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E-government involves the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by government agencies to provide information and services to residents, businesses, and various arms of government. It can provide speedy, inexpensive, trustworthy, and reliable delivery of government services to households and businesses. The State of Kuwait is in an intermediate stage of implementing e-government services (e-services). An understanding of its residents’ perspectives can help the government better plan the future rollout of e-services and e-government portal factors, as well as provide useful insights to governments of other countries. The authors conducted identified 37 e-services (classified into seven broad factors) and 26 features important to user acceptance of online sites. Factors were identified in prior research as characterizing the categories of services typically offered by e-government portals. The authors hypothesized that the importance of the seven e-services factors to Kuwaiti residents would positively relate to the importance of the portal success factors. The goal of this research was to identify which portal success factors would likely encourage use of the e-services factors that are important to Kuwaiti residents. This study provides several useful implications for Kuwaiti government officials, other countries, and e-government researchers. Each of the four portal factors -- Quality, Appeal, Control and Savings, and Personalization -- was positively associated with the importance of at least one or more of the e-services factors, indicating their individual relevance to the design of the portal. Two categories -- government resources and resident feedback services -- were unrelated to any of the portal factors. The findings demonstrate that the State of Kuwait may need to improve involvement of its residents in the development of national policies. Including the voice of the residents through the portal, and acting on that feedback, may improve support for government initiatives as well as build trust in the government. This study sought to improve e-participation in Kuwait and other developing countries. The findings suggest to governments that by selectively improving the quality, appeal, efficiency, and personalization of the e-government portal, it may be possible to achieve public buy-in and increased usage of specific e-services.

The U.S. economy depends on the health of small businesses, which represent 99.9 percent of total U.S. businesses. Similarly, the Mexican economy depends on the health of its small (and medium) businesses, which represent 99.8 percent of total Mexican businesses. Small business creation and success is important to developed and developing countries, but risky. Studies have examined problems and opportunities created by small businesses. This paper examines problems and challenges faced by small businesses in Mexico and the USA. While these problems and challenges are similar in both countries, some important distinctions need to be identified. This is an important topic because small businesses that do not recognize which problems to avoid may quickly fail. Researchers noted there is no simple pattern for success among small businesses; there’s no general theoretical framework for success. Certain issues impacting small businesses have been identified as critical success factors (CSFs). The literature review of CSFs was used to develop the instrument for this study. The methodology was identical for both the U.S. and Mexico studies and included focus groups with business owners in the United States and Mexico. The business owners represented different businesses and identified common problems faced by their businesses. Problems uncovered in the focus groups were included in a survey instrument, which ultimately identified 29 key business problems. The survey instrument examined small business owners’ perceptions of current key problem areas. The 29 items presented to the small business owners in Mexico were identical to the 29 items presented in the U.S. survey. Factor analysis was used in an exploratory manner to analyze the interrelations among the 29 key business problems. The study’s findings indicate that the small business owner is a key participant among a complex set of interrelated factors including the availability of capital, adequate human resources, governmental organization and relations, and strategic planning. The issues that impact small business development in the U.S. are very similar to the issues that impact small business development in Mexico, but there are some critical differences. The study revealed a significant difference between the factor structure of the problem areas as perceived by Mexican entrepreneurs and U.S. entrepreneurs. Small business owners, business advisors and government facilitators may benefit from this knowledge as they develop companies in these countries. The Mexican government may consider a special program to provide micro loans and also encourage formation of cooperatives according to business clusters.

Nurses in a hospital located in Southern US were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the reward structures existent in their hospital. Reward structures were divided into two categories: extrinsic and intrinsic. The cluster analysis procedure partitioned the sample into two clusters based on their level of satisfaction with the hospital's reward structure. The analysis of variance procedure comparing scale responses on comfort, challenge, financial reward, relation with coworkers, resource adequacy, and promotion suggest nurses with a high degree of intrinsic motivation are more satisfied with extrinsic rewards.

A 2 × 2 factorial experimental design was used to test the effect of cooperative advertising on an individual's propensity to visit an area. Cooperative advertising and co-op programs both refer to advertising communication whose sponsorship and cost are shared by more than one party. The term partner refers to either other cities/towns or various types of business entities. For the tourism industry the main object of co-op programs is to create demand for an area as a tourist destination of choice and demand for local goods/services offered by co-op partners. Results showed that visitor preference for cooperative advertisements increased in situations where advertisements were viewed for low effectiveness, that is, the level of advertising or copy effectiveness/believability was low. This was especially true for historical and average city types. Differences in visiting preferences between business and leisure travelers were not supported by the data. It is suggested that small towns embrace cooperative advertising strategies to help attract tourists.

The appropriateness of using SERVQUAL for measuring service quality for a wide range of services has been debated since the model was first presented by Parasuraman. Zeithaml. and Berry in 1985. Wh...

