Designing business models of cloud platforms

Cloud computing and its three facets (Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)) are terms that denote new developments in the software industry. In particular, PaaS solutions, also referred to as cloud platforms, are changing the way software is being produced, distributed, consumed, and priced. Software vendors have started considering cloud platforms as a strategic option but are battling to redefine their offerings to embrace PaaS. In contrast to SaaS and IaaS, PaaS allows for value co-creation with partners to develop complementary components and applications. It thus requires multisided business models that bring together two or more distinct customer segments. Understanding how to design PaaS business models to establish a flourishing ecosystem is crucial for software vendors. This doctoral thesis aims to address this issue in three interrelated research parts. First, based on case study research, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of current PaaS business models and their evolution. Second, it analyses and simulates consumers' preferences regarding PaaS business models, using a conjoint approach to find out what determines the choice of cloud platforms. Finally, building on the previous research outcomes, the third part introduces a design theory for the emerging class of PaaS business models, which is grounded on an extensive action design research study with a large European software vendor. Understanding PaaS business models from a market as well as a consumer perspective will, together with the design theory, inform and guide decision makers in their business model innovation plans. It also closes gaps in the research related to PaaS business model design and more generally related to platform business models.

Consumption heterogenity over the business cycle

We study consumption heterogeneity over the business cycle. Using household panel data from 1984 to 2010 in the US we find that the welfare cost of the business cycle is non-negligible, once agents heterogeneity is taken into account, and sums to about 1% of yearly consumption. This is due to the structure of comovements between the different parts of the consumption distribution, in particular the tails are highly volatile and negatively related to each other. We also find that business cycle fluctuations originating from exogenous financial shocks only hit the top end of the consumption distribution and therefore reduce consumption inequality.

Adaptive business intelligence for an open negotiation environment

Engineering of negotiation model allows to develop effective heuristic for business intelligence. Digital ecosystems demand open negotiation models. To define in advance effective heuristics is not compliant with the requirement of openness. The new challenge is to develop business intelligence in advance exploiting an adaptive approach. The idea is to learn business strategy once new negotiation model rise in the e-market arena. In this paper we present how recommendation technology may be deployed in an open negotiation environment where the interaction protocol models are not known in advance. The solution we propose is delivered as part of the ONE Platform, open source software that implements a fully distributed open environment for business negotiation

A three-pronged approach to social business: a Brazilian multi-case analysis

Social businesses present a new paradigm to capitalism, in which private companies, non-profit organizations and civil society create a new type of business with the main objective of solving social problems with financial sustainability and efficiency through market mechanisms. As any new phenomenon, different authors conceptualize social businesses with distinct views. This article aims to present and characterize three different perspectives of social business definitions: the European, the American and that of the emerging countries. Each one of these views was illustrated by a different Brazilian case. We conclude with the idea that all the cases have similar characteristics, but also relevant differences that are more than merely geographical. The perspectives analyzed in this paper provide an analytical framework for understanding the field of social businesses. Moreover, the cases demonstrate that in the Brazilian context the field of social business is under construction and that as such it draws on different conceptual influences to deal with a complex and challenging reality.

Inclusive business and poverty: prospects in the Brazilian context

Inclusive business is a term currently used to explain the organizations that aim to solve social problems with efficiency and financial sustainability by means of market mechanisms. It can be said that inclusive businesses are those targeted at generating employment and income for groups with little or no market mobility, in keeping with the standards of so-called "decent jobs" and in a self-sustaining manner, i.e., generating profit for the enterprises, and establishing relationships with typical business organizations as suppliers of products and services or in the distribution of this type of production. This article discusses the different concepts found in the scientific literature on inclusive businesses. It also analyses data from a survey conducted with the audiences of Social Corporate Responsibility seminars held by FIEMG. This analysis reveals that prospects, risks and idealizations similar to those found in inclusive business theories can also be found among individuals that run social corporate responsibility projects, even if this designation is new for them. The connection between companies and poverty, especially in relation to inclusive businesses, seems full of stumbling blocks and traps in the Brazilian context.

Contextual effects on subjective national identity and nationalist vote in Catalonia

The important inflow of foreign population to western countries has boosted the study of acculturation processes among scholars in the last decades. By using the case of Catalonia, a receiver region of international and national migration since the fifties, this paper seeks to intersect a classic acculturation model and a newly reemerging literature in political science on contextual determinants on individual behavior. Does the context matters for understanding individual’s subjective national identity and, therefore, its voting behavior? Multilevel models show that environment matters. Percentage of Spain-born population in the town is statistically significant to account for variance in the subjective national identity and nationalist vote, even after controlling for age, sex, origin, language and left – right orientation and other contextual factors. This conclusion invites researchers not to underestimate the direct effect of the environment on individual outcomes such as feelings of belonging and vote orientation in contexts of rival identities.

