Evaluation of mobile services and substantial adoption factors with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Emergence of new technological innovations in networks, platforms, and applications has enabled service providers to gain back their massive investment in their infrastructures. However, due to lagging adoption, many service innovations have failed to generate profit. The adoption of different mobile service categories depends on several factors. The current explorative study aims to use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify the most relevant mobile services for consumers and the factors driving the adoption. The results of the AHP analyses indicate that functionality of services is of utmost important for the majority of respondents. The results reveal that basic mobile communication services are the most preferred ones, although several services within different categories are available. The results have important implications for mobile network operators, service and application providers on how to develop and implement specific mobile services. The current study also offers new insights for researchers by showing that AHP is applicable to analyze consumers' preferences.     

Consumer behavior in the Italian mobile telecommunication market

This paper investigates the characteristics of Italian cell phone users. A multidimensional segmentation approach was adopted, using concurrently three sets of variables: consumer/user lifestyles, use motivations and product/service attributes. Data on a national sample (1067 individuals) were collected and factor and cluster analysis were then performed on the database. The study led to the identification of three user segments, each with a diverse combination of the segmentation variables. Findings provide implications for the mobile telecommunication industry and could suggest strategic choices to mobile operators—especially cell phone producers—and constitute the basis for their strategic positioning.     

Estimating consumer surplus in the mobile telecommunications market: The case of Korea

This paper estimates consumer surplus in the Korean mobile telephone services (MTS) market. The Korean mobile telecommunications market has grown rapidly since 1997 when competition was introduced and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology was commercialized. Because consumer surplus is relevant to the controversy over establishing an appropriate price level between consumers and service providers, the need for a robust measurement of benefit from MTS is increasing. The measured net consumer surplus estimated by means of elasticities of demand reached about US$48.8 billion in the period 1996–2004 and the changes amounted to about US$8.8 billion during the same period. In particular, after competition was introduced into the market with an accompanying price decrease and increase in the number of subscribers, consumers have benefited greatly. Therefore, it can be inferred that a facility-based competition policy and the reduction in price of access such as handset subsidies all played a positive role in the early diffusion of MTS in Korea. The estimated consumer surplus in this paper does not include network externality (option externality); if this were considered, the total social welfare of the consumer would be larger.     

Impacts of mobile Internet use intensity on the demand for SMS and voice services of mobile network operators: An empirical multi-method study of German mobile Internet customers

Scholarly and business publications alike convey the message that past and future strong growth in mobile Internet (MI) access and service demand has solely positive commercial implications for mobile network operators (MNOs). This position neglects the possibility that increasing MI use intensity may lead to demand decreases for the highly profitable short messaging service (SMS) and mobile voice telephony. The extant literature provides few insights on relations between MI use intensity, on the one hand, and SMS as well as mobile voice call use intensities, on the other hand. This study developed hypotheses concerning the presence or absence of impacts of MI use intensity and circumstances of MI use (e.g., device type, tariff scheme) on the demand for SMS and mobile voice telephony at the individual customer level. The hypotheses were tested by analyzing actual use behaviors of 304 MI adopters in Germany, for whom objective use intensity data were extracted from the billing system of an MNO. These non-reactive measures were combined with responses collected from the adopters through a telephone survey. Multivariate regression results suggest that though MI use intensity significantly negatively affected both number of SMS sent and received, these effects were so small that their practical relevance is highly doubtful. Further, customers who used MI more intensively did not generate lower volumes of outgoing or incoming mobile voice connection minutes. Conclusions are drawn for MNO, telecommunications sector regulators and scholarly researchers seeking to explain the acceptance of mobile communications services.     

