Contents. List of figures List of tables List of abbreviations Abstract of the PhD thesis Introduction

Transcription

1 Contents List of figures List of tables List of abbreviations Abstract of the PhD thesis Introduction PART I THE THEORETICAL APPROACH Chapter I The Evolution of Online Marketing 1.1. The Development of the Internet Principles of the Internet Types of Applications Developed at Internet Level 1.2. Online Marketing Concepts, Trends and Roles in the Company s Activity 1.3. The Evolution of the Web Concept The Unidirectional Communication Channel of the Web 1.0 Stage The Two-way Communication of the Web 2.0 Stage The Mobile Social Web Web 3.0, Viewed as a User s Personal Assistant 1.4 Integrated Web Technologies at the Web 3.0 Generation Level A Brief History Defining the Web 3.0 Generation Standardisation of the Web 3.0 Generation Integrated Technologies within the Web 3.0 Generation The Pyramid of Technologies Representative of the Web 3.0 Generation Metadata RDF and XML Ontologies Associated with the Web 3.0 Generation Description of the Unique Ontology Description of the Multiple Ontologies Description of the Hybrid Ontologies

2 IoT (Internet of Things) The Cloud/Cloud Computing Technology Smart Data Access Techniques (OLAP and Data Mining) Big Data Online Identities D and web video Web Convergence and Mobile Technology 1.5. Online Marketing Tools within the Web 3.0 Generation Online Marketing Tools from the Business Environment s Point of View Online Marketing Tools from the Users Point of View E-learning and M-learning 1.6. Trends in Web 3.0 Technologies in Marketing Chapter II Online Marketing Communication 2.1 Marketing Communication in the Online Environment General Aspects Particularities of Marketing Communication in the Online Environment Integrated Marketing Communication in the Online Environment Particularities of Marketing Communications Existing at the Web 3.0 Generation Level 2.2. Promotion A Component of Online Marketing Communication The Promotional Mix in the Online Environment Online Advertising Online Public Relations Marketing Promoting Sales in the Online Environment Search Engine Optimisation Website Promotion Chapter III Exploratory Research on the Cloud Technologies Market at European Level 3.1. Defining the Concepts of Cloud and Cloud Computing 3.2. Cloud Models

3 3.2.1 The Public Cloud Model The Private Cloud Model The Hybrid Cloud Model The Community Cloud Model 3.3. Service Models Available in the Cloud The SaaS Model (Software as a Service) The PaaS Model (Platform as a Service) The IaaS Model (Infrastructure as a Service) 3.4. Cloud Technologies Statistics at European Level PART II THE PRACTICAL APPROACH Chapter IV The Qualitative Marketing Research on Expert Perceptions on Web 3.0 Technologies 4.1. The Qualitative Research Methodology Identifying the Decisional Problem and Defining the Purpose of the Research Establishing Research Objectives Choosing the Ways of Information Collection Performance Recruiting Participants Preparation of the Conditions for Performing the Information Collection Step Information Collection 4.2. Analysing and Interpreting the Data Resulting from the Qualitative Research 4.3. Research Findings Chapter V The Quantitative Marketing Research on Users Satisfaction in relation to Cloud Services in their Professional Work 5.1. The Preliminary Phase of the Marketing Research Identifying and Defining the Decisional Problem Determining the Purpose of the Research Establishing Research Objectives Establishing Research Assumptions and the Conceptual Model

4 5.2. The Marketing Research Design Phase Selecting Sources of Information Defining of the Surveyed Community, Determining of the Sample Size and Choosing the Sampling Method Questionnaire Design The Conceptual and Operational Determination of the Research Variables 5.3. The Marketing Research Phase Retrieving Information Analysing and Interpreting Research Results 5.4. Conclusions of the Marketing Research 5.5. Limitations of the Marketing Research Chapter VI Modelling the Perception of Employees Working in Companies in Various Fields of Activity regarding Cloud Services 6.1. Modelling through Structural Equations SEM Analysis by the Variance Method using WarpPLS Validation of Hypotheses Validation of the Research Model based on Compliance Indicators 6.2. Conclusions of the Conceptual Model Chapter VII Managerial Implications, Final Conclusions, Study Limitations and Future Research Directions 7.1. The Synthesis of the Results Obtained in the Paper 7.2. Managerial Implications 7.3. Study Limitations and Future Research Directions References Acknowledgements Appendixes

5 Appendix 1 Selection Questionnaire Appendix 2 Interview Guide Appendix 3 Questionnaire Appendix 4 Data Analysis Key words: Online Marketing, Web 3.0, Web technologies, Cloud, Promotional Mix;

