Detailed Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgment ...............................................................................................................................
Introduction
Chapter 1
From Integration to Social Media: Understanding Electronic Marketplace 1 Kayvan Miri Lavassani, North Carolina Central University, USA
Bahar Movahedi, North Carolina Central University, USA
Vinod Kumar, Carleton University, Canada
EMs as trade tools have been the subject of several disruptive changes during the past few decades. The chapter discusses the importance of EM integration and market knowledge management as today’s main concerns affecting the effectiveness and efficiency of EMs. After explaining the concerns regarding EM integration at intra- and inter-organizational levels, the chapter mentions the role of social media as an example of new technological tools that affect EMs. By highlighting the importance of understanding EMs this paper proposes a four level analytical tool for differentiating B2B EMs.
Chapter 2
Beneficial E-Personalization and Related Technological Innovations Applied to E-Tailing ............... 20 Alan D. Smith, Robert Morris University, USA
The numerous advancements in electronic-personalization communication have generated both benefits and challenges as online retailers try to regain competitive advantages in the current global recession. A literature review of personalization strategies was used to generate a survey instrument to examine the important characteristics of such programs from business professionals. Through appropriate multivariate analyses and data-reduction techniques, the basic elements e-personalization, namely online purchasing behaviors, personalized communications, information retrieval services, degree of personal Web presence, quality assurance of customer service, and the promotion of customization services, were found to be conceptually and statistically related to retailer benefits of e-personalization (increased buying and creates customer loyalty) from the viewpoint of managers for a large goods and services chain store headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Chapter 3
Mobile Commerce Adoption in Organizations: A Literature Review and Preliminary Findings
Husam Alfahl, Griffith University Australia
Louis Sanzogni, Griffith University Australia
Luke Houghton, Griffith University Australia
Kuldeep Sandhu, Griffith University Australia
47
This chapter comprehensively reviews research conducted on mobile commerce adoption in organizations. From the literature, a number of factors from adoption theories such as the diffusion of innovation theory, the technology acceptance model, and so forth are identified, analyzed, and tabulated together with a set of research propositions in order to demonstrate areas in need of further research. The chapter proposes 15 adoption factors that may affect the intention to adopt mobile commerce in organizations. These factors are categorized into 3 groups, namely environmental and organizational, technological, and managerial and other factors, and explored through a qualitative study to shed light on their veracity. The authors conclude the argument by presenting a proposed adoption model and showing potential areas of interest to future researchers.
Chapter 4
Online Brand Expansion towards the Offline Setting: Which Way to Go?
Rafael Bravo, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Leif E. Hem, Norwegian School of Economics, Norway
José M. Pina, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
69
Brand extension and brand alliances are two possible strategies to expand the brand towards different product categories. In this chapter, the authors focus on brands that are well-known for their online services launching offline products. They analyse the results of these strategies in terms of their effects on parent brand image and under different conditions of initial brand image and perceived fit. In order to meet these aims, an empirical study was conducted to 407 undergraduates in a Spanish University. Data are analysed through multivariate analysis of variance. Main results lead us to conclude that: (1) the effects of extensions and alliances are mainly negative on the online brand image, (2) the impact is focused specially on the functional and emotional dimensions of brand image, (3) the effect is more negative for online brands with higher image than for online brands with lower image, and (4) the effect is more negative in the case of an alliance with an offline brand with low image than in the case of an alliance with an offline brand with high image or in a brand extension. This work covers some gaps in the previous literature in online branding. The authors apply concepts and theories used in brand extensions and alliances literature in an offline setting by delving into the differences of these effects on the brand image dimensions. The results obtained in this work may help brand practitioners expand their brands towards different product categories.
Chapter 5
Examining the Impact of Web 2.0 Applications on Knowledge Management Performance
Scott Buechler, Elon University, USA
Richard Hartshorne, University of Central Florida, USA
Haya Ajjan, Elon University, USA
90
There has been an increasing interest in the use of Web 2.0 applications to enhance the effectiveness of internal communication and improve knowledge management within the organization. However, extant Web 2.0 research has focused on the implementation, adaption patterns, and benefits, and little has been done to empirically examine the determinants of continuance use of Web 2.0 within the organization and its impact on knowledge performance. The objective of this study is to empirically examine the impact of both hedonic and utilitarian performance on the intention of knowledge workers to continue
to use Web 2.0 applications within an organization, and then investigate the influence of the continuance use decision on knowledge management performance. The proposed model is tested using a survey of knowledge workers using Web 2.0 applications in their organizations. The results of the PLS analysis empirically validate the relationship between antecedents, continuance use, and knowledge management performance. Research and managerial implications of our findings are presented.
Chapter 6
An Exploratory Study of Customer Satisfaction in a Community Bank
Somjit Barat, Pennsylvania State University, USA
John E. Spillan, University of North Carolina, USA
111
In a competitive business environment, delivering high level of customer service is critical. Investigating this aspect further, the current chapter focuses on the physical and service attributes of consumer satisfaction in the banking business, and takes a fresh look at how community banks can compete with larger banks in niche service areas. The goal of the research is to find out whether the customers: 1) were satisfied with every visit to the branch; 2) felt welcome when they came to the branch; 3) considered the bank’s products substantial for their needs; 4) were satisfied with the image of the bank; and 5) had any concerns about their bank deposits and about the bank’s (financial) position during difficult economic times. The findings indicate that customer responses are mixed on these issues. Interesting implications and ideas for further research also emanate from the current study.
Chapter 7
Collaborative Business Service Modelling and Improving: An Information-Driven Approach
Thang Le Dinh, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada
Thanh Thoa Pham Thi, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
128
In the context of globalization, the competitive advantage of each service enterprise depends greatly on the ability to use network architectures to collaborate efficiently in business services. The chapter aims at introducing an information-driven approach that provides a conceptual foundation for modelling effectively and improving incrementally collaborative business services. The chapter begins by presenting the necessity for and principles of the information-driven approach. Then it presents the business service foundation for the proposed approach that consists of three different dimensions: 1) service proposal, corresponding to the service value creation network level, 2) service creation, corresponding to the service system level, and 3) service operation, corresponding to the service level. The chapter continues with a discussion and review of the relevant literature, followed by the conclusion and suggestions for further research.
Chapter 8
E-Strategy and Soft Landings for Franchising in Emerging Markets ................................................
148
Ye-Sho Chen, Louisiana State University, USA
Ed Watson, Louisiana State University, USA
Renato F. L. Azevedo, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, USA & University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
International franchising as a global growth strategy, especially in emerging markets, is gaining popularity. For example, the U.S. Commercial Service estimated that: (1) China, having over 2,600 brands with 200,000 franchised retail stores in over 80 sectors in 2007, is now the largest franchise market in the world; (2) India, having over 70 international franchise operations successfully operating with an investment of $1.1 billion and sales turnover of $2.7 billion in 2009, has made franchising the second
fastest-growing industry in the country. The popularity of franchising continues to increase as the world witnesses an emergence of a new e-business model, Netchising, which is the combination power of the Internet for global demand-and-supply processes and the international franchising arrangement for local responsiveness. The essence of franchising lies in managing the good relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee. In this chapter, the authors show that e-business strategy plays an important role in growing and nurturing such a good relationship. In addition, the chapter discusses how an effective e-strategy can help a growing franchise go abroad to emerging markets through soft landings to reduce risks and costs.
Chapter 9
Improving Network-Based Marketing by Personalized Recommendation .......................................
160
Leila Esmaeili, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran
Golshan Assadat Afzali, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran
Social networks, which are a newfound phenomenon, have gained much attention. These networks, which are based on Web 2.0, provide a free and flexible environment for users and organizations to make diverse contents and, based on it, absorb users. Marketing is one of the main activities done in social networks for incoming purpose. Organizations and companies are trying to attract potential and actual customers by targeted advertising in these networks. Variety and diversity of advertising and marketing methods in social networks has made users confused and uncertain. To solve this problem, in this chapter, the authors propose a group recommender system, which is based on data mining techniques, information theory, and user preferences. This system, despite other existing methods, could yet support users who are not in relation with the others or their activity history is not available. Each group can be fans of a company or one or more products of it. The results show the superiority of this chapter’s proposed model rather than the other.
Chapter 10
Internet Incidence on SME’s Sales: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis
María Verónica Alderete, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur & (IESS)-CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Argentina
175
The purpose of this paper is to determine how much is the “bonus” or “prize” to the sales per worker of Internet-using firms compared to not Internet-using firms. The authors employ some matching techniques based on an Argentinean database. The authors first present a binary logit model, in which the dependent variable is a dichotomous variable equal to 1 if the firm adopted Internet and 0 otherwise, to evaluate the factors that influence a firm’s probability of adopting Internet. A propensity score matching (PSM) model is then used to assess the impact of using Internet on the sales per worker. The authors find statically significant differences in the sales average between firms that are similar in many dimensions such as location, size, and sales market except for the Internet adoption decision. By probing that Internet access improves SME’s sales, the chapter is validating the Public Sector ICT modernization programs for SME. The contribution of this paper consists of using a well known technique as PSM to analyze a recent field of research which is the contribution of Internet adoption to the firm’s sales per worker.
