• Title/Summary/Keyword: Firm's efficiency

Search Result 167, Processing Time 0.025 seconds

Effects of firm strategies on customer acquisition of Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: A mediating and moderating role of SaaS technology maturity (SaaS 기업의 차별화 및 가격전략이 고객획득성과에 미치는 영향: SaaS 기술성숙도 수준의 매개효과 및 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Chae, SeongWook;Park, Sungbum
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.20 no.3
    • /
    • pp.151-171
    • /
    • 2014
  • Firms today have sought management effectiveness and efficiency utilizing information technologies (IT). Numerous firms are outsourcing specific information systems functions to cope with their short of information resources or IT experts, or to reduce their capital cost. Recently, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a new type of information system has become one of the powerful outsourcing alternatives. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted and accessed over the internet. It is regarded as the idea of on-demand, pay-per-use, and utility computing and is now being applied to support the core competencies of clients in areas ranging from the individual productivity area to the vertical industry and e-commerce area. In this study, therefore, we seek to quantify the value that SaaS has on business performance by examining the relationships among firm strategies, SaaS technology maturity, and business performance of SaaS providers. We begin by drawing from prior literature on SaaS, technology maturity and firm strategy. SaaS technology maturity is classified into three different phases such as application service providing (ASP), Web-native application, and Web-service application. Firm strategies are manipulated by the low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy. Finally, we considered customer acquisition as a business performance. In this sense, specific objectives of this study are as follows. First, we examine the relationships between customer acquisition performance and both low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy of SaaS providers. Secondly, we investigate the mediating and moderating effects of SaaS technology maturity on those relationships. For this purpose, study collects data from the SaaS providers, and their line of applications registered in the database in CNK (Commerce net Korea) in Korea using a questionnaire method by the professional research institution. The unit of analysis in this study is the SBUs (strategic business unit) in the software provider. A total of 199 SBUs is used for analyzing and testing our hypotheses. With regards to the measurement of firm strategy, we take three measurement items for differentiation strategy such as the application uniqueness (referring an application aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target industry), supply channel diversification (regarding whether SaaS vendor had diversified supply chain) as well as the number of specialized expertise and take two items for low cost strategy like subscription fee and initial set-up fee. We employ a hierarchical regression analysis technique for testing moderation effects of SaaS technology maturity and follow the Baron and Kenny's procedure for determining if firm strategies affect customer acquisition through technology maturity. Empirical results revealed that, firstly, when differentiation strategy is applied to attain business performance like customer acquisition, the effects of the strategy is moderated by the technology maturity level of SaaS providers. In other words, securing higher level of SaaS technology maturity is essential for higher business performance. For instance, given that firms implement application uniqueness or a distribution channel diversification as a differentiation strategy, they can acquire more customers when their level of SaaS technology maturity is higher rather than lower. Secondly, results indicate that pursuing differentiation strategy or low cost strategy effectively works for SaaS providers' obtaining customer, which means that continuously differentiating their service from others or making their service fee (subscription fee or initial set-up fee) lower are helpful for their business success in terms of acquiring their customers. Lastly, results show that the level of SaaS technology maturity mediates the relationships between low cost strategy and customer acquisition. That is, based on our research design, customers usually perceive the real value of the low subscription fee or initial set-up fee only through the SaaS service provide by vender and, in turn, this will affect their decision making whether subscribe or not.

Relative Efficiency and Productivity Change of the Korean Life Insurance Firms (국내 생명보험회사의 상대적 효율성 및 생산성 변화)

  • Kang, Ho-Jung
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
    • /
    • v.9 no.4
    • /
    • pp.323-330
    • /
    • 2009
  • This study measures the relative efficiency and productivity change of the Korean Life Insurance Firms using DEA model and Malmquist Index for 2004-2007. The main results of this study can by summarized as follows. First, in case of efficiency of CCR for 2004-2007, the number of efficient firms(CCR value is one) are six firms, five firms, four firms, seven firms respectively. Second, in case of efficiency of BCC for 2004-2007, the number of efficient firms(BCC value is one) are eight firms, nine firms, ten firms, twelve firms respectively. Third, In case of return to scale for 2004-2007, DRS are nine firms and IRS are two firms, DRS are five firms and IRS are five firms, DRS are five firms and IRS are four firms, DRS are five firms and IRS are two firms respectively, Fourth, Malmquist Index representing productivity change for 2004-2007 are 1.12 in 2004-2005, 0.97 in 2005-2006, 1.05 in 2006-2007.

