Search

This paper explores the optimal homing policy of a manufacturer who sells products through two competing platforms: a traditional online platform and a social commerce platform. The social platform can choose to operate with reselling or agency selling format. Through analysis, we first find that the manufacturer's optimal decision regarding whether to single- or multi-home and the social platform's optimal decision regarding whether to adopt reselling or agency selling format depend mainly on the intensity of the downstream competition and the platforms' market sizes. Specifically, the manufacturer prefers single-homing if the competition intensity is relatively low and the traditional platform's market size is relatively large. When the competition intensity increases (decreases), the agency selling (reselling) format is always the social platform's preferred choice. Next, we find that the manufacturer is less likely to choose multi-homing (single-homing) and the social platform is more likely to select agency selling (reselling) format when the traditional platform serves as a marketplace rather than a reseller. Finally, numerical studies show that the manufacturer's and the platforms' preferences for selling modes are always misaligned. However, an all-win situation is achieved with the pure agency selling mode when the competition intensity is relatively high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the labor market in Germany. It raises concerns about job displacement and wealth disparities, comparing the situation to the historical "Engels' pause" during the Industrial Revolution. While Germany has not yet seen significant wealth inequalities due to AI, there is evidence of an AI-induced Engels' pause, with digital skills becoming increasingly important and AI adoption in the workplace increasing. The article also discusses the challenges faced by migrant workers, power imbalances, and Germany's regulatory approach to AI in the workplace. It highlights the upcoming EU Platform Work Directive and the differing interests of employers' organizations and trade unions in governing AI-driven tools. The potential impacts of AI on labor markets, including inequality and precarious work, are also explored. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for strong policy interventions to address socioeconomic challenges and promote fairness and inclusion in the digitalized world of work. [Extracted from the article]

South Korea is a technologically advanced country with a strong digital infrastructure and manufacturing sector. The government prioritizes promoting AI technology over regulating it, while workers have concerns about AI-related issues. The Korean business system is hierarchical, with the government and families playing significant roles. The country has active labor unions that have been growing recently. The government supports AI development through investments, but the effectiveness of these initiatives is debated. The regulatory framework on AI in Korea is similar to the EU's but more business-friendly in certain aspects. The text discusses the relationship between AI governance and worker mobilization, highlighting incidents that led to updates in AI regulations. It explores the unionization of knowledge workers and precarious workers subject to algorithmic control, as well as resistance against job-replacing AI-assisted manufacturing technologies. The challenges faced by labor movements and the role of social partnership are also discussed. The Korean government invests in AI technologies, while workers organize to address the challenges of the AI-driven economy. The expansion of data subjects' rights may provide gig workers with opportunities to resist algorithmic control, but the long-term impact on Korean industrial relations is uncertain. [Extracted from the article]

Consumers' growing awareness of environmental protection and carbon regulations enacted by the government based on strengthened environmental pressure are forcing manufacturers to curb carbon emissions. This paper considers a manufacturer investing in green technology to reduce carbon emissions under the cap-and-trade regulation, selling products to consumers through a direct channel and an online retail platform. The platform could choose to operate either in an agency mode or a reselling mode. A three-stage game is constructed to examine the interactions between the manufacturer's investment and the platform's operation mode under the cap-and-trade regulation, as well as the influences of the regulation on the interactions, and the supply chain coordination. The findings suggest that green technology investment in either operation mode leads to Pareto improvement in profits of both the platform and the manufacturer, and the investment induces the platform to prefer the reselling mode. Besides, the cap-and-trade regulation encourages the platform to opt for the agency mode, while the investment could mitigate the influence of the regulation on the platform's mode choice, with greater investment efficiency resulting in better mitigation. Furthermore, the investment could induce supply chain coordination under two modes through two different contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers' dramatic demand has a pernicious effect throughout the supply chain. It exacerbates inventory distortion because of significant revenue loss caused by stock-level issues. Despite the availability of several forecasting techniques, large organisations, manufacturing firms, and e-commerce websites collectively lose around $1.8 trillion annually to inventory distortion. If this problem is solved, sales may increase by 10.3 percent. The businesses are concerned about mitigating this loss. Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a significant role in building resilient supply chains. However, developing AI models consumes time and cost. In this paper, we propose a No Code Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) enabling non-technical companies to build machine learning models based on production quantity and inventory replenishment. The development of the NCAI model is fast and inexpensive. However, little research deals with applying NCAI to operations and supply chain problems. Addressing the existing gap, we show the application of NCAI in the retail industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new trend in influencer marketing is livestream commerce, which combines influencers' live video streaming with e-commerce. Little is known, though, about how firms should develop their influencer strategies to maximize product sales. Given a budget constraint, marketers may choose to employ a single, "big" influencer with a large number of followers or several small influencers. They may also employ a combination of both big and small influencers when their budget is adequate. Analyzing data from 1.3 million livestreams on TikTok, the