Demand-side Perspective Research Articles

The network origins of aggregate fluctuations: A demand-side approach

We construct a model of cyclical growth with agent-based features designed to study the network origins of aggregate fluctuations from a demand-side perspective. In our model, aggregate fluctuations result from variations in investment behaviour at firm level motivated by endogenously-generated changes in ‘animal spirits’. In addition to being influenced by their own economic conditions, firms pay attention to the performance of first-degree network neighbours, weighted (to differing degrees) by the centrality of these neighbours in the network, when revising their animal spirits. This allows us to analyse the effects of the centrality of linked network neighbours on the amplitude of aggregate fluctuations. We show that the amplitude of fluctuations is significantly affected by the eigenvector centrality, and the weight attached to the eigenvector centrality, of linked network neighbours. The dispersion of this effect about its mean is shown to be similarly important, resulting in the possibility that network properties can result in ‘great moderations’ giving way to sudden increases in the volatility of aggregate economic performance.

A Competitive Advantage Model for Indonesia’s Sustainable Tourism Destinations from Supply and Demand Side Perspectives

Indonesia is a multicultural country with a diversity of flora and fauna, which makes Indonesia one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world. In 2019, the Indonesian tourism industry became the second-largest foreign exchange contributor. However, there is not yet a competitive advantage model for tourist destinations that are in accordance with the unique geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics of Indonesia. The aim and novelty of this research is to formulate a competitive advantage model for Indonesian tourist destinations by providing dimensions/indicators based on an analysis of the intersection of the supply side and demand sides of the six super-priority destinations. This study used mixed research methods; data analysis was carried out using the Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and the Measurement model using SmartPLS 3 software. The data were obtained from 190 respondents from the supply side and 808 respondents from the demand side using multistage sampling techniques. The study provides 63 indicators in 12 dimensions of competitive advantage for Indonesian tourist destinations. Thus, these indicators are able to provide more efficient guidance to stakeholders in managing cost-effective strategies to improve the competitive advantage of their tourist destinations.

Internationalization of Digital Innovations: A Rapidly Evolving Research Stream

This perspective paper synthesizes the burgeoning literature on internationalization of digital innovations to identify promising areas for future research. We first integrate multiple perspectives on digital innovations to offer a coherent and unified definition of digital innovations. Next, we synthesize digital innovation research into a theoretical framework that discusses the interrelationship between digital innovations and international business environment and its implications for international penetration of digital innovations. Our synthesis of literature highlights the increased research focus on demand-side perspective as an appropriate theoretical framework to explain the unique dynamics of digital internationalization. Finally, we take account of recent trends in digital economy as well as important gaps in current literature to propose promising avenues for future research. We particularly emphasize the need to integrate current institutional transitions of a digital era as well as emerging theoretical perspectives such as demand-side perspective and opportunity logic in digital internationalization research. We hope our perspective paper will contribute toward a more systematic and theoretically grounded advancement of digital internationalization research.

Exploring the Impact of Cross-side Network Interaction on Digital Platforms on Internationalization of Manufacturing Firms

This study aims to explore how manufacturing firms utilize the benefits of network externalities on digital platforms and how they co-create value with foreign customers to expand internationally through their interactions with customers across the sides of the platform-mediated network. Building on the demand-side perspectives, we develop and empirically test a theoretical model explaining the effect of cross-side network interaction on digital platforms upon manufacturing firms' international intensity, as well as adding critical boundary conditions of industry structure and firm size. Based on a sample of 4197 Chinese manufacturing firms, our empirical findings indicate that manufacturing firms' cross-side network interaction on digital platforms could improve international intensity. We also find that industry growth at home country and larger firm size negatively moderate the relationship between cross-side network interaction and international intensity, while regional industry agglomeration has no significant moderating effect. This study contributes to research on firms' international intensity in the digital age and also extends the demand-side perspectives literature in an IB context.

