Modul 53010: Master - Hauptseminar 'Technology, Pricing, and Market Mechanisms'
(SS '11)

Prof. Robert J. Kauffman, PhD

2 SWS, 7 LP

Dates: June 15-16, 2011, both 10:00-18:00 o'clock

Location: Room 401, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne

Held in English!

Only for WiSo-Students (Zentralvergabe)!


Overview
 This course will explore recent developments in the global marketplace involving strategic pricing and innovative market mechanisms for selling that are made possible by recent technology advances. We will examine the basis for these mechanisms, their influences on market competition, channel management and product and service distribution. Specific topics will include: transparent, opaque, dynamic and discount pricing strategies in electronic markets; the transformation of price and service competition in the airlines and hospitality industries; and innovative firms involved in technology leadership with these new developments. 

Methodology: Combination of lecture and discussion. Groups will be formed during the course.


Dates and Location


Grading


Assignments

Individual Pre-Assignment - Deadline: June 9, 2011, till 12:00 o'clock (50%)

Preparation: There are three items that you should look at: a video, an academic article, an industry whitepaper in advance of our class. These are described below and available electronically for you. 

(1)   Issue Backgrounder. To get you warmed up for the coverage of the issues in the course, you first should watch this video. It will give you an appreciation of the current battle that is underway in the 'indirect' (intermediated) and 'direct' (supplier.com) channels, and why airlines have been having difficulty with owning their customers, since the rise of digital distribution in air travel services.

      Jim Davidson, CEO of Farelogix, 'What's Wrong with Airline Distribution? The Case of the New Cookie,' Miami, FL, November 2010. There are multiple sources for this video, in a couple cases with accompanying explanations, are available via the links below. Choose whichever one is convenient for you to access:.

Option 1: www.openaxisgroup.org/cookie/

Option 2: www.tnooz.com/2010/12/17/news/airlines-gdss-and-the-case-of-the-gourmet-chocolate-truffle-cream-cookie/

Option 3: www.farelogix.com/press-cookie.php

(2)   Analysis Perspective. This article will provide you with some tools for thinking and analyzing technology-based product and service distribution, information strategy and information transparency, and the related strategic actions. We'll use it in class, and you’ll use in the assignments for this seminar:

      Nelson Granados, Alok Gupta and Robert J. Kauffman, 'Information Transparency in Business-to-Consumer Markets: Concepts, Framework and Research Agenda,' Information Systems Research, 21, 2, June 2010, 207-226.

(3)   Industry Context. To understand the application of the ideas in the Granados, Gupta and Kauffman (2010) article, and to be able to answer some of the preparation questions, you will also need to look through this 'state-of-the-industry' white paper on 'Distribution 1.0' and 'Distribution 2.0,' and what it will take to bridge the gap to provide dual-channel competitive distribution advantage for the airlines, while securing the centrality of physical and online travel agencies (OTAs), global distribution systems (GDSs), and other air travel services intermediaries.

Open Axis Group, 'Distribution 2.0: Innovating the Airline Indirect Channel,' Toronto, Canada, November 2010.

To be delivered: Answer the following questions in no more than a six-page deliverable overall to prep yourself for our class together:

(1)  Provide a brief analysis of the 'New Cookie' video from the point of view of the Granados, Gupta and Kauffman (2010) article, to illustrate your understanding of the key concepts of the article. It  may be helpful for you to scan the Distribution 2.0 whitepaper to connect the industry setting with the broader concepts that Granados and his coauthors discuss. (3 pages)

(2)  Further develop your understanding of the main concepts of the Granados, Gupta and Kauffman (2010) article by applying them to two other industry settings that you have some knowledge about. There are many, many potential applications in business. Come to class prepared to discuss these applications and the main ideas that you applied. (3 pages total)

Hand in:  

(1) by eMail from your sMail or home university's eMail-account as .doc or .docx-file (no .pdf, no file protection) to claudia.loebbecke<at>uni-koeln.de, thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and sandra.weniger<at>uni-koeln.de AND

(2) two paper copies + CD as .doc or .docx-file (no .pdf, no file protection) at the department's letter box (inside the building, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne). Please note that we cannot confirm every incoming mail, but if it follows the requirements (account, file format, etc.) it will be okay!


Group Assignment - Deadline July 28, 2011, till 12:00 o'clock (30%)

Post-Class Assignment Readings. There are three articles that you should scan for the group assignment several weeks after the class occurs. This will help you figure out where you would like to concentrate your efforts for the final post-class assignment:

(1) Google, ‘Facts about Google’s Acquisition of ITA Software,’ July 1, 2011. Also available at www.google.com/press/ita/.

(2) Clarisse Jones, ‘American Airlines Sues Online Travel Giant Orbitz,’ USA Today, April 13, 2011. Also available at travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/04/American-Airlines-sues-online-travel-giant-Orbitz/46098600/1.

(3) David Jones, ‘AA, Travelport Mobilize for Distribution War,’ Business Travel News, November 29, 2010. Also available at www.businesstravelnews.com/Business-Travel/Travel-Management/Articles/AA,-Travelport-Mobilize-For-Air-Distribution-War/.

Post-Class Assignment (Joint with Group Members, 30% of Your Grade, Due July 28). The air travel services industry, and the related search services sector offer a number of unusually interesting problems for competitive strategists and IT specialists to try to solve. Choose any one of the following three options and prepare a group analysis, strategy and design report of 15 pages. Here are the firms that you can choose among:

(1) Option 1: Google’s acquisition of ITA Software (www.itasoftware.com) and a workable strategy to make this acquisition highly valuable in the competitive context of the air travel services industry.

(2) Option 2: American Airlines and other airline firms and their channel conflicts with Orbitz, Expedia and other OTAs, and a workable strategy that will help to ensure that American Airlines will be able to achieve the most effective performance in air travel services suppler in its industry.

(3) Option 3: The channel conflicts of the OTAs, Orbitz or Expedia, or the global distribution systems (GDSs), Amadeus (www.amadeus.com), Sabre (www.sabre-holdings.com), Worldspan (www.travelport.com/Products/Worldspan-Go) or Galileo (www.travelport.com/Products/Galileo-Web-Services), and a workable strategy for any one of them that will help them to maintain centrality and intermediation effectiveness amidst the channel conflict of the air travel services industry.
Your proposed analysis, strategy and design report should include the following elements:

(a) An introduction and ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat (SWOT)’ analysis to pave the way for the strategy that you propose, using one of the frameworks that you read about or that we discussed in this course. There are a number of different workable choices. (4 pages)

(b) A discussion of your strategy and the problems it solves for the firm that implements it, taking advantage of some of the information strategy and analysis concepts that we discussed in this course related to search, digital intermediation, and channel conflict resolution. (4 pages)

(c) Specific design and implementation ideas that you expect to pursue under the proposed strategy (4 pages)

(d) Any tables, figures or appendices with supporting evidence for the efficacy of your strategy. (3 pages)

Hand in:
1) by eMail from your sMail or home university's eMail-account as .doc or .docx-file (no .pdf, no file protection) to all group members (sMail), claudia.loebbecke<at>uni-koeln.de, thomas.weiss<at>uni-koeln.de, and sandra.weniger<at>uni-koeln.de AND

2) two paper copies + CD as .doc or .docx-file (no .pdf, no file protection) at the department's letter box (inside the building, Pohligstr. 1, 50969 Cologne). 
Please note that we cannot confirm every incoming mail, but if it follows the requirements (account, file format, etc.) it will be okay!


Registration
Closed

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