Dimitar Grozdanov Christozov

A Measure of Risk Caused by Information Asymmetry in e-Commerce

The problem of enhancing success in e-Commerce requires reducing or sharing the risk of misinforming. The objectives of this paper is to raise and discuss the difficulties in quantifying the risk of misunderstanding caused by information asymmetry in a communication process; and to propose a mathematical model, developed to measure the risk of misinforming. Usage of warranty, as the most popular tool of sharing risk, is discussed in the light of risks of misinforming. A data set collected in an experiment, was used to illustrate the major ideas proposed as well as to stress on the fact that in particular circumstances this kind of risk is not understood by clients, which often leads to wrong decisions.

Automotive warranty data: stratification approach for estimating the mean cumulative function

This study extends previous work that accounts for mileage accumulation in automotive warranty data analysis. Warranty coverage is typically limited by age as well as mileage. Age is known for all sold vehicles all the time, but mileage is only observed for a vehicle with a claim and only at the time of the claim. Here we consider either age or mileage as the usage measure. We evaluate the mean cumulative number of claims or cost of claims and its standard error as functions of the usage measure. Within a nonparametric framework, we account the rate of mileage accumulation and allow for variation in the rate of mileage accumulation over a vehicles lifetime. We illustrate the ideas with real data on four cases based on whether the usage measure is age or miles and whether the results are adjusted for withdrawals from the warranty coverage.

Knowledge Diffusion via Social Networks: The 21st Century Challenge

The paper focuses on the phenomenon of social networks and their role in the process of knowledge diffusion. Social networks define the structure of a population of individuals. Diverse and dynamic environments lead to evolution of social networks as informing media. The Internet revolution affected especially the way people communicate and it naturally produced a new infrastructure for maintaining social networks. Different topologies of social networks are considered as different paths of knowledge diffusion. The paper addresses the challenges and opportunities this new infrastructure provides. It also argues for needs of “social network literacy†for successful and fruitful use of technology in solving the knowledge acquiring problem.

Warranty as a Factor for E-commerce Success

Two groups of factors impact the success of e-commerce transaction: environmental factors and content of the messages exchanged between the seller and the buyer. The first group includes factors describing the environment in which the seller-buyer relationship operates, such as IT infrastructure, Logistic Infr astructure, Financial Infrastructure, and Government regulations. Second group -content of the message -covers these elements of the message, which improve the trust between the two parties (especially the buyer’s trust). Among them, the statement about warranty plays critical role as the risk reducing information send by the seller. The two aspects of warranty message are considered: malfunctioning (the product does not operate as it is expected by the seller) and misinforming (the product does not operate as it is expected by the buyer).

Informing via Websites: Comparative Assessment of University Websites

The paper focuses on the problems related to information systems assessment from the point of view of informing users. More specifically the paper tries to answer whether the examined information systems provide users with information in a form, format, and schedule that maximizes its effectiveness in the sense of informing science. Measures of information systems usability are used in evaluation of the ability of information systems to inform users effectively. A framework, model and assessment methodology are presented. Results of an empirical experiment conducted to evaluate informativeness of university websites are shared.

Data Literacy: Developing Skills on Exploring Big Data Applications

Thearticlesharestheauthors’experiencesintrainingbachelor-levelstudentstoexploreBigData applicationsinsolvingnowadaysproblems.Thearticlediscussescurriculumissuesandpedagogical techniquesconnectedtodevelopingBigDatacompetencies.Thefollowingobjectivesaretargeted: Theimportanceandimpactofmakingrational,datadrivendecisionsintheBigDataera;Complexity ofdevelopingandexploringaBigDataApplicationinsolvingreallifeproblems;Learningskillsto adoptandexploreemergingtechnologies;andKnowledgeandskillstointerpretandcommunicate resultsofdataanalysisviacombiningdomainknowledgewithsystemexpertise.Thecurriculum covers: The two general uses of Big Data Analytics Applications, which are well distinguished fromthepointofviewofend-user’sobjectives(presentingandvisualizingdataviaaggregationand summarization[datawarehousing:datacubes,dashboards,etc.]andlearningfromData[datamining techniques]);OrganizationofDataSources:distinctionofMasterDatafromOperationalData,in particular;Extract-Transform-Load(ETL)process;andInformingvs.Misinforming,includingthe issueofover-trustvs.under-trustofobtainedanalyticalresults. KEywoRDS Big Data, Competency, Education, Literacy, Literacy Divide

Risk of Misinforming and Message Customization in Customer Related Management

This paper discusses applications of the measures of the risk of misinforming and the role of the warranty of misinforming in the context of the informing component of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) issues. This study consists of two parts. Firstly, we propose an approach for customers’ grouping based on their attitude toward assessing product’s properties and their expertise on the terminology/domain of the seller’s message describing the product. Also we discuss what the most appropriate personal/group warranty is for each of these group/clusters.