Electronic Commerce Investments Research Articles

Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Investments, Time Trends of the Speeds of Adjusting the Actual Toward the Maximum Pay, and Chief Executive Officer Compensation

This research analyzes the effects of information technology (IT) and e-commerce (EC) investments and trends of the speeds of adjusting the observed toward the desired CEO pay in US firms, based on the adjustment model and its associated adjustment valuation (AV) approach, where the adjustment speeds are assumed dynamic and variable. The findings include: the speeds of adjusting the observed toward the unobserved compensation are fast; either IT or EC appearing alone or jointly impacts CEO compensation; the trends of adjustment speeds are nonlinear and nonstationary; and overall, the US CEOs tend to underpay during the period under study; among others.

Assessing the business values of e-commerce and information technology separately and jointly and their impacts upon US firms' performance as measured by productive efficiency

The business values of information technology (IT) and electronic commerce (EC) have been discussed for years, yet virtually all previous studies have evaluated the values of IT and EC independently, instead of jointly; and ignored their impacts on the firm's performance and inputs relationships. This pioneering firm-level study bridges the gap by empirically investigating the complex relationships among IT and EC investments, relationships of inputs, and US firms' performance at the firm, industry, and sector levels, based on a panel dataset. We undertake a detailed analysis of the empirical results, seek to answer five major research questions, and discuss managerial and strategic implications.

Uncertain Type of Multiple-Attribute Electronic Commerce Investment Decision Model Based on the Close Degree of the Scheme and Its Applications

To deal with the problem of uncertain type of multiple-attribute electronic commerce investment decision whose attribute weights can’t be fully known, a index which measures the decision-making plan-close degree was Introduced, and a decision-making model based on the scheme close degree was established. The article analyses the application of the model used in investment decisions.

Assessing the business values of information technology and e-commerce independently and jointly

The purpose of this paper is to assess the business values of information technology (IT) and electronic commerce (EC) independently and simultaneously as measured by productive efficiency, in order to provide new insights into IT and EC investments and, consequently, lead to better decisions on IT and EC investments. The paper analyzes a panel data set at the country level based on the theory of production and its companions called the time-varying stochastic production frontier (SPF) approaches with the one-equation and two-equation models estimated by a two-step nonlinear maximum-likelihood method. The performance metric called productive efficiency is built in the research approaches. The empirical evidence strongly suggests that the presence of EC may strengthen or weaken IT value, and vice versa, which provide a good explanation for the disappearance or existence of the so-called productivity paradox, and that the paradox may exist in a country regardless of whether it is a developed or a developing country, inconsistent with conventional wisdom claiming that the paradox exists only in developing countries. The findings imply that it is imperative to carefully assess the values of IT and EC and, as such, prudent rather than blind IT and EC investing decisions are made, and that the values of IT and EC must be evaluated jointly rather than separately. The findings add significant contributions to the literature and serve as a catalytic agent in stimulating further comparative research in these important areas linking IT investments and EC developments when their business values are the major concern.

Electronic Commerce Investment Under Condition Of High Uncertainty: A Real Options Approach

Why managers in electronic commerce investment projects should pay attention to real options logic when they operate in unpredictable environment? Whether existing of real options’ reasoning in these kinds of investments led to better performance and enables firms to manage, handles uncertainty and risk effectively, and minimizes any unexpected results? Which kind of uncertainty will be reduced by using real options reasoning? In the present study, we explore how real options’ reasoning has been conceptualized in the information technology and electronic commerce investment decision processes that are subject to multiple sources of uncertainties. Finally, we show that real options reasoning does not always enhance project performance under conditions of higher uncertainty. We conclude with implications for future empirical research hope that our study stimulates future work on real options and electronic commerce investment. Keywords: uncertainty perception, e- commerce investment, real options, flexibility, project performance

The Potentials of Waste-To-Energy System in Nigeria: A Study of Pyrolytic Conversion of Wood Residue to Bio-Oil in Major Cities of South-Western Nigeria

The study reported in this paper was undertaken in an attempt to identify and understand the impacts of electronic commerce in the car retail industry in Western Australia. Much of the existing literature in electronic commerce puts forward theoretical models and speculative argumentation in an attempt to describe and understand the electronic commerce phenomenon. In contradistinction to this type of approach, this paper reports on an empirical investigation of the perspectives of senior executives (CEOs and/or owners) as to their actual experiences of and beliefs about the impacts of electronic commerce in the retail car industry in Western Australia. These viewpoints and perspectives were elicited during face-to-face, semi-structured interviews lasting between 1.5 and 3 hours. Generally speaking, the executives interviewed are experiencing great uncertainty with respect to electronic commerce and its effect on their business: they are uncertain about its likely impacts long term (although not much is currently happening), they are uncertain about the ultimate magnitude of electronic commerce in their industry, they are uncertain about the costs and benefits of electronic commerce investments, but they are unwilling not to be involved at all. There appear to be few articulated and carefully thought-out business strategies driving their electronic commerce activities at this stage, nor is there much evidence of internal business processes being reengineered to accommodate the requirements of an electronic commerce presence. In addition, a number of drivers and inhibitors of electronic commerce from the perspective of these CEOs in the car retail industry are also identified.

