Business Commons^™

Helping Small Business Succeed, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Business/Economics

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

It's Just A Game, Or Is It? Real Money, Real Income, And Real Taxes In Virtual Worlds, William D. Terando, Brian E. Mennecke, Diane J. Janvin, William M. Dilla

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Virtual worlds like Second Life offer players opportunities to earn real-world income through their activities in the game. It will not be long before governments begin to establish policies and regulations regarding the income generated by players of these game environments. This paper examines the issue of taxes in virtual world games. Two alternative places for recognizing income could be established by regulators: 1) at the point when in-game transactions take place; or 2) when players convert game assets into real-world currency. We argue for realization of income, and therefore taxation, at the exchange. We expect that burdensome policies such …

July 2007, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

HOW TO AVOID BUTTING HEADS WITH CUSTOMERS SIX WAYS TO ELIMINATE PRICE CONCERNS 10

PALM SPRINDS HARD ROCK CONDOTEL - HARD TO SWALLOW? 16

OPTIONS FOR RECRUITING AND RETAINING TOP FOREIGN TALENT 17

HIT, INC. AWARDED ASCLD/LAB - INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATION 19

THE SECRET TO SETTING AND ACHIEVING YOUR GAOL 28

Heylen Bvba (Belgium), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

As Tom Heylen reflects upon his early days in business, he often wonders how his company Heylen bvba survived. He had left university after just one year of studying biology in order to pursue a business opportunity that he believed existed in the market and that needed to be acted upon without delay. About that time, nature had become modified to such an extent (particularly in Europe) that biodiversity could only be conserved through active management and restoration of the few natural areas which remained. Such management required innovation, specialised equipment, and knowledge in order to be successful. But those …

Daft.Ie (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Eamonn and Brian Fallon sat in their office at the Digital Hub near the Guinness Brewery in Dublin and reflected upon their success. It was a beautiful day outside and the sun shone warmly through the windows. About them on the walls was an array of awards that they had collected over the past two years. Indeed they had received a telephone call earlier that day informing them that the radio programme ‘Down To Business’ on NewsTalk 106 had selected them as a leading example of best business practice and wanted to interview them. It was yet further recognition that …

Ecoserve (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Roisin Nash had just finished reading a new report that had recently been launched by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey at the headquarters of the Marine Institute at Oranmore in County Galway. The report, entitled ‘Sea Change – A Marine Knowledge, Research and Innovation Strategy for Ireland 2007- 2013’, presented a national agenda (comprising of science, research, innovation, and management) aimed at a complete transformation of the Irish maritime economy. Roisin felt that the report provided a clear and realistic picture of future opportunities and challenges within the Irish marine industry, and that it would …

South Hill Enterprise (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Billy Barrett was facing challenges as a consultant that he had never previously experienced. All of the goals that are expected in business practice were not amongst the main priorities here. Confused, he asked Maura Melia (Manager of South Hill Enterprise) if he could clarify the situation.

Guardian Angel (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was the summer of 2006 and three friends of many years had come up with a business idea that they believed could be a money-spinner for all of them. Maria Harrison, Krystle Malone and Marie Lyons had all been students at the Technological University Dublin and had recently completed their degree in Marketing. As part of their programme, they had taken a course on Entrepreneurship by way of interest rather than any deep-rooted desire to start their own business. But now, they are about to meet a venture capital company to ask for €300,000 to get the business started. …

Digicel Foundation (Haiti), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was a beautiful day on March 5th 2007 and the official launch of the Digicel Foundation Haiti was drawing to a close. The Foundation had been inaugurated at a special ceremony to mark the completion of the Foundation's first project, the rebuilding in record time of the Ecole Mixte Lageho (a primary school in the hurricane ravaged Pont Janvier rural community of Thomazeau), thanks primarily to the combined efforts of Digicel staff and local community members. Denis O'Brien (Digicel Group Founder / Chairman and Patron of the Digicel Foundation) was joined at the ceremony by the Prime Minister of …

De Boerinn (Netherlands), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Hendrik Jan Hoogendoom and his parents sat around the family dinner table and once again discussed the key problem facing the business in which they all worked. There had been many changes in the use of their land over the past two decades but they knew that they had not yet achieved the maximum economic return from it. Currently, the primary income came from recreation activities, which were extremely successful for six months of the year. But the challenge remained on how they could keep the business equally active during the long cold winter months.

