E-Commerce Commons^™

Transforming Businesses With E-Commerce Intelligence, Yuanto Kusnadi, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

2020 had been an extraordinary year as the Covid-19 pandemic struck almost all countries in the world and created an extraordinary impact on businesses worldwide. Singapore and many other Southeast Asian countries were not spared and had to implement lockdowns swiftly. To cope with physical store closures and the increased volume of online transactions, most businesses tried to revamp their business models and set up online stores to capitalise on the rise of the e-commerce wave. With the growing trend of online transactions, it has become imperative for companies operating in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry to track …

Greening E-Commerce In China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, is leading the charge to address e-commerce’s waste and carbon footprint issue

How Xiaomi Redefined What It Means To Be A Platform, Tony W. Wong, Yanting Guo, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Traditional platform businesses generally fall into one of two categories: Ecosystems, such as Apple’s App Store, which offer limited resources to a wide array of independently-run firms; and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) companies, such as Intel Capital, which invest heavily into a small number of ventures that promise either financial or strategic returns. However, new research into Xiaomi’s growth strategy suggests that the Beijing-based electronics giant has developed a blended approach, borrowing elements of both traditional ecosystem and CVC firms to create a broad ecosystem of strongly-supported partner ventures. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with executives from both …

Inter-Retailer Channel Competition: Empirical Analyses Of Store Entry Effects On Online Purchases, Qian Tang, Mei Lin, Youngsoo Kim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study empirically examines the effect of offline store entry on a competing online retailer in the footwear industry and investigates how this effect depends on the relative product assortment and price between the offline store and the online retailer. Using transaction data from a large online footwear retailer and offline store entry data from 19 major shoe retail chains and 3 department store chains, we quantify the entry effect of offline stores. Categorizing offline stores by assortment and price, we find that the entry of regular-price narrow-assortment stores generates a complementary effect that increases online purchases, while the entry …

Online Review Solicitations Reduce Extremity Bias In Online Review Distributions And Increase Their Representativeness, Hülya Karaman

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Representative online customer reviews are critical to the effective functioning of the Internet economy. In this study, I investigate the representativeness of online review distributions to examine how extremity bias and conformity impact it, and explore whether online review solicitations alter representativeness. Past research on extreme distribution of online ratings commonly relied solely on observed public online ratings. One strength of the current paper is that I observe the private satisfaction ratings of customers regardless of whether they choose to write an online review or not. I show that both extremity bias and conformity exist in unsolicited online word-of-mouth (WOM) …

Gucci: Steering Into The Post-Covid Era, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Marco Bizzarri and Alessandro Michele proved there is life after Tom Ford. COVID-19 could yet make Gucci’s revival a short-lived one

What Drives Sales Of E-Commerce Live Streaming? Evidence From Taobao, Danyang Song, Xi Chen, Zhiling Guo, Xin Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite the rapid development of live streaming, empirical research on the driving factors of e-commerce live streaming sales, still lags. We empirically address this question by utilizing a large and unique data set from a leading e-commerce platform in the world. Our results show that product characteristics, streamer characteristics and consumer engagement are important factors that drive e-commerce live streaming sales. Interestingly, we find that newer products from small brands with lower prices benefit more from the live streaming sales. Experienced streamers who are tied to a single seller and who have more followers perform better. In addition, real-time comments …

Effect Of Augmented Reality On Consumer Behavior In E-Commerce, Chibuke Uzoechina, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

AR technology has been referred to as the future of e-commerce. In this paper, we propose to investigate the effect of AR on consumer behavior in e-commerce. Based on the theory of telepresence, we generated a set of hypotheses on their relationships. An experimental study is proposed to test the hypotheses. Our findings will be of interest to e-commerce companies that are looking at incorporating AR into their e-commerce platforms.

