British Institute of Technology and E-commerce

The financial cost of cyber crime now has an annual cost estimated in the UK in eleven figures. In this chapter an ethic based definition of cyber crime is introduced and cyber crimes are classified. The impact of each class of cyber crime on society, individual, government and international security is highlighted. The cost of cyber crime is evaluated and a technique to prevent and mitigate the effect of these crimes on individual, government and international security and world peace is indicated. The forensic techniques and tools used in cyber crime evidence gathering and prosecuting procedure is also indicated. Finally, recommendations and suggestion are given to mitigate the impact of cyber crime on individuals, societies, world finance and international security.

Governments and businesses alike are coming to understand that national and global economies should use the Internet as a medium for innovation and economic growth. A critical component that has been left to service providers to establish and manage is that of digital identities of online clients and customers. Lack of regulation and effective methods of management has resulted in greater concerns over privacy, security, and productivity in online environments, thus hindering the development and use of the full potential of the Internet. This paper attempts to explore the role of a government initiated digital identity management system in supporting the creation of a stronger digital economy. The author provides an overview of the identity management infrastructure development initiatives in Gulf Cooperation Council countries and briefly examines their potential to revolutionize and transform existing economic models. The author argues that the new smart identity cards produced in these countries may serve as secure tokens that connect digital and physical identity, create trustworthy environments, and strengthen confidence in online transactions critical to the growth of the digital economy.

This research brings together the concepts of corporate branding and organizational learning in order to develop the competitive advantage of an organization. Corporate brand management has increasingly been seen as a strategic key issue from the point of view of shareholders / owners, top management and other stakeholders. This is due to the fact that in the ever increasingly turbulent, dynamic and competitive markets, corporate brands are ways of creating trust, stability, and differentiation in the market. Organizational learning prioritizes the creation and acquisition of new knowledge, and emphasizes the role of people in the creation and utilization of that knowledge. In this way, organizational learning presents an important route to performance, success and competitive advantage for the organizations. The strategic marketing literature reflects a growing interest in the role of competitive environment on a firm's marketing strategy and performance. Drawing on organizational learning theory and strategic choice theory, it is argued that a firm's strategic adaptation occurs through managerial perceptions of its corporate identity, which then contributes towards its corporate branding. The focus of this research paper is on exploring the impact of organizational learning on corporate branding of the firm. While the importance of these issues has been widely accepted, to date the linkages between organizational culture, learning, corporate branding and corporate identity have scarcely been examined together in the literature, particularly from an empirical perspective. There is some evidence that organizational learning is associated with employee commitment to enhance the corporate brands, but only a few studies have focused on the effect of culture and learning on corporate identity and corporate branding. This research paper explores the relationship between the two broad concepts, with empirical research on data collected from 5 retail organizations within the UK market.

Despite extensive research on defining and measuring health care quality, little attention has been given to different stakeholders’ perspectives of high-quality health care services. The main purpose of this study was to explore the attributes of quality healthcare in the Iranian context. Exploratory in-depth individual and focus group interviews were conducted with key healthcare stakeholders including clients, providers, managers, policy makers, payers, suppliers and accreditation panel members to identify the healthcare service quality attributes and dimensions. Data analysis was carried out by content analysis, with the constant comparative method. Over 100 attributes of quality healthcare service were elicited and grouped into five categories. The dimensions were: efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, empathy, and environment. Consequently, a comprehensive model of service quality was developed for health care context. The findings of the current study led to a conceptual framework of healthcare quality. This model leads to a better understanding of the different aspects of quality in health care and provides a better basis for defining, measuring and controlling quality of health care services.