Mobile commerce is becoming an important component of modern business especially in the retail sector thanks to the fast diffusion of smartphones. This new shopping technique enables consumers to shop wherever and whenever they choose. It also helps retailers to grow their business in omni-channel – many major UK retailers including the “Big Four Grocers” (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons) have adjusted their digital and category strategies in response to mobile customers. Despite the growing body of literature on mobile commerce, little research has been conducted to provide a comprehensive list of factors that affect the mobile grocery shoppers’ decision-making and their loyalty. In addition, some of the studies had issues relating to inappropriate sampling techniques, which led to unrepresentative findings. This thesis will explore the factors that drive consumers’ intention to use smartphones for grocery shopping, and to identify the key elements that drive consumer loyalty to the mobile grocery provider. Building on an extensive literature review, the key determinants of mobile commerce adoption were analysed with a consideration of issues around online grocery shopping, diffusion of innovation, and customer satisfaction. The key research methods and approaches were compared along with an analysis of the research methods used by the existing literatures, and concluded that a mixed-method approach was the most appropriate way to meet the aim and objectives of this study. Following the research design, the author undertook 32 interviews with shoppers from various backgrounds, 12 of which had previous experience of using a smartphone for grocery shopping. Content analysis was carried out to produce 13 themes relating to the mobile grocery shopping acceptance. Based on the result from the thematic analysis and existing literature, a questionnaire was designed and launched. Three hundred valid responses were collected, including 150 purchasers and 150 non-purchasers. Statistical techniques such as factor analysis and multiple-regression analysis were used to analyse the survey data. Results from the quantitative study suggested there were 7 factors affecting shoppers’ decision to use smartphones for grocery shopping, while purchaser and non-purchaser models showed a different pattern. In parallel, the study also identified factors affecting mobile grocery shopping satisfaction and customer loyalty. Drawing together these findings, the thesis helps grocers to understand their mobile channel customer in a wider angle. It also provides managerial applications to improve both customer experience and digital strategy.

This research investigates the adoption of mobile commerce (MC) technologies across the supply chain in three businesses in New Zealand that already have adopted and implemented MC. The research used the technological innovation literature and the supply chain research to develop a framework that could assist this research in its attempt to understand the EC phenomenon in the three cases. This research followed the multiple case studies design. The findings from the three case studies suggested that most of the MC applications were concentrated in the B2B side of the SC relationships. Most of the MC activities were internally focused in order to streamline internal mobile operations and processes inside the studied businesses. The clients of the interviewed businesses in this research were not involved in the different MC activities. MC in businesses in New Zealand was used to drive efficiencies in operations in order to fulfil both orders and field requests (coordination and scheduling) leading ultimately to increased customer satisfaction. This research found that MC adoption in the businesses in New Zealand was motivated by its advantages, top management support, the availability of internal IT experts and expertise, the suitability of the MC in filling a mobile gap (i.e., company's field-force), competition, support from technology vendors in assisting and facilitating the adoption decision. The adoption of MC was hindered by its incompatibility with the business environment and the complexity of the MC technology. However, cost, pressure from buyers and suppliers and vertical linkages were unimportant as such to the adoption decision. The research highlight implications concerning MC research in businesses in New Zealand and suggest areas for further research in this innovative technology (MC). These initial insights are of great interest to businesses, researchers, and professionals interested in the adoption of MC in businesses in New Zealand and elsewhere. However, this research raise the importance of conducting more work to further assess the depth of the MC phenomenon in New Zealand and more time is needed before judging MC penetration and success in businesses in New Zealand.

