Designing e-government services: Key service attributes and citizens’ preference structures

Advances in Internet technologies have led to the popularity of technology-based self-services, with the design of such services becoming increasingly important. Using technology-based services in the public sector as the setting, we identified the key service attributes driving adoption and use of transactional e-government services, and citizens’ preference structures across these attributes. After identifying four key attributes, i.e., usability, computer resource requirement, technical support provision and security provision, we conducted a Web-based survey and a conjoint experiment among 2465 citizens. In a two-stage Web-based survey, citizens reported their perceptions about a smartcard technology for transactional e-government services before use, and their use and satisfaction 4 months later. Results showed that the key attributes (noted above) influenced citizens’ intentions, subsequent use and satisfaction. In the conjoint experiment, citizens reported their preferences for key service attributes for two transactional e-government services. Further, a cluster analysis uncovered four distinct citizen segments, i.e., balanced, usability-focused, risk-conscious and resource-conservative, that can inform efforts in designing e-government services. A post hoc analysis confirmed the appropriateness of the market segmentation in understanding citizens’ adoption and use of transactional e-government services.     

Criteria for the evaluation of product managers—An application of multiple group solution

One of the criticisms of factor analytic applications is that it is seldom used in verification of hypothesis and thus most of the interpretation is ex post facto. This paper presents a discussion and application of a technique, Multiple Group Solution, which can be used to verify a hypothesis about the number and nature of factors in a set of data. For this procedure to be meaningful, it is important to hypothesize factors a priori on the basis of existing theory or previous related research. The application of this technique is concerned with the criteria used to evaluate product managers. Because the role of the product manager includes such diverse areas as appraising markets and products and utilizing the various resources available within the company, a question arises as to what evaluative criteria should be used. The superiors of product managers were asked to rate nineteen criteria on their importance for appraising product management performance. The results of a principal component analysis were then compared to “a priori” hypothesized factors.     

First-mover advantage in an Internet-enabled market environment: conceptual framework and propositions

The competitive market environment has evolved from a physical market environment (PME) to an Internet-enabled market environment (IME) encompassing the physical and electronic marketplaces. At the same time, an increasing number of information products are available in both analog and digital forms. For information products in digital form, the IME also serves as a distribution channel. Such developments raise questions concerning the extent to which extant perspectives on first-mover advantage developed in the context of the PME hold in the IME, generally, and for information products specifically. We address this issue by developing a conceptual framework that focuses on selected sources of first-mover advantage delineated in the extant literature and advance propositions concerning sources that will have a greater or lower effect in the IME relative to the PME. A central message for first-movers in the IME that emerges from our conceptual analysis is to focus on achieving superior positions in resources that would enable them to get close to the customers fast, create switching costs, and retain them though ongoing investments in multi-faceted innovations. A second message that emerges for first-movers in the IME is they must take note of and make strategic adjustments for the potentially diminished significance of some traditional sources of first-mover advantage. These sources include spatial preemption, preemptive investment in capacity, and consumers’ choice behavior under conditions of uncertainty about product quality. We discuss the implications for further conceptual and empirical work in this area of increasing significance.

Key Issues in Multichannel Customer Management: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Multichannel customer management is “the design, deployment, and evaluation of channels to enhance customer value through effective customer acquisition, retention, and development” (Neslin, Scott A., D. Grewal, R. Leghorn, V. Shankar, M. L. Teerling, J. S. Thomas, P. C. Verhoef (2006), Challenges and Opportunities in Multichannel Management. Journal of Service Research 9(2) 95–113). Channels typically include the store, the Web, catalog, sales force, third party agency, call center and the like. In recent years, multichannel marketing has grown tremendously and is anticipated to grow even further. While we have developed a good understanding of certain issues such as the relative value of a multichannel customer over a single channel customer, several research and managerial questions still remain. We offer an overview of these emerging issues, present our future outlook, and suggest important avenues for future research.     

