Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Corporate alliances have never been stronger than in the current environment. The more people that have access to the organisation’s products and services the better. Success is achieved through alliances with partners, direct contact with customers and collaboration with competitors. Today the focus is on identifying customer demands and integrating those demands across all business processes. Based on the above statements it is clearly evident that forward thinking organisations must develop deeper relationships with strategically identified customers. For organisations in general (buyers and suppliers) B2B e-commerce potentially offer the solution to strengthened customer relationships. The main aim of the study is to provide organisations entering the world of B2B collaborative commerce with a high level business orientated framework of the many and varied factors that influence a B2B journey. The study provides an understanding of global themes influencing e-business development such as globalisation, innovation and increased customer demands and relates these themes to current technology trends facing the buyers and suppliers of goods or services. Without such high level indicators organisations would lack a “compass” by which to navigate the treacherous waters of a B2B e-commerce journey. To create a deeper understanding of the B2B environment the study project discusses a concept coined by Oracle Corporation that breaks B2B relationships into four functional domains, modes or “sides”. They are the buy and sell sides, inside-common and infrastructure. The concept focuses on application functions, interfaces, and technical architecture and design. This is followed by an assessment of B2B operating models, a definition of B2B e-commerce and its association with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Risk management is an ongoing issue in the e-landscape. Understanding e-business risks and creating trading environments that limit these risk factors are key considerations. Developing e-trust principles, information management and a security framework are the topics under discussion in chapter four. The Chapter five starts with a comparative review of a study indicating that most organisations go through four stages prior to reaching the Internet endgame. Organisations keen to develop B2B e-commerce solutions should have a thorough understanding of where in the e-lifecycle the organisation is. This is followed by a discussion on how a KPMG Consulting methodology can chart organisational NetReadiness. The NetReadiness Score Card is a tool utilised to test four parameters within the organisation, namely leadership, governance, organizational competencies and technology. The analysis of the parameters provides prescriptive recommendations that can easily be practically applied. The writer is of the opinion that with clear indications of major growth in B2B e-commerce volumes and the substantial resources that organisation are investing in the e-business environment, the study’s relevance is unquestionable. Given the current environment, the study forms the foundation for explorative, qualitative research in the field of B2B e-commerce. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Korporatiewe alliansies was nog nooit so sterk soos in die huidige omgewing nie. Hoe meer mense toegang tot ‘n organisasie se produkte en dienste het, hoe beter. Sukses word bewerkstellig deur alliansies met vennote, regstreekse kontak met kliënte en samewerking met mededingers. Vandag is die fokus op die identifisering van kliëntevereistes en die integrasie van daardie vereistes oor alle sakeprosesse heen. Gegrond op bogenoemde stellings is dit duidelik dat progressiewe organisasies sterker verhoudings met strategies geïdentifiseerde kliënte moet ontwikkel. Vir organisasies oor die algemeen (kopers en verskaffers) bied besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handel potensieel die oplossing tot sterker kliënteverhoudings. Die hoofdoel van die studie is om organisasies wat die wêreld van besigheid-tot-besigheid medewerkende handel betree ‘n hoëvlakbesigheidsgerigte raamwerk te bied van die talle verskillende faktore wat ‘n besigheid-tot-besigheid-proses beïnvloed. Die studie verskaf ‘n begrip van internasionale temas, soos globalisering, innovasie en groter kliëntevereistes, wat die ontwikkeling van e-handel beïnvloed, en bring hierdie temas in verband met huidige tegnologietendense waarmee die kopers en verskaffers van goedere en dienste te kampe het. Sonder sulke hoëvlakaanwysers sal organisasies nie ‘n “kompas” hê waarmee hulle die gevaarlike waters van ‘n besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handelsreis kan aandurf nie. Ten einde ‘n beter begrip van die besigheid-tot-besigheid-omgewing te bewerkstellig, word ‘n begrip bespreek wat deur