Description:
It is thought that social memory is partly an effect of the technology used for its expression. In 2014 the centenary of the Great War of 1914-1918 will begin across the world, but focused on the old Western Front battlefields in France and Belgium. The internet is one of the main forms of communication for a number of organisations including government, museums and both public and private organisations and individuals. A small study of three government websites, designed as portals for the 2014-18 commemoration of the Great War revealed some significant differences. Sites for France and Belgium were future oriented and concerned with among other themes, remembrance tourism. The Australian site by comparison was less interactive with almost no reference to travel and with lost opportunities to engage its audience. The study reveals a wealth of future research opportunities through internet commemoration.
Description:
Principal Topic: Online auctions have emerged as a major opportunity for individuals to start businesses or for established businesses to diversify and grow their markets. To-date, research interest has focused largely on the technological entrepreneur rather than the Internet based (cyber) entrepreneur. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of participants in online auctions, measuring their response to actual market conditions and rules. Do online markets react to quality uncertainly (Akerlof, 1970) in the same way as off line markets, and is the contention that Internet shopping emphasises cost reduction over brand-based differentiation (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) valid? The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an analysis of secondary data collected from online auctions. By better understanding buyer behaviour in online auctions, sellers will be able to select the best selling strategies for individual and/or unique businesses types. Methodology/Key Propositions: With the cooperation of an existing online book seller, the study examined three main auction-start pricing strategies; fully priced, cost priced and below cost priced. Auction duration and postage cost were also varied and the combined effects on buyer behaviour established. Data from 1,200 auctions was provided for the study. While the study primarily took an empirical approach, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used as information asymmetries play an important role in online auctions for both buyers and sellers. Subjective opinions of optimal selling strategies were gathered from online discussion boards, to allow comparisons to be made between auction user perceptions and measured auction outcomes. Results and Implications: Even within disparate product categories the study found that optimal selling strategies are predictable. The mix of start price, auction duration and postage cost, effects product sale price in a manner that indicates the desirability of high start pricing. In the rapidly evolving online auction marketplace there is a need for ongoing evaluation of buyer preferences to aid seller pricing strategies. Contrary to the findings of earlier Internet auction studies that focused on cost reduction as primary buyer motivators, this study found that buyers are drawing on a wide range of experiential value sources. Average selling prices on auction sites may actually have increased, although it is acknowledged that some product category prices may have fallen due to over supply. Auction selling management will become increasingly important.
Description:
Principal Topic: Online auctions have emerged as a major opportunity for individuals to start businesses or for established businesses to diversify and grow their markets. To-date, research interest has focused largely on the technological entrepreneur rather than the Internet based (cyber) entrepreneur. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of participants in online auctions, measuring their response to actual market conditions and rules. Do online markets react to quality uncertainly (Akerlof, 1970) in the same way as off line markets, and is the contention that Internet shopping emphasises cost reduction over brand-based differentiation (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) valid? The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an analysis of secondary data collected from online auctions. By better understanding buyer behaviour in online auctions, sellers will be able to select the best selling strategies for individual and/or unique businesses types. Methodology/Key Propositions: With the cooperation of an existing online book seller, the study examined three main auction-start pricing strategies; fully priced, cost priced and below cost priced. Auction duration and postage cost were also varied and the combined effects on buyer behaviour established. Data from 1,200 auctions was provided for the study. While the study primarily took an empirical approach, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used as information asymmetries play an important role in online auctions for both buyers and sellers. Subjective opinions of optimal selling strategies were gathered from online discussion boards, to allow comparisons to be made between auction user perceptions and measured auction outcomes. Results and Implications: Even within disparate product categories the study found that optimal selling strategies are predictable. The mix of start price, auction duration and postage cost, effects product sale price in a manner that indicates the desirability of high start pricing. In the rapidly evolving online auction marketplace there is a need for ongoing evaluation of buyer preferences to aid seller pricing strategies. Contrary to the findings of earlier Internet auction studies that focused on cost reduction as primary buyer motivators, this study found that buyers are drawing on a wide range of experiential value sources. Average selling prices on auction sites may actually have increased, although it is acknowledged that some product category prices may have fallen due to over supply. Auction selling management will become increasingly important.