Personal Data Collection Via The Internet: The Role Of Privacy Sensitivity And Technology Trust, Susan K. Lippert, Paul Michael Swiercz

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Policy makers and researchers from a wide range of perspectives have expressed concern about the interplay between privacy rights and information exchanges via the Internet. Of particular interest has been the challenge of protecting sensitive personal information. In this paper, we assert that user willingness to share sensitive data is an area of critical concern and requires additional investigation. In an effort to enrich the dialogue on the question of voluntary sharing of sensitive personal data via the Internet, we present a model showcasing the relationship between personal data sharing, privacy sensitivity, and technology trust and discuss how organizations can …

Social Network Enhanced Digital City Management And Innovation Success: A Prototype Design, Bih-Ru Lea, Wen-Bin Yu, Prashanth Kannan

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Innovation is the process by which knowledge is transformed into products and services which in turn fuels economic development to create wealth and generates improvements in the standard of living. With the advance of technology, social networks that play a fundamental role as a medium for the spread of information, ideas, and influence among its members have taken a form of digital city to offer a range of online services, including access to social environments, community services, and e-commerce to its infohabitants. This study investigates how social network theories can be used to design and manage a web-based digital city …

Comparing The Prioritization Of Erp System Effectiveness Measures By Organizational Actors: A Focus On It Professionals And Business Managers, Princely Ifinedo

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Modern organizations adopt Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) to integrate their organizational data resources into unified systems. Researchers tend to concentrate on ERP implementation issues with only a handful studying ERP system effectiveness or success in adopting organizations. In fact, none has studied how key organizational actors prioritize or rank relevant measures or items related to the effectiveness of such systems. This study is designed to fill this gap in research as it aims at investigating how two organizational stakeholder groups, i.e. information technology (IT) professionals and business managers prioritize relevant measures related to ERP systems effectiveness. Using surveys in …

January 2007, Inland Empire Business Journal

Inland Empire Business Journal

Corporate Profile 6

Investments and Finance 9

Close-Up 11

Commentary 12

Managing 17

Computers/Technology 18

Executive Time Out 24

Real Estate Notes 25

The Lists:

Financial Brokerage Firms 26

HMOs and PPOs 30

Contractors' Hit List 32

Top Community Colleges and Universities 35

Executive Notes 34

Manager's Bookshelf 31

Restaurant Review 36

Calendar 38

New Business Lists:

County of San Bernardino 40

County of Riverside 41

A New Approach For Evaluating The Order Fulfillment Process Options Of B2c Horizontal Portals Using Dea (Data Envelopment Analysis), Tapati Bandopadhyay, Pradeep Kumar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

By using the traditional statistical or operations research methods for deciding the product-delivery logistics, the portal companies are not using their competitive advantages on being more e-enabled, informed and computationally able than their traditional counterparts. In this paper, we show some typical characteristics of the portals like their handling of a huge range of goods in terms of transactional values or volumes. Subsequently, we have identified three types of generic product-delivery logistics of the portals with various intermediate entities or trading partners. Then, a completely different approach using an extreme point method rather than the traditional central-tendency-based statistical methods has …

A Framework And Guide For Understanding The Creation Of Consumer Trust, Joseph A. Cazier

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper develops a framework and model for building trust by combining research on the creation of trust with the dimensions of trust: ability, benevolence and integrity. By combining these dimensions in a matrix with the types of trust production based on characteristics, process and institutions, the paper develops a robust 3 x 3 matrix with which to categorize and understand trust production. The framework is developed and analyzed in the light of literature on consumer trust. This framework can help researchers, practitioners and consumers understand trust creation and assist businesses in developing a comprehensive strategy for managing trust.

Collaborative Business Relationships And The Use Of Ict: The Case Of The Marine, Defence And Resources Cluster, Western Australia, Helen Cripps

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The research project was developed from an Australian Research Council Grant designed to investigate collaborative commerce and its impact on regional economic development. Through a process of consultation with the industry partner, the South West Group, the research was designed to investigate the drivers and inhibitors of collaborative relationships and the factors that impact on the creation and sustaining of these relationships. The role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in facilitating and sustaining collaborative relationships and the perceived benefits and drawbacks of collaborative relationships were also investigated. The research sought to identify models of the best adoption of collaborative relationships.