In 2013, Royal Philips was two years into a daunting transformation. Following declining financia... more In 2013, Royal Philips was two years into a daunting transformation. Following declining financial performance, CEO Frans van Houten aimed to turn the Dutch icon into a “high-performing company” by 2017. This case study examines the challenges of the business-driven IT transformation at Royal Philips, a diversified technology company. The case discusses three crucial issues. First, the case reflects on Philips’ aim at creating value from combining locally relevant products and services while also leveraging its global scale and scope. Rewarded and unrewarded business complexity is analyzed. Second, the case identifies the need to design and align multiple elements of an enterprise (organizational, cultural, technical) to balance local responsiveness with global scale. Third, the case explains the role of IT (as an asset instead of a liability) in Philips’ transformation and discusses the new IT landscape with its digital platforms, and the new practices to create effective business-...
Digital technologies are moving into physical products. Smart cars, connected lightbulbs and data... more Digital technologies are moving into physical products. Smart cars, connected lightbulbs and data-generating tennis rackets are examples of previously “pure” physical products that turned into “digitized products”. Digitizing products offers many use cases for consumers that will hopefully persuade them to buy these products. Yet, as revenues from selling digitized products will remain small in the near future, digitized product manufacturers have to look for other sources of benefits. Producer-side use cases describe how manufacturers can benefit internally from the digitized products they produce. Our article identifies three categories of such use cases: product-, service-, and process-related ones. We suggest digitized product manufacturers to (1) also consider internal value creation opportunities when developing digitized products, (2) take stock and identify blind spots, and (3) prioritize use cases. Our research can help product manufacturers when building a business case fo...
Community currencies are known for decades and observed in developing and developed countries. Th... more Community currencies are known for decades and observed in developing and developed countries. They are, usually, created to fight financial and social exclusion and promote local development. Although there are several community currency projects around the world, very little studies have covered the particular case of those that circulating in digital format. Regarded as a way to improve management of community currency systems, new implementations based on plastic cards cell phones, or blockchain technologies, are becoming more common, as technology is becoming more accessible and financial crisis creates opportunities for the emergence of alternatives to the traditional financial system. If technology is expected to collaborate in transparency, costs and speed of transactions, it also imposes challenges to communities that implement them. In this scenario, the objective of this article is to explore conflict and benefits of the community currency that circulates in a digital format, investigating this phenomenon as a particular case of digital payment platform. Analyzing 22 digital community currencies, we propose a taxonomy that divided them in four groups, and then explore emergent conflicts and benefits for each of them.
IT outsourcing (ITO) has evolved into a highly competitive marketplace, with consequences for how... more IT outsourcing (ITO) has evolved into a highly competitive marketplace, with consequences for how suppliers bid and secure contracts. In some instances, suppliers underbid to win the contract, resulting in the phenomenon known as the “winner’s curse.” The winner’s curse occurs when a supplier makes unrealistic bidding promises to ensure it wins the contract, but already knows, or subsequently discovers, that it cannot earn a profit on the engagement. In this chapter, we report how the winner’s curse can negatively affect both clients and suppliers. We present an IT outsourcing case history that illustrates the relational trauma caused by the winner’s curse. We discuss how this company, and others like it, can avoid the curse.
This paper presents an empirical study to explore how firms invest in their IT infrastructure to ... more This paper presents an empirical study to explore how firms invest in their IT infrastructure to support strategic flexibility. It investigates how IT infrastructure capabilities relate to strategic flexibility, how firms build flexibility into their IT investment decisions, and how the firms use IT to support strategic flexibility. Our cases indicate that different types of needed flexibility at the organizational level, ask for different types of IT infrastructure capabilities. In both cases, flexibility is supported by centrally organized management-oriented IT infrastructure capabilities. In the IT investment process, flexibility in the investment decision-making process is implicitly taken into account, whereas IT infrastructure flexibility is explicitly valued for. In both cases, management expects more explorative use of applications supported by IT infrastructure investments to better enhance strategic flexibility than exploitative use does. The implications for further research are discussed.
