Volume 28, Issue 1, January 2024, Page 31-32
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Editor’s Introduction
Dismal Management of the Sales and Distribution System at GEM Food Products
Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
The case illustrates the challenges a newcomer faces in a regional leadership role within an already well-established framework. His struggles in managing growth and market shares bring to light the vulnerabilities in the organization’s existing practices. Participants gain insights into management concepts such as review mechanisms, gaps in the recruitment process, mentorship of new recruits and the resilience of systems even amid a change in leadership. The path to recovery involves delving into the comprehension of various indicators within the context of sales and distribution.
The case illustrates the challenges a newcomer faces in a regional leadership role within an already well-established framework. His struggles in managing growth and market shares bring to light the vulnerabilities in the organization’s existing practices. Participants gain insights into management concepts such as review mechanisms, gaps in the recruitment process, mentorship of new recruits and the resilience of systems even amid a change in leadership. The path to recovery involves delving into the comprehension of various indicators within the context of sales and distribution.
The Sinking of HBOS: An Invaluable Lesson to the Contemporary Banking and Finance Sector
Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
HBOS plc, a UK-based financial institution, initially appeared as a remarkable success story in the banking industry. 2001 marked a pivotal moment when Halifax and Bank of Scotland joined forces to create HBOS. For the subsequent six years, it achieved substantial double-digit profits, solidifying its position. In 2007, the bank’s market capitalization soared to an impressive £40 billion.While HBOS garnered accolades from analysts and brokers for its apparent success, beneath the surface, its business model proved susceptible to economic fluctuations due to what was identified as a flawed strategy and inadequate risk management practices. These critical shortcomings left the bank ill-prepared to navigate the global financial crisis. In October 2008, HBOS faced a severe crisis and ultimately merged with Lloyds Banking Group.This case delves into the intricacies of HBOS’s strategy, internal and external governance issues and the changing business environment. It serves as an invaluable tool for students seeking to comprehend the factors that led to the company’s downfall. Several pressing questions are raised, including the role of accounting improprieties, the effectiveness of the risk management system, internal governance and the inability of the board and auditors to foresee the impending challenges within the company.
HBOS plc, a UK-based financial institution, initially appeared as a remarkable success story in the banking industry. 2001 marked a pivotal moment when Halifax and Bank of Scotland joined forces to create HBOS. For the subsequent six years, it achieved substantial double-digit profits, solidifying its position. In 2007, the bank’s market capitalization soared to an impressive £40 billion.While HBOS garnered accolades from analysts and brokers for its apparent success, beneath the surface, its business model proved susceptible to economic fluctuations due to what was identified as a flawed strategy and inadequate risk management practices. These critical shortcomings left the bank ill-prepared to navigate the global financial crisis. In October 2008, HBOS faced a severe crisis and ultimately merged with Lloyds Banking Group.This case delves into the intricacies of HBOS’s strategy, internal and external governance issues and the changing business environment. It serves as an invaluable tool for students seeking to comprehend the factors that led to the company’s downfall. Several pressing questions are raised, including the role of accounting improprieties, the effectiveness of the risk management system, internal governance and the inability of the board and auditors to foresee the impending challenges within the company.
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 431-447: Investigating M-Payment Intention across Consumer Cohorts
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 431-447: Investigating M-Payment Intention across Consumer Cohorts
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer19010023
Authors: Amonrat Thoumrungroje Lokweetpun Suprawan
This study investigates the widespread adoption of mobile payments (m-payments) and their impact on different generations, particularly post-COVID-19. We fill a gap in research by suggesting a new way to understand this phenomenon through the lens of social cognitive theory. We employed a multi-stage sampling technique, including purposive, quota, and snowball sampling, to ensure comparable group sizes for four generations and obtained usable survey data from 716 Thai online shoppers. The results reveal direct and indirect (through perceived values) significant relationships between technological self-efficacy and m-payment intention. While perceived values, which constitute functional, emotional, monetary, and social values, fully mediate the relationship between technological self-efficacy and m-payment intention in Gen B and Gen X consumers, it only partially mediates such a relationship in the Gen Y and Gen Z cohorts. Our findings also provide crucial theoretical and practical insights for digital commerce in the evolving landscape of m-payment adoption.
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 396-411: Consumption of Sustainable Denim Products: The Contribution of Blockchain Certified Eco-Labels
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 396-411: Consumption of Sustainable Denim Products: The Contribution of Blockchain Certified Eco-Labels
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer19010021
Authors: Xingqiu Lou Yingjiao Xu
Consumers’ growing interest in the environmental and social impacts of products has increased demand for sustainable fashion items, particularly denim. Emerging technologies such as blockchain technology and labeling certifications have been developed to address sustainability issues by improving supply chain transparency and efficiency. This research investigates the trade-offs consumers make when purchasing sustainable denim jeans and the impact of sociodemographic factors on their decision-making process. Employing a conjoint analysis approach, four attributes were examined: price, brand name, types of materials, and eco-labeling. The results indicated that price is still the most influential factor, followed by material, brand name, and eco-label. Although eco-labeling is of little importance to consumers, it offers valuable insights for effective communication of sustainable practices. Consumers prefer denim with a blockchain eco-label, followed by a fair-trade certificate. This research enhances the understanding of consumer behavior toward sustainable consumption and offers strategic insights for denim producers and marketers.