The Changing Role of Student Housing as Social Infrastructure

The role of student housing within social infrastructure provision is arguably overlooked. This is a vital issue, as purpose-built student accommodation provides a significant stock of affordable accommodation for students in European university cities while also supporting their social integration in the urban environment. Although an increasing involvement of for-profit student home developers and providers has been diversifying the landscape of student housing across European university cities in the last decade, this change has been mainly associated with the internationalisation of students’ mobility and the financialisation processes driven by private investors. Subsequently, this article expands these supply and demand side perspectives by localising student housing as social infrastructure. Using Vienna as a case study, the authors mapped purpose-built student accommodation locations and conducted qualitative interviews to analyse recent changes in the provision of student housing and to discuss its implications for the social dimension of purpose-built student accommodation. Accordingly, the respective analysis identifies different logics of student housing providers concerning expansion plans and housing quality, which, in turn, affect the function of student housing as social infrastructure. As a result, this article emphasises the need to critically reflect on the overlooked role of student housing as social infrastructure and the role of public actors as well as their policies in the financialisation of purpose-built student accommodation.

Effect of Perceived Risk of Greenwashing on Consumers’ Willingness to Pay a Price Premium: An Empirical Study

Since China released the timetable of ‘dual carbon’, domestic enterprises have taken relevant measures to facilitate the development of a national green low-carbon economy. However, some of the enterprises have misled consumers by marketing communication of the so-called ‘green’, and this phenomenon of greenwashing should be addressed urgently. From the demand-side perspective, the correlation between perceived risk and willingness to pay a price premium is investigated in this study, and the moderating effect of green innovation identification and the mediating effect of consumers’ negative emotions are verified. As revealed by the empirical results: (1) Greenwashing perceived risk has a significant negative effect on premium payment intention. (2) Greenwashing perceived risk exerts a significant adverse effect on the willingness to pay a price premium on the basis of consumers’ negative emotions, in which consumers’ negative emotions have a partial mediating effect. (3) Green innovation identification is found to have a moderating effect, i.e., the higher the level of green innovation identification of consumers, the more the positive effect of greenwashing perceived risk on their negative emotions will be weakened. The conclusions of this study can help enterprises regulate their own behavior and elevate the market realization level of green premium.

MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ACCESS TO FINANCE CONSTRAINTS IN ETHIOPIA: DEMAND SIDE ANALYSIS

Despite the immense importance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to job creation and the alleviation of abject poverty, significant numbers of MSMEs cannot realize their full potential because of limited access to finance and other factors, mostly in developing countries. The study investigates micro, small and medium enterprises' access to finance constraints in Ethiopia from a demand-side perspective. This study employed a descriptive analysis using survey data collected from 814 randomly selected sample enterprises. The results show that about 76% of the MSMEs were established by initial capital majorly generated from their own savings, family or friends, Equub, and saving and credit cooperatives among others. The remaining 24% accessed their initial capital from formal financial institutions. From the total, 39.4% of MSMEs did not apply for loans due to high collateral requirements, complex application procedures, unfavorable interest rates, insufficient loan size, maturity, and grace period, and lack of transparency. The study results also reveal that 22%, 46%, and 32% of the MSMEs are partially credit constrained, fully credit constrained, and non-credit constrained, respectively. The difference between the average demand and the loan supplied is estimated to be 3241, 11444, and 30949 USD for each micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise, respectively. The total estimated finance gap for all MSMEs is 31.7 billion USD. The findings of this study suggest the establishment of public credit guarantee schemes, cash flow-based lending, and psychometric testing for credit scoring and automating the MFIs' services to improve MSMEs' access to finance.