(Endogenous) occupational choices and job satisfaction among recent PhD recipients: evidence from Catalonia

Drawing on data from two successive cohorts of PhD graduates, this paper analyses differences in overall job satisfaction and specific job domain satisfaction among PhDs employed in different sectors four years after completing their doctorate degrees. Covariate-adjusted job satisfaction differentials suggest that, compared to faculty members, PhD holders employed outside traditional academic and research jobs are more satisfied with the pecuniary facets of their work (principally, because of higher earnings), but significantly less satisfied with the content of their job and with how well the job matches their skills (and, in the case of public sector workers, with their prospects of promotion). The evidence regarding the overall job satisfaction of the PhD holders indicates that working in the public or private sectors is associated with less work well-being, which cannot be fully compensated by the better pecuniary facets of the job. It also appears that being employed in academia or in research centres provides almost the same perceived degree of satisfaction with the job and with its four specific domains. We also take into account the endogenous sorting of PhD holders into different occupations based on latent personal traits that might be related to job satisfaction. The selectivity-corrected job satisfaction differentials reveal the importance of self-selection based on unobservable traits, and confirm the existence of a certain penalisation for working in occupations other than academia or research, which is especially marked in the case of satisfaction with job content and job-skills match. The paper presents additional interesting evidence about the determinants of occupational choice among PhD holders, highlighting the relevance of certain academic attributes (especially PhD funding and pre-and-post-doc research mobility) in affecting the likelihood of being employed in academia, in a research centre or in other public or private sector job four years after completing their doctorate programme.

Permanent demand excess as business strategy: an analysis of the Brazilian higher-education market

Many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) establish tuition below the equilibrium price to generate permanent demand excess. This paper first adapts Becker’s (1991) theory to understand why the HEIs price in this way. The fact that students are both consumers and inputs on the education production process gives rise to a market equilibrium where some firms have excess demand and charge high prices, and others charge low prices and have empty seats.Second, the paper analyzes this equilibrium empirically. We estimated the demand for undergraduate courses in Business Administration in the State of São Paulo. The results show that tuition, quality of incoming students and percentage of lecturers holding doctorates degrees are the determining factors of students’ choice. Since the student quality determines the demand for a HEI, it is calculated what the value is for a HEI to get better students; that is the total revenue that each HEI gives up to guarantee excess demand. Regarding the “investment” in selectivity, 39 HEIs in São Paulo give up a combined R$ 5 million (or US$ 3.14 million) in revenue per year per freshman class, which means 7.6% of the revenue coming from a freshman class.

The evolution of universities' relations with the business sector in Brazil: What national publications between 1980 and 2012 reveal

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the changes in university-industry relations in Brazil regarding innovation activities. It is based on a survey of articles published in major national journals or presented at the most relevant Brazilian and regional conferences, between 1980 and 2012. The year 1980 was chosen due to the creation of the Technological Innovation Offices (NITs), which was the first government initiative to encourage knowledge transfer from universities to companies; the second was the Innovation Act of 2004. Our assumption was that after the Act the number of academic papers on this subject would increase, bringing new ideas and propositions of models to enhance this relationship. The methodology employed a qualitative, exploratory approach, using bibliographical research and a bibliometric analysis of 247 papers. Literature review of international studies shows the discussion of problems and suggestions for improvements, while in Brazil there is still a debate on whether this collaboration should occur, and if this is a legitimate role for the university. Despite the numerical growth, the content analysis showed few papers on new configurations and procedures for partnership management. We conclude that university-industry relations are not a regular and totally accepted process in Brazilian public universities, which reflect an ideological bias against cooperation with firms.

Health-related quality of life assessment in people with multiple sclerosis and their family caregivers. A multicenter study in Catalonia (Southern Europe)

Objectives: To measure the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and their caregivers, and to assess which factors can best describe HRQoL. Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter study of nine hospitals enrolled MS patients and their caregivers who attended outpatient clinics consecutively. The instruments used were the SF-36 for patients and the SF-12 and GHQ-12 for caregivers. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to analyze the explanatory factors of HRQoL. Results: A total of 705 patients (mean age 40.4 years, median Expanded Disability Status Scale 2.5, 77.8% with relapsing-remitting MS) and 551 caregivers (mean age 45.4 years) participated in the study. MS patients had significantly lower HRQoL than in the general population (physical SF-36: 39.9; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 39.1–40.6; mental SF-36: 44.4; 95% CI: 43.5–45.3). Caregivers also presented lower HRQoL than general population, especially in its mental domain (mental SF-12: 46.4; 95% CI: 45.5–47.3). Moreover, according to GHQ-12, 27% of caregivers presented probable psychological distress. Disability and co-morbidity in patients, and co-morbidity and employment status in caregivers, were the most important explanatory factors of their HRQoL. Conclusions: Not only the HRQoL of patients with MS, but also that of their caregivers, is indeed notably affected. Caregivers’ HRQoL is close to population of chronic illness even that the patients sample has a mild clinical severity and that caregiving role is a usual task in the study context