Efficient replenishment in the distribution channel

Efficient replenishment (ER), a business process that involves the reduction of order cost to facilitate deliveries of goods from the manufacturer to the retailer, is becoming increasingly important in distribution channel management. While a well-executed ER program is expected to lower total channel costs and increase channel profit, very little is known about how this incremental channel profit is distributed between the manufacturer and the retailer and how it varies across the two common channel relationship structures, retailer price leadership and manufacturer price leadership.In this paper, we develop the conditions under which the manufacturer and the retailer gain more or less from the adoption of ER based on a game theoretic channel model of bilateral monopoly under the two channel relationship structures. We develop analytic results on the impact of ER on purchase quantity, price and the distribution of profits in three cases, namely, (1) when only the retailer adopts ER, (2) when both the manufacturer and the retailer adopt ER, and (3) when the manufacturer and the retailer are vertically integrated in the distribution channel, which adopts ER.The results, which can be generalized for all demand functions, show that the manufacturer benefits from the retailer's adoption of ER only when the manufacturer's holding cost relative to the retailer's is sufficiently large, relative to its order cost relative to the retailer's. By adopting ER, the retailer gains more than what the manufacturer gains even if the manufacturer is the price leader. Both the parties are likely to gain more if they both adopt ER than if only the retailer adopts ER. The incremental channel profit due to the retailer's ER adoption is highest in a vertically integrated distribution channel and is greater in a retailer-led channel relationship than in a manufacturer-led relationship.     

Nature of Buyer–Supplier Relationship: Small Businesses in a Small City

If the proposition of Williamson that “highly standardized transactions are not apt to require a specialized governance structure” (1979, p. 248) is to be accepted, then a discrete transaction market between small business owners and their suppliers can be easily organized in the market. This view essentially nullifies the possibility of there being a relational transaction. In this backdrop, this research attempts to explore the small buyer–supplier relationship in the context of a small city. Keeping embeddedness (Granovetter, Am. J. Sociol., 1985; 91: 481–510) as a theoretical foundation, we explore the social content in an apparently pure economic exchange. Although, earlier attempts (Khoja and Kauffman, J. Small Bus. Manag., 2012; 50: 20–40; Uzzi, Am. Socio. Rev., 1996; 61: 674–698) conformed to embeddedness in transactions between a buyer and a supplier among businesses of various sizes, they largely ignored very small‐size buyers and suppliers owing to the miniscule size of business transactions and less frequent interactions between buyers and suppliers. Based on the grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research‐Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, 1990), in this study, we conducted in‐depth interviews with 57 very small business owners to develop detailed narratives. These narratives were organized under four themes: Contractual relationship, Strategic information sharing, Caste as a proxy, and Trust Factor. The findings clearly indicate that small business owners foster continued relationships with their suppliers, owing to social conditioning factors.     

Burden,pattern and outcomes of road traffic injuries in a rural district of India

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a leading public health problem and the understanding of RTIs in rural India is limited. The present report documents the burden, pattern, characteristics and outcomes of RTIs in a rural district of India using combined data sources: police and hospital. RTIs contributed for 38% of fatal and 39% of non-fatal injuries with an annual mortality rate of 18.1/100,000 population/year. Young males were affected most and two-wheeler users and pedestrians were involved in 45% and 20% of fatal crashes, respectively. Nearly half (51%) of fatal RTIs occurred on national highways of the district; 46% died immediately at the site. Among those hospitalised, 20% were under the influence of alcohol while use of helmets and seat belts was <5%. Trauma care was deficient in the district leading to greater number of referrals. Road safety should be given high importance in rural India with a focus on safe roads, safe vehicles and safe people along with trauma care.     

An empirically derived taxonomy of retailer pricing and promotion strategies

Most research categorizes grocery retailers as following either an Every Day Low pricing (EDLP) or a High Low (Hi-Lo) pricing strategy at a store or chain level, whereas this paper studies retailer pricing and promotions at a brand-store level. It empirically examines 1,364 brand-store combinations from 17 chains, 212 stores and six categories of consumer package goods in five U.S. markets. Retailer pricing and promotion strategies are found to be based on combinations of four underlying dimensions: relative price, price variation, deal intensity and deal support. At the brand-store level, retailers practice five pricing strategies, labeled Exclusive, Moderately Promotional, Hi-Lo, EDLP, and Aggressive pricing. Surprisingly, the most prevalent pricing strategy is not Hi-Lo pricing strategy as is widely believed. It is one characterized by average relative brand price, low price variation, medium deal intensity, and medium deal support. The findings provide some initial benchmarks and suggest that retailers should closely monitor their competitors’ price decisions at the brand level.