A Study on the Auction Schemes of Fish Commodities in the Koheung Region (고흥지역 수산물 경매시장의 특성에 관한 연구)

  • 강연실
    • The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
    • /
    • v.29 no.2
    • /
    • pp.111-141
    • /
    • 1998
  • Why are auctions so prevalent in fisheries fields\ulcorner One answer is, perhaps, that fisheries products have no standard value. The price of any catch of fish (at least of fish destined for the fresh fish market) depends on the demand and supply conditions at a specific moment of time, influenced by prospective market developments and prices must be remade for each transaction. There are various auction schemes including written-bid method in Korea. It is difficult to make decision the application of auction selling in market distribution. One reason is the absence of adequate data on which to base firm statements. There is very little precise information about the relative volume handled by auction scheme as compared with other sales schemes Because of the paucity reliable data, one must depend largely on qualitative in attempting to above this problem. This paper is designed to examine which auction scheme is more efficient as a economic tool by introducing the three auctions, as samples, utilized in Koheung peninsula. Koheung coast with abundant fisheries resource, locates on the Middle-South part in Korea and has three auction firm operating by fisheries cooperatives. fur selling of dry fish included sea weed, live fish and fresh fish respectively, As a result, 1 found that there are three interesting auction schemes as follow : 1. More than one winners are selected as buyers. The highest bidder can at first get fishes he wants to buy, second winner can get surplus fishes after the highest bidder employes one's privilege with the highest pay, and next winner would be a buyer if fishes would be left in sequence after being sold with higher price. Every fisherman can sell one' s fishes with equal unit price if he delivery it to the winner within one day. Therefore, all the vendors feel they are equal members of fisheries cooperation. 2. Written-bid pricing on the cover of handy book. It is easy to write and to erase the figure more than on the small black board, and is convenient also to keep in the pocket. 3. Auctioning on the fixed platform with fixed fish tank is a very fast auction scheme in spite of short displaying time. Auctioneer presides bidding at one place on the fixed platform, instead of moving, vendors should carry a container of live fishes in the fish tank into showing table in front of would-be buyers and auctioneer. Although the applicability of the auction system to a marketing problem depends in part on subjective considerations by those making decision, basically it is a matter of comparative economic efficiency. In general, if the scheme maximizes returns in relation to the effort expanded by both buyers and sellers, it will be utilized. If it does not, a more efficiency may take place over a period of time, but, even more important, those making decisions may become aware of the potentialities of new schemes. Therefore, in order to applicate the three interesting auction schemes introduced in this paper to other fisheries market, it is necessary not only to analyze many other auction schemes but also to compare the economic efficiency those schemes utilizing in other fisheries market.

