The year 2000 saw many dot-com companies created and many existing companies going into E-commerce. However, with many companies failing, it is clear that companies need to follow a well thought out strategy for E-commerce. The main research aim was to assist companies towards a successful E-commerce strategy. This research was sponsored by NSB Retail which offers software solutions to high street retailers. Published literature on E-commerce was studied to determine success and failure factors in establishing a viable E-commerce business and lessons that can be learned from this. As a result of the studies of E-commerce company experiences a strategy formulation framework was created to help companies carry out feasibility study and form a strategy for implementing E-commerce. At the heart of this framework were twenty key questions for managers considering entering E-commerce and twelve critical success factors needed for sustained E-commerce success. This strategy formulation framework was tested by applying the initial stages in a feasibility study for an established, traditional retail company to determine whether it should move into E-commerce. The later stages of the framework were then retrospectively applied to successful and unsuccessful E-commerce companies. The case studies were also used to investigate whether traditional business and marketing theory could still be applied to an E-commerce company. To further test the concepts behind the strategy formulation framework, a series of papers were submitted to peer reviewed conferences and journals. Feedback from the reviews of these papers and from the audiences at the conferences was very positive and showed that the experiences of experts in the E-commerce field generally agreed with the findings. Investigations from the research has also revealed there is a shortage of case study material for training E-commerce workers. Three case studies used in this research were published in an MBA course book to be used by Ball State and other universities. It is concluded that this research has made a valuable contribution for companies contemplating an investment in E-commerce, and further work is identified to continue to assist companies to form a strategy for E-commerce implementation in the future.

La percée des applications mobiles d’aide à l’achat est un phénomène récent. L’usage croissant du smartphone au sein du point de vente (i.e. plus de 70% des consommateurs) a conduit les distributeurs à développer ces outils pour aider les consommateurs à faire des achats plus éclairés. Cependant, à l’image des Self-services technologies (e.g. caisses automatiques), les applications d’aide à l’achat soulèvent de nombreuses questions, notamment concernant les facteurs de création de valeur pour le client. L’objectif de notre recherche consiste dès lors à mesurer la valeur d’une application mobile d’aide à l’achat, par le client, dans le contexte d’un point de vente physique. Il s’agit aussi d’en déterminer les conséquences sur la relation au point de vente. Ce travail s’appuie sur la littérature portant sur le concept de la valeur et sur les applications mobiles d’aide à l’achat. Une recherche qualitative exploratoire sous forme de focus groups permet de mettre en exergue les bénéfices et les coûts liés à l’usage des applications mobiles au sein du point de vente. Divers éléments conditionnels pouvant modérer les effets de liens de ces applications sont également identifiés : type de point de vente (alimentaire versus multimédia), type d’application (« Pull » versus « Push ») et degré de personnalisation (personnalisé versus non personnalisé). Cela nous conduit à la construction d’une échelle de mesure de la valeur d’usage d’une application et à l’élaboration d’un modèle conceptuel qui reprend l’approche hybride de la valeur. Ce modèle vise à décrire la création d’une valeur globale résultant de l’usage d’une application mobile d’aide à l’achat et à identifier l’impact de cette valeur globale sur la fidélité. Ce modèle est testé par le biais d’une méthodologie expérimentale pour laquelle des applications fictives ont été spécialement conçues. Cinq études quantitatives successives sont menées sur un échantillon global de plus 1000 étudiants. Des analyses multi-groupes permettent de mesurer les effets modérateurs des éléments conditionnels : Les résultats montrent que la valeur globale induite par l’usage de ces applications mobiles influence la fidélité envers le point de vente. Chacun des éléments conditionnels présente des effets modérateurs sur les liens du modèle. Les effets modérateurs du type d’application « Push » combinés au fort degré de personnalisation obtiennent les meilleurs résultats avec la création d’une valeur globale conséquente impactant la fidélité envers le point de vente. / The breakthrough of mobile shopping applications is a recent phenomenon. The increasing use of smartphones in retail stores (i.e. more than 70% of consumers) has led retailers to develop these tools to help consumers make smarter purchases. However, similar to Self-service technologies (e.g. automatic cash registers), mobile applications raise many issues, particularly regarding the factors that create customer value. The objective of our research is therefore to measure the value of a mobile purchasing support application for the customer in the context of a retail store. It also involves determining the consequences on the relationship with the retail store. This work is based on the literature on the concept of value and on mobile purchasing assistance applications. Qualitative exploratory research in the form of focus groups highlights the benefits and costs associated with the use of mobile applications in the retail store. Various conditional elements that can moderate the link effects of these applications are also identified: type of retail store (food versus multimedia), type of application ("Pull" versus "Push") and level of personalization (personalized versus non-personalized). This leads us to the construction of a scale for measuring the value in use of an application and to the development of a conceptual model that incorporates the hybrid approach of value. This model aims to describe the creation of global value resulting from the use of a mobile purchasing assistance application and to identify the impact of this global value on loyalty. This model is tested using an experimental methodology for which fictive applications have been specially designed. Five successive quantitative studies are conducted on a total sample of more than 1000 students. Multigroup analysis are used to measure the moderating effects of conditional elements: The results show that the global value induced by the use of these mobile applications influences loyalty to the point of sale. Each of the conditional elements has moderating effects on the model links. The moderating effects of the "Push" application type combined with the high level of personalization achieve the best results with the creation of a significant global value impacting loyalty to the point of sale.