Covid-19 Pandemic And Opportunities For Digitalisation Of Smes, Yuanto Kusnadi, Gary Pan

Perspectives@SMU

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about disruptions in all sectors of economy. With lockdown being implemented in most of the countries around the world, it has necessitated changes in the business models of SMEs. A glaring area of business opportunity focuses on online business. For instance, retailers who do not yet have an online presence or have not been paying much attention to conducting sales online were caught off-guard during the circuit breaker period which has resulted in decreased footfall and plummeting sales in most physical stores. Therefore, having an online retail presence has become critical for businesses, as they …

Can We Classify Cashless Payment Solution Implementations At The Country Level?, Dennis Ng, Robert J. Kauffman, Paul Robert Griffin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This research commentary proposes a 3-D implementation classification framework to assist service providers and business leaders in understanding the kinds of contexts in which more or less successful cashless payment solutions are observed at point-of-sale (PoS) settings. Three constructs characterize the framework: the digitalization of the local implementation environment; the relative novelty of a given payment technology solution in a country at a specific point in time; and the development status of the country’s national infrastructure. The framework is motivated by a need to support cross-country research in this domain. We analyze eight country mini-cases based on an eight-facet (2 …

Explainable Recommendation With Comparative Constraints On Product Aspects, Trung-Hoang Le, Hady W. Lauw

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To aid users in choice-making, explainable recommendation models seek to provide not only accurate recommendations but also accompanying explanations that help to make sense of those recommendations. Most of the previous approaches rely on evaluative explanations, assessing the quality of an individual item along some aspects of interest to the user. In this work, we are interested in comparative explanations, the less studied problem of assessing a recommended item in comparison to another reference item.

In particular, we propose to anchor reference items on the previously adopted items in a user's history. Not only do we aim at providing comparative …

Revman: Revenue-Aware Multi-Task Online Insurance Recommendation, Yu Li, Yi Zhang, Lu Gan, Gengwei Hong, Zimu Zhou, Qiang Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online insurance is a new type of e-commerce with exponential growth. An effective recommendation model that maximizes the total revenue of insurance products listed in multiple customized sales scenarios is crucial for the success of online insurance business. Prior recommendation models are ineffective because they fail to characterize the complex relatedness of insurance products in multiple sales scenarios and maximize the overall conversion rate rather than the total revenue. Even worse, it is impractical to collect training data online for total revenue maximization due to the business logic of online insurance. We propose RevMan, a Revenue-aware Multi-task Network for online …

Lokotopia: Expansion To China Doesn’T Have To Be A Gamble, Yiqing Pin Cai

MSc in Innovation Capstone Projects

Addressed the problem of Southeast Asian brands to enter the China market, reviewed existing market solutions, presented their solution which was tested through global Chinese consumers. Introduced LOKOTOPIA services, with some cases for market validation.

Three Stages Of Consumers’ Multi-Stage Dichotomic Switching Process: Pre-Switch, Switch, And Post-Switch, Jussi Nykanen, Virpi K. Tuunainen, Tuure Tuunanen, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This research examines why and how consumers switch their mobile phones. We propose a framework that is grounded on decision-making and motivational theories and draws on the findings from a multinational qualitative survey on consumers’ mobile phone switching process. We show that consumers’ pre-switching decisions are affected by push and pull factors, their mobile phone selections are based on utilitarian or hedonic values, and their justifications for switching are based on cognition or affect. Furthermore, we identify two archetypical routes (i.e., cognitive and affective routes) and three conjoint routes that explain the dichotomic switching processes in pre-switch, switch, and post-switch …

Sustainability Of Rewards-Based Crowdfunding: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Of Funding Targets And Backer Satisfaction, Michael Wessel, Rob Gleasure, Robert John Kauffman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Rewards-based crowdfunding presents an information asymmetry for participants due to the funding mechanism used. Campaign-backers trust creators to complete projects and deliver rewards as outlined prior to the fundraising process, but creators may discover better opportunities as they progress with a project. Despite this, the all-or-nothing (AON) mechanism on crowdfunding platforms incentivizes creators to set meager funding-targets that are easier to achieve but may offer limited slack when creators wish to simultaneously pursue emerging opportunities later in the project. We explore the related issues of how funding targets seem to be selected by the creators, and how dissatisfaction with the …