A green path towards sustainable development: The impact of low-carbon city pilot on energy transition

With the increasing emphasis on sustainable development issues such as ensuring energy security, addressing climate change, and protecting the ecological environment, countries around the world have reached a general consensus to accelerate their energy transition (ET). In fact, China implemented a low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy in 2010 to explore green development and ET by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and improving environmental quality. Using panel data for 253 cities at the prefecture level, this paper creatively divides the dimensions of ET into energy consumption (EC), energy structure (ES), and energy intensity (EI) from the supply-side and demand-side perspectives and measures the local and spatial spillover effects of LCCP on ET by employing a difference-in-differences (DID) model and a spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model. The results indicate that LCCP accelerates ET, and the conclusions still hold after a series of robustness tests. Moreover, the results of the mechanism verification suggest that LCCP affects ET indirectly through total factor productivity (TFP), and its impact depends on the construction of public transportation (PT). Heterogeneity analysis of city location, size, and features reveals that LCCP is beneficial to ET in south cities, large cities, non-resource-based cities, and old industrial cities. We also find that LCCP generates positive spatial spillover effects on EC and EI and negative spatial spillover effects on ES in non-pilot cities.

A supply-side angle to understand heritage tourism sites: A value-based assessment approach

ABSTRACT While conservation is an important research theme in heritage tourism, studies have typically focused on tourist perceptions from a demand-side perspective. Yet, there is an opportunity to better understand the supply-side of heritage tourism, including how resources are ‘marked’ as heritage sites. This study addresses this gap by applying a value-based approach from the Burra Charter, a well-recognized heritage management and conservation guideline that has been translated and adopted worldwide, to evaluate an urban heritage site: Kung Lee Sugarcane Juice, a traditional herbal tea shop situated in Hong Kong. On-site, field observations were combined with secondary research on three underlying dimensions of heritage value (i.e. historic value, architectural value, and social value) to understand the essential facets of heritage management policy-making. Overall, this research concentrates on the vital role of heritage value in achieving sustainable tourism development.

The demand side of vaccine politics and pandemic illiberalism

ABSTRACT We take the demand-side perspective of Sputnik V, trying to answer why facing vaccine scarcity, some countries opt for Sputnik V, and others do not. To show how the pandemic tests the institutional safeguards and soft guardrails of liberal democracy, we compiled a unique dataset and combined statistical analysis and case studies. While our quantitative analysis shows that the illiberalism of the party in power is the main explanatory factor in the import of Sputnik V, our qualitative case studies illustrate under what conditions institutional guardrails withstand the pressure of populist and illiberal leaders.

Techno-ecological synergies of hydropower plants: Insights from GHG mitigation

Hydropower is a source of climate-friendly energy; however, its ecological impacts have been criticized. Few studies have considered the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from ecosystem restoration. This study proposes a techno-ecological synergy framework based on life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate 34 hydropower plants (HPs) in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River from GHG supply and demand side perspectives. Our results show that the demand unit carbon footprint of the 34 HPs ranged from 5.43 to 49.36 g CO2-eq/kWh, while the imputed GHG emissions from ecosystem restoration occupied 1.22 % to 30.35 %. The unit carbon footprint of large HPs were larger than those of small HPs, and both were positively correlated with the installed capacity of the HPs. All the HPs were unsustainable at the local scale and relied on regional ecosystem supplies. The Sobol' sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulations demonstrated the reliability of our results. Finally, our results were used to consider the related policy implications.

Do Digital Finance and the Technology Acceptance Model Strengthen Financial Inclusion and SME Performance?

Digital inclusive finance, as a vital engine for the country’s high-quality growth, provides new impetus and prospects for encouraging economic development during the looming economic downturn. SMEs play a significant role in economic growth and development, particularly in developing countries. However, value promoting financial inclusion for SMEs through digitalization is still understudied. The objectives aimed at by this investigation were: to study the impact of financial inclusion on SME performances, to observe the influence of digital financing on financial inclusion and SME performance association as a mediator and to examine how the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) supports financial inclusion and SME performance. A well-structured questionnaire using a quantitative research approach was utilized to gather data from 366 owner-managers among Sri Lankan SMEs. The study’s findings are presented: financial inclusion, digital financing and TAM play influential roles in SME performance. More precisely, digital financing and TAM mediate positively the relationship between financial inclusion and performance in SMEs. The findings of this research endeavor to shed light on developing and popularizing digital financing by providing services which are cheap, secure and low risk from a supply-side perspective, as well as adopting and adjusting digital financing by enhancing financial literacy, which would be necessary from the demand-side perspective.

