Dominant Player Research Articles

Player Types in Gamified Learning: Conceptualization, Validation, and Profiling

Personalized gamification is often considered a superior approach to a one-size-fits-all method. This study addresses three limitations of previous personalized gamification research: (1) conceptual overlap in previous player type models, (2) lack of empirically validated questionnaires, and (3) inadequate profiling methods that only consider the dominant player type. We conducted two interlocking studies. Study One focused on accurately conceptualizing and measuring player types. It synthesized key attributes from previous models and proposed a new model, along with a questionnaire that underwent rigorous development and validation. Study Two focused on comprehensive player type profiling. It employed a new method, cognitive diagnostic models, which produced finer-grained profiles enabling multiple player attributes. Key contributions include a new player type model with five main archetypes, a valid questionnaire for the proposed model, and a feasible method for player type profiling. These contributions advance our understanding of player types and facilitate future personalized gamification practices.

Interdependent network restoration games with incomplete information and bounded rationality.

Communities face the challenge of finding restoration strategies in the aftermath of disasters. In particular, independent and self-interested utility managers devise such strategies for infrastructure through a heuristic decentralized process. This paper takes a game-theoretic approach to model the decentralized and strategic restoration decision making with application to interdependent infrastructure. Particularly, we model the decision process using simultaneous games to investigate decision makers' conflicting preferences. We employ Bayesian games to incorporate the realistic assumptions of poor interagent communication, resulting in incomplete information. Also, we account for behavioral biases such as bounded rationality, cooperative behavior or lack thereof, and equality-driven resource allocations. We test our models using ideal, synthetic interdependent networks, and the realistic infrastructure of Shelby County, TN. Results show that cooperation leads to the best-performing decisions even if others are not cooperative. The necessity of cooperation is even higher when there is a dominant player whose service is vital to other players. Our sensitivity results highlight the significant influence of resource availability and allocation on the performance of restoration plans. Our approach enhances the practicality of decision models for community resilience, and unravels novel policy strategies such as cooperationincentives.

CARTEL TO PLAYER: OPEC DYNAMICS IN THE GLOBAL OIL MARKET

The OPEC, since its establishment in 1960 as a cartel and regime, has been largely controlling the global energy supply and price regulations, and thus, playing a pivotal role in the global geopolitics of energy security. However, the journey of this inter-governmental organisation till date, as a predominant energy cartel, from cartel dominance and regional geopolitics to global competition and climate change challenges, has not been an easy one. Although OPEC has been going through ups and downs in the global energy market, the requirement of petroleum resources by the global community for economic growth and the developmental process cannot be ignored. Therefore, the role of OPEC is likely to be prominent at least till the mid-2030s as indicated by various energy reports. This research paper is intended to test the hypothesis that in spite of internal dissent and discontent, price war and rise of OPEC+, exploration of shale energy, focus for energy transition, OPEC will have an unmatchable share in the global energy basket and remain a dominant player in the global energy market and geopolitics, at least for the near future. The paper also focuses on how the Russia-Ukraine war has united OPEC and non-OPEC suppliers further to control the global energy market Which benefits both.

Industrial product development with lead users as a source of Schumpeterian opportunity

AbstractIn industrial product development with customers, it is well‐known that lead userness is associated with novel and commercially attractive products. We take a next step by analyzing if lead userness is related to product development that potentially affects industry‐level practices. Our main hypothesis is that lead userness results in the pursuit of Schumpeterian product opportunities: disequilibrating, radical, rare, and based on new knowledge and creative activities. In contrast, at low lead userness, more Kirznerian product opportunities are expected—which maintain industry standards. The hypothesis is supported by data from 139 high‐tech small firms. Next, we anticipate that factors related to the selection of lead users, and the effective processing of their inputs, moderate the connection between lead userness and Schumpeterian opportunity. As for selection, we find a stronger connection when firms collaborate with “new” customers. Conversely, when involved customers have been business partners already for a long time, the pursuit of Schumpeterian opportunities is mitigated. Also, tentative evidence is found that the connection between lead userness and Schumpeterian opportunity amplifies when involved customers are less dominant market players. Finally, when it comes to processing lead users' input, we report tentative evidence that firms' R&D intensity should be higher (indicating ability to process lead users' inputs and make continued development efforts). Our findings help to explain why lead users have been associated with industry dynamics, and provide guidance to identify “relevant” lead users when firms seek product opportunities that potentially disequilibrate their industry.