The diffusion of mobile data services and applications: Exploring the role of habit and its antecedents

Given the prevalence of mobile data services and applications (MDSA) such as App Store, it is important to diffuse MDSA and understand user behavior toward it. Recent research on marketing and information systems (IS) has shed light on the habitual use of frequently used IS. This study attempts to develop a research model that clarifies the role of habit in the actual use of MDSA. Considering the unique and specific characteristics of MDSA, this study examines the antecedents of MDSA habit in an effort to elucidate key factors accelerating the development of MDSA habitual use. Data collected from 317 users who had prior experiences with MDSA were empirically tested against the research model using partial least squares (PLS). The analysis results indicate that both continuance intention and habit play an important role in the actual use of MDSA. Moreover, the findings reveal that habit is a more prevalent predictor of actual use compared to conscious intention. It was found that user satisfaction, perceived monetary value, and variety of use serve as the antecedents of MDSA habit. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are described.     

Global political economy of technology standardization: A case of the Korean mobile telecommunications market

This paper examines empirical cases of standardization in the Korean mobile market as vehicles for approaching the broader political and institutional context of standardization in telecommunications. A consideration of Korean standardization in the mobile telecommunications market is particularly interesting because it reveals how the state's political interests influence standards decisions, which are primarily driven by market and technological changes in telecommunications. Judged from the social construction of technology perspective which sheds light not only on technology itself but also on political, social and economic interests that surround transformations in technology, this paper highlights power relations among the major actors that have made technology standards decisions in Korea regarding second (2G) and third-generation (3G) mobile telephony. The paper also attempts to show how the Korean government has dealt with the diverse interests of various market actors while pursuing its own policy agenda.     

Industrial dynamics and managerial networking in an emerging market: the case of China

This study examines how industrial conditions influence the level of executives' managerial networking with decision‐makers in other entities such as buyers, suppliers, competitors, distributors, and regulators in an emerging market. Corroborating a view that social capital holds contingent value, we theorize that executives facing different industrial conditions have different levels of commitment to exploiting interpersonal ties for fulfilling organizational needs. We propose that managerial networking is influenced by exogenous industrial attributes such as structural uncertainty, sales growth, regulatory stringency, competitive pressure, and production capacity utilization. Our analysis of executives in 364 firms in China demonstrates that the level of managerial networking increases when uncertainty, regulation, and competition increase and production capacity utilization decreases. For a specific firm, the link between industrial dynamics and managerial networking is moderated by its strategic proactiveness. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Business ecosystem strategies of mobile network operators in the 3G era: The case of China Mobile

In order to define the mobile network operators' strategies of building value network in the 3G era, this paper applies the ecosystem principles to the mobile industry through a China Mobile case study. Based on an analytical framework of such principles, this paper reviews China Mobile's ecosystem, and identifies its success factors and problems. The results indicate that a complete ecosystem, where mobile network operators collaborate closely with value-added service providers, content/application providers, equipment and device manufacturers, and other involved organizations, can promote the development of mobile data services substantially. Therefore, mobile network operators should play a central role in the ecosystem by managing the entire value-chain and setting up proper value-sharing mechanisms. However, while doing so, problems may arise because of regulatory issues and information asymmetry. High-value common assets, a centralized management system, partner selection schemes and continuous innovations are important success factors.     

Reducing the level of switching costs in mobile communications: The case of Mobile Number Portability

Switching costs are one of the most important economic forces that affect market competition in mobile communications. Both theoretical and empirical studies have shown that switching costs reduce market competition leading to higher prices, lower product and service quality, and lower customer welfare. Given their negative consequences, national regulatory authorities have designed policies aimed at reducing switching costs and fostering competition. One of the most important of these, in the mobile communications industry, is mobile number portability (MNP). The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of MNP on switching costs in mobile phone services. First, a hierarchical Bayes model is proposed to measure switching costs at the customer level and to investigate the impact of MNP on them. Second, this study examines the drivers of MNP adoption by customers using a binary logit specification. The results reveal that this regulatory policy has significantly reduced the cost of switching and that MNP adoption partially depends on customer-related variables.     