Current deployments of mobile commerce focus mostly on digital content. However, mobile commerce will grow rapidly with the increased use of portable devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDA), increased network bandwidth, and the availability of a wider range of mobile commerce services and transactions. As the revenue generated from mobile commerce is expected to skyrocket in the coming years, strategists are turning their attention to untapped emerging markets in the developing countries. Understanding how mobile commerce will develop in countries like China, where huge market potential exists, is of paramount importance in order to develop effective strategies that will positively affect its course. Modelling the diffusion of mobile commerce in a country is a difficult task due to the non-linear, complex and uncertain nature of its operating environment. A System Dynamics approach is more appropriate to model such a complex system. The main objective of this study is to illustrate the process of developing System Dynamics models for simulating mobile commerce diffusion in China by using a subset of the factors involved. In order to achieve this objective, the Chinese mobile commerce was modelled as the interaction of three subsystems, namely: population evolution in China; mobile commerce diffusion; and the influence from the provision of mobile commerce terminals (MCT) on mobile commerce diffusion. Each subsystem was modelled by identifying the factors influencing its development as well as the interactions between the factors. The subsystems were calibrated using historical and forecasted data whenever they were available. The validation of the subsystems was also performed through extensive sensitivity analysis. The complete model was used for experimenting with some typical Chinese mobile commerce scenarios for the purpose of analysing mobile commerce trends and designing strategies to exert positive influences on those trends. The simulation of the submodels provided useful insights into their respective areas for controlling their development. Simulation of the population development submodel showed that, in addition to family planning policies, urbanisation rates and life quality were important factors that significantly influenced population dynamics in China. Simulation of the mobile commerce diffusion submodel showed that the time when mobile commerce is implemented will significantly influence its market expansion speed i.e. the later mobile commerce is implemented, the quicker the market will expand. The existence of floating populations in China will be a big advantage in starting up the rural market. However, if mobile commerce is implemented too late, the penetration in rural areas will be negligible. Simulation of the MCT provision submodel showed the importance of opening the Chinese market to foreign suppliers and the coordination of strategies regarding the design and supply of MCTs with strategies for the growth of mobile commerce in China. This study is a first attempt to simulate the diffusion of mobile commerce in China using System Dynamics. The results obtained showed that the models developed were useful for understanding and controlling the future diffusion of mobile commerce in China.

Bankindustrin är ett typiskt exempel på en industri som har tjänat otroligt mycket på information- och kommunikationsteknologiapplikationer. Dessa applikationer tar formen av Internet-baserad banktjänst, som inkluderar transaktioner av värdepapper, kontouppgifter, presentation av räkningar och betalningar samt transfereringar mellan konton och individer. Mobila banktjänster är den naturliga förlängningen av dessa typer av tjänster. Med utvecklingen av digitala trådlösa teknologier, som mobiltelefonen, är mobil Internettillgänglighet nu förverkligad. Denna uppsats undersöker den förändrande miljön i finansindustrin som uppkommit till följd av informationteknologier, och vidare de strategiska affärsmässiga överväganden som måste göras inom detta område. En kvalitativ fallstudie ansågs vara den mest givande metoden att använda i vår forskning. Genom att undersöka marknade, genom att skicka ut en väl strukturerad enkät till tre av de största svenska bankerna (Nordea, SEB och Handelsbanken), med relevanta intervjufrågor angående deras involvering i mobila banktjänster, kunde deras potential avgöras. Intervjuerna utfördes sedan via telefon. Vi drar slutsatsen att för att bli konkurrenskraftig i dagens värld av avancerade teknologier, är det avgörande att finansiella instutitioner positionerar sig genom att använda sig av sådana applikationer. Banker har de nödvändiga kapitaltillgångarna som krävs för att göra betydande investeringar i teknologisk infrastruktur. Om de inte hade anpassat sig till teknologier som bankomater, kreditkort, telefoner och Internet, skulle de lätt ha kunnat exkluderas från marknaden. Det är troligt att mobila banktjänster kommer att ha samma inverkan. / The banking industry is a typical example of an industry that has benefited tremendously from applications of information and communication technologies. These applications take their form in Internet-based banking, including transactions for equities trading, account enquiry, bill presentment and payments as well as transfers between accounts and people. Mobile banking is the natural extension of these kinds of services. With the development of digital wireless technologies, such as the mobile phone, mobile Internet access is now enabled. This thesis examines the changing landscape of the financial industry due to information technologies and the strategic considerations of mobile banking from a business perspective. For us a single case study with a qualitative approach has been seen as the most rewarding method to apply in our research. By investigating the market, through sending out a well-structured survey to three of the major Swedish banks (Nordea, SEB and Handelsbanken), with relevant interview questions on their involvement in m-banking, their potential could be distinguished. The interviews were then conducted over the phone. We conclude that in order to achieve a competitive edge in today’s world of advanced technologies, it is crucial that financial institutions position themselves in deploying these applications. Banks have the necessary capital assets in order to make significant invest-ments in technology infrastructure. Without having adapted themselves to technologies such as ATMs, credit cards, phones and the Internet, they would easily have been excluded from the market. It is likely that mobile banking will have the same impact.