  • PDF

Technology Licensing Agreements from an Organizational Learning Perspective

  • Lee, JongKuk;Song, Sangyoung
    • Asia Marketing Journal
    • /
    • v.15 no.3
    • /
    • pp.79-95
    • /
    • 2013
  • New product innovation is a process of embodying new knowledge in a product and technology licensing is getting popular as a means to innovations and introduction of new product to the market in today's competitive global market environment. Incumbents often rely on technology licensing to access new product opportunities created by other firms. Prior research has examined various aspects of technology licensing agreements such as specific contract terms of licensing agreements, e.g., distribution of control rights, exclusivity of licensing agreements, cross-licensing, and the scope of licensing agreements. This study aims to provide answers to an important, but under-researched question: why do some incumbents initiate more licensing agreement for exploratory learning while others do it for exploitative learning along the innovation process? We attempt to extend our knowledge of licensing agreements from an organizational learning perspective. Technology licensing as a specific form of interfirm linkages can be initiated with different learning objectives along the process of new product innovation. The exploratory stages of the innovation process such as discovery or research stages involve extensive searches to create new knowledge or capabilities, whereas the exploitative stages of the innovation process such as application or test stages near the commercialization are more focused on developing specific applications or improving their efficiency or reliability. Thus, different stages of the innovation process generate different types of learning and the resulting technological resources. We examine when incumbents as licensees initiate more licensing agreements for exploratory learning objectives and when more for exploitative learning objectives, focusing on two factors that may influence a firm's formation of exploratory and exploitative licensing agreements: 1) its past radical and incremental innovation experience and 2) its internal investments in R&D and marketing. We develop and test our hypotheses regarding the relationship between a firm's radical and incremental new product experience, R&D investment intensity and marketing investment intensity, and the likelihood of engaging in exploratory and exploitive licensing agreements. Using data collected from various secondary sources (Recap database, Compustat database, and FDA website), we analyzed technology licensing agreements initiated in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries from 1988 to 2011. The results of this study show that incumbents initiate exploratory rather than exploitative licensing agreements when they have more radical innovation experience and when they invest in R&D activities more intensively; in contrast, they initiate exploitative rather than exploratory licensing agreements when they have more incremental innovation experience and when they invest in marketing activities more intensively. The findings of this study contribute to the licensing and interfirm cooperation studies. First, this study lays a foundation to understand the organizational learning aspect of technology licensing agreements. Second, this study sheds lights on how a firm's internal investments in R&D and marketing are linked to its tendency to initiate licensing agreements along the innovation process. Finally, the findings of this study provide important insight to managers regarding which technologies to gain via licensing agreements. This study suggests that firms need to consider their internal investments in R&D and marketing as well as their past innovation experiences when they initiate licensing agreements along the process of new product innovation.

  • PDF

The Role of New Information and Communication Technologies in the Internationalization of Firms: A Case Study of Haier (기업의 국제화와 신 정보통신기술의 역할: 중국 Haier 기업을 사례로)

  • Liu, Shuguang;Liu, Weidong
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
    • /
    • v.38 no.3
    • /
    • pp.400-412
    • /
    • 2003
  • It is now widely recognized that new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been changing the way tv which firms conduct their businesses. Examples are the application of enterprise resources planning (ERP) and business process reengineering (BPR) to increase the efficiency of internal resources management, adoption of Business-to-Business e-commerce (B2B e-com) to integrate supply chain, and invention of new marketing channels such as Business-to-Customer (B2C) e-com. These new ways of conducting businesses are believed to help firms to reduce transaction costs and increase productivity. As a result, new ICTs have played an important role in recent growth of many small firms into multi-functional and multi-product corporations and in their spatial expansion towards internationalization as well. This paper takes Haier in China as a case to study the role of new ICTs in the growth of firms and reveal how the new technologies have facilitated the expansion of Haier into a transnational corporation (TNC) by examining the internationalization process of the firm in relation to its adoption of new ICTs in the period from 1990 to 2002. The study reveals that the adoption of new Ins has helped Haier to integrate its functional units located in dozens of places across the world, which is essential to the internationalization of a firm, and to link closely together its worldwide suppliers and customers to achieve just-in-time (JIT) production and delivery. As such, the authors of the paper argue that, without the facilitation of new ICTS, Haier could not have developed into a TNC in less than ten years.It is now widely recognized that new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been changing the way tv which firms conduct their businesses. Examples are the application of enterprise resources planning (ERP) and business process reengineering (BPR) to increase the efficiency of internal resources management, adoption of Business-to-Business e-commerce (B2B e-com) to integrate supply chain, and invention of new marketing channels such as Business-to-Customer (B2C) e-com. These new ways of conducting businesses are believed to help firms to reduce transaction costs and increase productivity. As a result, new ICTs have played an important role in recent growth of many small firms into multi-functional and multi-product corporations and in their spatial expansion towards internationalization as well. This paper takes Haier in China as a case to study the role of new ICTs in the growth of firms and reveal how the new technologies have facilitated the expansion of Haier into a transnational corporation (TNC) by examining the internationalization process of the firm in relation to its adoption of new ICTs in the period from 1990 to 2002. The study reveals that the adoption of new Ins has helped Haier to integrate its functional units located in dozens of places across the world, which is essential to the internationalization of a firm, and to link closely together its worldwide suppliers and customers to achieve just-in-time (JIT) production and delivery. As such, the authors of the paper argue that, without the facilitation of new ICTS, Haier could not have developed into a TNC in less than ten years.

