Showing papers in "ERIM report series research in management Erasmus Research Institute of Management in 2018"

The Consumer Production Journey: Marketing to Consumers as Co-Producers in the Sharing Economy

Abstract: textNew digital technologies not only support consumers in better fulfilling their own consumption needs, but also enable them to create greater value for other consumers. These new consumer co- production activities, collectively referred to as the sharing economy, require firms to rethink their role in the marketing value creation process. In particular, firms need to find new ways to create value for consumers who are also becoming producers. To address this challenge, we propose a two-layered conceptual framework of consumer co-production networks and the individual consumer production journeys therein. These concepts expand the traditional production model and consumer journey, respectively, explicitly taking into account consumer co-production activities in the value creation process. Within this framework, we draw on institutional design theory and household production theory to analyze how marketing functions can support consumers’ co-production activities. We conclude with a discussion of managerial and consumer welfare implications, and of new opportunities for further research.

The Many Decompositions of Total Factor Productivity Change

Abstract: Total factor productivity change, here defined as output quantity change di- vided by input quantity change, is the combined result of (technical) efficiency change, technological change, a scale effect, and input and output mix ef- fects. Sometimes allocative efficiency change is supposed to also play a role. Given a certain functional form for the productivity index, the problem is how to decompose such an index into factors corresponding to these five or six components. A basic insight offered in the present paper is that mean- ingful decompositions of productivity indices can only be obtained for indices which are transitive in the main variables. Using a unified approach, we ob- tain decompositions for Malmquist, Moorsteen-Bjurek, price-weighted, and share-weighted productivity indices. A unique feature of this paper is that all the decompositions are applied to the same dataset of a real-life panel of decision-making units so that the extent of the differences between the various decompositions can be judged.

Resolving infeasibilities in railway timetabling instances

Abstract: One of the key assumptions of timetabling algorithms is that a solution exists that meets the pre-specified constraints, like driving times, transfer constraints and headway constraints. If this assumption is satisfied, in most cases a timetable can be found rapidly. Nowadays, railways are being used more intensively, which leads to a higher utilization of the network. Due to this increased utilisation, capacity conflicts occur, so that no feasible solution to the timetabling models can be found, without making subtle but non-trivial changes to the initial input. Resolving these conflicts is essential for railway companies with high utilization of infrastructure. In this paper, we consider infeasible timetabling instances together with a list of allowed modifications of the constraints. We iteratively identify local conflicts in these instances and resolve them by adapting some of the constraints, until there are no more conflicts. The adaptations of the constraints are changes in the right-hand sides that we try to make as small as possible but that resolve the infeasibility. We empirically show that our method can be improved by enriching the initial minimal conflicts found with more constraints. In order to keep the problems tractable, an iterative procedure is used to find solutions to subproblems corresponding to conflicts in the complete timetabling instance. In a case study on instances from the Dutch railway network, we show that these instances can be made feasible within a few minutes.

A Total Factor Productivity Toolbox for MATLAB

Abstract: Total Factor Productivity Toolbox is a new package for MATLAB that includes functions to calculate the main Total Factor Productivity (TFP) indices and their decompositions, based on Shephard’s distance functions and using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) programming techniques. The package includes code for the standard Malmquist, Moorsteen-Bjurek, price-weighted and share-weighted TFP indices, allowing for the choice of orientation (input or output), reference period (base, comparison, geometric mean), re- turns to scale (variable or constant), and specific decompositions (aggregate or identifying scale effects as well as input and output mix effects). Classic definitions of TFP corresponding to the Laspeyres, Paasche, Fisher, or Tornqvist formulas can also be calculated as particular cases. This paper describes the methodology and implementation of the functions and reports numerical results so as to ease the comparison between indices and illustrate their use.

Academic Research in Marketing and Business School Health: Limiters and Improvement Opportunities

Abstract: textAcademic research in marketing is of key importance to the health of business schools. However, there has been considerable debate in recent years whether academic research in marketing, and business in general, delivers enough on this promise. Our goal is to add a coherent and novel faculty management perspective to this debate. We identify three limiters in the faculty management system that restrict the impact academic research in marketing may have on business school health: (1) the imperfect metrics used to evaluate marketing academics that focus primarily on quantity, (2) the weak professional alignment between marketing academics and professionals relevant to marketing, and (3) the incentives for marketing academics that have started to emphasize extrinsic rewards such as bonuses for publications. In response to these limiters, we offer three improvements for increasing the impact marketing can have on business school health. These include: (1) supplementing the quantitative metrics with a qualitative assessment of the work, (2) socializing marketing academics into the practice of marketing, and (3) strengthening intrinsic rewards and reducing extrinsic rewards.