authors find a negative interaction effect between big and small influencers when employed together due to decreased trust in big influencers and substitution effects. Further analysis reveals that livestream sales generated by a big influencer are adversely affected by small influencers who promoted the same product previously, but not the other way around. In addition, big influencers can reach a much larger audience, whereas small influencers are more effective at increasing the audience's conversion rates. Big and small influencers are also different in terms of how product and campaign characteristics moderate their sales effectiveness. Finally, the scenario analysis explores how the profitability of influencer strategies hinges on the influencer mix and their costs. This research is one of the first to investigate the sales effectiveness of influencer marketing and to provide general guidelines for developing influencer mix strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a special issue of the International Journal of Production Research focused on service-oriented manufacturing supply chain management in the context of Industry 4.0. Service-oriented manufacturing (SOM) is an emerging paradigm where manufacturers transform their products into platforms using Industry 4.0 technologies, allowing for communication between customers and manufacturers. This shift enhances the flow of information through the supply chain and creates new operational challenges. The special issue includes 16 articles covering various sub-areas such as mechanism design, supply chain contracts, behavioural modelling, emerging business models, optimisation techniques, product design, and smart manufacturing. The papers provide insights and practical applications to advance service-oriented manufacturing supply chain management in the Industry 4.0 era. [Extracted from the article]

With the fierce competition in e-commerce, e-tailers are required to rapid responses to a variety of customised orders with multiple frequencies and strict delivery times. The delay or insufficient supply caused by disruptions might result in lost sales during long-term processes. To address this problem, a two-stage stochastic programming model considering profits, consumer service level (CSL) as well as market priorities is developed to manage long-term disruptions. We analyse multi-period consumer transaction data and formulate geographical relevance (GR) to link each marketplace with historical data in related regions and then prioritise market segments. A GR-based two-stage stochastic programming with multi-period is proposed, which (1) considers both proactive mitigation decisions before disruption and reactive recovery plans after disruption; (2) collaborates three resilience strategies; (3) optimises the e-tailer's profits considering market priorities during long-term disruptions. Using a real case of Chinese e-commerce under the COVID-19 pandemic, it is illustrated (1) the applicability and performance of the proposed GR-based model for multi-period resilience optimisation improving both the CSL and the total profit; (2) the efficiency and robustness of the developed sequential particle swarm optimisation with social structures algorithm. The proposed method could optimise e-tailers' response strategies for managing long-term disruptions in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the rapid growth of online purchasing, more and more e-retailers tend to adopt the front warehouse mode to improve the performance of customer service by locating multiple front warehouses with limited space and storage capacity closer to consumers. In this context, order splitting and distribution become increasingly crucial decisions that might impact the efficiency of order fulfillment. These two issues are investigated in the related works commonly as two independent problems, although they are inherently coupled with each other. This study established an integrated optimization model for order splitting and distribution routing for the front warehouse mode e-retailing. The model considers practical features, including order splitting constraints based on product type and quantity, finite inventory, heterogeneous vehicle routing constraints, and time windows. A branch-price-and-cut algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. Two logic-based Benders cuts are designed to deal with the infeasible distribution routes. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is verified in an experimental study by considering CPLEX and two heuristic algorithms as benchmark methods. The dominance of our proposed algorithm is observed, especially for large-scale cases. The impacts of overlapping inventory levels, the combination of heterogeneous vehicles, and the width of time windows are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers' perception of product value when purchasing is a critical issue relative to online platform commerce. This is especially true when the brand manufacturer authorises only a third-party reseller to sell through the platform, a practice that may provide opportunities to counterfeiters. To address this issue, we establish a theoretical model in which one brand manufacturer wholesales its products to a third-party reseller who then sells through an online platform. The platform acts as a marketplace, while multiple counterfeiters also exist on the platform, which may deceive consumers. In particular, we consider that the manufacturer can encroach with a direct channel and that the platform can adopt blockchain technology to help consumers identify authenticity. The results show that the platform could induce the brand manufacturer to encroach by deploying blockchain technology. Furthermore, an interesting result indicates that although either manufacturer encroachment or blockchain technology used alone can effectively boycott counterfeits, the coexistence of two strategies can raise the demand for counterfeit products. Finally, we find that when the brand manufacturer encroaches on the platform and the platform adopts blockchain technology, the brand manufacturer, platform, reseller and social welfare can achieve Pareto improvement, while the consumer surplus may be worse off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the digital economy platforms develop rapidly. Cross-border live streaming e-commerce platforms with Internet celebrity anchors playing as the core of sales conversion, attract particular attention. This paper constructs a relevant theoretical model based on the TAM model and initial trust theory, introduces gender as a moderating variable, and uses structural equation and linear regression methods to conduct empirical analysis. The results show that, the reputation of Internet celebrity anchors significantly affects consumers' propensity to purchase on cross-border live streaming e-commerce platforms, and initial trust acts as a partial mediating variable between the Internet celebrity anchors' reputation and consumers' propensity to purchase, which the mediating effect accounts for 73.59% of the total effect. Besides, gender also has significant moderating effect on the relationships between consumers' initial trust and propensity to purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the problems of legal regulation of electronic commerce as a key component of the modern digital economy. Since e-commerce is a global phenomenon that is rapidly developing, new challenges arise in the legal field, in particular, the need to harmonize national and international legal standards. It is stated that dynamic changes in the field of e-commerce require adaptation of national legal acts to respond to modern challenges, particularly in the field of international transactions. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that modern technologies create new forms of digital legal relations, which national legal systems do not always have time to adequately regulate. This calls for an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms of legal regulation of electronic commerce at the international and national levels. An important task is the harmonization of national legal norms with international standards, which will ensure the stability of the legal system and the protection of the rights of market participants. The article draws attention to the fact that, despite a significant amount of research in the field of electronic commerce, there is a significant gap in the legal regulation of this field in different countries, which complicates the work of international platforms and the protection of the rights of consumers and entrepreneurs. During the study, a comprehensive analysis of key legislative acts of Ukraine regulating electronic commerce was carried out, including the Law of Ukraine «On Electronic Commerce», the Law of Ukraine «On Electronic Identification and Electronic Trust Services» and others. The article emphasizes the importance of further harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with international standards, which is necessary to ensure legal certainty and stability in the conditions of global digitalization of the economy. Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of international legal acts, such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce and the Guidelines for Electronic Commerce of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. These documents play a key role in harmonizing international legal norms and creating a single legal space for electronic co mmerce. Attention is focused on the fact that effective legal regulation of electronic commerce is important for the development of international trade, ensuring the security of electronic transactions and protecting the rights of all market participants. The need to adapt national legal systems to the requirements of international standards is substantiated, which will contribute to the growth of electronic commerce and increase the competitiveness of states in the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While its relationship with competition law remains under debate, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) concerns fundamental rights, public values, and the control of power in digital markets. In limiting the scope of the freedom to conduct a business, the DMA seeks to safeguard conflicting and colliding fundamental rights and public interests. For the DMA to gain recognition as a legitimate and future-proof governance framework for digital markets, it must be based on participatory democracy. Meaningful participation in procedures that could impact one's position is a fundamental element of a democratic legal system governed by the rule of law. Although the DMA permits some form of dialogue, participatory democracy is constrained in scope, a bilateral logic rather than a multi-stakeholder approach is employed, and much is left to the discretion of the enforcer. Using a law-oriented and constitutional approach, we elaborate on how participatory democracy, engagement, and deliberation can be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) seeks to oversee major digital platforms – "gatekeepers," and their core platform services, aiming to break down barriers to competition enforcement within digital realm. Despite the DMA's absence of explicit mention of private enforcement, its spirit is clearly embedded within the framework. Several EU Member States have actively encouraged private enforcement of the DMA within their legislative processes. Considering the individual initiatives by the EU Member States, this paper addresses a concern: how to secure uniformity and consistency in the private enforcement of the DMA across the EU? This challenge is exacerbated by the looming threat of forum shopping, wherein plaintiffs strategically select jurisdictions to gain perceived advantages. As a solution, this paper advocates for the adoption of harmonization measures that strike a delicate balance between legal diversity and ensuring diligent oversight within the framework of private enforcement under the DMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "WhatsApp: From a one-to-one Messaging App to a Global Communication Platform" by Amelia Johns, Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández, and Emma Baulch explores the transformation of WhatsApp from a simple chat app to a significant global platform. The authors discuss how WhatsApp's acquisition by Meta Platforms led to a shift in priorities towards profit and business goals, impacting user experiences and privacy concerns. Through detailed case studies and ethnographic work, the book highlights WhatsApp's evolution, challenges, and implications within the broader context of platform capitalism and the modern digital economy. The authors provide valuable insights for researchers and scholars studying digital media, cultural studies, and communication studies, making it an essential resource for understanding the complexities of online platforms and their impact on society. [Extracted from the article]

