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This paper is about the central role of product design on consumer evaluations. While the design literature has articulated two different types of design, i.e. form-based design and function-based design (Khalid 2004), most extant marketing literature has mostly focused on the impact of functional design on performance (see Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan (2007) for a notable exception). In this paper, I examine the individual and joint effects of the two design dimensions: form design and functional design on consumer evaluations of new products. In the first essay, employing theoretical underpinnings from processing fluency theory, I investigate four major research questions. First, all else equal, does form design matter? Second, how does form design interact with functional design? Third, does the interaction between form and functionality change in an innovation context? Specifically, given a certain level of functionality, what type of form is more advantageous for a radically new product (RNP) or an incrementally new product (INP)? Fourth, is there an individual difference in consumer evaluations to innovative products with various form designs? Results from the four experiments conducted demonstrate that (1) more typical form design leads to more positive attitudes toward the product than less typical form design, (2) a more typical design compensates for the average functionality of the product and hence a product with average functionality is evaluated as well as highly functional products in the more typical design condition. In a less typical design condition, a product with high functionality leads to much lower consumer attitudes towards the product, (3) whereas the form design for incremental innovations must be closer to the incumbent products for favorable evaluations, less typical form is evaluated as good as more typical form for radical innovations. (4) Form design of an innovative product matters more to the technologically more sophisticated consumers (experts) than technologically less sophisticated consumers (novices). In the second essay, I examine the issues involved in using form design to nullify first mover advantage. Pioneers or first movers can be defined as the first firm to sell in a new product category. Despite the proliferation of the pioneering advantage research, there are few empirical studies which examined how the product design enables the later entrants to nullify the first mover advantage. Employing theoretical underpinnings from categorization theory, I investigate the following research questions. First, what type of form is more likely to enhance consumer evaluations and nullify first mover advantage when the follower's product is featured with higher or lower functionality? Second, how does form design interact with functional design for the follower's product? Results from the experimental study conducted demonstrate that (1) if the follower's functionality is not superior to the pioneer's, follower had better focus on design differentiation which can compensate for the lower functionality of the follower (2) if the follower's functionality is superior to the pioneer's, follower had better follow the pioneer's design for the better product evaluation. The managerial implication is clear: Form design is a critical determinant of consumer evaluations. Form design helps create and appropriate value for firms.

This thesis presents two essays that explore firms’ incentive to share information in a multi-period decentralized supply chain and between competing firms. In the first essay, we consider a two-period supply chain in which one manufacturer supplies to a retailer. The retailer possesses some private demand information about the uncertain demand and decides whether to share the information with manufacturer. If an information sharing agreement is achieved, the retailer will share the observed demand information truthfully to the manufacturer. Then the selling season with two periods starts. In each period, the manufacturer decides on a wholesale price, which the retailer considers when deciding on the retail price. The manufacturer can observe the retailer's period-1 decision and the realized period-1 demand, and use this information when making the period-2 wholesale price decision. Thus, without information sharing, the two firms play a two-period signaling game. We find that voluntary information sharing is not possible because it benefits the manufacturer but hurts the retailer. However, different from one-period model, in which no information sharing can be achieved even with side payment, the manufacturer can make a side payment to the retailer to induce information sharing when the demand range is small. Both firms benefit from more accurate information regardless whether the retailer shares information. We also extend the two-period model to three-period model and infinite-period model, we find that the above results are robust. The second essay studies the incentives for information sharing between two competing firms with different production timing strategies. Each firm is planning to produce a new (upgraded) product. One firm adopts routine timing, whereby her production time is fixed according to her tradition of similar or previous models of the product. The other firm uses strategic timing, whereby his production time can be strategically chosen: be it before, simultaneously with, and after the routine firm. The two firms simultaneously choose whether or not to disclose their private demand information, make their quantity decisions based on any demand information available, and then compete in the market. We find that when the demand uncertainty is not high, both firms sharing information is the unique equilibrium outcome. Exactly one firm (the routine firm) sharing information can arise in equilibrium when the demand uncertainty is intermediate. These results are in stark contrast to extant literature which has shown that, for Cournot competitors with substitutable goods, no firm is willing to share demand information. Production timing is thus identified as a key driving force for horizontal information sharing, which might have been overlooked before. Surprisingly, when the competition becomes more intense, firms are more willing to share information. It is the information asymmetry that fundamentally change the strategic firm’s timing. We highlight the impact of signaling demand information for an early-production firm on the timing strategies, under different information sharing arrangements.