Oracle Corporation geskep is en wat besigheid-tot-besigheid-verhoudings in vier funksionele domeine, modusse of “kante” opdeel, naamlik die koop- en verkoopkante, interne gemeenskaplike domein en infrastruktuur. Die begrip fokus op toepassingsfunksies, koppelvlakke en tegniese argitektuur en ontwerp. Dit word gevolg deur ‘n evaluering van besigheid-tot-besigheid-bedryfsmodelle, ‘n omskrywing van besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handel en die verbinding daarmee met Elektroniese Data-uitruiling (EDI) en Elektroniese Fondsoorplasing (EFT). Risikobestuur is ‘n deurlopende vraagstuk in die e-omgewing. ‘n Begrip van e-handels-risiko’s en die skepping van handelsomgewings wat hierdie risikofaktore beperk, is belangrike oorwegings. Die ontwikkeling van e-vertrouensbeginsels, inligtingsbestuur en ‘n sekuriteitsraamwerk is die onderwerpe wat in Hoofstuk 4 bespreek word. Hoofstuk 5 begin met ‘n vergelykende oorsig van ‘n studie wat aantoon dat die meeste organisasies deur vier stadiums gaan voordat die Internet-eindspel bereik word. Organisasie wat gretig is om besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handelsoplossings te ontwikkel, behoort ‘n deeglike begrip te hê van waar in die e-lewensiklus die organisasie is. Dit word gevolg deur ‘n bespreking oor hoe ‘n KPMG-konsultasiemetodologie organisatoriese NetGereedheid kan bepaal. Die NetGereedheidstelkaart is ‘n instrument wat gebruik word om vier parameters binne die organisasie, naamlik leierskap, regering, organisasiebevoegdhede en tegnologie, te toets. Die ontleding van die parameters verskaf voorskriftelike aanbevelings wat maklik in die praktyk toegepas kan word. Die skrywer is van mening dat met duidelike aanduidings van sterk groei in besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handelsvolumes en die aansienlike hulpbronne wat organisasies in die e-handelsomgewing belê, die relevansie van die studie onbetwisbaar is. Gegewe die huidige omgewing vorm die studie die fondament vir ondersoekende, kwalitatiewe navorsing op die gebied van besigheid-tot-besigheid-e-handel.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

To deliver the type of marketing graduate that meets industry demand necessitates that marketing curricula content be continuously updated to keep pace with the dynamic marketing environment. One of the major trends influencing the twenty-first century marketing environment is the advent of the Internet and substantial growth in Internet usage and Internet-based commerce. Not only is the Internet driving major marketing environmental change, it is also emerging as a new marketing tool of significant potential. The widespread implications of the Internet to marketing is making it increasingly necessary for general marketing practitioners, even those not actively engaged in Internet-based commerce, to be equipped with an understanding of Internet marketing principles. For marketing education to remain relevant in the twenty-first century, it is essential that Internet marketing content elements be included in undergraduate generic marketing curricula. The first step in this process, and the one addressed by this study, is to identify and reach consensus on which Internet marketing content elements are relevant to generic undergraduate marketing students. The primary purpose of -this study w a s t a develop an empirically derived inventory o f Internet marketing content elements relevant for inclusion in generic undergraduate marketing programs, based upon both marketing academic and marketing practitioner perspectives. Five focal questions were asked and answered by the study. Which Internet-driven marketing environmental changes do marketing academics consider relevant to generic undergraduate marketing students? Which principles guiding the use of Internet as a marketing tool do marketing academics consider relevant to generic undergraduate marketing students? What do marketing academics consider to be the most suitable approach to implementing Internet marketing principles within higher education undergraduate business programs? What do marketing academics consider to be the relevant Internet marketing learning outcomes for generic marketing students at undergraduate level? Do marketing practitioners hold the same opinion as marketing academics regarding research questions one, two, three and four? For the purpose of this study, research was undertaken amongst two groups of respondents. Firstly, a census of the marketing faculties/departments of each of South Africa's public higher education institutions was taken at the end of 2004. Secondly, a non-probability, judgment sample of marketing practitioners, employed in those companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), that engage in marketing activities and which are operational in the South African market was taken at the start of 2005. The