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The purpose of this paper is to establish a new evaluation system to assess the degree of integration between industry and the internet. And use the gray correlation matrix method to evaluate the “internet + industry” integration degree of China’s provinces.

This paper establishes a new evaluation system to assess the degree of integration between industry and the internet using the matrix gray relational analysis method.

The main indexes and its rankings of the provinces’ integration degree and the rankings of the provinces’ integration degree are obtained.

The ranking of the degree of integration of various provinces in the country has certain guiding significance in promoting the development of “internet +” and “industry 4.0.”

Establishing a new model for the quantitative assessment of the degree of fusion, this method has a positive impact on the quantitative assessment of “internet + industrial” integration.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and verify the competitive intelligence tools Alexa and SimilarWeb, which are broadly used for website traffic data estimation. Tested tools belong to the state of the art in this area.

The authors use quantitative approach. Research was conducted on a sample of Czech websites for which there are accurate traffic data values, against which the other data sets (less accurate) provided by Alexa and SimilarWeb will be compared.

The results show that neither tool can accurately determine the ranking of websites on the internet. However, it is possible to approximately determine the significance of a particular website. These results are useful for another research studies which use data from Alexa or SimilarWeb. Moreover, the results show that it is still not possible to accurately estimate website traffic of any website in the world.

The limitation of the research lies in the fact that it was conducted solely in the Czech market.

Significant amount of research studies use data sets provided by Alexa and SimilarWeb. However, none of these research studies focus on the quality of the website traffic data acquired by Alexa or SimilarWeb, nor do any of them refer to other studies that would deal with this issue. Furthermore, authors describe approaches to measuring website traffic and based on the analysis, the possible usability of these methods is discussed.

A broad array of information channels exists for service customers. The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between the use of, and trust in, information channels, so that there is scope to increase the effectiveness of reliable information provision and, hence, to change behaviour.

This study empirically explored whether customers use channels they trust, and trust what they use, and examined the association between individual (demographic) factors and that trust. A total of 472 mothers completed an online survey.

The current study empirically explored channel trust and individual factors, finding that individual factors (such as education level) and trust warrant inclusion in traditional communication models such as Communication–Human Information Processing. The findings revealed that the more highly educated a customer is, the more likely it will be that a health professional is their most trusted channel, but the less likely it will be that they consider family the most trusted channel. Magazines are the least trusted information channel. Further, while informants’ most trusted information channel was healthcare professionals, this was not the most common information channel used.

This study was limited to a female consumer sample focused upon one service (maternity and child health) and five key information channels, which limits the generalizability. Further, the data were collected via an internet survey, which have biased may the results on use and trust of the internet.

The findings showcase the importance of demographic factors and the relationship between trust in information sources and use. The insights developed provide a useful research agenda for the future. This study was limited to a female consumer sample focused upon one service (maternity and child health) and five key information channels, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The data were collected via an internet survey, which may bias the results on use and trust of the internet. Additionally, the data were collected over five years ago, which may have some impact on factors such as the role and importance of internet usage. However, these limitations do not detract from the primary focus of this study and the main findings remain new and relevant.

This study undertook an empirical exploration to examine information channel trust and individual factors, thereby extending the research focus beyond current traditional communication model approaches. Models such as Communication–Human Information Processing focus on individual cognitions and assume a staged sequence of decision-making following traditional decision-making models and ignoring channel attributes such as channel trust, thereby limiting understanding. The current study indicates that communication models will benefit from the addition of channel trust and additional individual factors (such as demographics) to extend understanding beyond individual cognitions.

The large number and big variety of online databases in the field of environmental sciences and chemistry underlines the need for a comparative evaluation approach. In this paper 12 evaluation criteria are presented. The criteria are divided into: • general criteria: SI (size of the data‐source), CO (cost of one hour online searching), UP (update of online database), and AV (availability on other media) • chemical‐relevant criteria: NU (number of chemicals), ID (identification parameter for chemicals), CT (testset chemicals), CD (development of chemicals) • environmental‐relevant criteria: IP (information parameters for chemical substances), PD (parameter development) and • criteria describing environmental chemicals: US (use of chemical substances), QU (quality of database). A six number scoring system is applied on these criteria. Furthermore a comparative evaluation approach, the so‐called Hasse‐diagram‐technique is presented for 19 bibliographic online databases using the criteria mentioned above. In this approach maximals (‘good’ databases) and minimals (‘bad’ databases) can be identified, for example. Using the Hasse‐diagram‐technique changes in the database content from 1995 to 1998 applied on the 19 databases can be visualised.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study of the top listed property companies in Asia based on capital market value on internet business strategy, and to examine the relationship between top companies and the internet business strategy index.