Abstract This dissertation explores the strategy of entering a high ¡Vbarrier industry for a conventional resin company. By analyzing the competitive advantage of nations in LCD industry, followed by comparisons made based on Resources Based View among the leading LCD chemical companies and the emerging Korea chemical firms in this industry ,the author analyzed the key successful factors of these firms and assemblied a set of strategies for the local players. The results leads to conclusions as follows: 1. The Taiwan LCD industry will have limited future ,without local LCD chemical companies. 2. The key successful factors of first movers are intensive R&D activities, aggressive participation in customers¡¦new projects, strategically alliance with important customers, and products portfolio being based on core technology of polymers, colorants or microlithography and also with organizational capabilities and long histories in chemical industry. 3.The Korean late-commers have similar KSFs with their Japanese competitors ,except that they focus their resources on fewer products portofolio and are more aggressive for faster response to customers¡¦ needs by adopting the culture of electronic industry¡¦s fast tempo. This dissertation is a case study on the competitive advantages of sampled chemical firms. By collection of related papers and reports and talks with experts in the field ,the key successful factors of the foreign competitors are summarized and the counter strategies for the local player are thus formulated. A business plan was proposed to prove the feasibility of the strategies. Key words: TFT LCD,follower¡¦s strategy,first-mover advantage, aggromeration economy,resource based view.

Procter & Gamble has operated nearly 300 branded products and outsold in more than 140 nations worldwide these days. Among these products, P&G has its innovative research and developes abilities to introduce the brand new infant merchandise ¡V Pampers diapers. P&G is usually not a first mover but Pampers is the state of art product for little infants in the globe. Soon after Pampers¡¦ existence, this unique product has benefited countless mothers to nourish their little ones. In many years, Pampers has played the pioneer character and its leadership in the baby diapers market. Thus, this research study will be focused on P&G¡¦s product, Pampers, to discover P&G¡¦s first mover advantages. In the meantime, this paper will also study how much advantage first mover has in the consumer products industry, where these advantages come from, and how to maintain them. In addition, this research study will examine other unique competitiveness in Taiwan¡¦s diapers¡¦ market for infants. This research study has discovered that Pampers has several first mover advantages and they are as follows: 1. The sequence of entering a market is not necessary related to the market shares but a brand has the most effectiveness when it first enters the market 2. When this particular industry has low competiveness but high entering barriers, or when a specific product lifecycle is in the introduction stage or growing stage, the first mover has more advantages when entering this market 3. The entering sequence has effectiveness to the price elasticity, production cost, and advertisement cost. The marketing combination has higher effectiveness in the long turn market 4. In the high penetration market, the first mover has more powerful competitive advantages 5. The marketing abilities will enhance first mover¡¦s brand equity

In duopoly Cournot competition with sequential moves, it is well known that each player prefers Stackelberg leadership without demand uncertainty. We study the same game when the demand is uncertain, and firms possess some private information about the uncertain demand. There are two effects of private information in this game. First, when the Stackelberg leader moves first, its private information is leaked to, or inferred by the Stackelberg follower via the output quantity. Hence, the Stackelberg follower makes decision based on more accurate information than the leader. Second, the leader incurs a cost to signal its information to the follower, which hurts the leader. Both effects hurt the Stackelberg leader, then the follower may earn more ex ante profit than the leader. When the demand is continuous, Gal-or (1987) assumes that firms follow linear decision rules and reports that the follower always sets a higher output quantity than the leader and earns more profit than the leader. However, our study finds that it is true if and only if the demand is unboundedly distributed. Otherwise, the Stackelberg leader's Pareto-optimal output quantity is not linear in its private information unless it observes the highest signal, and the follower does not always earn more ex ante profit than the leader. When the demand is discretely distributed, we study how the number of demand states influences the effect of cost of signaling. With more demand states, the effect of cost of signaling on the leader becomes more significant, and the follower may earn more ex ante profit than the leader.