Description:
Objectives: Online auctions have emerged as a major opportunity for individuals to start businesses or for established businesses to diversify and grow their markets. To-date, research interest has focused largely on the technological entrepreneur rather than the Internet based (cyber) entrepreneur. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of participants in online auctions, in order to predict optimal selling strategies. Prior work: While auction pricing has been the subject of theoretical research (Budish and Takeyama, 2001; Maskin and Riley, 1985) little empirical data has been collected. Pricing decisions are largely unresolved in the marketing literature despite the importance for consumer perceptions of value. The implication is that managing the price (expectation) for a product in an online auction is important and may be achieved by reference price management. Nagle and Hogan (2006) allude to the distinction between price management and reference price management but suggest that they are clearly interlinked. Approach: A response to changed independent variables under actual market conditions was measured. 1,000 books were offered for sale on eBay. To test the study’s hypotheses, a one way ANOVA was initially undertaken to separately examine differences in the % of recommended retail price (RRP) for each of the study’s independent variables – postage, starting price and length of auction. A factorial ANOVA was completed and an OLS regression analysis was undertaken to assess the effects of selling strategies on the % of RRP obtained. Results: A high start price was found to significantly increase the average percentage of RRP received, contrary to popular belief that favours low start prices. Free postage, was not found to be significant except when combined with a low % of RRP achieved. The optimal auction duration was five days, suggesting, 10 day auctions provide no additional benefits and may in fact result in a lower %RRP achieved. Implications: Early online auction research consistently highlighted the opinion that Internet auctions were primarily concerned with the sale of collectable goods. An examination of 2007 auction data clearly illustrates that this is no longer the case, and in fact the sale of non-collectable goods now dominates, indicating a need for alternative selling strategies, for common value items. Value: No previous work to date has manipulated auction start prices to assess potential profitability. These findings are particularly significant to assist online auction entrepreneurs to develop optimal selling strategies.
Description:
Objectives: Online auctions have emerged as a major opportunity for individuals to start businesses or for established businesses to diversify and grow their markets. To-date, research interest has focused largely on the technological entrepreneur rather than the Internet based (cyber) entrepreneur. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of participants in online auctions, in order to predict optimal selling strategies. Prior work: While auction pricing has been the subject of theoretical research (Budish and Takeyama, 2001; Maskin and Riley, 1985) little empirical data has been collected. Pricing decisions are largely unresolved in the marketing literature despite the importance for consumer perceptions of value. The implication is that managing the price (expectation) for a product in an online auction is important and may be achieved by reference price management. Nagle and Hogan (2006) allude to the distinction between price management and reference price management but suggest that they are clearly interlinked. Approach: A response to changed independent variables under actual market conditions was measured. 1,000 books were offered for sale on eBay. To test the study’s hypotheses, a one way ANOVA was initially undertaken to separately examine differences in the % of recommended retail price (RRP) for each of the study’s independent variables – postage, starting price and length of auction. A factorial ANOVA was completed and an OLS regression analysis was undertaken to assess the effects of selling strategies on the % of RRP obtained. Results: A high start price was found to significantly increase the average percentage of RRP received, contrary to popular belief that favours low start prices. Free postage, was not found to be significant except when combined with a low % of RRP achieved. The optimal auction duration was five days, suggesting, 10 day auctions provide no additional benefits and may in fact result in a lower %RRP achieved. Implications: Early online auction research consistently highlighted the opinion that Internet auctions were primarily concerned with the sale of collectable goods. An examination of 2007 auction data clearly illustrates that this is no longer the case, and in fact the sale of non-collectable goods now dominates, indicating a need for alternative selling strategies, for common value items. Value: No previous work to date has manipulated auction start prices to assess potential profitability. These findings are particularly significant to assist online auction entrepreneurs to develop optimal selling strategies.
Description:
Significant resources have been allocated to regional and rural communities in Australia to provide information technology and connectivity infrastructure. A sense of community was traditionally provided by the local primary school, church, or tennis club. As many of these facilities are no longer available, the Internet is seen as an opportunity to foster community activities, interests and events. Although significant funding has been provided to support the establishment of online communities, websites and regional web portals, many projects fail or stall once the initial funding has been expended. In terms of ongoing sustainability, it is rare to find examples of life after funding as most initiatives fail to develop sufficient revenue streams or systems that can support the project staff, content maintenance, and infrastructure beyond the seed-funded period. This paper examines factors which contribute to the success of Australian community web sites. It seems the level of seed funding provided to establish sites is not as important as other less tangible features such as the degree of community ownership, the ability for multiple users to contribute, local relevance, and levels of interactivity. The study confirms that technology can play a useful role in bringing communities closer together, but ultimately it is the people that make up a community, not the technology.