A Study on the Relative Efficiency and Productivity Change of IT Firms received Policy Fund (정책자금 받은 IT 기업의 상대적 효율성 및 생산성 변화 연구)

  • Kang, Ho-Jung;Jeon, In-Soo
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
    • /
    • v.10 no.3
    • /
    • pp.677-683
    • /
    • 2009
  • This study measures the relative efficiency and productivity change of IT firms received policy fund using DEA model and Malmquist Index for 2006-2007. The main results of this study can by summarized as follows. First, in case of efficiency of CCR for 2006-2007, the number of efficient firms(CCR value is one) are six firms, six firms, respectively. Second, in case of efficiency of BCC for 2006-2007, the number of efficient firms(BCC value is one) are eleven firms, thirteen firms respectively. Third, In case of return to scale for 2006-2007, DRS are fifteen firms and fourteen firms respectively. IRS are two firms and one firm respectively. DRS firms can improve efficiency by the reduction of scale and IRS Firms can improve efficiency by the increase of scale. Fourth, Mean value of Malmquist Index representing productivity change for 2006-2007 are bigger than 1.00. This imply that productivity increase was achieved.

The Effect of Patent Citation Relationship on Business Performance : A Social Network Analysis Perspective (특허 인용 관계가 기업 성과에 미치는 영향 : 소셜네트워크분석 관점)

  • Park, Jun Hyung;Kwahk, Kee-Young
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.19 no.3
    • /
    • pp.127-139
    • /
    • 2013
  • With an advent of recent knowledge-based society, the interest in intellectual property has increased. Firms have tired to result in productive outcomes through continuous innovative activity. Especially, ICT firms which lead high-tech industry have tried to manage intellectual property more systematically. Firm's interest in the patent has increased in order to manage the innovative activity and Knowledge property. The patent involves not only simple information but also important values as information of technology, management and right. Moreover, as the patent has the detailed contents regarding technology development activity, it is regarded as valuable data. The patent which reflects technology spread and research outcomes and business performances are closely interrelated as the patent is considered as a significant the level of firm's innovation. As the patent information which represents companies' intellectual capital is accumulated continuously, it has become possible to do quantitative analysis. The advantages of patent in the related industry information and it's standardize information can be easily obtained. Through the patent, the flow of knowledge can be determined. The patent information can analyze in various levels from patent to nation. The patent information is used to analyze technical status and the effects on performance. The patent which has a high frequency of citation refers to having high technological values. Analyzing the patent information contains both citation index analysis using the number of citation and network analysis using citation relationship. Network analysis can provide the information on the flows of knowledge and technological changes, and it can show future research direction. Studies using the patent citation analysis vary academically and practically. For the citation index research, studies to analyze influential big patent has been conducted, and for the network analysis research, studies to find out the flows of technology in a certain industry has been conducted. Social network analysis is applied not only in the sociology, but also in a field of management consulting and company's knowledge management. Research of how the company's network position has an impact on business performances has been conducted from various aspects in a field of network analysis. Social network analysis can be based on the visual forms. Network indicators are available through the quantitative analysis. Social network analysis is used when analyzing outcomes in terms of the position of network. Social network analysis focuses largely on centrality and structural holes. Centrality indicates that actors having central positions among other actors have an advantage to exert stronger influence for exchange relationship. Degree centrality, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality are used for centrality analysis. Structural holes refer to an empty place in social structure and are defined as efficiency and constraints. This study stresses and analyzes firms' network in terms of the patent and how network characteristics have an influence on business performances. For the purpose of doing this, seventy-four ICT companies listed in S&P500 are chosen for the sample. UCINET6 is used to analyze the network structural characteristics such as outdegree centrality, betweenness centrality and efficiency. Then, regression analysis test is conducted to find out how these network characteristics are related to business performance. It is found that each network index has significant impacts on net income, i.e. business performance. However, it is found that efficiency is negatively associated with business performance. As the efficiency increases, net income decreases and it has a negative impact on business performances. Furthermore, it is shown that betweenness centrality solely has statistically significance for the multiple regression analysis with three network indexes. The patent citation network analysis shows the flows of knowledge between firms, and it can be expected to contribute to company's management strategies by analyzing company's network structural positions.