Chapter 11
An Update on the Use of Facebook as a Marketing Tool by Private Educational Institutions in Singapore 191 H. K. Leng, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
With social network sites growing in popularity, many organisations have started to use this new platform to market themselves. However, marketing on social network sites is different from traditional marketing. Its value lies in engaging members of the social network and generating shared cultural meaning
of the advertised brand rather than promoting awareness of the brand to a large number of people. This is not apparent to marketers and as such, many organizations are not leveraging on this new media tool effectively. This chapter is an update on an earlier paper which examined the use of Facebook as a marketing tool by private educational institutions offering degree programmes in Singapore. The findings in the earlier paper have suggested that marketing on social network sites remained in its infancy. In this update, it was found that three years later, there has been an increase in the use of social network sites by educational institutes in Singapore. There is also evidence that there is greater engagement and the building of a virtual community on the social network sites. This suggests that the use of social network sites as a marketing tool by educational institutes in Singapore is maturing as the organisations are beginning to understand how to leverage on social network sites to market themselves more effectively.
Chapter 12
Online Corporate Reputation Management and IT: From Reactive to Proactive Organizations 206 Alberto Francesconi, University of Pavia, Italy
Claudia Dossena, University of Pavia, Italy
According to the Resource-Based View, the Corporate Reputation (CR) is seen as a core resource and a major factor in gaining competitive advantage. Thanks to the development of Web-based technologies, stakeholders can easily spread their own perspective about an organization, its products, services, brands, members and so forth, affecting its online CR. This work focuses on “online corporate reputation” and the exploitation of IT (Online Reputation Management Systems) to support the related management practices. Taking a pragmatic approach, the authors develop a case-study based on the experience developed by an Italian leading e-service provider.
Chapter 13
A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service ..........................................................................
229 Victor Chang, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK & University of Southampton, UK
This chapter presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. The authors illustrate this integration using two services, Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS), in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Advanced techniques are used to demonstrate statistical services and 3D Visualisation services under the remit of RMaaS and Monte Carlo Simulation as a Service behind the design of RAaaS. Computational results are presented with their implications discussed. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly, and accurately with the use of BIaaS. This case study confirms the benefits of BIaaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management and stakeholders of University of Southampton.
Preface
E-business has provided firms with new ways of approaching, acquiring, and retaining customers. Ebusiness brought about a paradigm shift caused by “disruptive” technology that is radically changing the traditional way of doing business. The paradigm shift was unprecedented in terms of the complexity and magnitude and pressured firms to be more innovative and proactive to business problems than ever before.
E-commerce emerging from the Internet revolution changed the marketing principles traditionally held by business firms. After the dust of dot-com bubble burst settled, the e-commerce sector has continued to grow in both B2C and B2B sectors. Some pre-dot-com bust era companies like Amazon and eBay showed resilience and continue to be market leaders today. According to the most recent report from the U. S. Department of Commerce, the amount of e-commerce in the US has been increasing rapidly from $35 billion in 2001 to $164 billion in 2010. While large firms have been the early adopters and beneficiaries of most e-commerce innovations, an increasing number of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are also rapidly adopting e-commerce to better serve customers, improve productivity, extend a market base, and stay competitive.
Since the mid-2000s, social networking services such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter have created massive online communities of people who are willing to communicate and collaborate with each other. Social networking services have already had great impacts on the ways that people interact and businesses operate. For example, Amazon created social networks around book readership as a new initiative to attract potential book buyers. In addition to the social networking services, firms have recently shown significant interest to online social media as a new marketing source such as contextbased advertising (e.g., Google AdSense), distributed file sharing (e.g., BitTorrent), and user-generated content applications via wikis, media sharing, and social bookmarking.
Recently, advancements of wireless technologies have extended the reach of e-business to mobile commerce environments. As wireless technologies advance, mobile commerce grows more ubiquitous and sales of smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung Galaxy explode. As a growing number of customers utilize mobile devices to exchange information and to conduct business transactions, firms are competing to provide the most value-added, innovative, convenient mobile services for their customers.
Although a large volume of literature is already available on e-business, e-services, and e-commerce, many new ideas and applications are constantly emerging and provide potential opportunities and challenges for further research. In this light, it is imperative for researchers to take stock of the new knowledge in on e-business, e-services, and e-commerce, and stimulate further interest in this area. Trends in E-Business, E-Services, and E-Commerce: Impact of Technology on Goods, Services, and Business Transactions provides a reference source for researchers and industry practitioners to develop
their research ideas, theories, and practical experiences, and discusses challenges and opportunities in the e-business, e-services, and e-commerce areas. This book is composed of 13 chapters in a wide variety of topics such as social media, mobile commerce, Web personalization, and e-strategy. A brief introduction of each chapter follows:
Chapter 1, “From Integration to Social Media: Understanding Electronic Marketplace,” by Kayvan Miri Lavassani, Bahar Movahedi, and Vinod Kumar, discusses the importance of Electronic Marketplace (EM) integration and presents market knowledge management for the effectiveness and efficiency of EMs. EMs as trade tools have been the subject of several disruptive changes during the past few decades. After explaining the concerns regarding EM integration at intra- and inter-organizational levels, this chapter discusses the role of social media for EM and proposes a four level analytical tool for differentiating B2B EMs.
Chapter 2, “Beneficial E-Personalization and Related Technological Innovations Applied to E-Tailing,” by Alan D. Smith, discusses benefits and challenges generated by the numerous advancements in electronic-personalization communication. Through multivariate analyses and data-reduction techniques, the basic elements of e-personalization, namely online purchasing behaviors, personalized communications, information retrieval services, degree of personal Web presence, quality assurance of customer service, and the promotion of customization services, were found to be conceptually and statistically related to retailer benefits of e-personalization (increased buying and customer loyalty) from the viewpoint of managers for a large goods and services chain store headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Chapter 3, “Mobile Commerce Adoption in Organizations: A Literature Review and Preliminary Findings,” by Husam Alfahl, Louis Sanzogni, Luke Houghton, and Kuldeep Sandhu, reviews research conducted on mobile commerce adoption in organizations. From the literature, a number of factors from adoption theories such as the diffusion of innovation theory, the technology acceptance model, and so forth are identified, analyzed, and tabulated together with a set of research propositions in order to demonstrate areas in need of further research. This chapter proposes 15 adoption factors that may affect the intention to adopt mobile commerce in organizations. These factors are categorized into three groups, namely environmental and organizational, technological, and managerial and other factors, and explored through a qualitative study to shed light on their veracity.
Chapter 4, “Online Brand Expansion towards the Offline Setting: Which Way to Go?” by Rafael Bravo, Leif E. Hem, and José M. Pina, applies concepts and theories used in brand extensions and alliances literature to an offline setting. This chapter focuses on brands that are well known for its online services. Brand extension and brand alliances are two possible strategies to expand the brand towards different product categories. This chapter analyses the results of these strategies in terms of initial brand image and perceived fit. An empirical study was conducted to 407 undergraduates in a Spanish university.
Chapter 5, “Examining the Impact of Web 2.0: Applications on Knowledge Management Performance,” by Scott Buechler, Richard Hartshorne, and Haya Ajjan, empirically examines the impact of both hedonic and utilitarian performance on the intention of knowledge workers to continue to use Web 2.0 applications and then investigates the influence of the continuance use decision on knowledge management performance. The proposed model is tested using a survey of knowledge workers using Web 2.0 applications in their organizations. The results of the PLS analysis empirically validate the relationship between antecedents, continuance use, and knowledge management performance.
Chapter 6, “An Exploratory Study of Customer Satisfaction in a Community Bank,” by Somjit Barat and John E. Spillan, focuses on the physical and service attributes of consumer satisfaction in the banking business and takes a fresh look at how community banks can compete with larger banks in niche service areas. The findings indicate that customer responses are mixed on these issues, which make us strive to improve the service offerings. Interesting implications and ideas for further research also emanate from the current study.
Chapter 7, “Collaborative Business Service Modelling and Improving: An Information-Driven Approach,” by Thang Le Dinh and Thanh Thoa Pham Thi, aims at introducing an information-driven approach that provides a conceptual foundation for modelling effectively and improving incrementally collaborative business services. This chapter discusses the necessity for and principles of the informationdriven approach. Then it presents the business service foundation for the proposed approach that consists of three dimensions: 1) service proposal, corresponding to the service value creation network level, 2) service creation, corresponding to the service system level, and 3) service operation, corresponding to the service level.
