements when selecting business models.


Author(s):  
Delyth Samuel ◽  
Danny Samson

This article explains how and why, during and through the dot.com bubble that was built and burst, one new economy company in Australia survived and prospered. The challenges were severe. The infrastructure, funding for development, and consumer behavior were key challenges that had to be overcome. Between 1999 and 2000, around 190 Australian companies evolved selling something over the Web. In early 2000, local e-tailers such as Dstore, ShopFast, ChaosMusic, TheSpot.com, and Wishlist.com.au were being discussed as shining examples of a new way of retailing: smart, aggressive companies that were showing traditional retailers how to operate in the new economy (Kirby, 2000). Then it all started going wrong. Examples are as follows: • ChaosMusic’s shares, issued at $1.40 in December 1999, finished from 1999 to 2000 at $0.28 as the online music retailer slashed its marketing budget and staff. • The share price of Australia’s other online music retailer, Sanity.com, peaked at $2.05 soon after the company was listed in December 1999; on June 30, 2000, it was $0.44. • On June 29, 2000, Australia witnessed its first major e-tailing failure when the department-store retailer David Jones acquired the assets of TheSpot.com, a toy and health and beauty products e-tailer that ran out of money after spending $12 million in 14 months. Later in the same year, on November 28, 2000, the founders of Wishlist.com.au, Huy Truong and his sister Jardin Truong, accepted an award at the Australian Internet Awards ceremony for the most entrepreneurial Internet site, an award given for an Australian Internet-related achievement that is innovative, provides strong current or future financial returns, and demonstrates rapid business expansion via a unique business strategy. The site also won as the best e-commerce site on the Web. The head judge said, “Wishlist didn’t follow the standard supermarket model on the Internet. It’s an adaption of a gift store buying presents for other people not just for yourself.” He said the judges were impressed with the novelty of the delivery model, whereby Wishlist.com.au had arranged with the oil company BP to deliver parcels to BP service stations that can be picked up by customers at anytime (Lindsay, 2000). Huy Truong was also awarded B&T Weekly’s 2000 e-Marketer of the Year Award. Golden, Hughes, and Gallagher (2003) conducted a descriptive study that examined the key success factors related to e-business in the retail sector of Ireland. Through their postal survey, they found that the early adoption of Internet technologies and information systems expertise were important factors in contributing to success. Loane (2004) has suggested that there is now significant evidence that many new firms are embracing the use of the Internet from their inception. This is clearly the case with Wishlist.com. They suggest that the Internet is not just an improvement tool but a core capability, including IT competency. Global Reviews, Australia’s online retail performance and reliability gauge for e-consumers, in December 2001 stated that Wishlist.com.au was the standout Australian online retailer, achieving an overall score of 97%, with a perfect rating in four of the five evaluation categories: fulfillment, site usability, security, products, and customer service.


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