This current study attempts to ascertain hosts' meal-sharing experiences to suggest a broader comprehension of the meal-sharing experience in the informal economy. Drawing on a qualitative research method, 12 interviews with meal-sharing hosts were conducted in Istanbul, Türkiye. The data was analysed using the theme analysis method, foregrounded five main themes, i.e. fellowship, cross-cultural learning, money-making, patriotism, and gastronomic identity. This study is the first attempt to focus on the hosts' perception of the meal-sharing experience, thereby providing a missing piece to wholly complete the theoretical understanding of the meal-sharing experience through the lens of the actor – network theory (ANT) and the privacy – calculus theory (PCT). It also offers several practical implications for sharing economy platform operators to boost their hosts' experiences in their sharing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public procurement, a critical facet in acquiring goods and services, has garnered scholarly attention in e-procurement. However, its application in healthcare remains underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a decentralized blockchain-based e-procurement system in healthcare (B-ePS) to enhance transparency, reliability, and security. The study leverages the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts to establish B-ePS, aiming to mitigate traditional e-procurement concerns. By emphasizing the blockchain's non-tampering characteristics, information traceability, and decentralization, the authors contribute a practical framework that goes beyond descriptive methods. The research reviews existing literature, identifies challenges, and recommends specific solutions within the B-ePS framework. This approach positions B-ePS at the forefront of advancing trustworthy e-procurement in healthcare, addressing security implications, lack of trust among stakeholders, and the absence of a fully reliable e-procurement solution. In summary, this paper focuses on the purpose of improving public procurement in healthcare through a decentralized, transparent, and secure e-procurement system. The methodology involves the implementation of B-ePS using Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts. The major findings highlight the system's potential to address longstanding issues in traditional e-procurement. The paper concludes with implications for advancing reliable e-procurement solutions in healthcare, emphasizing the transformative impact of blockchain technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social commerce (s-commerce) offers community-based platforms that facilitate customer-to-customer interactions and the development of customers' social shopping-based experience. While prior research has addressed the role of customer engagement (CE) in boosting s-commerce-based sales and performance, insight into the effect of s-commerce attributes on CE remains tenuous. Addressing this gap, this study examines the role of specific s-commerce attributes (i.e. community, collaboration, interactivity and social dynamics) on CE, which is, in turn, proposed to impact customers' repurchase- and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention. Design/methodology/approach: A web-based survey was deployed to target users of a popular s-commerce platform, Etsy.com. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was, then, used to analyze the survey data collected from 390 users. Findings: The results reveal that the four examined attributes positively affect CE. The findings also demonstrate CE's positive effect on customers' repurchase- and eWOM intention. Originality/value: Though CE has been identified as a key s-commerce performance indicator, little remains known about the role of specific s-commerce attributes in driving CE, as, therefore, explored in this research. Specifically, the authors examine the role of s-commerce-based community, collaboration, interactivity and social dynamics on CE. Their analyses also corroborate that CE, in turn, drives customers' post-purchase (i.e. repurchase/eWOM) intention. Managerially, our findings can be used to develop more engaging s-commerce platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation has allegedly been in decline for the last decade, and fears of its imminent end have been further heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with cross-border e-commerce merchants, local foreign trade officials, and e-commerce platform agents in the Chinese city of Yiwu, this article shows how a group of globalists think about and respond to deglobalisation. It argues that heavy involvement in global trade has led these individuals to treat global connectivity as their vital interest, and to maintain that connectivity they have collaboratively produced what I refer to as a new form of 'up–down' globalisation. By examining the micro-politics of globalisation, with individuals' mindsets and behaviours reacting to the macro-political events that affect (de-)globalising processes, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of globalisation and its ramifications in a Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to investigate information asymmetry in e-commerce supply chain channels and the impact of the fair preference model on the behavior and returns of channel members. Therefore, by contrasting it with the model in the completely rational case, this research establishes a more realistic principal-agent model and incorporates the fair preference model into the e-commerce supply chain channel. According to the model's analysis, the effort level of the retailer at each stage is positively correlated with the e-commerce efficiency coefficient, and the incentive coefficient of manufacturers is positively correlated with the e-commerce efficiency coefficient in the case where all rationality is assumed. Manufacturing companies' anticipated profits are positively correlated with the e-commerce efficiency coefficient. According to the fair preference model, retailers will put forth more effort to sell products when their fixed income from manufacturers is higher and their optimal effort level is positively correlated with that income. When e-commerce's efficiency coefficient is higher than 1, the retailer's revenue and effort exceeded those of traditional channels. Manufacturers and retailers both experience Pareto improvements in their earnings after the fair preference model is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the nuances of retail media, exploring its growth trajectory, the benefits it brings to various stakeholders and the challenges it poses while offering strategic insights for brands to effectively harness its potential. Retail media has emerged as a focal point in the digital commerce sphere, captivating attention and promising a paradigm shift akin to the emergence of search in the early 2000s. With ongoing technological advancements and a burgeoning array of retail media networks, the landscape is becoming increasingly dynamic and competitive. It is no wonder everyone is talking about retail media and the exciting opportunities it promises. In this paper, the author not only elucidates the immense potential of retail media but also sheds light on a crucial aspect often overlooked: the disruptive impact it can have on established business processes and structures. He then advocates for a proactive approach by brands to understand, acknowledge and adapt to these disruptions, paving the way for leveraging the full spectrum of opportunities presented by retail media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Websites are a highly effective instrument for marketing and purchasing sporting goods. The