The Future of M-Commerce

This chapter discusses the growing significance of m-commerce with special focus on Bluetooth and WiMax. There is a detailed investigation of the components involved with, and the marketplace for, m-commerce transactions. The chapter concludes with the future opportunities and obstacles for m-commerce. The authors hope that the reader will gain a better understanding of, not only of m-commerce, but the impact of Bluetooth and WiMax.

On the Need to Include National Culture as a Central Issue in E-Commerce Trust Beliefs

Trust and trust beliefs (trustworthiness) are key to e-commerce success but depend, to a large extent, on culture. With e-commerce being an international phenomenon, understanding the cross-cultural aspects of trust creation is therefore arguably required although mostly ignored by current research which deals almost exclusively with the U.S. This exploratory study examines whether definitions of trust beliefs as conceptualized and verified in the U.S. apply in Israel which differs markedly in individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance. The data, crossvalidating the scale of trust and its antecedents in both cultures, generally support the proposition that trust beliefs apply across cultures, and may be a relatively unvarying aspect of e-commerce. However, as expected, the effects of predictability and familiarity on trust beliefs may differ across national cultures. Implications about the need to include national culture in the research on trust, in general, and in e-commerce in particular, are discussed.

A Fuzzy Logic-Based Approach for Supporting Decision-Making Process in B2C Electronic Commerce Transaction

The purpose of this article is to present an application of fuzzy logic to human reasoning about electronic commerce (e-commerce) transactions. This article uncovers some of the hidden relationships between critical factors such as security, familiarity, design, and competitiveness. We analyze the effect of these factors on human decision process and how they affect the Business- to-Consumer (B2C) outcome when they are used collectively. This research provides a toolset for B2C vendors to access and evaluate a user’s transaction decision process and also an assisted reasoning tool for the online user.

Privacy and Security in the Age of Electronic Customer Relationship Management

This article presents a value exchange model of privacy and security for electronic customer relationship management within an electronic commerce environment. Enterprises and customers must carefully manage these new virtual relationships in order to ensure that they both derive value from them and minimize unintended consequences that result from the concomitant exchange of personal information that occurs in e-commerce. Based upon a customer’s requirements of privacy and an enterprise requirement to establish markets and sell goods and services, there is a value exchange relationship. The model is an integration of the customer sphere of privacy, sphere of security, and privacy/security sphere of implementation.

Factors Affecting Mobile Commerce and Level of Involvement

Driven by the accelerating advancement in information technology (IT), the penetration of the Internet and other communications services has increased substantially. Hoffman (2000), one of the most renowned scholars in the realm of Internet research, considers the Internet as “the most important innovation since the development of the printing press.” Indeed, the omnipresent nature of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has been a defining characteristic of the “new world” of electronic commerce (Dutta, Kwan, & Segev, 1998). There are a good number of academics and practitioners who predict that the Internet and the WWW will be the central focus of all commercial activities in the coming decades (e.g., Dholakia, 1998). In particular, Jarvenpaa & Todd (1996) argue that the Internet is alive with the potential to act as a commercial medium and market. Figuratively, discussing the business prospects of the Internet and the WWW is somehow analogous to discussing the Gold Rush of the 19th century (Dholakia, 1995). Admittedly, the close down of a lot of dot.coms since 2000 has been a concern for many people. However, the statistical figures we have up to now show that the growth pattern continues to be exponential. For example, the latest Forrester Online Retail Index released in January 2002 indicates that consumers spent $5.7 billion online in December, compared to $4.9 billion in November Forrester Research, 2002a). There is yet another sign of optimism for online shopping: The Internet Confidence Index (as released in September 2002), jointly developed by Yahoo and ACNielsen, rose 13 points over the inaugural survey released in June 2001, indicating a strengthening in consumers’ attitudes and confidence in e-commerce services (Yahoo Media Relations, 2002). Hence, we believe that the setback is only temporary and is part of a normal business adjustment. The future trend is very clear to us. Everybody, be it multinationals or small firms, should be convinced of the need to be on the Web.

