How Smart Card Technology Could Be Used for Dynamic Pricing in Transportation Network?

The past decade has witnessed an increased application for dynamic pricing in transportation industry, where firms use various forms of dynamic pricing to respond to market fluctuations and uncertainty in demand. In light of the success in the airline dynamic pricing practice and given the advancement of the ICT technology, the question is raised as follows: can technology adoptions, such as smart card, help the transportation companies, especially public transport operators, to approach the dynamic pricing in an innovative way? By using the case of the smart card adoption in the Dutch transportation industry, this article articulates the opportunities the smart card brings to the dynamic pricing design and use. It is demonstrated that the smart card data gives a dimensional view on the travellers, where both the market segmentation and the travel behaviour could be better studied. It is also argued that the rich segmentation information on the travellers and the increased understanding of the travel behaviour could lead to the level of refinement of the dynamic pricing strategies for the transportation companies. Furthermore, a number of dynamic pricing strategies are proposed that correspond to the discussed smart card dimensions

Network-based business process management: embedding business logic in communications networks

Advanced Business Process Management (BPM) tools enable the decomposition of previously integrated and often ill-defined processes into re-usable process modules. These process modules can subsequently be distributed on the Internet over a variety of many different actors, each with their own specialization and economies-of-scale. The economic benefits of process specialization can be huge. However, how should such actors in a business network find, select, and control, the best partner for what part of the business process, in such a way that the best result is achieved? This particular management challenge requires more advanced techniques and tools in the enabling communications networks. An approach has been developed to embed business logic into the communications networks in order to optimize the allocation of business resources from a network point of view. Initial experimental results have been encouraging while at the same time demonstrating the need for more robust techniques in a future of massively distributed business processes

Sustainable revenue management

The introduction of public transport smart cards means it is now possible to forecast how behavioural change stimulators, such as time-variable pricing, will impact passenger activity. This is an invaluable tool for managing revenue in a sustainable way, not just in the public transport sector, but also for every industry constrained by peak-loading capacity

Organizational Performance of a Firm in a Modular Business Network

The organizational capabilities to interact with others have been greatly improved as a result of modern information and communications technologies: Nowadays a company can maintain more relationships with more companies at much lower costs than before. What impact does this increased interaction capability have on the company\u27s choice to perform tasks itself or to \u27outsource\u27 such tasks to others (the trade-off between \u27make\u27 or \u27buy\u27)? Business network theory places the company in a \u27business network\u27, a web of business partners linked together in a flexible way to produce different outputs depending on the customer requirements. Previous research suggests that such business networks require modularization of the products, the processes and the firm in order to be effective. Firms would be able to share their core capabilities and therefore can respond faster, and more effective, to different requirements. Are business networks indeed more dynamic and more \u27agile\u27 than other forms of inter-organizational co-operation like alliances, joint-ventures or markets? More precisely, what is the impact of the structure of a business network on the performance of the participating actor organizations? The objective of this study is to define and understand this relationship: business network structure and organizational performance. In this Research in Progress Paper we present our preliminary set of hypotheses and our testing instrument, a management game called the Business Networking Game that simulates modular business networks

Using comsumer informedness as an information strategy

__Abstract__ Consumer informedness describes the degree to which consumers are aware of the specific attributes of products or services offered in the marketplace. Understanding how this level of informedness can amplify consumer behaviour provides firms with the opportunity to develop information-based strategies that can encourage their target segment make purchases

The Radiation-Transmission-Reception (RTR) model of propagation: Implications for the effectiveness of network interventions

Propagating phenomena in networks have received significant amount of attention within various domains, ranging from contagion in epidemiology, to diffusion of innovations and social influence on behavior and communication. Often these studies attempt to model propagation processes in networks to create interventions that steer propagation dynamics towards desired or away from undesired outcomes. Traditionally, studies have used relatively simple models of the propagation mechanism. In most propagation models this mechanism is described as a monolithic process and a single parameter for the infection rate. Such a description of the propagation mechanism is a severe simplification of mechanisms described in various theoretical exchange theories and phenomena found in real world settings, and largely fails to capture the nuances present in such descriptions. Recent work has suggested that such a simplification may not be sufficient to explain observed propagation dynamics, as nuances of the mechanism of propagation can have a severe impact on its dynamics. This suggests a better understanding of the role of the propagation mechanism is desired. In this paper we put forward a novel framework and model for propagation, the RTR framework. This framework, based on communication theory, decomposes the propagation mechanism into three sub-processes; Radiation, Transmission and Reception (RTR). We show that the RTR framework provides a more detailed way for specifying and conceptually thinking about the process of propagation, aligns better with existing real world interventions, and allows for gaining new insights into effective intervention strategies. By decomposing the propagation mechanism, we show that the specifications of this mechanism can have significant impact on the effectiveness of network interventions. We show that for the same composite single-parameter specification, different decompositions in Radiation, Transmission and Reception yield very different effectiveness estimates for the same network intervention, from 30% less effective to 70% more effective. We find that the appropriate choice for intervention depends strongly on the decomposition of the propagation mechanism. Our findings highlight that a correct decomposition of the mechanism is a prerequisite for developing effective network intervention strategies, and that the use of monolithic models, which oversimplify the mechanism, can be problematic of supporting decisions related to network interventions. In contrast, by allowing more detailed specification of the propagation mechanism and enabling this mechanism to be linked to existing interventions, the RTR framework provides a valuable tool for those designing interventions and implementing interventions strategies

Uterine Artery Embolization in Patients with a Large Fibroid Burden: Long-Term Clinical and MR Follow-up

Uterine artery embolization (UAE) in patients with a large fibroid burden is controversial. Anecdotal reports describe serious complications and limited clinical results. We report the long-term clinical and magnetic resonance (MR) results in a large series of women with a dominant fibroid of >10 cm and/or an uterine volume of >700 cm3. Seventy-one consecutive patients (mean age, 42.5 years; median, 40 years; range, 25–52 years) with a large fibroid burden were treated by UAE between August 2000 and April 2005. Volume reduction and infarction rate of dominant fibroid and uterus were assessed by comparing the baseline and latest follow-up MRIs. Patients were clinically followed at various time intervals after UAE with standardized questionnaires. There were no serious complications of UAE. During a mean follow-up of 48 months (median, 59 months; range, 6–106 months), 10 of 71 patients (14%) had a hysterectomy. Mean volume reduction of the fibroid and uterus was 44 and 43%. Mean infarction rate of the fibroid and overall fibroid infarction rate was 86 and 87%. In the vast majority of patients there was a substantial improvement of symptoms. Clinical results were similar in patients with a dominant fibroid >10 cm and in patients with large uterine volumes by diffuse fibroid disease. In conclusion, our results indicate that the risk of serious complications after UAE in patients with a large fibroid burden is not increased. Moreover, clinical long-term results are as good as in other patients who are treated with UAE. Therefore, a large fibroid burden should not be considered a contraindication for UAE