Data for the research were collected from the top 30 property companies in Asia through their web sites. The services and information offered in these web sites are discussed and used to describe the growth of internet usage in the real estate business.

From the findings, most companies in Asia realised the importance of the internet as a marketing tool. This has been proved from the good average score of the internet business strategy attributes. The results indicated that top property companies in Asia implemented good internet business strategy.

The research is based on a study from the top 30 companies in Asia based on market capital values as at 30 June 2009. Only three countries were selected in this study: Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

This paper examines the practice of property companies in Asia of using the internet as a marketing tool in property business in order to enhance the marketing strategy in this borderless world. The findings provided some insight and guidelines for the industry as well as academics on the use of information and communication technology in the property business.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to address and reduce income inequality. However, since 1980, income inequality in the United States has caused concerns for researchers, policymakers and the public. Entrepreneurs and managers can take advantage of information technologies, while those in the middle and the bottom see fewer benefits. Meanwhile, countries such as Iceland are more capable of using ICT infrastructure to reduce income inequality, which contributes to the well-being of its citizens. This research study explores the relationship between infrastructure diffusion and income inequality through Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory.

To answer the research questions, the author assessed the data through a series of regression analyses using SPSS. The authors used Power BI software to chart the relationships between ICT infrastructure diffusion and income inequality by country and in the United States by state and region.

The results show diffusion of innovations theory’s tenets do not necessarily hold, because a significant negative relationship exists between infrastructure diffusion and income inequality, especially in countries with emerging economies. In the United States, this relationship significantly differs by region.

This research contributes to research by expanding economic and sociology work to the IS domain, while providing conflicting evidence for diffusion of innovations theory. The research also provides suggestions for practice, such as more focused ICT infrastructure investments and regulations.

Toyota's internationally coordinated production system in Asia and its selection of supply bases in South America and South Africa highlights the significance of recognizing global network firms and the global hub-and-spoke logistics system that has been developed to meet their needs. This system underpins the expansion of container shipping, air freight and telecommunications. Recognition of Main Street, linking Europe, Asia and North America with cui-desacs in Africa, Australasia and Central and South America, provides a framework for examining the relative importance of the system's hubs and terminals across different modes and regions. This analysis provides the basis for identifying and ranking key regional logistics platforms in Northeast Asia and their attraction as headquarter sites for global network firms. Examining the logistical situation pertaining after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s and a decade later is used to gauge progress towards regional economic integration in Northeast Asia.

This study examines to what extent Internet firms have globalized and the key factors that have enabled some firms to globalize more than others. Contrary to arguments that Internet-based firms automatically benefit from a global market, this study shows that most Internet firms serve regional markets, consistent with Rugman's (2000) findings for firms in the FT500. However, there are a few notable exceptions. In these cases a combination of early mover advantages, unique product, technology standards and complementary products and services have created a ‘winner-takes-all’ market in which a few firms dominate markets worldwide. Implications for globalization theories are discussed.

To investigate if consumer online patronage is influenced by product category and online store type.

Building on the prior work in this area by the authors and other researchers the study collected data in two phases to investigate the study hypotheses.

The study results suggest that consumers' online patronage is differed based on product type. Interaction effects of the online stores and product type were significant too. Additionally, the rank order of importance of the Internet attribute varied among the three types of online retailers.

The study results should be replicated in other markets. Future studies may also include a variety of different types of online outlets to improve the conclusiveness of the findings reported in this study.

The results should be of interest to the online retailers in choosing the types of merchandise and services to emphasis in the retailers marketing program.

The paper should be of interest to academicians as well as practitioners as it contributes to the small but growing literature in the area of online retailing. It adds to the literature on the product classification paradigm as well as offers practical guidelines for managers.

The purpose of this paper is to theorize the heightened exposure to information via the internet can lead citizens to be more critical about political conditions in their countries because using social media increases the likelihood of being exposed to dissident information. Further, the authors argue that the degree to which information is restricted, or internet access is limited, across countries can decrease this effect simply because the likelihood of exposure to a dissident flow is diminished.

The authors used survey data from the 2010 Latino Barometer to estimate a series of multilevel models to test whether citizens’ attitudes about the political conditions and about democracy in their respective countries worsen, and whether this effect is stronger in countries with higher internet freedom.

The results confirm that social media use has a negative influence on citizens’ attitudes about their national political conditions. In addition, respondents from those countries with more internet freedom tended to have more positive attitudes about their democracy and political conditions, generally. However, as a result of more internet freedom, the negative effects of internet and social media use on these attitudes was more pronounced in countries with more internet freedom.

These results suggest that the flow of information via the internet has substantial effect on how people feel about their government. This could be consequential for political stability, particularly in countries the conditions are not favorable. That said, these results also suggest that governments can actively decrease the odds of this dissidence building by controlling the flow of information.