Private equity investing (PE) has experienced rapid growth on a global scale over the last few decades to become a significant industry. While scholars have devoted considerable effort to studying the area of risk capital investing into businesses, research about private equity as an asset class is surprisingly scarce. This dissertation addresses this gap by enhancing understanding of PE fund investing in general, and specifically about how heterogeneity in investor-specific characteristics and entry order strategies may impact performance. Based on a comprehensive set of interviews with PE fund investors, in-dept insights about variances in motives for investing in the asset class, ways of working, and investment strategies across investors were acquired; findings that are elaborated upon in the dissertation. In addition, to facilitate a thorough investigation of the links between organizational characteristics, entry order and performance, hypotheses were tested through the statistical analysis of unique data covering PE funds raised in Sweden over a twenty-year period. Among several novel results, this study indicates that the level of environmental uncertainty has a clear impact on which organization-specific factors explain entry order, as well as which factors impact the ability of an organization to take advantage of a chosen entry order. Furthermore, the study points at organizational reputation as an especially valuable asset in situations of uncertainty. While a good reputation does not directly lead to superior performance, it may be used in exchange for favorable entry order positions. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011</p>

En dubbelsidig plattform är en typ av mellanhand som möjliggör interaktioner mellan två tydliga kundgrupper. Att som dubbelsidig plattform nå sin kritiska massa är vitalt för att överleva. En first mover är mer sannolik att uppnå överlägsna resultat i marknadsandelar, lönsamhet eller antal kunder jämfört med de företag som går in på marknaden senare. Att som dubbelsidig plattform först på sin marknad nå den kritiska massan är däremot ännu svårare eftersom möjligheten att imitera andra inte existerar. Tidigare forskning har konstaterat att dubbelsidiga plattformar ofta möter problem vid lansering på grund av att användare baserar sina förväntningar av plattformen på användare på andra sidan plattformen. Tidigare litteratur har dock inte undersökt hur detta ska lösas. I denna uppsats undersöks den dubbelsidiga plattformen Samarit. Samarit ämnar minska den utbredda ensamheten bland den äldre befolkningen genom att matcha ihop individer för att spendera tid med varandra. Användargrupperna består av köpare samt säljare, också kallade Samariter. Företaget kan betraktas som en first mover.  Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur dubbelsidiga plattformar som är först på en ny marknad når sin kritiska massa genom att beskriva vilka variabler som påverkar potentiella användare att ansluta sig till plattformen. Med stöd i teori och tidigare forskning formuleras tolv hypoteser. Utifrån datainsamling och 222 respondenter estimeras sambanden genom regressionsanalys. Resultaten för potentiella köpare visar att misstro (−0.29), attityd (0.35), användbarhet (0.31) och subjektiva normer (0.17) påverkar intention till användning. Misstro (−0.29) och användbarhet (0.66) påverkar attityd till användning. Teknologisk beredskap (0.74) påverkar enkelhet vid användning. För potentiella Samariter påverkar kompatibilitet (0.16), indirekta nätverkseffekter (0.17), testbarhet (−0.18), nöje (0.31), attityd (0.29) och subjektiva normer (0.23) intention till användning. Misstro (−0.16), nöje (0.49) och användbarhet (0.18) påverkar attityd till användning. Teknologisk beredskap (0.69) påverkar enkelhet vid användning. Resultaten visar på en betydande skillnad mellan köpare och potentiella Samariter. Användargruppernas intention till att ansluta sig skiljer sig åt sig för en plattform av detta slag. Vissa variabler som är av stor vikt för ena användargruppen visar sig vara icke signifikanta för den andra användargruppen. Resultaten av studien kan således användas som riktlinjer för dubbelsidiga plattformsföretag som arbetar för att nå sin kritiska massa. De slutgiltiga modellerna presenterade i studien för att förutspå intention till användning anses därav bidra till forskningen gällande antaganden av en innovation i en ny typ av kontext där dagens forskning är bristfällig.