Recently, there has been a growth in digital technology use and an upward trend in the adoption and use of social media by individuals and corporations, changing the way people communicate and interact. Despite this evolution, little is known about how the adoption of online social interaction affects entrepreneurial processes, especially opportunity evaluation. This empirical study sought to fill the gap in the literature by investigating the effect of social interaction via social media on opportunity evaluation. In reviewing the studies done on opportunity evaluation as indicated in the paper by Wood and Mckelvie (2015), it would seem that the effect of online social interaction on opportunity evaluation has not been studied and hence, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there was no model in the literature to measure the effect. The study used a mixed-method approach. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data from a random sample of young entrepreneurs in Ghana. The questions were evaluated with SPSS and later exported to STATA for data analysis. Factor analysis and various normality tests were performed to ensure the accuracy of the data. A total of 383 questionnaires were analysed. This was then followed by key informant interviews with 13 entrepreneurs, and the analysis done using Nvivo 11. The main contribution of this research is the development of a model that measures the effect of online social interaction on opportunity evaluation. The study found that online social interaction helps entrepreneurs build networks which subsequently has an impact on opportunity evaluation either directly, or indirectly through mediation by resource availability. This study has made an important contribution to practice by showing the positive effect that basic tools that aid daily activities, like social media, has on entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation. ii It is recommended that future research understands other factors that may facilitate the opportunity evaluation process and the extent to which those factors facilitate the opportunity evaluation process, as this may lead to better insight with regards to targeting entrepreneurial training for optimum results. The use of the mediation analysis process was adopted for this study because of evidence from other disciplines that suggest the efficacy of targeting interventions at the intermediate process. Using this approach for future studies will help target interventions, taking into consideration mediation mechanisms for more impact. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / D.B. L.

Customer satisfaction is a key concern in any business strategy. It is often assumed that customer satisfaction can be enhanced using e-services. E-service is defined as interactive service received via the Internet (Jiang et al., 2013). E-service has contributed to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce by providing on-demand solutions to customers. The relationship with the customer is enhanced by introducing self-service options, product customisation and variety. However, there may also be negative impacts, such as techno-stress and lack of online customer assistance. The primary aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework to describe the correlation relationship between the factors that influence customers’ adoption of e-services. Organisations use the Internet to attract customers, to conduct financial services and obtain information. This research focussed specifically on online shopping. The Grounded Theory research methodology was chosen for its flexibility and iterative comparison of data. A quantitative survey was conducted to determine the relative significance of the factors uncovered by the Grounded Theory methodology and to validate the hypothesis of the conceptual model. Customer adoption is attained where customer satisfaction is high, where the customer sees value in the service, and where there is customer loyalty or trust. To date, research has focussed primarily on developed countries. Many challenges face South Africa as a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC). The negative factors facing developing countries in terms of e-service adoption include: lack of infrastructure, economic constraints and an emergent socio-political framework. The aim of this research was to build a conceptual model for explaining interrelationships between the identified factors that have an impact on customer e-service adoption. The customer’s perception of technology-driven services affects the organisation’s reputation, which in turn affects profitability. This research will be beneficial to managers in local organisations that thrive on e-services. An understanding of customer preferences will lead to improvement of customer services in South Africa. / Information Science / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Customer satisfaction is a key concern in any business strategy. It is often assumed that customer satisfaction can be enhanced using e-services. E-service is defined as interactive service received via the Internet (Jiang et al., 2013). E-service has contributed to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce by providing on-demand solutions to customers. The relationship with the customer is enhanced by introducing self-service options, product customisation and variety. However, there may also be negative impacts, such as techno-stress and lack of online customer assistance. The primary aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework to describe the correlation relationship between the factors that influence customers’ adoption of e-services. Organisations use the Internet to attract customers, to conduct financial services and obtain information. This research focussed specifically on online shopping. The Grounded Theory research methodology was chosen for its flexibility and iterative comparison of data. A quantitative survey was conducted to determine the relative significance of the factors uncovered by the Grounded Theory methodology and to validate the hypothesis of the conceptual model. Customer adoption is attained where customer satisfaction is high, where the customer sees value in the service, and where there is customer loyalty or trust. To date, research has focussed primarily on developed