purpose of this article is to propose and test a model of hedonism, perceived ease use and perceived usefulness, website quality, flow experience, e-satisfaction and e-loyalty. Data were collected from users of the largest online sporting goods retailer in Iran. Participants completed a seven-item scale for e-loyalty (Gremler & Brown, 1996), three-item scale for e-satisfaction (Janda et al., 2002); four-item scale for flow (O'Cass & Carlson, 2010), five-item scale for website quality (Hur et al., 2011), four-item scales for both perceived ease use and perceived usefulness (Venkatesh & Davis, 1996) and four-item scale for hedonism (Mohammadi & Isanejad, 2018). The results of structural equation model show that user beliefs and website quality have a positive effect on the flow experience. Hedonism also affected e-satisfaction and e-loyalty. Although the findings have shown meaningful relationships, there are other influential factors such as skill/challenge, perceived playfulness and interactivity that may play a fundamental role in the flow experience and thus satisfaction and loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the impact of e-commerce on urban last-mile distribution through a comprehensive analysis of scientific studies. A corpus of 317 publications spanning two decades was reviewed, identifying 111 pertinent sources. Utilizing bibliometric analysis and systematic assessment, the study reveals the effects of e-commerce on last-mile delivery comprehensively. Key findings encompass environmental, economic, social, and technological impacts. Notably, while existing research has explored these aspects, the spatial impact of e-commerce remains inadequately addressed. This paper bridges this gap, contributing to the discussion on freight sustainability by elucidating current trends and outlining future research directions in last-mile e-commerce delivery. By providing insights into prevailing research trends and outlining potential avenues for further exploration, this article enriches scholarly discourse on freight sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research is to determine whether a local brick-and-mortar (B&M) business should implement an online-to-offline (O2O) strategy, as well as the conditions under which each mode is most effective. This research examines how an O2O platform and a B&M store's (like restaurants) decision-making processes interact in a two-echelon supply chain (SC). This research employs numerical experiments and a mathematical approach to address research issues with an online food ordering service "Snappfood" that delivers from over 1,500 eateries. We first look at five case studies in which the retail price of Snappfood is determined in both a normal situation (without a marketing mechanism) and one in which the store invests in local advertising to boost demand in the self-building channel. A growth in SC profits is predicted by numerical experiments conducted under this model. The findings of decentralized decision-making reveal that in self-building mode, the store decides on both retail channels and the level of local advertising investment. In turn, the O2O platform recommended a payment delay contract as a fixed operating method for working with B&M stores. This is one of the first studies to investigate at the online sales of a local B&M store, which has the unique characteristic of offering home delivery. Second, we suggest and evaluate that a B&M store can use either the self-building technique or implementing an O2O platform for online selling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the wage and welfare effects of the competition policy in a platform economy. An increase in downstream platform providers widens the skilled‐unskilled wage gap in the short run. Moreover, competition brings about a beneficial price pass‐through effect but a detrimental cost‐pushing effect on upstream manufacturers. This leads to business dynamism in manufacturing firms. By numerical simulations, the number of manufacturing firms increases, thus further widening wage inequality in the long run. The optimal number of platform providers is smaller when the business‐stealing effect is larger, whereas it is larger when the price pass‐through effect is greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercially applicable Recommendation system (RS) exploits multi-criteria rating-based user-item interaction to learn and personalize user preferences using the Multi-criteria recommendation system (MCRS). The existing MCRS techniques have exploited similarity or aggregation function-based modeling to improve prediction accuracy. However, these MCRS methods do not investigate item aspects-based latent user preferences and criteria-based user-item implicit relationships. Also, the prediction reliability is uncertain due to highly sparse user-item interactions and ignoring auxiliary information support. Hence, this study proposes an ensembled approach that jointly develops the Similarity and aggregation function-based MCRS model (SimAgg-MCRS) and aggregates their user-item predicted preferences into a cumulative preference matrix to generate the final recommendation. First, the proposed model develops the deep neural network (DNN)-based model to aggregate the criteria-based similarity and predicts the overall rating using the aggregated similarity by merging user and item-based predictions. Second, the preference relation-based aggregation function approach develops deep autoencoder-based modeling to exploit the latent relationship among criteria to obtain users' overall preference over an item by aggregating criteria-wise preference. Finally, the third phase develops the DNN-based ensemble model to integrate the preference matrix of similarity and aggregation function approach to obtain the overall aggregated matrix for the recommendation. The proposed SimAgg-MCRS integrates user and item side information to learn user preferences better. Experimental and prediction accuracy-based comparative evaluation results across Yahoo! Movies and Trip Advisor multi-criteria datasets validate the proposed models' performance over the baseline MCRS methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies strategic demand information sharing on online retail platforms and explores how it is influenced by the wholesale pricing timing. The supplier sells the product under a wholesale price contract indirectly and by paying a proportional commission fee directly. We investigate both ex ante and ex post information sharing arrangements. Under each arrangement, the supplier needs to determine the sequence of the wholesale price setting and the information sharing stage. We find that (1) under ex ante information sharing, if the supplier sets the wholesale price before, the online platform always shares private information; otherwise, it prefers to share only when the commission fee is large. Interestingly, the online platform's information sharing incentive is independent of signal accuracy and market variability. (2) Under ex post information sharing, the online platform may manipulate the signal shared with the supplier. We characterize the conditions and influencing factors of truthful information sharing. (3) If the conditions for information sharing can be achieved, the supplier prefers to set the wholesale price later. Otherwise, the supplier sets the wholesale price before inducing the online platform to share information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractLive streaming commerce has rapidly emerged as a key platform in e-commerce, yet the socio-technical mechanisms underlying consumer-platform interactions remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining both task-oriented purchasing behaviors and pleasure-driven engagement through the lens of social exchange theory. A web-based survey was conducted with 300 respondents in South Korea, all of whom had prior experience with live streaming commerce. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM to evaluate the proposed model. The results reveal that procedural and interactional justice positively affect trust, while co-experience enhances perceived playfulness. Both trust and playfulness, in turn, significantly impact purchase and repeated viewing intentions. These findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of live commerce, offering a comprehensive model for understanding consumer behavior in the context of live commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition authorities and other regulators already rely on data science to monitor markets and check compliance with applicable rules. The Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act have made the use of data science by regulators even more relevant, given the scale and complexity of the oversight required. The existing use of data science shows that regulators are able to adapt their organizations and processes to realize the potential of using technology tools in their activities. At the same time, the use of data science poses challenges in terms of data reliability and individual privacy. Beyond involvement in specific investigations, data science also has the potential to reform the work of regulators by moving towards a more proactive form of enforcement. The sharing of data science expertise and tools between regulators deserves to be further facilitated to increase collaboration and share resources in monitoring the platform economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic diseases are usually managed by patients over a lifetime with the help of medication and regular health checkups. Recurring expenses incurred by chronic patients on medicine to manage their chronic illness adversely affect their household income as well as increase household expenditure. Schemes such as the Prime Minister Generic Medicine Scheme (PMBJP) launched by the Government of India aims to decrease out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on medicine, especially for chronic patients who have recurring expenditures on medicine. With a focus on PMBJP scheme which provides cheap generic alternatives to chronic patients, this cohort study has been undertaken to investigate if using the Internet to access to these generic medicines online can reduce OOP expenditure on medicine for chronic patients. The study observed that the out-of-pocket expenditure on medicine for branded consumers is significantly higher than the expenditure on medicine for JAM (Jan Aushadhi Medicine) generic medicine consumers. The study urges that a communication intervention providing awareness about alternative access to JAM (Jan Aushadhi Medicine) generic medicines online lead to a significant shift in consumption behavior of chronic patients towards accessing these medicines online. The study found that although the PMBJP scheme has the potential of decreasing OOP expenditure on medicine for chronic patients, the scheme needs to be expanded towards online platforms run by government to ensure ease of access, increased availability which could play an instrumental role in decreasing the OOP expenditure on medicine for chronic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aware of the power of platform firms and the risks of the platform economy, governments are reconsidering the dominant laissez faire approach in favour of strategies that regulate the power of platform firms. transnational dynamics play an important role in shaping emerging national regimes, but we argue that governments are also influenced by three factors that operate primarily at domestic level: the agency of platform firms, the impact of first-mover US platforms, and domestic politics. We illustrate our approach through an analysis of the trajectories and regulatory measures of four economies: the US, the EU, China, and India. As governance efforts expand to emerging technologies such as AI, our analysis presages broader changes to the structure of what was, with a few important exceptions, a relatively borderless global online economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeMethodology/approachFindingsResearch implicationsOriginality/value/contributionPractical implicationsLive streaming e-commerce is an emerging e-commerce model within the realm of the mobile Internet, based on video-centric social media interaction. However, there is currently a lack of in-depth research on live streaming from a business perspective and the impact of product selection in live streaming on firm performance. To fill these gaps, the current study investigated how brand – consumer congruence moderates the influence of product selection in live streaming on firm performance and how this effect varies across retailers.The model and hypotheses were tested by applying partial least squares regression to data collected from 302 online retailers in the Chinese live streaming market.Product selection in live streaming had a significant positive impact on firm performance. Brand – consumer congruence in live rooms partially mediated the relationship between product selection and firm performance. Live room scenario matching and live room interaction had significant positive moderating effects on the main effect of product selection in live streaming on firm performance.The literature has focused on the impact of live streaming on customer purchase behavior. Few studies have explored the value of live streaming from a business-to-business marketing perspective. Our findings offer theoretical insights into the relationship between product selection and firm performance.This is the first study to examine the value of product selection in live streaming. In addition, it reveals how product selection affects firm performance through brand – consumer congruence.This study has implications for online retail managers based on the effect of product selection in live streaming