Christopher L. Tucci

Fraudulent auctions on the Internet

Trust is an important ingredient for fostering the development of electronic commerce on the Internet. Recent statistics report on the growth of fraudulent activities on the Internet. We report the results of an investigation that checked for the amount of fraudulent activities on auction sites. The results indicate a significant level of fraudulent activities, well above the levels reported by auction site operators. Since fraud can be a major stumbling block for increasing the volume of electronic commerce on the web, it motivated further research on trust building activities given the prevalence of fraudulent activities on the Internet. We describe methods used by swindlers in their online swindling activities and propose methods to reduce the impact of fraudulent activities.

A model of the Internet as creative destroyer

The extent to which a technological change is a creative destroyer is of interest to entrepreneurs who can exploit the opportunity and to incumbents who must defend their existing competitive advantages from the change. In the face of a technological change, an important question is: To what extent is it a creative destroyer? In this paper, we offer a model for exploring the depth and breadth of creative destruction from the Internet and the implications for wealth creation and competitive advantage. We apply the model to three groups of industries, each of which rests on one of Thompsons three categories of organizational technologies: long-linked; mediating; and intensive. The application suggests that incumbents in all industries should experience some erosion of competitive advantage. Industries with predominantly mediating technologies should experience creative destruction. Those with intensive technologies should experience more erosion of competitive advantage than those with long-linked technologies.

Innovation and learning performance implications of free revealing and knowledge brokering in competing communities: insights from the Netflix Prize challenge

Firms increasingly use open competitions to extend their innovation process and access new diverse knowledge. The Netflix Prize case we study in this paper is a multi-stage repeat-submission open competition involving the creation of new knowledge from across knowledge domains, a process which benefits from knowledge sharing across competing communities. The extant literature says little about the effects of different types and levels of knowledge sharing behavior on the learning and innovation outcomes of such a competitive system, or what the performance boundaries may be for the system as a result of such differences. Our research explores those boundaries unveiling important tradeoffs involving free revealing behavior—defined as voluntarily giving away codified knowledge and making it into a ‘public good’—and knowledge brokering behavior—defined as using knowledge from one domain to innovate in another—on the learning performance of competing communities. The results, analyzing the system-level average and volatility of learning outcomes, lead to three conclusions: (i) greater knowledge sharing, as portrayed by greater free revealing and knowledge brokering, helps achieve better average learning for the system as a whole, however, (ii) achieving the best overall outcome possible from the system actually requires controlling the amount of knowledge brokering activity in the system. The results further suggest that (iii) it should not be possible to simultaneously achieve both the best overall outcome from the system and the best average learning for the system. The tradeoffs that ensue from these findings have important implications for innovation policy and management. This research contributes to practice by showing how it is possible to achieve different learning performance outcomes by managing the types and levels of knowledge sharing in open competitive systems.

The role of communication and coordination between 'network lead companies' and their strategic partners in determining NPD project performance

Using the data collected from three in-depth case studies of hightech New Product Development (NPD) projects conducted by network lead companies from different industries with alliance partners, we attempt to extend and merge the knowledge of NPD management, communication and coordination theory, and inter-organisation theory by proposing a contingency model. We propose that under conditions of fit between contextual factors that characterise high-tech NPD projects and the intensity level of communication and coordination, NPD project performance is highest. The model indicates that NPD project performance is contingent on the fit between the actual intensity level of communication and coordination – between the network lead company and its projects strategic partners – and the required intensity level. The required intensity of communication in uncertain and complex projects is dominated by the development cycle time of the project.

Protecting growth options in dynamic markets: The role of strategic disclosure in integrated intellectual property strategies

Given recent developments in information technology and intellectual property (IP) legislation, technology firms may benefit from an integrated IP strategy that combines patenting with strategic disclosure. This article presents a series of cases that introduce various aspects of strategic disclosure and provide a framework for how and when such practices may be merited as part of an integrated IP strategy. To help CEOs decide on the economics and efficiency of the practice, practical guidelines are provided for when it might be a useful complement to the firms other IP management practices.

