Substitution or Promotion? The Impact of Price Discounts on Cross-Channel Sales of Digital Movies

Technology is transforming the marketing function in many ways, and this transformation is particularly apparent for information goods such as movies where digital technologies provide marketers with new distribution channels, which in turn create new opportunities for cross-channel effects. However, these digital channels also provide researchers with new opportunities to measure micro-level customer behavior to understand the impact of cross-channel effects in real-world settings.In this paper, we study cross-channel effects between movies sold in digital purchase (commonly known as Electronic Sell Through or EST) and digital rental (commonly known as Video-On-Demand or VOD) markets. We do this using a unique sales dataset from a major digital movie retailer provided by a major movie studio. Our analysis takes advantage of a 14-week field experiment that allows us to measure the impact of price discounts on own- and cross-channel sales. We use this experiment to estimate own and cross price elasticities, whether price discounts cannibalize future sales, and most importantly whether price discounts in one channel affect sales for the same product in a presumably competing channel.Our analysis indicates that digital movie consumers are highly sensitive to price promotions. However, we also find that, contrary to expectations, price promotions in a digital sales channel for a movie do not seem to cannibalize digital rentals. Indeed, our results suggest that, if anything, price promotions for digital movie sales can increase digital rentals. We explore a variety of explanations for this counterintuitive result, including the possibility that the ease of information transmission online through third-party websites, blogs, and online discussion areas may create information spillovers such that price discounts in one channel may increase product awareness in other competing sales channels. From a managerial perspective, our results suggest that cross-channel cannibalization can be reduced or even reversed in the presence of information spillovers, and that there are many new opportunities for marketers to directly measure these cross-channel effects using experimental data from online platforms.     

中国特色自由贸易港政策制度体系创新的基点与内涵探讨

国家确立了构建自由贸易港政策制度体系的战略任务,但目前各界对自由港、自由贸易港内涵的认识仁者见仁、智者见智,对自由贸易试验区与自由贸易港关系的理解也多种多样。本文通过梳理自由港的本源“基因”和历史“进货”路径,从自由港与各类特殊经济功能区发展的关系角度,阐述自由贸易港政策和制度体系创新的一些基本点,提出了推进中国特色自由贸易港事业的“三合一”基本框架,即“汲取传统自由港的理念精华、服务国家重大战略实践需求、着眼未来创新构架政策制度”。     

数字经济时代中小企业的数字化转型研究

以5G、大数据、人工智能、云计算、AR/VR、区块链等为代表的新一代信息技术正在日益成为全球经济发展的重要驱动力。在数字经济发展中，中小企业是不可忽视的重要主体。本文基于文献和案例研究，认为数字经济时代广泛的数字化转型正在重构产业生态，中小企业面临实现规模经济、拓展应用场景的新机遇，并提出加快中小企业数字化转型的措施建议，以期为相关实践和理论研究提供参考。     

The European dimension of the digital economy

The economic performance of the European Union has taken on a new dimension in regard to the emerging “digital economy”. Usually, it is argued that the EU lags behind the United States in most aspects of the use and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT). This paper argues that there are serious challenges confronting the EU in dealing with the digital economy, especially in respect to education issues, consumer confidence and the avoidance of a “digital divide”. On the other hand it is pointed out that there has been tremendous progress in respect to the economic significance of electronic commerce, the development of (self-)regulatory mechanims and the creation of a modern policy framework. The content of this article is entirely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the BMWi or any EU institution.     

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.     

How is Business Adapting to Climate Change Impacts Appropriately? Insight from the Commercial Port Sector

Adaptation to climate change impacts is a key research topic in business ethics that poses substantial implications on the good lives of human beings. The commercial port sector is a highly relevant study focus with its pivotal roles in supply chains and international trade. Hence, it is important to investigate whether the port planning system and practice is appropriate in tackling climate change impacts. But beforehand, we must thoroughly understand the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Through a survey towards 21 ports (seaports and dry ports) in Canada, the paper investigates the attitude and behaviors of port planners and operators on ports’ climate adaptation planning. Towards the end, we propose a new approach so as to enable port stakeholders to carry out climate adaptation planning effectively. The paper offers important insight to researchers to investigate the ways in developing effective climate adaptation plans and practice for ports and other business sectors.     