on firm performance and the roles of brand – consumer congruence, interaction, and scenario in live streaming of business-to-business marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of sharing platforms in travel and tourism is an important transformation over the past two decades. An understanding of why some sharing economy platforms grow while others fail is an important area for travel and tourism research. Using transaction cost economics (TCE), we argue successful sharing platforms achieve both effective governance and monetization of transactions. This requires a shift from enthusiastic and committed bartering of passionate users towards a more systematic, integrated sharing platform, managed by a scaled travel or tourism corporation. The paper develops a framework explaining platform growth and offers recommendations on how transaction cost economizing and monetization can play complementary roles and can both improve platform growth and viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing promotional imperatives have altered the balance between art and commerce, affecting the degree of musicians’ autonomy and control over their musical activities. To understand how promotional pressures affect independent grassroots musicians’ practices, this paper draws from the selling out debate and analyzes the pros and cons of online self-promotion. It argues that grassroots musicians rely on online platforms for promotion, but must do so according to conventions and expectations for self-promotion specific to the music worlds they operate in. Musicians who fail to do so risk being labeled show-offs, a criticism that carries negative connotations similar to accusations of selling out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the rise of social media and web technologies, users are increasingly spending time on browsing and purchasing on social commerce, particularly during idle moments of casual scrolling. Social commerce applications with sophisticated social features and security measures may tend to attract a significant number of highly engaged users. The purpose of this study is to find out whether customers will be interested in the content posted on the applications and generate impulse consumption when they are bored. Methods: Drawing on stimulus-organism-response framework, this paper explores how technical cues and situational cues affect impulse buying behavior in social commerce applications and the mediating impact of consumer-perceived values. Data were gathered from 395 respondents who frequently utilize and have shopping experience on social commerce applications. The PLS-SEM and fsQCA were applied to formulate and test the proposed hypotheses. Results: The results of PLS-SEM reveal technical cues (ease of use, visual appeal and security) and situational cues (passing time and serendipity) positively influenced impulse buying. The results of fsQCA offer six solutions of different combinations of constructs which can lead to high impulse buying. Discussion: These findings may extend existing research on impulse buying behavior and consumer psychology, offering valuable insights for marketers. They also point towards strategies for more effectively encouraging impulse purchase in digital retail environments, particularly among consumers who are browsing out of boredom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how virtual streamer responsiveness affects consumers' purchase intention through social presence in the context of live streaming commerce. We recruited 432 consumers who had watched virtual streamers in the context of live streaming commerce, and asked them to complete a survey assessing responsiveness, social presence, and purchase intention. Our findings demonstrated that virtual streamer responsiveness had a positive impact on consumers' purchase intention in live streaming commerce, and that this relationship was mediated by social presence. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article in this journal will bring readers more specifically to university students to see easier access to money for additional living expenses. A new perspective when students are more specifically informatics students who are taught and nurtured so that they have skills and knowledge about program development not only live with money given by parents, but with money from the creation and development of their own programs or platforms. Access and dissemination of this journal will be expanded to make it more accessible and useful to all readers not only for informatics students but for prospective students and former students who have dived into the sea of computer code more specifically on the creation and development of programs or platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We examined the prevalence of price promotions (i.e., proportion of products on price promotion) and the magnitude of price promotions (i.e., size of the price discount compared to the regular price) among online alcohol retailers. Methods: In August 2023, we web‐scraped product information for all alcoholic beverages available for sale in the online stores of two leading alcohol retailers in Sydney, Australia. Products were classified into five primary alcohol categories: wine, spirits, beer, cider and premix drinks. We considered three types of price promotion: temporary price discounts (e.g., 'was $5 now $4'), multi‐buy discounts (e.g., buy one get one free) and 'any six' discounts (e.g., 5% off when purchased in a bundle of any six similar products). The prevalence and mean magnitude of price promotions were estimated overall and by product category and price promotion type. Results: In total, data for 11,184 products were collected. Of these, 62% were the subject of at least one of the assessed forms of price promotion. The most frequently price‐promoted category was wine (91% of products), followed by spirits (35%), premix drinks (30%), cider (28%) and beer (21%). Of all price promotions, 61% were 'any six' discounts, 31% were temporary price discounts, and 7% were multi‐buy discounts. Across all price promotions, the mean magnitude of price discount relative to the regular price was 11% and ranged from less than 1% to 71%. Discussion and Conclusions: Policymakers should consider restricting price promotions as part of a suite of strategies to reduce alcohol‐related harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the world economy and health services, leading to fear, panic, and vulnerability among billions of people. Panic buying, observed in many countries, became a common phenomenon during the pandemic. However, there is still an incomplete understanding of how social media influences fear and consumer responses during such turmoil. This study aims to comprehend consumer experiences, thoughts, and emotions regarding the role of social media in driving panic buying behavior. Through an inductive thematic analysis of data