Integral Polyhedra Related to Even-Cycle and Even-Cut Matroids

A family of sets H is ideal if the polyhedron [math not displayed] is integral. Consider a graph G with vertices s, t. An odd st-walk is either an odd st-path or the union of an even st-path and an odd circuit that share, at most, one vertex. Let T be a subset of vertices of even cardinality. An st-T-cut is a cut of the form δ(U)where [math not displayed] is odd and U contains exactly one of s or t. We give excluded minor characterizations for when the families of odd st-walks and st-T-cuts (represented as sets of edges) are ideal. As a corollary, we characterize which extensions and coextensions of graphic and cographic matroids are 1-flowing.

A simulator of the manufacturing of induction motors

A simulator of the manufacturing process of induction motors is presented whose main purpose is to provide feedback in the form of motor cost and production scheduling during the design process. Emphasis is on modeling and simulating a factory, modeling production costs, and providing examples of how the design of electric motors can be improved by taking manufacturing information into account via software. The simulator uses principles of system dynamics and technical cost modeling to model the flows of materials and evolution of the product through manufacturing stages across the factory floor. The inputs to the simulator are blueprint data for motor design and the status of the factory. The output is cost and schedule information. The simulator also provides a mechanism whereby design variables can be tested for variations that produce cost improvements.<<ETX>>

Collaboration and teaming in the software supply chain

Knowledge-based, nonphysical (or intangible) products such as software and information and financial services present a different set of supply chain management challenges than those encountered by manufacturers of tangible products. Yet as intangible product manufacturers have developed more complex service and quality characteristics in their product-service bundles, they have adopted the supply chain practices of physical product manufacturers. One of the most salient differences between the two types of manufacturing is the reliance of intangible producers on collaboration and partnering with customers and suppliers created as a result of the reexamination of make-versus-buy decisions for nearly all components and services. This study focuses on software firms to identify and understand how these changes affect firm behavior. Contrary to our expectations, software firms do not fully exploit risk-sharing (teaming) alliances. We attempt to explain this via the lenses of trust and asset specialization between supply chain partners.

Identifying Lean Thinking Measurement Needs and Trends in Product Development: Evidence from the Life Sciences Sector in Switzerland

Measuring the implementation of Lean principles constitutes a major challenge for many organizations. Several frameworks and tools have been developed and proposed, but no one has shown full success to specifically focus on measuring lean in the product development (PD) process. In order to fulfill this opportunity, one of the results of the LeanPPD FP7 project funded by the European Commission, is to develop a self-assessment tool to enable companies to assess their maturity and readiness for Lean implementation and guide them through the implementation process with both qualitative and quantitative measures. In parallel to the tool development, an exploratory research was carried out to understand the current practices and tools firms use to measure their lean implementation and to identify their needs. Therefore, this paper aims to diffuse the findings of how companies are measuring the progress of Lean thinking implementation into their PD. The data was gathered from five highly innovative companies from the Life Sciences sector located in Switzerland.

Challenges Laying Ahead for Future Digital Enterprises: A Research Perspective

Nowadays, digital enterprises are confronted with disruptive technological advancements in their constant quest for innovation and creativity. In order to evolve towards new forms of enterprises, driven by constant business model transformation, a number of challenges need to be addressed from a research and practice perspective. In this paper, a glimpse of the technological trends and visionary scenarios for Enterprises of the Future is provided, leading to the elaboration of the research challenges along the following dimensions: (a) Collaborative, Real-time, Proactive Business Analytics-as-a-Service, (b) Innovative, Web-based Business Models for New Kinds of Economies, (c) Federated, Innovation-driven Enterprise Collaboration Platforms, (d) Dynamic Discovery and Negotiation of the Intellectual Property Rights’ Flow.