A Hybrid Firm's Pricing Strategy in Electronic Commerce under Channel Migration

Achieving an effective business design across the Internet and the off-line channel is a critical concern for a hybrid firm's choice of pricing strategy. Two pricing models are proposed to examine how consumer channel migration (one-way channel interaction from the traditional sales channel to the Internet) affects pricing strategy. One model has no interaction between the Internet and off-line channels. The other includes the possibility of one-way migration to the Internet channel and incorporates consumers' channel-switching costs and loyalty to the firm. The two models offer interesting results for understanding traditional and Internet-based selling. A high level of channel migration leads a firm to manage the two channels as one. With low channel migration, in contrast, the firm should optimize and manage each channel separately. The models had two main findings: (1) the level of channel migration determines a hybrid firm's pricing strategy; (2) a hybrid firm's price-level choice should be determined by the on-line demand proportion of its business. The modeling results were validated with empirical analysis for 10 large South Korean e-commerce firms by comparing prices in different product categories for various types of hybrid firms and Internet-only firms. This research offers new marketing strategy insights for managers of hybrid firms who wish to optimize price-setting decisions based on interactions between distribution channels and the intensity of the firm's involvement in the on-line channel

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Networking vendor strategy and competition and their impact on enterprise network design and implementation

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-99).While a significant amount of literature exists that discuss platform strategies used by general IT vendors, less of it has to do with corporate networking technology vendors specifically. However, many of the same strategic principles that are used to analyze general IT vendors can also be used to analyze networking vendors. This paper extends the platform model that was developed by Michael Cusumano and Annabel Gawer to networking vendors, outlining the unique strategic aspects that the networking market possesses. The paper then reviews the strategy of the first dominant corporate datacom vendor, IBM, how it achieved its dominance, and how it lost it. The paper then discusses the strategies of various vendors who attempted to replace IBM as the dominant networking platform vendor and how they failed to do so. Finally, the paper discusses Cisco Systems, a vendor who did manage to achieve a level of dominance that parallels IBM's, and how that company has utilized its strategy to achieve and maintain its current dominance. Finally, Cisco's current strategic challenges are discussed. The impact of the strategies of the various vendors on the evolution of corporate networking is also discussed.by Ray Fung.S.M.M.B.A

A Careful Examination of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster Merger

As great admirers of The Boss and as fans of live entertainment, we share in the popular dismay over rising ticket prices for live performances. But we have been asked as antitrust scholars to examine the proposed merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, and we do so with the objectivity and honesty called for by The Boss’s quotes above. The proposed merger has been the target of aggressive attacks from several industry commentators and popular figures, but the legal and policy question is whether the transaction is at odds with the nation’s antitrust laws. One primary source of concern to critics is that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are two leading providers of ticket distribution services, and these critics argue that the merged entity would have a combined market share that is presumptively anticompetitive. We observe, however, that this transaction is taking place within a rapidly changing industry. The spread of Internet technologies has transformed the entertainment industry, and along with it the ticket distribution business such that a reliance on market shares based on historical sales is misleading. A growing number of venues, aided by a competitive bidding process that creates moments of focused competition, can now acquire the requisite capabilities to distribute tickets to their own events and can thus easily forgo reliance upon providers of outsourced distribution services. If self-distribution is an available and attractive option for venues, as it appears to be, then it is unlikely that even a monopolist provider of fully outsourced ticketing services could exercise market power. Ultimately, a proper assessment of the horizontal effects of this merger would have to weigh heavily the emerging role of Internet technologies in this dynamic business and the industry-wide trend towards self-distribution. The second category of arguments by critics opposing the merger rests on claims that vertical aspects of the transaction would produce anticompetitive effects. Indeed, Ticketmaster’s and Live Nation’s core businesses are in successive markets, and thus the proposed transaction is primarily a vertical merger, but there is broad agreement among economists and antitrust authorities that vertical mergers rarely introduce competitive concerns and are usually driven by efficiency motivations. This wealth of academic scholarship, which is reflected in current antitrust law, has not - from our vantage point - been properly incorporated into the public dialogue concerning the proposed merger. To the contrary, critics articulate concerns, including the fears that the merger would lead to the leveraging of market power and the foreclosure of downstream competition, that are refuted by accepted scholarship. Moreover, there are a number of specific efficiencies that, consistent with economic and organizational theory, are likely to emerge from a Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger and would be unlikely but for the companies’ integration. For these reasons, we submit this analysis in an effort to inform the debate with current economic and legal scholarship