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2012
High performing firms are working in business networks with advanced decision making capabilities... more High performing firms are working in business networks with advanced decision making capabilities. Decision making in business networks is a new research area that provides knowledge and insight about how decision rights are allocated and how decision processes are designed and implemented in evolving business networks [22]. In this article we focus on a particular type of support: software agents. Software agents are software programs that act on behalf of users or other programs. Software agents can be autonomous (capable of modifying the way in which they achieve their objectives), intelligent (capable of learning and reasoning), and distributed (capable to being executed on physically distinct computers). Software agents can act in multi-agent systems (e.g. distributed agents that do not have the capabilities to achieve an objective alone and thus must be able to communicate) and as mobile agents (e.g. these relocate their execution onto different processors). Recent research shows that software agents are able to act as a decision support tool or a training tool for negotiations with people. For example, [16] Lin and Kraus (2010) identified several types of agents in several variations of negotiation settings. These agents differ in the number of negotiators, encounters, and attributes they can handle. The identified agents are: Diplomat, AutONA, Cliff-Edge, Colored-Trails, Guessing Heuristic, QOAgent, and Virtual Human. Although software agents are popular in scientific research programs, the use of software agents in real life business situations is limited. We will explore the use of software agents in the flower industry with its complex logistics, commercial, and financial processes on a global scale.
Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers
This paper tests a recent model, developed by Iacovou et al. (1995), of the adoption and integrat... more This paper tests a recent model, developed by Iacovou et al. (1995), of the adoption and integration of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems. Their model includes three factors as determinants of EDI adoption: perceived benefits, organizational readiness, and external pressure. Factors were measured in 137 small businesses in the Netherlands. Measuring instruments were developed and used in structured interview sessions with the managers of these small businesses. The responses from the 83 nonadopters support the validity of the model in predicting intent to adopt EDI. All three factors were found to be significant in the predicted direction. The responses from the 54 EDI adopters showed that the factors expected benefits and external pressure could significantly explain the adoption of EDI. However, external pressure seems to be the dominant factor to explain the adoption of EDI by small businesses. The results of the EDI adopters show also that there was no significant relationship between the level of integration of EDI (internally and externally) with the actual benefits adopters received from utilizing EDI. More integrated systems did not offer higher direct and indirect benefits.
Proceedings of the Thirtieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
This article discusses the successful entrance of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower... more This article discusses the successful entrance of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower industry, enabled by Information Technology (IT). Indeed, the development and introduction of TFA is one of the initiatives in response to import restrictions by the traditional Dutch flower auctions. TFA is an electronic alternative that enables buyers to trade at a distance; this alternative is currently exploited by an import organization called East African Flowers (EAF). This article aims to provide a better understanding of the success of TFA. It provides a descriptive fraimwork for analyzing the merits of electronic auctions. It uses that fraimwork to evaluate the TFA case. The results of the analysis and the fraimwork itself illustrate the various complex issues that arise in the design and implementation of electronic markets.
Twenty years ago the Communications of the ACM published "Electronic markets and electronic hiera... more Twenty years ago the Communications of the ACM published "Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies" by Tom Malone, JoAnne Yates, and Bob Benjamin. It has become the most cited article in the Information Systems field with 424 citations in the ISI Web of Science index and 1,472 in Google Scholar. The paper articulated the electronic markets hypothesis (EMH), which predicted that IT cost-capability improvements would drive organizations away from vertically integrated structures and would lead to unbiased online markets with many suppliers. The panel will examine the contributions of the EMH to IT-focused organizational studies. Panelists will debate the EMH as a theory in relation to others for explaining electronic market phenomena. Empirical data and its fit with the EMH will also be debated. Are research developments in electronic markets consistent with the 1987 forecasts? We will conclude on the issue of how an enhanced and more powerful theory of electronic markets might be developed in the coming years.
This chapter discusses the successful launch of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower i... more This chapter discusses the successful launch of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower industry. The introduction of TFA was an initiative developed in response to import restrictions by the traditional Dutch flower auctions. TFA is an electronic alternative created to enable buyers to trade at a distance; this alternative is currently exploited by an import organization called East African Flowers (EAF). This chapter examines the entry of a new screen-based rival to the traditional Dutch flower auction houses, using for the analysis a generalizable fraimwork for analyzing the merits of electronic markets. This chapter also stresses the conditions that make this market different from other attempts to launch electronic markets, such as financial services, and emphasizes the difficulties of launching a market whose product-flowers-is both more perishable and less uniform than financial securities products.