“一带一路”经济走廊陆路节点口岸产业发展潜力及路径

边境陆路口岸作为连接中国与"一带一路"经济走廊沿线国家的节点,其产业发展对推动经济走廊贸易繁荣,提升中国与经济走廊国家经贸合作层级,打造区域经济新的增长极具有重要意义。运用层次分析法,以陆路节点口岸扶持政策、产业发展基础、通关条件、载体区域支撑、经济走廊支撑为影响因素,对连接中国与六大经济走廊国家的45个陆路节点口岸的产业发展潜力及路径进行研究发现,新亚欧大陆桥及中国-中亚-西亚经济走廊陆路节点口岸产业发展潜力最大,孟中印缅及中国-中南半岛经济走廊陆路节点口岸产业发展潜力居第二位,中蒙俄经济走廊陆路节点口岸产业发展潜力居第三位,中巴经济走廊陆路节点口岸产业发展潜力最小。因此,为推动边境口岸区域成为新的经济增长极,实现各经济走廊经济腾飞,应根据陆路节点口岸发展潜力对各经济走廊陆路节点口岸进行产业分工。其中,新亚欧大陆桥及中国-中亚-西亚经济走廊陆路节点口岸应重点推进高新技术、纺织服装、农副产品深加工及现代金融服务业发展;孟中印缅及中国-中南半岛经济走廊陆路节点口岸应重点推动机电产品生产加工、进口资源落地加工与特色产品加工业发展;中蒙俄经济走廊陆路节点口岸应重点推动机械运输设备制造、建材出口加工、进口木材、畜产品与矿产品落地加工业发展;中巴经济走廊陆路节点口岸因自然条件极为恶劣,暂不适合发展加工制造业。     

电视接收机中的数字信号处理

本文从全电视信号的频谱特征出发,讨论了各种数字梳状滤波器的分析设计。这些数字梳状滤波器,使亮度和色度信号达到了最大限度的分离,从而大大地降低了亮—色交调失真及相互串扰,提高了电视接收机的观看效果。文章在最后给出了进一步彩电观看效果的方法,如降低大面积场间闪烁和局部行间闪烁。总之,所有这些对未来视频系统的分析设计提供了不少启迪和借鉴。     

粤港澳大湾区新一代信息技术产业和知识产权服务业融合发展研究

先进制造业和现代服务业融合是顺应新一轮科技革命和产业变革、增强制造业核心竞争力,更是推进粤港澳大湾区经济转型升级的关键点和构建现代产业体系的主攻方向。本文在厘清两业融合发展基础概念的基础上,以现代服务业的重要组成知识产权服务业为切入点,尝试构建分析研判新一代信息技术产业和知识产权服务业发展融合度的指标体系。在此基础上,本文聚焦新一代信息技术产业开展了实证研究,结果显示当前湾区内新一代信息技术产业与知识产权服务业存在着需求定位不清晰、服务不规范等问题,两业融合状况仍有较大提升空间。据此,本文围绕合作路径、业务关联、业态模式、政策环境等维度提出了若干对策建议,以期为保障现代服务业推动粤港澳大湾区先进制造业高质量发展提供了有益参考。     

Transitioning From Dynamic Decision Support to Context-Aware Multi-Party Coordination: A Case for Emergency Response

In this paper, a general framework of context-aware multi-party coordination systems is proposed which extends the concept of dynamic decision making and functionality of dynamic decision making support systems in response to large-scale complex events. Using disaster responses as illustrative examples, event responders and decision makers face dynamic and complex problems with environmental, organizational, and activity-based issues. These issues are addressed by incorporating context-awareness, multi-party relationship management, and task-based coordination components into a framework for context-aware multi-party coordination systems.     

Managing for competency with innovation change in higher education: Examining the pitfalls and pivots of digital transformation

Digital transformation recently converged on organizations as a new paradigm—a must-have exemplar—to enable competitive advantage. While the effects of digital transformation and their analytics, along with platform technologies, are becoming pronounced in companies, there is still a need to examine their implications on higher education. In light of the dynamics of digital transformation, how can higher education better manage the shift toward newer competencies and the need for innovation presented by the emergence of digital technologies? In this article, I examine the issues around the need for this balance—often defined in strategy as ambidexterity, or the need to address both competency with innovation—by outlining the historical trajectories that led to this problem in higher education, identifying three common pitfalls that higher education programs and administrators face, and tying these issues to higher education’s absorptive capacity. To resolve these pitfalls, this article builds upon absorptive capacity frameworks for education practitioners and strategies as a prospective change management tool.     

现代生产者服务业的基础条件及其体系构建

目前,我国总体上处于工业化中期,市场化攻坚期,国际化的深水期和城市化的加速期,用信息化助推工业化是必然选择。经济的不断发展,信息技术的迅猛发展,政策法规的逐步完善,衍生出大量的服务需求,拓展了现代生产者服务业发展的市场空间。在新的战略机遇期下,我国必须坚持以产品服务为基础,运用现代信息技术推动流通功能创新,为产品的生产和销售提供更优质的服务;必须以要素服务和各类专业服务为重点,构建现代生产者服务体系。     

International new ventures: The cross-border nexus of individuals and opportunities

We draw on entrepreneurship research to present a framework for international new ventures as the cross-border nexus of individuals and opportunities. Opportunities may be associated with cross-border combinations of resources and/or markets and therefore vary along these two dimensions. This framework accounts for the emergence of firms whose very existence stems from opportunities to engage in the cross-border combination of resources and/or markets. This perspective has important implications for whether internationalization follows competitive advantage or vice versa and also helps explain how the identification and exploitation of opportunities to create international new ventures may contribute to economic development.     