全球醫學美容的蓬勃發展，醫療院所在提供醫學美容服務同時，除了專業的醫療技術之外，也向消費者推薦這些可以幫助術後保養的醫學美容保養品。而這些經由臨床測試及專業醫師證實對於皮膚健康有療效的醫學美容保養品，既有科學的證實加上醫師推薦，形成一定的公信力，和一般市面上的美容商品形成區隔，進而讓這些起手術後搭配塗抹的醫學美容產品，也另闢形成一個全新的商機。 本研究針對醫學美容保養品產業以先進者優勢的相關研究進行探討，而過去的醫學美容文獻比較注重於由消費者端出發的議題研究，對於醫美品牌廠商進入產業的經營卻付之闕如。有鑑於此，本研究透過個案研究的方法，以國內醫美保養品品牌為例進行先進者優勢之探討，試圖找出欲成功達先進者優勢廠商需具備的能力和面向。 根據本研究顯示出台灣醫學美容保養品廠商進入市場具有先進者優勢，本研將究對於各品牌採用不同通路（醫療、開架式、網路）、不同品牌定位（高、中、平價）的醫學美容品牌，以其先進者廠商佔據不同的市場。各品牌廠商的優勢組合及養成及差異化形成：品牌廠商一方面教育消費者，並建立起「醫學美容保養品」的新概念，將專業度提升和傳統的保養進行區隔；另一方面建立起公司自身優勢，在此產業進入的廠商的優勢來源有：佔有技術領先、關鍵要素佔領和將顧客不確定性的消除，隨著廠商本身不同的資源，選擇專屬自身的行銷組合經營，並與供應商、通路商和終端的顧客建立關係。將產品多元化和採多品牌策略，滿足不同消費族群，而達到產能擴增、成本減低和增加其市佔率，藉此不斷擴增公司資源，進行更多的產品創新、技術精進和品牌行銷，卻也成為後進者進入市場的天然屏障，得以維持自身的優勢。 / Medical cosmetology is now growing rapidly around the whole world. Clinics, which perform cosmetic surgery, provide not only professional medical services, but also promote those cosmeceutical products which can help quick recovery from surgery. These cosmeceutical products, which have the approval from doctors and passed clinical trial, build a strong barrier for its competitor and create a new business opportunity. This research tries to study the First-Mover Advantage of the cosmeceutical industry. The old studies of cosmetic surgery focus more on customer driven issues. There are not many researches about business running for cosmeceutical brand. Therefore, our research study the First-Mover Advantage of cosmeceutical industry in Taiwan by case study methodology and try to find what are the necessary requirements for the First-Mover company. According to our research, cosmeceutical companies have the fist-mover advantage in Taiwan market. In this study, for each cosmeceutical brand have different channel (medical, open-frame , network), different brand positioning (high, middle, parity), with its advanced to occupy a different market. Each brand has their advantages of combination, and develop the differentiation. The cosmeceutical surgery brand companies educate its customer about the new concept of medical skincare product and build up its advantages. The advantages of these companies are: technology leadership, key factor occupation, customer uncertainty elimination. According to different resources of each company, the market and business strategy should be properly managed. The first mover companies have to build up the relationship with its suppliers, channels and end users. Use product diversification and multiple-brand strategy can satisfy various customer groups, increase production capacity, reduce costs and raise the market share. Based on the above strategies, the first mover companies can build up a strong barrier which the followers cannot easily passed, by product innovation, technology improvement, and branding.