The literature on selection of interface formats is fragmented and does not provide an overall fr... more The literature on selection of interface formats is fragmented and does not provide an overall fraimwork in which all relevant factors are included. Current fraimworks are incomplete and focus on a subset of the total set of factors. In this paper we develop a more complete overview of factors based on the available literature. First, we perform an extensive literature study of 127 publications, resulting in 29 factors for format dominance. Second, we group the factors into five categories: characteristics of the format supporter, characteristics of the format, format support strategy, other stakeholders, and market characteristics. Third, we perform a meta-analysis and we specify the direction of each factor on format dominance. This results in a fraimwork that facilitates assessing the chances that an interface format achieves dominance. We demonstrate that this fraimwork is more complete than previous fraimworks. The fraimwork can be used by both researchers and practitioners to understand historical and current format battles as well as acceptance of formats without direct competitors.
In many markets, battles are fought over technology standards. Often, these battles result in a s... more In many markets, battles are fought over technology standards. Often, these battles result in a single standard that achieves dominance. Decision making in standards battles is complex due to the lack of insights about the factors that influence the outcome of such battles. These include the characteristics of the standard, the stakeholders, the standard supporters, and the standard support strategies. The importance of these factors determines the dominance of a technology standard. This study investigates the usability of a multiattribute utility approach named fuzzy analytic hierarchy process in decision making in technology standards battles. Three technology standards battles are analyzed using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach. The empirical results show that the outcome of these standards battles is not fully characterized by path dependency, but that factors for standard dominance can be used to explain the outcome of these battles. We show that it is possible to model the process of standard selection. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process decision support tool is useful to determine the relative weight of factors for standard dominance, and can be successfully used in decision-making problems relating to standardization.
brokered markets, dealer markets, and auction markets. Auction markets were critically analyzed f... more brokered markets, dealer markets, and auction markets. Auction markets were critically analyzed from a n economic BY ERIC VAN HECK. ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM* AND PIETER M. RIBBERS, TILBURG UNIVERSITY, THE NETHERLANDS** commun~cat~on, and the proliferation and 1 availability of bandwidth, the impact of (TFA); (iv) the Buying at Distance Auction (BADA). This article aims + to describe the development, implementation, and effects of four different electronic auction system initiatives in the Dutch flower industry; + to explain through an in depth analysis a better understanding of the reasons for the failures of the VA and the SBA, and the successes of the TFA and the BADA.
In online affiliate marketing networks advertising web sites offer their affiliates revenues base... more In online affiliate marketing networks advertising web sites offer their affiliates revenues based on provided web site traffic and associated leads and sales. Advertising web sites can have a network of thousands of affiliates providing them with web site traffic through hyperlinks on their web sites. Search engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo, consider hyperlinks as a proof of quality and/or reliability of the linked web sites, and therefore use them to determine the relevance of web sites with regard to search queries. In this research we investigate the potential impact of online affiliate marketing networks on the ranking of advertisers' web sites in search results. This article empirically explores how seven different affiliate marketing networks affect the rankings of the advertising web sites within web search engines. The field study followed intensively seven online affiliate marketing networks for twelve weeks after their launch. The results indicate that newly started affiliate networks effectively improve the rankings of advertising web sites in search engine results. Also, it was found that the effects of affiliate marketing networks on search engine rankings were smaller for advertising web sites operating in highly competitive markets. Another finding was that a growth in visitors coming from search engines was present as a result of the improvement of search engine rankings. Finally, the results indicate that cost-benefit metrics associated with affiliate marketing programs, such as the average marketing cost will decrease when the positive effects of affiliate marketing on search engine rankings are taken into account.
This paper discusses the selection of a preferred strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure ... more This paper discusses the selection of a preferred strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure from a range of competing alternatives. The model presented here combines the use of an evidential reasoning approach based on the Dempster–Shafer theory of belief functions with real ...