Racial Inequality and Status in Contemporary Organizations: A Supply- and Demand-Side Perspective

Among contemporary organizations that purportedly support an equal and equitable workplace, we often see mixed evidence involving employees’ own experiences, particularly those of minority individuals, in response to issues involving racial inequality, such as racial discrimination and bias, that remain persistent in the workplace. These issues also point to the relevance of status of individuals and organizations on both the supply- and demand-sides of the labor market. While studies attempt to address the consequences of such issues, further work that focuses on current and more recent efforts to address issues of racial inequality, particularly from the vantage point of individuals of minority racial groups, needs to be explored. This symposium not only aims to provide further contribution to these areas with an empirical oversight of the interplay of organizational status, diversity, and racial stratification, but it also uniquely hones in on the salience of Asian Americans as a racial group that moves beyond the scope of a traditional focus on a Black/White dichotomy that has often been the subject of relevant literature. At the end of the presentation, Matthew Bidwell, a leading scholar on status and inequality in organizations, will facilitate an interactive group discussion about these papers with the audience and presenters with key commentary. Keywords: race, inequality, status, diversity, racial stratification, labor markets Threading the Diversity Needle: Minority Group Presence and Perceptions of Organizational Status Presenter: Noah Askin; INSEAD Seeking Only the Best: How Hometown Pressures Influence (East-) Asian Americans’ Status Aspirations Presenter: Oliver Hahl; Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business Presenter: Jenny Oh; Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business Presenter: Trevor Daniel Young-Hyman; U. of Pittsburgh Racial Inequality in Organizational Environments Presenter: Letian Zhang; Harvard Business School Creativity Ceiling: Stereotypes and Underrepresentation of Asian Americans in Corporate Leadership Presenter: Wyatt Lee; U. of Toronto

Technology Strategy and Competition Track: Thinking Strategically about Network Effects

Many, highly valuable firms such as Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Tencent owe parts of their success to network effects. Therefore, it is unsurprising that scholars have been studying network effects and their implications for decades. However, we still know surprisingly little about (1) how to measure network effects, (2) the implications for firms trying to actively induce network effects, and (3) the competition under heterogeneous network effects. The goal of this symposium is to highlight research that deals with these issues. All four presenters illustrate novel ways to measure the strength of network effects and show how these network effects affect value creation and/or firm performance. Results show that network effects are by no means a panacea for firms as (1) they might be too weak to justify a costly merger, (2) they negatively affect firm performance when paired with incompatible strategies, (3) their strength critically depends on heterogeneous user characteristics, and (4) strong within-period network effects are not enough to achieve a dominant market position without consistently strong inter-period network effects. The four presentations will be followed by a discussion that aims to identify common themes and fruitful avenues for future research on network effects. Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger Presenter: Chiara Farronato; Harvard Business School Network Effects by Choice: A Demand-Side Perspective on Adoption Performance for Board Games Presenter: Joe N. Ploog; UCL School of Management Online Communities on Competing Platforms: Evidence from Game Wikis Presenter: Tobias Kretschmer; LMU Munich How Users Drive Value in Two-sided Markets: Platform Designs That Matter Presenter: Marshall Van Alstyne; Boston U.

Preference to Family Doctor Contracted Service of Patients with Chronic Disease in Urban China: A Discrete Choice Experiment.