Chapter 8, “E-Strategy and Soft Landings for Franchising in Emerging Markets,” by Ye-Sho Chen, Ed Watson, and Renato F. L. Azevedo, shows that e-business strategy plays an important role in growing and nurturing a good relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee. The popularity of franchising continues to increase, as the world witnesses an emergence of a new e-business model, Netchising, which is the combination power of the Internet for global demand-and-supply processes and the international franchising arrangement for local responsiveness. This chapter discusses how an effective e-strategy can help a growing franchise go abroad to emerging markets through soft landings to reduce risks and costs.
Chapter 9, “Improving Network-based Marketing by Personalized Recommendation,” by Leila Esmaeili and Golshan Assadat Afzali, proposes a group recommender system for marketing activities which is based on data mining techniques, information theory, and user preferences. Social networks provide a free and flexible networking environment for users and organizations. Organizations and companies are trying to attract potential and actual customers via social networks. The proposed group recommender system will support users who are not in relation with the others or their activity history is not available. The results show the superiority of the proposed model.
Chapter 10, “Internet Incidence on SME’s Sales: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis,” by María Verónica Alderete, attempts to determine how much is the “bonus” or “prize” to the sales per worker of Internet-using firms compared to not Internet-using firms. This chapter first presents a binary logit model, in which the dependent variable is a dichotomous variable equal to 1 if the firm adopted Internet and 0 otherwise, to evaluate the factors that influence a firm’s probability of adopting Internet. A Propensity Score Matching (PSM) model is then used to assess the impact of using Internet on the sales per worker. The authors find statistically significant differences in the sales average between firms that are similar in many dimensions such as location, size, and sales market except for the Internet adoption decision.
Chapter 11, “An Update on the Use of Facebook as a Marketing Tool by Private Educational Institutions in Singapore,” by H.K. Leng, is an update on an earlier paper which examined the use of Facebook as a marketing tool by private educational institutions offering degree programmes in Singapore. The findings in the earlier paper suggested that marketing on social network sites remained in its infancy. In this update, it was found that three years later, there has been an increase in the use of social network sites by educational institutes in Singapore. There is also evidence that there is greater engagement and the building of a virtual community on the social network sites. This suggests that the use of social net-
work sites as a marketing tool by educational institutes in Singapore is maturing as the organisations are beginning to understand how to leverage on social network sites to market themselves more effectively.
Chapter 12, “Online Corporate Reputation Management and IT: From Reactive to Proactive Organizations,” by Alberto Francesconi and Claudia Dossena, focuses on “online corporate reputation” and the exploitation of IT (Online Reputation Management Systems) to support the related management practices. According to the resource-based view, the Corporate Reputation (CR) is seen as a core resource and a major factor in gaining competitive advantage. Thanks to the development of Web-based technologies, stakeholders can easily spread their own perspective about an organization, its products, services, brands, members, and so forth, affecting its online CR. Taking a pragmatic approach, this chapter develops a case study based on the experience developed by an Italian leading e-service provider.
Chapter 13, “A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service” by Victor Chang, presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. This chapter illustrates this integration using two services: Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS) in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly and accurately with the use of BIaaS. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed.
Trends in E-Business, E-Services, and E-Commerce: Impact of Technology on Goods, Services, and Business Transactions is an excellent collection of the latest research and practices associated with theories, user behaviors, and practices. As leading experts in the e-business and e-services area, the contributors did an outstanding job of providing our readers with extensive coverage of the most important research topics – new concepts, management strategies, online user behavior, social media usage, and trends. The projected audience includes researchers, e-business developers, mobile services providers, social media managers, IT managers, professors, and undergraduate/graduate students in various academic disciplines. I expect this book to shed new insights for researchers, educators, and practitioners to better understand the important issues of e-business research and technologies.
In Lee Western Illinois University, USA
Acknowledgment
I sincerely thank Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, Jan Travers, and other members of the IGI Global staff, whose support throughout the whole process from the inception of the initial idea to the final publication has been invaluable. I also would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all authors for their invaluable contributions and collaboration.
In Lee Western Illinois University, USA
Introduction
LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL SHOPPING FOR BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
In the early 1990s, e-business ushered in what is now called “the digital economy.” It revolutionized the process of buying, selling, and exchanging products and services, and spawned a host of business and technological innovations. As globalization and competition pose new opportunities and challenges, firms face increased pressures from stakeholders to create e-business values. They are attempting to find which e-business models and applications will contribute effectively to their sustainability, growth, and innovation. Innovations in technology in the e-business area have constantly encouraged firms to improve existing business processes and develop new business models and applications.
Since the late 2000s, social media has paved new ways of accessing customers for businesses and conducting business activities. Social media, also called Web 2.0, represents a variety of dynamic and community-based web initiatives that place value on the power of distributed knowledge, leverage data, and provide users with rich multimedia experiences (O’Reilly, 2005). Online social networking services such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn provide firms with significant business building communities based on interests and relationships. As a growing number of customers utilize social media to exchange information and to conduct business transactions, firms are competing to provide the most value-added, innovative, convenient e-services for their customers.
Recently, advancements of social media have extended the reach of e-business to social commerce. Social commerce enabled by social media has provided firms with new ways of approaching, acquiring, and retaining customers with the use of social media. With the widespread adoption of social media by customers, businesses must find ways to capitalize on the social commerce to stay competitive in the global economy. For traditional businesses, investment in social commerce is on the rise. According to a recent IBM survey of more than 1,100 businesses around the world (CIO, 2012), forty-six percent of the businesses surveyed increases in their investments in social commerce in 2012, and sixty-two percent planned to increase their investments in social commerce in the next three years. According this survey, most firms are convinced that social commerce is enhancing their business value.
Although a large volume of literature is already available on social media and social shopping, many new ideas and applications are constantly emerging and provide potential opportunities and challenges for further research. This preface reviews the literature on social media and social shopping to understand what has been studied, presents a framework of emerging social media and social shopping business models, and discusses challenges and opportunities.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Many traditional businesses integrate a variety of social media tools into their core business processes to achieve competitive advantage. High-profile companies, from Siemens to Lockheed Martin to Motorola to Cisco, have all adopted social media tools, and claim to derive strong competitive advantages from it. Companies are beginning to capitalize on social media tools in a variety of ways. Many companies are expanding social media efforts to capture customer data and leverage it to generate instantaneous, customtailored customer experiences (Bughin et al., 2008). For example, Amazon uses data generated from site visitors in order to provide targeted product suggestions to other visitors. For a potential purchaser who is interested in a certain product, Amazon lists products that other purchasers of the same product also looked at. Netflix aggregates and analyzes subscribers’ movie preferences in order to provide accurate online movie recommendations. Businesses leverage social media technologies in order to dynamically collaborate with customers and partners in efforts to generate new design innovations (Brown, 2008). The following introduces four types of social media tools.
Social Networking Services
Many companies leverage their own private internal social networking services (SNS) to increase productivity in the workplace. SNS facilitate recruiting and connecting potential contributors for distributed innovation processes. As recruiting tools, SNS enable recruiters to view the manner in which candidates behave in an online setting and the type of people they socialize with. Job seekers use SNS to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities. Companies can also use SNS to engage in direct market research and maintain a positive relationship with customers. LinkedIn’s new service, Company Groups, allows a company’s employees to participate in a single internal web forum where they can talk to one another, share ideas, and ask company-related questions.
Collaborative Platform
Social media has also led to a collaborative platform. As a collaborative platform, prediction market tools can help aggregate a vast amount of information from employees within organizations to better guide company actions. An example of this is the sales forecast at HP through prediction markets (Chen & Plott, 2002). HP pioneered prediction markets in sales forecasting and expanded it to several business units. HP is working towards a commercial launch of the implementation of it as a product.
Procter & Gamble, through its ‘Connect and Develop’ platform opened to inputs from company alumni, current employees, and even customers, has successfully secured a large stream of new product innovations (Huston & Sakkab, 2006). While Procter & Gamble’s best innovations had come from connecting ideas across internal businesses, after studying the performance of a small number of products they had acquired from external sources, they realized that external connections could produce highly profitable innovations as well. Its ‘Connect and Develop’ platform taps into the creative thinking of inventors and others on the outside would.
For businesses, wikis serve as an excellent collaborative platform for collective intelligence and can facilitate innovations (Tapscott & Williams, 2007). Internal corporate wikis can be used as a collective intelligence tool to tap the expertise of a large group. For example, Nokia has been using internal wikis for engineers to solve product-design problems. Internal wikis are increasingly used by companies such
as Adobe Systems, Amazon.com, Disney, Intel, Pixar, and Microsoft. External corporate wikis enable companies to have the opportunity to derive value from the mass collaboration of the public that participates in wikis. By allowing consumers to contribute ideas revolving around the company’s products, the company can not only develop a core consumer base, but can also create values for any consumer that can benefit from the collaborative works. Sun Microsystems’ Sun Wikis is a directory of over 800 wiki spaces (as of June 2011) where contributors inside and outside of Sun Microsystems can share information with each other and contribute ideas to the wikis.
