Jinghua Xiao

Value co-creation between firms and customers

Big data interconnects firms and customers in promoting value co-creation.Big data can be transformed from resources to valuable cooperative assets.We describes the transformation process of big data-based cooperative assets.The transformation requires heterogeneous resource bases and cooperative capabilities. To better understand how big data interconnects firms and customers in promoting value co-creation, we propose a theoretical framework of big data-based cooperative assets based on evidence of multiple case studies. We identify four types of big data resources and four types of associated digital platforms, and we explore how firms develop the cooperative assets by transforming big data resources via the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic. This study offers a new theoretical perspective on value co-creation and an alternative competitive strategy in the era of big data for firms.

Inter-Firm it Governance in Power-Imbalanced Buyer–Supplier Dyads: Exploring How it Works and Why it Lasts

Using a multiple case study design, we investigate the issue of inter-firm IT governance and its impact on information sharing in buyer–supplier dyadic relationships. We interviewed 38 managers of operations, purchasing, and IT in five dyadic relationships, and identified and examined one type of inter-firm IT governance: unilateral IT governance. In this type of IT governance, one party of the dyad dominates the relationship and the decision rights regarding inter-firm IT systems and data sharing. We find that unilateral inter-firm IT governance develops under contract-based and relationship-supplemented inter-firm governance arrangements in which significant power imbalance exists. However, contrary to the prediction of resource dependence theory, power-imbalanced governance can survive and thrive over a long period of time. We find that the inter-firm relational norms and trust that develop between these dyads constrain opportunistic and myopic behaviors in both parties, thus sustaining the seemingly unstable unilateral inter-firm IT governance. We also find that the operational necessity of the buyers and the IT capability of the suppliers are two primary factors that constrain inter-firm information sharing in these dyads. On the basis of these findings, we propose a process model for understanding and managing this type of inter-firm IT governance.

Optimal Product Quality of Supply Chain Based on Information Traceability in Fashion and Textiles Industry: An Adverse Logistics Perspective

This paper investigates and compares two quality control methods, that is, inspection control and traceability control, to optimize supply chain quality in fashion and textiles industry. The objective is to maximize the supply chain participants’ expected profits and to achieve a Pareto improvement of supply chain product quality. With quality as a controllable variable indicating the level of opportunistic behavior, the return is interpreted as a function of quality: the higher the quality, the lower the return. Taking into account both quality and inventory quantity, we propose and compare the optimal decision-making models for three control methods of supply chain, respectively: decentralized (no control), inspection, and traceability. Further, we use a numerical example to illustrate the relationships among quality, profits, and quality-control cost coefficients (i.e., inspection-related cost and traceability-related cost). We then analyze and discuss the differences in the applications and scopes of the two control methods. On the one hand, given the poor standardization of fashion and textiles industry in the current practice (especially in China market), the cost of sampling inspection is relatively lower as compared to that of the traceability control method. On the other hand, with the improved industrial standardization and technology, traceability control tends to gain increasing advantages in cost and popularity.

Introduction to the special issue of ECR on E-business innovation with big data

The past half century has witnessed an unrelenting exponential growth in digital information—generated from the activities of individuals, businesses, mobile phones, social networks and the rapidly emerging Internet-of-Things. We live in an era of ‘‘Big Data’’ that has created both immense opportunities and daunting challenges for innovation on electronic business platforms. Big data initiatives are growing in industry and the academy, with the exploration of new designs, fast and cost-effective systems development, and fascinating new business models. The field has given new life to statistical and artificial intelligence analytics, putting these on the center stage in an explosion of value-creation in the twenty-first century. The eight papers in our special issue of Electronic Commerce Research offer fascinating insights into a wide range of topics, including personalized product recommendation, spam detection in social media, sentiment community detection in social networks, and integration of big data analysis into conceptual modeling. We hope that readers of ECR will enjoy these articles and find this special issue valuable. We would like to thank Chris Westland, Editor-in-Chief of ECR for his guidance in the process of creating this issue and all the authors and reviewers for their valuable contributions that made this special issue possible.

Resource-based modelling of B2B information systems' effect on achieving supply chain ambidexterity: a focus on dynamic heterogeneity

Drawing on organisational theories of resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability, this paper introduces a novel concept of dynamic heterogeneity to better characterise the significant impact of B2B information systems (B2BIS) on achieving supply chain ambidexterity. This paper contributes to supply chain research and information systems (IS) research on three aspects: First, we specify the positive link between B2BIS and B2BIS-enabled capacity-related resources, which in turn directly enhances supply chain ambidexterity practices and ultimately improves the level of supply chain ambidexterity; second, our findings suggest that B2BIS bring in intention-related resources, which ensures the capacity-related resources can take effect; third, B2BIS-independent resources is presented and considered as a premise for temporal separation and parallel structure supply chain ambidexterity. By analysing the effects of B2BIS on supply chain ambidexterity, we conclude that it takes not only capacity-related resources but also associated intention-related resources to improve supply chain ambidexterity. Only by taking advantage of these two types of resources simultaneously can we achieve B2BIS dynamic heterogeneity and thus to achieve optimal supply chain ambidexterity.

Effects of Customer Heterogeneity on Participation Performance in Virtual Brand Community: A Two-Stage Semiparametric Approach

ABSTRACT Studies have employed various performance measures to determine the effect of virtual brand community (VBC) participation on customer values. However, different single-factor measures usually lead to conflicting results. This study proposes an overall participation performance measure, VBC participation performance, which follows a holistic-view definition of customer values, including frequency of customer visit, purchase frequency, purchase expenditure, and word-of-mouth frequency, obtain from the overall community activities, and it is evaluated through data envelopment analysis (DEA). We further determine the effect of the customer’s gender, age, tenure, and interactions on VBC participation performance by using Tobit regression models. The results show that our proposed measure outperforms either single-factor measures or measures based on other multicriteria decision analyses. Our findings also reveal that VBC is less efficient for females and customers with long tenure, and the effect of gender difference on VBC participation performance will be more (less) significant with increasing age (tenure). The findings extend existing research by suggesting an overall participation performance measure in VBC and providing insights on customer heterogeneity in the efficacy of VBC participation. This study also offers actionable recommendations for managers in term of customer segmentation and VBC design.

Managing the e-commerce disruption with IT-based innovations: Insights from strategic renewal perspectives

Abstract Transforming brick-and-mortar businesses into integrated online–offline models poses significant challenges for firms operationally and strategically. We conduct a comparative case study to investigate strategic renewals that result in the convergence of offline and online operations and strategies driven by information technology based innovations. We explore two strategic renewal paths used by our case firms: incremental resource-complementing renewal and discontinuous resource-substituting transformation. We illuminate the role of resource endowment in strategic renewal and its impact on the renewal path and explore the role of IT as operand or operant resource in strategic renewals and its impact on their success.