A Prototype System Developed for Digital Rights Management in Electronic Commerce

ABSTRACT

The Internet provides a new way of doing business, but ease of copying and of sharing valuable digital information illegally across the Internet undermines many viable business models. This paper investigates Digital Rights Management (DRM) as a means to provide safe protection and proper delivery of digital contents through the Information highway. First, we briefly summarize the current endeavor of DRM technical development and its standardization process in key technical working groups. Then, the paper provides a generic architecture for a DRM framework and shows the implementation of a prototype DRM system incorporating key conceptual and technical standardization development. This study emphasizes the importance of developing the DRM architecture that provides the proper protection and safe transformation of digital contents in electronic commerce.     

Trajectories to reconcile sharing and commercialization in the maker movement

Maker technologies, including collaborative digital fabrication tools like 3-D printers, enable entrepreneurial opportunities and new business models. To date, relatively few highly successful maker startups have emerged, possibly due to the dominant mindset of the makers being one of cooperation and sharing. However, makers also strive for financial stability and many have profit motives. We use a multiple case study approach to explore makers’ experiences regarding the tension between sharing and commercialization and their ways of dealing with it. We conducted interviews with maker initiatives across Europe including Fab Labs, a maker R&D center, and other networks of makers. We unpack and contextualize the concepts of sharing and commercialization. Our cross-case analysis leads to a new framework for understanding these entrepreneurs’ position with respect to common-good versus commercial offerings. Using the framework, we describe archetypal trajectories that maker initiatives go through in the dynamic transition from makers to social enterprises and social entrepreneurs.     

Umbau der Finanzmärkte: Übermäßiges Vertrauen in Marktrationalität hält an

Governments on both sides of the Atlantic have reacted with a raft of new regulations to the US subprime mortgage crisis. The article argues that while these new rules actually touch many of the incentive and information problems which were instrumental in creating the crisis, they only address problems which can be analysed in the traditional neoclassical framework. Issues beyond this paradigm such as underlying market irrationality, bubbles, macroeconomic imbalances or the excessive complexity of the financial system have been left unattended. As these issues played an important role in the genesis of the crisis, new regulations will not suffice to stabilise the global financial system for long.     

Financial literacy in the digital age—A research agenda

Digital innovations are transforming financial services and resulting changes in consumer behavior and personal money management. Diffusion of pervasive digital technologies offers individuals quick and easy access to various digital services bringing opportunities and challenges into their personal money management. The study aimed to explore how digitalization affects individuals' financial literacy and financial capability. As a result, we identified three main themes in the intersection of finance and digitalization: Fintech, Financial behavior in digital environments, and Behavioral interventions. We propose directions for measuring digital financial literacy, updates to the financial literacy curriculum, and developments of digital learning tools. Further, we highlight collaboration between the public and private sectors to create a fairer and more inclusive economic landscape. Our study contributes to existing research by proposing a framework for digital financial literacy and financial capability and a research agenda for future studies.     

Insights on women’s labor participation in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

In analyzing the many stereotypes surrounding Arab Middle Eastern women’s employment issues, this article focuses on women’s labor participation and their career development in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. We first unpack the stereotypes by demonstrating the progress of women’s labor participation in the region. We then uncover the critical challenges of a high female unemployment rate during GCC countries’ economic transformation in the non-oil sectors. We discuss the factors contributing to low women’s labor participation and the difficulty of career advancement for women, including (1) norms and traditions; (2) job opportunities and workplace discrimination; and (3) role models, mentors, and networking. Finally, we provide recommendations on how to improve women’s labor participation by involving the public and private sectors, deploying technology, and engaging in multilevel mindset change.     

中日服务贸易:现状、问题、机遇和对策

构建契合新时代要求的中日关系,深化中日服务贸易合作是形成对外开放新格局,提高我国对外贸易竞争新优势的重要举措。随着两国经贸合作的加深,双边服务贸易呈现出服务领域竞争加剧、服务贸易逆差持续增大等问题。但同时由于中美贸易摩擦、新冠肺炎疫情等内外部冲击和数字技术的发展等,双边服务贸易合作面临新的发展契机。展望未来,两国应摒弃冷战零和思维,积极探索服务贸易发展潜力,在扩大服务业对外开放和完善体制机制的基础上,深化双边在现代服务业领域的合作与对接,推进区域服务贸易投资自由化与便利化,实现开拓合作共赢。     

FDI与区域就业转移:一个新的分析框架

改革开放以来,特别是进入九十年代以后,随着经济全球化影响的加深和FDI的大量进入,我国的劳动就业在总量增长缓慢的情况下呈现出明显的区域分布不均和替代特征。这种区域就业差异与FDI的区域偏向和选择有很大的关联性。其作用机理在于FDI的直接效应和间接效应带来了区域间就业机会特别是非农就业机会的转移。FDI→就业转移→区域就业差异是解释我国转型时期外资与区域就业关系的一个新的分析框架。