Artificial Intelligence and International Trade Laws: In Light of Trade Policy and Data Sharing

Due to rapid increased in the interest in how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will affect recently, there has been significant emphasis directed into the impact of this emerging technology on international trade rules, particularly in relation to the economy and trade. We examine the world’s most powerful countries, how they revaluating the trade by using AI and introducing new laws relate to AI. We explore the possibility that AI approaches might provide predictions and connections that are more accurate than those produced by traditional economic models, for accurate predictors. Additionally, we discuss that AI may be used to examine trade patterns and events like trade wars, countries give high importance on comprehending and predicting future trade trends by using AI. Having access to the data is crucial because only open-government data can be used as the fuel for AI that can anticipate and suggest policies. In order to fully use the promise of AI technologies, policymakers should take into account the connections between trade and AI technologies that are explored in this article. The major focus of this investigation is on China’s endeavours to develop and expand its AI industry, as well as the actions that the country has made to establish itself as a dominant player in the global trade market. We also examine to get advantages of globalization international trade policies continue to be in the spotlight. We also highlight that the use AI approaches to understand how trade patterns are impacted by extreme events like pandemics and trade wars.

Currencies and culture: An amusing journey into the impacts of exchange rates on global creative industries

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of exchange rate changes on cultural services trade balances in China, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany from 2006 to 2015. These six countries represent dominant players whose experiences reflect global impacts. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models test for J‐curve effects. Cultural distance matrices combined with cluster analysis explore how cultural proximity influences trade structures. Results demonstrate a J‐curve effect in China contrasting with a reverse J‐curve in the United States. China and Japan form one cultural trade cluster distinct from a Western bloc of the United States, United Kingdom, and France. This signifies emerging economies have developed unique cultural trade models. The research enriches empirical evidence on exchange rate impacts for understudied cultural services trade. Introducing cultural distance provides a novel perspective and policy insights for emerging economies.

Shaping the climate transition: Multistakeholder networks, elites, and sustainable finance policy in Europe

Abstract As sustainable finance has entered the mainstream, it has become an area of contestation among civil society, political and business. In response, policy makers seek to resolve stalemates and enhance legitimacy by utilising multistakeholder, consensus-driven approaches to policymaking. In this paper, we examine these emergent ‘cooperative’ structures from a network analytic perspective. Our structural analysis is based on six national and three EU policy spaces. We conduct compositional analyses to explore the makeup of the network(s) and use a range of centrality measures to capture emerging elites. We find an increase in civil society participation in these policy spaces over time; however, financial firms and pro-business voices remain dominant players. We also find a small cluster of elite actors from a range of stakeholder groups. We conclude that the increasing structural balance of stakeholder interests, however, does not translate into power for civil society to alter the direction of policymaking, but appears to serve enhancing the legitimacy of a policy process that departs from the priority and aspirations of civil society organisations.

Imported financial risk in global stock markets: Evidence from the interconnected network

This paper proposes an interconnected network, including the volatility layer and sentiment layer, to examine imported financial risk in global stock markets. We compare and explore the topology structures of global volatility risk spillovers and sentiment risk spillovers based on the static sample and dynamic sample. Our results show that sentiment risk spillovers across global stock markets are stronger than volatility risk spillovers. Meanwhile, we observe that volatility risk spillovers and sentiment risk spillovers among global stock markets are heterogeneous during periods of financial system stress. The market-level analysis suggests that developed economies, such as the US, UK, and France, are dominant players in global volatility risk and sentiment risk. Finally, we observe that Asian stock markets suffered from substantial imported volatility risks during the crisis, but imported sentiment risks in Asian stock markets are weak.

Comprehensive analysis of energy efficiency and performance of ARM and RISC-V SoCs

Over the past few years, ARM has been the dominant player in embedded systems and System-on-Chips (SoCs). With the emergence of hardware platforms based on the RISC-V architecture, a practical comparison focusing on their energy efficiency and performance is needed. In this study, our goal is to comprehensively evaluate the energy efficiency and performance of ARM and RISC-V SoCs in three different systems. We will conduct benchmark tests to measure power consumption and overall system performance. The results of our study are valuable to developers and researchers looking for the most appropriate hardware platform for energy-efficient computing applications. Our observations suggest that RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) implementations may demonstrate lower average power consumption than ARM, but this does not automatically imply a superior performance per watt ratio for RISC-V. The primary focus of the study is to evaluate and compare these ISA implementations, aiming to identify potential areas for enhancing their energy efficiency. Furthermore, to ensure the practical applicability of our findings, we will use the Computational Fluid Dynamics software OpenFOAM. This step serves to validate the relevance of our results in real-world scenarios. It allows us to fine-tune execution parameters based on the insights gained from our initial study. By doing so, we aim not only to provide meaningful conclusions but also to investigate the transferability of our results to practical applications. Our analysis will also scrutinize the capabilities of these SoCs when handling nonsynthetic software workloads, thereby broadening the scope of our evaluation.

