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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Management Information Systems
The Role Of Expectation–Reality Discrepancy In Service Contracts, Xuying Zhao, Hong Guo, Gangshu (George) Cai
The Role Of Expectation–Reality Discrepancy In Service Contracts, Xuying Zhao, Hong Guo, Gangshu (George) Cai
Information Systems and Analytics
Service contracts are common practice in some industries while being eliminated in others. To investigate this phenomenon, we identify expectation–reality discrepancy (ERD) as a key determinant. A provider's ERD is defined as consumers’ ex-ante expected valuation minus their ex-post realized valuation of the provider's service. Our analysis reveals that providers’ contract strategies critically depend on their ERDs rather than the true service valuations. A provider with a higher ERD is more likely to enforce contracts, regardless of whether the true service valuation is higher than that of the competitor. Providers should enforce contracts only when they have positive ERDs. Furthermore, …
Subjectivity Of Diamond Prices In Online Retail: Insights From A Data Mining Study, Stanislav Mamonov, Tamilla Triantoro
Subjectivity Of Diamond Prices In Online Retail: Insights From A Data Mining Study, Stanislav Mamonov, Tamilla Triantoro
Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works
Diamonds belong to a unique product category whose perceived value is largely dependent on socially constructed beliefs. To explore the degree to which the physical properties of a diamond can be used to predict the diamond price, we perform data mining on a large dataset of loose diamonds scraped from an online diamond retailer. We find that diamond weight, color and clarity are the key characteristics that influence diamond prices. The data mining results also suggest a high degree of subjectivity in diamond pricing that may reflect price obfuscation strategies employed by diamond retailers.
A Model Of Competition Between Perpetual Software And Software As A Service, Zhiling Guo, Dan Ma
A Model Of Competition Between Perpetual Software And Software As A Service, Zhiling Guo, Dan Ma
Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems
Duplicate record, see https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/3744/. Software as a service (SaaS) has grown to be a significant segment of many software product markets. SaaS vendors, which charge customers based on use and continuously improve the quality of their products, have put competitive pressure on traditional perpetual software vendors, which charge a licensing fee and periodically upgrade the quality of their software. We develop an analytical model to study the competitive pricing strategies of an incumbent perpetual software vendor in the presence of a SaaS competitor. We find that, depending on both the SaaS quality improvement rate and the network effect, the …
A Model Of Competition Between Perpetual Software And Software As A Service, Zhiling Guo, Dan Ma
A Model Of Competition Between Perpetual Software And Software As A Service, Zhiling Guo, Dan Ma
Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems
Software as a service (SaaS) has grown to be a significant segment of many software product markets. SaaS vendors, which charge customers based on use and continuously improve the quality of their products, have put competitive pressure on traditional perpetual software vendors, which charge a licensing fee and periodically upgrade the quality of their software. We develop an analytical model to study the competitive pricing strategies of an incumbent perpetual software vendor in the presence of a SaaS competitor. We find that, depending on both the SaaS quality improvement rate and the network effect, the perpetual software vendor adopts one …
Managing Sales And Product Returns Under The Word-Of-Mouth Effect : Pricing, Quality, And Restocking Fee Decisions, Sun Yuen Hui
Managing Sales And Product Returns Under The Word-Of-Mouth Effect : Pricing, Quality, And Restocking Fee Decisions, Sun Yuen Hui
Theses & Dissertations
This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain involving a manufacturer and a retailer who make their pricing, quality, and restocking fee decisions under the word-of-mouth (WOM) effect. To investigate the decision-making problem for the sales and product returns, we construct a leader-follower game model in which the manufacturer first determines his quality effort and the wholesale price and the retailer then decides on her retail price and the restocking fee. Our results show that the wholesale and retail prices under no WOM effect are smaller than those when the WOM effect exists; and, as the WOM has a higher impact …
Pricing Online Subscription Services Under Competition, Ram Bala
Pricing Online Subscription Services Under Competition, Ram Bala
Information Systems and Analytics
In recent times, rapid advances in the field of information technology have enabled firms selling information products (for example, in the form of a CD) to provide subscription services using remote servers. Making the product versus service decision involves a trade-off. Online subscription offerings are perceived to be of lower quality because of data security and network reliability issues but can reduce or even eliminate the credible commitment (of prices) problem typically faced by firms selling durable products. We model an infinite horizon game between two symmetric firms that choose the design architecture, that is, product or service (and consequent …
Usage-Based Pricing Of Software Services Under Competition, Ram Bala, Scott Carr
Usage-Based Pricing Of Software Services Under Competition, Ram Bala, Scott Carr
Information Systems and Analytics
With the emergence of high speed networks, software firms have the ability to deploy ‘software as a service' and measure resource usage at the level of individual customers. This enables the implementation of usage-based pricing. We study both fixed and usage-based pricing schemes in a competitive setting where the firm incurs a transaction cost of monitoring usage if it implements usage-based pricing. Offering different pricing schemes helps to differentiate the firms and relax price competition, particularly at higher monitoring costs, even when competing firms offer the same service quality. However, the low usage customers acquired by offering usage-based pricing are …
Optimal Digital Content Distribution Strategy In The Presence Of Consumer-To-Consumer Channel, Yunfang Feng, Zhiling Guo, Wei-Yu Kevin Chiang
Optimal Digital Content Distribution Strategy In The Presence Of Consumer-To-Consumer Channel, Yunfang Feng, Zhiling Guo, Wei-Yu Kevin Chiang
Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems
Although the online business-to-consumer (B2C) channel is the primary selling channel for digital content (e.g., videos, images, and music), modern digital technology has made possible the legal dissemination of such content over the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) channel through personal computing devices, such as PCs, mobile phones, and portable media players. This paper investigates the optimal channel structure and the corresponding pricing and service strategies for digital content distribution in order to understand the business value of introducing the C2C channel alongside the prevailing B2C channel. We identify conditions under which it is more profitable to use both B2C and C2C channels …
Pricing Software Upgrades: The Role Of Product Improvement & User Costs, Ram Bala, Scott Carr
Pricing Software Upgrades: The Role Of Product Improvement & User Costs, Ram Bala, Scott Carr
Information Systems and Analytics
The computer software industry is an extreme example of rapid new product introduction. However, many consumers are sophisticated enough to anticipate the availability of upgrades in the future. This creates the possibility that consumers might either postpone purchase or buy early on and never upgrade. In response, many software producers offer special upgrade pricing to old customers in order to mitigate the effects of strategic consumer behavior. We analyze the optimality of upgrade pricing by characterizing the relationship between magnitude of product improvement and the equilibrium pricing structure, particularly in the context of user upgrade costs. This upgrade cost (such …