The study investigated the differential effect of positive reinforcement (cues) on retention or memory for factual versus applied information. Subjects were administered a multiple choice test that required processing of both kinds of information. The performance on the test (Time 1) was compared with performance on the same test administered after seven weeks (Time 2). The results indicate that performance was significantly higher for Time 1 and on questions for which positive reinforcement (cues) were provided. There was no significant difference in the performance for factual versus applied information. The subjects did significantly better on applied information when cues were provided, but did significantly better on factual information when no cues were provided.

The Internet has the ability to deliver real one-to-one communication. As online resources become increasingly available to consumers, it will increase in popularity and scope. The Internet has the...

This study examines the attitudes and opinions of 122 Texas ophthalmologists facing the health care reform movement. It illustrates the commercial practice of ophthalmology today, how practitioners would like it to be, and what they see as the future trends. The study also explores the options and future plans of ophthalmologists for maintaining practice revenues.

This paper makes a beginning in the comparison of real ads on source credibility in the context of the marketing of “fitness” related goods and services. While the results establish the greater credibility of celebrity endorsed ads vis a vis non-celebrity endorsed ads in the context of the test product, the authors nevertheless empirically substantiate that certain ad characteristics may have potential for use as screening items to aid in effecting choice between a celebrity and a non-celebrity endorser in other product/service contexts. Additional exploratory analyses and results are reported.

Russia, East Germany, and India are just a few of the many countries around the world which have opened up their economies to global trade in the last decade. This trend has forced organizations, especially state-owned enterprises, to face a changing environment, one driven by innovation, efficiency, competition, and marketing. Privatization of these enterprises has been taking place at record speed. National and multinational organizations have replaced state-owned operations in hopes of boosting a nation’s interantional competitiveness and economic growth. However, privatization alone will not solve the many problems created by open market trade. The vitality of these economies may well depend on the nation’s ability to foster its own entrepreneurial sector of small businesses. Continual training of these business is needed to ensure economic goals are reached. Each nation must determine the training needs of these businesses through needs analysis studies. A framework, based on a study conducted for the South Texas Regional Small Business Development Center (SBDC) located in San Antonio, Texas, is provided. Results indicate that the most frequently cited problem areas by small businesses fall into two general categories: Finance and Governmental Relations. The level of concern for the areas identified has been found to vary by the age of the business. However, the need for basic business skills, such as marketing, finance, and accounting, is ever present in differing degrees of specialization. Seminars and a mixture of communicational tools were found to be the most effective delivery system for the information required by businesses in the region. In addition, factor analysis was used to group together specific problematic areas for small businesses in the region. Seven dimensions were identified and include the following: Work force development, financing and legal issues, marketing, technology issues, daily operations, and selling.

Using a sample of cola drinkers who are also cereal eaters, this paper focuses on the interplay of calorie consciousness and nutritional consciousness among consumers. The results of the study reveal that more calorie conscious consumers are also significantly more nutritionally conscious. Further analysis reveals that this finding is significant only among the occasional cereal eaters. The implications of these findings to the practicing marketer are discussed.

This study investigates the roles of gender and race in the endorsement of an ethnic (oriental) food product. A structured analysis reveals that while gender does not seem to have a significant role to play, the race of the endorser appears to affect his/her credibility. Specifically, white endorsers were contrasted against oriental endorsers and tested on a sample of predominantly white subjects. Contrary to popular beliefs, the white endorsers had a significantly higher credibility than the oriental endorsers. Thus, the race factor appears to favor those endorsers who are of the same race as the vast majority of the receivers, thereby lending further credence to the "similarity" hypothesis in the source attractiveness model.

Technology transfer can take place in a wide variety of ways and at many levels. Nonetheless, the topic of technology transfer between countries has hitherto dealt mainly with planned transfers, particularly from developed countries to either developing countries or less-developed countries. This discussion first points out that technology transfer is not confined to the above dyads; it then, more importantly, broadens the horizons of such transfers by touching on and elucidating the phenomenon of random transfer of technology. In the process, it focuses on an important source of random technology transfer; namely, foreign students studying in the U.S.

To forecast demand for a new product, information was sought from a national sample of 600 medical equipment dealers by means of a mail survey. The critical managerial question for this research was whether a new product inventor wishing to obtain information from the sample should employ a university sponsor, offer monetary incentives, or go it alone. The results indicate that monetary incentives and university sponsorship are effective ways to obtain information.

Focuses on computer‐integrated manufacturing′s macro aspects and its strategic implications. Defines CIM at the macro and micro level and the various factors that strongly call for the implementation of CIM. After going into the advantages, concludes with implications for the future.

The study investigated the impact of client gender, CPA gender, and CPA dress on the likelihood of hiring a CPA for professional services. Subjects perceptions of CPAs in regard to nine variables, such as expertise, credibility, and professionalism, were collected and analyzed. The results indicate that perceptions of friendliness were significantly affected by both client and CPA gender, while professionalism was significantly affected by the dress. Moreover, interactions of the three main effects were significant.

