Updates Management in Mobile Applications: iTunes vs Google Play

This paper focuses on a specific strategy that developers of mobile applications may use to stimulate demand: the release of updates. We develop a theoretical analysis that shows that developers have incentives to release updates when experiencing a drop in performance. The predictions of the model are then tested using an unbalanced panel of top 1,000 apps in iTunes and Google Play for five European countries. We estimate that while in iTunes the release of an update stimulates a 26% increase in download growth, in Google Play updates play a less significant role. This difference is partly due to systematic differences in apps and in developers operating in the two stores (“selection effect”), and partly to a lack of quality control on apps and updates in Google Play (“quality check effect”). These findings highlight the crucial importance of an appropriate management of updates as well as the relevance of institutional char- acteristics of the app stores

A Composition-Based View of Organizational Ingenuity: Empirical Evidence from SMEs in India

This thesis explores a relatively new concept of organizational ingenuity (OI) through the composition-based view (CBV) theory lens with SMEs in India. The unique conditions of emerging economy context of India are delineated to be factors that compel SMEs to develop ingenuity. Three conceptual properties of OI -strategy, capabilities, and process are validated as the components that support SMEs thrive despite challenging emerging economy conditions. Findings of this thesis are presented in a theoretical framework

The role of customer experience in technology strategy : implications for product adoption in information technology

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-105).This research identifies and describes the impact of customer experience on the adoption of information technology products. The research findings are applied to the business case of a global technology firm entering into in the cloud computing space. We chose a customer-centric lens in order to better understand how information technology is turned into value for the customer. We complemented well-defined industry-level models of technology adoption by building an original system dynamics model of the relationships of the technology firm with its enterprise customers. Important dynamics were derived from the review and analysis of selected leading edge managerial frameworks that were best suited for the studied business. The market analysis includes interviews with potential enterprise and small business cloud customers, market analysts, and executives at several companies selling cloud computing services. At the firm level, we modeled the effect of different product launch and development strategies and the impact of organizational learning on new business development. The system dynamics model is a management flight simulator that overcomes the limitations of classical management frameworks. The model was calibrated against historical product adoption data that was provided by a leading global information service provider. By running different scenarios, managers may simulate the impact of investments in research and development and marketing. Managers may also test the implications of successfully designing a positive customer experience and of adopting a culture of continuous improvement and business experimentation. The results of this study show that in order to survive and compete in the digital economy, information technology companies need to shed a comfortable yet myopic focus on technology advantage and acquire the capability to develop and execute business strategies focused on excellent and inimitable customer experience. The willingness to experiment and ability to learn are critical success factors. Sustainable competitive advantage also hinges on having the ability to run business experiments, fail, learn from failures and effectively spread that knowledge through the organization.by Mona Masghati Vernon.S.M.in Engineering and Managemen

Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity

From Bangladesh and Hong Kong to Iran and South Africa, film industries around the world are rapidly growing at a time when new digital technologies are fundamentally changing how films are made and viewed. Larger film industries like Bollywood and Nollywood aim to attain Hollywood's audience and profitability, while smaller, less commercial, and often state-funded enterprises support various cultural and political projects. The contributors to Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity take an ethnographic and comparative approach to capturing the diversity and growth of global film industries. They outline how modularity—the specialized filmmaking tasks that collectively produce a film—operates as a key feature in every film industry, independent of local context. Whether they are examining the process of dubbing Hollywood films into Hindi, virtual reality filmmaking in South Africa, or on-location shooting in Yemen, the contributors' anthropological methodology brings into relief the universal practices and the local contingencies and deeper cultural realities of film production. Contributors. Steven C. Caton, Jessica Dickson, Kevin Dwyer, Tejaswini Ganti, Lotte Hoek, Amrita Ibrahim, Sylvia J. Martin, Ramyar D. Rossouk

The design and engineering of innovative mobile data services: An ontological framework founded on business model thinking

