Network Interconnectivity and Entry into Platform Markets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Zhu ◽  
Xinxin Li ◽  
Ehsan Valavi ◽  
Marco Iansiti
Keyword(s):  
Network Effects ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Competitive Response ◽  
Multiple Markets ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Performance Heterogeneity ◽  
Do So

Digital technologies have led to the emergence of many platforms in our economy today. In certain platform networks, buyers in one market purchase services from providers in many other markets, whereas in others, buyers primarily purchase services from providers within the same market. Accordingly, network interconnectivity—which measures the degree to which consumers in one market purchase services from service providers in a different market—varies across different industries. We examine how network interconnectivity affects interactions between an incumbent platform serving multiple markets and an entrant platform seeking to enter one of these markets. Our model yields several interesting results. First, even if the entrant can advertise at no cost, it still may not want to make every user in a local market aware of its service, as doing so may trigger a competitive response from the incumbent. Second, having more mobile buyers, which increases interconnectivity between markets, can reduce the incumbent’s incentive to fight and, thus, increase the entrant’s incentive to expand. Third, stronger interconnectivity between markets may or may not make the incumbent more defensible: when advertising is not costly and mobile buyers consume in both their local markets and the markets they visit, a large number of mobile buyers will increase the entrant’s profitability, thereby making it difficult for the incumbent to deter entry. However, when advertising is costly or mobile buyers only consume in the markets they travel to, a large number of mobile buyers will help the incumbent deter entry. When advertising cost is at an intermediate level, the entrant prefers a market with moderate interconnectivity between markets. Fourth, we find that even if advanced targeting technologies can enable the entrant to also advertise to mobile buyers, the entrant may choose not to do so in order to avoid triggering the incumbent’s competitive response. Finally, we find that the presence of network effects is likely to decrease the entrant’s profit. Our results offer managerial implications for platform firms and help understand their performance heterogeneity.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Moore
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Organizational Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Approach ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Do So

The purpose of the concluding chapter is to review and draw some conclusions from all that has been covered in previous chapters. To do so, it first summarizes the MacIntyrean virtue ethics approach, particularly at the individual level. It then reconsiders the organizational and managerial implications, drawing out some of the themes which have emerged from the various studies which have been explored particularly in Chapters 8 and 9. In doing so, the chapter considers a question which has been implicit in the discussions to this point: how feasible is all of this, particularly for organizations? In the light of that, it revisits the earlier critique of current approaches to organizational ethics (Corporate Social Responsibility and the stakeholder approach), before concluding.

Digital technologies in micro and small enterprise: evidence from Uganda's informal sector during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saadat Nakyejwe Lubowa Kimuli ◽  
Kasimu Sendawula ◽  
Shakilah Nagujja
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Small Enterprise ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to explore the intention of micro and small enterprises’ (MSEs) owners to adopt digital technologies as a strategy to catalyze sustainable growth of Uganda's economy.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative, multi-case design. The unit of inquiry consisted of business owners operating in St. Balikuddembe Market, Kampala, Uganda. They were interrogated to explore their intention to adopt digital technologies during the total lockdown as a strategy to sustainably operate their businesses.FindingsA total of four major themes emerged from the data analysis process and these are the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on business operations, awareness of digital technologies, usage of digital technologies and intention to use more digital technologies.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study shed light on what policymakers, digital service providers and business owners can do to improve uptake of digital technologies among MSEs in Uganda.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extant literature on digital technologies in MSEs using evidence from Uganda's informal sector. The results of the study may catalyze uptake of digital technologies as policymakers and digital service providers will devise appropriate strategies that will enable business owners to integrate these technologies into their business operations.

Deriving managerial implications through SERVQUAL gap elasticity in UAE banking

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 940-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukesh Kumar ◽  
K.S. Sujit ◽  
Vincent Charles
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
The Right

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the microeconomics concept of elasticity to estimate the SERVQUAL gap elasticity to derive important insights for service providers to develop the right strategies to bridge the overall gap in service. Design/methodology/approach The dimensions of SERVQUAL adopted from Parasuraman et al. (1988) and Kumar et al. (2009) are first verified for their unidimensionality using structural equation modeling and reliability in the context of United Arab Emirates banking industry. Furthermore, the technique of dominance analysis is used to derive the relative importance of dimensions for different groups of banks. Finally, the stepwise log-linear regression models are used to estimate the gap elasticity to measure the responsiveness of the overall SERVQUAL gap to a change in customers’ perception on different dimension. Findings The results reveal that the dimension which is prioritized as the most important dimension need not to be the one to be targeted under the resource constraint to react faster to the changes of customers’ banking behavior. Originality/value This is probably the first attempt to examine the service quality through gap elasticity. This method is especially useful when the traditional approach to measure relative importance of critical factors fails to clearly discriminate between two or more dimensions, which, in turn, may lead to failure in decision making to choose the right strategies to bridge the overall gap in the service.

