Professionalizing Small Complementors in a Heterogeneous Platform Ecosystem. A Logistics Case

Understanding digital platform ecosystems is a central theme in information systems research. Particularly complementors’ characteristics, motivations, and their heterogeneity are examined in contemporary research. However, little is known about heterogeneity across both sides of the platform market and how digital platforms enable interactions across these heterogeneous sides. With a single case study of a digital logistics platform’s ecosystem, we investigate how a platform enables interactions in a market exhibiting heterogeneity in the use of technology across both sides. We find cross-market-side heterogeneity, a new dimension in the relationship between platform owner and complementor. Our results suggest that platform owners offer auxiliary services that enable complementors to interact on an equal footing with consumers. We explain how platform owners can enable complementors to overcome the resulting differences in professionalization

Operationalization of Configuration Analysis in Interorganizational Information Systems Research: A Research Journey

Configuration analysis is still an under-developed tool for researchers to investigate interorganizational information systems (IOIS) and the forms of interorganizational integration that are supported by IOIS. In our attempt to explain observed phenomena in a target industry we applied configuration analysis proposed by Lyytinen and Damsgaard in their position paper from 2011 on an industry level. We operationalized the conceptual idea of configuration analysis in a research design defining research paradigm, type of reasoning, research goals, unit of analysis and research methods to make it feasible for IOIS research. Our findings indicate that our operationalization of configuration analysis is suitable for research fields in IOIS that have no or hardly any empirical groundwork to observe phenomena and hypothesize about the mechanics leading to the existence of the phenomena

Literature review on industrial digital platforms : A business model perspective and suggestions for future research

Rapid digitalization of industries has led to the proliferation of complex industrial digital platforms; however, few industrial platform leaders have successfully established sustainable business models around their offerings. The need for a concrete definition of industrial digital platforms and their business models further complicates our understanding of the issue. In this prospecting review, we critically analyze the existing literature on industrial digital platforms to identify key research themes and research gaps and propose a future research agenda for the industrial digital platform literature from a business model perspective. Drawing on insights from research on industrial platforms, digitalization, digital servitization, and business-to-business (B2B) relationships, our analysis focuses on three key themes in defining the boundaries of industrial digital platforms and the crucial aspects of value creation, value delivery, and value capture on such platforms: (a) co-creative value creation, (b) digitally integrated value delivery, and (c) mutual value capture. The findings of this study and a future research agenda framework provide a roadmap for advancing the understanding of business models for industrial digital platforms. This research aims to contribute to the emerging field of industrial digital platforms and guide future research endeavors in this domain, unlocking the full potential of these platforms for businesses and industries.© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Leveraging Market Research Techniques in IS: A Review and Framework of Conjoint Analysis Studies in the IS Discipline

With cloud and mobile computing, information systems (IS) have evolved towards mass-market services. While IS success requires user involvement, the IS discipline lacks methods that allow organizations to integrate the “voice of the customer” into mass-market services with individual and dispersed users. Conjoint analysis (CA), from marketing research, provides insights into user preferences and measures user trade-offs for multiple product features simultaneously. While CA has gained popularity in the IS domain, existing studies have mostly been one-time efforts, which has resulted in little knowledge accumulation about CA’s applications in IS. We argue that CA could have a significant impact on IS research (and practice) if this method was further developed and adopted for IS application areas. From reviewing 70 CA studies published between 1999 and 2019 in the IS discipline, we found that CA supports in initially conceptualizing, iteratively designing, and evaluating IS and their business models. We critically assess the methodological choices along the CA procedure to provide recommendations and guidance on “how” to leverage CA techniques in future IS research. We then synthesize our findings into a framework for conjoint analysis studies in IS that outlines “where” researchers and practitioners can apply CA along the IS lifecycle

Impact of accounting process characteristics on accounting outsourcing - Comparison of users and non-users of cloud-based accounting information systems

Prior literature informs us that a company’s decision to outsource a business process depends on process characteristics such as how frequently the process is performed or how specific the assets required by the process are. In this article, we compare the effects of accounting process characteristics on outsourcing decisions across users of traditional and cloud-based accounting information systems (AIS). By focusing on outsourcing of accounting processes among small and medium sized enterprises, we investigate the effect of five business process characteristics (frequency, human asset specificity, uncertainty, information intensity, and need for customer contact) on the outsourcing decision. Our results reveal that process frequency has a weaker negative effect on the outsourcing decision among users of cloud-based AIS. This appears to contribute to users of cloud-based AIS outsourcing a larger variety of accounting processes. Compared to traditional AIS, the inherent properties of cloud-based AIS such as ubiquitous access, scalability, and integration seem to encourage users of cloud-based AIS to also outsource processes that are frequently performed

Relatório de estágio curricular realizado na empresa Multimoto Motor Portugal S.A.

O presente relatório resulta do estágio curricular realizado na empresa Multimoto Motor Portugal S.A., no âmbito do último ano do Mestrado em Línguas e Relações Empresariais e tem como objetivo não só apresentar as atividades desenvolvidas durante os cinco meses em que decorreu o estágio, mas também apresentar a entidade acolhedora e a forma como se tornou na empresa referência no mercado de distribuição de veículos e acessórios. No primeiro capítulo é feita uma apresentação da empresa, onde se insere informações como a história, localização e dimensão, entre outras. Em seguida, são descritas as várias tarefas desenvolvidas durante o estágio curricular, subdividas em três tópicos e aprofundadas teoricamente sempre que justificável. No terceiro capítulo procede-se a uma abordagem teórico-prática das plataformas e-commerce, mais concretamente das plataformas B2B. No entanto apresenta-se uma reflexão geral sobre a evolução do comércio, as cinco categorias de e-commerce, assim como uma breve comparação entre os termos e-commece e e-business e entre plataformas B2B e B2C. Por último, são apresentadas as considerações finais sobre as atividades desenvolvidas no estágio curricular assim como uma reflexão sobre o mestrado em LRE e o plano curricular. Relativamente a investigação futura, é sugerida uma análise ao modelo de negócio e uma análise à concorrência nacional e internacional abordando as questões politico-culturais e relações interculturais dos diversos países e como estas influenciam o comportamento, a liderança e a forma de negociar entre empresas.This report is prepared as part of the mandatory requirements for completing the master's programme in Languages and Business Relations. It summarises the outcome of the curricular internship period at Multimoto Motor, Portugal. The report aims not only to present the activities carried out during the five months of internship, but also to introduce the host entity and analyse how it became the market leader in the automotive industry, in the vehicle and accessories distribution segment. The first chapter introduces Multimoto Motor, Portugal through its history and the scope and extent of its operations. Then, the various tasks carried out during the internship are described, divided by the three main operational areas, and their relevance explained. The next chapter focuses on e-commerce platforms, more specifically, business-to-business (B2B) platforms. It provides a general overview of the evolution of e-commerce, the categorization of e-commerce and a brief comparison of between the terms e-commerce and e-business and between B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) platforms. Finally, the report concludes with a summary on the main take-aways gained during the internship, as well as a reflection about the master’s degree in LRE and the curricular plan. Regarding future research, it is suggested an analysis of the business model and an analysis of the national and international competition addressing the political and cultural issues and intercultural relations of the various countries and how these influence the behavior, leadership, and way of negotiating between companies.Mestrado em Línguas e Relações Empresariai