ObjectiveShanghai is one of the pioneers proposing family doctor contract service (FDCS). However, there is no quantitative research focusing on the Shanghai experience from a demand-side perspective. This study investigated Shanghai chronic patients’ relative preferences for FDCS using a discrete choice experiment method.MethodsA face-to-face discrete choice experiment (DCE) was performed to elicit the preference with 300 samples. Attributes and levels were extracted from the literature review and focus group consultation with patients. Seven attributes, follow-up frequency, medicine accessibility, family doctor competency, health management, referral convenience, appointment flexibility, and shared decision-making, were decided. Three levels were attached to each attribute. A mixed logit model was used to evaluate the multiple-choice data.ResultsA total of 248 patients completed the survey. Patient valued FDCS medicine accessibility (β=0.57, P < 0.05), and high family doctor competency (β= 0.43, P < 0.05), regular health management activities (β=0.36, P < 0.05), high follow-up frequency (β=0.31, P < 0.05) the most. The good doctor-patient shared decision-making atmosphere (β=0.12, P < 0.05), high referral convenience (β=0.06, P < 0.05) and high appointment flexibility (β=0.04, P < 0.05) are valued as less important. No significant preference heterogeneity was identified for patients with different sociodemographic characteristics. Respondents reported other FDCS needs, including online health consultation, specialist services in local institutes, higher reimbursement rates, free rehabilitation guidance for the disabled and personal health management.ConclusionThis research is the first discrete choice experiment FDCS preference research targeting on Chinese urban population. The results suggested that to increase the quality of FDCS, policy-makers should prioritize follow-up frequency, medicine accessibility, family doctor competency and health management. The service package should consider a higher reimbursement rate and rehabilitation guidance for the disabled if extra health-care resources available. Future FDCS policy should consider stated societal preference and be congruent with it.

CHANGES IN POST-PANDEMIC TRAVELLING BEHAVIOUR. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON STUDENTS' TRAVELLING INTERESTS?

The novel Coronavirus has led to devastating tragedies, creating a worldwide crisis upon economy and society. Starting from people suffering from illness, deaths, unemployment up until poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered one of the darkest periods of the world’s history. More broadly, the virus has transformed our everyday lifestyles, inter-human interactions, dynamics of life and last but not least, perceptions upon travelling. The tourism sector has been tremendously affected by the expansion of the virus, with hundreds of countries closing borders, introduction of numerous travel restrictions and suspended flights. Restrictions, regulations and the fear of not getting infected with the new virus have created chaos and considerably changed the way individuals currently perceive travelling. Our study takes a demand-side perspective in order to determine changes in travelling behaviours of individuals, by focusing on students, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study acts as a pilot test and aims at offering guidance for the tourism sector in elaborating and adapting to changing demands on the market. For this purpose, we have collected primary data by distributing a survey among students studying at Universities in Romania. Results have been analysed and compared with relevant literature research. Findings reveal the importance of rate of infection, possible occurring restrictions and costs as being critical when choosing travel destinations during pandemic. Conclusions demonstrate that there is a high need for strong collaboration and cooperation between governments and tourism agencies and businesses. We propose tourism organisations to direct their promotions upon relaxing and safe destinations, at a domestic level in a first phase, followed by international alternatives. We consider that competition can take a backseat during these tough periods and make room for collaborative behaviours and partnerships for the industry to survive.

A whole-system approach for quantifying the value of smart electrification for decarbonising heating in buildings

This paper uses a whole system approach to examine system design and planning strategies that enhance the system value of electrifying heating and identify trade-offs between consumers’ investment and infrastructure requirements for decarbonising heating in buildings. We present a novel integrated model of heat, electricity and gas systems, HEGIT, to investigate different heat electrification strategies using the UK as the case study from two perspectives: (i) a system planning perspective regarding the scope and timing of electrification; and (ii) a demand-side perspective regarding the operational and investment schemes on the consumer side. Our results indicate that complete electrification of heating increases peak electricity demand by 170%, resulting in a 160% increase in the required installed capacity in the electricity grid. However, this effect can be moderated by implementing smart demand-side schemes. Grid integration of heat pumps combined with thermal storage at the consumer-end was shown to unlock significant potential for diurnal load shifting, thereby reducing the electricity grid reinforcement requirements. For example, our results show that a 5 b£ investment in such demand-side flexibility schemes can reduce the total system transition cost by about 22 b£ compared to the case of relying solely on supply-side flexibility. In such a case, it is also possible to reduce consumer investment by lowering the output temperature of heat pumps from 55 °C to 45 °C and sharing the heating duty with electric resistance heaters. Furthermore, our results suggest that, when used at a domestic scale, ground-source heat pumps offer limited system value since their advantages (lower peak demand and reduced variations in electric heating loads) can instead be provided by grid-integration of air-source heat pumps and increased thermal storage capacity at a lower cost to consumers and with additional flexibility benefits for the electricity grid. Lastly, our results show that, regardless of consumers’ investment and operation decisions, the UK electricity grid can reliably accommodate close to 50% of the heating demand, but this can be increased to about 75% by implementing smart operation schemes at the consumer end.