With the increasing pervasiveness of mobile technologies such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants and hand held computers, mobile technologies promise the next major technological and cultural shift. Like the Internet, it is predicted that the greatest impact will not come from hardware devices or software programs, but from emerging social practices, which were not possible before. To capitalize on the benefits of mobile technologies, organizations have begun to implement nomadic computing environments. Nomadic computing environments make available the systems support needed to provide computing and communication capabilities and services to the mobile work force as they move from place to place in a manner that is transparent, integrated, convenient and adaptive. Already, anecdotes suggest that within organizations there are social implications occurring with both unintended and intended consequences being perpetuated. The problems of nomadic computing users have widely been described in terms of the challenges presented by the interplay of time, space and context, yet a theory has yet to be developed which analyzes this interplay in a single effort. A temporal human agency perspective proposes that stakeholders’ actions are influenced by their ability to recall the past, respond to the present and imagine the future. By extending the temporal human agency perspective through the recognition of the combined influence of space and context on human action, I investigated how the individual practices of eleven nomadic computing users changed after implementation. Under the umbrella of the interpretive paradigm, and using a cross case methodology this research develops a theoretical account of how several stakeholders engaged with different nomadic computing environments and explores the context of their effectiveness. Applying a literal and theoretical replication strategy to multiple longitudinal and retrospective cases, six months were spent in the field interviewing and observing participants. Data analysis included three types of coding: descriptive, interpretive and pattern coding. The findings reveal that patterns of technology use in nomadic computing environments are influenced by stakeholders’ temporal orientations; their ability to remember the past, imagine the future and respond to the present. As stakeholders all have different temporal orientations and experiences, they exhibit different practices even when engaging initially with the same organizational and technical environments. Opposing forces emerge as users attempt to be effective by resolving the benefits and disadvantages of the environment as they undergo different temporal, contextual and spatial experiences. Insights about the ability to predict future use suggest that because they are difficult to envisage in advance, social processes inhibit the predictability of what technologies users will adopt. The framework presented highlights the need to focus on understanding the diversity in nomadic computing use practices by examining how they are influenced by individual circumstances as well as shared meanings across individuals.

With wireless internet, wireless network(including mobile internet ) will become the new mainstream communication. At the same time, due to the mobility and efficiency of mobile devices, such as PDA, cellular phone, etc., more diverse new functions and services are becoming available. In the near future, mobile commerce and mobile payment systems certainly will become one of the consumer life styles. As a result, many scholars or organizations all propose the mechanism suitable for the mobile commerce and mobile payment system. However, compared to many countries around the world, mobile payment is yet to be developed in Taiwan. From the supply side, there exists a problem that those services control in hands in the telecommunication system industry¡Fand on the other side, there exist some problems from the users , like use habit is difficult to set up , and lack of suitable use situation, etc. This research is based on ¡§The BOT of e-commerce and wireless network development¡¨, which is erected from Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA). We use the situation to develop the mobile payment system and related business plan, hoping to provide a reference for investors of TRA, who want to develop e-commerce and needing a complete payment system and cashflow mechanism. The payment system of this research institute planning is especially in the environment to consumers, propose differently at present that the adding value of the existing mobile payment system is served. For example, we combine the storage fund mechanism and credit card on mobile, transmit trade information through wireless network or IVR, in order to reach all the unrestricting users. We also bring innovative cell-phone dial depositing and cash fund mechanism, in order to solve the situation that passengers are confined in the railroad car and can't move to anyway. The financial model is set up after the business plan, to carry on the feasible assessment of financial affairs of this special project. According to the results from the financial model, NPV of the project is 8,917,271 NT dollar, IRR is up to 22% , DPB is about 4.9 year; and therefore this project is feasible on financial affairs.

As the global wireless network becoming mature, the growing number of mobile devices, and the personal need of keeping in touch with others daily, mobile communication is becoming a necessity of life. Using mobile devices, such as cell phones or PDAs, everyone could communicate with each other independently; and this communication environment is similar with P2P network. Utilizing the connection network of cell phones is becoming a brand new business channel. Since group-buying is part of our daily life, people live in the same area could buy products or services together based on mutual needs, and this could enhance the bargaining power of customers and lower the purchase price. This research proposes a group-buying system architecture under mobile environment, and discusses the problems that customers might encounter in every stage of the buying process. Mobile device users under the environment could exchange information with each other and this could help customers search group-buying information efficiently. Sensor Network combines with MP2P Network accelerates the spread of group-buying information in a marketplace, and helps the originator and other buyers to negotiate with the supplier. Based on the observation of the variation of the group-buying information distribution in the experiment, we summarize under what situation a better information distribution would take place in a specific marketplace.