questionnaire requested respondents in both samples to indicate the relevance of five identified Internet-driven marketing environmental changes and twenty-four identified principles guiding the use of the Internet as a marketing tool to generic undergraduate marketing students. Further, both samples were requested to select the approach they judged to be the most suitable in implementing Internet marketing principles within undergraduate business programmes. Respondents in both samples were also requested to indicate which Internet marketing learning outcomes they believed. To be relevant generic undergraduate marketing student addition to both samples were asked to provide certain demographical data. The findings indicate that both the Internet-driven marketing environmental change's construct and the principles guiding the use of the Internet as a marketing tool construct to be relevant to generic undergraduate marketing students. The findings further suggest that Internet marketing content elements should be integrated into existing marketing subject offerings. Regarding the learning outcomes, the findings indicate descriptive Internet marketing principles to be the overriding learning outcome. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

The aim of this work is the analysis of selected online store. The introduction describes the possibilities of the Internet for marketing and online marketing mix. The next chapter describes selected products and the biggest online perfume sellers in the Czech Republic. In the fourth chapter is analyzed in detail a specific marketing of selected store.

社會意見在塑造我們購買決策和購買經歷發揮了至關重要的作用。除了正面（或負面）的意見會鼓勵（或打消）我們購買某個產品，我們的意見更傾向於遵循我們的社交圈。社會意見的這些方面對於做出精確產品推薦、準確預測信息流向、及有效營銷活動發布極為重要。 / 在這篇論文中，我們首先研究極性意見對我們的購買決策的影響。同時，我們分析了兩個現實世界中的社會網絡，Flixster 和Epinions 中的消極和積極的意見的信息傳播模式。我們觀察到，否定意見的存在大大降低了表達意見的數量。考慮到這兩種意見的不對稱性，我們提出並擴展了目前最流行的兩個信息傳播模式，獨立分級和線性閾值模型。我們提出的拓展模型提供了一個可處理的影響問題和並能夠提高將來意見的預測精度，超過3%。 / 更進一步，我們研究了社會意見對我們表達產品意見的影響。該問題的假設是多次顯示我們表達的意見並不完全獨立於我們的社交圈，而是通過校準，使之跟社會意見相似。為了理解這一現象，我們為用戶的評分提出了一個新型的模型。該模型中，用戶對項目的評分是由社會輿論、用戶的偏好和項目特點的一個函數。該模型可以提高用戶評分的預測準確率達2%。此外，模型中學習到的參數可展示用戶對社會意見的遵循程度。用戶對社會意見的遵循分析表明，超過76%的用戶傾向於在一定程度上遵循他們好友的意見。平均而言，當社會影響存在的時候，用戶評分更趨於正面。我們還發現，社會的遵循者通常不是信息傳播的第一次參與者。 / Social opinions play a crucial role in shaping both our purchase decisions and our experience. While on one hand, we are encouraged (discouraged) to adopt a product upon hearing the positive (negative) opinions; on the other hand, our opinions tend to conform to our social circle. Both of these aspects of social opinions are important in order to make precise product recommendations, to accurately predict the information flow pathways and to launch efficient viral marketing campaigns. / In this thesis, we first study the impact of polarity of opinions on our purchase decisions. For the same, we analyze the information propagation patterns of the negative and positive opinions on two real world social networks, Flixster and Epinions, and observe that the presence of negative opinions significantly reduces the number of expressed opinions. To account for the asymmetry between the two kinds of opinions, we propose extensions of the two most popular information propagation models, Independent Cascade and Linear Threshold models. The proposed extensions give a tractable influence problem and improve the prediction accuracy of future opinions, by more than 3%. / Next, we study the impact of social opinions on our expressed opinions about the products. The hypothesis is that many times our expressed opinions are not completely independent of our social circle and gets calibrated such that they are similar to the social opinions. In order to understand this phenomenon, we propose a novel formulation for the users ratings where every expressed rating is considered as a function of the social opinion along with the user preference and item characteristics. The proposed method helps in improving the prediction accuracy of users’ rating by more than 2% in presence of social influence. Additionally, the learned model parameters reveal the degree of conformity of users. Detailed analysis of user social conformity show that more than 76% of users tend to conform to their friends to some extent. On an average, user ratings become more positive in presence of the social influence. We also nd that the social conformers are usually not the rst one to participate in an information cascade. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Garg, Priyanka. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-110). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Contributions --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Organization --- p.4 / Chapter 2 --- Background & Survey --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Network Structure --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Basic Definitions --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Structural Properties of Social Networks --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Network Generators --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- Information Diffusion in Social Networks --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Basic Terminologies --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Principles governing the Decision-Making process --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Information Cascade Models --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Influence Estimation --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Viral Marketing --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Influence vs. Homophily --- p.44 / Chapter 2.2.7 --- Results from Large Scale Empirical Studies --- p.45 / Chapter 3 --- Impact on Product Purchase Decision --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.47 / Chapter 3.2 --- Related Work --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3 --- Problem Definition --- p.50 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data and Observations --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Data Collection --- p.51 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Observations --- p.52 / Chapter 3.5 --- Polarity-Sensitive Information Flow Model --- p.54 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Social Influence Function --- p.55 / Chapter 3.5.1.1 --- Polarity-Sensitive IC Model --- p.55 / Chapter 3.5.1.2 --- Polarity-Sensitive LT Model (LTPS) --- p.58 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Activation State of Influenced Node --- p.59 / Chapter 3.6 --- Influence Estimation --- p.61 / Chapter 3.7 --- Experiments on Synthetic Data --- p.63 / Chapter 3.7.1 --- IA and WP as Approximation of IC-N --- p.64 / Chapter 3.7.2 --- Quality of the Estimated Parameters --- p.65 / Chapter 3.7.3 --- Prediction Accuracy --- p.66 / Chapter 3.8 --- Experiments on Real Data --- p.69 / Chapter 3.8.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.69 / Chapter 3.8.2 --- Observations --- p.70 / Chapter 3.9 --- Summary --- p.72 / Chapter 4 --- Impact on Posterior Evaluation --- p.73 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.73 / Chapter 4.2 --- Related Work --- p.75 / Chapter 4.3 --- Ratings under social conformity --- p.77 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Problem Definition & Notations --- p.79 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Conformer's Ratings --- p.80 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Parameter Estimation --- p.82 / Chapter 4.4 --- Evaluation --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Goodreads Dataset --- p.85 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Prediction Accuracy --- p.87 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Influencers Quality --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Social Conformity Analysis --- p.91 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summary --- p.96 / Chapter 5 --- Summary & Future Work --- p.97 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary --- p.97 / Chapter 5.2 --- Future Work --- p.98 / Bibliography --- p.100

by Chow Ching Yee, Yip Sin Yu. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-41). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Background --- p.1 / Objective --- p.8 / LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.10 / Review On Online Shopping --- p.3 / Review On eCRM --- p.3 / E-mail Management System --- p.5 / Self-Help --- p.5 / Live Text Chat --- p.6 / Voice over IP (VOIP) --- p.7 / Conceptual Model --- p.10 / The Effects of eCRM on Online Shoppers' Perceptions --- p.10 / The Effects of Online Shoppers' Perceptions on the Attitude Towards Online Shopping --- p.14 / The Effect of Personal Innovativeness on the Attitude Towards Online Shopping --- p.16 / METHODOLOGY --- p.18 / Subjects --- p.18 / Procedure --- p.18 / Measure --- p.19 / Data Analysis --- p.20 / RESULTS AND FINDINGS --- p.21 / Assessment of the Measures --- p.21 / Model fit --- p.21 / CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS --- p.24 / APPENDICES --- p.34 / Appendix 1 --- p.34 / Appendix 2 --- p.35 / Appendix 3 --- p.36 / Appendix 4 --- p.37 / Appendix 5 --- p.38 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.40

The main aim of this work is describing and explaining the possibilities of web analytics as a tool for effective evaluation of the web and campaigns performance. The benefit appreciate everybody, who makes decision on further web development and its marketing based on measured data. The work is divided into three main parts. The first describes how set up Google Analytics for measuring the web, the second part shows how read and interpret the measured data. In the third practical part are both applied for analyzing prohifi.cz shop.

