Using information noise to compute the economic benefit of a search service

Search services are now ubiquitously employed in searching for documents on the Internet and on enterprise intranets. Search services may exhibit different behavior depending on the type of information need, the quality of the search service, the ease of filtering results, the user’s domain knowledge and search experience. Users are thus faced with the selection of a search service in order to minimize cost, reduce uncertainty, and maximize the benefits derived for their efforts. This research develops a model of the search process and considers the noise effects of querying, search and filtering of results to derive a benefit measure for evaluating the search service. A methodology for comparing search services based on the benefit measure is presented along with an empirical analysis using three popular search services to validate the methodology. Our analysis revealed that the economic benefit of a search service is determined more by the information need type than by the search service itself. For a particular information need type, the value is determined primarily by the ease of filtering in the search service interface

A Web Search Model for Strategic Decision Making

Search services are now ubiquitously employed in satisfying the information needs of managers and business analysts involved in strategic decision making. In this paper, we propose a model of a user’s interaction with a search service in satisfying information needs and empirically evaluate the principal factors involved. Findings indicate that the information need type influences the search process more significantly than the specific search service being used. Consequently, managers and business analysts should pay particular attention to the types of information needs involved in a strategic decision

Service science,management, engineering, and design (SSMED): an emerging discipline -- outline and references

The growth of the global service economy has led to a dramatic increase in our daily interactions with highly specialized service systems. Service (or value-cocreation) interactions are both frequent and diverse, and may include retail, financial, healthcare, education, on-line, communications, technical support, entertainment, transportation, legal, professional, government, or many other types of specialized interactions. And yet surprisingly few students graduating from universities have studied anything about service or service systems. Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Design (SSMED), or service science for short, is an emerging discipline aimed at understanding service and innovating service systems. This article sketches an outline and provides an extensive, yet preliminary, set of references to provoke discussions about the interdisciplinary nature of SSMED. One difficult challenge remaining is to integrate multiple disciplines to create a new and unique service science

Constructing Effective Value Propositions for Stakeholders in Service System Networks

The concept of value co-creation is a fundamental theme of Service-Dominant Logic, which has been an important theme of current research thinking in service science. This concept has become more complex since more and more service systems are configured as service networks with a concomitant increase in the number and interaction of stakeholders. Single provider service systems are becoming more rare as globalization and technological advances are changing revenue sources and business models. The purpose of this research is to develop a conceptual model for constructing effective value propositions for stakeholders in the design of service system networks. This Value Proposition Model (VPM) will take an approach that considers both the stakeholders (esp. the customer) and the provider’s perspectives in value determination. The model will be useful in the development of the business model for a service system in ensuring that the value systems of the stakeholders are taken into consideration. The success of the service system will depend on how this stakeholder perspective is taken from the customer-facing aspect of the front stage to the technical implementation in the back stage. In the following we will develop the model using the customer as the prime stakeholder. The applicability of the model to value propositions for other stakeholders will also be demonstrated

Building Pillars Where Bridges are Easy to Imitate - Mediating Technologies in Knowledge-Based Economies

We carried out a qualitative investigation of a pioneer of the Industrial Internet of Things operating in Silicon Valley since 1989. We reconstructed a sequence of strategic turns and conceptualized their current business model in a way that is relevant for several other industries enabled by the Internet, generalizing Thompson’s concept of mediating technologies in order to adapt it to contemporary, knowledge-based economies. We propose an interpretive framework for mediating technologies that we express by means of semantic networks

Building Pillars Where Bridges are Easy to Imitate - Mediating Technologies in Knowledge-Based Economies

We carried out a qualitative investigation of a pioneer of the Industrial Internet of Things operating in Silicon Valley since 1989. We reconstructed a sequence of strategic turns and conceptualized their current business model in a way that is relevant for several other industries enabled by the Internet, generalizing Thompson’s concept of mediating technologies in order to adapt it to contemporary, knowledge-based economies. We propose an interpretive framework for mediating technologies that we express by means of semantic networks

From the store to omnichannel retail: looking back over three decades of research

The retail sector has gone through major changes over the past three decades. These changes have been made possible by advances in information and communications technology that have enabled new business models, communication tools, technologies, and supply-chain practices to emerge and shape the behavior of actors across the retail value chain. For example, from its initial incarnation as only a separate, albeit small, channel in the retail and marketing mix, e-commerce is now a critical part of a firm's multi-and omnichannel strategy. In this paper, we synthesize current knowledge drawn from academic retail literature and discuss potential directions for future research. This study contributes to research by developing five research propositions, based on our literature review, to guide researchers to better grasp the technological and digital developments across the retail sector over the next decade or so

A Business Model Bridging Knowledge Gaps

Starting with a case-study we illustrate an emerging business model for the Industrial Internet of Things that applies to other ITC-based industries as well. We formalize this business model by importing the concept of structural holes into semantic networks and suggest that a similar logic applies to conceptual maps of consumers’ behaviour, too

A Business Model Bridging Knowledge Gaps

Starting with a case-study we illustrate an emerging business model for the Industrial Internet of Things that applies to other ITC-based industries as well. We formalize this business model by importing the concept of structural holes into semantic networks and suggest that a similar logic applies to conceptual maps of consumers’ behaviour, too

Multi-Sided Marketplaces and the Transformation of Retail: A Service Systems Perspective

Retail is undergoing a series of major transformations as platform-based multi-sided marketplaces, like Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, JD.com and Rakuten, are challenging incumbent retailers. From the thriving brick and mortar stores and the development of shopping centers, malls and retail chains throughout the 1900's, retail has become increasingly digital as multi-sided marketplaces are uniting the online and offline to create more sophisticated and personalized customer experiences. We assimilate these ongoing changes with a service systems perspective into a conceptual framework of how multi-sided marketplaces are integrating their front and back stage processes to create more personalized, convenient, and speedy shopping experiences