The Apple business model: Crowdsourcing mobile applications

Much to Apple's chagrin, the ‘suicide express’ at the Foxconn manufacturing complex in China has been widely reported. While outsourcing the manufacture of technology components is neither new nor unique, the external sourcing of digital content is integral to the success of Apple's business model. In 2008, Apple opened up their platform to third-party IT developers, leveraging their expertise for the supply of applications. Apple's rapid dominance of the mobile market led to the emergence of a business model that weaves together Internet-enabled mobile devices with digital content, brought together within a closed proprietary platform or ecosystem. Applying a Global Production Network analysis, this paper reports on fieldwork among Apple mobile application developers in Sweden, the UK, and the US. The analysis shows that although some developers experience success, financial returns remain elusive and many encounter intense pressure to generate and market new products in a competitive and saturated market. Crowdsourcing allows Apple to effectively source development to a global base of software developers, capitalizing on the mass production of digital products while simultaneously managing to sidestep the incurred costs and responsibilities associated with directly employing a high-tech workforce.     

Accounting for the Apple Inc business model: Corporate value capture and dysfunctional economic and social consequences

In this special issue the authors account for the Apple Inc innovative business model in terms of its capacity to create and capture value from its global supply chain. The authors argue that there are a number of reasons why the Apple business model may not be sustainable and more broadly explore the dysfunctional social and economic aspects of corporate behavior that seeks to fragment and elongate global value chains to capture value within the firms financial reporting boundary whilst displacing cost and risk.     

Research on the Access to Bank of Market First Choice in Retail Banking Business

评价一家商业银行市场地位的因素有很多,“市场首选”无疑是一个重要的标准。对于主导未来竞争格局的零售业务而言,要实现“市场首选”,其关键在于塑造和培育核心竞争力。本文通过零售业务核心竞争力“钻石体系”和评价模型的构建,力求揭示零售业务核心竞争力的影响因素及其相互关系,建立一个科学合理的零售业务核心竞争力评价体系,为商业银行加快发展零售业务、打造零售业务的市场首选银行提供决策参考。     

Irish credit unions: Differential regulation based on business model complexity

This study examines the business model complexity of Irish credit unions using a latent class approach to measure structural performance over the period 2002 to 2013. The latent class approach allows the endogenous identification of a multi-class framework for business models based on credit union specific characteristics. The analysis finds a three class system to be appropriate with the multi-class model dependent on three financial viability characteristics. This finding is consistent with the deliberations of the Irish Commission on Credit Unions (2012) which identified complexity and diversity in the business models of Irish credit unions and recommended that such complexity and diversity could not be accommodated within a one size fits all regulatory framework. The analysis also highlights that two of the classes are subject to diseconomies of scale. This may suggest credit unions would benefit from a reduction in scale or perhaps that there is an imbalance in the present change process. Finally, relative performance differences are identified for each class in terms of technical efficiency. This suggests that there is an opportunity for credit unions to improve their performance by using within-class best practice or alternatively by switching to another class.     

理事会受托模式下的企业年金管控

理事会受托模式是我国企业年金管理模式之一,有其优势和劣势。大型公司必须采取切合实际的方法和措施保证理事会托管的企业年金管理和风险防控的有效性。     

价值链视角下的保险连锁营销模式研究

保险连锁营销模式是金融领域的一次重大创新。本文从价值链理论出发,分析了保险连锁营销模式的本质特征、运作特点,深入探讨了连锁营销网络如何整合保险企业资源,推动保险企业的流程优化和组织再造,指出连锁营销模式有利于实现保险企业的价值创造。     

BPO推进集约化的商业模式形成

业务流程外包（Business Process Outsourcing）是指企业将一些重复性的非核心业务流程外包给供应商,以降低成本,提高服务质量,实现股东价值的提升。BPO行业具有以下特点进入门槛较高、需要配备适宜的互联网基础设施并且具备相当的介入条件;对自然资源损耗较低;重视对员工的培训和激励;具有较高的技术含量和较强的知识外溢效应。     

加快IT与业务融合提升银行的核心竞争力——访中国光大银行信息科技部总经理王靖文

随着我国金融信息化的快速发展、国家宏观调控力度的不断加大和同业竞争的日趋激烈,各家商业银行积极开拓创新,锐意进取,适时调整经营思路,积极转变经营模式和增长方式,推进结构调整,加强金融创新,强化风险管理。在产品创新过程中,银行业务部门往往会提出更多、更复杂的服务要求,这就要求信息科技部门提供强大的技术支持和IT服务管理工具。     

The construction of the credible: Epistolary transformations and the origins of the business letter

The letter is the formal mechanism for communication in the business community. Even contemporary advances in electronic mail have not yet displaced the legitimacy invested in this form of correspondence. However, its very functionality has detached it from the fabric of its social history. This history locates its roots in early letter writing manuals and reveals an epistolary transition from fawning flattery to professional neutrality. The paper examines the history of this particular transformation and suggests its lasting influence in constructing notions of credibility around the contemporary business letter.     

财产保险公司重塑商业模式框架思路探析

目前保险行业面临的核心问题之一是商业模式不明确。本文分析认为,创建一个成功的保险商业模式、实现业务盈利能力持续提升的根本出路在于明确以客户为中心的价值主张;通过产业链整合策略和价值链延伸策略,明晰需要满足哪些客户哪些价值的市场定位;再造运营流程,集中精力改进那些对客户的购买决策有重大影响的流程,实现整个业务流程由客户需求来驱动、以客户满意为目标;优化组织架构以支持运营流程再造;最终通过实现文化丰富与发展对商业模式深化进行巩固,从而打造出保险公司价值发展的新蓝海。