The goodness of group buying is consumers can buy product with lower price, and seller can reduce the bargain cost by collecting orders. But it is hard to be realized in the mall. A recent survey shows most everyone has his own mobile device. In this research, we organize a mobile P2P network by exchanging between two mobile devices. We propose a system for consumers and sellers to exchange group buying information. In Mobile P2P Network environment, group buying initiator is hard to decide the best timing to end the group buying. Because buyers can easily participate or leave the group buying group, and initiator may not know the exactly how many buyers participate the group buying. So we simulate a virtual mall with the realistic data and try to find the suitable group buying model in this environment. Then we examine if participation externality effect, price drop effect and ending effect will appear in this model. Finally, we observe the trend of the number of buyers in group buying to suggest the group buying ending time. The research result indicates that participation externality effect and price drop effect still appear in the Mobile P2P Network environment. But ending effect is not obvious. Because the group buying information is distributed by participating buyers, the distribution will affect the trend of participation and participation externality effect. With suggestion of the system, initiator will not waste much time to wait few participations, and participators can reduce the time cost.

<p>Bankindustrin är ett typiskt exempel på en industri som har tjänat otroligt mycket på information- och kommunikationsteknologiapplikationer. Dessa applikationer tar formen av Internet-baserad banktjänst, som inkluderar transaktioner av värdepapper, kontouppgifter, presentation av räkningar och betalningar samt transfereringar mellan konton och individer.</p><p>Mobila banktjänster är den naturliga förlängningen av dessa typer av tjänster. Med utvecklingen av digitala trådlösa teknologier, som mobiltelefonen, är mobil Internettillgänglighet nu förverkligad.</p><p>Denna uppsats undersöker den förändrande miljön i finansindustrin som uppkommit till följd av informationteknologier, och vidare de strategiska affärsmässiga överväganden som måste göras inom detta område.</p><p>En kvalitativ fallstudie ansågs vara den mest givande metoden att använda i vår forskning. Genom att undersöka marknade, genom att skicka ut en väl strukturerad enkät till tre av de största svenska bankerna (Nordea, SEB och Handelsbanken), med relevanta intervjufrågor angående deras involvering i mobila banktjänster, kunde deras potential avgöras. Intervjuerna utfördes sedan via telefon.</p><p>Vi drar slutsatsen att för att bli konkurrenskraftig i dagens värld av avancerade teknologier, är det avgörande att finansiella instutitioner positionerar sig genom att använda sig av sådana applikationer. Banker har de nödvändiga kapitaltillgångarna som krävs för att göra betydande investeringar i teknologisk infrastruktur. Om de inte hade anpassat sig till teknologier som bankomater, kreditkort, telefoner och Internet, skulle de lätt ha kunnat exkluderas från marknaden. Det är troligt att mobila banktjänster kommer att ha samma inverkan.</p> / <p>The banking industry is a typical example of an industry that has benefited tremendously from applications of information and communication technologies. These applications take their form in Internet-based banking, including transactions for equities trading, account enquiry, bill presentment and payments as well as transfers between accounts and people.</p><p>Mobile banking is the natural extension of these kinds of services. With the development of digital wireless technologies, such as the mobile phone, mobile Internet access is now enabled.</p><p>This thesis examines the changing landscape of the financial industry due to information technologies and the strategic considerations of mobile banking from a business perspective.</p><p>For us a single case study with a qualitative approach has been seen as the most rewarding method to apply in our research. By investigating the market, through sending out a well-structured survey to three of the major Swedish banks (Nordea, SEB and Handelsbanken), with relevant interview questions on their involvement in m-banking, their potential could be distinguished. The interviews were then conducted over the phone.</p><p>We conclude that in order to achieve a competitive edge in today’s world of advanced technologies, it is crucial that financial institutions position themselves in deploying these applications. Banks have the necessary capital assets in order to make significant invest-ments in technology infrastructure. Without having adapted themselves to technologies such as ATMs, credit cards, phones and the Internet, they would easily have been excluded from the market. It is likely that mobile banking will have the same impact.</p>

Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / This dissertation argues that the use of mobile phones can offer opportunities for local governments and municipalities to effectively render services to citizens in ways that traditional mechanisms, such as vending points, cannot achieve. The empirical evidence has shown that mobile phones could be ideal for improving accessibility of prepaid electricity voucher services notably to consumers in the rural areas. The study utilized a case study using the Thulamela and Makhado municipalities. Informed by the case study, a model for improved accessibility of electricity prepaid vouchers was conceptualized.