Collaboration and Competition: A Social Network Analysis of Thailand’s Music Industry

This study quantitatively investigates the collaborative framework and competitive landscape of Thailand’s evolving music industry, driven by technological progress and changing consumer preferences. By examining data obtained from Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property, specifically 138,868 songs, it explores the complex network of relationships among music creators, artists, and various rights-holders, including those associated with recording, music, melodies, and lyrics. Utilizing social network analysis, this research uncovers a power law distribution in these networks, reflecting a scale-free market configuration. This characteristic is marked by a few dominant players exercising considerable market influence, contrasted with numerous less-interconnected participants. This investigation notes regular patterns of collaboration between artists and different rights-holders. Furthermore, the network of music creators displays small-world properties, with short collaborative distances fostering efficient information exchange and creative synergy. Crucially, this study identifies key influential players instrumental in directing the industry’s major trends, highlighting their role in market concentration. These significant findings will provide critical evidence for informing future policy development aimed at improving efficiency and equity in the digital content industries.

The Appropriate Scale of Competition Between Online Taxis and Taxis Based on the Lotka-Volterra Evolutionary Model

In order to determine the optimal scale for urban ride-hailing services and taxis while promoting their sustainable growth, we have developed a Lotka-Volterra evolutionary model that accounts for the competitive, cooperative, and mixed dynamics between these two entities. This model is rooted in the theory of synergistic evolution and is supported by data simulation and analysis. By employing this model, we can identify the appropriate size for urban ride-hailing services and taxis when they reach equilibrium under different environmental conditions. The study’s findings reveal that the evolutionary outcomes of online ride-hailing services and traditional taxis are closely linked to the competitive impact coefficient and the cooperative effect coefficient. In highly competitive environments, intense rivalry can lead to the elimination of the less competitive party, while the dominant player ultimately attains a specific size threshold. As competition moderates, both entities can achieve a balanced and stable coexistence in the market. In cooperative environments, both online ride-hailing services and traditional taxis have more room for development, which facilitates the integration of existing and innovative business models. In environments marked by competition, the development trends of both entities mirror those in competitive settings, but cooperation can slow down the decline of the less competitive party. In conclusion, we propose strategies to foster fair competition between online ride-hailing services and traditional taxis, consider the coexistence of old and new business models, and promote their integrated development.

Choice between FSCS and LCCS - Relative Importance of Corporate and Government Initiatives

With a modest start in 2003, Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) have become a dominant player and the most preferred mode of air transport in India. As per the latest reports, the market share of LCCs had touched 82% during FY 2022. This type of progress could not have been achieved without proactive initiatives taken by both the Airline Management and the Government of India. This article tries to analyze various initiatives taken up at the corporate level and at the Government level to make air travel accessible and affordable to the general public. Five attributes under corporate initiatives and four attributes under government initiatives have been identified and analyzed through a survey collected from 300 passengers from Bengaluru, India. The data is analyzed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results show that the UDAN scheme – an initiative of the Government of India (GOI) is the most important attribute that passengers consider when choosing an air carrier. This is followed by Brand Image, Safety/ Reliability. Two more initiatives of the GOI namely De-regulation policies and Tariff Structure are the next two important attributes followed by Airfare. Advertising and Promotion, Infrastructure Development, and Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) are the least important attributes.

Revolutionizing The Automotive Industry: Tesla's Innovative Marketing Strategies in The Face of Changes

In the current era that prioritizes low carbon emissions, Tesla has emerged as a dominant player in the electric vehicle market, defying challenges and odds through its unwavering commitment to sustainability. This study delves into the intricate web of marketing strategies deployed by Tesla, a pioneering force in the rapidly expanding electric vehicle sector. Against the backdrop of varying circumstances, including shifts in national policies, market dynamics, supply and demand, and technical advancements, Tesla has adeptly navigated its course. The focal points of these strategies encompass pricing adjustments, strategic advertising campaigns, continuous technological innovation, and strategic partnerships recalibrations. Tesla's discerning choices in these diverse scenarios have been instrumental in sustaining and augmenting its market performance. By adroitly adapting its approach, the company has managed to maintain a formidable competitive edge. This paper intricately examines the ramifications of Tesla's multifaceted marketing strategies on its performance, elucidating how these decisions have influenced its growth trajectory. The study also ventures to forecast Tesla's future growth trajectory. Given the company's successful track record in maneuvering within the dynamic electric vehicle landscape, informed insights are gleaned into the avenues that may drive Tesla's continued expansion and influence. By fusing comprehensive analyses of the strategies undertaken, this research aims to offer valuable insights into the symbiotic relationship between strategic marketing decisions and Tesla's remarkable success in the current market.

Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the relationship between ego states, organizational commitment, and productivity among Indian bankers

Banking is a dominant player among the service providers in India. Interpersonal skills play a vital role in the banking industry, as intangible variables are influenced by communication. Through Transactional Analysis (TA), bankers can render better services to their customers by ensuring that the communication occurs at an acceptable level of ego state. This manuscript sets out to uncover the role of TA in determining the commitment and productivity of bankers. When we delve deeper into the workings of the banks, it is understandable that it is not just monetary transactions that are related to banking employees but also an interweaved set of compeller transactions between people that form the edifice of banking transactions. Therefore, effective interpersonal communication is essential for bank employees. Transactional Style Inventory tools were applied to measure the level of ego states, while structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationship between variables. Results show that respondents exhibit a higher level of adapted child ego and a lower level of creative child ego states. Moreover, nurturing parent, adult ego, and adapted child ego states significantly influence employee commitment and productivity. Based on the findings, the banks were recommended to incorporate developing a recruitment policy that checks the ego states of employees before placing them on the staffing panel of the workplace. Moreover, the research findings also help in using the ego states of employees to design human resource policies that can lead to better interpersonal communication that enhances the productivity of the employees.

Marketing and Value Chain Analysis of Mandarin at Jorayal Rural Municipality of Doti, Nepal

The yearly decline in mandarin production, one of the important citrus fruit in the mid-hills of Nepal could be attributed to underdeveloped and non-systematic market and lack of value-chain participation by farmers leading to low profitability and hence reducing their motivation. So, this research explores market and value chain of mandarin sub-sector through survey of 100 households from Jorayal rural municipality of Doti district using semi-structured questionnaires. Results showed that the average production of selected mandarin farmers is 1.8 Mt with income of Rs. 24,059 but considering family labor gross margins are negative. The dominant marketing channel is FarmersàCollectors, with around 92% of sales volume. Among the different types of collectors, local ones are dominant market players although price offered is higher for those coming from outside the district (Rs.58/kg) compared to local collectors (Rs. 50/kg), with producer's share being 40% and 35%, respectively. Monopoly of local collectors is high but for local relationship farmers are compelled to sell to them. Due to remoteness of the area, there are low/no value chain actors and hence marketing efficiency is also low. The major problem in marketing is found to be the low market price along with the unavailability of storage facilities or collection centers. Low networking of farmers is also contributing to reduction of the marketing efficiency and hence they are found not to be interested to scale-up their mandarin farms. Cooperative marketing may be one of the best options to increase the bargaining power of small-scale and scattered farmers.

Tensions in Sino-African labour relations: the view from the Karuma hydroelectric dam in Uganda

ABSTRACTOver the last decade China has become a dominant player in Africa's rapidly growing hydropower sector. These mega projects typically employ thousands of Africans yet research on labour relations at these sites remains extremely limited. This article provides a rare systematic analysis of workers’ experiences on a Chinese-financed-and-constructed hydroelectric dam in Africa. We find that chronic verbal abuse of African workers by Chinese managers is a defining feature of labour relations at this project in Uganda. This abuse has tainted many workers’ attitudes towards the Chinese contractor Sinohydro, the Chinese government, and to a lesser extent Chinese people themselves. Workers also perceive Ugandan organisations and the Ugandan government as complicit in these poor labour relations. These findings underscore the limits of accountability to labour standards by Chinese firms operating in Africa, especially in contexts where host organisations and governments fail to advocate aggressively for the rights of African workers.

Innovation for sustainability through co-creation by small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMEs): Socio-cultural sustainability benefits to rural destinations

Small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMEs) are the dominant industry players in rural destinations. This study investigates how they can contribute to socio-cultural sustainability benefits of rural destination communities by engaging in co-creation in innovation for sustainability (IFS). The rural destinations of Vega and Røros were selected as qualitative empirical cases to investigate 14 tourism SMEs' co-creation in IFS practices. The findings indicate that due to contextual elements of rurality (e.g. local embeddedness, strong personal relations, and trust), tourism SMEs co-create in IFS with various local stakeholders, and contribute to the socio-cultural benefits of rural destinations' sustainability through local sourcing, education, resource synergies, inclusion, and quality of life. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable rural destination development and the role of tourism SMEs, as well as expands the understanding of IFS and the benefits of co-creation.

How ICT capital affects the spatial correlation of energy consumption-a new perspective based on spatially correlation network.