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 412-430: Functional Framework for Multivariant E-Commerce User Interfaces
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 412-430: Functional Framework for Multivariant E-Commerce User Interfaces
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer19010022
Authors: Adam Wasilewski
Modern e-businesses heavily rely on advanced data analytics for product recommendations. However, there are still untapped opportunities to enhance user interfaces. Currently, online stores offer a single-page version to all customers, overlooking individual characteristics. This paper aims to identify the essential components and present a framework for enabling multiple e-commerce user interfaces. It also seeks to address challenges associated with personalized e-commerce user interfaces. The methodology includes detailing the framework for serving diverse e-commerce user interfaces and presenting pilot implementation results. Key components, particularly the role of algorithms in personalizing the user experience, are outlined. The results demonstrate promising outcomes for the implementation of the pilot solution, which caters to various e-commerce user interfaces. User characteristics support multivariant websites, with algorithms facilitating continuous learning. Newly proposed metrics effectively measure changes in user behavior resulting from different interface deployments. This paper underscores the central role of personalized e-commerce user interfaces in optimizing online store efficiency. The framework, supported by machine learning algorithms, showcases the feasibility and benefits of different page versions. The identified components, challenges, and proposed metrics contribute to a comprehensive solution and set the stage for further development of personalized e-commerce interfaces.
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 381-395: Delving into Human Factors through LSTM by Navigating Environmental Complexity Factors within Use Case Points for Digital Enterprises
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 381-395: Delving into Human Factors through LSTM by Navigating Environmental Complexity Factors within Use Case Points for Digital Enterprises
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer19010020
Authors: Nevena Rankovic Dragica Rankovic
Meeting customer requirements in software project management, even for large digital enterprises, proves challenging due to unpredictable human factors. It involves meticulous planning and environmental factor analysis, ultimately benefiting both companies and customers. This paper came as a natural extension of our previous work where we left ourselves curious about what impact environmental complexity factors (ECFs) have in a use case point (UCP) approach. Additionally, we wanted to possibly decrease the mean magnitude relative error (MMRE) with deep learning models such as long-short-term-memory (LSTM) and gradient recurrent unit (GRU). The data augmentation technique was used to artificially increase the number of projects, since in the industry world, digital enterprises are not keen to share their data. The LSTM model outperformed the GRU and XGBoost models, while the average MMRE in all phases of the experiment for all models achieved 4.8%. Moreover, the post-agnostic models showed the overall and individual impact of eight ECFs, where the third ECF “team experience” on a new project has been shown as the most influential one. Finally, it is important to emphasize that effectively managing human factors within ECFs in UCPs can have a significant impact on the successful completion of a project.
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 362-380: The Roles of Sales Technologies for Salespeople: Techno Demands and Resources Model Perspective
JTAER, Vol. 19, Pages 362-380: The Roles of Sales Technologies for Salespeople: Techno Demands and Resources Model Perspective
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer19010019
Authors: Kangsun Shin Seonggoo Ji Ihsan Ullah Jan Younghoon Kim
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a salesperson’s techno-demands and techno-resources created by new sales-related information technology on salespersons’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes such as job burnout, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and sales performance. In order to test the proposed framework, data were collected from 305 salespeople in Korea. The results of a partial least squared structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis showed that techno-demands have a significant positive effect on salespeople’s job burnout and techno-resources have a significant positive effect on salespeople’s job satisfaction. Salespeople’s job burnout has a significant positive effect on salespeople’s turnover intention, whereas salespeople’s job satisfaction has a significant positive effect on salespeople’s sales performance. Finally, salespeople’s job satisfaction has a negative effect on turnover intention. Theoretically, this study develops a new comprehensive framework of the techno demands–resources model and is empirically tested in the context of salespeople. Managerially, the findings offer important insights to practitioners to leverage techno-resources to accelerate the sales technologies for sales activities.
Assessing Competencies and Developing Human Capital at Workplace: A Case Study
Asian Journal of Management Cases, Ahead of Print.
This case primarily focuses on how Jamshedpur Utilities Services Company (JUSCO) identifies and nurtures talents from within their organization to prepare them for future positions. JUSCO places a strong emphasis on both the processes and content of building relational capacity and enhancing social capital within the company. This approach has led to a significant improvement in the level of respect, trust and commitment among internal and external members of the organization, ultimately contributing to enhanced individual, group and organizational performance. To keep up with the rapidly changing market demands, JUSCO has made strategic investments in developing the capabilities of its existing employees, who have the potential to drive growth in new categories. Through their competency development programmes, JUSCO has not only increased managers’ appreciation of their employees’ potential but has also succeeded in fostering a deep understanding of the organization’s vision and culture among its members. By aligning training programmes with promotions, they have created champions who play a vital role in implementing critical strategies. This case offers valuable insights to organizations and practitioners on how to effectively develop competencies among potential members within their own ranks, ensuring a sustainable pipeline of skilled and qualified individuals for the organization’s future success.
This case primarily focuses on how Jamshedpur Utilities Services Company (JUSCO) identifies and nurtures talents from within their organization to prepare them for future positions. JUSCO places a strong emphasis on both the processes and content of building relational capacity and enhancing social capital within the company. This approach has led to a significant improvement in the level of respect, trust and commitment among internal and external members of the organization, ultimately contributing to enhanced individual, group and organizational performance. To keep up with the rapidly changing market demands, JUSCO has made strategic investments in developing the capabilities of its existing employees, who have the potential to drive growth in new categories. Through their competency development programmes, JUSCO has not only increased managers’ appreciation of their employees’ potential but has also succeeded in fostering a deep understanding of the organization’s vision and culture among its members. By aligning training programmes with promotions, they have created champions who play a vital role in implementing critical strategies. This case offers valuable insights to organizations and practitioners on how to effectively develop competencies among potential members within their own ranks, ensuring a sustainable pipeline of skilled and qualified individuals for the organization’s future success.