The study investigated the effect of client gender, CPA ethnic origin, CPA gender and CPA dress on the likelihood of hiring a CPA. Subjects perceptions of CPAs for important determinants of the hiring decision were collected and analyzed. Results indicate that Caucasian CPAs were rated highest on most dimensions including likelihood-of-hiring and African-American CPAs were rated lowest. While the dress of Caucasian CPAs did not seem to matter, casually dressed minority CPAs were rated significantly lower than formally dressed minority CPAs.

This project set out to determine whether there is a relationship between the minor emergency facility an individual uses and their choice of a hospital for in-patient care. In studying this relationship, the factors that are important to persons choosing a clinic or hospital facility, as well as the influence of a physician, were also identified. A structured, undisguised telephone survey was used for interviewing a randomly selected sample population of 189 San Angelo residents. Analysis of the survey data indicated that dependency does exist between minor emergency clinic use and the hospital chosen for in-patient care. The results of this study also suggested that hospitals' marketing strategy should shift the emphasis of their advertising from the hospital itself to their physician association and clinics. In addition, a number of other interesting observations concerning the relative importance of various medical factors to the participants was also explored.

The kinetics of reactions of some more basic P-donor ligands with Ru 3 (CO) 10 (μ-dppm) have been studied and shown to include an associative term. Electronic and steric effects due to different attacking nucleophiles can be separated. The sensitivity of Ru 3 (CO) 10 (μ-dppm) to the basicity of the nucleophiles is slightly greater than that of Ru 3 (CO) 12 but the former is considerably more susceptible to steric effects. The intrinsic susceptibility of Ru 3 (CO) 10 ,(μ-dppm) to nucleophilic attack is defined and shown to be similar to that of Ru 3 (CO) 12 . Activation parameters show, however, that this is due to the combination of a much more favourable activation enthalpy balanced by a much more unfavourable activation entropy. The implications of these results are discussed.

The substitution reactions of pentacarbonylruthenium(0) with a number of phosphorus donor ligands have been shown to proceed by a simple carbon monoxide dissociative mechanism in cyclohexane at 30–50 °C. ΔH ≠ = 27.62 ± 0.40 kcal mol −1 and ΔS ≠ = 15.2 ± 1.3 cal K −1 mol −1 . The Ru(CO) 4 intermediate generated by CO dissociation is stable towards reaction with oxygen in the presence of triphenylphosphine but trimerises to form Ru 3 (CO) 12 in decalin at 125 °C under an atmosphere of 5%CO in a CON 2 mixture. Unlike Fe(CO) 4 , reaction of Ru(CO) 4 with PPh 3 does not lead to any direct formation of a bis phosphine product. The reaction of iodine with Ru(CO) 5 in cyclohexane to form cis -Ru(CO) 4 I 2 was studied in a stopped-flow apparatus and shown to proceed via essentially the same mechanism as the corresponding reaction of Fe(CO) 5 but at rates ca. 10 3 times faster. Reaction of I 2 with tricarbonylbis(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium(0) is not appreciably faster than that with Ru(CO) 5 . Ru(CO) 5 was prepared quantitatively in situ by photochemically induced reaction of dodecacarbonyltriruthenium with CO.

La reaction a lieu par l'intermediaire des complexes Ru 3 (CO) 10 (μ-dppm) et Ru 3 (CO) 9 (μ-dppm)(η 1 -dppm) formant le complexe tres stable Ru 3 (CO) 8 (μ-dppm). Cinetique des 3 reactions dans le benzene

The kinetics of substitution of Ru 3 (CO) 10 (dppm) with several relatively weak nucleophiles to form Ru 3 (CO) 9 (dppm)(L) in benzene have been studied over the temperature fange 30–60°C. At lower temperatures the observed first order rate constants for reaction under N 2 or air are independent of the nature or concentration of the nucleophile but reactions are retarded by CO in a way characteristic of a simple CO dissociative mechanism. It is, however, also possible that the rate determining step is a form of isomerization of the cluster and some possibilities are discussed. In terms of △ H * the dppm substituent is found to be more labilizing than two PPh 3 substitutents, possibly because of a greater strain in the cluster caused by the bridging dppm ligand. At higher temperatures another reaction path appears to be available for reaction with PPh 3 , and this accounts for ca . 30% of the rate at 50 °C. A similar path has been reported for reaction with dppm but some difficulties arise which suggest that the mechanism proposed for that reaction is at least oversimplified.

La reaction a lieu par l'intermediaire des complexes Ru 3 (CO) 10 (μ-dppm) et Ru 3 (CO) 9 (μ-dppm)(η 1 -dppm) formant le complexe tres stable Ru 3 (CO) 8 (μ-dppm). Cinetique des 3 reactions dans le benzene