Blogs
Blogs are online journals that are characterized by short entries and regular updates. Blogs are inherently flexible and can be used for a variety of purposes, ranging from personal opinions of the contributor to knowledge management initiatives and customer relation tools. The publication of a blog enables the company to interact directly with consumers. Leading companies like Boeing, IBM, Accenture, Southwest Airlines, and GE are all early adopters of corporate blogs. While the blog can be used for public relations, it can also be used to promote new products and receive consumer feedback to products and services. Senior management can also utilize internal and external blogs to make announcements and seek inputs from various user groups. Internal corporate blogs offer a communication channel for individual employees to express themselves, share information, and discuss ideas with each other. Internal blog sites can be used as an ongoing information and knowledge repository to store key information, expert knowledge and experience, and as a connection point among employees. Personal or public blog sites are used to host blogs and the posted messages can be distributed to other sites or readers via RSS. Examples include political blog sites, such as HuffingtonPost.com, consumer electronics blog sites, such as engadget.com, and entertainment blog sites, such as perezhilton.com.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking, also called folksonomies, has become part of social media application and an important alternative to search engines or other instruments for navigating the web. An empirical analysis of the complex dynamics of social bookmarking has shown that a consensus around stable distributions and shared vocabularies emerge, even in the absence of a centrally controlled vocabulary (Halpin et al., 2007). Companies are increasingly using photo sharing like Flickr and tagging sites like Delicious.com to promote new products and services and also to share photos of major company events with existing customers, employees, and potential customers.
SOCIAL MEDIA-BASED BUSINESS MODELS
Social media is moving beyond the early diffusion stage and best practices emerge. Many new pure-play social media business models arise by leveraging social media such as wikis and blogs. In addition, bricks-and-clicks organizations try to leverage social media to improve their business processes. Organizations must understand the impacts of social media on their existing business model in order to be competitive in this fast-paced environment. In this section, we investigate the emergence of new social media-based business models in which the use of social media is the primary driver of revenue and corporate existence. Based on the analysis of popular social media-based organizations, we identified the following six social media-based business models.
Broad Online Community: A broad online community is an electronically supported social network of a wide range of user groups. It can be seen as a group of people who have regular social interaction but without any specific idiosyncratic group characteristics. The broad online community allows individuals to form or maintain online social connections and share their skills, talents, knowledge, and/or preferences with other members. The viability of this community model is based on user loyalty, since users need to invest both time and emotion to the community. Revenue can come from the sale of products, information services and/or advertising. A large community may expect revenue from subscriptions for premium services. Examples include Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, and Friendster.
Focused Online Community: A focused online community is a niche/specialty online community dedicated to people with a common interests and needs such as professions or hobbies. One of the major distinctions is in professional and private users (e.g., business social network services as LinkedIn and private social networking services as Blabkplanet targeted at African American users). Users add their profile and portfolio to the community and become part of a common interest such as a problem, task, hobby, or business. Revenue can be based on the sale of specialty advertising, premium services, specialtyrelated products and services or contributions. Shopping communities bring like-minded people together to discuss, share, and shop. Using the wisdom of crowds, users communicate and aggregate information about products, prices, and promotions. An example of a focused online community is an Internet car forum, such as NASIOC (North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, forums.nasioc.com). In this forum, members of the community can gather to share information such as car pricing, purchasing tips, technical details/troubleshooting, and events the community may hold in their region. They can also post products for sale or trade with other members. Like most focused online communities, forums.nasioc. com is funded through banner advertisements, as well as sponsors who sell their products on the forum. Content Intermediary: Content intermediaries are businesses that function as a third party between content generators and content users. Sometimes, users serve as both content generators and content users. Content intermediaries aggregate content and deliver it to users. In addition to text content, content generators often contribute to the sites with video, audio, or other types of rich media. Product reviews, comments, recommendations, and news or information posted on the sites represent high quality market information and an unbiased customer voice. Three types of content intermediaries are
1. Blog sites,
2. Collective intelligence sites, and
3. Content aggregating/sharing sites.
As users contribute new content to the web, the web of connections and associations among users grows stronger as a result of their collective activities. Content intermediaries depend on massive user participation and collaboration via the web. Innovative web business models such as social bookmarking and online encyclopedias take advantage of the network effects: the more people participate in generating and refining content, the more useful they become to the users. The ease of content generation and the speed of content sharing are critical to the success of content intermediaries. The online reputation systems are an example of an innovative content intermediary. The online reputation systems are based on intelligence of crowds. People provide opinions of the products, services, or users they have experienced in the form of scores, rankings, and comments. The reputation systems collect and publish
reputation scores and comments to a community or general public. While most reputation systems are product review systems, the objects of the reputation system used by eBay are transaction participants who provide ratings of the transaction party after they conduct a transaction. eBay’s reputation system is designed to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. Examples of collective intelligence sites include online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, social bookmarking/tagging sites, such as del.icio.us and Digg, and online reputation systems, such as Epinions, Bizrate, and Yelp.
Content gathering/sharing sites gather web content (and/or sometimes applications) from users. The value of the sites depends on the quality and quantity of the content contributed by the users. This content is in the form of video, audio, music, images, and text. Compared to the blog sites, the journalistic function is limited. Examples include video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, event sharing sites, such as Upcoming, and photo publishing/sharing sites, such as Flickr.
Virtual World: Virtual worlds are persistent virtual reality spaces (Schroeder, 2008). Virtual world enables users to interact with each other without geographical barriers. In virtual worlds or games, it is possible for users to interact using avatars. Avatars are the representations of users in virtual worlds, often graphically displayed as 3-dimensional characters and completely customized according to the user’s preferences. These worlds are available 24/7 - users can explore, socialize, and solve collaborative challenges. Virtual world technologies have affected education, information, and gaming industries. From a marketing perspective, virtual worlds create opportunities for a new form of commerce - virtual or v-commerce (Nasco, Boostrom Jr., & Coker, 2010). V-commerce is an alternative and/or supplement to traditional forms of commerce. Virtual commerce is a viable type of commerce in which products are created with infinite virtual resources and exchanged for real world money.
One of the more successful virtual worlds is 3-dimensional Second Life, created by Linden Lab in 2003. Avatars are central to the way that users interact with people and objects in virtual spaces. Second Life centers on socializing within communities, the sale and resale of goods, and the advancement of its virtual economy. Virtual characters known as Residents run businesses, own land, travel, and buy and sell goods and services with the Linden Dollar. Virtual worlds represent a significant social media business model due to its business potential. Other virtual worlds include Smallworlds, Zwinktopia, ActiveWorlds, and Twinity.
Shared Social Media Services: Shared Social Media Services facilitate the growth of social media populations by providing sharable services in the form of software and hardware. Using the shared social media services, users/groups can develop their own social media applications at minimum costs and technical skills. For example, users/groups may set up their own wiki sites using wiki development tools provided by wiki hosting sites such as Wikispaces and WordPress. WordPress is a popular blog hosting site available to individuals and firms. The revenue sources include advertising, premium services, and subscription fees. Examples of shared social media services include social networking host services for private specialty social networking, mashup platform vendors, Widgets, wiki host services, Google apps for social networking and collaborations, blog host services, and collaborative host services.
Social Shopping: Taking advantage of social media’s user participation and social networking capabilities, social shopping intermediaries such as Groupon and LivingSocial have emerged as a promising online intermediary between merchants and consumers by offering group discount deals to price sensitive customers. Merchant reputation sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Angie’s List enable consumers to generate online product reviews, merchant reviews, blogs, and social tagging. Social merchants use social shopping intermediaries to promote their products or services at large discount prices.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONSUMER INFORMATION SHARING
Stigler (1961) observed that the one-price market will occur only where the cost of information about the prices offered by buyers and sellers is zero. In most situations information is scarce and costly to obtain, and therefore it can be thought of as an economic good. Since then, consumers’ information search behavior has been explained in terms of the costs and benefits associated with a search (Foster & Lin, 2010). Once the consumer has identified a problem, he/she searches for information on products and services that can solve that problem. The kinds of information sought by online consumers typically relate to product/service and merchant reputation in terms of specification, price, and quality standards, and expert and consumer opinions and ratings.
A growing number of online retailers add a customer review function on their website in order to enrich their consumers’ shopping experience. Reviews written by consumers are perceived to be less biased than the information provided by advertisers and can provide information that enhances the credibility of what is already available from retailers and manufacturers. The validity of reviews can be further enhanced by providing a function for other consumers to rate the usefulness of the particular reviews. Three types of consumer reviews are widely used:
1. Product/service reviews, 2. Content reviews, and 3. Merchant reviews.
Table 1 summarizes these three types of consumer reviews.