scholarly journals When All Products Are Digital: Complexity and Intangible Value in the Ecosystem of Digitizing Firms

MIS Quarterly ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 1025-1058
Author(s):  
Pouya Rahmati ◽  
◽  
Ali Tafti ◽  
J. Christopher Westland ◽  
Cesar Hidalgo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Panel Regression ◽  
Tobin’S Q ◽  
Tobin's Q ◽  
Regression Methods ◽  
To Come ◽  
Do So

During the last four decades, digital technologies have disrupted many industries. Car control systems have gone from mechanical to digital. Telephones have changed from sound boxes to portable computers. But have the firms that digitized their products and services become more valuable than firms that didn’t? Here we introduce the construct of digital proximity, which considers the interdependent activities of firms linked in an economic network. We then explore how the digitization of products and services affects a company’s Tobin’s q—the ratio of market value over assets—a measure of the intangible value of a firm. Our panel regression methods and robustness tests suggest the positive influence of a firm’s digital proximity on its Tobin’s q. This implies that firms able to come closer to the digital sector have increased their intangible value compared to those that have failed to do so. These findings contribute a new way of measuring digitization and its impact on firm performance that is complementary to traditional measures of information technology (IT) intensity.

A Complementary Resource Bundle as an Antecedent of E-Channel Success in Small Retail Service Providers

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Kyung Cho ◽  
Larry J. Menor
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Performance Impact ◽  
Service Channel ◽  
Channel One ◽  
Retail Service ◽  
Managerial Implications

This study proposes an e-service resource bundle (E-SRB) as an antecedent of electronic service channel (e-channel) success in small retail service providers. The E-SRB indicates a collection of three resources: e-market acuity, e-IT competence, and e-service agility. Given the interdependence of these three resources in delivering quality e-services, the authors hypothesize about their complementarity and its positive effect on performance. The results of this structural equation modeling using survey data show support for the proposed hypotheses, demonstrating that the E-SRB positively influences e-channel performance. The performance impact is not limited to perceived financial performance but extends to self-reported dollar-based sales and profits. These results have theoretical implications when it comes to linking e-service quality to financial performance. They also carry managerial implications for small-scale e-retailing, where limited resources can seriously impede the full use of the e-channel. One of these implications concerns what resources are necessary and how to allocate them in order to improve an e-service system. In the end, this study suggests that managers should understand the interrelationships that might exist among resources that collectively influence performance.

Aesthetic Work as Cultural Competence: Chasing Beauty in the Coproduction of Aesthetic Services

2021 ◽  
pp. 109467052110479
Author(s):  
Aphrodite Vlahos ◽  
Anna E. Hartman ◽  
Julie L. Ozanne
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Consumer Participation ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Managerial Implications

Prior research stresses the importance of consumer participation in service coproduction. We examine the coproduction of aesthetic services, which are services in which beauty is a critical outcome. Consumers face challenges communicating their aesthetic tastes because of technical constraints that are understood by service providers but that consumers do not fully understand. To fill this gap, consumers do aesthetic work in communities of practice. Service providers also face challenges, as they must coproduce with consumers whose aesthetic tastes are formed amid shifting social standards. In this qualitative study, we highlight aesthetic work as a different type of consumer work that involves developing cultural competence. We identify four types of aesthetic coproduction in which cultural competence is distributed differently within the service dyad: aesthetic codesigning, aesthetic consenting, aesthetic yielding, and aesthetic reigning. We explore the managerial implications that arise as consumers increasingly use online social resources that shape and increase aesthetic expectations. We examine the unintended consequences of aesthetic service coproduction in which providers’ technical and aesthetic expertise is difficult for consumers to understand often leading to disappointing outcomes.

A Novel Use of Digital Technologies for More Effective Multi-Party Well Planning and Execution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Ray Isbell ◽  
Malini Raman Manocha ◽  
Brian Rodney Mangold ◽  
Moray Lamond Laing ◽  
Scott Boone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Data Transfer ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
Well Design ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Ease Of Access