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research investigates mobile service design and engineering in the mobile telecommunications industry. The mobile telecommunication business is shifting from one that was voice-centric to one that is almost all data-centric; thanks to recent rapid advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The underlying reasons behind this shift can be traced back to two main issues that are interlinked. The first and major reason is that telecoms (telecommunication companies) are trying to generate new revenue streams based on data and information transmissions, given the saturation of the voice market. This is rational given the market opportunities in one direction and the pressures being generated by the current economic downturn from the other direction. The second reason relates to the flexibility of data, compared to voice. Indeed, the number of services that can be developed on the basis of data are much greater than those that can be developed on the basis of voice. However, the design and engineering of successful and innovative mobile data services has proven to be a complex undertaking. The number of effective mobile data services is relatively small and the revenue generated from such offerings has generally been below expectations. This research develops an ontological framework to help in changing this situation, and making mobile services engineering more effective and successful, following the design-science research paradigm. Design-science research, in general, aims to solve unstructured but relevant organizational or social problems through the development of novel and useful artefacts. As the current research aims to help in solving the mobile data services engineering dilemma by developing a purposeful ontological framework, the design-science research paradigm is deemed fitting. Within this paradigm, the author develops a novel design approach specified for ontology engineering, termed “OntoEng”. This design approach is used in this research for developing the ontological framework. The developed ontological framework is founded on business model thinking. The idea is that creating innovative mobile data services requires developing innovative business models. Indeed, innovative business models can help translate technological potential into economic value and allow telecoms to achieve their strategic objectives. The ontological framework includes the development of an ontology, termed “V4 Mobile Service BM Ontology” as well as “Mobile Key Value Drivers” for designing and engineering innovative mobile data services. The V4 Mobile Service BM Ontology incorporates four design dimensions: (1) value proposition including targeting; (2) value architecture including technological and organizational infrastructure; (3) value network dealing with aspects relating to partnerships and co-operations; and finally (4) value finance relating to costs, pricing, and revenue structures. Within these four dimensions, sixteen design concepts are identified along with their constituent elements. Relationships and interdependencies amongst the identified design constructs are established and clear semantics are produced. The research then derives six key value drivers for mobile service engineering as follows: (a) Market Alignment; (b) Cohesion; (c) Dynamicity; (d) Uniqueness; (e) Fitting Network-Mode; and (f) Explicitness. The developed ontological framework in this research is evaluated to ensure that it can be successfully implemented and performs correctly in the real world. The research mainly utilizes case analysis methods to ensure the semantic correctness of the ontological framework. Indeed, the developed ontological framework is employed as an analytical lens to examine the design and engineering of three key real-life cases in the mobile telecommunications industry. These cases are: (1) Apple’s iPhone Services and Applications; (2) NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode Services; and (3) Orange Business Services. For further validation, the developed ontological framework is evaluated against a set of criteria synthesized from ontology engineering and evaluation literature. These criteria are: Clarity; Coherence; Conciseness; Preciseness; Completeness; and Customizability. The developed ontological framework is argued to make significant contributions for theory, practice, and methodology. For theory, this research provides (1) a novel ontological framework for designing and engineering mobile data services; (2) a unified framework of the business model concept; and (3) a new design approach for ontology engineering in information systems. For practice, the current research provides practitioners in the telecommunications industry with systematic and customizable means to design, implement, analyze, evaluate, and change new and existing mobile data services to make them more manageable, effective, and creative. For methodology, the use of the design- science research paradigm for ontology engineering signifies the focal methodological contribution in this research given its novelty. This research also contributes to the understanding of the design-science research paradigm in information systems as it is relatively new. It provides a working example in which the author illustrates how recognizing design-science research as a paradigm is essential and useful to the research in information systems discipline

Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity

From Bangladesh and Hong Kong to Iran and South Africa, film industries around the world are rapidly growing at a time when new digital technologies are fundamentally changing how films are made and viewed. Larger film industries like Bollywood and Nollywood aim to attain Hollywood's audience and profitability, while smaller, less commercial, and often state-funded enterprises support various cultural and political projects. The contributors to Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity take an ethnographic and comparative approach to capturing the diversity and growth of global film industries. They outline how modularity—the specialized filmmaking tasks that collectively produce a film—operates as a key feature in every film industry, independent of local context. Whether they are examining the process of dubbing Hollywood films into Hindi, virtual reality filmmaking in South Africa, or on-location shooting in Yemen, the contributors' anthropological methodology brings into relief the universal practices and the local contingencies and deeper cultural realities of film production. Contributors. Steven C. Caton, Jessica Dickson, Kevin Dwyer, Tejaswini Ganti, Lotte Hoek, Amrita Ibrahim, Sylvia J. Martin, Ramyar D. Rossouk

Managing sticky experiences across the customer journey

PhD ThesisCustomer experience management research is increasingly concerned with the evolution of the customer experience across multiple service cycles of the customer journey. A dominant ‘smooth experience’ model focuses on making customers’ lives easier with predictable experiences. Per this model, firms facilitate a cycle of consistent service experiences conceptualized as a loyalty loop. This thesis suggests that customer experience management research is prematurely converging on the smooth experience model without adequately interrogating its underlying assumptions. It proposes that customers sometimes value exciting, unpredictable experiences, which the marketing press refers to as ‘sticky’ to highlight that customers cannot seem to pull away. Drawing on ethnographic data from three service contexts (CrossFit, Pokémon Go, and Tinder), the thesis develops an alternate ‘sticky experience’ model that focuses on making customers’ lives exciting with unpredictable experiences. Here, firms facilitate a variegated pattern of thrilling and challenging experiences with increasing experiential involvement conceptualized as a spiralling roller coaster. The findings of the thesis trace the evolution of sticky experiences across the initial, subsequent, and terminating phases of the customer journey, linking key firm capabilities to customer journey patterns. The thesis makes three contributions to the field of customer experience management. First, it integrates insights on the smooth experience model. Second, it empirically develops an alternate sticky experience model. Third, it provides practical implications at the intersection of the two models. Concretely, the smooth experience model is ideal for instrumental service categories, wherein customers have jobs to be done. By contrast, the sticky experience model is ideal for recreational service categories, wherein customers seek never-ending adventures. Firms are advised to situate purchase opportunities during the initial service cycle of smooth experience journeys, and during subsequent service cycles of sticky experience journeys. The thesis also suggests new avenues for future research on customer experiences and customer journeys

Customer Relationship Management : Concept, Strategy, and Tools -3/E

Customer relationship management (CRM) as a strategy and as a technology has gone through an amazing evolutionary journey. After the initial technological approaches, this process has matured considerably – both from a conceptual and from an applications point of view. Of course this evolution continues, especially in the light of the digital transformation. Today, CRM refers to a strategy, a set of tactics, and a technology that has become indispensable in the modern economy. Based on both authors’ rich academic and managerial experience, this book gives a unified treatment of the strategic and tactical aspects of customer relationship management as we know it today. It stresses developing an understanding of economic customer value as the guiding concept for marketing decisions. The goal of this book is to be a comprehensive and up-to-date learning companion for advanced undergraduate students, master students, and executives who want a detailed and conceptually sound insight into the field of CRM