B2C Failures

Using the product and services innovation failures literature, this chapter develops a framework to help understand why so many Internet-based business-to-consumer (B2C) “dot-com” companies failed to fulfill their initial promise. Viewed collectively, B2C dot.com crashes constitute an initial wave of failure of an entirely new class of technology-driven services. Such services sought to inform, promote, sell and deliver B2C items in radically unfamiliar ways. Besides ignoring basic precepts of sound business practice, unsuccessful B2C firms failed to realize they were marketing innovative services. We place B2C dot-com ventures on a continuum of need-solution context of innovations, in conjunction with the notion that seller/buyer perceptions about the scope of innovations are not necessarily concordant. Matched perceptions between sellers and buyers lead to success. Sellers as well as buyers, however, can misjudge the nature and scope of innovations. Using case evidence, the chapter illustrates the explanatory power of the framework and contributes to e-commerce issues by clarifying why, despite resource availability, many early B2C firms failed due to misjudged perceptions of sellers and/or buyers.

The Influence of the Internet on Relationships Between Consumers and Vendors

In recent years a plethora of scholarly literature from the marketing and the information systems (IS) domain has dealt with the phenomenon of relationships. While during the pre-computer era relationships always implied a social dimension, modern technology tries to mimic this interaction process by learning about customers’ needs and addressing them individually. Interestingly, the central definition of a relationship remains vague in both marketing and IS. Finding the major constituents, therefore, could shed light on the question of whether technology actually could replace “social interactions.” In this chapter, we show how relationships are defined in scholarly literature. Subsequently, consumers define what they perceive to be the crucial attributes of a relationship in general and with an online organization. The results indicate that the notion of relationship has to be redefined for online communication and interaction and offer practical implications for designing the interaction process with online users.

Benchmarking the Usability and Content Usefulness of Web Sites

Although the benchmarking technique has been widely used in various aspects of organizations and businesses, there is no clear framework on how the technique can be applied for Web evaluation. This article presents a framework for measuring the usability and content usefulness of Web sites by using the benchmarking approach. It describes the purpose of evaluation, metrics to be used and processes through which Web benchmarking can be performed. Several methods were used in the development of the framework, which include content analysis of literature and expert review. A total of 46 criteria were identified to be used as the benchmarking metrics. The framework was tested for its applicability by evaluating four political Web sites in Malaysia. The results proved that the framework is easy to follow and implement, and would be particularly useful for those who intend to benchmark the overall usability and content usefulness of Web sites against competitors.

Challenging Digital Inequalities

There are substantial inequalities in access to and use of the Internet. These inequalities build on enduring social and economic inequalities that have themselves been rooted in previous rounds of the development of electronic technologies and have largely resisted public policies designed to remedy them. Rapid developments in the use of the Internet have great potential for commercialization and democratization, but digital inequality means that this potential is not always exploited to the advantage of the poorer sectors of the community. Recent public policies have attempted to remedy digital disadvantage, but there is little evidence that they are fundamentally transforming them. Constant innovation enables the more advantaged sectors to advance their position, while many are still excluded from compensatory attempts at catch up. An increasing body of experience suggests ideas for new approaches, but the magnitude of the challenge of eroding digital inequality should not be underestimated.

Social Aspects of Open Source Software

Open source software/free software (OSS/FS), also abbreviated as FLOSS/FOSS (free/libre and open source software), has risen to great prominence. Existing literature from diverse disciplines or through interdisciplinary studies have tried to explain the growth and success of the phenomenon. This chapter describes and discusses OSS/FS under the scope of three major aspects: motivations that lead to OSS/FS, the organization of OSS/FS communities and the economic theory as a means of explaining the manifold phenomenon. Furthermore, the chapter analyzes the social implications that lie underneath the OSS/FS diffusion, together with the social processes that take place in OSS/FS communities in an effort to enhance our understanding of the diverse mechanisms that disseminate OSS/FS rapidly.

Social Implications of Managing Project Stakeholders

This chapter considers the social implications of managing project stakeholders with a special account of e-project management (e-PM), architecture and the importance of project management (PM) portals, and the way they are related to e-projects. The authors argue that PM portals are indispensable in project collaboration and coordination and are closely related to e-projects, since theirs is a key role in both the PM implementation and an adequate incorporation and discussion of all project stakeholders, particularly virtual teams. The authors believe that a detailed analysis of project stakeholders and PM portals presented in this chapter allows for a thorough review of the strengths as well as weaknesses of the e-project approach and is a basis for understanding of social aspects and challenges of modern ICT solutions in e-PM.

Designing a CRM-Based E-Government Usability Services Framework

The “electronic government” movement has swept across most countries in the last decade. This movement represents a new paradigm for public services. As we know, traditional public services may be improved in many ways by the Internet. According to the literature reviewed, we found many studies were only focused on how to technically establish Web sites that allow citizens appropriate access to government information. However, few studies paid attention to the relationship management among the different e-government stakeholders. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to integrate the relationship management among the three groups of stakeholders: the government itself, its citizens and employees. In this chapter, we will examine the literature regarding to the underlying rationale of a successful e-government. Also, an evaluation system for the usability of government Web sites that support relationship management among citizens, government employees and public services are developed and empirically tested.

Differing Challenges and Different Achievements

Higher education has traditionally been provided in universities through lectures, seminars and tutorials, and other social mechanisms of learning where students interact in less formal settings. This chapter highlights some of the differences that occur when higher education is provided by e-learning provisions and argues that the challenges that students face and the differences in student-tutor and student-student interactions are sufficiently different to warrant that such degrees be awarded under a separate qualification classification. Drawing on research carried out at Ashridge Business School, UK, into the realities of getting started in e-learning, and a literature review of e-student and e-tutor issues, the argument is made that actually succeeding at this form of learning requires additional skills, motivation and discipline that should be more widely recognized, and that this would be best achieved through a separate qualifications classification. Such a classification would also ensure that e-learning degrees are equivalent to their more traditionally earned counterparts.

An Empirical Investigation of the Role of Trust and Power in Shaping the Use of Electronic Markets

This chapter discusses the role that social relational characteristics, such as trust and power, play in shaping the use of a particular type of e-business application—electronic markets (EM)—to support exchange relationships with suppliers that exhibit predominantly transactional characteristics. The analysis is based on a case study of an EM in the electricity sector. The study finds that the EM is used to take advantage of a superior power position, in order to achieve cost reductions, breeding mistrust and eroding the suppliers’ bargaining power. The findings support the argument that social relational characteristics, such as trust and power, are significant factors in shaping the use of EM in transactional-oriented relationships.

Electronic Policing

This chapter examines electronic policing (e-policing), which has played an increasing role in government-management reform and has become an important area for e-government research. Firstly, the strategic framework and development of e-policing are reviewed. A framework of mobile policing is introduced that is derived from the system requirements of both police and citizens. We examine how an e-policing system is implementing this framework for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of crime control and also providing services to citizens. The system not only simplifies the collection, storage and retrieval of crime data but also uses Bayesian analysis to give constantly refined predictions of the risks of crime in different localities, along with the factors influencing the risk levels. Finally, evaluations of the system are discussed. User evaluations of the system allowed us to study the potential of the system for crime control and citizen services.