Inequalities and Policy Gaps in Maternal Health: Evidence from Empowered Action Group States in India

Background: Health inequality in maternal health is one of the serious challenges currently faced by public health experts. Maternal mortality in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states is highest and so are the health inequalities prevalent. Therefore, we examine to understand maternal health inequality and the risk factors with respect to the EAG states in India. Methods: A cross-sectional data from NFHS-4 (2015-16) for EAG states of India was used. Bi-variate, multivariate logistic regression, and probabilities were carried out to investigate the factors. Also, concentration indices were used to measure health inequality. Findings: Our finding showed four outcomes of maternal health-antenatal care of at least 4 visits (ANC 4+), institutional delivery, contraption-use, and unmet-need. Our finding revealed the average predicted probability of women currently married using ANC 4+ in rural area is 5 percent higher than that of urban areas for EAG states. Lower contraception use, institutional delivery, and unmet need are observed among urban women. The results also indicate that better maternal health is heavily concentrated among the richer households, while negative concentration index of unmet need clearly reflects the greater demand for higher unmet need among the poor households in the EAG states. Conclusions: Challenges of inequalities still persist at large in maternal health, but to achieve better health these inequalities must be reduced. Since inequality mainly affects poor households due to lower level of income. Therefore, specific measures must be taken from a demand-side perspective in order to enhance their income and reduce the disparities in the EAG states of India.

Chinese or western finance? Transparency, official credit flows, and the international political economy of development

Why do some developing countries obtain more official finance from China vis-a-vis Western sources? This study finds borrower transparency significantly affects which governments borrow more from China. From a supply side perspective, Chinese lending agencies have incentives to lend more to untransparent borrowers. From a demand side perspective, untransparent borrowers have incentives to use Chinese finance to avoid Western pressure to become more transparent. These findings and explanations have three implications. First, they help explain variation in external debt composition across developing countries using official credit. Second, they have implications for the international political economy of developing countries’ financial ties to China. Third, they imply the use of Chinese finance may allow untransparent governments to remain so, an important implication for the political economy of development.

The use of the Airbnb collaborative platform in Romania: a survey-based research

Recent years have witnessed a wide and strong development of the sharing economy in various industries. As a result of the wide spread of intelligent mobile devices and customers’ increasing digital skills, the use of collaborative platforms in tourism, in particular for accommodation services, has become an important alternative for many tourists. In this paper we try to investigate relevant aspects of the profile, motivations and habits of the Romanian tourists who are using Airbnb for renting accommodation services. Survey-based research was conducted during the summer of 2021, a period when very few COVID-19-related restrictions were being enforced in Romania regarding people’s mobility and travel. The questionnaire was designed to capture not only the demographic, economic and social profile of the consumers, but also and more importantly the main aspects related to the type of travel (leisure versus business), the motivations of getting involved in the collaborative use of platforms etc., from a demand-side perspective. We have grouped the motivations for using Airbnb taking into account the following main classes of factors: price; comfort; ease of use and functionality; authenticity and local connection. Other investigated issues pertained to analyze the place of Airbnb compared to classical accommodation units, considering factors such as trust and efficacy. We found that there is a certain amount of conformity among the population in making the decision to book accommodation, but there is also an innovative trend, expressing people's desire to try other forms of accommodation that offer authenticity and new experiences, characteristics that are less common in traditional accommodation forms. Indirectly, we can identify several trends in respondents' preferences for tourist accommodation and consumption habits. Trends may include greater availability of accommodation alternatives, including through collaborative platforms and, gradually, the transformation of these alternative experiences into tourism consumption habits.