THE ROLE OF SWITCHING COSTS IN ANTITRUST ANALYSIS: A COMPARISON OF MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE

Recently there has been a chorus of competition complaints asserting that Google\u27s conduct and position today is parallel to Microsoft\u27s position in the “Microsoft case,” the antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice in 1998. Any monopolization case against Google Search would have to be very different from the Microsoft browser case, because the cost for a user switching from Google Search is much lower than was the cost in the 1990s (or today) of switching away from the Microsoft operating system. It would likewise need to be different because Google has not attempted to manipulate the cost of a user switching away from Google Search, at least not to a significant degree. Low switching costs should and likely will have important implications for antitrust analysis of Google

Microsoft’s renewal : the effect a new CEO can have on strategic change and firm performance

Organizations are challenged by a dynamic, fast-changing environment in most of the industries, often driven by continuous technological innovations. Many companies, and their CEOs struggle in adapting to the new reality and its requirements. To face these challenges, companies have to transform, and need to implement strategic, organizational, and cultural change to stay competitive and profitable. Scholars have investigated not only the reasons for strategic change, but also the effect a CEO has on strategic change and firm performance, as well as the relevance of a CEO’s personality and management style in leading the change process. To demonstrate a real-life example of these theories, I selected the case about Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella. The case intends to demonstrate a strategic reorientation of a global market leader in the tech industry, coming along with a new CEO. Many different changes were implemented in just a short period of only four years, without the company facing a real crisis. The strategic renewal Nadella initiated can be considered as a role model for the need of strategic flexibility as CEO to successfully implement changes. The case clearly illustrates, that Nadella used dynamic managerial capabilities for the transformation of Microsoft, which can be considered as being successful so far. This shows, that he as new CEO had an effect on strategic change and firm performance under rapidly changing environmental conditions. Additionally, Nadella is an example of how his personality influences the way he leads this process of transformation.As empresas são desafiadas por um ambiente dinâmico e volátil na maior parte das indústrias, que é, por sua vez, impulsionado principalmente por contínuas inovações tecnológicas. Muitas empresas e os seus respetivos líderes lutam diariamente para se adaptarem a novas realidades. Para enfrentar esses desafios, as empresas precisam não só de se transformar, mas também implementar mudanças estratégicas, organizacionais e culturais para se manterem competitivas e lucrativas. Os investigadores procuraram não apenas as razões para a mudança estratégica, mas também o efeito que um CEO tem na mudança estratégica e no desempenho da empresa, bem como a relevância da personalidade e do estilo de liderança deste na condução do processo de mudança. Para demonstrar um exemplo real dessas teorias, selecionei o caso do CEO da Microsoft, Satya Nadella. O caso pretende demonstrar uma reorientação estratégica de um líder de mercado global na indústria tecnológica, com um novo CEO. Muitas mudanças foram implementadas em apenas quatro anos, sem que a empresa enfrentasse uma crise real. O caso de Nadella e da renovação estratégica que ele iniciou podem ser considerados como um modelo para a necessidade de flexibilidade estratégica para implementar mudanças com sucesso, não apenas como empresa, mas também como CEO. O caso ilustra claramente que Nadella foi dinâmico o suficiente para levar a cabo a transformação da Microsoft, que pode, até agora, ser considerada bem-sucedida. Este facto mostra que Nadella, como CEO, tem um efeito sobre a mudança estratégica e o desempenho da empresa num ambiente externo em constante mudança

The Essence of the New Economy

The New Economy should not be discounted as a temporary stock market phenomenon, but should be recognized as a real and sustainable phenomenon. The basic feature of the transition towards the New Economy is the rising importance of information—both as output and input good—in virtually all sectors of the economy. It would be fallacious to interpret the New Economy as a sector-specific phenomenon. Information increasingly constitutes a crucial input factor both in modern and traditional industries, and the information content of a final output is continuously rising throughout the economy. Present technological change, which is based upon modern information and communications technologies and on biotechnology, measures up to the industrial revolutions of past centuries. It would be premature, however, to identify fundamental trend shifts in aggregate productivity growth, because certain measurement issues are still unsettled and the observation period is still too short. Private firms must develop new business strategies in order to cope with potential market failure resulting from the properties of information goods as public goods, network goods, and experience goods. Bundling and versioning of products, attracting free riders, and —above all— establishing reputation are among the most important business strategies for the New Economy. The New Economy can be expected to reshape the structure of firms and industrial relations. On the one hand, reduced transaction costs will foster small, network-oriented niche suppliers. On the other hand, the New Economy will create substantial firm-size economies of its own—resulting from low marginal costs of information goods and competitive advantages from bundling and the exploitation of reputation. In addition, new types of incentive contracts that can serve to monitor knowledge-intensive activities will gain ground. Since human capital will replace physical capital as the crucial factor of production, improving the qualifications of the labor force is essential to successfully cope with adjustment challenges of the New Economy to the labor market. --

