George M. Giaglis

A taxonomy of business process modeling and information systems modeling techniques

Modeling always has been at the core of both organizational design and information systems (IS) development. Models enable decision makers to filter out the irrelevant complexities of the real world, so that efforts can be directed toward the most important parts of the system under study. However, both business analysts and IS professionals may find it difficult to navigate through a maze of theoretical paradigms, methodological approaches, and representational formalisms that have been proposed for both business process modeling (BPM) and information systems modeling (ISM). This paper sets out to put an order to this chaos by proposing an evaluation framework and a novel taxonomy of BPM and ISM techniques. These findings, coupled with a detailed review of BPM and ISM techniques, can assist decision makers in comparatively evaluating and selecting suitable modeling techniques, depending on the characteristics and requirements of individual projects.

A research framework for analysing eBusiness models

As eBusiness is moving towards maturity, research interests shift to the investigation of opportunities for market exploitation of eBusiness technologies. As a result, the debate around business models naturally becomes more topical. However, while many researchers and practitioners are contemplating business models, there is an alarming lack of theoretical tools in the literature to structure and codify knowledge in the area. This paper draws on an extensive review of the literature to propose an analytic framework that decomposes the area of business models into eight research sub-domains. The proposed framework is then applied to organize and critically review existing research under each sub-domain as well as to define an agenda of future challenges on business model research. The framework can benefit future research by allowing researchers to better concentrate their efforts and place their contributions in an overall context, thus assisting in building a coherent body of knowledge in the challenging research domain of business models.

A taxonomy of indoor and outdoor positioning techniques for mobile location services

Wireless positioning determination has received increased attention during the past few years. Several wireless applications have been envisaged when mobile terminal location can be determined with sufficient accuracy at any time. In this paper, we attempt to identify the various indoor and outdoor positioning techniques that can be used for the provision of mobile and wireless applications and services. In order to maximize the benefits of this research in the area of positioning technologies, we propose a novel taxonomy with detailed analysis and evaluation of these techniques based on the accuracy that is needed for various mobile location-based services.

Minimizing logistics risk through real‐time vehicle routing and mobile technologies: Research to date and future trends

Vehicle routing (VR) is critical in successful logistics execution. The emergence of technologies and information systems allowing for seamless mobile and wireless connectivity between delivery vehicles and distribution facilities is paving the way for innovative approaches to real‐time VR and distribution management. This paper investigates avenues for building upon recent trends in VR‐related research towards an integrated approach to real‐time distribution management. A review of the advances to‐date in both fields, i.e. the relevant research in the VR problem and the advances in mobile technologies, forms the basis of this investigation. Further to setting requirements, we propose a system architecture for urban distribution and real‐time event‐driven vehicle management.

The role of intermediaries in electronic marketplaces: developing a contingency model

Abstract. Early research in electronic markets seemed to suggest that e- commerce transactions would result in decreased costs for buyers and sellers alike, and would therefore ultimately lead to the elimination of intermediaries from electronic value chains. However, a careful analysis of the structure and functions of electronic marketplaces reveals a different picture. Intermediaries provide many value-adding functions that cannot be easily substituted or ‘internalized’ through direct supplier–buyer dealings, and hence mediating parties may continue to play a significant role in the e-commerce world. In this paper we provide an analysis of the potential roles of intermediaries in electronic markets and we articulate a number of hypotheses for the future of intermediation in such markets. Three main scenarios are discussed: the disintermediation scenario, in which market dynamics will favour direct buyer–seller transactions; the reintermediation scenario, in which traditional intermediaries will be forced to differentiate themselves and re-emerge in the electronic marketplace; and the cybermediation scenario, in which wholly new markets for intermediaries will be created. The analysis suggests that the likelihood of each scenario dominating a given market is primarily dependent on the exact functions that intermediaries play in each case. A detailed discussion of such functions is presented in the paper, together with an analysis of likely outcomes in the form of a contingency model for intermediation in electronic markets.

Improving the prediction accuracy of recommendation algorithms: Approaches anchored on human factors

Recommender systems are a special class of personalized systems that aim at predicting a users interest on available products and services by relying on previously rated items or item features. Human factors associated with a users personality or lifestyle, although potential determinants of user behavior are rarely considered in the personalization process. In this paper, we demonstrate how the concept of lifestyle can be incorporated in the recommendation process to improve the prediction accuracy by efficiently managing the problem of limited data availability. We propose two approaches: one relying on lifestyle alone and another integrating lifestyle within the nearest neighbor approach. Both approaches are empirically tested in the domain of recommendations for personalized television advertisements and are shown to outperform existing nearest neighborhood approaches in most cases.

Technology innovation‐induced business model change: a contingency approach

Purpose – To construct and test, through its application to a real case study, a methodology that generates contingencies for the evolution of a company or an industrys reference business model (BM) under the impact of a technology innovation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on theoretical predicaments of organizational development and scenario planning as well as more recently published works (2001‐2004) on BM design and change in order to build the primary steps of the methodology. A contingency approach is applied for selecting among alternatives the most suitable future BM. The usefulness and applicability of the provided methodology are proved through a real case study that concerns changing the exhibitions industry reference BM under the impact of a mobile innovation.Findings – The proposed methodology is primarily useful in cases where a strategic manager wishes to draw and assess not one totally new BM but a set of scenarios that reflect alternative configurations for its current BM...

Dynamic modeling to assess the business value of electronic commerce

Before adopting electronic commerce (E-Comm), organizations need to assess its real business value, and to compare its costs with those of the associated investments. The intangible nature of most E-Comm benefits may make it difficult to develop an actual business case. This paper presents a case study of E-Comm investment evaluation. Computer-based models of the business processes affected by E-Comm were developed and dynamically simulated to assist in obtaining insight on the real benefits and dangers associated with the planned business change. The potential of Dynamic Process Modeling to support assessment of E-Comm business value is discussed in light of the results of the case study.

A hybrid approach for improving predictive accuracy of collaborative filtering algorithms

Recommender systems represent a class of personalized systems that aim at predicting a user’s interest on information items available in the application domain, operating upon user-driven ratings on items and/or item features. One of the most widely used recommendation methods is collaborative filtering that exploits the assumption that users who have agreed in the past in their ratings on observed items will eventually agree in the future. Despite the success of recommendation methods and collaborative filtering in particular, in real-world applications they suffer from the insufficient number of available ratings, which significantly affects the accuracy of prediction. In this paper, we propose recommendation approaches that follow the collaborative filtering reasoning and utilize the notion of lifestyle as an effective user characteristic that can group consumers in terms of their behavior as indicated in consumer behavior and marketing theory. Emanating from a basic lifestyle-based recommendation algorithm we incrementally proceed to the development of hybrid recommendation approaches that address certain dimensions of the sparsity problem and empirically evaluate them providing further evidence of their effectiveness.

A case study in pervasive retail

In this paper we discuss the rationale for the development of MyGrocer, a second-generation pervasive retail system, as well as its implications for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. We will only touch upon the technology infrastructure and the required technical developments since these have been discussed extensively elsewhere. The focus here is on the one hand, on the analysis of the business forces that dictate the development of pervasive retail and on the other, the implications and the opportunities for innovative business models offered by the dis-intermediation effect of pervasive retail on the supply chain of FMCG. The MyGrocer system has undergone two phases of field-testing and is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year. The development of the MyGrocer architecture is a collaborative effort between industry and academia within Europe.