How mobile technologies support business models: Case study-based empirical analysis

Mobile technologies have pushed the connectivity of IT systems to the limit, enabling people and things to connect to one another at all times. The amount of information companies have at their disposal has increased exponentially, thanks largely to geolocation and to the vast array of sensors that have been integrated into mobile devices. This information can be used to enhance business activities and processes, but it can also be used to create new business models. Focusing on business models, we analyze mobile technologies as enablers of activity changes. We consider the differentiating characteristics of mobile technologies and examine how these can support different business functions. A study based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 30 cases across different industries allows us to identify mobile technology success factors for different core activities. The results show that several combinations of mobile technology initiatives provide a competitive advantage when these initiatives match the business model.     

全球零售电子商务发展现状、格局变化及未来趋势

全球零售电子商务发展整体仍处于快速增长阶段,电子商务在零售业中的地位越来越重要。全球电子商务市场格局也正在发展变化,以中国为代表的发展中国家市场正在占据全球零售电子商务市场的主导地位,发展中国家本土化平台正在崛起,各个国家之间发展水平存在着较大差异,有着较大的增长潜力。发达国家在平台地位、商业模式创新等方面仍占据着优势,但其主导地位正在下降。电商整体上出现了线上线下深度融合、电商自有品牌方兴未艾、移动电商高速增长等趋势。从监管上看,对电商进行征税也成为一种重要手段。     

Decision Support in Virtual Organizations: The Case for Multi-Agent Support

The new economy, which is being formed by the Internet-based e-commerce and the now emerging mobile commerce, may become what Martin calls a cyber economy. This will combine traditional business with the new e- and mobile business, and will be driven by a new breed of online customers, who operate both wired and wireless networks, who will expect fast delivery, easier transactions and more fact-based information. The cyber economy requires that business is operated with virtual organisations and that decision making in this context – virtual organisations and the cyber economy – will require new and advanced forms of decision support. We have found that a useful decision platform can be built around hyperknowledge and the use of multiple software agents, if the core of these agents is built on fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning.     

基于云生态的物流信息平台服务模式创新研究

文章在总结分析现有物流信息平台服务模式及其特征基础上运用云计算理论、商业生态系统理论和双边市场理论提出了基于云生态的物流信息平台服务模式创新。文章首先对云生态和物流信息平台服务的内涵与特点进行了分析;然后根据物流信息平台的功能和作用将其分为五类,并从平台性质、价值创造、核心功能、盈利模式、是否参与具体运作、典型企业、适用企业、存在的问题等八个方面对现有各种物流信息平台服务模式进行了对比分析;接着提出基于云生态的物流信息平台服务模式,并分析了其概念模型、结构、业务功能、价值创造、盈利模式;最后给出了研究结论及展望。结论表明该模式在概念模型、主体要素、核心业务功能、价值创造、盈利模式等方面取得了创新,对云经济时代物流行业的健康可持续发展具有一定的指导意义。     

基于移动互联网的浙江零售企业商业模式创新途径研究

移动互联网的迅猛发展给浙江零售企业带来了新的机遇和挑战。本文站在移动互联网的视角,分析了移动互联网对浙江零售企业的影响,提出相关发展策略,以期帮助浙江零售企业实现可持续发展。     

How consumers’ perceptions differ towards the design features of mobile live streaming shopping platform: A mixed-method investigation of respondents from Taobao Live

Mobile Live Streaming Shopping (MLSS) has become the most rapidly growing e-commerce business. However, there is a dearth of theoretical concern on the MLSS platform designing issue - the key factor affecting business success. Based on the axiomatic design theory, a systematic view of design features of MLSS platform is given, and a three-layer model including thirteen design features is built. The perceived differences of consumers across design features and individual characteristics, as well as the prioritization strategies of MLSS platform are derived with a mixed-method schema. The study provides fine-grained insights for enhancing the differentiated consumer experience by optimizing and improving the design of MLSS platforms.     

基于MR的无线移动智能网络优化平台的设计与实现

蜂窝移动通信网络的快速增长, 使无线网络的优化设计问题日益 重要。基于TD-SCDMA、GSM等无线移动网络的Abis或Iu-b接口中实时采集的信令MR帧,对M R帧进行同步解析,并由提取的帧结构中的数据,构建了无线移动智能网络优化平台。该无 线移动智能网络优化平台利用MR测量报告信息能快速定位出TD-SCDMA移动通信网络当中的 故障问题。该智能网络优化平台提供了一种新的越区检测算法实现,并能够对越区覆盖和弱 覆盖进行检测和优化。     

Product bundling strategies in Swedish markets: links to business orientation and perceived effects on consumer influence