6 Abstract of the Doctoral Thesis Technological developments in recent years have helped to improve the activities of several areas of activity. These have led to the emergence of new tools that helped specialists solve problems encountered in the different industries. Web technologies contribute greatly to facilitating organisational activities, giving individuals the ability to streamline their work time and achieve the desired results in the shortest possible time. The literature noted that in the last years these have become increasingly important because of the benefits that they offer at the level of the communication process. In this way, business managers have begun to turn to these web technologies more and more to facilitate their communication and to be able to relate much more easily with both company employees and customers. Building on this increasing demand, IT specialists have developed a range of web technologies that aim to meet the needs and desires of companies in optimal conditions. The passage of time has allowed the rapid development of web technologies, which, in a first phase, only allowed the rapid transmission and reception of information, then facilitated real-time communication and allowed the transmission and storage of large files. All of the above have gradually led to the emergence and development of Web 3.0 technologies that are now seen as the most innovative, with the ability to quickly solve the problems that users encounter. The paper "The Integration of Web 3.0 Technologies in the Promotional Mix" aimed at studying how these technologies can be implemented at the level of the marketing activity and more precisely at the level of the communication process in order to improve the way the information is transmitted and received. Moreover, through it, we also wanted to determine how the new technologies have the capacity to remedy the promotional process as well as the activities aimed at highlighting the goods/services made by the companies. Following the completion of this paper, we intend to see how Web 3.0 technologies have the potential to streamline the communication process at company level, and how they are currently being used to highlight the benefits of products/services marketed at company level. In order to accomplish the purpose of this paper, it was divided into two parts, and seven chapters, respectively. All the information provided was meant to illustrate both theoretically and

7 practically how Web 3.0 technologies can be used at the level of companies to facilitate the communication and, implicitly, the promotional process. The first part of the paper, the theoretical approach, includes the first three chapters. In these, we provided a series of theoretical information on Web 3.0 technologies and how they are used in companies. In the first chapter, "The Evolution of Online Marketing", we studied this concept starting from general information and then customising it to the level of Web 3.0 technologies. Thus, we noticed the main steps that have been encountered in the development of the Internet, as well as the types of applications that are most commonly used on the Internet. Later, we provided more theoretical information on online marketing and the current trends in this field of activity. Based on the above, we also studied the evolution of the web concept at this level, focusing on three important stages: Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0. Moreover, we determined the technologies that can integrate at the Web 3.0 generation level as well as the online marketing tools that are based on these technologies and which can be applied in various fields of activity. In the last part of this Chapter I, we studied the main trends of Web 3.0 technologies in marketing. The second chapter "Online Marketing Communication" aimed to illustrate more theoretical information on the role of communication at the level of online marketing. Here we intended to study two important topics, namely the communication process and one of its most important components, the promotion process. As far as communication is concerned, we analysed the particuliarities of this process encountered in the online environment as well as the main aspects that characterise the concept of integrated marketing communication. In addition, we determined the main features that are encountered in the communication process when using Web 3.0 technologies. With regard to the online promotion process, we have studied the components of the promotional mix in the digital environment, focusing on: online advertising, online public relations, marketing, sales promotion in the virtual environment, search engine optimisation, and promotion through websites. In the third chapter, "Exploratory Research on the Cloud Technologies Market at European Level", we intended to study the cloud technologies market at European level. In this context, we studied two important concepts: cloud and cloud computing, and illustrated several cloud models. Thus, we presented the public, private, hybrid and community cloud models. In this chapter, we also studied cloud-based service models, providing more theoretical information

8 on the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS models. In the last part, we presented more statistical data on cloud technologies and how they can be applied at European level. In the second part of the paper, "The Practical Approach", we conducted two studies, a qualitative one and a quantitative one. The fourth chapter, "The Qualitative Marketing Research on Expert Perceptions on Web 3.0 Technologies", includes a qualitative analysis that aimed to study expert perceptions on Web 3.0 technologies. This analysis was divided into three parts. In the first part, we presented the research methodology and illustrated how this study was carried out. In the second part, we interpreted the results obtained from in-depth interviews, and in the last part we drew a series of conclusions illustrating the main results obtained. Chapter five, "The Quantitative Marketing Research on Users Perception in relation to Cloud Services in their Professional Work", includes a quantitative study aimed at analysing users perception in relation to the cloud services they use in their professional work. This part of the paper was also divided into several subchapters, including the research methodology, the main results obtained, as well as the final conclusions of the quantitative study. At the end, we presented the limitations of the quantitative study. The next chapter of the paper, "Modelling the Perception of Employees Working in Companies in Various Fields of Activity regarding Cloud Services", involves the conduct and testing of a conceptual model that has been proposed in this paper. It aimed to determine the main variables that have the ability to influence the perception of individuals in relation to cloud services they use in their professional activity. The analysis of the model was carried out with the help of the WarpPLS 3.0 software, which has the role of illustrating the variables that influence the most the perception of individuals about these technologies as well as those that do not have the capacity to do so. In the last part, the conclusions of the proposed conceptual model were drafted. At the end of this paper, we drew up a series of personal conclusions and contributions. This part contains three subchapters. In the first of these we synthesised all the results obtained in the paper, and determined how the aspects exposed in the theoretical chapters can be applied in practice. Starting from these, we presented a series of managerial implications that illustrate how the results achieved have the ability to be put into practice and to support companies in their work. The last part of this paper includes a series of limitations showing the main aspects that prevent the application of the results obtained throughout the entire research community. In

9 addition, we studied both the limitations that were found in the qualitative study and those that were identified at the quantitative level. Subsequently, we proposed several future research directions and illustrated how we should act in the market to ensure that the results are as good as possible. In view of the above, we believe that the information provided is intended to give a much clearer picture of how cloud services should be implemented and used in companies. In addition, the information presented in the quantitative study illustrates the employees perception on these technologies as well as how they should be provided within companies to improve the satisfaction of individuals.