5. SOCIAL SHOPPING
Social shopping brings buyers and sellers together in e-commerce where shoppers’ social networking facilitates the shopping activities. Social shopping attempts use technology to mimic the social interactions found in physical malls and stores. Social shopping can largely be divided into two categories:
1. Group shopping sites and 2. Social shopping marketplaces.
Group shopping sites group individual consumers to purchase products and services together from merchants at discount prices. Examples include Groupon, Gilt City, LivingSocial, and BuyWithMe. Social shopping marketplaces bring social shopping sites, merchants, and consumers together to connect and transact. The marketplace brings together independent buyers and sellers and creates a forum for them to conduct business transactions. Examples include Sttorenvy and Jasmere. Social shopping also encourages people to exchange information about products and services. The revenue sources include sales commission and advertising. Social shopping sites develop Android and iPhone-based mobile apps to provide location-based services.
The success of the social shopping sites depends on the customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, partner management, and quality policy, including refund policy. As the number of the social shopping sites grows rapidly, the competition intensifies and social shoppers’ complaints increase about overbooking,
Table 1. Three types of consumer reviews
Type of Consumer Review Description
Product/service reviews
Content reviews
Merchant reviews
Normally focus on the functionalities and the utility of a product and service (e.g. its usability, efficiency, quality, design, reliability, etc.).
Share opinions on the content of a product such as a book, music, or movie.
Often used as a mechanism to establish trust between consumers and merchants and to ascertain a sense of product and service quality of the merchant.
Example Sites
Epinions and Bizrate (http://www.bizrate.com/).
Music Emissions (http://www.musicemissions. com).
Froogle (http://www.froogle.com) and Yelp (http://www.yelp.com).
poor product/service quality, and stockout. Participating companies usually pay a high rate of commission to social shopping sites. Many social shoppers are bargain hunters.
Theoretical Perspectives on Social Shopping
Among the theories relevant to the growth of social shopping, five theoretical perspectives are reviewed in the following: information asymmetry, price discrimination, shopper orientation, advertising, and network externality.
Information asymmetry is the difference in the information between two parties (Ba & Pavlou, 2002). Information asymmetry occurs in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other. Information asymmetry may give rise to opportunistic behavior such as misrepresentation of product quality (Akerlof, 1970). Since consumers usually cannot determine the quality of a product/service prior to consumption, merchants may attempt to defraud consumers of experience goods and services, such as wine, healthcare services, and software. In cases of information asymmetry, it is natural for consumers to assume that whatever the merchant is offering, it must be that the merchant is still selling the product for more than it is worth. Thus, many consumers may even avoid purchasing the product/service altogether. Online intermediaries are known to decrease information asymmetry between merchants and consumers, since online intermediaries have expert knowledge on products (Duan, 2010). As an extension of online intermediaries, social intermediaries can reduce the information asymmetry between merchants and consumers. Social intermediaries make efforts to filter out misrepresented information and maintain information quality. Social intermediaries allow consumers to acquire information otherwise unavailable, such as information on merchant reputation. Social networking services, online discussion forums, and merchant reputation sites allow consumers to conduct pre-purchase research and help reduce the information asymmetry between merchants and consumers. In this way, products and services listed on social shopping sites turn into a search good with features and characteristics easily evaluated before purchase. Price discrimination is a marketing method of differentiating price sensitive consumer groups from less sensitive customer groups and offering different prices for the products and services to each group. Price discrimination is common in practice, and has received careful analysis in the field of economics (Lewis & Sappington, 1994). Price discrimination allows firms to increase their revenue above what may be obtained from uniform pricing (Leslie, 2004) by reaching new customers who were not previously buying the product. However, since there is a difficulty in differentiating between loyal and new customers, social shopping can be used as a means of inducing voluntary price discrimination (BenZion, Hibshoosh, & Spiegel, 1999).
Under the social shopping environment, the merchant’s incentive and ability to discriminate price will continue to grow. Social intermediaries naturally identify price sensitive groups. Members of the social shopping sites signal their price sensitivity voluntarily when they apply for the membership and actually purchase the discount deals. An individual-level analysis of the frequency and size of discount deals can further identify the core price sensitive groups. It is expected that a certain percentage of social shoppers become repeat customers if the product or service satisfies them, while others remain in the same price-sensitive group regardless of their satisfaction. However, it would be challenging to accurately estimate the percentage of social shoppers who will eventually become repeat customers.
Shopping orientation has been widely studied in marketing. Among shopping orientation studies, Stone (1954) is the first researcher who offered taxonomy on shopping orientation. He suggested that as consumers gain experience in the marketplace, a fractionization of shopping orientation evolves, and developed four categories of shoppers: economic, personalizing, ethical and apathetic shoppers. Subsequent studies find that shopping behavior is motivated by a range of psychosocial needs that go beyond the acquisition of products and services (Arnold & Reynolds, 2003; Tauber, 1972; Westbrook & Black, 1985). Psychographics-based shopping orientations classify shoppers into either social shoppers, quality shoppers, problem-solving shoppers, psycho-socializing shoppers, or brand-name shoppers (Darden & Reynolds, 1971; Darden & Ashton, 1974-75; Moschis, 1976). “Psychosocializing” shoppers have affiliation and social interaction as shopping motivations (Tauber, 1972; Westbrook & Black, 1985).
Grounded in McGuire’s (1974) collection of affiliation theories of human motivation, social shoppers espouse altruism, cohesiveness, pursuit of acceptance, and the desire for affection in interpersonal relationships (Arnold & Reynolds, 2003; McGuire, 1976; Westbrook & Black, 1985). Tauber (1972) suggests that the social motives of shopping include the needs for social experiences, communication with others having similar interests, peer group attractions, obtaining status and authority, and gaining pleasure from bargaining and negotiation. Similarly, Arnold and Reynolds (2003) identify social shopping as one of six broad categories of hedonic shopping motivations and explain the motive of social shopping is enjoyment of shopping with friends and family, socializing while shopping, and bonding with others while shopping. Social shoppers report their primary shopping motivations to be social, habitual, brand-loyal, and utilitarian with the least value attached to gratification seeking. These shoppers appear to see shopping as a leisure activity (Martin & Mason, 1987), fulfilling some important role in family and social life which goes beyond the traditional shopping activities.
Advertising is an important part of the business logic of social intermediaries. The major revenue sources of social intermediaries are commission and advertising fees paid by the participating merchants. Traditional approaches to advertising implicitly assume that advertising is something the firm does to attract the consumer (Pavlou & Stewart, 2000). Online advertising is typically a form of interactive advertising which extends the traditional advertising. In web-based interactive advertising, the reasons consumers seek, select, use, and respond to information are critical for understanding and designing effective advertising (Pavlou & Stewart, 2000). A majority of studies attempt to identify the relationship between the characteristics of online advertising and consumers’ behavioral responses (Briggs & Hollis, 1997; Cho, 2003; Eighmey, 1997; Yoo & Kim, 2005).
For merchants, social shopping sites can complement traditional advertising media such as newspaper, magazine, radio, and TV. Social intermediaries inform consumers of a merchant’s existence and the availability of the products/services, increase brand awareness, and ascertain the quality of the merchant. Social intermediaries employ a variety of advertising schemes. Social shopping promotes viral marketing via social networks and referrals. To maximize the effect of viral marketing, the time
limits and quantity thresholds of the deals are enforced. E-mails are sent to subscribers for ‘deals of the day’ and other special promotions. A variety of deals are posted on social shopping sites in visually stimulating ways to grab the attention of potential customers, and possibly lead to actual purchases. All of these real-time interactive characteristics of social shopping advertising go beyond the capability of traditional advertising.
Empirical data show that coupon expiration date can affect coupon profitability (Krishna & Zhang, 1999). An increased expiration date for a product tends to increase the coupon redemption rate for the product and profitability. The duration of promotion is another important decision variable for profit generation. According to a study that investigates the effects of length, frequency and pod placement on advertising recall, the length and frequency of advertising positively and significantly influence advertisement recall (Newell & Henderson, 1998).
Network externality theory was used to explain the increased value of telecommunication adoption by a large number of subscribers in the 1970s (Rohlfs, 1974), and the theory has been developed and refined over time to model many organizational technology adoption decisions (Economides, 1996). Network externality describes the increase in the value of a product or service to a user, not because of the inherent quality of the product or service, but because of the increasing numbers of other users adopting it (Katz & Shapiro, 1985). The basic premises of the theory are 1) that the value to a user from joining the network is an increasing function of the total number of users who join the network, 2) that users perceive this value and 3) that they make their joining decision based on this perceived value. Social networking services such as Facebook and LinkedIn are good examples of the network externality, since the more members that join those services, the more beneficial the services will be to the members.
Network externality applies to social shopping for both merchants and consumers. Merchants have the incentive of using social shopping sites that have many members, and members have the incentive of using a social shopping site where many merchants are providing deals. As the size of the social shopping site increases, benefits to both merchants and consumers grow significantly because they have a better chance of passing the threshold sales quantity, enjoying a variety of deals, and acquiring accurate information on products/services. Since social intermediaries are a relatively new business model, few studies on network externality of social shopping exist.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we discussed four types of social media tools including social networking services, collaborative platform, blogs, and social bookmarking. We also identified six social media-based business models:
1. Broad online communities,
2. Focused online communities,
3. Content intermediaries,
4. Virtual worlds,
5. Shared social media services, and 6. Social shopping.
These social media-based business models continue to grow in size and number through the interaction with individual users and business customers.