Product bundling is an increasingly important marketing strategy within many industries, and consumer influence on companies' ranges of product bundles is, thus, becoming an important issue. The aim of this study was to investigate product bundling strategies consumers are exposed to by some selected companies in the Swedish automobile, travel and banking industries. Bundling strategies were considered in relation to business orientation as well as the consumer's potential to influence the product bundles offered by these companies. Fourteen qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with senior representatives from the three sectors. Interview respondents were selected in cooperation with their respective companies. Results underwent interpretative analysis, and the findings indicated that business orientation is linked to product bundling techniques and to the type of customer influence on product bundling. Consumers were exposed to mixed and complementary bundling strategies, and customers of companies that apply a market orientation were found to have greater opportunities to influence product bundles directly, whereas companies that apply a production‐oriented approach were less able to respond to their customers' wishes. Consumer influence on the product bundles of production‐oriented companies was found to be of a more indirect nature.     

车货匹配平台价值共创逻辑的演进——从“再中介化”到“去中介化”

文章以运满满为研究案例,对车货匹配平台的价值创造活动展开研究,分析平台价值创造逻辑的演进,从中归纳运满满的成功经验,为车货匹配平台的发展提供经验借鉴。研究发现：车货匹配业务是多个参与主体的价值共创活动,物流平台企业介入车货匹配业务后,促使新的车货匹配生态系统的形成,不仅使车货匹配平台的价值共创活动从车货匹配业务向其他增值业务延伸,也使价值实现的要素和价值共创的参与主体产生改变;平台经历了从“再中介化”到“去中介化”的演进,车货匹配生态系统内部“社会价值”的持续创造,为生态系统的发展演进提供了条件。     

Techno-economic modeling of value network configurations for public wireless local area access

The growing amount of mobile data traffic increases the demand for local area network deployments, and therefore is likely to have an effect on the mobile communications ecosystem. Several alternative value network configurations exist giving new business opportunities to different actors, but the attractiveness and success of local area access provisioning remains uncertain. This article analyzes the business of public local area access from the point of view of two potential providers: service application providers, i.e. companies whose core business is to provide information and content services in the Internet, and mobile operators. A quantitative techno-economic model is constructed to quantify the costs and required revenues of operating viable public local area access networks. The results show that the revenue requirements vary between public venue types and value network configurations.     

我国专业化创业服务体系的研究与思考

创新驱动正成为我国经济高质量发展的关键，创业服务平台作为我国中小微企业创新创业的重要载体，服务模式和服务质量对助力创新经济具有重要意义。通过梳理国内众创空间、大学科技园、科技企业孵化器等多层面的创业服务平台运营现状，分析创业服务体系对科技创新和产业发展的显著作用，提出专业化服务能力建设对于推动战略性新兴产业的快速发展，支撑我国产业创新发展和“双创”升级具有重要价值并提出相应的推进策略。     

A Cross-national Investigation of the Satisfaction and Loyalty Linkage for Mobile Telecommunications Services across Eight Countries

Improving customer satisfaction has become a strategic imperative for managers and researchers given the benefits of developing customer loyalty for long-term financial success. Creating these linkages becomes even more important in the context of mobile telecommunications due to the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones and the potential this creates to engage in interactive marketing for firms. Further, with increased global penetration of mobile telecommunications, examining cross-national differences in consumer attitudes and behaviors has become critical. Most studies that examine customer satisfaction and loyalty linkages however have traditionally focused on single countries and/or single industries. This study extends the literature by testing the moderating impact of cultural variables on the impact of satisfaction on loyalty intentions using data from 3,393 mobile telecommunications customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Spain, UK, and USA. Our findings reveal that the impact of satisfaction on loyalty in the mobile telecommunications context depends on cultural differences. The results demonstrate non-linear threshold effects where managers operating in countries characterized by self-expressionist values will have an easier time creating satisfaction and loyalty with mobile customers compared to those operating in cultures dominated by high survivalist values.     

The Achilles’ heel of the platform business model: Disintermediation

Multisided marketplaces have become fixtures in many contemporary industries. From Amazon to Google, platforms dominate entire markets and have become some of the world’s most valuable companies. Despite their success, these companies have a subtle but potentially fatal weakness: disintermediation. This occurs when buyers and sellers find each other on the platform and then bypass that very platform—and its commission—to complete their transaction directly, off of the platform. This article compiles and illustrates the causes of and remediations to platform disintermediation.     

Virtual operators in the mobile industry: a techno-economic analysis

For a company planning to become a mobile operator, two alternative ways to enter the market exist. In addition to the traditional way of acquiring a spectrum license and building a mobile network, market entrance is also possible by becoming a virtual operator and utilizing the existing networks of incumbent operators. Potentially, virtual operators will have an important role in shaping the mobile market structure and competition. In this paper, techno-economic modeling methods are used to analyze the position of virtual operators in the mobile communications industry. Four alternative virtual operator scenarios are constructed and analyzed using a linear, deterministic, and quantitative techno-economic model. The results highlight the importance of wholesale contracts with incumbent mobile network operators in determining the virtual operators’ business profitability. Unbalance in termination prices between fixed and mobile networks is shown to give incentives for virtual operators to invest in their own network infrastructure.     