countries. Many challenges face South Africa as a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC). The negative factors facing developing countries in terms of e-service adoption include: lack of infrastructure, economic constraints and an emergent socio-political framework. The aim of this research was to build a conceptual model for explaining interrelationships between the identified factors that have an impact on customer e-service adoption. The customer’s perception of technology-driven services affects the organisation’s reputation, which in turn affects profitability. This research will be beneficial to managers in local organisations that thrive on e-services. An understanding of customer preferences will lead to improvement of customer services in South Africa. / Information Science / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Network Direct Selling Organisations (NDSOs) exist in more than 50 countries and have more than 74 million members. The most recent statistical information reveals that the vast majority of members do not earn significant income. Criticism of these organisations revolves around the ethicality of consumption, the commercialisation of personal relationships, and the exploitation of unrealistic expectations. This study aims to explore how communication creates networks that sustain an industry of this kind despite the improbability of its existence. The study commences with a description of NDSOs from historical, operational, tactical, and strategic perspectives. Given the broader context created by the global presence of this industry, cybernetics has been selected as a meta-theoretical perspective for the study of communication. The more recent development of second-order cybernetics and social autopoiesis are introduced to communication theory as a field. Niklas Luhmann‟s new social theory of communication is assessed and applied in relation to existing communication theory. New conceptual models are developed to explore communication as the unity of the synthesis of information, utterance, understanding, and expectations as selections that occur both consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and unintentionally. These models indicate the multiplexity of individual and social operationally closed, yet informationally open systems, and they are used here to provide a systemic and coherent alternative to orthodox communication approaches to the study of organisations. The study adopts a constructivist epistemological stance and propounds throughout the necessity of further interdisciplinary collaboration. The study concludes that individuals are composite unities of self-creating systems, and they co-create social systems by self-creating and co-creating meaning. Meaning is described as the continuous virtualisation and actualisation of potentialities that in turn coordinate individual and social systems‟ actions. A communication process flow model is created to provide a theoretical explanation for the existence of NDSOs as self-creating systems. The study aims to show that communication has arguably become the most pervasive discipline as a result of the globally interactive era. It is shown that second-order cybernetics and social autopoiesis raise several further questions to be explored within communication theory as a field. / Communication, first-order cybernetics, second-order cybernetics, Complexity and complex systems, autopoiesis, self-reference, recursivity, operational closure, system boundaries, Network Direct Selling Organisations / Communication / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

Network Direct Selling Organisations (NDSOs) exist in more than 50 countries and have more than 74 million members. The most recent statistical information reveals that the vast majority of members do not earn significant income. Criticism of these organisations revolves around the ethicality of consumption, the commercialisation of personal relationships, and the exploitation of unrealistic expectations. This study aims to explore how communication creates networks that sustain an industry of this kind despite the improbability of its existence. The study commences with a description of NDSOs from historical, operational, tactical, and strategic perspectives. Given the broader context created by the global presence of this industry, cybernetics has been selected as a meta-theoretical perspective for the study of communication. The more recent development of second-order cybernetics and social autopoiesis are introduced to communication theory as a field. Niklas Luhmann‟s new social theory of communication is assessed and applied in relation to existing communication theory. New conceptual models are developed to explore communication as the unity of the synthesis of information, utterance, understanding, and expectations as selections that occur both consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and unintentionally. These models indicate the multiplexity of individual and social operationally closed, yet informationally open systems, and they are used here to provide a systemic and coherent alternative to orthodox communication approaches to the study of organisations. The study adopts a constructivist epistemological stance and propounds throughout the necessity of further interdisciplinary collaboration. The study concludes that individuals are composite unities of self-creating systems, and they co-create social systems by self-creating and co-creating meaning. Meaning is described as the continuous virtualisation and actualisation of potentialities that in turn coordinate individual and social systems‟ actions. A communication process flow model is created to provide a theoretical explanation for the existence of NDSOs as self-creating systems. The study aims to show that communication has arguably become the most pervasive discipline as a result of the globally interactive era. It is shown that second-order cybernetics and social autopoiesis raise several further questions to be explored within communication theory as a field. / Communication, first-order cybernetics, second-order cybernetics, Complexity and complex systems, autopoiesis, self-reference, recursivity, operational closure, system boundaries, Network Direct Selling Organisations / Communication / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)