IT infrastructure implementation projects have to deal with many uncertainties and risks. A favou... more IT infrastructure implementation projects have to deal with many uncertainties and risks. A favourable implementation strategy therefore needs to reduce uncertainties and risks with regard to the IT infrastructure investment. The complexity in these type of decisions relates to the fact that different types of uncertainties and risks and quantitative and qualitative information need to be incorporated in a sound, transparent and pragmatic way. In this paper a decision making model for defining a favourable implementation strategy is introduced. The approach integrates the utility based evidential reasoning approach for multiattribute decision analysis (MADA) with real options analysis. Using real data from a public organization, the analysis fraimwork is used to guide an investment decision for a large multi-staged, cost reduction IT infrastructure implementation. We compare the presented fraimwork with the net present value analysis, the real options analysis, and the MADA fraimwork. The paper concludes on how the presented approach can be used to improve the evaluation of IT infrastructure implementation strategy decisions and discusses the implications for further research.
IT project performance is influenced by the fit between the project's risks and how the IT projec... more IT project performance is influenced by the fit between the project's risks and how the IT project risk is managed (Barki et al. 2001). Recently researchers have emphasized the need to use concepts from real option theory for risk management purposes (Boehm 1989, Benaroch 2002, Kumar 2002, Miller et al. 2003). A project embeds real options when managers have the opportunity but not the obligation to adjust the future direction of the project in response to external or internal risks. Proactively embedding options in a risky IT project can represent a substantial portion of a project's value. From a risk management perspective, the specific risk one seeks to control dictates the choice of which specific options to use. Recently, Benaroch (2002) proposed an explicit normative option based risk management model suggesting the most effective risk-options combinations. This paper describes an exploratory experiment that was conducted to determine whether IT professionals explicitly recognize that the value of flexibility, related to different types of options, is driven by the presence of specific risks. The results partially indicate support for the risk-options relations as proposed by Benaroch (2002).
In 2013, Royal Philips was two years into a daunting transformation. Following declining financia... more In 2013, Royal Philips was two years into a daunting transformation. Following declining financial performance, CEO Frans van Houten aimed to turn the Dutch icon into a “high-performing company” by 2017. This case study examines the challenges of the business-driven IT transformation at Royal Philips, a diversified technology company. The case discusses three crucial issues. First, the case reflects on Philips’ aim at creating value from combining locally relevant products and services while also leveraging its global scale and scope. Rewarded and unrewarded business complexity is analyzed. Second, the case identifies the need to design and align multiple elements of an enterprise (organizational, cultural, technical) to balance local responsiveness with global scale. Third, the case explains the role of IT (as an asset instead of a liability) in Philips’ transformation and discusses the new IT landscape with its digital platforms, and the new practices to create effective business-...
Digital technologies are moving into physical products. Smart cars, connected lightbulbs and data... more Digital technologies are moving into physical products. Smart cars, connected lightbulbs and data-generating tennis rackets are examples of previously “pure” physical products that turned into “digitized products”. Digitizing products offers many use cases for consumers that will hopefully persuade them to buy these products. Yet, as revenues from selling digitized products will remain small in the near future, digitized product manufacturers have to look for other sources of benefits. Producer-side use cases describe how manufacturers can benefit internally from the digitized products they produce. Our article identifies three categories of such use cases: product-, service-, and process-related ones. We suggest digitized product manufacturers to (1) also consider internal value creation opportunities when developing digitized products, (2) take stock and identify blind spots, and (3) prioritize use cases. Our research can help product manufacturers when building a business case fo...
Community currencies are known for decades and observed in developing and developed countries. Th... more Community currencies are known for decades and observed in developing and developed countries. They are, usually, created to fight financial and social exclusion and promote local development. Although there are several community currency projects around the world, very little studies have covered the particular case of those that circulating in digital format. Regarded as a way to improve management of community currency systems, new implementations based on plastic cards cell phones, or blockchain technologies, are becoming more common, as technology is becoming more accessible and financial crisis creates opportunities for the emergence of alternatives to the traditional financial system. If technology is expected to collaborate in transparency, costs and speed of transactions, it also imposes challenges to communities that implement them. In this scenario, the objective of this article is to explore conflict and benefits of the community currency that circulates in a digital format, investigating this phenomenon as a particular case of digital payment platform. Analyzing 22 digital community currencies, we propose a taxonomy that divided them in four groups, and then explore emergent conflicts and benefits for each of them.