Electronic commerce investments, the resource-based view of the firm, and firm market value

Firms have embraced electronic commerce as a means of doing business, either because they see it as a way to improve efficiency, grow market share, expand into new markets, or because they view it as essential for survival. Recent research in the United States provides some evidence that the market does value investments in electronic commerce. Following research that suggests that, in certain circumstances, the market values noninnovative investments as well as innovative investments in new products, we partition electronic commerce investment project announcements into innovative and noninnovative to determine whether there are excess returns associated with these types of announcements. Apart from our overall results being consistent with the United States findings that the market values investments in electronic commerce projects, we also find that noninnovative investments are perceived as more valuable to the firm than innovative investments. On average, the market expects innovative investments to earn a return commensurate with their risk. We conclude that innovative electronic commerce projects are most likely seen by the capital market as easily replicable, and consequently have little, if any, competitive advantage period. On the other hand, we conclude from the noninnovative investment results that these types of investments are seen as being compatible with a firm's assets-in-place, in particular, its information technology capabilities, a view consistent with the resource-based view of the firm.

A model of electronic commerce adoption by small voluntary organizations

The study discussed in this paper uses case studies of six small voluntary organizations to determine the primary factors that influence electronic commerce (EC) adoption. The findings indicate that perceived benefits, including efficiency, information sharing, marketing and increased donations have a strong influence on EC adoption. The results also indicate that organizational readiness, including ability to attract volunteers and/or in-kind donations, ability to raise funds, and strategic readiness had a positive influence on EC adoption. Consistent with prior research on EC adoption in the commercial sector, strong support was found for the influence of perceived pressure, including pressure from both internal and external stakeholders. The study also concluded that perceived social risks associated with the loss of human contact and the perception of dollars being diverted from client programs to finance the EC investment had a strong influence on EC adoption. Implications for EC adoption and future research on EC adoption in the voluntary sector are discussed.

An Approach to Evaluating E-Business Information Systems Projects

Capital investments in the e-business infrastructure add complexity to the IT payoff question because e-business interorganizational investments are deployed across multiple platforms, projects, vendors and partners. Traditional MIS research has been devoted to measuring the payoff from information technology (IT) investment without any specific focus on e-business. Flaws in the mature MIS performance measures seem to yield weak guidance for managers when evaluating IT success, thus diluting the potential for these measures to be adapted for use in the new e-business environment. A review of the conventional MIS payoff literature indicates that these measures may be incomplete, inaccurate, or inefficient for application to electronic commerce investments. This paper brings four new points to the e-business IT investment evaluation dialogue: (1) we first explore performance measurement validity flaws in our long established measuress (2) the paper discusses a two-by-two matrix delineating the gap between the quantitative versus qualitative performance measures of management information systems (MIS) initiativess (3) sample e-business payoff techniques are discussed and reviewed in light of these historical imperfections, and (4) fourth, the paper proposes and describes an innovative framework derived from production theory economics for future research in evaluating e-business MIS implementations.

Electronic Commerce and Market Focus: some findings from a study of Swedish small to medium enterprises

In the past, organisations relied on traditional quantitative metrics, such as return on investment (ROI) to make decisions when investing in technology. With the advent of electronic commerce (EC), these decisions are becoming less reliant on ROI measures. Instead different driving forces are taking precedence in the decision making process. This paper presents the findings of a study of 118 Swedish small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that have adopted EC. The results of the study suggest that improvements to customer service, internal efficiency and organisational competitiveness have become equally important when making EC investment decisions. The study also examined whether major market focus (local, regional, national or international) had an influence on the organisation’s decision to adopt EC. Findings indicate no associations between the market focus and the driving forces, however the existence of a fully developed plan for EC adoption and the size of the business were found to be highly associated with the development of new markets as an EC adoption criteria.

Evaluating the Benefits of Electronic Commerce in Small and Medium Enterprises

This paper outlines and analyses the behaviours of small and medium enterprises with respect to the evaluation of electronic commerce investments, and the subsequent realisation of the anticipated benefits from those investments. The responses of executives who participated in the study suggested that on-going involvement in electronic commerce did not come cheaply. Nonetheless, our study suggests that there were generally ad hoc approaches to evaluation of the proposed electronic commerce investments, almost non-existent post-implementation reviews, few measures of success, and generally speaking, there was little evidence of there being proactive management of the realisation of benefits of those investments. Perhaps not surprisingly, the group interviewed seemed somewhat disappointed with the outcomes of their electronic commerce initiatives. The implications of these findings are discussed, particularly for countries where small and medium enterprises contribute a large proportion of total economic activity, and where thus it is vital for small and medium enterprises to successfully engage in electronic commerce if the country is to derive the benefits of the new economy.