Crowdfunding Digital Platforms: Backer Networks And Their Impact On Project Outcomes, Yee Heng Tan, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Crowdfunding platforms serve to connect project creators and backers. Previous research has explored several project and platform determinants that impact crowdfunding outcomes. However, there has been limited research on these determinants at an individual level. Our paper addresses how backers may influence the outcomes of projects in crowdfunding platforms. We explore several methods commonly used in the industry to identify influence and show that centrality measures through a backer affiliation network best exemplifies influence. Using data from Kickstarter, we construct a weighted backer network based on 52,678 common projects backed by 11,134 backers. Controlling for digital media mentions and project …

Smart Contracts: Will Fintech Be The Catalyst For The Next Global Financial Crisis?, Randall Duran, Paul Griffin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the risks associated with smart contracts, a disruptive financial technology (FinTech) innovation, and assesses how in the future they could threaten the integrity of the global financial system. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach is used to identify risk factors related to the use of new financial innovations, by examining how over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contributed to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) which occurred during 2007 and 2008. Based on this analysis, the potential for similar concerns with smart contracts are evaluated, drawing on the failure of The DAO on the Ethereum blockchain, which involved the loss …

Mobile Commerce, Crowd Commerce, And Stage Models: Reviewing And Expanding On Tp Liang’S Research, Sihua Chen, Mikko Siponen, Wael Soliman, Cao Xin, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we review a few key themes of Ting-Peng (TP) Liang’s research. We first discuss some of his major contributions to information systems (IS) in the areas of electronic commerce, mobile commerce, and crowd commerce. Future research directions for these three themes are also discussed in the paper. TP Liang is also an early proponent of stage models although this stream of research has yet to receive the importance it deserves in the IS community. Previous seminal theoretical accounts in IS have generally separated variance and process models, the latter is useful in modeling changes in the explanatory …

Creators And Backers In Rewards-Based Crowdfunding: Will Incentive Misalignment Affect Kickstarter's Sustainability?, Michael Wessel, Rob Gleasure, Robert John Kauffman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Incentive misalignment in rewards-based crowd-funding occurs because creators may benefit disproportionately from fundraising, while backers may benefit disproportionately from the quality of project deliverables. The resulting principal-agent relationship means backers rely on campaign information to identify signs of moral hazard, adverse selection, and risk attitude asymmetry. We analyze campaign information related to fundraising, and compare how different information affects eventual backer satisfaction, based on an extensive dataset from Kickstarter. The data analysis uses a multi-model comparison to reveal similarities and contrasts in the estimated drivers of dependent variables that capture different outcomes in Kickstarter’s funding campaigns, using a linear probability …

Do Blockchain And Iot Architecture Create Informedness To Support Provenance Tracking In The Product Lifecycle?, Somnath Mazumdar, Thomas Jensen, Raghava Rao Mukkamala, Robert John Kauffman, Jan Damsgaard

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Consumers often lack information about the origin and provenance of the products they buy. They may ask: Is a food product truly organic? Or, what is the origin of the gemstone in the ring I purchased? They also may have sustainability concerns about the footprint of a product at the end of its life. Producers and sellers, meanwhile, wish to know how longitudinal tracking of the provenance of products and their components can boost their sales prices and after-market value, and re- veal new business opportunities. We focus on how the product lifecycle (PLC) can be leveraged to track information …

How Should We Understand The Digital Economy In Asia? Critical Assessment And Research Agenda, Kai Li, Dan J. Kim, Karl R. Lang, Robert J. Kauffman, Maurizio Naldi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

By Asian digital economy, we refer to high-tech developments, business and social transformations, and information-driven changes in the region's growth. We discuss its background and foundations, significance in Asia and contribution to removal of historical barriers in traditional business. We assess how new value chains are transforming country-level involvement in worldwide manufacturing and note "smiling curve theory" predictions about the global value chain in Asia for high-tech firms and their economies. The takeaway is that the digital economy in Asian nations involves revamping business processes through technology innovation, government policies for growth, and digital entrepreneurship. We analyze the "digital economy …

