The emerging value network in the mobile phone industry: The case of Japan and its implications for the rest of the world

This paper considers how the mobile phone industry is changing from a value chain to a value network using the Japanese market as an example. Value networks involve a larger number of firms, a more complex set of relationships between them, and agreements on a greater number of interface standards than do value chains. Building from this concept of a value network, the paper shows how: (1) agreements on many of these interface standards are enabling connections to be made between the mobile phone and other industries; (2) the resulting products and services often reflect the technological capability of phones and the existing products and services in these “other” industries; (3) each new interface standard requires a new critical mass of users; and (4) a critical mass of users for a new interface standard partly builds from previously created critical masses of users. On a practical level, this paper's analysis adds to a growing list of evidence that the growth in Western mobile Internet markets is nowhere near its potential and that the change from a value chain to a value network requires a different form of standard setting, policy making, and management than are currently used in the mobile phone industry.     

煤炭市场供需波动与价格风险管理

大秦线的春季检修是历年上半年北方下水煤供应波动的主要因素,通过分析发现大秦线检修带来的供给波动在历年的夏季价格大跌中发挥了关键性作用。除了大秦线检修之外,需求的波动、运输计划的调整等都会带来市场的波动。在供大于求的市场环境下,价格易跌难涨,波动对于短期价格变化有重大影响。价格的下行实际上是在各种供需波动作用下,少涨多跌的动态调整过程。因此,在当前的煤炭经营管理中,应强化波动管理,最大限度地避免供需波动、平滑煤炭供应、稳定市场价格。     

Innovation contests: attracting new solvers and new high-quality solutions

This study extends research on online innovation contests by focusing on the process of an innovation contest. The authors propose that the decision of a solver to join a contest and the likelihood that a solver will submit a high-quality solution are functions of the current number of solvers in a contest and of the current number of high-quality solutions. The hypotheses are tested in an empirical analysis using a unique data set of 1351 online innovation contests for graphic design projects. The study finds that solvers joining a contest and solvers submitting high-quality solutions are two dynamic and interacting processes that impact the outcomes of an innovation contest. More specifically, the results reveal that (1) a solver is less likely to join a contest that already has many solvers, and many high-quality solutions; (2) a solver is more likely to submit a high-quality solution in a contest if the contest has already many solvers or the focal solver has already submitted one or more high-quality solutions; (3) a solver is less likely to submit a high-quality solution if the contest already has many high-quality solutions developed by others. Organizers of online innovation contests need to understand these complex relationships when they manage contests and aim to improve contest performance. This article details the implications of these findings for the theory and practice of innovation contests.     

Optimal inventory and pricing policies for remanufacturable leased products

In this paper we consider a company which leases new products and also sells remanufactured versions of the new product that become available at the end of their lease periods. When the amount of end-of-lease items in stock is not sufficient to meet the demand for remanufactured products, the firm may purchase additional cores from a third-party supplier. We develop a dynamic programming formulation for determining the optimal price of remanufactured products, and optimal payment structure for the leased products. Our objective is to maximize the discounted system-wide profit over a finite horizon. The profit function consists of revenues that are obtained from remanufactured product sales and leasing, remanufacturing and manufacturing costs, inventory holding and shortage costs. We consider a consumer choice based demand model for mapping a potential customer into one of the product segments (a remanufactured product customer or a customer for a leased product with a particular lease period) for a given price/lease payment vector. We explore several properties of the discounted profit function and provide insight on the behavior of pricing and inventory policies. We also investigate the effect of key product characteristics such as deterioration in age, cost of shortage in remanufacturable product inventory, and key market characteristics such as relative willingness-to-pay for buying a remanufactured product and relative willingness-to-pay for leasing a new product on optimal pricing policies through a computational study.     

采用市场倒逼机制促进煤炭生产革命

从"动力源""持续性"和"有效性"3个方面着眼,介绍了煤炭生产和消费者间的关系和煤炭消费需求的新变化,分析了煤炭供应者实施煤炭生产革命的方略,提出引发和推动煤炭生产革命的最根本动力是市场客户需求,只有采用市场客户需求倒逼机制才能有效地促进煤炭生产革命。     

Reviewing the Field of External Knowledge Search for Innovation: Theoretical Underpinnings and Future (Re-)search Directions

The field of external knowledge search for innovation has a long tradition and has inspired several schools of thought resulting in a rich and burgeoning body of research. However, the field suffers from two key limitations. First, the pluralism of research across multiple disciplines impedes our attention to the field as a whole, including its intellectual structure and core ideas. Second, recent developments in the business environment and key new ideas in the field complement taken-for-granted approaches and provide new opportunities for knowledge search. Based on a systematic co-citation analysis, we provide a reflective review of the literature and make several contributions. We integrate existing research across disciplines and offer a synthesis of a fragmented research landscape to present a global view of the field. Moreover, we propose a novel external search concept and introduce the idea of “decoupled search.” Leveraging our synthesis and conceptualization further, we recommend future research directions for the entire field of external knowledge search for innovation.     