The diploma thesis characterizes the internet as the environment for marketing. It introduces the internet as a business tool and provides analysis of customer behavior on the internet in the Czech Republic. Following part deals with internet marketing and its specifics, which are websites, search engines and PPC ads. Next section analyses selected web analytics tools for managing internet campaings with regard on the needs of small and medium businesses. The last part is a case study, which implements the principles of the previous parts on the e-shop SteamGames.cz.

The thesis is about internet marketing tools and their possible usage, shown on exact example from internet shop Minibike-shop.cz. The thesis is divided in three logical parts, which are built on each other. There are theoretically described tools in the first part, which can be used for an online promotion of the shop. The individual tools describe their advantages and possibilities of usage, which can result in improvement of business competitiveness. The fourth chapter of the thesis is completely devoted to social networks in Czech Republic and possibilities, which are offered by these networks to businesses. One of the chapters of the theoretical part of the thesis is a chapter devoted to indicators, which will help us measuring company's marketing success. Second part of the thesis is focused on a chosen shop analysis and its competitors according to the theoretical assumptions set up in first part of the thesis. Web pages audit of the individual shops is completed on the top of that, resulting in showing lack of their qualities. Third part of the thesis is devoted to a strategy proposal, which is based on shortages found out in the analyst part. Aim of the strategy is to eliminate detected mistakes and also gain competitive advantage. The thesis is ended by conclusion, which is devoted to the thesis summary and evaluation of the set goals. The main benefit of the thesis is the competitive analysis completed for the internet shop Minibike-shop.cz. and the proposed strategy on company's marketing growth. The strategy will manage to increase an amount of visitors and their satisfaction, resulting in an increase of the company's profit.

This dissertation examines revisitation behaviour in the context of non-transactional websites. A holistic framework based on theories from repeat purchase behaviour and satisfaction was developed and tested. This study is among the first to consider revisitation as analogous to repeat purchase behaviour. The premise of the model is that revisitation is determined through an evaluation of prior visits and that the elements influencing revisitation included satisfaction, involvement (site, product category and medium) and social influences. Five non-transactional websites were examined with the selection based on the website typology developed in this thesis - a typology that will benefit website research as it provides a consistent and generic framework. Data were collected using a crosssectional web-based online survey via the homepage of the websites. Since satisfaction is considered to be a central factor in traditional repeat purchase behaviour and in website use, the antecedents of satisfaction were also examined. Overall the findings support the importance of content quality as a factor in satisfaction and even though website users are increasingly more proficient, ease of use is still an influential factor as is the attitude to the brand that the site supports. It was found that the users??? motives for using the site affected the relationship between the quality of the perceived benefits and satisfaction. If the motivation to use the site was for information, then the impact of information quality on satisfaction was weaker than the impact of entertainment quality on satisfaction. Alternatively, if the motivation was for entertainment, then once again the impact of information quality on satisfaction was weaker than that of entertainment quality. Initial model testing showed that the only factor to influence revisitation behaviour was enduring site involvement. Cognizant of the dangers of ???data driven theory???, the relationship of the elements was reassessed. The resultant model shows that product category involvement directly influences enduring site involvement and that enduring site involvement is a central construct operating as a direct and a mediating influence between each of satisfaction, social influence, medium involvement and website revisitation.