Agents based e-commerce and securing exchanged information

Mobile agents have been implemented in e-commerce to search and filter information of interest from electronic markets. When the in format ion is very sensitive and critical, it is important to develop a novel security protocol that can efficiently protect the information from malicious tampering as well as unauthorized disclosure or at least detect any malicious act of intruders. In this chapter, we describe robust security techniques that ensure a sound security of information gathered throughout agent's itinerary against various security attacks, as well as truncation attacks. A sound security protocol is described , which implements the various security techniques that would jointly prevent or at least detect any malicious act of intruders. We reason about the soundness of the protocol using Symbolic Trace Analyzer (STA), a formal verification tool that is based on symbolic techniques. We analyze the protocol in key configurations and show that it is free of flaws. We also show that the protocol fulfils the various security requirements of exchanged information in MAS, including data-integrity, data-confidentiality, data authenticity, origin confidentiality and data non-repudiability.

E-book devices and m-commerce : what might be the impact on organizational learning?

E-book devices are changing current organizational practices by providing a source of e-learning, in which organizations and their employees can more easily access information about current business developments that impact on their existing practices. E-book devices (also referred to as e-book readers or e-readers) use electronic ink technology to display written words from books, newspapers, magazines and other documentation. They are portable devices that are the size of a paperback book and are a new technology that has only been mass-marketed to the general population in the past year. Most importantly for an organization is that e-books could transform and will certainly influence their current technology practices and how people communicate and perform their job tasks.

Adoption of technological innovations in the m-commerce industry

The banking industry has globalised as a result of the many technology innovations created by the internet. The electronic commerce (e-commerce) industry is a result of these technological innovations that have revolutionised the way both consumers and businesses conduct business. In the past decade, banks have encouraged the use of e-commerce and most people are now comfortable conducting their banking online. More recently, mobile commerce (m-commerce) has started to gain momentum and an increasing amount of people are conducting their banking on mobile phone devices instead of through the internet. Mobile banking is a technological innovation that people adopt in different ways depending on internal and external environmental influences. In this paper, a social cognitive theoretical framework is adopted to understand an individual’s intention to adopt mobile banking. A conceptual model is proposed, which helps to explain how environmental influences affect an individual’s intention to adopt mobile banking. Implications for mobile banking and m-commerce industry are stated along with suggestions for future research on technological innovations.

E-Commerce research in Australia : inviting a comparative analysis

Published research in the area of electronic commerce has increased several fold in recent years. Australian researchers have participated actively in this research field. An emphasis on quality has prompted us to review the publications in the area of electronic commerce. This paper reports on research, that used a framework developed by Scornavacca et al. (2005), to examine papers published in the leading, relevant journals and conferences over the period 2000 to 2005. Analyses of papers in the electronic commerce area, published during this period, reflects a number of trends in terms of research outlets, approaches, and methods used. The analyses presented here invite a comparative analysis by Scandinavian researchers in ecommerce. The Scandinavian research community represents an appropriate environment against which to benchmark the Australian research outputs. It is our hope that the analyses in this paper will lead to mutual learning and collaboration between researchers in both contexts.

Social commerce activities – a taxonomy

In recent years businesses large and small have jumped on the Social Commerce bandwagon, all in the hope of utilising social media services to facilitate various Social Commerce activities. Given the growing influence of social media on social, economic and political events globally, the rise in business interest in Social Commerce is not unexpected. This paper examines the Social Commerce activities of several Fortune 500 businesses. It analyses and categorises how businesses utilise social media to interact with customers, trading partners, employees and other important stakeholders. Two important themes have emerged, firstly, businesses utilise social media services mostly to facilitate Pre- and Post-transactional type Social Commerce activities such as marketing and customer support. Opportunities exist for businesses to leverage social media for transactional type Social Commerce activities such as purchase, payment, and order-fulfilment. Secondly, the business use of social media seems haphazard. Stakeholders wishing to succeed in Social Commerce will have to reformulate their strategies to take advantage of how users behave on social media services and opportunities to draw synergy from utilising an assortment of social media services. The paper contributes to theory by developing a taxonomy of Social Commerce activities. It contributes to practice by highlighting opportunities to engage in Social Commerce activities, in particular, to leverage opportunities from implementing Transactional Social Commerce.