ICT has significantly transformed the traditional energy production and service methods, changed the correlation characteristics of energy consumption network, and contributed to the establishment of cross-regional, open, and synergistic energy ecological networks. In this paper, social network analysis (SNA), dynamic SYS-GMM model, and mediating effects model are employed to deliberate on the mechanism of ICT capital's influence on the spatial correlation of energy consumption from 2000 to 2019. Firstly, this study employs an enhanced gravity model to precisely delineate the spatial correlation network of energy consumption in China, further applies the SNA to analyze the network structural characteristics, and then uses the econometric model to investigate the influence mechanism and heterogeneity of ICT capital on the spatial correlation of energy consumption. The study demonstrates a progressive spatial correlation in energy consumption in China, with eastern provinces emerge as the center of the network, assuming the position of the "dominant player." Conversely, the central provinces act as the "bridge," and western provinces are positioned at the periphery, referred to as the "edge" of the network. ICT capital contributes to improving the energy consumption spatial correlation, mainly by stimulating green technology innovation, promoting industrial structure optimization, accelerating human capital accumulation, and reducing income inequality. As ICT capital expands, the eastern region becomes more preeminent as a network hub for energy consumption, the central region increases its dominance slightly, and the western region's marginal position does not change significantly. Furthermore, the presence of ICT capital significantly enhances the intensity of energy consumption spatial correlation more prominently for low-carbon pilot areas and high Internet level areas. This study guides provinces to fully utilize ICT capital to reach collaborative energy-saving goals, and promotes the breaking down of regional competitive barriers in energy systems to build cooperative energy conservation ecological networks.

Meesho: reselling in the grocery or e-commerce segment?

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: to understand the concept of social commerce and how it is different from e-commerce business, to discuss the unique features of Meesho’s social commerce model, to understand concepts of entrepreneurship (e.g. addressing the gap through business, pivoting), to understand the dynamics of online grocery market and e-commerce market and to apply business strategy concepts to make recommendations. Case overview/synopsis This case study presents Meesho, an organization in social commerce in India. Meesho was founded by Indian Institute of Technology graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in the year 2015 to help the small business owners with online selling. It was initially launched as an app that connected local retailers to the customers. Owing to low customer interest and low profit margins, they pivoted the business to a reseller app that facilitated the individuals and small retailers to resell the wholesalers’ products (unbranded and long-tail products) to the customers on social media channels. However, the tough competition from other start-ups in social commerce and retail giants such as Amazon and Flipkart who targeted the same customers impacted their growth. After receiving a funding of US$300m, the founders were considering if they should enter the e-commerce market and directly compete with giants such as Amazon and Flipkart or extend the product line to the online groceries market and compete with dominant players such as BigBasket and Blinkit. Through this case study, the students could be provided an opportunity to evaluate a situation, apply the strategic management concepts and make a recommendation on the strategic plan. Complexity academic level The case study can be taught in the business and strategy courses at the graduate and postgraduate levels in business schools. It is also suitable for the entrepreneurship course with focus on e-commerce start-up and sustainability, which is also taught at the MBA level. This case study can also be used in executive development programs for abovementioned courses. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Selection of Sales Mode for E-Commerce Platform Considering Corporate Social Responsibility

From the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the e-commerce platform, this paper investigates the choice of e-commerce platform for wholesale sales, agency sales, and hybrid sales modes when the manufacturer has both an offline retail channel and an e-commerce platform channel. Taking the e-commerce platform as the dominant player and considering factors such as the potential market size of the e-commerce platform, consumers’ sensitivity to CSR input level, and the CSR input cost coefficient, we constructed a Stackelberg game model under the wholesale sales, agency sales, and hybrid sales modes. We explored the impact of the e-commerce platform’s CSR behavior on the choice of its sales modes as well as on the members of the supply chain. The findings indicate that, irrespective of the consumers’ sensitivity to CSR level and CSR input cost coefficient, the e-commerce platform tends to adopt the hybrid sales mode when its potential market size is smaller. Moreover, when the potential market size is larger, the wholesale sales mode is preferred; only when the potential market size is moderate, and consumers are less sensitive to CSR input level or CSR input cost coefficient is higher, the e-commerce platform will choose the agency sales mode. The increase in the potential market size of the e-commerce platform and the consumers’ sensitivity to CSR input level is conducive to the rise in the profits of the e-commerce platform, and the increase in the CSR input cost coefficient makes the profits of the e-commerce platform decrease. At the same time, the demand for the e-commerce platform increases as consumers become more sensitive to CSR input level or as the potential market size of the e-commerce platform increases. In contrast, the reduction in the CSR input cost coefficient negatively affects the demand for the e-commerce platform.