Anteneh Ayanso

Inventory rationing via drop-shipping in Internet retailing: A sensitivity analysis

Abstract In this paper, we study a threshold level inventory rationing policy that is of interest to e-tailers, operating in a business to consumer (B2C) environment and selling non-perishable, made-to-stock items such as books, CDs, consumer electronics, and body and bath products. A Monte Carlo simulation model is developed to examine this policy when the demand process is stochastic, lead-time is stochastic, and the e-tailer uses ‘drop-shipping’ as an order fulfillment option. The methodology presented, which includes computer simulation and a full factorial experimental design, permits understanding of the complexity of the decision-making environment and implications of different sources of uncertainty (e.g. demand variability and lead-time variability) on a profit-maximizing threshold level of inventory, a stock level below which low margin orders are drop-shipped directly from the e-tailer’s supplier rather than fulfilled from internal stock.

The digital divide: global and regional ICT leaders and followers

The “digital divide” has sparked serious debates along the lines of economic disparity among world nations. Many in academics and policy circles believe that the digital gap could further widen the economic gap between developed versus developing nations. Among the components that are taken into consideration for measuring and analyzing the digital divide between countries, the information and communication technologies (ICTs) is the key component. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge on the issue of regional and global digital divide by profiling 192 member countries of the United Nations based on their ICT indicators. Using clustering and statistical analysis, our results identify “leaders” and “followers” in ICT infrastructure and utilization at both regional and global settings. Mina Balliamoune-Lutz is the accepting Associate Editor for this article.

E-Government readiness index: A methodology and analysis

Abstract E-Government has received significant attention as digital technologies transcend private businesses and serve as a basic source of transformation in government functions. One most notable project is the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) that assesses the e-Government readiness of the 192 member nations according to a quantitative composite index involving website assessment, telecommunication infrastructure, and human resource endowment. However, the UNPAN index, though rich in depth and breadth of data collection, relies on a method that is a simple mathematical average of the values of the variables measured. This paper revisits the UNPAN index and proposes alternative indices based on principal components analysis (PCA). Using the UNPAN survey data, four different versions of the index are presented and the resulting rankings of the nations are examined vis-a-vis the existing ranking. The theoretical and policy implications of the proposed methodology and its results are discussed.

Information and Communications Technology Development and the Digital Divide: A Global and Regional Assessment

The rapid development in information and communications technologies (ICTs) has created a wealth of opportunities for businesses and societies around the world. Yet, the disparity in the ICT adoption between developed and developing countries, often referred to as the Digital Divide, continues to widen. As a result, the digital divide has remained an issue of significant importance to policy-makers and scholars. In an effort to measure the magnitude of the digital divide and monitor how the disparity evolves over time, the United Nations commissioned the development of a comprehensive ICT Development Index (IDI) in 2009. The objective of this paper is to extend the methodology used in the IDI project and other scientific results presented in previous research to measure the digital divide. Using data mining techniques, we analyze ICT profiles from 154 countries to provide a rigorous quantitative assessment of the digital divide. In addition to analyzing the digital divide at the global level, we present our results at a regional level by identifying countries that are leaders and followers in their respective geographical area. Moreover, our analysis found that between 2002 and 2007, nine countries have made a significant progress in ICT adoption such that they have transitioned into a group previously consisting primarily of developed countries.

The moderating effects of keyword competition on the determinants of ad position in sponsored search advertising

This study uses a unique cross-sectional dataset of the top 500 internet retailers in North America and empirically investigates the moderating effects of keyword competition on the relationship between ad position and its determinants in the sponsored search market. The study draws on the literature in keyword auction design, search advertising performance, and consumer search behavior as the theoretical foundation. The study finds a significant variation in the role of keyword competition for web-only versus multi-channel retailers. Specifically, this study finds that keyword competition has a significant moderating effect only for multi-channel retailers. The empirical analysis also indicates that the position of ads for web-only retailers is dependent on bid values and ad relevancy factors, whereas multi-channel retailers are more reliant on their bid values. We discuss the implications of these results in light of the increased popularity of sponsored search advertising in recent years. We empirically examine the moderating effects of keyword competition on ad position.The study provides insights into keyword competition and sponsored ad performance.Competition has a significant moderating effect only for multi-channel retailers.Ad position for web-only retailers is dependent on bid values and relevancy factors.Multi-channel retailers are more reliant on their bid values.