Vanishing E : the decline of the e-commerce discipline in Australia

Stimulated by the increasing demand for qualified personnel for business ventures that employ the Internet in their operations, electronic commerce (e-commerce) emerged as an academic discipline at the eve of the twenty first century. This paper presents a study on the changing status of e-commerce as an academic discipline in Australia in the second half of the 2000s. The findings of the study show that e-commerce is losing its status as a distinctive academic discipline in Australia. The number of e-commerce educational programs is declining and full-fledged e-commerce programs are now offered at a limited number of Australian universities only. E-commerce is diminishing into a niche area of business education rather than prospering as a significant academic discipline.

Analysis of cultural conflict in the development of web-enabled information systems

The advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the emergence of Internet commerce have given rise to the web as a medium of information exchange. In recent years, the phenomenon has affected the realm of transaction processing systems, as organizations are moving from designing web pages for marketing purposes, to web-based applications that support business-to-business (WEB) and business-to-consumer (B2C) interactions, integrated with databases and other back-end systems (Isakowitz, Bieber et al., 1998). Furthermore, web-enabled applications are increasingly being used to facilitate transactions even between various business units within a single enterprise. Examples of some of the more popular web-enabled applications in use today include airline reservation systems, internet banking, student enrollment systems in universities, and Human Resource (HR) and payroll systems. The prime motive behind the adoption of web-enabled applications are productivity gains due to reduced processing time, decrease in the usage of paper-based documentation and conventional modes of communication (such as letters, fax, or telephone), and improved quality of services to clients. Indeed, web-based solutions are commonly referred to as customer-centric (Li, 2000), which means that they provide user interfaces that do not necessitate high level of computer proficiency. Thus, organizations implement such systems to streamline routine transactions and gain strategic benefits in the process (Nambisan & Wang, 1999), though the latter are to be expected in the long-term. Notwithstanding the benefits of web technology adoption, the web has ample share of challenges for initiators and developers. Many of these challenges are associated with the unique nature of web-enabled applications. Research in the area of web-enabled information systems has revealed several differences with traditional applications. These differences exist with regards to system development methodology, stakeholder involvement, tasks, and technology (Nazareth, 1998). According to Fraternali (1999), web applications are commonly developed using an evolutionary prototyping approach, whereby the simplified version of the application is deployed as a pilot first, in order to gather user feedback. Thus, web-enabled applications typically undergo continuous refinement and evolution (Ginige, 1998; Nazareth, 1998; Siau, 1998; Standing, 2001). Prototype-based development also leads web-enabled information systems to have much shorter development life cycles, but which, unlike traditional applications, are regrettably developed in a rather adhoc fashion (Carstensen & Vogelsang, 2001). However, the principal difference between the two kinds of applications lies in the broad and diverse group of stakeholders associated with web-based information systems (Gordijn, Akkermans, et al., 2000; Russo, 2000; Earl & Khan, 2001; Carter, 2002; Hasselbring, 2002; Standing, 2002; Stevens & Timbrell, 2002). Stakeholders, or organizational members participating in a common business process (Freeman, 1984), vary in their computer competency, business knowledge, language and culture. This diversity is capable of causing conflict between different stakeholder groups with regards to the establishment of system requirements (Pouloudi & Whitley, 1997; Stevens & Timbrell, 2002). Since, web-based systems transcend organizational, departmental, and even national boundaries, the issue of culture poses a significant challenge to the web systems’ initiators and developers (Miles & Snow, 1992; Kumar & van Dissel, 1996; Pouloudi & Whitley, 1996; Li & Williams, 1999).