Abstract Operators, service providers, and contractors are improving the well construction system using transformative digital technologies across multiple companies and within levels of disparate organizations. Well plans are managed in a new way with the creation,execution and continuous improvement of processes to materially deliver value from the onset. A typical operator’s well planning process involves developing a well program across multiple internal and external entities in the design and plan stages while various requirements and details are considered and confirmed. As the well gets closer to being drilled, the well plan must also consider the capabilities and technologies supported by the service companies and drilling contractor.This people-based process leads to variability in assumptions and objectives in standardized plans which can result in execution risk and variations in safety, quality, delivery, and cost (SQDC) performance. One major variability source occurs because of the disconnected nature in which people move data between one another in well planning documents and then to field operations. The authors propose a new way to manage this process across organization and discipline boundaries to reduce this variability. This paper details how digital technologies were incorporated into an agile pilot program to create a common framework for the exchange and management of the well plan. It follows the plan from its development to implementation in a unified, seamless process. Further the authors will demonstrate how the solution was developed across multiple organizations to deliver material value to all parties. Three companies created a collaborative business model to deliver a new digital system enhancing well construction planning and execution in terms of speed and completeness of data transfer, ease of access,and availability for building new data-based workflows and reporting. This business model continues to drive alignment throughout the companies’ well delivery business functions. This paper illustrates, "What is the value that digital transformation brings to my organization or job function".The simple answer is that if executed effectively, the transformation should produce a material improvement or outcome for the business. Digital technology creates material business value as a project management tool directly coupled with wellsite technologies. This approach, in turn, will enable improvement of the well design and SQDC performance in the delivery of the well plan.

Incentives for Shared Services: Multiserver Queueing Systems with Priorities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanlin Liu ◽  
Yimin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Game ◽  
Cost Allocation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Queueing Systems ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Shared Services ◽  
Scheduling Policy ◽  
Shared Service ◽  
Managerial Implications

Problem definition: We study shared service whereby multiple independent service providers collaborate by pooling their resources into a shared service center (SSC). The SSC deploys an optimal priority scheduling policy for their customers collectively by accounting for their individual waiting costs and service-level requirements. We model the SSC as a multiclass [Formula: see text] queueing system subject to service-level constraints. Academic/practical relevance: Shared services are increasingly popular among firms for saving operational costs and improving service quality. One key issue in fostering collaboration is the allocation of costs among different firms. Methodology: To incentivize collaboration, we investigate cost allocation rules for the SSC by applying concepts from cooperative game theory. Results: To empower our analysis, we show that a cooperative game with polymatroid optimization can be analyzed via simple auxiliary games. By exploiting the polymatroidal structures of the multiclass queueing systems, we show when the games possess a core allocation. We explore the extent to which our results remain valid for some general cases. Managerial implications: We provide operational insights and guidelines on how to allocate costs for the SSC under the multiserver queueing context with priorities.

International evidence of changing assurance practices for carbon emissions disclosures

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rina Datt ◽  
Pranil Prasad ◽  
Connie Vitale ◽  
Krishan Prasad
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Evidence ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Intensive Growth ◽  
Do So

Purpose The market for the assurance of carbon emissions disclosures is showing intensive growth. However, due to the largely voluntary nature of carbon reporting and assurance, there are currently no clear standards or guidelines and little is known about it. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reporting and assurance practices for carbon emissions disclosures. Design/methodology/approach This study provides evidence on this market, with a sample that includes 13,419 firm-year observations across 58 countries between 2010 and 2017 from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) database. Findings The results show that the demand for carbon emissions reporting comes mainly from North America, the UK and Japan. Recently, markets such as South Africa have also shown increased demand for carbon reporting. The data also shows that more firms are seeking assurance for their carbon emissions reports. Legitimacy, stakeholder and institutional theories are used to explain the findings of this study. Research limitations/implications The results have important implications for firms that produce carbon emissions disclosures, assurance service providers, legislators, regulators and the users of the reports and there should be more specific disclosure guidelines for level and scope of reporting. Originality/value Amongst the firms that do provide assurance on their carbon emissions reports, a majority do so using specialist assurance providers, with only limited assurance being provided. The results further show that a myriad of assurance frameworks is being used to assure the carbon emissions disclosures.

Value Co-Creation in Cloud Services

2013 ◽  
pp. 74-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar Rashid ◽  
William Yu Chung Wang ◽  
Felix B. Tan
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Creation Process ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Future Research Directions

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in cloud services in academic literature. Most research in this area has focused on the technical aspects of designing and implementing cloud services, with few studies focusing on understanding the value of cloud services and the processes by which consumer and service providers engage each other to co-create these services. This chapter explains the co-creation processes, and, the role of consumer in the value co-creation process of cloud services. It incorporates extant marketing and information systems literature, industry reports, and practical experience reflections to highlight the significance of cloud services. The drivers of co-creation are explored with the description of co-creation processes and the underlying factors involved in value co-creation of cloud services. The chapter concludes by outlining the opportunities associated with the development of cloud services, noting future research directions and discussing academic and managerial implications.

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