Behavior Coordination in E-commerce Supply Chains

This paper studies the behavior coordination of members in e-commerce supply chains with cooperative game theory. Under the environment of e-commerce, the retailers and the supplier can maximize their profits through the cooperation with the information provider. We study this cooperation by means of cooperative game theory and emphasize the importance of the information provider in the cooperation. We give a core allocation and a solution for these games

Improving Data Quality, Model Functionalities and Optimizing User Interfaces in Decision Support Systems

This dissertation contributes to the research on three core elements of decision support systems for managers and consumers: data management, model management and user interface. With respect to data management this dissertation proposes an approach for reducing unobserved product heterogeneity in online transaction data sets. The example of an online auction data set is used to investigate the approach’s ability to improve data quality. In the area of model management this dissertation contributes an approach to elicit consumer product preferences for exponential (beside linear) utility functions aiming at predicting consumers’ utilities and willingness-to-pay for individual products. The question which utility function (linear or exponential) is better suited for predicting product utilities and the willingness to pay is evaluated using a laboratory experiment. Further, in the area of user interfaces this dissertation deals with information visualization. Focusing on coordinate systems, a laboratory experiment is used to investigate which visualization format (two or three dimensional) is better suited for supporting simple vs. complex decision making scenarios and which criteria matter when choosing a visualization format for a particular level of decision making complexity

Optimizacija mrežnih alata za promotivne aktivnosti = Optimization of web tools for promotional activities

Razvoj promotivne aktivnosti u turizmu proučavan je kroz tehnološki dostupne nove alate, a istraživanje podupire ciljeve i predložene aktivnosti „Strategije razvoja turizma Republike Hrvatske do 2020. godine“. Mrežno okruženje i informacijsko komunikacijski razvoj mrežnih stranica predstavlja temelj za promotivnu aktivnost, a predložene mjere, koje je potrebno kontinuirano provoditi s ciljem prepoznatljivosti provjera je kvalitete i unapređenje mrežnih stranica sustava turističkih zajednica, intenzivnije korištenje novih mrežnih alata te redizajn sadržaja mrežnih stranica turističkih zajednica u smislu informativnosti i čitljivosti, intenziviranje društvenog medija i prilagođavanje sadržaja kampanje mrežnih stranica. Podupirući sadržaj poruka važno je se grafički dizajn oslanja na razvoj mrežne tehnologije, u skladu s time na tehničke, vizualne i tematske mrežne alate kako bi se ponudio nov način za odabir i traženje potencijalnih turističkih destinacija. Hipoteze istraživanja (H1) su potvrđene temeljeno na rezultatima empirijskog istraživanja pomoću uređaja za praćenje pokreta oka te subjektivne analize na temelju anketnog istraživanja. Na temelju zaključaka daje se smjernica za uključivanje predloženih tehničkih i vizualnih mrežnih alata za razvoj turizma te ostvarivanje strateških ciljeva. Rezultati pokazuju sa ispitanici, kojima je bio ponuđen vizualni sadržaj uzoraka mrežnih stranica temeljen na novim mrežnim alatima, procijenili dostupnijima, informativnijima i vjerodostojnijima prilikom planiranja i organizacije putovanja. Hipoteza (H2) podupire tezu o primjeni i optimizaciji novih mrežni alata, što omogućava aktivnu ulogu korisnika pri samostalnom organiziranju putovanja, a potvrđena je na temelju istraživanja provedenog anketnog ispitivanja te istraživanja uz pomoć uređaja za praćenje pokreta oka. Ispitanici su koristili sadržaj po svom vlastitom nahođenju i interesu, a uređaj je mjerio varijable: Vrijeme do prve fiksacije na odabrani sadržaj, Ukupno trajanje fiksacije, Broj fiksacija i Trajanje posjeta. Istraživanje je potvrdilo obrnuto- proporcionalan odnos između vremena do prve fiksacije i ostale tri varijable kod svih uzoraka, ukupno trajanje fiksacije i broj fiksacija pokazuju statistički značajnu negativnu korelaciju s vremenom do prve fiksacije, dok trajanje posjeta pokazuje ili vrlo slabu negativnu korelaciju ili nepostojanje korelacije. Prisutnost mrežnih alata pozitivno se odražava na broj fiksacija i vrijeme zadržavanja na uzorku, predstavljajući odraz interesa korisnika, Iz čega proizlazi zaključak da novi mrežni alati utječu na izgradnju vizualnog sadržaja te da njihova prisutnost i oblikovanje pozitivno utječu na korisničko iskustvo u skladu sa „Strategijom razvoja turizma RH do 2020“

Personalisation through pricing co-creation: Customer’s willingness to pay and pricing strategies in the B2C context of hospitality

In the era of connectivity, personalisation is an increasingly popular phenomenon in the marketplace. Modern customers are more demanding with higher barging power. The evolution towards customer-dominant logic (CDL) illuminates the transmission of value-creating roles to customers beyond visible service interaction. While the advantages of personalising the products and services are evident, a level of ambiguity persists when considering the tacit dimension of a transaction, specifically concerning pricing. The marketing and revenue management literature suggests a linear relationship between personalisation and willingness to pay (WTP). WTP is context-dependent, and further exploring the influence of personalisation benefits on customer WTP is needed. This study aims to explore how customer expectation of personalisation affects WTP in the hospitality industry, using CDL as the theoretical lens. A pragmatism stance guides the methodological design using mixed methods and leans toward the abductive approach as the central concept that derives from existing knowledge. The employed method includes two rounds of data collection: 43 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 202 online self-administrated surveys. The interpretive qualitative analysis identifies six distinctive customer types, namely: Budget Adventures, Family Explorers, Relaxation Seekers, Relation Seekers, Delight Seekers, and Must-Have Customers. Findings suggest consumers are keen to receive personalised offers, but their WTP varies. The findings from the quantitative analysis indicate that the personalisation and customer WTP relationship is not linear. WTP largely depends on the customer’s internal and external context. The study illustrates that specific context influences WTP, customer purchase behaviour, and personalisation expectations. The theoretical contribution is made to the knowledge of marketing and revenue management through CDL by advancing the understanding of experience co-creation, segmentation, and pricing. As a contribution to knowledge and practice, the study offers a novel customer typology and explains the relationship between expectations of personalisation and customer WTP. The strength of this work lies in tangible recommendations for practitioners that should lead managers and decision-makers to concentrate more on different customer clusters at different times to develop effective pricing strategies. Findings can also help managers decide what type of personalisation may best suit their customers’ context and what pricing approach they should take to optimise revenue. The findings can apply widely to other services, like airline, retail, banking, insurance, transportation, logistics, rail, or events. The avenues for future research conclude the thesis