We also presented five theoretical perspectives relevant to the growth of social shopping: information asymmetry, price discrimination, shopper orientation, advertising, and network externality. The analysis of social shopping is critical to merchants due to its potentially great impacts. As more and more merchants use social intermediaries as an alternative sales channel, the effectiveness of social shopping becomes crucial for both customers and merchants. These theoretical perspectives allow social intermediaries to understand the current status of social shopping and to make informed decisions on the ways of engaging in social shopping.
In
Lee Western Illinois University, USA
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Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
‘King Baby.’ Give him to me, nurse,” Lady Ethel cried eagerly and held out her arms.
The nurse retired, and Lady Mildred watched her sister as she held the child in her arms, crooning the while a lullaby.
“Mildred, you ought to be the happiest woman in the world. You’ve a husband who adores you, and this mite of humanity. I would give my soul to have such a wee little thing clutching at me and knowing that it was mine,” Lady Ethel said impulsively.
“You are right, dear. I ought to be happy, yet I am utterly miserable. Give me the baby.”
And if the fashionable world could have seen Lady Mildred take the child in her arms with the love-light of a mother in her eyes, they would have wondered greatly.
Tears glistened on her lashes, and her bosom rose and fell quickly. She was crying quietly and could have given no reason why she wept, for knowledge had not yet come. But Lady Ethel knew, and would have spoken but instinct bade her keep silent; so she crossed over, and gently kissed her sister.
“Let us send for nurse to take baby and we will go down-stairs. They are all in the library,” she said gently, and Lady Mildred did not resist.
They walked arm in arm down the broad staircase, and Lady Ethel whispered earnestly.
“Dearest, be yourself to John. Let him see what is in your heart and all will be right. I am much younger than you, but I think that I am wiser; for I have learned that there is only one thing in the world that matters—love,” she said softly.
“Do you care for Captain Drake?”
But Lady Ethel only smiled, yet there was a flush on her face when they entered the library.
“Where is Mr. Gaunt?” she asked quickly.
“He has gone into the City and won’t be back until dinner time,” Edward Drake answered.
“Won’t you come and play the promised game of billiards?” his brother asked eagerly.
“Yes, and Mr. Drake can mark for us. Come along, Mildred,” Lady Ethel cried peremptorily, and her sister followed obediently.
And the room rang with merry laughter, but Edward Drake was very quiet, only now and then exchanging a remark with Lady Mildred. He watched his brother and Lady Ethel, and it seemed to him that they might have been made for one another, with their good looks and high spirits. Yes, there was jealousy in his heart, but he had thrust it down with all his strength, and believed that he would rejoice in his brother’s happiness. Not for a moment did he imagine that this happy girl could so encourage Lindsay’s attentions if she did not care for him. Unworldly, it did not occur to him that lack of money might prove to be an unsurmountable obstacle to their marriage. Their family was as good as any in the land—sound stock, descending from the Francis Drake that had made the land ring with his fame in the days of the Armada.
And yet he loved Lady Ethel with all the strength and passion of the reserved man who conceals his feelings. A faint sigh escaped him, and Lady Mildred looked up; but she made no remark when she saw the expression in his eyes as they eagerly followed her sister
A footman entered and approached Lady Mildred.
“Baron de Croiseuil wishes to see your ladyship,” he announced.
Lady Mildred uttered an exclamation of surprise as she rose from her seat.
“I did not know that he was in England. I wonder what he wants? Take him to the drawing-room, James,” she said and walked towards the door.
But Edward Drake interrupted her quickly.
“Please let me see the Baron for you,” he said nervously.
She stared at him in astonishment, for she deemed his request an impertinence.
“I will see him myself. Some time ago I knew him rather well,” she answered coldly.
“Please let me see him, Lady Mildred. Perhaps I can guess why he has come and——”
“Pray finish what you have to say,” she cried when he hesitated.
“And I think that it would be wiser if I went to him. I speak as your husband’s friend,” he cried imploringly.
“You speak very strangely, Mr. Drake. Please let me pass.”
He realized that it was useless to insist further, and uttering an exclamation of disappointment, drew back. If Edward Drake had had a greater knowledge of the feminine character, he would have understood that he had taken the very course to make Lady Mildred see the Baron, for he had succeeded in arousing her curiosity.
The Baron was already in the drawing-room, and hastened forward to greet her, a pleasant smile on his face.
“It is a pleasure to meet you once more, Lady Mildred. It has always been a great regret that I was not able to be present at your marriage, especially as Mr. Gaunt was once a great friend of mine,” he said effusively.
“I was not aware of the friendship,” she answered quietly.
“Yes. In the days when we were in the Congo. In fact, I was one of the first to meet your husband when he arrived, and I think I helped him to success.”
“My husband does not talk much to me about those days.”
“It is a pity that he does not carry out the same rule with regard to the rest of the world. Of course you know of these speeches he has been making?” the Baron remarked casually.
“I was present at the first of them. Now I think I understand the reason of your call. It was not entirely for the pleasure of seeing me,”
she said quickly
“You are right, Lady Mildred, but it was from a friendly feeling towards yourself. I have very pleasant recollections of our former friendship.”
“Our relations scarcely amounted to friendship,” she interrupted him.
“That is an unkind remark, but I forgive it. Still, my feelings towards you are those of a friend. Helas! they would have been different had I been a younger man.”
She flushed angrily, for compliments she detested, but she remained silent.
“I have called to see if it is not possible to prevent a state of affairs from arising that will be extremely distasteful to you.”
“You are very kind. But please explain.”
“You know that my interests are closely bound up with the Congo? The speeches that your husband is making are injuring my interests, and they must stop immediately. If they do not, I fear that Mr. Gaunt and incidentally yourself will suffer. I implore you to use all your influence with him, Lady Mildred,” he said earnestly.
“In what way will my husband suffer?” she asked calmly, but there was an angry light in her eyes that he did not perceive.
“It is a delicate matter, and I hate even to hint at it; but it is for your sake, and I will only say that there are many things in your husband’s past that will not bear the light of day. For my part I should do my best to keep them secret, but unfortunately there are others.”
Again that expressive shrug of the shoulders.
Lady Mildred crossed the room and pressed the button of the bell.
“It is for your sake, Lady Mildred, and——”
The footman came in and Lady Mildred turned to him.
“Please show this gentleman from the house, and in the future I am not at home to him.”
As she spoke she moved away, and her face was eloquent of contempt.
The Baron hesitated and then, with a final shrug, left the room without saying another word, for he recognized that he was defeated.
CHAPTER XVIII
IT was with a feeling of great anxiety that Edward Drake saw Lady Mildred leave the billiard room to go to Baron de Croiseuil, for he quickly guessed the reason of the Belgian’s visit. Although Gaunt had not gone into details it was evident from what he had said that there was much in his Congo past that he would not care to have reach his wife’s ears. By all accounts the Baron was a most unscrupulous adversary, and would not hesitate to use the knowledge that he possessed.
After a few moments’ thought, Drake hastened to the telephone and got into communication with the city office, only to find that Gaunt was not there.
“Please ask him to come to Park Lane as soon as he returns,” Drake said to Foster the secretary, and then went back to the billiard room.
Lady Ethel was idly knocking about the billiard balls, and she did not look up when he entered.
“Where is my brother?” he asked.
“He suddenly remembered that he had an appointment at the war office,” she answered, as she deftly made a cannon. “This is a good chance for the lesson I promised to give you,” she said demurely.
Drake went to the rack from which he took the first cue that came to hand.
“I am afraid that you will find me rather a duffer,” he remarked.
“Your education has been neglected—in many ways.” Then she gave him a quick look which he failed to catch. “You may break.”
But Drake’s hand trembled, and he made a miscue.
“Try again,” she said lightly, and placed the ball back in balk.
Again he tried to make the shot, with a similar result.
“It is no use, I am an awful duffer,” he said apologetically
She watched him as he replaced the cue in the rack, and her eyes twinkled with mischief.
“You are very easily discouraged. I thought better things of you, Mr. Drake,” she said with a laugh, but suddenly her face became grave and she approached more closely to him. “Would you mind telling me why you did not wish my sister to see the Baron de Croiseuil?”
Drake knew not what to say, for he could not tell her the real reason.
“I do not ask merely from curiosity. I am not quite a fool, although you may think that my intelligence is below the average, and I am not blind to what is going on. It seems to me that my sister and her husband are drifting apart and that you know the reason of it,” she said with unusual seriousness.
Still he did not answer, and she grew impatient.
“Am I not right? Mr. Gaunt has changed in a marvellous way since he has known you—and I wish you to take me into your confidence.”
