Editorial
Journal
Electronic Markets
ISSN
1019-6781
ISSN-Digital
1422-8890
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2001-02-01
Author(s)
Schmid, Beat
;
Buchet, Brigette
Abstract
The second issue every year focuses on regional development of electronic commerce - we circumnavigate the globe in the following order: Austral-Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa and the Middle East. This year, the second issue visits Austral-Asia (Volume 11, No. 2). The last time we visited Asia it was 1997 and it is high time that we went back to see how things have developed over the last four years.<br><br>Paula Swatman, then at RMIT, Australia, (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) now at Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany and Doug Vogel, at City University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Business, Department of Information Systems kindly served as Guest Editors for the issue. Both Paula and Doug served the EM community heroically, preparing and nurturing the manuscripts, despite the fact that all of us were in the process of moving around the globe - in much the same manner as the second issue each year does. Twenty-nine manuscripts were submitted into the review process, and there are seven in this issue, including three in the focus section.<br><br>The three articles in the focus cover eye movement patterns in Chinese advertising, e-payments in Hong Kong, and e-commerce developments in New Zealand. The article entitled Eye Movement Patterns on Chinese Yellow Pages Advertising is written by Gerald Lohse and D.J. Wu. Gerald Lohse is the Research Director of the Wharton Forum on Electronic Commerce and an Adjunct Professor of Marketing, University of Pennsylvania, U:S:A. D.J. Wu is Assistant Professor of MIS at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, U.S.A. Their paper asks," how [do] consumers process on-line information, how [do] they allocate their attention," and what are the cultural differences.<br><br>Staying in the same geographic area, the second paper in the Focus Theme section is an article entitled:"Octopus: the growing e-payment mollusc in Hong Kong." This paper discusses Octopus, a payment system that has enjoyed success in the Hong Kong passenger transportation industry and is expanding into other channels, such as fast food and snack machines. Critical success factors are identified for its success, where others have failed. It is written by Simpson Poon, Director of the Centre for E-Commerce and Internet Studies at Murdoch University in Australia and a Visiting Associate Professor at the School of Business at the University of Hong Kong, in conjunction with Patrick Y.K. Chau, Associate Professor at in the same University. In fact, four years ago when we last visited this region (Vol. 7, No. 2: Electronic Commerce in Asia), Simpson Poon wrote another article for us, entitled,"Internet-Based Small Business Communication: Seven Australian Cases."<br><br>The final paper in the Focus Theme is entitled," An Assessment for Internet-Based Electronic Commerce Development in Businesses of New Zealand." The authors are: Jei Lu, Su Tang and Gerry McCullough. The lead author is a lecturer of Information Systems at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Su Tang and Gerry McCullough are lecturers for information systems and technology at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Their paper is based on a desk survey of 400 randomly selected New Zealand business web sites. They develop a relational model between costs, benefits, and the success of electronic commerce.<br><br>Since it focuses the wrong region of the world for this issue,"Contrasting European and American Approaches to Privacy in Electronic Markets: A Philosophical Perspective" went into the Research Section. The article is written by Detlev Zwick and Nikhilesh Dholakia. Detlev Zwick is a Doctoral Candidate in Marketing at the College of Business, University of Rhode Island, U.S.A. Nikhilesh Dholakia is a Professor of Marketing, E-Commerce, and International Business at the same college and university. Their article argues that the models of privacy protection, as they have evolved in both the United States and Europe, are rooted in different philosophies.<br><br>Next up is Christian Bender, a research assistant at the University of Münster, at the Chair of International Business. His research focuses on the impact of information technology on money and business location. His article, entitled" A Gold Standard for the Internet?", argues that the role of electronic money in electronic commerce still remains fuzzy. He looks at the success factors for electronic money, with a specific focus on gold-backed forms of payment systems. The historical roots of the gold standard are examined, with specific emphasis on it as a theoretical framework for Internet currencies.<br><br>The sixth article is authored by Giovanni Azzone, Raffaella Bianchi, and Giuliano Noci - all associated with the Politecnico di Milano. Their article is entitled:"Corporate Web Sites: the drivers of their different configurations." Giovanni Azzone is a Professor for Management Control Systems in the Department of Economics and Production. Raffaella Bianchi is a lecturer for electronic commerce. Giuliano Noci is an Associate Professor for Industrial Marketing. They argue that a company can offer on its web site, tools that fall into eight categories that correspond to four life-cycle stages. They use empirical research to explain why, at any given moment, different companies occupy different stages in the life-cycle path.<br><br>The issue is closed out with an article entitled," The Internet and the Reshaping of the Music CD Market." Written by Sanjay Gosain and Zoonky Lee, it examines the differences between the physical and online music market, with regards to price, price dispersion, and pricing dynamics. Messrs. Gosain and Lee are especially interested in the continued appearance of price dispersion in the online market, despite search costs that tend towards zero. Sanjay Gosain is an Assistant Professor of Decision and Information Technologies at the University of Maryland, College Park, U.S.A., while Zoonky Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.<br><br>For those of you interested in the above Gosain/Lee paper, the next issue 11(3), will have another paper on this subject, entitled:"Pricing Patterns in the Online CD Market: an Empirical Study," written by Fang-Fang Tang and Ding Lu. This issue presents some papers from the ICEC Conference (International Conference on Electronic Commerce) that was held in Seoul, Korea. The fourth issue this year will be focused on emerging standards and XML. Please refer to our web site for the Call for Papers.<br><br>We close with one more kudos to our Guest Editors, Paula Swatman and Doug Vogel - herzlichen dank for all of your hard work and quality control.<br><br>Albest,Beat F. Schmid, Brigette Buchet
Language
English
Keywords
Regional Issues
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Springer
Publisher place
Heidelberg
Volume
11
Number
2
Start page
85
End page
86
Pages
2
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
9282