Description:
Significant resources have been allocated to regional and rural communities in Australia to provide information technology and connectivity infrastructure. A sense of community was traditionally provided by the local primary school, church, or tennis club. As many of these facilities are no longer available, the Internet is seen as an opportunity to foster community activities, interests and events. Although significant funding has been provided to support the establishment of online communities, websites and regional web portals, many projects fail or stall once the initial funding has been expended. In terms of ongoing sustainability, it is rare to find examples of life after funding as most initiatives fail to develop sufficient revenue streams or systems that can support the project staff, content maintenance, and infrastructure beyond the seed-funded period. This paper examines factors which contribute to the success of Australian community web sites. It seems the level of seed funding provided to establish sites is not as important as other less tangible features such as the degree of community ownership, the ability for multiple users to contribute, local relevance, and levels of interactivity. The study confirms that technology can play a useful role in bringing communities closer together, but ultimately it is the people that make up a community, not the technology.
Description:
Initiatives to expand the uptake of ICT and electronic commerce in regional and rural regions have been a matter of considerable profile. This paper explores how some businesses and groups are making effective use of a web-based presence and/or online services. Several factors appear to underlie success. These include a high degree of ownership; the ability for multiple users to contribute, to publish and maintain the web-based information and finally the degree to which web-based applications have been tailored to meet the particular business or community purpose.
Description:
Initiatives to expand the uptake of ICT and electronic commerce in regional and rural regions have been a matter of considerable profile. This paper explores how some businesses and groups are making effective use of a web-based presence and/or online services. Several factors appear to underlie success. These include a high degree of ownership; the ability for multiple users to contribute, to publish and maintain the web-based information and finally the degree to which web-based applications have been tailored to meet the particular business or community purpose.
Description:
The phenomenon and acceptance of electronic publishing has proliferated in the last five years due to the expansion in the use of the World Wide Web in the general community. The initial fears that newspapers would be decimated by the introduction of this technology have been proven groundless, but despite a high web presence by newspapers world wide, profitable models of cyber papers are elusive. In an online environment traditional relationships between newspaper advertising and editorial may not stand. Despite the considerable body of published literature concerning the movement of print newspapers to an online environment, little was found concerning online content. A need to re-evaluate what content and functions are considered to be desirable by print readers, in an online environment was identified as the main objective of this research. Evaluation the of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into areas such as developing effective models for profitable online newspapers. To achieve this objective, the research tools used were a content analysis, an online newspaper user survey and newspaper management personal interviews. The study looked at Victorian regional daily newspapers that also had online versions. By focussing on the regional newspapers, meaningful comparisons could be made between content, staff attitudes and readership interests. The content analysis measured the quantum and nature of the content of the print and online versions of the regional dailies during a one week period. This provided a measure of the type and source of the articles included both in print and online. Newspaper editorial staff interviews contributed a personalised view of content priorities, which was then contrasted with a web based questionnaire which measured user requirements in relation to content and interactivity. It was found from the survey that content alone would not provide a sufficient basis to build a profitable online regional newspaper site. The findings were analysed in relation to the literature, newspaper site content and editorial staff interviews. Despite regularly accessing online newspaper sites, it was found that users are unwilling to pay for the experience. Users indicated a desire for a higher level of interactivity, in addition to the content, which is currently provided, by online regional newspapers. Evaluation of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into the development of effective for profitable online newspapers.
Description:
The phenomenon and acceptance of electronic publishing has proliferated in the last five years due to the expansion in the use of the World Wide Web in the general community. The initial fears that newspapers would be decimated by the introduction of this technology have been proven groundless, but despite a high web presence by newspapers world wide, profitable models of cyber papers are elusive. In an online environment traditional relationships between newspaper advertising and editorial may not stand. Despite the considerable body of published literature concerning the movement of print newspapers to an online environment, little was found concerning online content. A need to re-evaluate what content and functions are considered to be desirable by print readers, in an online environment was identified as the main objective of this research. Evaluation the of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into areas such as developing effective models for profitable online newspapers. To achieve this objective, the research tools used were a content analysis, an online newspaper user survey and newspaper management personal interviews. The study looked at Victorian regional daily newspapers that also had online versions. By focussing on the regional newspapers, meaningful comparisons could be made between content, staff attitudes and readership interests. The content analysis measured the quantum and nature of the content of the print and online versions of the regional dailies during a one week period. This provided a measure of the type and source of the articles included both in print and online. Newspaper editorial staff interviews contributed a personalised view of content priorities, which was then contrasted with a web based questionnaire which measured user requirements in relation to content and interactivity. It was found from the survey that content alone would not provide a sufficient basis to build a profitable online regional newspaper site. The findings were analysed in relation to the literature, newspaper site content and editorial staff interviews. Despite regularly accessing online newspaper sites, it was found that users are unwilling to pay for the experience. Users indicated a desire for a higher level of interactivity, in addition to the content, which is currently provided, by online regional newspapers. Evaluation of user attitudes to web based newspapers provides a foundation for future research into the development of effective for profitable online newspapers.