“I can’t do so, Lady Ethel. I shall be grateful if you will change the subject. All I can say is that I will spare no effort to prevent any disagreement between Mr. Gaunt and his wife. But there are great issues at stake, and Lady Mildred must not be the only consideration,” he said earnestly.
“No issue can be so great as my sister’s happiness,” she answered impetuously.
“I do not agree with you, Lady Ethel. Please don’t say any more,” he said appealingly.
“I won’t for the present, but I am disappointed in you. Your brother would not have answered as you have done.”
His face flushed, and he took a step towards her. Her eyes regarded him steadily, and their expression contained a hint of defiance.
“My brother would only do what is consistent with honor,” he answered with quiet dignity.
A silence followed, and both were conscious of a feeling of nervousness. Edward Drake came to a sudden decision, and spoke impulsively.
“My brother is the only relative that I have in the world, and we are more than brothers, for we are friends. Lindsay is as generoushearted a man as ever breathed, and I have never known him guilty of a mean action. Lady Ethel, he is very dear to me, and I should grieve to see him hurt. Perhaps I ought not to speak to you in this way, but I think that you understand what I mean. For some years he has lived among savages, and the life there has made him forget many things. During these last few days he has only remembered that he is a man, and you a woman. Your beauty has blinded him to the fact that he is a poverty-stricken soldier, while you are a lady of title, who——”
While he spoke the color had left her cheeks, and she interrupted him peremptorily.
“Don’t you think that you might allow your brother to speak for himself? You parsons imagine that it is your prerogative to meddle in affairs that do not in the least concern you.”
“My brother’s happiness concerns me greatly,” he said quietly.
“Isn’t he old enough to look after himself? You are a strange man, Mr. Drake, and just a little bit impertinent. Of course, I use the word in its classical sense,” she added hastily.
He smiled, but it was a sad smile, and she relented immediately.
“I don’t think you need be troubled about your brother’s happiness,” she said gently.
“You mean?”
As he asked the question he was conscious of a fierce pain tugging at his heart, for he dreaded to hear her answer
“I mean—nothing,” she cried gaily.
The door was thrown open and Gaunt strode in, putting an end to the conversation.
“I got your message. What is it?” he asked quickly of Drake.
The latter glanced significantly at Lady Ethel who understood his meaning.
“I will relieve you of my presence, and I hope that I have completely reassured you.”
The last sentence was addressed to Drake, and was spoken so mockingly that he winced, and the color came to his cheeks.
“What’s the matter?” Gaunt demanded as soon as they were alone.
There was a worried look on his face, and it seemed to Drake that there were lines around his eyes that he had not before noticed.
“Baron de Croiseuil called this afternoon, and Lady Mildred insisted upon seeing him. They may be together now.”
Gaunt smothered an oath, as he crossed the room to ring the bell, and no word was spoken until the footman came.
“Is your mistress alone?” Gaunt demanded abruptly.
“Yes, I think so, sir.”
“Has the Baron de Croiseuil gone?”
“Yes, sir. About a quarter of an hour ago.”
“You can go, James,” Gaunt said to the footman, and as soon as the latter had left the room he sank back into a chair with a groan.
“Is it very serious, what he might say to Lady Mildred?” Drake asked hurriedly.
“Lady Mildred will consider it more than serious. But don’t talk for a few minutes. I want to do some hard thinking.”
It was a quarter of an hour before Gaunt sprang to his feet, and there was the light of battle in his eyes.
“Sit down, father confessor, while I tell you the whole story,” he said with a mirthless laugh.
“There was a man named Marillier on the Congo. A blackguard of the worst description, and soon after I arrived in the country we came into contact. He was the most callous of all the brutes that go to make up Congo officialdom, and in those days I was not inured to sickening sights. One day I went to his station, and found him with his own hand flogging a young girl of about fifteen, one of his numerous native wives. He used the chicotte, a murderous instrument of torture, and the girl was half dead. I lost my temper, and seized the chicotte with which I gave him a little of what he had been giving the girl.”
“I am very glad to hear it,” Drake cried vehemently.
“I took the poor girl on to my own station, and that night Marillier turned up in a drunken rage. In his hand he carried a revolver, and commenced firing at me. I had no desire to die, so I took my own weapon and fired.”
Gaunt paused, and his breath came quickly.
“My shot reached home, and he died.”
“You were justified by every moral law,” Drake said quietly.
“So the officials seemed to think who investigated the matter, for I heard no more about it until last night when the Baron visited me,” Gaunt said grimly.
“I am confident that Lady Mildred will hold you justified when she hears your side of the story.”
“I hope so, but that isn’t the worst from her point of view. There is only one thing that I dread her hearing, and the Baron knows it.”
“What is that?” Drake asked anxiously.
“It isn’t a pretty story, but you’d better know it. Of course you can’t appreciate the code of morality that exists in West Africa. Nearly all the white men out there have native wives. In fact, many of the Congo officials have half a dozen. From the woman’s point of view, it
is a valid marriage and her status is raised thereby You can guess what is coming,” Gaunt said miserably.
“You had a native wife?”
“No. But the general belief throughout the Congo was that I had taken Marillier’s native wife and that that was the reason why he had attacked me. But there is no necessity to go into details, and I will simply say that while I was on the Congo, I lived a clean life, as far as women are concerned. You know Lady Mildred, and if the Baron should tell her——”
Gaunt broke off, and turned away so that Drake should not see the misery in his eyes. The latter had listened to this recital in dismay, for he saw clearly that Lady Mildred would be deeply hurt should the Baron have told this story, and he could say no word of comfort.
“Why don’t you speak? Do you think that I have lied to you?” Gaunt demanded fiercely.
“No. Of course I believe you, but I fear that your enemies have a powerful weapon. The Baron may honestly believe that you killed Marillier on account of the woman, but——” He ceased to speak, and his face cleared. “I don’t think the Baron will have told Lady Mildred, yet; for he will hold it in reserve to use against you. Why don’t you go to her yourself at once and tell her? Hearing it from you she might believe, while if the knowledge came from a stranger— there would always remain a suspicion.”
“You have set me a hard task, and I don’t think that I have the strength to carry it out,” Gaunt said dully.
“Believe me, it is the best plan—the only one,” Drake said impetuously.
Gaunt did not answer, but stared moodily into the fire and the silence became oppressive, but soon there was a knock at the door and a footman entered.
“Her ladyship would like to see you in her room,” he announced.
“Now is your chance,” Drake whispered earnestly.
But Gaunt did not move.
CHAPTER XIX
LADY MILDRED was thoroughly upset by the interview with Baron de Croiseuil, for she realized that a grave warning had been given her. When her anger subsided, it was only natural that she should be curious about her husband’s past life in the Congo, and although she knew that Gaunt had been no saint, it was difficult to believe that he had ever done anything to warrant the Baron’s thinly disguised threat. Not for a moment did she regret the attitude she had taken up; indeed, pride had left no alternative, but all the same she was conscious of a feeling of uneasiness, and looked forward with impatience to meeting her husband.
She waited restlessly for the footman whom she had sent to see if he had returned.
“Did you give Mr. Gaunt my message?” she asked when he appeared.
“Yes, my lady.”
“Is he coming?”
“Mr. Gaunt did not say. He is in the billiard room with Mr. Drake.”
“That will do,” she said by way of dismissal.
A quarter of an hour passed, and when Gaunt did not arrive, her uneasiness increased; but at last he appeared, and she at once noticed a strangeness in his manner.
“I am sorry I have been so long,” he began apologetically; but he was regarding her anxiously, to see if he could gather from her attitude whether the Baron had spoken.
“I had a visit from the Baron de Croiseuil this afternoon. But won’t you sit down, John?” she said nervously.
Gaunt was inclined to think that she was still in ignorance of what he dreaded that she should hear, and a quick sigh of relief escaped him.
“What did the Baron want? You will understand that he is not exactly my friend,” he said very quietly.
“So I gathered from my interview, for he spoke very plainly about these speeches you have been making. I am afraid that you will find him an active enemy if you continue to interest yourself in the Congo.”
“The Baron and I have already discussed that matter at some length, and we were unable to arrive at an agreement. I presume he came to ask you to persuade me to keep my mouth shut?” Gaunt said grimly
“You are right, and he did not mince matters.”
“It is his habit to be blunt where bluntness suits his purpose. May I ask what line he took?” he said casually, but Lady Mildred could see that he was very anxious.
“It appears that you left rather an unsavory record behind in the Congo, and he suggested that his friends might find it necessary to see that your past was resuscitated. He spoke in a perfectly friendly way, and pretended that he had come out of consideration for myself, imagining that some of the mud which would be thrown at you might stick upon myself,” she said hurriedly.
“I see,” he answered reflectively, and then paused for a while. “Would you mind telling me how you answered him?”
“I rang for the footman, and gave orders that in future I should not be at home if he called,” she replied quietly.
