It’s All about the Relationship

The rapid growth of social media sites has caught the attention of individuals and organizations hoping to use these to market their products and services. As digital products are sold online, it makes sense to tap into these networking communities to sell products as well as to share information and gather feedback. In this chapter, experts who are currently using social media in a variety of ways are asked to share their experiences. Tips are given on what to do as well as what not to do in order to participate successfully on social media sites. Future managerial and research implications are then discussed.

Digital Technology in the 21st Century

Have digital technologies reached their full potential? It seems pretty clear that the answer is no. ?All aspects of digital technology continue to evolve as scientists make discoveries, managers incorporate these discoveries into their products and services, government agencies utilize new technologies to improve service provision and information management, and social scientists investigate the impact these new technologies may have on social interaction, the global economy, and society as a whole. This chapter describes recent developments in a range of digital technology areas including input devices, output methods, storage technology, process technology, and various applications including enhancement of the sensory rich environment enabled by digital technology, deep Web search, online language translation, improved security methods, automated payment systems, and interplanetary Internet. Impacts on broader societal institutions such as healthcare, government services, higher education, political campaigns, cybercrime law enforcement, and life at home are also identified. Digital technology trends and implications for digital product managers are discussed as well as directions for future research.

Digital Media

Few would argue that digital technology has impacted nearly every industry, especially media and related firms. Media’s initial reaction to digital technology was reactive in nature: How can we convert traditional processes to fit digital technologies, mostly in the form of distribution (e.g., traditional newspapers making content available online)? In this chapter the authors argue that digital technologies have now permeated virtually every aspect of the value chain and are forcing traditional firms to rethink long held business models. The authors identify five areas of potential inquiry: (1) What is a resource in the digital age and why does this matter? (2) Where does value creation fit in today’s horizontal business models? (3) What is the demarcation between consuming content and creating content (e.g., user-generated content)? (4) What mechanisms can be used to assess quality in a world where anyone can publish? (5) What is the role of regulation and changing business models in the world of digital technology? They do not claim to have the answers, but they hope to at least create dialogue that encourages future research.

Transitioning to Software as a Service

Managing a digital product company in 2010, and beyond, is a very unique and challenging experience when compared to the traditional product development and deployment models of the late 20th century taught in many MBA schools today. This chapter presents the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned of a CEO who is transforming a traditional “Software as a Product” engineering software firm that he founded in the mid 1980‘s to a Web-based, “Software as a Service” firm that is positioned for 2010 and beyond.

Software as a Service and the Pricing Strategy for Vendors

Software as a Service (SaaS) has been a dominant information technology (IT) news topic over the last few years. It is a new phenomenon where software as a digital product, instead of being locally installed and delivered as a product, has been shifted to being installed in data centers and delivered as a service. The users do not need to worry about the installation and maintenance of their software since these tasks have now become the responsibility of the vendor. In reality, many people are still puzzled about SaaS with other new technologies. Next to that, there are numerous enterprise users who hesitate to adopt SaaS solutions because of the idea of storing data outside their company. This chapter elaborates on the state-of-the-art of SaaS from both scientific and business perspectives to help readers better understand this technology.

The Role of the Internet in the Decline and Future of Regional Newspapers

Digital technology has had a significant impact on the newspaper industry in many different areas of the world. The Internet and digital content technologies enable online newspapers to reach a wide audience and to reduce many of the costs associated with print newspapers, but there have also been some negative impacts including a loss of readers and advertising revenue for traditional printed newspapers. In this chapter, focus groups and interviews are used to investigate the following issues: (1) the role of the Internet in the decline of the social/business influence of regional newspapers, and (2) the impact of developments such as Web 2.0 on the future of regional news supply. The chapter concludes with a discussion of managerial implications for the future.

The Private Copy Issue

Digital copyrights involve a combination of technology and law that seek to provide full control of the work by the rightholder. Managing rights over digital copyrighted contents through the use of consumers’ technological protection measures may however jeopardize some freedoms that copyright law has traditionally recognized, such as the private copy. In the present chapter, the author describes the conflict between the exclusive right to the exploitation of the work and the private copy issue; how modern copyright obstructs private copying and recent proposals regarding the conciliation between rightholders’ and consumers’ interests.

Service Systems as Digital Products

In this research, the authors study service systems and assess one emerging service innovation model: services as digital products. The focused area of application is to make the remote healthcare platform developed at National Taiwan University Hospital (the U-Health Service System) a comprehensive and effective “Service System as a Digital product”—made possible by new technology but in need of service designs and innovations. In addition to studying service delivery and innovation for the U-Health Service System, our research aims to stimulate attention toward the promising research opportunities for information systems scholars in several domains: (1) the development of service systems as digital products, (2) the development of service value models based on service processes, service delivery, service metrics and service outcomes, (3) the development of service metrics and the fit between service models, perceived value, and service metrics, and (4) the management of service systems and how to make them sustainable operationally and economically.

Accounting for Digital Products

Digital products are “content” goods such as software, books, music, or movies which can be digitized and traded on a digital market place. With the increase in trade and ownership of digital products, several important management issues have arisen. Accounting treatment for digital products is one important management issue. It is argued that digital products require regulations in terms of recognition, measurement, valuation, reporting and taxation. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the accounting problems that arise as a result of the growing importance of digital products in the business environment and to propose suggestions based on the accounting concepts and standards. For this purpose, first, the increasing importance of digital products is briefly explained. Then, the challenge created as a result of expanding trading volume of digital products are discussed in terms of accounting with suggestions for the appropriate accounting for digital products.

Legal Issues Facing Companies with Products in a Digital Format

Companies that deal in products in a digital format, such as magazines, newspapers, e-books, music, movies, games, or software, face unique legal challenges because they attempt to earn a profit by selling or licensing material that is easily copied and inexpensive to reproduce. This chapter discusses the four general categories of intellectual property law—patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights—and describes how each applies to products in a digital format. This chapter ends with a brief discussion of the changing societal norms toward copyright infringement for digital products and possible directions for future research.