Wireless Technologies for Mobile Computing and Commerce

At the time of writing (1Q06) most countries have a small number (2-6) of major cellular operators offering competing 2.5G and 3G cellular services. In addition, there is a much larger number of operators of WiFi networks. In some cases, a major cellular operator, for example, Deutsche Telekomm and British Telecom, also offers a WiFi service. In other cases, WiFi services are provided by a proliferation of smaller network operators, such as restaurants, laundromats, airports, railways, community associations and municipal governments. Many organizations offer WiFi free of charge as a hospitality service, for example, restaurants. Cellular services offer ubiquitous, low data rate communications for mobile computing and commerce, whereas WiFi offers higher data rates, but less ubiquitous coverage, with limitations on mobility due to business as opposed to technology reasons. Emerging networks for mobile computing and commerce include WiMAX and WiMobile (Wright, 2006), which offer higher data rates, lower costs and city-wide coverage with handoff of calls among multiple base stations. These new technologies may be deployed by the organizations that currently deploy cellular and WiFi networks, and also may give rise to a new group of competitive wireless network operators. This article identifies the capabilities needed for mobile computing and commerce and assesses their technology and business implications. It identifies developments in the wireless networks that can be used for mobile computing and commerce, together with the services that can be provided over such networks. It provides a business analysis indicating which network operators can profitably deploy new networks, and which network operators need to establish business and technology links with each other so as to better serve their customers. The resulting range of next generation service, technologies and network operators available for mobile computing and commerce is identified.

China

China is emerging as a global capital of m-commerce applications. China is the world’s biggest mobile market in terms of subscriber base and the fastest growing in the history of telecommunications. Although China currently lacks advanced mobile applications compared to Europe, North America, Japan and Korea, a number of mobile players are rapidly launching sophisticated mobile applications. Unique institutions and the nature of mobile market conditions in China, however, superimpose in a complex interaction that harbors a paradoxical nature. The Chinese m-commerce market is thus drastically different from that of the Western world. This chapter examines the Chinese m-commerce landscape and analyzes its drivers. We also examine the Chinese market from the CLIP perspective.

Building Consumer Trust for Internet E-Commerce

The growth of the Internet is increasing the deployment of e-commerce B2C services within such areas as e-retailing, e-learning, and e-health. However, a major impediment to the growth of e-commerce on the Internet is the lack of consumer trust in the provider of the e-service (Van Slyke, Belanger, Comunale, 2004). This chapter presents a literature survey of recent contributions to building trust in e-commerce, followed by a description of seven ways for the B2C Internet service provider to build trust in the use of its services among consumers.

The Financial Potential of Sporadic Customers in E-Retailing

The scope of this article is to explore the transaction profitability of frequent and sporadic buyers in the e-commerce arena. Evidence in relationship marketing literature stressing the impact of purchase frequency on customer transaction profitability as well as recent academic research challenging this approach and pointing out the importance of sporadic clients is analyzed and presented. A single case study research methodology was chosen for this article due to the exploratory facets associated with the subject and the industry under investigation. In order to gather relevant input to carry out this research, one of the largest retailing groups in Brazil was investigated. Conclusions are drawn showing that greater frequency of purchases does not necessarily translate into increased customer transaction profitability. Implications are presented, enabling practitioners and academics to grasp fully the real value of customers — both frequent and sporadic buyers — in order to develop coherent approaches for dealing with them adequately.

Consumer-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce is a growing area of e-commerce. However, according to a meta-analysis of critical themes of e-commerce, C2C e-commerce was only represented in the area of online auctions (Wareham, Zheng, & Straub, 2005). C2C e-commerce can encompass much more than just auctions. The question then becomes, “is C2C e-commerce a different research area that deserves its own stream of research?” This study adapts constructs from a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce study of satisfaction (Devaraj, Fan, & Kohli, 2002) to determine what, if any, the differences are in the C2C e-commerce arena. The constructs include elements of the technology acceptance model (TAM), which includes perceived ease of use and usefulness; transaction cost analysis (TCA), which includes uncertainty, asset specificity, and time; and service quality (SERVQUAL), which includes reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Participants in the study answered questions regarding these various constructs in relation to their experiences with C2C e-commerce. The findings indicate that TAM, TCA, and SERVQUAL all impact satisfaction in C2C e-commerce. Reliability and responsiveness (areas of service quality) were found to influence C2C e-commerce satisfaction, where as they were not found to be an influence in the B2C study. These findings warrant further research in the C2C ecommerce arena. The study provides implications for future research and practice.