Forwarded message from [mmahmood@MAIL.UTEP.EDU (Mo Adam Mahmood)] sent originally on Sun, 13 Feb 2000 15:25:32 -0700: : JOURNAL OF END USER COMPUTING : (Official Publication of the Information : Resources Management Association) : Volume 12, Number 2 : : KULDEEP KUMAR, Eramus University, Netherlands, Guest Editor : CLAUDIA LOEBBECKE, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Guest Editor : : TABLE OF CONTENTS : : GUEST EDITORIAL PREFACE : : Digital Trade of Intangible Goods: Technologies, Applications and Business : Models : KULDEEP KUMAR, Eramus University, Netherlands : CLAUDIA LOEBBECKE, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark : : The guest editors first provide a brief background on digitally traded : intangible goods and then introduce papers included in this JEUC Special : Issue on electronic commerce. : : REVIEWED PAPERS : : Pricing Strategies and Technologies for On-Line Delivered Content : MARTIN BICHLER, Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration, : Austria : CLAUDIA LOEBBECKE, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark : : This paper describes the latest trends in electronic catalog technology and : ways on-line merchants can learn about their customers. : : Digital News: Content, Delivery, and Value Propositions for an Intangible : Product : JONATHAN W. PALMER, University of Maryland, USA : LARS BO ERIKSEN, University of Aalborg, Netherlands : : This paper examines news products on the Internet and analyzes 50 Web sites : pertaining to product content, delivery and revenue generation. : : Commercialization of Electronic Information : JEAN-HENRY MORIN, University of Geneva, Switzerland : DIMITRI KONSTANTAS, University of Geneva, Switzerland : : This paper presents the major requirements for the commercialization of : electronic information and proposes an agent-based framework. : : Signalling Intentions and Obliging Behavior Online: An Application of : Semiotic and Legal Modeling in E-Commerce : JAMES BACKHOUSE, London School of Economics, UK : EDWARD CHENG, Harvard Law School, USA : : This paper explores numerous aspects of online contracts associated with : e-commerce. : : INDUSTRY AND PRACTICE : Zero Entry Barriers in Computationally Complex World: Transaction Streams : and the Complexity of the Digital Trade of Intangible Goods : BRIAN SUBIRANA, IESE International Graduate School of Management, Spain : : This paper analyzes how transactions related to the digital trade of : intangible goods and services is being performed on the Internet. : : Book Review-Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy : JONATHAN WAREHAM, Georgia State University, USA : : This review on a book by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian looks at the : information revolution and Internet explosion from the viewpoint that it is : just another economic revolution. : : REVIEWED PAPER ABSTRACTS : : Pricing Strategies and Technologies for On-Line Delivered Content : MARTIN BICHLER, Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration, : Austria : CLAUDIA LOEBBECKE, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark : : Electronically traded On-line Delivered Content (ODC) is data, information, : and knowledge traded on the Internet or through other on-line means. ODC : includes on-line newspapers, magazines, music, education, searchable : databases, consulting, and eventually expertise and ideas. This paper : describes market structures and pricing strategies for ODC. So far : businesses have been restricted to versioning and group pricing, when : differentiating their offerings. New information technologies enable : businesses to charge personalized prices on the Internet. A crucial : precondition for this is detailed knowledge about a customer's preferences. : We describe the latest trends in electronic catalog technology and new : ways how on-line merchants can learn about their customers on the Internet. : : Digital News: Content, Delivery, and Value Propositions for an Intangible : Product : JONATHAN W. PALMER, University of Maryland, USA : LARS BO ERIKSEN, University of Aalborg, Netherlands : : This paper examines the news products (newspapers, news magazines, and : broadcast news) on the Internet. Analysis of 50 Web sites reveals digital : news product content, delivery mechanisms, and revenue generation. Content : reflects the producer's original medium (e.g. print version or broadcast) : although often augmented with a greater number of articles or additional : media. Delivery is immediate and many digital news products are : customizing content and delivery through search and retrieval mechanisms. : Revenue is generated through traditional retail and classified : advertisements, as well as through market intermediation. Few digital news : products utilize a subscription-based fee, and are instead generating : income through their archives. The paper suggests a new business model for : digital news products that includes content-based revenue generation : through personalization, archiving and versioning, cost savings through low : cost reproduction and pay per use revenue approaches and three approaches : to advertising, including retail, classified, and more highly targeted : market intermediation. : : Commercialization of Electronic Information : JEAN-HENRY MORIN, University of Geneva, Switzerland : DIMITRI KONSTANTAS, University of Geneva, Switzerland : : Information dissemination is slowly moving from printed media to electronic : media. However this step cannot be completed if the electronic : commercialization of information does not provide the same guarantees : against copyright infringement as with the printed media. In