Today, sustainability has become a central part of every recent global agenda. As the world is establishing a more sustainable path, professional service firms have started setting up new targets and goals to meet the changing demands and regulations of governments, societies, and investors. In an initiative to create sustainable long-term value for multiple stakeholders, professional service firms are investigating alternative approaches to value creation and competitiveness in a previously unknown market. This has proven to be challenging as value today is often measured in short-term sales and income and long-term value is often overlooked in the business model and the project selection processes.  The aim of the study was to identify and evaluate the challenges professional service firms face when incorporating sustainable value creation into their business model and also to suggest actions to create competitiveness in a previously unexplored market of sustainable value creation. An abductive case study was performed on a large professional service firm. The data collection consisted of 10 semi-structured interviews with company representatives of different ranks. Additionally, a survey with 30 respondents from the case company was carried out. The study concludes that challenges related to sustainable value creation include; incorporating clear measurement and reporting systems in terms of the triple bottom line, transforming Value Uncaptured to Value Captured, lowering the perceived risk of sustainability incorporation, and convincing the right people to make the right decisions. Moreover, the study elicits a framework for sustainable value creation that professional service firms can use as a tool to incorporate sustainability into the business model.  In order to create competitiveness in the new market of sustainable value creation, professional service firms could incorporate sustainable value creation, through the assessment of tangible and intangible assets in all business cases and offerings, and thereby work proactively to meet future demands. This will create competitiveness through a first mover advantage. / På senare tid har hållbarhet blivit en central del av varje global agenda. I samband med att världen lägger mer fokus på hållbarhet har professionella tjänsteföretag börjat sätta upp nya mål för att bemöta de förändrade kraven och reglerna från beslutsfattare i samhället och investerare. I ett initiativ för att skapa hållbart långsiktigt värde för flera intressenter undersöker professionella tjänsteföretag alternativa tillvägagångssätt för att skapa värde och förbli konkurrenskraftiga i den outforskade marknaden. Detta har visat sig vara utmanande då värde idag ofta mäts i kortsiktig försäljning och inkomst och långsiktigt värde ofta förbises i affärsmodellen och projekturval processerna. Syftet med studien var att identifiera och utvärdera de utmaningar som professionella tjänsteföretag står inför när de införlivar hållbart värdeskapande i sin affärsmodell och även att föreslå åtgärder för att skapa konkurrenskraft på en tidigare outforskad marknad för hållbart värdeskapande. En abduktiv fallstudie utfördes på ett stort professionellt serviceföretag. Datainsamlingen bestod av 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer med företagsrepresentanter av olika rang. Dessutom genomfördes en undersökning med 30 respondenter från fallstudieföretaget. Studien drar slutsatsen att utmaningar relaterade till hållbart värdeskapande inkluderar; introduktionen av tydliga “triple bottom line”-baserade mät- och rapporteringssystem, omvandling av “Value uncaptured” till “Value captured”, reducering av den upplevda risken för hållbarhets inkorporering samt att övertyga rätt personer att fatta rätt beslut. Vidare, summeras studien i ett ramverk för hållbart värdeskapande som professionella tjänsteföretag kan använda som ett verktyg för att uppnå hållbarhet i affärsmodellen. För att skapa konkurrensfördelar på den nya marknaden för hållbart värdeskapande kan professionella serviceföretag inkorporera hållbart värdeskapande, genom bedömningen av materiella och immateriella tillgångar i alla affärsfall och erbjudanden, och därigenom arbeta proaktivt för att möta framtida krav. Detta skulle kunna skapa konkurrenskraft genom en ”först till marknad” fördel.