Pinduoduo: Empowering Farmers With An E-Commerce Platform, Hao Liang, Sin Mei Cheah

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A case study on how Pinduoduo's dedicated portal has helped farmers during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Opinion-Aware Answer Generation For Review-Driven Question Answering In E-Commerce, Yang Deng, Wenxuan Zhang, Wai Lam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Product-related question answering (QA) is an important but challenging task in E-Commerce. It leads to a great demand on automatic review-driven QA, which aims at providing instant responses towards user-posted questions based on diverse product reviews. Nevertheless, the rich information about personal opinions in product reviews, which is essential to answer those product-specific questions, is underutilized in current generation-based review-driven QA studies. There are two main challenges when exploiting the opinion information from the reviews to facilitate the opinion-aware answer generation: (i) jointly modeling opinionated and interrelated information between the question and reviews to capture important information for answer generation, …

Will Ceos With Banking Experience Lower Default Risks? Evidence From P2p Lending Platforms In China, Qiang Gong, Chong Liu, Qianni Peng, Luying Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using a novel dataset of 121 Chinese P2P lending platforms, we investigate the impact of CEOs' banking experience on default risk. The empirical results indicate that CEOs with prior banking experience manage default risk better. Moreover, CEOs' banking experience has a stronger influence on small platforms and in situations where the platforms' depository banks are city commercial banks. Our results indicate that although fintech provides technology to reduce risks, we cannot ignore the constructive role of professional experience in risk management. Thus, investors and regulators in emerging markets should pay attention to managers' financial qualifications, and especially to CEOs' banking …

Research Directions For Sharing Economy Issues, Robert J. Kauffman, Maurizio Naldi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The sharing economy proposes a new approach to designing and delivering products and services, that aims at avoiding waste, improving efficiency, and favoring bottom-up change. In this research commentary, we survey the current state of things and propose some directions for research. We first describe the industries, products, and services currently representing the sharing paradigm, the technology platforms enabling it, the business models driving it, and the regulatory issues. We envisage that promising areas of research should include: (1) devising more efficient algorithms; (2) considering ecological and prosocial objective functions; (3) dealing with regulatory issues; (4) expanding the span of …

Learning To Collaborate In Multi-Module Recommendation Via Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Without Communication, Xu He, An Bo, Yanghua Li, Haikai Chen, Rundong Wang, Xinrun Wang, Runsheng Yu, Xin Li, Zhirong Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the rise of online e-commerce platforms, more and more customers prefer to shop online. To sell more products, online platforms introduce various modules to recommend items with different properties such as huge discounts. A web page often consists of different independent modules. The ranking policies of these modules are decided by different teams and optimized individually without cooperation, which might result in competition between modules. Thus, the global policy of the whole page could be sub-optimal. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-agent cooperative reinforcement learning approach with the restriction that different modules cannot communicate. Our contributions are …

企业如何与大学合作开发网上业务？[How Companies Cooperate With Universities To Develop Online Business?], Yuanto Kusnadi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

No abstract provided.

Integrating Anticipative Replenishment-Allocation With Reactive Fulfillment For Online Retailing Using Robust Optimization, Yun Fong Lim, Song Jiu, Marcus Ang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Problem definition: In each period of a planning horizon, an online retailer decides on how much to replenish each product and how to allocate its inventory to fulfillment centers (FCs) before demand is known. After the demand in the period is realized, the retailer decides on which FCs to fulfill it. It is crucial to optimize the replenishment, allocation, and fulfillment decisions jointly such that the expected total operating cost is minimized. The problem is challenging because the replenishment-allocation is done in an anticipative manner under a “push” strategy, but the fulfillment is executed in a reactive way under a …

Emarketplaces: Strategic Challenges And Considerations, Sam Too

Asian Management Insights

Building scale and volume rapidly is key to surviving the roller-coaster journey and staying the course for a digital entrepreneur.

The Future Of Retailing: When The Artificial Becomes Real, Jagdish Sheth

Asian Management Insights

Digital technology, including e-commerce and e-market exchanges, has been the most significant disruptive force for the retail industry in the last two decades.