The Strategic Value of Consumer Information Systems

When consumers are a source of innovation and value creation, and when information is increasingly produced and reproduced by consumers we need to reconsider the scope of information systems and their role in supporting companies to create value. The development of consumer information systems in recent years can potentially help companies to create platforms that facilitate and support company-consumer collaborations that create value. This chapter discusses the theories, concepts and practices informing new modes of consumer co-creation and co-production in business and the role of consumer information systems in supporting those processes. The chapter uses Nike as a case study to illustrate how both the company and consumers are able to derive benefits from value co-creation process supported by consumer information systems.

Value Co-Creation in Cloud Services

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.

Valorising the Cultural Content of the Commodity

A change in the informational content of the commodity, along with the emergence of a decentralized networked communications environment, has given rise to new forms of informational work. Drawing on the thesis of immaterial labour this chapter explores how these new forms of informational work e.g. information aggregation systems for accessing the judgments of many minds, the distribution of digital free, and opportunities for the co-production of information goods, have emerged to valorise the cultural content of the commodity. The chapter begins by introducing the topic of information goods, and by identifying the main tenets of immaterial labour. This is followed by a discussion of these new forms of informational work within the context of proprietary and non-proprietary information production. The chapter concludes with a critique of the exploitation and use of immaterial labour in a networked information economy.

What Do Chinese Fashion Consumers Talk about when They Talk about Fashion?

This chapter explores the interaction between fashion innovation and a networked information economy. One of the distinctive features of the latter is the prominence of a consumer who is able to play a more active and prominent role in the reception and even design of new products. Against this background the purpose of this study was to explore the role and contributions of Chinese consumers in the diffusion of fashion innovation. A content analysis of the contributions of Chinese consumers to a popular fashion forum called Branded Clothing is presented. The findings suggest a preference for later rather than earlier adoption of fashion goods; with forty-one per cent of respondents acting as a fashion follower, and fifty-nine per cent adopting more active roles in the exchange of fashion information. Tips and advice are the main category of content identified. The reliability and validity of the findings of the study are discussed. In conclusion it is suggested that the social system into which fashion goods are introduced in China may be different from that in a Western context. While innovative communicators exist, there are also opportunities for displays of increased innovativeness and opinion leadership in a Chinese online fashion consumption context.

Social Media Marketing

The present stage in the evolution of the Internet, commonly called Web 2.0, has revolutionized the way people communicate, interact, and share information and has radically changed the way customers search for and buy products. The increasing adoption of Web 2.0 applications and technologies has led to an explosion of customer-generated content and has opened new opportunities for networking and collaboration among customers. Web 2.0 applications have brought about a new media category, the Social Media, increasingly growing in importance at the cost of traditional media. The Social Media have changed the power structures in the marketplace; evidence points to a major power-migration that is taking place and to the emergence of a new breed of powerful and sophisticated customers, difficult to influence, persuade, and retain. The chapter outlines the nature, effects, and present status of the Social Media, underscoring their role as agents of customer-empowerment. It explains their aptitude and possible roles as part of the corporate marketing strategy and identifies different ways of engaging them as marketing tools. The chapter proposes two possible Social Media marketing strategies. One is a passive approach focusing on utilizing the Social Media domain as source of customer voice and market intelligence. The second is an active approach, engaging the Social Media as direct marketing and PR channels, as channels of customer influence, as tools of personalizing products, and last, but not least, developing them as platforms of co-operation and customer-generated innovation. Finally, the chapter identifies future research directions for this new element of the marketing landscape.

Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and Its Influence on Book Purchasing Decisions

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is playing an increasingly influential role in informing consumers’ purchasing decisions. Previously confined to seeking information from a small group of family and friends, consumers are now able via the Internet and social media, to draw on the contributions of a much larger group of other consumers. This chapter presents findings from a content analysis of a selection of book readers’ contributions to the Anobii Digital Bookshelf review site. The research questions guiding this analysis are: do online book reviews influence consumers’ book purchasing decisions? What conditions affect the influence of online book reviews? What are the consequences of online book reviews for consumers’ book purchasing decisions? The evidence from this study suggests that online book reviews play an influential role in the majority of Anobii members’ purchasing decisions; and that the opinions of other readers are sought primarily because of their perceived independence. Findings in relation to the informational and social attributes of book reviews, along with their framing are also presented. The chapter concludes with discussing the implications of the study for the implementation and use of eWOM, including the need to differentiate between different consumer types, being cognizant of the issue of source credibility, and the informational and social attributes that contribute to this, and of possible social and technological biases.

Web Experience Effects in a Virtual Shopping Interaction Environment

The objective of this chapter is to contextualize the concepts of web atmospherics and web experience in the particular case of a shopping situation in the Internet environment. Based on a broader concept of user experience, the chapter identifies the main influencers of consumer behaviour in the Internet environment assessing the role and degree of importance of usability, trust and other web experience dimensions on consumer decision-making processes and responses. The chapter presents the results of a research project comparing the influence of the web experience on consumer behaviour in different cultural environments; the study analyses the role of cultural differences on the online shopping behaviour of consumers from two different European countries. The study identifies several similarities and a few differences in the way web experience factors affect the decision making process and the choice of an online vendor by customers with different cultural backgrounds. The findings provide evidence of behavioural homogenization between consumers of different ethnic origin in the new global virtual marketplace.

Customer Involvement through Online Communities

New online collaborative technologies provide businesses with new opportunities to interact with customers and get them involved more actively in product or service development processes. Different types of online communities provide access to global customers: their ideas and opinions. This chapter presents a review of three types of online communities which might be valuable for businesses, namely marketing activities and new product development. Online communities can assist companies in benefitting from the “wisdom of crowds”, creating customer-oriented image, boosting product portfolio with new ideas and handling negative online publicity. While some types of communities are more effective for solving sharply defined tasks, others can help with creative views due to members’ ability to think “outside of the box”.

A Service-Oriented Approach towards Real Time Financial News Analysis

In this paper we look at the difficulties which retail investors face to obtain all news which affects companies in their portfolio. We provide a high level overview of available financial news categories and sources, the different research strategies applied to the data, and the technical problems this raises. We propose a service-oriented system to enable real time financial news analysis which will reduce the time which the investor must spend searching for and interpreting relevant news.

Consumer Information Systems as Services

Consumer Information Systems (CIS) are a new type of Information System that provides services to consumers instead of addressing users in traditional organizational settings, such as Internet based television. Services typically involve a trade-off between achieving high service productivity and quality. The use of service mass customization to successfully address these issues of both productivity and quality in a service context is proposed. We suggest that the development of Consumer Information Systems as Services (CISaS) may achieve such service mass customization. This paper presents a conceptual framework and investigates how it applies to an emerging field of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)/Internet TV systems.