Jason Kuruzovich

Service Expansion of Product Firms in the Information Technology Industry: An Empirical Study

The provision of services has become an increasingly important component of the economy of industrialized countries and the revenue stream for many traditional product companies. This is especially true for companies that offer information technology (IT) products. This paper examines factors that are associated with the extent to which IT product companies are able to develop service revenue, which we refer to as service expansion of IT product companies. We identify the characteristics of the product portfolio—specifically, the composition and scope of firm offerings among hardware, application software, and infrastructure software—as key to successful service expansion. We also propose that this relationship is moderated by prior performance of the product business and industry characteristics such as concentration and maturity. Data from IT product vendors spanning five years are used to test the proposed relationships. Overall, this research provides a theoretical foundation for understanding service expansion and diversification in the IT industry as well as practical guidance for IT product companies considering expansion to services.

IT Governance Processes and IT Alignment: Viewpoints from the Board of Directors

This research empirically examines the role of the board of directors in driving IT alignment. We develop a model that links governance initiators, governance practices, and IT alignment. The strategic importance of IT acts as initiator of governance practices, including direct involvement of the board of directors in the management of IT, CIO communications with the board, strategic consideration of IT investments, and the quantity and usefulness of the IT information provided to the board. Using an extensive survey of 256 members of board of directors, we found that three firm governance practices are influenced by the strategic importance of IT and all four are associated with increased levels of IT alignment, indicating that the board plays a meaningful role in monitoring and facilitating processes involving IT. While a great deal of research has identified the importance of the board of directors in firm operations, this is among the first papers to empirically examine this role.

Testing the Steve Jobs Hypothesis in a B2B Context Will a Portfolio of Hierarchically Related Technology Products Improve Customer Outcomes

This research examines how the type of information technology (IT) provided among hardware, software, and services—and the degree to which the IT provided is bundled into a solution—influences the levels of satisfaction and loyalty of IT buyers. We refer to the hardware, software, and services offerings jointly as the IT products-services stack, as technology stacks are useful visualizations of how layers of technology products are hierarchically related. We utilize over 36,000 ratings of 68 IT vendors provided by the vendors’ customers to test our research model. The findings indicate that vendors offering products in the lower levels of the IT products-services stack experience higher satisfaction and loyalty ratings (hardware > software > services). Moreover, satisfaction and loyalty ratings are highest when hardware, software, and services are provided together—that is, as an IT solution. An important implication of these findings is that IT solutions benefit both vendors and buyers.

Entrepreneurs’ Activities on Social Media and Venture Financing

Social media has been an incredible platform for startups to develop meaningful connections with stakeholders and customers. We investigate ways in which entrepreneurs use social media to drive both the level of engagement for their startup and the subsequent level of venture financing. Our empirical analysis demonstrates how differences in entrepreneurs’ tweets—i.e., differences in the level informativity, persuasiveness, and transformativity—is associated with different levels of startup engagement and venture financing. We show differences in entrepreneurs’ activity with the social media platform—i.e., the number of tweets, the number of mentions of other accounts, and the number of retweets—further drives engagement and venture financing. We test our model by collecting an extensive dataset of over 7,000,000 tweets from entrepreneurs and startups that have been through accelerators. Results indicate associates between the social media activities of entrepreneurs, startup engagement, and venture financing.

Competing through Services: Service Migration of Information Technology Product Vendors

The provision of services has become an increasingly important component of the economy of industrialized economies and the revenue stream for many traditional product companies. This is especially true for companies offering information technology (IT) products, as service revenues are often several times the initial purchase or licensing fees, making the development of a successful services business both a strategic area for growth and a way to diversify revenue streams. This paper examines factors that influence the extent to which IT product companies are able to utilize services as a source of revenue. Drawing literatures from evolutionary economics, service diversification, and organizational decline, we identify architecture knowledge of IT systems, information asymmetry of service offering, and previous performance as key drivers of the percentage of revenues associated with services.