John Mylonakis

An exploratory study on the reasons for purchasing imported high fashion apparels

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the reasons that Greek consumers purchase imported high fashion apparel over Greek designers high fashion apparel. The objective of the research is to detect the underlying factors that affect their purchasing behaviour.Design/methodology approach – Qualitative research was conducted through discussions with consumer focus groups, all purchasers of imported high fashion apparel. Quantitative research was undertaken by means of a questionnaire with 28 items referring to the reasons for purchasing imported high fashion apparel. The sample consisted of 200 high fashion consumers from the city of Larissa, Greece. Data analysis includes descriptive statistics, reliability, as well as factor analysis by principal component analysis with Varimax rotation.Findings – Results indicate that the consumers perceive that the imported high fashion apparel have better aesthetics, a better line and are produced from quality textiles, compared to the domestic high fashion a...

The contribution of e-government to the modernisation of the Hellenic taxation system

The taxation system exerts substantial influence to the economic activity. Taxes, among others, influence work, saving, investments and the undertaking of business activity. This paper constitutes a study with regard to the issue of the e-government and its evolutionary course during the new era of Information Technology (IT) and the internet, and more specifically the role that it plays in the modernisation of the Hellenic taxation system. Moreover, the influence of the e-government to the application of modern information systems that support direct and indirect taxation is examined and the respective tax controls procedures as well. Furthermore, certain proposals are outlined with regard to the technological reform of the taxation system and the transition to the digital era on the basis of the adoption of new methodologies and practices. The easy-to-use operation systems and the low-cost communication channels (internet), the function of electronic tax processes (TAXISnet) and the increased participation of taxpayers will create a socio-economic environment, which is predicted to satisfy both the tax administration and the taxpayers.

The entrepreneurship reality in the field of supply chain management systems: the Hellenic market paradigm

Supply chain management constitutes a relatively new and promising field of management science, affecting greatly the efficiency of Greek enterprises. The objective of this research is to detect the range of SCM applications in Greece; the trends and views of Greek enterprises in relation to efficiency, difficulties, costs, benefits and necessity, as these were generated from the implementation of one or more SMC applications. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has now proven to be an indispensable backbone for most Greek enterprises. Enterprises on the whole have stated that they have proceeded to a combination of ERP and Best of Bread systems. However, despite the valuable benefits featuring the selection of Application Service Providers - ASP (leasing of SCM applications), it has been found that this solution has not matured yet in the consciousness of Greek companies. The great majority considers it either unattractive or slightly attractive.

The Safety Issue in a Web Travel Booking Services Scenario Based on Business Process Execution Language

In the Business Process modeling area, the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) seems to be gaining ground in favor of its other competitors. The simplicity of the protocol coupled with its ability to hide the complex mechanisms that lie underneath along with advanced control features and integration with other concrete standards as XPath and XSLT have contributed to its acceptance. BPEL has been thoroughly investigated in literature as a solution to workflow management in an enterprise environment. In this paper, an intrinsic property of BPEL, related to compensation handling, is investigated as an alternative approach to two-phase commit used in distributed transactions. The applicability of the proposed solution is demonstrated on a travel booking scenario and interesting conclusions are drawn regarding the system’s response in cases of service failures.

A survey on the necessary business profile constituents for the implementation of teleworking

Teleworking is an alternative form of work organisation that incorporates information technology and human resources. The social and earnings impact of teleworking on the economy are sometimes characterised by simple and dismissive arguments. This research is an initial attempt to quantify the results of primary data gathered in one of the poorest EU regions (East Macedonia and Thrace (EMT the findings will also reveal a profile of companies that could successfully deploy a sustainable strategy for teleworking. Although small or medium size companies prevail in this region, almost 1/3 of them have, or, could easily, acquire the essential attributes to carry out teleworking to a certain extent.

Sales schedule optimisation in an agent-based technology

This paper presents a formalised negotiation methodology for distributed sales schedule optimisation. The purpose is to solve the optimisation problem, taking into account constraints such as the salesmen capacity and income increase in a uniform way and the companys turnover increase. In this approach a sales schedule is developed dynamically by all of the concerned participants. The negotiation methodology used allows agents to negotiate with other agents in a certain geographical area based on their sales capacity, commission percentage and the areas sales turnover. A simulation model based on Repast3 has been developed to evaluate the algorithm accuracy and the systems convergence. By executing this prototype with various utility functions, interesting results have been achieved showing a convergence in total companys turnover, salesmen capacity and salesman income.