from 30 consumers, the results reveal six key themes that highlight the impact of social networks on panic buying behavior during the COVID-19 crisis. These themes include the provision of evidence of uncertainty, social pressure, and social contagion; fostering interaction and discussion; facilitating the spread of messages and group thinking; the role of government communications; expert opinions; and the influence of social media influencers. This study contributes to existing theories by providing empirical evidence that supports the role of social media in generating consumer panic buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, the city of Barcelona made the controversial decision to prohibit short-term rentals of private rooms to tourists. The ban renewed the heated debate around the uses and functions of private property in the context of the contemporary tourist city, where the market of tourist accommodation has been significantly impacted by players such as Airbnb. This study aims to give an account of the controversy surrounding the ban on the short-term renting of private rooms in Barcelona by interpreting it as a reflection of the intrinsic conflicts of meanings operating in the tourist city. Accordingly, it maps and analyses the different positions voiced by the social actors involved in both the political urban arena and in the market. The main hypothesis of this work is that the controversy provoked by the decision to ban the shared homes listed by platforms such as Airbnb unmasks different ways to "make meaning of" structural issues such as urban life, housing and inequalities, tourism, digital labour and precariousness in the immediate post-pandemic scenario of the tourist city. From the epistemological point of view, the study relies on a semiotic perspective and critically analyses different textualities related to the debate around home sharing in Barcelona. These textualities articulate different themes and figures at a deeper axiological level where a clash of value systems takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social commerce, such as Instagram shopping – an innovative, global platform on which businesses offer their products and services – is attracting growing interest from both the academic community and the business world. Not least, this interest is due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic, with its associated restrictions on movement, prompted an upsurge in worldwide demand for social commerce. This study aims to determine whether consumer motivation mediates the association between recommendation and purchase intention toward Instagram commerce. Employing a mediation analysis, the work identifies consumer buying patterns on this platform by conducting a cross-sectional study on a sample comprising experienced Spanish Instagram users. This research provides valuable insights into the adoption of Instagram commerce, with implications for practitioners in the field of social commerce, especially in the Fashion context. The findings suggest that powerful recommendations will increase online shoppers' motivation to make purchases via this social network rather than other social commerce platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The establishment of a new outpatient pharmacy provided a strategic opportunity to repurpose and convert an existing outpatient pharmacy into a closed-door mail-order pharmacy within a health system. This article describes the steps taken to successfully make this change and evaluates the impact. Summary The mail-order pharmacy conversion project was divided into 3 phases: phase 1 (before conversion) from July through August 2022, phase 2 (conversion) from October through November 2022, and phase 3 (after conversion) from December 2022 through February 2023. Phase 1 included standardizing workflows with standard operating procedure (SOP) development, improving automation, determining staffing ratios, gathering baseline staff engagement data, and identifying primary and secondary outcomes of interest. Phase 2 encompassed SOP implementation and training of mail-order team members. Phase 3 involved evaluating available pharmacy floorspace, marketing mail-order services, and the second distribution of the staff engagement survey. The measured outcomes of this project were total prescription volumes, increase in total revenue, and staff engagement. Data collection was completed in phase 3. Conclusion The existing outpatient pharmacy was successfully converted to a closed-door pharmacy, and the associated prescription volume increased. Developing a strategic action plan to establish SOPs, calculate staffing performance metrics, and identify opportunities for growth and engaging frontline team members were essential to the success of this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food as medicine (FAM) interventions have been associated with improved health outcomes. However, there is limited FAM evidence in food retail settings. The objective was to evaluate the feasibility of a registered dietitian nutritionist–led FAM program that aims to detect changes in participants' nutrition problems and related nutrition and health outcomes, as documented by the Nutrition Care Process framework. The study was a descriptive feasibility nutrition intervention cohort analysis. A convenience sample of online food shoppers were enrolled in collaboration with a food retail chain (n = 39 participants completed the intervention and were included in primary analyses). Participants received nutrition care for 6 months either in person or via telehealth. The FAM intervention included tailored nutrition care that integrated software-generated meal plans and food shopping lists to support online food shopping. Progress of nutrition problems and diet quality (assessed via the Picture your Plate survey) were measured. Measurements included changes in anthropometric and biochemical parameters, blood pressure, and quality of life (assessed via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Health Related Quality of Life-14 survey). Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson's χ2, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to detect differences. The most prevalent nutrition problems demonstrated improvement rates as follows: excessive energy intake, 81% (n = 21 of 26); excessive carbohydrate intake, 88% (n = 7 of 8); and obesity, 100% (n = 5 of 5). Exposure to the FAM intervention improved dietary quality, quality of life, body weight, waist circumference, and systolic pressure. FAM interventions can be carried out by in-store registered dietitian nutritionists in the supermarket setting. This feasibility study highlighted the need and opportunity for larger studies in which registered dietitian nutritionist–led FAM interventions, in collaboration with food retailers, may improve people's nutrition and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]