this paper we : present the major requirement for the commercialization of electronic : information and describe Hep, an agent-based framework we developed for the : commercialization of arbitrary electronic documents over open networks. : The Hep electronic document commercialization model follows the secure : content encapsulation model and regards documents as programs (agents) that : need to be executed in order to reveal their contents. This way the : document provider can include arbitrary checks and controls against : possible copyright infringement attempts. : : Signalling Intentions and Obliging Behavior Online: An Application of : Semiotic and Legal Modeling in E-Commerce : JAMES BACKHOUSE, London School of Economics, UK : EDWARD CHENG, Harvard Law School, USA : : Electronic commerce has the potential to deliver goods and services to : customers more quickly, cheaply, and conveniently than ever before. But : before performance the obligations have to be created. This paper explores : the semiotic and legal aspects of online contracts. It reviews speech act : theory from philosophers such as Austin and Searle to explain how words and : actions can create legal obligations. It then examines English contract : law and its requirements to find an abstract basis upon which contract : creation can be modeled. Using semiotics and law, the paper thereafter : creates a model of the contract creation process and applies it to : electronic commerce in intangible goods. Since electronic commerce is so : pervasive and extends beyond any particular jurisdiction, the need is : destined to increase the high-level abstraction and for a model of : comparison and cross reference. : : INDUSTRY AND PRACTICE ABSTRACT : : Zero Entry Barriers in Computationally Complex World: Transaction Streams : and the Complexity of the Digital Trade of Intangible Goods : BRIAN SUBIRANA, IESE International Graduate School of Management, Spain : : In this paper we analyze how transactions related to the digital trade of : intangible goods and services is being performed on the Internet. The : adoption of electronic markets in an industry has a desintermediation : potential because it can create a direct link between the producer and the : consumer (without the need for intermediation role of distributors). : Electronic markets lower the search cost allowing customers to choose among : more providers (which ultimately reduces both the costs for the customer : and the profits for the producer). In this paper we content that : electronic markets on the Internet have the opposite effect, resulting in : the increase of intermediators. We introduce transaction streams which : model how transactions related to the digital trade of intangible goods are : being conducted. Transaction streams help explain the types of new : intermediators that are appearing on the Internet and why entry barriers : are close to zero. We also prove that in transaction stream-based : electronic markets, searching for the best price of intangible goods is : NP-complete. : : Book Review : : Review by JONATHAN D. WAREHAM : Georgia State University, USA : : Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, : by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian. : Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, 1998, : 352 pages, ISBN: 0-7895-0654-8. $32.50 : : There is no shortage of popular rhetoric extolling the new rules, : paradigms, revolutions and meta- revolutions of the Network Economy. In : this grand arena of cyber-hype, Shapiro and Varian's Information Rules: A : Strategic Guide to the Network Economy may be the most sober and : substantial contribution to date. The book is constructed around three : main principles that highlight the divergent properties of tangible and : intangible products. The first principle is that information goods are : "experience goods," where real consumer value varies considerably. The : second principle of the information economy revolves around the cost : structure of intangible production. The third reigning principle of the : information economy is that of network externalities. From these three : main principles, the authors survey questions of product differentiation : and versioning, rights management, lock-in, demand-driven externalities, : strategic networks, standards management and information policy. Shapiro : and Varian successfully pull us back out of the clouds through a solid, : theoretically well-founded view of the information economy. : : JEUC EDITOR's NOTE : : If you are presently conducting research or have an interest in the : electronic commerce area and you would like to get a free copy of the : present issue of the journal, please let me know. Please remember that I : will only have a few sample copies to distribute and, therefore, I may not : be able to satisfy everyone's need (I was able to satisfy everyone's : request for a copy of the last issue). Of course, you can always buy a : copy from Jan Travers (email: jtravers@idea-group.com) at the Idea Group : Publishing office or ask your library to subscribe to JEUC. : : If you would like to submit a manuscript to JEUC for publication : consideration, please consult the manuscript submission guidelines provided : at http://www.idea-group.com/journalo.htm. After reviewing the guidelines, : please send us four copies of your manuscript. : : Sincerely, : : M. Adam Mahmood, Ph.D., Editor : Journal of End User Computing : : ÿÿStart of ISWorld List Footer ÿÿ : ISWorld list is a service of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) : (http://www.aisnet.org) hosted at University College Dublin. 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