In this article we look at research published over a five-year time span in the economics of information systems (IS) area in four premier journals, including Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, and Production and Operations Management, to identify research themes...

Logistics outsourcing has increased with the commercialization of the Internet, implying a reduction in the corresponding transaction costs. The Internet – with its universal connectivity and open standards – radically enhanced information technology (IT) capabilities, and we hypothesize...

Context: Successful software systems continuously evolve to accommodate feature requests of a diverse customer-base. At some point during this evolution, the variety of customer needs and increased system complexity suggests the consideration of a software product line (SPL).Aim: The goal of...

This paper studies the setting in which a one-of-a-kind production (OKP) firm offers two types of orders (due-date guaranteed and due-date unguaranteed) at different prices to the sequentially arriving customers, who are also OKP production firms. The prices for two types of orders are quoted to...

In contrast to “search goods” whose true quality can be determined before inspection, we examine informa- tion goods that are “experience goods” — goods whose true quality can only be determined through use. We analyze a “version-to-upgrade” strategy where a monopolist generates...

We examine the implications of proximity to a physical store in offline-online retail competition where online dis-utility costs, which encompasses factors such as trust in the seller, returns, and after-sales support, are important. Building on classical models, we consider a traditional...

Sharing platforms such as Zilok.com enable the sharing of durable goods among consumers, and seek to maximize profits by charging transaction-based platform fees. We develop a model where consumers that are heterogeneous in their need to use a durable good decide whether to purchase and share...

Consumer ratings play a decisive role in purchases by online shoppers. Although the effect of the average and the number of consumer ratings on future product pricing and demand have been studied with some conclusive results, the effects of the variance of these ratings are less well understood....

We analyze trade-offs in the organization of public safety networks when network assets are distributed across districts and a district values network assets in its own and other districts. Comparing centralized, decentralized, and mixed organization forms, we capture two critical properties:...

We examine how one industry's productivity is affected by the IT capital of its customers and how this effect depends on industries' relative concentration. These customer-driven IT spillovers result from customers' IT investments in various information systems that reduce transaction costs...