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For the last several decades, technology has been playing an important role in changing the lives of consumers with an unexpected speed of innovative developments. Most of them were disruptive and had shaped not only the behaviour of consumers, but also empowered them to search for better products and services. These changes took place in media, communication, and information management of socialisation and collaboration. The digitisation revolution is a continuum until people and machines embrace a common ground for improving the lives of consumers. There were three stages of this movement. In the first stage, Turkish perspective was in alignment with the world where new channels of communication were established with support of Internet and information management. Marketing technology tools such as customer relationship management and call centre systems were discovered. In the second stage, continuous learning from the best uses and implementations has started. The ultimate goal became total customer satisfaction. Many improvements and innovative services, such as omni-channel marketing, took place for achieving this goal. Today, in the third stage, new marketing tools are being developed on the basis of integrated machine learning, such as analysis of customer conciseness, prediction of behaviour and perceptive marketing, which will be used extensively through digital platforms, new media, social web and in everyday devices for targeted marketing. In this chapter, a broader look is taken and an explanation is made for what has happened through these periods of intersection of marketing science and information technology. Moreover, ongoing changes which have given a new impetus to consumer life are addressed with respect to marketing management literature.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

Companies are interested in engaging consumers in spreading the word about their products or brands. Although more and more studies are analysing word of mouth marketing (WOMM), the topic is still very recent, thus very little is known about how to develop a WOMM campaign effectively. This chapter develops a literature review on WOMM in social media for better understanding on how to manage WOMM.

The studies reviewed have allowed us to identify the main decisions that should be taken when planning a WOMM campaign: the selection of the seed, the type of message and the inclusion of incentives.

We identify the two types of objectives that companies can follow with WOMM: information diffusion or consumers’ persuasion. Depending on the campaign objectives, the strategy to be used in order to be successful is different.

This chapter can be useful to both, marketers, by showing them how to develop a WOMM campaign effectively; and researchers, by showing them the main gaps on WOMM that should be addressed in future studies.

This is one of the first attempts to review the literature and organize knowledge on WOMM. Concepts that have been treated as synonymous by many researchers such as opinion leaders, market mavens, innovative consumers, and hubs are clarified and distinguished one from the other which may help in improving previous knowledge on this field.

Previous literature on WOM has consistent findings on the positive and significant effect of WOM volume on product sales, but the literature on WOM valence has been mixed. In this study, the authors aim to explain the reason for the mixed effect of WOM valence on product sales by considering heterogeneous characteristics of products, especially in the movie market, by segmenting products into mainstream and non‐mainstream movies.

This study uses empirical data from the motion picture industry, such as box office revenue, WOM volume and valence, and other variables of movie characteristics. The hypothesis is tested using OLS and panel data analysis in econometric methods.

The authors find a significant effect of WOM valence on box office revenue only in the case of non‐mainstream movies, which have relatively smaller marketing budgets than mainstream movies. The findings suggest that as marketing communication channels become more diverse, with larger marketing budgets, the effect of online WOM valence on product sales can be diluted. In addition, it is found that the effect of WOM volume on box office revenue is greater for mainstream movies, suggesting that consumers build higher credibility on products with larger sales or WOM volume, especially for experience goods with uncertain quality.

The findings explain the weak relationship between WOM valence and product sales, which has been controversial in the WOM literature, and broaden the understanding of the effect of WOM on product sales.

The relationship between WOM valence and sales and, consequently, the revenue of a good has not been clearly understood, considering the heterogeneous characteristics of consumers in previous literature. In this study, it is found that WOM volume and valence have different effects on product sales, corresponding to differences in product category. The findings suggest a reason for the weak relationship between WOM valence and product sales, which has been controversial in the WOM literature.

When purchasing digital content (DC), consumers are typically influenced by various information sources on the website. Prior research has mostly focused on the individual effect of the information sources on the DC choice. To fill the gap in the previous studies, this research includes three main effects: information cascades, recommendations and word of mouth. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the interaction effect of information cascades and recommendations on the number of software downloads.

The authors use the panel generalized least squares estimation to test the hypotheses by using a panel data set of 2,000 pieces of software at download.cnet.com over a month-long period. Product ranking and recommendation status are used as key independent variables to capture the effects of information cascades and recommendations, respectively.

One of this study’s findings is that information cascades positively interact with recommendations to influence the number of software downloads. The authors also show that the impact of information cascades on the number of software downloads is greater than one of the recommendations from a distributor does.

Information cascades and recommendations have been considered as the primary effects for online product choices. However, these two effects typically are not considered together in one research. As previous studies have mainly focused on each effect, respectively, the authors believe that this study may fill the gap by examining how these effects are interacted to one other to influence customers’ choices. The authors also show that the impact of information cascades on the number of software downloads is greater than one of the recommendations from a system does.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the development of the Chinese traditional medicine (included the ethnic minority's medicine in China), it can raise the level of health for people, carry forward the culture of our nation, accelerate the economic development, promote social harmony and is very significant.

In this paper, the factor which influences the development of the Chinese traditional medicine in these areas of China is analysed by the method called the grey relational analysis and grey clustering analysis.

It is known that the comparative situation of each otherof the development of the Chinese traditional medicine in these areas. The causation is analysed.

The behavioural mechanisms information which is effected by the traditional Chinese medicine (included ethnic minority medicine) is incomplete. Its inherent meaning is not clear. So it is reasonable to use the method called the grey relational analysis grey clustering analysis to study. Analysing the causes and giving countermeasures according to the results could propose some suggestions for the further development of Chinese medicine (including the national medicine) industry.

The grey system theory was applied in medical management. The application of study results, the development of the Chinese traditional medicine (included the ethnic minority's medicine in China) is improved.

The purpose of this paper is to strengthen and standardize general hospital use of traditional Chinese medicine, strengthen the inner construction, highlight the characteristics and advantages of Chinese medicine and improve Chinese medicine services' capacity and competitiveness.

Through data analysis and face‐to‐face interviews, the influential factors for Chinese medicine use in general hospitals are found and the extent and impact of these factors are researched. Based on survey results, grey relational analysis is used to analyze the actual factors.

Based on the results of grey relational analysis, a clear order of these factors on the degree of influence is obtained and suggestions are offered which can promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine in general hospitals.

The grey system theory was applied in medical management. The influential factors for Chinese medicine use in general hospitals was analyzed by using grey relational analysis, to offer the relevant departments several operational recommendations which can accelerate the development of general hospital use of traditional Chinese medicine.

This study aims to analyze the impact of the source of online word-of-mouth (WOM) on retail sales. Specifically, the authors focus on the relative impact of external and internal WOMs on book sales.

An empirical analysis is conducted with a panel data of sales and WOM for 87 books from Dangdang and Douban over a 14-day period based on two generalized least square regression models.

Results suggest that both internal WOM and external WOM have significant impact on product sales, and the impact of external WOM is relatively more significant.

WOM, especially the external WOM, plays an important role in consumers’ online purchase decisions.

This study is helpful for retailers to better understand the factors influencing the sales and thereby forecast the future sales more precisely. Besides, the research conclusion could also enlighten related decision makers to constantly improve technical platforms.