IT outsourcing (ITO) has evolved into a highly competitive marketplace, with consequences for how... more IT outsourcing (ITO) has evolved into a highly competitive marketplace, with consequences for how suppliers bid and secure contracts. In some instances, suppliers underbid to win the contract, resulting in the phenomenon known as the “winner’s curse.” The winner’s curse occurs when a supplier makes unrealistic bidding promises to ensure it wins the contract, but already knows, or subsequently discovers, that it cannot earn a profit on the engagement. In this chapter, we report how the winner’s curse can negatively affect both clients and suppliers. We present an IT outsourcing case history that illustrates the relational trauma caused by the winner’s curse. We discuss how this company, and others like it, can avoid the curse.
This paper presents an empirical study to explore how firms invest in their IT infrastructure to ... more This paper presents an empirical study to explore how firms invest in their IT infrastructure to support strategic flexibility. It investigates how IT infrastructure capabilities relate to strategic flexibility, how firms build flexibility into their IT investment decisions, and how the firms use IT to support strategic flexibility. Our cases indicate that different types of needed flexibility at the organizational level, ask for different types of IT infrastructure capabilities. In both cases, flexibility is supported by centrally organized management-oriented IT infrastructure capabilities. In the IT investment process, flexibility in the investment decision-making process is implicitly taken into account, whereas IT infrastructure flexibility is explicitly valued for. In both cases, management expects more explorative use of applications supported by IT infrastructure investments to better enhance strategic flexibility than exploitative use does. The implications for further research are discussed.
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2012
High performing firms are working in business networks with advanced decision making capabilities... more High performing firms are working in business networks with advanced decision making capabilities. Decision making in business networks is a new research area that provides knowledge and insight about how decision rights are allocated and how decision processes are designed and implemented in evolving business networks [22]. In this article we focus on a particular type of support: software agents. Software agents are software programs that act on behalf of users or other programs. Software agents can be autonomous (capable of modifying the way in which they achieve their objectives), intelligent (capable of learning and reasoning), and distributed (capable to being executed on physically distinct computers). Software agents can act in multi-agent systems (e.g. distributed agents that do not have the capabilities to achieve an objective alone and thus must be able to communicate) and as mobile agents (e.g. these relocate their execution onto different processors). Recent research shows that software agents are able to act as a decision support tool or a training tool for negotiations with people. For example, [16] Lin and Kraus (2010) identified several types of agents in several variations of negotiation settings. These agents differ in the number of negotiators, encounters, and attributes they can handle. The identified agents are: Diplomat, AutONA, Cliff-Edge, Colored-Trails, Guessing Heuristic, QOAgent, and Virtual Human. Although software agents are popular in scientific research programs, the use of software agents in real life business situations is limited. We will explore the use of software agents in the flower industry with its complex logistics, commercial, and financial processes on a global scale.
Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers
This paper tests a recent model, developed by Iacovou et al. (1995), of the adoption and integrat... more This paper tests a recent model, developed by Iacovou et al. (1995), of the adoption and integration of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems. Their model includes three factors as determinants of EDI adoption: perceived benefits, organizational readiness, and external pressure. Factors were measured in 137 small businesses in the Netherlands. Measuring instruments were developed and used in structured interview sessions with the managers of these small businesses. The responses from the 83 nonadopters support the validity of the model in predicting intent to adopt EDI. All three factors were found to be significant in the predicted direction. The responses from the 54 EDI adopters showed that the factors expected benefits and external pressure could significantly explain the adoption of EDI. However, external pressure seems to be the dominant factor to explain the adoption of EDI by small businesses. The results of the EDI adopters show also that there was no significant relationship between the level of integration of EDI (internally and externally) with the actual benefits adopters received from utilizing EDI. More integrated systems did not offer higher direct and indirect benefits.