合理纳税筹划 促进煤炭企业可持续发展

税务风险管理和税务筹划作为财税管理工作的重要组成部分,对提升企业经营业绩具有重要意义。在日常的生产和经营过程中,规避涉税风险是纳税人经营管理中不可忽视的内容。税务筹划及管理工作做到位,企业外部经营环境就能得到改善,就能降低经营风险。财务人员应牢固树立降低税务成本,创造财务价值的管理意识,进行科学合理的税务筹划可以有效规避因没有遵循税法可能遭受的法律制裁和财务损失,帮助企业树立良好的社会形象,促进企业可持续发展。     

动力煤期货对煤炭定价模式的影响分析

通过调查研究和理论阐述等方法,在研究动力煤期货合约的设计和内容的基础上,从价格体系、市场风险和行业服务等方面分析了动力煤期货对促进我国煤炭产业市场化体系建设的功能和作用,探讨了动力煤期货上市对煤炭行业定价方式中长期发展的影响。最后,提出了煤炭企业开展动力煤期货的应对措施。     

Technology analysis and R&D management

Technology analysis is a new field of knowledge aimed at creating a fuller understanding of the technological setting within which business operates. It provides a macro-discipline and is specifically aimed at improving the effectiveness of management of technology. As such it is of direct relevance to R&D management.
The essential tools of technology analysis constitute a set of analytical frameworks covering aspects such as: (i) a common approach to describing individual technological artefacts, (ii) a taxonomy of technologies, (iii) a classification of technological trends, (iv) a chart of technological limits, and (v) a socio-technical preference profile.
These frameworks help the R&D manager to dissect and debate typical R&D management problems such as: (i) selecting R&D projects, (ii) setting broad R&D objectives in the case of a given project and (iii) setting specific R&D goals to meet the said objectives. The frameworks also help the R&D manager to portray and present research achievements within a simple and intuitively appealing framework.     

煤炭企业物资采购预付款风险管理与控制

结合当前形势对煤炭企业物资采购预付款风险进行分析,从精细化管理角度出发提出了建立预付款首接风险责任制、供应商管理机制、全程跟踪机制、预警机制、预付款指标奖惩制度和后续管理6个管理机制,以此形成完善的风险防范运行机制,强化风险管理,降低预付款采购风险。     

Re-appraising interaction and process for industrial network research: The future plunging mirror hall metaphor

Constructivist and realist research is undertaken in the business relationship and network approach of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group. These two divergent research perspectives seek a different form of contextual understanding vs. general knowledge. They are not incommensurable as one can gain insights from the other. But a researcher must know and understand both perspectives and sometimes be able to see when a writer is playing almost a middle ground to make a specific point. To provide a broader understanding of the ontological distinctions and their ramifications for researching and translating meanings concerning business networks we introduce the temporal mirror hall metaphor. We propose that: (i) researchers should avoid reading and understanding only a single research perspective, (ii) research is a social temporal process embedded in a research community, (iii) understanding different researcher perspectives is necessary for a constructivist scholar working in a world of realist education, and (iv) realist researchers need constructivist research to change and develop systematized theories. The paper extends specific advice to constructivist researchers undertaking longitudinal studies of interaction in business networks. Realist researchers will find intriguing the comparisons and refractions, as well as illusions, in the temporalities of the mirror hall.     

List pricing and discounting in a Bertrand–Edgeworth duopoly

List, or retail, pricing is a widely used trading institution where firms announce a price that may be discounted at a later stage. Competition authorities view list pricing and discounting as a procompetitive practice. We modify the standard Bertrand–Edgeworth duopoly model to include list pricing and a subsequent discounting stage. Both firms first simultaneously choose a maximum list price and then decide whether to discount, or not, in a subsequent stage. We show that list pricing works as a credible commitment device that induces a pure strategy outcome. This is true for a general class of rationing rules. Further unlike the dominant firm interpretation of a price leader, the low capacity firm may have incentives to commit to a low price and in this sense assume the role of a leader.     

Short product life cycles: implications for the marketing activities of small high-technology companies*

ABSTRACT Many high-technology products are characterized by a “short” product life cycle (PLC)—a short life on the market, a steep decline stage and the lack of a maturity stage. The paper discusses the implications for marketing activities of this pattern in the case of small high-technology companies. It is shown that the marketing of a short PLC product requires a high level of marketing, managerial ability and sophistication as well as an investment of a large amount of resources. It is pointed out that small high-technology firms are faced with a particularly difficult situation in this case because they lack appropriate resources and marketing sophistication. An understanding of the short PLC problem will help the small companies to conduct a more realistic assessment of the magnitude of the marketing task they face in order to adequately prepare themselves or avoid a commitment to projects which are beyond their abilities.     