How Should We Respond to the Collapse of the Global Value Chain? An In-Depth Investigation of Disruptive Events and Risk Management Strategies in SMEs (글로벌 가치사슬의 붕괴에 어떻게 대응해야 하는가? 분열적 상황의 심층규명과 중소기업의 위험관리 전략에 관한 연구)

  • Kwon, Se-In;Yang, Jong-Gon
    • Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
    • /
    • v.12 no.5
    • /
    • pp.107-115
    • /
    • 2022
  • The purpose of this study is to identify the drivers of supply chain vulnerability and internal/external disruptive events and to verify the moderating effect of SCRM to mitigate negative disruption impacts. The analysis results of 182 SMEs are as follows. First, SC vulnerability proceeded from excessive efficiency. Second, the probability and severity of internal factors were higher than that of external factors. In particular, the priority of responding to risks arising from the supply chain process was higher than the value chain within the firm. Finally, the higher the level of risk management in the supply chain, the more positively the negative disruption impact was mitigated. This study is valuable in providing practical clues to the decision-making of a firm's managers and policymakers responding to supply chain risks.

The empirical study on relationship between agency problem and beneficiary's performance (대리인문제가 R&D지원사업 수혜기업성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 실증연구)

  • Yang, Dong-Woo;Choi, Woo-Seok
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
    • /
    • v.17 no.4
    • /
    • pp.615-621
    • /
    • 2016
  • This study examines whether there is agency cost in a public R&D subsidy program by applying agency theory. If there is agency cost, the composition ratio of the government subsidy and the firm's own R&D fund would have a significant (-) effect on technological performance. Companies that received a public R&D subsidy in Korea from 2000 to 2009 were selected as a sample. Frequency analysis and multiple regression analysis were used. The independent variables was the ratio of public R&D subsidy cost to the Firm's own R&D cost, and the dependent variables were the number of patent applications and the number of patents registered. The control variables were firm size and R&D cost. The results show that there are agency problems in the government-sponsored R&D system. A future study is needed to examine how much agency problems deteriorate the efficiency of the system.

The Strategic Performance Measurement of Sea Port: Supply Chain Management Perspectives (공급사슬관리 관점에서의 전략적 항만성과측정)

  • Pak, Myong-Sop
    • THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
    • /
    • v.38
    • /
    • pp.229-262
    • /
    • 2008
  • With the introduction of supply chain management concept, the nature of a firm is fundamentally changed. Control is no longer based on direct control of the business processes, but rather based on integration across member organizations in the supply chain. Firms are trying to achieve a competitive edge by managing their supply chain performance to gain advantages in cost and service differentiation. The supply chain elements of a sea port involves ILSP (Inbound Logistics Service Provider) at the input side and OLSP (Outbound Logistics Service Provider) at the output side. The goal of sea port is to satisfy the needs of different parties, both upstream and downstream, in the chain with greater effectiveness and efficiency than it's competitors. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to derive conceptualization of the SCP (Supply Chain Performance) in the sea port from literature review on the previous researches and to tackle their theoretical and practical implications. The paper deals with conceptualizing SCP in sea port using the SCOR (Supply Chain Operation Reference) model. It incorporates both the effectiveness and efficiency aspects of performance measurement. And it also recognizes customer related reasons for measuring performance.

  • PDF