What is New York’s Amazon Tax on Internet Commerce?

This paper examines internet commerce taxation. It concerns who is responsible for collecting sales tax - the seller or the buyer, which depends on nexus between the seller and the state. If there is a nexus, it is the seller’s responsibility; otherwise, it is the buyer’s duty. Nexus further depends on physical presence. However, in today’s e-business, the concept of physical presence has changed. Effective June 1, 2008, New York State enacted the so called “Amazon Tax Law” that an out-of-state online retailer is presumed to have nexus with New York State if it enters into a contract with an affiliate in the state to engage in soliciting businesses in the state by means of web site linkage for an annual gross receipts of more than $10,000. As such, the online retailer is required to collect sales tax from the in-state buyer. The concept of physical presence has been extended from employee or office to web site connection. This paper examines its impact.

An Empirical Investigation into the Sources of Customer Dissatisfaction with Online Games

Most extant research focused on the attractiveness of online games, but paid scant attention to the sources of customer dissatisfaction with online games. Thus, this study investigates the sources of customer dissatisfaction (dissatisfiers) with online games. From an online survey, this study identified five factors as the sources of customer dissatisfaction: (1) the deceptive behavior of other online gamers, (2) the discourteous behavior of other online gamers, (3) the unattractive design of online games, (4) the ineffective customer support of online game service providers, and (5) the undesirable restrictions or regulations imposed by online game service providers. Findings in this study highlighted the fact that the anonymous and intensive interactions among online customers themselves can result in customer-originated dissatisfiers such as deceptive behavior and discourteous behavior. This study also reminded online service providers of company-originated dissatisfiers such as ineffective customer support and improper constraints.

XBRL Taxonomy for Estimating the Effects of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Corporate Financial Positions

Companies around the world are increasingly expected to report their greenhouse gas emissions. Currently there are various formulas to calculate emissions, and there are different reporting formats. Most of the reporting formats are paper-based or non-readable-by-machine formats. The emissions of companies will influence their accounting results due to ‘cap & trade’ systems or environmental taxes. Analyses of financial impacts are important for management decisions and corporate evaluations by interested third parties. A standardized reporting format for GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions is critical for reliable analysis of the impact of emissions on finances. This paper proposes an XBRL (eXtensible Business Markup Language) format as the foundation for standardizing the emissions reporting formats, and provides a preliminary XBRL taxonomy for emissions reporting. XBRL makes it possible to combine the financial reports and the emissions reports. Evaluations of the emissions impact are easier for both managers of the company and external parties, even if a large number of emissions reports must be analyzed.

Interoperability of XBRL Financial Statements in the U.S.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, a pressing need exists for improving investor friendliness, especially the transparency and interoperability of the financial statements of public companies. eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and XBRL taxonomies can accomplish this objective. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has mandated that all public companies must file their financial statements using XBRL and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) taxonomy according to a phased-in schedule. Are the XBRL-based financial statements interoperable? This question is addressed by analyzing all of the annual XBRL financial statements filed to the SEC as of February 26, 2010. On average, 63% of data elements are not comparable between a pair of statements. The incomparability is partly caused by issues related to the GAAP taxonomy and misuse of the taxonomy by companies. The results have practical implications that will help improve the quality of financial data.

Greater Accountability, Less Red Tape

Australian governments are early adopters of many electronic record-keeping and reporting systems, and the Australian Standard Business Reporting (SBR) Program evolves this further. This paper examines the evolution from government-centric technologies and standards to collaborative, open, and community standards-based systems. It describes the SBR Program as a case study in the development of seamless business-to-government reporting, which delivers significant reductions in reporting costs for business. The flexibility and universality of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an important element in the SBR approach. The benefits to business and government reveal immediate and practical benefits that expand with the growing number of users of these standards and technologies. The open, collaborative processes that have been driven by the SBR Program are consistent with the current directions of e-government in various countries. Technology in government is interactive and viewed in terms of a complex adaptive system, which needs to grow, respond, and interact with systems used by businesses in the Australian and international communities. The use of XBRL in the SBR Program increases the integrity of data that is provided to multiple parties, eliminating the need to transform financial data in a business’s system to the various semantic differences currently imposed.

Creating Competitive Markets for Small Businesses with New Media and E-Business Strategy

The innovative and dynamic nature of E-business enables small companies to compete with multinational corporations via online marketing. This paper serves as a guide from a practitioner’s perspective to embark in E-business while traditional marketing strategies are diminished. Three E-business adoption models for small enterprises are discussed. Planning involving new media, Internet technological capabilities and marketing strategies are examined. A literature review on new media gives a comprehensive study of online marketing. To evaluate the effectiveness of the E-business approach, a case study of a family chain of hotels is presented.

Asymmetric Upgrading of Mobile Services

Despite the accelerated pace at which progress in wireless technologies occurs, it is not uncommon to observe that some Mobile Operators (MOs) do not upgrade their mobile services, while their competitors adopt the newest technological standards. This paper proposes an explanation for this apparent paradox by means of a formal theoretical model that acknowledges demand heterogeneity in a quality upgrading game between horizontally differentiated and competing MOs. Demand heterogeneity stems from the co-existence of both conservative and quality-seeking users in the mobile services market. The author derives both symmetric and asymmetric upgrading outcomes depending on (1) the ratio of quality-seeking and conservative users, (2) the upgrading cost, (3) the extra-value conservative users attribute to upgraded services, and (4) the degree of differentiation between competing MOs. Results reveal under which conditions demand heterogeneity leads to higher profits for non-upgrading MOs than for upgrading MOs, constituting the rationale for asymmetric upgrading outcomes to arise.

Proposing a Hierarchical Utility Package with Reference to Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is a powerful tool for direct and interactive marketing. However effective marketing requires examining consumers’ psyche. This study proposes a hierarchical utility package (in the consumers’ perception) with reference to mobile advertising, thus enhancing its acceptance. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed four consolidated utility dimensions (with reference to mobile advertising). Binary logistic regression was used to create a hierarchical utility package with respondents giving the highest priority to Customization rather than Location based messaging, followed by Incentives and Session based messages. By incorporating the utility package in the mobile advertising format, mobile advertisers can ensure greater acceptance and develop competitive advantage.

Social Cognitive Theory in Mobile Banking Innovations

This paper examines the behavior Australian youths have toward mobile banking. Social cognitive theory is the theoretical framework in which a conceptual model is empirically tested. The conceptual model includes five constructs (media, modeling, outcome expectancy, learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation), which are proposed to influence an individual’s intention to adopt mobile banking. The conceptual model is tested in a sample of Australian youths and the analysis supports a portion of the proposed conceptual model. The findings support the link between the media and an individual’s entrepreneurial orientation with their intention to adopt mobile banking. The paper demonstrates how social cognitive theory is a useful foundation to understand the external and internal stimuli that influence an individual’s desire to adopt mobile banking.

Market Transparency in Business-to-Business e-Commerce

Market transparency refers to the level of current trade information revealed to participants by market makers. This paper analyzes the effect of market transparency on the outcomes of posted-offer style Business-to-Business e-commerce markets. First, increasing market transparency improves the price-tracking ability of sellers, and results in higher efficiency. However, revelation of quantity information on transactions is not very crucial as opposed to price information. Second, although sellers extract significantly higher surplus (profit) than buyers can do in a posted-offer market, the difference vanishes with increasing market transparency. Lastly, sellers in posted-offer markets respond poorly to external demand shocks. Interestingly, the poor price-tracking performance of sellers hurts buyers more. In other words, seller profits are much less sensitive to demand shocks as compared to buyer surpluses.