PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore and test certain assumptions concerning the role of the media in its coverage of the Olympic Games, US men's and women's basketball in particular, and its perceived impact on brand image of the athletes' performance from a fan's motivational and financial perspective.Design/methodology/approachUses and gratifications theory and sport fan motivation scales were used to identify potential impacts of media coverage and branding on athletic performance. Based on a study of 143 working professionals that identified themselves as Olympic sport fans in the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, several hypotheses were tested.FindingsThe most to least important factor-based constructs found from a PCA (Principal Components Analysis)/factor analysis included competitiveness, fan commitment, media connections, media impacts, demographics and financial impacts. When using the construct athletic performance at the Olympic level as the dependent variable, results suggested that competitiveness, media connections and fan commitment were significant for males only, while only media connections for significant for females. Males were found to be more player-centric than females, willing to be more focused on the competitive nature of the Olympic Games and to dedicate more money for such activities.Originality/valueFocusing on Olympic Games and associated athletes' competitive nature opens a unique perspective from fan's gender perspective.

The purpose of this chapter is to study barcodes and their implementation. Barcodes have been around since 1949 and have made strides in supply chains across the world. Barcodes are cost effective and one of the most efficient means of tracking to date. Specifically, 2 companies were chosen to be reviewed, Wal-Mart and Stone, Rudolph & Henry, PLC, by their use of barcodes in their perspective industries, for use by governments, manufacturing, and service industries for identification and error reduction.

Mobile communication and its many applications have been fueling the rapid growth and adoption of wireless communications for years. This growth has been marked by significant network development and advanced techniques evolving in all the fields of mobile and wireless communications. The transition from 3G communications to 4G communications has extremely boosted the way and speed at which companies and their customer are able to operate in the global economy. The purpose of this chapter is to describe some of the significant impacts of 4G wireless communication systems on the telecommunications industry. Topics describing 4G to include a brief history of mobile communications, what are the major characteristics of 4G networks and its users, advantages of 4G, challenges that 4G faces, wireless in the field/IT component, future directions of 4G, and some of the potential plans for growth.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide useful insights underlying the popularity of search engine technologies within a social media-intensive environment. Design/methodology/approach The degree of social interaction for social media platforms that integrate search engine technologies as part of the homepage and related experience is very mixed on part of its users. Through Barnard’ theory of authority acceptance, social media and its popularity may be examined by the ability of its users to create effective messages that can be broadcasted to many, yet controlled by individual. The hypotheses tested the interaction of social media and search engine with gender and technological ease-of-use factors. Findings The statistical evidence suggested that significant technological and ease-of-use aspects of search engines are not meaningful, based on gender alone. Males may slightly be prone to take advantage of such technologies, but their search and use patterns are not much varied from their female counterparts. Social media, generally more fully captured authority in individual search patterns, and a number of interactions among gender status, search engine characteristics, and social media were found to be significant and profound. The testing of these hypotheses directly reflect the complexities of unique needs among users of search engines within a social media environment. Practical implications Search engine technologies with a social media context has allowed for the development of a modern, user-driven internet experience that has been powered by users’ imagination and is designed to at least partially satisfy users’ need for self-directed engagement. Organizations are well advised to provide a mindful, less controlled, and more interactive presence of potential users, especially through an increasingly mobile presence. Originality/value Individuals as well as organizations are rapidly discovering that it is becoming easier to share and distribute their content, especially for more creative and innovative content, among all of its users. As businesses continue to focus on the quality of one’s own content, individuals are increasingly taking advantage of some tools to exert more control over their experiences and what they are willing to share, resulting in more user-based partnerships will formulate. As the transition of traditional forms of marketing to newer forms of integrated marketing, the future for search engines as marketing tools by social media users appears to be very promising in adding contextual content within users’ homepage.

Mobile communication and its many applications have been fueling the rapid growth and adoption of wireless communications for years. With this growth has been marked by significant network development and advanced techniques evolving in all the fields of mobile and wireless communications. The transition from 3G communications to 4G communications has extremely boosted the way and speed at which companies and their customer are able to operate in the global economy. The purpose of this chapter is to describe some of the significant impacts of 4G wireless communication systems on the telecommunications industry. Topics describing 4G to include a brief history of mobile communications, what are the major characteristics of 4G networks and its users, advantages of 4G?, challenges that 4G faces, wireless in the field/IT component, future directions of 4G, and some of the potential plans for growth.