Niina Maarit Novak

Avatar-based Innovation Processes - Are Virtual Worlds a breeding ground for Innovations?

The full potential of Virtual Worlds is still far away from being reached. Whereas innovations are key factors for economic success, the increase of complexity in innovation processes, due to an internationalization of collaborations as well as to an increase in interaction between manufacturers and consumers, represents a major challenge for many companies. In this context Avatar-based Innovation Processes represent promising innovation drivers, as they provide a globally connected working environment for user-centred innovation processes. The use of Avatars and Virtual Worlds allows for an unprecedented form of web based collaboration during the entire innovation process. The paper provides an overview of recent developments in Virtual Worlds. Using three selected case studies, the paper analyses how companies may use virtual environments and Avatars during various steps of the innovation process.

Online Ad-fraud in Search Engine Advertising Campaigns

Search Engine Advertising has grown strongly in recent years and amounted to about USD 60 billion in 2014. Based on real-world data of online campaigns of 28 companies, we analyse the incident of a hacked campaign-account. We describe the occurred damage, i.e. (1) follow-up consequences of unauthorized access to the account of the advertiser, and (2) limited availability of short-term online campaigns. This contribution aims at raising awareness for the threat of hacking incidents during online marketing campaigns, and provides suggestions as well as recommendations for damage prevention, damage detection and damage limitation.

Consumer acceptance on mobile shopping of textile goods in Austria: modelling an empirical study

Mobile business applications such as mobile shopping have experienced a major upswing in recent years. In order to respond appropriately to the high and still increasing demands of consumers, traders make use of mobile applications in many industries. In addition, as far as the trade of textiles is concerned, vendors use mobile shopping applications to increase their market opportunities and competitiveness. In this context, the authors formulate eight hypotheses and set up a research model for further analysis concerning consumer acceptance of mobile shopping, by using the textile goods market in Austria as an example.

Internet of Things Integration in Supply Chains – An Austrian Business Case of a Collaborative Closed-Loop Implementation

Although Internet of Things (IoT) applications have existed for several years by now, only a very small number of these applications are available on the market. Thus, there is still not much guidance on how to describe the evolution of cross-organizational IoT integration in a systematic manner. In this regard, we intend to make a contribution by analyzing a business case, i.e. an ongoing IoT implementation of an Austrian retail trader. Hence, we elaborate on the type of integration for a cross-organizational integration of IoT, highlight the effects on companies and analyze the economic feasibility.

Mobility for ‘Immovables’ – Clouds Supporting the Business with Real Estates

Abstract Businesses operating with ‘Immovables’ have always demanded high mobility from numerous protagonists within and across the real estate sector. Whereas recent developments of advanced cloud environments such as pervasive cloud and intercloud infrastructures are still in their infancy, their advancements appear to be supportive for this industry. Our contribution refers to the business with real estates as this sector shows several characteristics that predestine it as a showcase due to high and sustainable potential for value generation through clouds and cloud infrastructures. This paper analyses the use of various (types of) cloud applications in the field of real estate. It provides an insight into the structure of the real estate sector (life cycle, value chain, actors), into the state-of-the art of cloud applications, and reveals potential for further developments and unexplored segments of the real estate life cycle and/or value chain.

Virtual worlds as settings for avatar-based innovation processes

The full potential of Virtual Worlds is still far away from being reached. Whereas innovations are key factors for economic success, the increase of complexity in innovation processes, due to an internationalization of collaborations as well as to an increase in interaction between manufacturers and consumers, represents a major challenge for many companies. In this context Avatar-based Innovation Processes represent promising innovation drivers, as they provide a globally connected working environment for user-centred innovation processes. The use of Avatars and Virtual Worlds allows for an unprecedented form of web based collaboration during the entire innovation process. The paper provides a review of recent developments in Virtual Worlds, analyses how companies may exploit virtual environments and collaborate with Avatars during different stages of the innovation process, and underpins those alternatives with examples.

The Economic Value of an Emergency Call System.

eCall is a complex solution, aimed at supporting drivers and car passengers in the event of an accident in Europe. This automatic emergency call system for motor vehicles, planned by the European Union, is installed in all new models of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. In this context, the contribution analyses the monetary value of the eCall system implementation.

Online cofounder search in tech startups

Current recruiting processes are largely supported by diverse online solutions. Online application systems, virtual interviewing, and search for employees through professional social networks such as LinkedIn and XING have become common for both medium and large companies. Moreover, during the period after recession, i.e. 2009 to 2011, there was a trend towards customized e-applications and social networks to satisfy the personnel recruiting requirements of specific industries and types of business. In this paper an analysis of e-applications used for recruiting purposes is performed as well as for a cofounder search in the ICT-sector; emphasis is placed on the subsector of technology startups.

Clouds and Interclouds in the Real Estate Sector

Development and improvement of intercloud environments is still in an early stage, correspondingly, analyzing adequate realization of many types of applications is essential. In the presented contribution we have chosen an application with a high potential for value generation through cloud and cloud of clouds, i.e. The real estate business. The reason for this accumulated benefit that clouds may generate is threefold: (i) the objects in real estate business have high values, (ii) some phases during their life cycle cover very long time periods, and (iii) many different actors are involved along the value chain, many of them are SMEs. We give a to-the-point insight into the real estate sector (life cycle, value, chain, actors) and demonstrate possible effects through clouds for selected stakeholders. We further give a brief overview of cloud-based products in the field of real estate for a well-defined market (i.e. DACH-countries) in order to demonstrate the current situation.

Head in the Clouds: An Initiative for Digital Learning among Roma Communities in Europe.

Digital literacy has become one of today’s key-prerequisites in both professional and private life. Tasks such as navigating through an unknown city, writing an email, arranging a business meeting or learning a new language, call for a competent handling of devices (e.g. smartphones, computers, tablets etc.). In addition, a profound understanding of functions and applications is necessary to overcome the social and economic boundaries, which especially children and young people from socially disadvantaged groups, families with migration background, refugees or members of underprivileged minority groups (such as Roma) meet on a daily basis. This paper presents the digital educational method, contents and partial results of the ongoing project Head in the Clouds: Digital Learning to Overcome School Failure an EU-Erasmus+ strategic partnership aiming at providing quality educational materials for students from Roma communities in order to help participants develop the digital and transversal skills required to overcome existing boundaries to access (higher) education, employment as well as economic stability.