The changing public role in services to food and agriculture : The legal regulation of food markets in India

A framework allowing the commercial transfer of property rights is an essential prerequisite to market exchange widely considered the prerogative of the state. Here, the social history of the legal regulation of agricultural markets in central, south and northeast India is examined. Regulatory law is shown to be riven with unanticipated outcomes, working as intended only under rare conditions of competition and absence of preharvest commercial debt. Meso level institutions of collective action and micro level behaviour by firms also regulate exchange, unsystematically according to their multiple objectives. Foreign funded projects and another layer of customary procedure. In the light of this analysis, the current policy debates over agricultural market reform are discussed and an analytical framework and suggestions for reform are offered.     

Pricing of mobile phone attributes at the retail level in a developing country: Hedonic analysis

This study has been undertaken to determine the effect of mobile phone attributes on their retail market prices. A log-linear hedonic price model was fitted to a total of 348 handsets, for which data were collected about various attributes from different websites, while the price data were obtained from mobile phone retailers in two major cities of Pakistan from November 2016 to February 2017. Results indicate that brand, battery capacity, weight, operating system, RAM, memory size and display size have a significant positive effect on mobile phone prices. Given the significant premium associated with various characteristics, manufacturers need to formulate strategies to emphasize the battery capacity of 2000-3000?mAH, RAM of more than 1GB, screen size of more than 5 inches, memory size of more than 8GB, back camera of over 15MP, 4G network mode, front camera and FM radio.     

Demand for ecolabeled seafood in the Japanese market: A conjoint analysis of the impact of information and interaction with other labels

The use of seafood ecolabels is expanding in the world marketplace, but so are labels indicating other product attributes, such as country of origin and wild vs. farmed. The interactive effects of these labels and attributes in evaluating consumers’ preferences for ecolabeled seafood are relatively unexplored. In this paper we investigate (1) the direct and interactive effects of seafood ecolabels with other common fish labels, and (2) how consumers’ perceptions about the state of marine stocks and the valuation of ecolabels may be affected by different information. We find moderate interactive effects between ecolabels and country of origin labels, whereas the valuation for seafood ecolabels is fairly high. In terms of information, we find that consumers’ perceptions about fish stock levels changed (negatively) after receiving information on declining stock levels, and more sensationalized information led to increased change. However, valuation for a seafood ecolabel increases only when the information was perceived positively (credible/interesting); whereas exaggerated information (which was also perceived less credible) had insignificant effects on WTP.     

Differences in consumer loyalty and willingness to pay for service attributes across digital channels: A study of the Japanese digital content market

In this paper, the impact that the Internet access device has on consumer loyalty behaviors relative to Internet content was explored. To do so, a mixed logit demand function for mobile and PC subscribers to digital content was estimated and consumers’ willingness to pay for attributes related to specific content providers and their levels of service quality were measured. It was found that significant differences in loyalty and willingness to pay for service quality factors existed between mobile and PC Internet content subscribers, suggesting that while content may be developed as device independent, consumers interact differently with similar Internet content accessed through different devices. Specifically, the willingness to pay for more robust and more frequently updated content was on average higher in the mobile segment than in the PC segment. In addition, the overall switching costs consumers attributed to specific content providers via the mobile channel were far higher than through the PC channel. These results suggest that more robust content management systems must be developed to accommodate for such differences in consumer behavior.     

Estimating switching costs involved in changing mobile phone carriers in Japan: Evaluation of lock-in factors related to Japan’s SIM card locks

This paper employs a web-based conjoint-type questionnaire to examine empirically user preference for a hypothetical Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) unlock situation in Japan’s mobile phone market. This paper also analyzes carriers’ other marketing strategies to lock in consumers. The empirical analysis in this study reveals the following: over 80% of survey respondents evaluate a highly compatible platform with the SIM unlocked. Approximately 70% of consumers find that the value of discounts on initial payments exceeds the discounts on one-year monthly payments. In addition, conditions set by continuing agreements for mobile carriers and mobile handsets reduce consumer benefit by 35% at the median in the case of SIM unlocking with compatible platforms.     