Gaunt’s face lighted up wonderfully, and she blushed at the sight of the emotion that her answer had conjured up.
“That was good of you, Mildred. But you could not have acted differently. About this black record of mine on the Congo; weren’t you curious to know of what it consisted? Didn’t you ask him for particulars?”
“I was curious, I admit, but I would not lower myself by questioning him,” she answered proudly.
“And you still are curious?” he persisted.
“Yes,” the answer came reluctantly.
Their eyes met, but Gaunt quickly turned away to conceal the struggle that was taking place in his mind. Now was the opportunity of making his confession; but when he remembered its sordid nature, the words refused to come. In his imagination he could see the look of loathing that would come to her face, and suddenly he determined that at all costs she must remain in ignorance of the fact that he had killed a man, and might be charged with the crime of murder
“I wonder if you would be content to remain in ignorance? I must admit that before I met you, I did many things that you would condemn, but I would rather that you remained in ignorance of them. Knowledge can do no good. Do I ask too much?” he said eagerly.
It was clear to him that she was disappointed by his request and he waited anxiously for her to speak.
“John, I feel that I am becoming surrounded by mystery,” she cried impetuously. “If we are driven apart—which God forbid!—it will be because you refuse to give me your confidence. I am going to ask you a favor, and I want you to think carefully before you give me an answer. The other day I wished you to take me away at once and you refused. It is not an easy matter for me to repeat the request; but I do so, and very earnestly, for I believe that if we were alone for a while, all this foolish suspicion would vanish, and——”
“And——?” he repeated dully when she hesitated.
“It is difficult for me to speak of the new feeling which has crept into my heart, but I believe that I could love you, if you would allow me to do so.”
“Mildred,” he cried hoarsely, and rising, held out his arms towards her.
“No, John. Before that, everything must be clear and straightforward. I must confess that I cannot understand why you are waging this war on the Congo officials, for it is not your nature to turn
upon those who were once your friends, and who helped you to your present position. I want to know why you are doing so. Have you suddenly become religious, and is it from a sense of duty?”
Gaunt shook his head, and his depression increased.
“There must be some very forceful reason, for you are running a great risk. The Baron will certainly do all the mischief that he can. Perhaps he will publish your record, and that will not be very pleasant for either of us. And there’s baby to be considered.”
Her voice sank and contained a note of awe when she spoke the last sentence.
“I am willing to sink my curiosity—which is something for a woman to sacrifice. I am willing to do anything you like, so long as you will promise to come away with me,” she said with quiet earnestness.
Gaunt was moved, and for a moment was sorely tempted to agree to what she proposed, whatever might be the consequences. It must be remembered that he loved his wife passionately, and that she was offering him all that he desired—her love. A few weeks ago he would have been overjoyed and his happiness would have been complete—but now——
His bond was stronger than his love. The temptation was ruthlessly swept aside, and there was born a determination which in the future should be his guide with reference to his wife—he would not accept her love unless he could come to her with perfectly clean hands, and that could not be until his fight for the Congo natives was finished. Mud would be thrown at him, and his reputation might be blackened, but when the struggle was over, and she would know the worst—save perhaps that one thing which he must keep from her at all costs.
Now she was offering him her love, and should he pass it by, might it not be refused him later on? Lady Mildred was proud and would feel deeply his refusal; but there seemed to be no alternative, and he braced himself up to speak.
“I would give all that I possess in the world to be able to do what you wish, but I cannot,” he said desperately.
“And I may not know the reason?” she said coldly, and her face had grown very white.
“I can only tell you that my honor is bound up in the Congo. You yourself encouraged me to undo some of the harm for which I was responsible. I have vowed——”
He broke off and turned away so that she should not see his emotion.
“I have vowed not to turn back,” he continued more firmly. “And I cannot break my word. You would not respect me if I did so.”
“Is that all you have to say? Do you intend to turn me deliberately out of your life?” she cried passionately.
“Mildred—I can only ask you to be patient and to trust me.”
There was a world of appeal in his voice, but now she had hardened her heart against him, and was unaffected.
“I love you body and soul, and if you only knew what your offer meant to me—a happiness so intense as almost to amount to pain. Since we first met, my whole object in life has been to win your love. During all our months of married life your indifference was a torture; but I was determined to be patient, for the ultimate reward was worth any sacrifice. And then came the baby. My hopes rose, and——”
“You tell me that you love me, and yet you refuse my request. You stultify yourself, John. Love that cannot make this little sacrifice is unworthy of the name.”
“Sacrifice,” he repeated vehemently. “There is no sacrifice that I would not gladly make for the happiness of which you have given me a glimpse.”
“John.”
Her face had softened wondrously, and she held out her hand towards him. It appeared to Gaunt that his wife had never been so beautiful, and the temptation to take her in his arms became maddening.
“John,” she repeated softly.
“Don’t tempt me, Mildred. You do not know what you are doing. If I were to accept, I should never know a moment’s happiness. My soul would be eternally damned, and I could never look into your eyes without feeling ashamed. No, I will play the game, and you shall have an honest man for husband, and not a poltroon,” he cried vehemently.
She realized that he was deeply moved and that the words were wrung from him, but she could not understand, and without understanding could give him no sympathy.
“Again this mystery, John. What does it mean?” she asked wearily But he would not reply, but turned away to the window through which he stared moodily. The reaction had set in and he longed to be alone, for the sight of her tormented him, reminding him of what he was thrusting from his life.
At last he looked round, and found that she had gone. With a savage laugh he stepped into the middle of the room, but suddenly his eyes alighted upon a small lace handkerchief which lay on the floor. It was the work of an instant to pick it up and place it in his pocket.
Down-stairs to the library he went, and there found Edward Drake, who was reading an evening newspaper.
“Have you told her?” Drake asked anxiously.
“No, and I don’t intend to do so,” Gaunt cried harshly.
“Then God help you!”
Gaunt laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound.
“I shall need your prayers and His help,” he said, and then sank back into the chair, covering his face with his hands.
CHAPTER XX
JOHN GAUNT sat motionless while Drake looked at him with eyes that were brimming over with sympathy, for it was easy for him to guess what had occurred. Although disappointed that his advice had not been followed, he could not greatly blame the millionaire for having lacked the courage to make a confession that might have estranged him from his wife forever.
“You are addressing another meeting to-night. It will soon be time to dress,” he remarked.
“You expect me to speak to-night, when my soul is tortured? Have you no pity, man? Do you realize what the carrying out of this vow means to me? I have but to break it and all my difficulties vanish. Drake, I am beginning to think I must give in,” he wound up wearily
The passion had vanished and a great anguish of mind had taken its place, for he had been thinking, and it seemed as though he had signed the death warrant of his happiness by refusing his wife’s request. Even the strongest men have moments of weakness and Gaunt lost grip of his purpose, revealing himself as he had never before done to human being.
“You, Drake, are a cold-blooded saint—a man untouched by thought of woman and you cannot imagine the awful longing which is in me. I worship my wife, and every fibre of my being longs for her. Now I must forego my desire, and——By Heaven! I can’t do it. To hell with the Congo, for I’ve done with its suffering niggers,” he cried recklessly.
Drake’s face was white and drawn, his lips moved but no words could be heard during the breathless silence that followed.
“I’m not an archangel and I can’t rise to your heights. It is my nature to sink and——What am I saying?” Gaunt broke off abruptly, and wildly brushed his hand across his forehead.
Edward Drake’s breath came quickly but still he would not speak and, approaching Gaunt, affectionately placed his hand on his shoulder.
“I, too, love as you do, and I understand. Gaunt, you are my friend, and I am proud of it. I believe in you, and know that you do not mean the words that you have spoken. During the last few days I have been filled with admiration for the things you have done. You have shown courage of a high order. You made a vow and you have carried it out in the spirit and the letter. Gaunt, you will not weaken, I implore you. Remember the good that you have already done. You are rousing England from its lethargy, and you only have to continue to win the battle. Think of it, Gaunt. You can save the natives from torture and make them free men. Could mortal man have a nobler task?”
He spoke with deep feeling, but his words were unheeded.
“Can you blame me if I give way? On the one hand is the love of my wife and on the other a bitter fight that may lose me every friend that I possess. In a few days the country may ring with the things that I have done, and my wife may be ashamed at the mention of my name. You deliberately ask me to make this sacrifice, and for what? For a promise made in a moment of dire distress, when I scarcely knew what I was saying,” Gaunt cried vehemently.
“For a promise made to God,” Drake said in a low voice.
His face showed signs of a great emotion, and suddenly he sank to his knees and prayed aloud.
“I pray you to give this man courage to endure, so that this great good can be accomplished.”
And then his voice sank, so that Gaunt could not catch the fervent words he uttered. But Drake’s action of falling on to his knees had recalled the millionaire to his senses, for it brought vividly back to his mind the night of anguish when he had made the vow. And soon the weakness passed and he became once more the strong man, so that he was ashamed of the words that he had spoken.