The Internet Ecosystem: The Potential for Discrimination

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania\u27s Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010. This Article explores how the emerging Internet architecture of cloud computing, content distribution networks, private peering and data-center services can simultaneously foster a perception of unfair network access while at the same time enabling significant competition for services, content, and innovation. A key enabler of these changes is the emergence of technologies that lower the barrier for entry in developing and deploying new services. Another is the design of successful Internet applications, which already accommodate the variation in service afforded by the current Internet. Regulators should be aware of the potential for anti-competitive practices in this broader Internet Ecosystem, but should carefully consider the effects of regulation on that ecosystem

DECEPTION BASED TECHNIQUES AGAINST RANSOMWARES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Ransomware is the most prevalent emerging business risk nowadays. It seriously affects business continuity and operations. According to Deloitte Cyber Security Landscape 2022, up to 4000 ransomware attacks occur daily, while the average number of days an organization takes to identify a breach is 191. Sophisticated cyber-attacks such as ransomware typically must go through multiple consecutive phases (initial foothold, network propagation, and action on objectives) before accomplishing its final objective. This study analyzed decoy-based solutions as an approach (detection, prevention, or mitigation) to overcome ransomware. A systematic literature review was conducted, in which the result has shown that deception-based techniques have given effective and significant performance against ransomware with minimal resources. It is also identified that contrary to general belief, deception techniques mainly involved in passive approaches (i.e., prevention, detection) possess other active capabilities such as ransomware traceback and obstruction (thwarting), file decryption, and decryption key recovery. Based on the literature review, several evaluation methods are also analyzed to measure the effectiveness of these deception-based techniques during the implementation process

Decision Support Systems and its Impact on Organization Empowerment Field Study at Jordanian Universities

The concept and applications of Decision support systems (DSS) help companies to make better business decisions in order to attain the organizational objectives in an efficient way. Ample evidence indicated that building empowerment is important for having access to information and resources, thinking critically, being effective, create effecting change and building confidence. The study aims to identify the level of DSS applications and empowerment in the Jordanian universities, as well analyzing the impact of decision support systems on empowerment. The study developed a conceptual framework that consists of two parts which simulate the study model. The target population of the study comprised of all faculty members in the colleges of economics and business in the Jordanian universities (state and private). An equal stratified random sampling of (5) public universities and (5) private ones were taken, (150) surveys were distributed, (142) surveys were included in the analysis, (38) items were designed based on previous studies to meet the study objectives. The Study revealed that DSS generators had a significant effect at level  (P? 0.05) on organization empowerment in the Jordanian universities, also the study found a statistically significant effect of  DSS generators on personal and collective empowerment  in the Jordanian universities.   Keywords: Information systems, Decision support systems, Organization empowerment, Jordanian universities

An Antitrust Rule for Software Integration

What is the proper legal standard for product integration involving software? Because software is subject to low marginal costs, network effects, and rapid technological innovation, the Supreme Court\u27s existing antitrust rules on tying arrangements, which evolved from industries not possessing such characteristics, are inappropriate. In this Article, I ask why firms integrate software products. Next, I review the Supreme Court\u27s tying decisions in Jefferson Parish and Eastman Kodak. I propose an approach to judging the lawfulness of product integration in technologically dynamic markets that supplements the Supreme Court\u27s current standard with four additional steps in cases of tying of computer software. Thereafter, I examine the D.C. Circuit\u27s approach to software integration, which arose from that court\u27s 1998 interpretation, in Microsoft II, of an antitrust consent decree between the US. Department of Justice and Microsoft Corporation. I argue that the D.C. Circuit\u27s rule has general applicability and should be recognized as the appropriate standard for software integration under antitrust law. I show how my approach imparts greater clarity to the D.C. Circuit\u27s rule. I examine the competing product integration rule proposed in 2000 by Professor Lawrence Lessig as amicus curiae in the government\u27s subsequent antitrust case against Microsoft, concerning the integration of Internet Explorer and Windows 98. My approach enables Professor Lessig\u27s analysis to be reconciled with the D.C. Circuit\u27s rule, but Professor Lessig\u27s rule, on its own, would contain serious shortcomings. Thereafter, I evaluate Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson\u27s April 2000 findings of law on the integration of Internet Explorer and Windows 98. I conclude that Judge Jackson\u27s approach, in contrast to the D.C. Circuit\u27s rule as refined by my approach, would harm consumers in the technologically dynamic market for computer software