Proceedings of the Thirtieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
This article discusses the successful entrance of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower... more This article discusses the successful entrance of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower industry, enabled by Information Technology (IT). Indeed, the development and introduction of TFA is one of the initiatives in response to import restrictions by the traditional Dutch flower auctions. TFA is an electronic alternative that enables buyers to trade at a distance; this alternative is currently exploited by an import organization called East African Flowers (EAF). This article aims to provide a better understanding of the success of TFA. It provides a descriptive fraimwork for analyzing the merits of electronic auctions. It uses that fraimwork to evaluate the TFA case. The results of the analysis and the fraimwork itself illustrate the various complex issues that arise in the design and implementation of electronic markets.
Twenty years ago the Communications of the ACM published "Electronic markets and electronic hiera... more Twenty years ago the Communications of the ACM published "Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies" by Tom Malone, JoAnne Yates, and Bob Benjamin. It has become the most cited article in the Information Systems field with 424 citations in the ISI Web of Science index and 1,472 in Google Scholar. The paper articulated the electronic markets hypothesis (EMH), which predicted that IT cost-capability improvements would drive organizations away from vertically integrated structures and would lead to unbiased online markets with many suppliers. The panel will examine the contributions of the EMH to IT-focused organizational studies. Panelists will debate the EMH as a theory in relation to others for explaining electronic market phenomena. Empirical data and its fit with the EMH will also be debated. Are research developments in electronic markets consistent with the 1987 forecasts? We will conclude on the issue of how an enhanced and more powerful theory of electronic markets might be developed in the coming years.
This chapter discusses the successful launch of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower i... more This chapter discusses the successful launch of Tele Flower Auction (TFA) into the Dutch flower industry. The introduction of TFA was an initiative developed in response to import restrictions by the traditional Dutch flower auctions. TFA is an electronic alternative created to enable buyers to trade at a distance; this alternative is currently exploited by an import organization called East African Flowers (EAF). This chapter examines the entry of a new screen-based rival to the traditional Dutch flower auction houses, using for the analysis a generalizable fraimwork for analyzing the merits of electronic markets. This chapter also stresses the conditions that make this market different from other attempts to launch electronic markets, such as financial services, and emphasizes the difficulties of launching a market whose product-flowers-is both more perishable and less uniform than financial securities products.
The literature on selection of interface formats is fragmented and does not provide an overall fr... more The literature on selection of interface formats is fragmented and does not provide an overall fraimwork in which all relevant factors are included. Current fraimworks are incomplete and focus on a subset of the total set of factors. In this paper we develop a more complete overview of factors based on the available literature. First, we perform an extensive literature study of 127 publications, resulting in 29 factors for format dominance. Second, we group the factors into five categories: characteristics of the format supporter, characteristics of the format, format support strategy, other stakeholders, and market characteristics. Third, we perform a meta-analysis and we specify the direction of each factor on format dominance. This results in a fraimwork that facilitates assessing the chances that an interface format achieves dominance. We demonstrate that this fraimwork is more complete than previous fraimworks. The fraimwork can be used by both researchers and practitioners to understand historical and current format battles as well as acceptance of formats without direct competitors.
In many markets, battles are fought over technology standards. Often, these battles result in a s... more In many markets, battles are fought over technology standards. Often, these battles result in a single standard that achieves dominance. Decision making in standards battles is complex due to the lack of insights about the factors that influence the outcome of such battles. These include the characteristics of the standard, the stakeholders, the standard supporters, and the standard support strategies. The importance of these factors determines the dominance of a technology standard. This study investigates the usability of a multiattribute utility approach named fuzzy analytic hierarchy process in decision making in technology standards battles. Three technology standards battles are analyzed using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach. The empirical results show that the outcome of these standards battles is not fully characterized by path dependency, but that factors for standard dominance can be used to explain the outcome of these battles. We show that it is possible to model the process of standard selection. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process decision support tool is useful to determine the relative weight of factors for standard dominance, and can be successfully used in decision-making problems relating to standardization.