A study of firm's behavior in the B2B e-business regime

Thesis (S.M.in Construction Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-132).The economic essence of Internet-based B2B business has become an ever-important market concern after the dot-com mania collapsed in early 2001. Many theories have been developed to understand this new business pattern. Nevertheless, lots of puzzles remained unsolved. So far, even whether B2B e-business is a temporary phenomenon; or is it just the extension of the old VAN-EDI system is still under debate. This research tries to answer some of the most fundamental questions of why and how companies adopt e-business application by studying the e-business fast mover's behaviors in the following three domains: the initiative for firm to adopt e-business, the business model and strategy developed to leverage Internet-based network system, and the barriers to implementing e-business practice. (1) The initiative for firm to adopt B2B e-business: the improvement of economic efficiency is used to measure firm's incentive in adopting E-business. Internet-based business tends to reduce production and distribution cost; and increases market transparency. It is argued that benefits from lowered cost are offset by buyer's higher bargaining power. Nevertheless, study shows that market power is critical as advanced computation capacity improves firm's ability to detect buyer's behavior, firms with larger market power have access to better quality data and gain substantial edge over smaller competitors. (2) The business models and strategy developed by firms to leverage e-business: Strategies of existing large firms are to pay their suppliers to link to their system in order to leverage the reduced production cost. They can, however, increase revenue by improving IT-based marketing and service quality. Small firm's strategy is to link their system with large firm's interface to gain competitive advantage over rivals. Start-up's strategy has been to reinforcing network externality to gain market share as markups are thin. The new trend for start-ups will be to differentiate their functionability and create new value-added for production firms. (3) The barriers for firms to adopt e-business: In the industry level, major barriers including fragmented market structure, unstandardized product and production process. In the firm level, the major barriers including organization and culture restructuring, interoperability between ebusiness application and with legacy system, lack of qualified personnel and knowledge, and the interoperability with complementary companies.by I-Tsung Tsai.S.M.in Construction Engineering and Managemen

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania

Flexible workforces and low profit margins: electronics assembly between Europe and China

This book investigates restructuring in the electronics industry and in particular the impact of a \u2018Chinese\u2019 labour regime on work and employ - ment practices in electronics assembly in Europe.1 Electronics is an extremely dynamic sector, characterized by an ever-changing organi - zational structure, as well as cut-throat competition, particularly in manufacturing. Located primarily in East Asia, electronics assembly has become notorious for poor working conditions, low unionisation and authoritarian labour relations. However, hostile labour relations and topdown HR policies are not unique to East Asia. They have become associated with the way the sector is governed more broadly, with a number of Western companies also coming to rely on such practices

Identifying the Optimal Combination of Hotel Room Distribution Channels: A DEA Analysis with a Balanced Scorecard Approach

The hotel industry has experienced changes brought on by growth, customer expectations and the proliferation in the use of e-commerce and online distribution channels. Future hotel success depends on how effectively hotel revenue managers are able to manage all of the different booking channels to maximize hotel revenue. This study represents a new approach for hotels, the use of a Data Envelopment Analysis-Balanced Scorecard (DEA-BSC) model to measure efficiency of distribution channel mix as measured by balanced scorecard results. DEA-BSC was chosen for this study because while traditional business models typically focus on one performance measure like profit, DEA-BSC considers multiple metrics simultaneously (Zhu, 2014a). Inputs for this study included the percentage of rooms sold revenue of five distribution channels including C-Res/Voice, GDS, brand.com, OTAs, and property/relationship sales. Output was consolidated BSC average. Hotels (DMUs) for the study included fifty-three select service hotels managed by a hotel management company with hotels located throughout the United States. Findings indicated that the DEA-BSC model were able to use channel mix as inputs and consolidated BSC average as output to identify efficient (benchmark) hotels and inefficient hotels. Findings also provided measurement and direction regarding the gap between the hotels that were efficient vs. those that were not. The model could not provide information on whether one output was more effective than another in contributing to the success of a hotel (DMU), but findings generated by the DEA-BSC model provided each inefficient hotel (DMU) with benchmark comparison information to assist the inefficient hotel (DMU) to become efficient

The Challenges of the Adoption of Online Channel by Microenterprises in Finland

The adoption of online channels among microenterprises (MIEs) has created new opportunities to reach broader geographic regions and operate more efficiently. However, the adoption of online channels remains unequal between small and large enterprises. This study investigates the challenges faced by MIEs in Finland's bicycle retail sector when adopting online sale channel. The research aims to understand what technological, organizational, and environmental barriers these businesses encounter and how they respond to them. The study applies the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework as the theoretical base. A qualitative approach was used, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the owners of three bicycle shops located in different Finnish cities. Thematic data analysis method was used to determine themes and group challenges within the TOE framework. The findings reveal that while technological factors such as secure online payment systems and platform usability support adoption, limitations in time, financial resources, and digital skills remarkably restrain progress. The owner of MIEs perceived the benefits of online channel, such as increased visibility and customer reach, but often had to rely on self-learning due to a lack of resources. Environmental factors such as limited awareness of public support programs, perceived bureaucracy in accessing assistance, and unequal competition with large companies also formed additional challenges. Informal networks, including family members, friends, and employees, played a vital role in aiding, especially in marketing and technical tasks. Despite these challenges, all businesses reported increased sales after adopting online channel and implemented unique strategies such as product differentiation and faster delivery to avoid price competition. This study provides practical insights for policymakers and support organisations seeking to encourage digital adoption among MIEs. It focusses on the need for aimed support that is easy to get, well communicated, and tailored to the status of MIEs. Additionally, the findings suggest that support initiatives should focus not only on funding but also on improving access to skills training and lessen bureaucratic barriers