Business Models

The business model concept, although a relatively new topic for research, has garnered growing attention over the past decade. Whilst it has been robustly defined, the concept has so far attracted very little substantive research. In the context of the wide-spread digitization of businesses and society at large, the logic inherent in a business model has become critical for business success and, hence, a focus for academic inquiry. The business model concept is identified as the missing link between business strategy, processes, and Information Technology (IT). The authors argue that the BISE community offers distinct and unique competencies (e.g., translating business strategies into IT systems, managing business and IT processes, etc.) that can be harnessed for significant research contributions to this field. Within this research gap three distinct streams are delineated, namely, business models in IT industries, IT enabled or digital business models, and IT support for developing and managing business models. For these streams, the current state of the art, suggest critical research questions, and suitable research methodologies are outlined.     

Aligning regional and business strategies: Looking inside the Basque Country entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem

The current socio‐economic scenarios have generated several challenges for any organization. Regional authorities have designed policies that combine supply–demand needs and innovative entrepreneurship programs. The alignment between regional and business strategies has become critical to ensure the necessary resources, skills and capabilities in the region. This article analyses the alignment of regional strategies (entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems) and business strategies (development of new entrepreneurial innovations). By adopting mixed theoretical approaches, we proposed a conceptual model to understand the role of institutional strategies on the definition of business strategies. Given the nature of this study, our methodological design combines a case study approach and an action research approach. Our results provide insights into the positive outcomes generated when regional strategies and business strategies are aligned.     

创新我国移动互联网商业模式的探析

移动互联网是各种移动终端通过移动通信网络与互联网结合的产物,在我国有着广阔的发展前景。我国目前在该领域处于领先地位,但鉴于缺少可借鉴的成功经验,其商业模式更多的来自于桌面互联网的移植。本文从我国移动互联网现状出发,阐述了广告、游戏、移动电商、入口、硬件平台结合内容服务等几种商业模式,并在分析制约创新移动互联网商业模式的障碍的基础上提出相关对策,力图为我国移动互联网从业者提供参考,以促进我国移动互联网产业的发展。     

Managerial Views of Corporate Impacts and Dependencies on Ecosystem Services: A Case of International and Domestic Forestry Companies in China

A line of research is emerging investigating the private sector impacts and dependencies on critical biodiversity and ecosystem services, and related business risks and opportunities. While the ecosystem services narrative is being forwarded globally as a key paradigm for promoting business sustainability, there is scarce knowledge of how these issues are considered at managerial level. This study thus investigates managerial views of corporate sustainability after the ecosystem services concept. We analyse interviews conducted with 20 managers from domestic and international forestry companies operating with a plantation-based business model in China. Content analysis was employed to analyse the data, with a focus on four key areas: (1) interviewee familiarity with the ecosystem services concept; (2) their views of corporate dependencies and impacts on ecosystem services; (3) related business risks and opportunities; and (4) viability of existing instruments and practices that can be employed in detecting and addressing business impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services. Through an inductive approach to the empirical findings, we refined a framework that holds operational value for developing company response strategies to ecosystem services impact/dependence assessment, ensuring that all issues are addressed comprehensively, and that related risks and opportunities are properly acknowledged.     

区域创新生态系统视角下高质量发展的思路与对策

区域创新生态系统是深入实施国家重大区域发展战略的重要支撑。本文从区域创新生态系统视角出发,聚焦高质量发展,分析了我国良性区域创新生态系统的基本建设特征,并立足于创新生态系统建设剖析了现阶段我国区域高质量发展面临的问题,最后从优化人才激励政策、筹划高端平台、完善服务体系和营造创新氛围等方面,提出深入推进我国高质量发展的思路与对策。     

Internationalization of China’s Shanxi Province New Merchants: Implications and Use in Teaching IB

ABSTRACT

The Jin (Jin refers to Shanxi Province) merchants have a very important position in the history of Chinese business. The Jin merchants is a business course that investigates Shanxi businessmen and their business activities. As a local characteristic of the business curriculum of China, this course is taught in a number of universities. Taking the development of the new Jin merchants in Toronto as a breakthrough point, this article expounds the necessity of teaching the internationalization of the Jin merchants and puts forward the corresponding development strategies from the aspects of teaching objectives, curriculum, and the building of an international cooperation platform of teaching and scientific research. This study can promote teaching the internationalization of the Jin merchants and provide a chance for more people to understand the teaching of the Jin merchants.