Friending the taxman: On the use of social networking services for government eID in Europe

The provision of identities online continues to be a fiercely debated topic in policy circles, with proposals emerging for public sector organizations to leverage pre-existing social networking services for their own identity management purposes. Within the broader context of private sector organizations springing up as identity providers, this article explores — from a socio-legal perspective — the merits and drawbacks of using social networking services for government eID in Europe. It then reviews the present and future European policy environment concerning official use of social networking credentials. We focus specifically on legislative measures currently being proposed in the EU to facilitate the Identification, Authentication and Signature policy, within the scope of the ongoing Electronic Signatures Directive revision process and the launch of the proposed Electronic Trust Services Regulation.     

如何在有利的市场情况下做好煤炭营销工作

目前,我国煤炭供求整体处理偏向卖方市场格局.如何在有利的市场环境中,立足企业的长远利益,作好煤炭营销工作,笔者提出四点建议,即根据本企业的煤炭产品特点作好市场细分化营销策略、加强销售渠道管理、企业掌握客户资源、利用科学的管理方法,整合企业的营销管等四个方面的工作.     

Customer churn analysis: Churn determinants and mediation effects of partial defection in the Korean mobile telecommunications service industry

Retaining customers is one of the most critical challenges in the maturing mobile telecommunications service industry. Using customer transaction and billing data, this study investigates determinants of customer churn in the Korean mobile telecommunications service market. Results indicate that call quality-related factors influence customer churn; however, customers participating in membership card programs are also more likely to churn, which raises questions about program effectiveness. Furthermore, heavy users also tend to churn. In order to analyze partial and total defection, this study defines changes in a customer's status from active use (using the service on a regular basis) to non-use (deciding not to use it temporarily without having churned yet) or suspended (being suspended by the service provider) as partial defection and from active use to churn as total defection. Thus, mediating effects of a customer's partial defection on the relationship between the churn determinants and total defection are analyzed and their implications are discussed. Results indicate that some churn determinants influence customer churn, either directly or indirectly through a customer's status change, or both; therefore, a customer's status change explains the relationship between churn determinants and the probability of churn.     

FDI spillovers in an emerging market: the role of foreign firms' country origin diversity and domestic firms' absorptive capacity

Prior literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers has mainly focused on how the presence of FDI affects the productivity of domestic firms. In this study, we advance the literature by examining the effect of the diversity of FDI country origins on the productivity of domestic firms. We propose that the diversity of FDI country origins can facilitate FDI spillovers by increasing the variety of technologies and management practices brought by foreign firms, to which domestic firms are exposed and that they can potentially utilize. Further, the extent to which domestic firms can utilize these technologies and practices depends upon their absorptive capacity. Using panel data on Chinese manufacturing firms during the period 1998–2003, our results support these propositions. We find that the diversity of FDI country origins in an industry has a positive relationship with the productivity of domestic firms in the industry. This positive relationship is stronger when domestic firms are larger, and when the technology gap between FDI and the domestic firms is intermediate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationships in the purchasing of business to business professional services: The role of personal relationships

There has been a shift from transactional to relational exchange and relationship marketing both in the business to business and professional services contexts. This paper seeks to explore the manner in which personal relationships affect the process and outcomes of purchasing of professional business services. Specifically, it focuses on the role of the professional service providers as boundary spanners in the formation of personal relationships. These personal relationships constitute the underlying basis of long-term relationships between the purchasing and provider organizations in such complex service settings. The findings of this study demonstrate that the manner in which the boundary spanners cultivate relationships support the concept of relationship specific tasks. It extends this conception by use of the data to outline the chronological process over time Understanding the roles, function, and ultimately importance, of these relationships facilitates the identification and development of appropriate strategies to manage these relationships.