On the fringe: barriers to participation in the new economy in regional areas

Electronic commerce offers tools which potentially support the development and re·invigoration of regional economies because of their ability to /ink enterprises and labour markets in networks across dispersed geographical areas. However. the evidence that regional areas of Australia benefit from this development in accordance with optimistic forecasts of the potential is, at best, mixed. This paper examines the constraints on the development of IT-based activity in regional areas and identifies barriers to full participation of those areas in Australia. It argues that regional areas are unlikely to benefit from the 'new economy' without a major changes in government thinking about regional development.

How intimate are Australian e-business retail supply chains?

The adoption of electronic commerce strategies is becoming an important means of assisting industries, and indeed whole economies, to gain significant net benefits. The extent to which e-commerce-based strategies, such as quick response and efficient consumer response, might have an effect on local economies depends in part on how readily they are being adopted. The dominant form of adoption of these strategies is to be found in the business-to-business forms of e-commerce. To be successful, business partners must be in a position to develop customer intimacy through sharing of information, to improve their stock replenishment practices, and enhance their levels of online customer support. This paper presents the initial results of a national survey completed in the retail sector of the Australian economy, that assesses how well Australian industry is responding to these e-commerce challenges.

Security for internet banking: a framework

As a continually growing financial service of electronic commerce, Internet banking requires the development and implementation of a sound security procedure. This involves designing effective methods via which users can
be authenticated in a remote environment. Specifically for Internet banking there is areal need for away uniquely to identify and authenticate users without the possibility of their authenticity being cloned. Some technologies in use have been presented for meeting the security requirements for national, regional and global Internet banking assurance. However, there has been little research conducted particularly on the creation of secure
and trusted pathways. Concentrates on presenting a security framework for Internet banking based on discovering and defining these pathways in terms of adequate authentication mechanisms. Proposes a framework concerning how to identify security requirements for Internet banking such that the
transactions being conducted are secured within their respective environments.

Understanding consumer adoption of internet banking : an interpretive study in the Australian banking context

This paper reports key findings from an interpretive study of Australian banking consumer experiences with the adoption of internet banking. The paper provides an understanding of how and why specific factors affect the consumer decision whether or not to bank on the internet, in the Australian context. A theoretical framework is provided that conceptualizes and links consumer-oriented issues influencing adoption of internet banking. The paper also provides a set of recommendations for Australian banks. Specifically, the findings suggest that convenience is the main motivator for consumers to bank on the internet, while there is a range of other influential factors that may be modulated by banks. The findings also highlight increasing risk acceptance by consumers in regard to internet-based services and the growing importance of offering deep levels of consumer support for such services. Gender differences are also highlighted. Finally, the paper suggests that banks will be better able to manage consumer experiences with moving to internet banking if they understand that such experiences involve a process of adjustment and learning over time, and not merely the adoption of a new technology.

eCommerce and the region : not necessarily an unequivocal good

eCommerce is generally assumed to be an unequivocal benefit for regional areas. Drawing upon the globalisation literature and the experience in Australia as a case study, this paper questions whether eCommerce is an unequivocal benefit and suggests that at least in some cases eCommerce may lead to the increased import of goods and service into non-metropolitan regions and the domination of these regions by large businesses based in urban areas. The impact of eCommerce in non-metropolitan areas needs to be systematically studied and a number of research avenues are suggested.

Voices of experience : developing export capability through eCommerce in Australian SMEs

This paper reports an exploratory study of 19 Australian SMEs which had successfully used eCommerce develop to or enhance their export capability. The purpose of the study was to identify both successful adoption processes and impediments to using eCommerce for export. Few companies had  adopted a strategic and planned approach to managing this adoption. The lack of easily accessed and trustworthy information and advice was partly responsible. The study identified a number of other obstacles to  eCommerce export development, including infrastructure and technical deficiencies, lack of awareness and expertise, problems with banking and finance and problems with physical links into export destinations. The developments that would most enable Australian companies to use eCommerce for export are identified as: improvements in the infrastructure on which eCommerce depends; the provision of consolidated, impartial information and advice about the use of eCommerce for export; and training and skills development to facilitate the implementation of eCommerce for export.