29,143 research outputs found

    Network strategies for the new economy

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    In this paper we argue that the pace and scale of development in the information and communication technology industries (ICT) has had and continues to have major effects on the industry economics and competitive dynamics generally. We maintain that the size of changes in demand and supply conditions is forcing companies to make significant changes in the way they conceive and implement their strategies. We decompose the ICT industries into four levels, technology standards, supply chains, physical platforms, and consumer networks. The nature of these technologies and their cost characteristics coupled with higher degrees of knowledge specialisation is impelling companies to radical revisions of their attitudes towards cooperation and co-evolution with suppliers and customers. Where interdependencies between customers are particularly strong, we anticipate the possibility of winner-takes-all strategies. In these circumstances industry risks become very high and there will be significant consequences for competitive markets

    Challenging content exclusivity in network industries: the case of digital broadcasting

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    Interacting with network externalities and switching costs, exclusive dealings for premium contents in digital broadcasting markets allow incumbents to deny rivals critical mass and profitable market entry. A downstream company that acquires the exclusive rights to high-quality programming in the upstream market may obtain a competitive advantage over its rivals which suffer from negative externalities. Instead of fostering competition and innovation, exclusive licensing serves as an effective entry-deterrent strategy in order to preserve market power and to leverage monopolies. Although exclusivity for premium content has long been considered the only way for guaranteeing the remuneration of the vast investments in content production and platform infrastructure, this paper challenges the profitability of this exclusivity strategy in network industries. The paper questions the traditional economic assumptions underlying exclusivity of content and argues that the increasing emergence of multi-sided platforms in the broadcasting industry creates incentives for right holders to multi-home rather than single-home their contents. --Business model,digital broadcasting,exclusivity,bundling,shared access,innovation

    Impact of switching costs and network effects on adoption of mobile platforms

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    Objectives of the Study: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the switching costs while adopting a new mobile platform and examine the network effects on the user switching behavior of the mobile platforms. In addition, this thesis examines whether it is more difficult to shift to a new cloud service provider or mobile platform. Windows, Android and iOS are the three platforms that are analyzed in this study. Academic background and methodology: To achieve the purpose of this study the qualitative research technique involving focus group interviews was utilized. The background literature outlined current understanding of the switching costs and divided them into five categories: search costs, costs of transaction, learning costs, complementary investments and brand relationship costs. Additional concepts were defined to get better understanding of the network effects, cloud services and mobile platforms. Three largest mobile platform providers, Microsoft, Apple and Google were analyzed using the (IISIn) model. The impact of the switching costs and network effects was analyzed from the user's perspective through four different focus groups with participants from different professional occupations. Thereafter the interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. The results of this study are presented in the form of propositions that can be tested in the future research. Findings and conclusions: The research shows that the most prominent barriers when adopting new mobile platforms are: time and effort required to learn how to use the new platform, loss of non-transferable goods and services, and emotional attachments to the brand. Furthermore, user's social circle, for example family and friends, play an important role in pre-adoption decision because of recommendations through word of mouth. Members that live in the same household might adopt the same mobile platform due to greater product compatibility. The high number of application developers in a platform is crucial to retain consumers in the post-adoption phase. Specifically, lack of available applications is one of the primary causes for negative user experience that can lead to switching. Finally, there is no consensus among users if switching mobile platform is harder than switching cloud service provider. There are multiple user characteristics that determine the outcome: extent of use of the cloud services, knowledge about converters to transfer data between cloud providers and monetary investments made into a mobile platform

    Fostering innovation: Factors that attract and retain third party developers in mobile ecosystems

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    The popularity of smartphones and the related growth of mobile application markets created a need for mobile platform owners to open their software platforms up to third party developers in order to meet user demand for mobile applications. This external innovation provides a tremendous opportunity for mobile platform owners to develop a volume and diversity of products they could not develop in-house, but it also presents challenges in attracting a sufficient number of developers and users in order to harness the two-sided and same-sided network effects required to successfully cultivate a robust mobile ecosystem. The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors which attract and retain third party developers in mobile ecosystems, a topic about which limited study has been conducted to date. To achieve this goal we developed a research framework based on theoretical and industry literature related to the mobile industry. Using this as a basis for our research we interviewed developers for the iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms as well as an independent expert specialising in research of the telecommunications industry. These interviews provide a list of factors relating to what motivates third party developers to select a particular ecosystem. Factors are presented in terms of economic considerations, the boundary resources within the mobile platforms, the related development community and the reach the ecosystem provides. These factors are detailed and compared concluding that monetary reward, user engagement and market share are the most dominant factors influencing developer choice. This research complements and extends existing research on third party developer motivation in competitive open innovation communities as well as providing insights into the industry for prospective mobile developers

    Next Generation Access and Digital Divide: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin?

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    Geographical averaging of retail and wholesale prices could distort incentives for bypass entry in both the metropolitan and the high-cost areas. The two-instrument approach to universal service support, proposed in (Armstrong, 2001), could enhance efficiency, through competitive and technological neutrality. Alternatively, the industry support to high cost areas could be substituted by redistributive fiscal measures or public subsidies. Using evidence from Italy we suggest that tackling demographic, educational, and income inequalities is necessary, even in low cost areas, to support further broadband penetration. We estimate logistic regressions of Internet and broadband use at home, and show that a substantial increase of broadband penetration is possible in Italy only if specific platforms and applications are made available to older and less educated households. Therefore, a critical mass of services could help reaching the critical mass of users that make Next Generation Access Networks viable. --Infrastructural Digital divide,Cultural Digital Divide,Geographical crosssubsidies,Efficient bypass,Critical mass of services

    An Exploratory Study into Open Source Platform Adoption

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    Research on open source software has focused mainly on the motivations of open source programmers and the organization of open source projects [17] [19]. Some researchers portray open source as an extension of the earlier open systems movement [36]. While there has been some research on open-systems software adoption by corporate MIS organizations [4] the issue of open source adoption has received little attention. We use a series of interviews with MIS managers to develop a grounded theory of open source platform adoption. We contrast this to prior academic and popular reports about the adoption of open source

    Innovation and breaching strategies in multi-sided platform markets: Insights from a simulation study

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    This study explores how multi-sided digital platforms achieve and sustain superior performance positions in turbulent markets. Specifically, the effects of three major strategies are studied: (1) a complementarity-based innovation strategy, (2) a breaching strategy where a platform expands into rival territories by introducing its offerings in rival platforms to gain access to rivals’ consumers without having to switch them over, (3) the joint use of these strategies. Multi-sided platform markets tend to exhibit turbulence; hence, platform strategies need to focus on achieving and sustaining superior performance positions for longer periods. We use agent-based simulation models to show that innovation and breaching strategies contribute to platform performance. Multi-sided platforms that pursue a breaching strategy in addition to engaging in innovations achieve higher performance positions than those that only engage in innovations. Our analyses also generated insights about the importance of a fit between platform decision rules and consumer decision structures
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