Determinants of Airbnb prices in European cities: A spatial econometrics approach

We examine the determinants of Airbnb prices in 10 major EU cities, focusing on the role of location. The results confirm that attributes related to size, quality, and location are all significant drivers of Airbnb rates. Novel indices based on TripAdvisor data are used to measure the attractiveness of neighbourhoods, and the results show a more robust impact on price than standard location variables based on selected points of interest. The analysis confirms that Airbnb prices are spatially dependent, requiring the implementation of spatial regression models. Following recent studies on spatial econometrics, we examine various spatial models, including specifications with multiple sources of spatial dependence. The results show significant differences between the coefficients estimated with OLS and the various spatial models, especially in the case of location-specific variables. As well as having managerial and policy implications, our study contributes to the hedonic price literature by providing a methodological guide on spatial regression models.     

From AI to digital transformation: The AI readiness framework

Strategies and means for selecting and implementing digital technologies that realize firms’ goals in digital transformation have been extensively investigated. The recent surge in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has amplified the need for such investigation, as they are being increasingly used in diverse organizational practices, creating not only new opportunities for digital transformation but also new challenges for managers of digital transformation processes. In this article, I present a framework intended to assist efforts to address one of the first of these challenges: assessment of organizational AI readiness—that is, an organization’s ability to deploy AI technologies to enable digital transformation, in four key dimensions: technologies, activities, boundaries, and goals. I show that this framework can facilitate analysis both of an organization’s current sociotechnical AI status and of the prospects for the technology’s fuller value-adding, sociotechnical deployment. The AI readiness framework invites fuller theorizing of the roles that AI can—and will—play in digital transformation.     

Digitalization,business models,and SMEs: How do business model innovation practices improve performance of digitalizing SMEs?

Digital transformation is requiring companies to rethink and innovate their business models (BMs). However, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have scarce time and resources for experimenting with their BMs and implementing new strategies. This paper examines whether SMEs that undergo digital transformation perform better if they allocate more resources for BM experimentation and engage more in strategy implementation. An empirical study was conducted on 321 European SMEs that actively use social media, big data, and information technology to innovate their BMs. Furthermore, structural equation modelling showed positive overall firm performance effects of more resource allocation to BM experimentation and more engagement in practices of strategy implementation. These effects were mediated by BM experimentation practices and company innovativeness. Moreover, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) revealed the presence of equifinality by identifying different configurations in which these antecedent conditions affect overall firm overall performance. The results of two methodological approaches showed that SMEs may take different routes to improve their performance when digital transformation is changing their BM. This paper is one of the first to analyse how SMEs can handle the impact of digitalization by spending more time and effort on innovating their BMs. Practical and policy implications are discussed.     

Rethinking corporate governance in the digital economy: The role of stewardship

Digital technologies are increasingly changing the nature of competition and generating externalities that impact society. On the one hand, digitalization allows organizations to create substantial economic value in shorter periods of time through improved economies of scale, scope, and learning, resulting is increasing returns on capital and competitive concentration. On the other hand, ensuing societal concerns with inequities, regulatory lapses, and lack of transparency and truthfulness represent significant challenges for effective corporate governance. This article addresses the consequences to stakeholders that emerge from the digital economy, discussing how traditional governance mechanisms are ill-equipped to subvert negative externalities. We offer a stewardship-based model of corporate governance as a solution to the pressing problems plaguing consumers, employees, and other salient stakeholders of digital business excesses, with an emphasis on truthful disclosures, enhanced transparency, improvements in equitable allocation of organizational resources, and heightened trust relationships. The focus is on the positive role that organizational leaders can play as exemplars of virtuous stewardship in a highly networked society. The article redefines a modern view of stewardship in a digital economy and applies its principles to the four Ts of virtuous stewardship, a practical corporate governance model that encompasses truthfulness, transparency, trust, and technological equity.     

数字化是人类走向文明的第三个里程碑

人类文明进步的历史是人类知识积累的历史.人类社会文明发展过程经历了语言阶段、文字阶段、印刷阶段和数字阶段.数字化是人类走向文明的第三个里程碑.     

Advanced technologies and international business: A multidisciplinary analysis of the literature

Advanced digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, big data analytics and augmented reality, are gradually transforming the way multinational firms do business. Due to the extent of this transformation many scholars argue that the integration of these technologies marks the commencement of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). However, the question how these advanced technologies impact international business activities needs further attention. To this end, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach to review the related literature in international business (IB), general management, information systems, and operations research. We include the two latter fields, because advanced technologies have received more attention in these bodies of literature. Based on our analysis, we discuss the implications of these technologies for international business. Further, we highlight the drivers of technology utilisation by multinational firms and likely outcomes. We also provide future research avenues.     

Digital transformation: Five recommendations for the digitally conscious firm

Digital transformation is one of the key challenges facing contemporary businesses. The need to leverage digital technology to develop and implement new business models forces firms to reevaluate existing capabilities, structures, and culture in order to identify what technologies are relevant and how they will be enacted in organizational processes and business offerings. More often than not, these profound changes require firms to revisit old truths as they develop strategies that thread the needle between beneficial innovation and harmful disruption. This article uses the Internet of Things (IoT) as a backdrop to demonstrate the concerns associated with transformative technologies and offers five recommendations as to how firms can develop the strategies needed for digital transformation and become digitally conscious: (1) Start small and build on firsthand benefits; (2) team up and create competitive advantage from brand recognition; (3) engage in standardization efforts; (4) take responsibility for data ownership and ethics; and (5) own the change and ensure organization-wide commitment. As such, this article shows that digital transformation should be a top management priority and a defining trait of corporate business strategy, and that by becoming digitally conscious, firms may get a head start on their transformation journey.     

Digital power: Value chain upgrading in an age of digitization

We investigate whether and how digitization may affect the power relationships that constrain the upgrading of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in global value chains (GVCs). Combining GVC literature and Resource Dependency Theory, we examine the three features that shift upgrading constraints: asset-specificity, market disintermediation, and innovation sources. The outcomes of a multiple case study encompassing Brazilian firms intentionally sampled from the Digital Games Industry refine our propositions, leading to the concept of digital power as the potential difference in the power imbalance that a supplier may experience in relation to lead firms when performing similar functions in value chains with different digitization degrees. We contribute to International Business literature regarding the relatively unaddressed effects of digital technologies on power relationships in value chains, and deepen the extant understanding of value chain upgrading as a phenomenon. For practitioners, our results inform ways of benefiting from digital industries.     

International entrepreneurship in the post Covid world

How will the world look post Covid-19? What is the role of international entrepreneurship (IE) in this new world? This article attempts to answer these two questions. It highlights the changes caused by Covid and how they might affect the scope and types of international entrepreneurial activities in years to come. It also discusses how international entrepreneurs are likely to operate and shape the emerging world order. The article concludes by outlining the implications of these changes for IE scholarship, offering an agenda for future research.