Efficiency Evaluation in Search Advertising

In this article, we use data envelopment analysis combined with principal component analysis to evaluate the efficiency of online retailers in search advertising. We examine various efficiency model specifications involving several resource and performance-related variables in search advertising. Our analysis based on 200 retailers suggests different efficiency patterns for multichannel and Web-only retailers. The results of our efficiency pattern analysis indicate that the performance metrics, impressions, online sales, click-through rate, and conversion rate together reveal differences in efficiency mainly for multichannel retailers. On the other hand, ad positions in sponsored and organic links reveal differences in efficiency for Web-only retailers. In terms of overall efficiency, we find that multichannel retailers occupy relatively most of the top positions. These results contribute to organizational level understanding of search advertising practices in online retailing and offer insights into keyword management, resource utilization, and performance metrics in search advertising campaigns.

A Cost-Based Range Estimation for Mapping Top-k Selection Queries over Relational Databases

Finding efficient methods for supporting top-k relational queries has received significant attention in academic research. One of the approaches in the recent literature is query-mapping, in which top-k queries are mapped (translated) into equivalent range queries that relational database systems (RDBMSs) normally support. This approach combines the advantage of simplicity as well as practicality by avoiding the need for modifications to the query engine, or specialized data structures or indexing techniques to handle top-k queries separately. However, existing methods following this approach fall short of adequately modeling the problem environment and providing consistent results. In this article, the authors propose a cost-based range estimation model for the query-mapping approach. They provide a methodology for trading-off relevant query execution cost components and mapping a top-k query into a cost-optimal range query for efficient execution. Their experiments on real world and synthetic data sets show that the proposed strategy not only avoids the need to calibrate workloads on specific database contents, but also performs at least as well as prior methods.

Range query estimation with data skewness for top-k retrieval

Top-k querying can significantly improve the performance of web-based business intelligence applications such as price comparison and product recommendation systems. Top-k retrieval involves finding a limited number of records in a relational database that are most similar to user-specified attribute-value pairs. This paper extends the cost-based query-mapping method for top-k retrieval by incorporating data skewness in range estimation. Experiments on real world and synthetic multi-attribute data sets show that incorporating data skewness provides a robust performance across different types of data sets, query sets, distance functions, and histograms.

Design and behavioral science research in premier is journals: evidence from database management research

In this article, we examine database management research that has been published in ISR, JMIS, and MISQ from each journals inception to 2007. Our goal is to profile database research using a classification scheme that includes research paradigms, IT constructs, and research methodologies. The overall statistics obtained shows that information systems (IS) research in database management, which is widely recognized as part of the core knowledge of IS, is diverse in IT constructs, methodologies, as well as research paradigms. However, we also find that each journal has focused more on one research paradigm and some research methodologies. We summarize and discuss these results which can be useful to design science researchers in targeting their work in these three premier IS journals.

Social Web: Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Knowledge Communities

In recent years, online social networks have grown immensely and become widely popular among Internet users. In general, a social network is a social structure consisting of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are connected by one or more specific types of relations. These online groups are made up of those who share passions, beliefs, hobbies, or lifestyles. These networks allow the development of communities that exploit the capacity of the Internet to expand users’ social worlds to include people in distant locations, binding them more strongly. The Internet helps many people find others who share their interests regardless of the distance between them. These social networks use a variety of communication and collaboration technologies such as blogging, video conferencing, and Wiki tools to name a few, which can be used to harness collective intelligence. Thus, they provide great communication potential and tremendous opportunities for both casual users and professionals to share knowledge with others and thus benefit from the collective pool of shared knowledge. For instance, in the context of learning where communication of knowledge about issues and experience may be limited by traditional means, educators can share experiences and teaching materials that can advance eLearning. In other communities such as the health care domain, doctors and nurses can share practices, experiences, and other resources to provide better health care. Another example can be experiences and knowledge shared by emergency workers which can improve emergency responses in various dimensions. In this chapter, we discuss how Web 2.0 technologies can enhance knowledge-based professional communities. Specifically, we identify a few select communities and discuss the technologies that are used, the ways in which they can be used, and the potential opportunities and challenges encountered by these communities.