Analyzing new profit opportunities: a guide to making business projects financially successful

This book presents a simple, yet very powerful, conceptual framework, which can be used to estimate market sizes, prices and their interdependency for new products based on historical market data for existing products in related areas. Even in situations where insufficient data is available the methods can be used in a semi-quantitative manner to evaluate the market potential for a given product or find ways to improve upon the product to make it more successful in the marketplace. The methods are explained in detail, examples of practical applications are provided; and the foundation in existing economic theory is discussed

行列技術を用いた動的ネットワーク可視化

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 大澤 幸生, 東京大学教授 青山 和浩, 東京大学教授 和泉 潔, 東京大学准教授 森 純一郎, 首都大学東京教授 高間 康史University of Tokyo(東京大学

Analyzing new profit opportunities: a guide to making business projects financially successful

This book presents a simple, yet very powerful, conceptual framework, which can be used to estimate market sizes, prices and their interdependency for new products based on historical market data for existing products in related areas. Even in situations where insufficient data is available the methods can be used in a semi-quantitative manner to evaluate the market potential for a given product or find ways to improve upon the product to make it more successful in the marketplace. The methods are explained in detail, examples of practical applications are provided; and the foundation in existing economic theory is discussed

The future of online fashion retail: a case study of Zalando SE

The pedagogical case study at hand pivots on Zalando SE, a German online retailer for fashion and accessories, that put innovation and user experience at the core of its business values. In pursuit of European market leadership, Zalando looks at improving the customers’ digital experience through implementing technological features of the next generation. Qualitative and quantitative analyses, which included the online fashion retail market and Zalando’s business performance, were applied in order to gain a holistic understanding of the European e-commerce industry. In a second step, industry trends and critical success factors were analysed and ranked. To answer the guiding question of this case study (How can Zalando SE leverage on its strong market position and technological progress in order to become Europe’s number one online fashion retailer?), future trends and critical success factors are paired with Zalando’s strengths, core values and business model. The case resolution shows that the online retail market is undergoing a shift from a sector where offerings are decided by its merchants to one with offerings dictated by consumers. The tech-savvy e-commerce consumers demand to play an active role in building the consumer-brand-relationship. For consumers, Zalando should become the go-to stylist offering sophisticated fashion products and services through its digital as well as physical channels. For partners and suppliers, Zalando should develop into the go-to advisor for online retail by providing a holistic spectrum of services, such as marketing, logistics and, business development. With this two-track approach, long-term sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved.Este caso pedagógico trata a Zalando SE, um retalhista online de moda, alemão. Esta empresa tem uma visão muito aplicada na inovação e na conveniência para o utilizador, os seus principais valores de negócio. Com vista à liderança, a empresa procura melhorar a experiência digital dos seus clientes. Análises qualitativas e quantitativas foram adotadas de forma a obter uma compreensão holística da indústria Europeia de comércio de moda online, bem como do histórico de negócio e desempenho da Zalando. Numa segunda etapa, tendências do setor e fatores chave de sucesso foram analisados e classificados, sendo alinhados com os pontos fortes da empresa e respetivo modelo de negócio de modo a responder à questão principal deste caso (Como pode a Zalando SE alavancar o seu posicionamento de mercado e progresso tecnológico de forma a tornar-se o retalhista de moda online número um da Europa?). O caso demonstra que o mercado de moda online passa por uma profunda alteração, evoluindo de um setor cuja oferta é determinada pelos retalhistas, para um novo paradigma onde a oferta é ditada pelos consumidores. A Zalando precisa compreender que o futuro e-consumidor deseja desempenhar um papel ativo na relação com as marcas que segue. Para os consumidores, a Zalando deverá tornar-se um ávido consultor no que toca ao retalho online, que oferece um conjunto holístico de serviços, entre os quais o marketing, logística, desenvolvimento do negócio. Assim, e com esta abordagem de duas vias, a vantagem competitiva, sustentável, e a longo prazo poderá, efetivamente, ser alcançada

Democratizing Innovation

The process of user-centered innovation: how it can benefit both users and manufacturers and how its emergence will bring changes in business models and in public policy. Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all.The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive. Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license

Democratizing Innovation

The process of user-centered innovation: how it can benefit both users and manufacturers and how its emergence will bring changes in business models and in public policy.Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all.The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive.Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license

MNCs and local microbusinesses at the bottom/base of pyramid (BoP) in Ghana:a fair deal or business as usual?