Twists and turns of triadic business relationship recovery

This study focuses on triadic business relationship recovery processes through a single case study. We address the question of what kind of process takes place when a business relationship on the verge of ending is recovered and what roles a third actor can play in the process. As a result, we model a process through which a triadic business relationship is recovered and attraction, trust, and commitment are restored.     

Do Newspaper JOAs Charge Monopoly Advertising Rates?

Conventional wisdom argues that all commercial and economic competition between two daily newspapers stops when they merge their advertising and printing capabilities to form a joint operating agreement (JOA). Clearly the JOA acts a monopolist in the sale of advertising, but there are two forces that may constrain the JOA to sell more advertising than a profit maximizing single paper monopolist would find optimal. First, there is the possibility of what is sometimes termed ``end game competition'. Disposition of assets from a JOA are often not determined until the JOA is near its termination date, and this may induce the weaker paper to maintain quality, both to improve its bargaining position and to keep open the possibility of remaining in the market as a competitor at the end of the JOA. Second, a daily paper arguably has to maintain a certain level of advertising and maintain a certain ``look' and ``feel' if it is to be considered a daily paper. This may constrain the JOA to sell more advertising and maintain a higher joint circulation than might be optimal for a single paper monopolist. We present econometric evidence that shows JOAs to have ad rates that are closer to those of competitive dailies than to those of single paper and 2-edition monopolists.     

Cooperative Contracting on Major Engineering and Construction Projects

The development and implementation of major engineering and construction projects in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry takes a long time and is in many cases contracted out to a main contractor in the form of a (single) lump sum contract for engineering, procurement and construction. This often leads to an inefficient solution and a confrontation between owner and main contractor. We discuss the implications of early contractor involvement and describe an alternative form of contracting that provides an efficient solution and facilitates a cooperative owner–contractor relationship. The considerations are illustrated through a comparative analysis of three case study projects.     

顾客价值链探析

顾客不仅仅是“经济人”、“消费人”,更是“生活人”,消费行为是其生活活动中的一个环节。研究顾客需求、顾客价值,制定有效的营销战略应该从顾客生活角度出发。生活价值追求形成顾客生活价值链;往往某一生活活动由若干种消费活动组成,各相关消费形成顾客追求生活价值的一个“组合消费价值链”;而某一消费行为是其中一个基本组成单元,单项消费的各有关环节组成“单项消费价值链”,与其他相关生活、消费行为紧密关联。企业的产品经营可以通过顾客价值链营销,提升顾客有关生活价值体系的整体价值水平,来营造良好的产品生态环境,提高顾客满意度和产品营销水平。     

Strategizing through analyzing and influencing the network horizon

How does a firm keep on being valuable in a network? One requirement is that the firm has a sufficient overview of the network and its dynamics. In other words, a firm's strategy depends on the firm's overview of the network—its network horizon. How comprehensive or limited should its network horizon be? Is it necessary to know the network beyond the direct counterparts? Such issues have not received much attention. In this article, we discuss network horizons and argue that limited network horizons are both inevitable and useful. However, such myopia requires that a firm's counterparts effectively and efficiently mediate between the firm and the rest of the network. Based on a case study, we introduce and discuss three mediating functions of counterparts: a joining, a relating, and an insulating function, and we claim that in order to support a firm's strategizing, managers need to analyze and influence counterparts' mediating functions and thereby the firm's network horizon.     

An SAO‐based text‐mining approach for technology roadmapping using patent information

A technology roadmap (TRM) links technologies with a company's strategic objectives and so supports acquisition of required technologies in advance of needs. It is a powerful tool for strategic planning and technology management. Because technology is changing rapidly and market competition is fierce, the role of a TRM is becoming increasingly important. To support the role of a TRM, many firms and governments that use roadmapping are becoming interested in reducing costs while retaining objectivity during TRM development. One suggestion to achieve these goals is to use the keyword‐based quantitative approach to creating a TRM, but the information provided by the approach is limited because of the characteristics of keyword information. To solve this limitation, this research uses the concept of ‘function’ to support quantitative analysis for developing a TRM. The concept of function can provide information on the uses and purposes of a technology. To represent a function, a subject–action–object structure is commonly used. The suggested approach allows research and development (R&D) managers to extend the views of product and technology during development of a TRM. In addition, by reducing the time required to develop a TRM, the proposed approach supports quick and accurate decision‐making by R&D managers.