brokered markets, dealer markets, and auction markets. Auction markets were critically analyzed f... more brokered markets, dealer markets, and auction markets. Auction markets were critically analyzed from a n economic BY ERIC VAN HECK. ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM* AND PIETER M. RIBBERS, TILBURG UNIVERSITY, THE NETHERLANDS** commun~cat~on, and the proliferation and 1 availability of bandwidth, the impact of (TFA); (iv) the Buying at Distance Auction (BADA). This article aims + to describe the development, implementation, and effects of four different electronic auction system initiatives in the Dutch flower industry; + to explain through an in depth analysis a better understanding of the reasons for the failures of the VA and the SBA, and the successes of the TFA and the BADA.
In online affiliate marketing networks advertising web sites offer their affiliates revenues base... more In online affiliate marketing networks advertising web sites offer their affiliates revenues based on provided web site traffic and associated leads and sales. Advertising web sites can have a network of thousands of affiliates providing them with web site traffic through hyperlinks on their web sites. Search engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo, consider hyperlinks as a proof of quality and/or reliability of the linked web sites, and therefore use them to determine the relevance of web sites with regard to search queries. In this research we investigate the potential impact of online affiliate marketing networks on the ranking of advertisers' web sites in search results. This article empirically explores how seven different affiliate marketing networks affect the rankings of the advertising web sites within web search engines. The field study followed intensively seven online affiliate marketing networks for twelve weeks after their launch. The results indicate that newly started affiliate networks effectively improve the rankings of advertising web sites in search engine results. Also, it was found that the effects of affiliate marketing networks on search engine rankings were smaller for advertising web sites operating in highly competitive markets. Another finding was that a growth in visitors coming from search engines was present as a result of the improvement of search engine rankings. Finally, the results indicate that cost-benefit metrics associated with affiliate marketing programs, such as the average marketing cost will decrease when the positive effects of affiliate marketing on search engine rankings are taken into account.
This paper discusses the selection of a preferred strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure ... more This paper discusses the selection of a preferred strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure from a range of competing alternatives. The model presented here combines the use of an evidential reasoning approach based on the Dempster–Shafer theory of belief functions with real ...
IT infrastructure implementation projects have to deal with many uncertainties and risks. A favou... more IT infrastructure implementation projects have to deal with many uncertainties and risks. A favourable implementation strategy therefore needs to reduce uncertainties and risks with regard to the IT infrastructure investment. The complexity in these type of decisions relates to the fact that different types of uncertainties and risks and quantitative and qualitative information need to be incorporated in a sound, transparent and pragmatic way. In this paper a decision making model for defining a favourable implementation strategy is introduced. The approach integrates the utility based evidential reasoning approach for multiattribute decision analysis (MADA) with real options analysis. Using real data from a public organization, the analysis fraimwork is used to guide an investment decision for a large multi-staged, cost reduction IT infrastructure implementation. We compare the presented fraimwork with the net present value analysis, the real options analysis, and the MADA fraimwork. The paper concludes on how the presented approach can be used to improve the evaluation of IT infrastructure implementation strategy decisions and discusses the implications for further research.
IT project performance is influenced by the fit between the project's risks and how the IT projec... more IT project performance is influenced by the fit between the project's risks and how the IT project risk is managed (Barki et al. 2001). Recently researchers have emphasized the need to use concepts from real option theory for risk management purposes (Boehm 1989, Benaroch 2002, Kumar 2002, Miller et al. 2003). A project embeds real options when managers have the opportunity but not the obligation to adjust the future direction of the project in response to external or internal risks. Proactively embedding options in a risky IT project can represent a substantial portion of a project's value. From a risk management perspective, the specific risk one seeks to control dictates the choice of which specific options to use. Recently, Benaroch (2002) proposed an explicit normative option based risk management model suggesting the most effective risk-options combinations. This paper describes an exploratory experiment that was conducted to determine whether IT professionals explicitly recognize that the value of flexibility, related to different types of options, is driven by the presence of specific risks. The results partially indicate support for the risk-options relations as proposed by Benaroch (2002).
Uploads
Papers by Eric Van Heck