The bottom of pyramid (BoP) concept holds that multinational companies (MNCs) can profitably serve the needs of the poor and have the opportunity to invest in the BoP market to‘do good and do well’ simultaneously. This thesis contributes to BoP concept by challenging the notion that- MNCs and big companies are the initiators of BoP business models. Recent scholars cited NGOs, SMEs, and governments as initiators, without recognising the visible activities of microbusinesses in the developing economies such as Ghana. This project aims to understand the origins of BoP business models, examine both MNCs’ co-optation and offering more of MNCs and local microbusinesses’ activities in the BoP market of Ghana. It examines the how MNCs got interest to engage the poor microbusinesses in the BoP market. The research employed case study approach and explores how MNCs interact with the local microbusinesses in the BoP market, using so-called Gioia method for data analysis. The main result of the empirical research demonstrated the source of innovation in the BoP market as the microbusinesses and not MNCs and large companies. MNCs just identify gaps in the BoP market and then develop cost-effective solutions that often help to serve the market.The research examined a type of BoP strategy (co-optation) that was not wholly discussed in the BoP literature. BoP as a concept has become performative in Ghana as Pralahad’s proposition influenced MNCs’ managers to show interest in the BoP market

OTAVALAN WOMEN WEAVERS: RETHINKING GENDERED LABOR AND CRAFTS IN ECUADOR

This research focuses on the gendered labor of craft production and distribution of Otavaleños, an indigenous group in the Imbabura Valley in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Otavalans are often described as a society of weavers with strong gender divisions. Households typically function as units of production, with tasks ideally broken down along gender lines. Women are generally depicted as secondary workers who do not weave the textiles that make Otavalans famous; however, they are generally perceived as being responsible for selling these textiles in the market. This research argues that current gendered labor relations in Otavalan textile production can be understood as historically shaped by colonial obrajes, or “textile sweatshops,” in which indigenous people were forced to serve labor quotas for the Spanish crown. The contemporary idea that men should be the primary weavers is rooted in the obraje system, which required men to weave on floor looms in the Spanish tradition. Spanish-run obrajes treated men as representatives of their households, regardless of who actually fulfilled the labor quota. It is necessary to revisit and revise earlier works on gender and crafts in Otavalo to account for possible changes in gendered labor regarding production and distribution, and the implications of those changes for Otavalans today. The methods used in this research included participant observation, ethnographic interviews, family histories, and a modified form of photovoice. This research contributes to the literature on Otavalan craft production by focusing on women’s activities and changing valorization of women’s roles, and also on market strategies (essential to livelihoods) that rely on the commodification of ethnicity, indigeneity, and performance of heritage. As Otavalan women’s work marketing crafts is documented, particular attention is paid in this dissertation to their market knowledge; their responses to the increasing presence of mass-produced imported goods competing with locally produced crafts in the marketplace; the performance of heritage and indigeneity for tourists; and relationships with new immigrants from Venezuela occupying the same economic sector. This research describes how global pressures and the push to commodify ethnicity encourage female craft production, and how that, in turn, transforms gender relations, as well as the consequences of those changes. Along with gendered stereotypes being critically examined in this dissertation is a political ecological consideration of how stereotypes of indigeneity and land stewardship can mask larger patterns of exploitation of both natural resources and indigenous labor

Harnessing Hollywood Hype: Film Marketing Meets the Challenges and Opportunities of the 21st Century

Marketing is a vital commercial activity and source of competitive advantage within the Hollywood film industry, serving to create, circulate and translate symbolic meaning around a film and its ancillary products, construct and target key audience segments, guide audience expectations and viewing choices, and mitigate financial risk. Marketers thus play an increasingly central role in all stages of the filmmaking process. To examine the often overlooked structures and practices of Hollywood’s marketing arm, this study adopts a media industry studies approach, employing interviews, fieldwork, and textual analysis to explore the social, technological, organizational, economic, and spatial forces that shape the contemporary context of Hollywood marketing materials’ creation. In the early 21st century, Hollywood studios face profound challenges and opportunities wrought by the dual forces of globalization and digitization. In response, marketers have developed a novel view of their audience: as increasingly global and empowered. Globalization and digitization are thus treated as centrifugal forces, diffusing production and meaning-making capabilities across geographic space and media platforms, and threatening the centralized control traditionally held by Hollywood studios. Marketers are incentivized to embrace these decentralizing forces and the cultural labor now provided by third party marketing agencies, international distributors, and audiences. However, Hollywood studios’ institutional inertia, risk aversion, and inclination to maintain firm control of their marketing messages and intellectual property preclude a whole-hearted embrace of these changes. Studio marketers thus act with deep ambivalence toward these outside players, attempting to capitalize on their cultural labor while simultaneously acting to circumscribe their power