Network Companies Research Articles

Racial discrimination in transportation network companies

In a randomized audit study, we sent passengers in Boston, MA on nearly 1000 rides on controlled routes using the Uber and Lyft smartphone apps, recording key performance metrics. Passengers randomly selected between accounts that used African American-sounding and white-sounding names. We find that the probability an Uber driver accepts a ride, sees the name, and then cancels doubles when passengers used the account attached to the African American-sounding name. In contrast, Lyft drivers observe the name before accepting a ride and, as expected, we find no effect of name on cancellations. We do not, however, find that the increase in cancellations leads to measurably longer wait times for Uber.

The influence of relational pluralism in developing collective corporate social responsibility strategies

PurposeA literature gap has triggered a discussion on the influence of relational pluralism in the adoption of new practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this literature, this paper aims to understand how relational pluralism influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the case of a Brazilian hotel network called Charm Routes, which comprises 66 members. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).FindingsThe results show that relational pluralism influences small companies in their collective CSR strategies. This is especially because of the relationships among different actors within the network.Research limitations/implicationsQCA does not explain the correlation between variables, but rather the logical relations among them. The adoption of multivariate techniques is suggested for future studies to evaluate the correlations among the variables and not only the possible causal conditions.Practical implicationsThe results bring added clarity to the collective CSR strategies of networks composed of small companies.Social implicationsThe findings may be of use to networks of small companies working collectively to develop initiatives aimed at providing social and environmental benefits.Originality/valueInstead of a framework, the study generated the expression RPN*(INT+LON) → CSR_CS. This means that relational pluralism within the network, enhanced by the intensity and the longevity of the relationship, influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.

Corporate ownership network in the automobile industry: Owners, shareholders and passive investment funds

Who controls the corporate ownership network in the automotive industry: owners, shareholders or financial institutions? Recent studies have suggested that corporate control of automotive firms is increasingly associated with banks, investment funds and other players in the financial system. In particular, investment funds have reinforced significant changes in the ownership structure of the economy in the last few years. These changes imply a significant increase in financialization and the role of financial institutions in the dynamics and behavior of firms. Thus, this paper aims to: 1) analyze the corporate ownership networks of the largest automobiles companies; 2) assess the structure and relations in the corporate ownership network; 3) identify groups in the corporate ownership network; and 4) analyze the extent to which organizations depend on financial institutions. The corporate ownership network includes the 30 largest automakers worldwide connected with the largest holders supported by social network analysis (representing 348 nodes and 654 connections, among companies, banks, investment funds, and state). The findings of this study show how the corporate ownership network in the automotive industry is strongly intermediated by passive investment funds, such as BlackRock, Vanguard Group, Dimensional and State Street, which occupy a prominent structural position. These investment funds exhibit the highest scores of weight centrality, betweenness, and eigencentrality in the network. These funds have a prominent structural position and intermediate shares like blockholders on a different stock exchange. However, we observed a notable difference from Asian companies in American corporations. Asian companies match increases in productive and financial operations, accumulating and originating funds with a lower degree of financial exposure, while American companies exhibit greater dependence on finance activities. Beyond the corporate ownership network, we explore evidence from field theory, resource dependence theory, and the sociology of arbitrage to address the automotive companies' dependence on investment funds.

Full compensation of reactive power in electric networks 0.4-10kV

The most important task in electric networks is to reduce energy losses. According to Network Company, in distribution electric networks with a voltage of 0.4-10 kV, they account for 62% of the total number of losses. One way to save energy is reactive power compensation. From Order of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation dated June 23, 2015 No. 380 “On the Procedure for Calculation of the Ratio of Consumption of Active and Reactive Power for Individual Energy Receiving Devices (Groups of Energy Receiving Devices) of Electric Power Consumers” at a voltage of 0.4 kV, the reactive power coefficient should not exceed the value 0.35, and on the side of 10 kV - values of 0.4. In practice, in distribution electric networks, reactive power compensation devices are not installed in most cases, and the reactive power factor is 2-3 times higher than the standard values. Since compensating devices are expensive equipment, it is necessary to evaluate the feasibility of deep reactive power compensation, in the range of reactive power factor changes from its standard value to zero. The article discusses the economic and technical feasibility of deep reactive power compensation. The use of a generalized parameter of the electric network for determining the voltage at substations of distribution electric networks is proposed. The need for the coordinated use of reactive power compensation devices and booster transformers to ensure the quality of electricity is shown.

A Critical Analysis of Information Security -A Case Study of Cognizant Technology Solutions

Security was not a major concern of the past in Information Technology Organizations. Butpresently, due to the vast growth in fraud and hacking techniques, the security of organizationsis a great concern. Organizations usually spend millions every year just to protect theirenvironment and to maintain security. Yet, no company claims to be a hundred percent secureas fraudulent techniques are more tricky and latest. As the hackers are becoming hard andtricky, the major Information Technology (IT) Organizations are willing to pay a large sum ofmoney for providers offering services of enterprise security schemes. The hackers are alwaysready to intrude into the company's valuable information sources. As per the recent survey by'Security Week', nearly seventy percentages of respondents have faced a security threat whichended up in the loss of valuable information or the collapse of functioning last year. Anemployer of the company can indeed be a major attacker than an outside intruder. An employeeof the company is already having all privileges to use resources of the company while variousother ways are needed for an outer intruder for accessing the same company's network or data.Cisco, the networking giant has a major focus on Enterprise Security Policies. The companyhas seen a valuable improvement in the last few decades, which shows the importance ofsecurity. Cisco had recently released data that showed a lack of security policies in about 23percentages of companies worldwide. More than 70% of Information Technology persons saythat their organizations lack behind in areas of security policy. Large numbers of IT peoplefail to practice security policies as they are not easily understandable. For every organization,policies are the building blocks. They function as road maps which each employee of thecompany uses in various ways. Developing a well-defined policy requires artistic skill. Federalagencies have a Statutory obligation is available for federal agencies for maintaining day-today security policies. The primary Information Security Officer (ISO) is usually pledged forimplementing these policies and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company as well.The best security policies consider the vision and mission of companies, the important assetsthat need security, and security threats imposed against certain factors. All these come underrisk management which needs defect identification by business impact policies. The weaknessof a company has to be identified to find the vulnerability ratio of that company. Designing asecurity policy is not a nightmare once the major scope of policy design is identified. Themajor challenge lies in identifying the scope and threat areas for security policy. The policy isnothing but a collection of guidelines and procedures on what and how it can be implemented.In this paper, we are analyzing how Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) maintaining itsstandards, policies, technologies, and management policies which are defined for securing dataof an organization.

Ride-hailing vs. Taxi Services: a Survey-based Comparison

As being an important player of sharing economy, ride sourcing services provide benefits for socio-economic and environmental issues of countries and make positive contributions for sustainability. To indicate socioeconomic and environmental influences of these services, this paper aims to make comparison between some alternative Transportation Network Companies, namely, Taxify, Uber and Liftago and standard taxi services regarding their drivers’, vehicles’ and trips’ characteristics. In line with this objective, this research investigates 84 drivers of ride sourcing services and standard taxi industry from two various cities of the Czech Republic, namely, Prague and Ostrava. The data of this paper was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire and the researchers applied multiple correspondence analysis in R-software to make the analyses of this research. The results of these analyses show that different from standard taxi services, most of the drivers of Taxify in Prague are not Czech fluent. Moreover, in Prague, drivers of Uber Technology Network company work at the weekends and they drive Uber cars as a part time work. When it comes to transportation activities in Ostrava, standard taxi services were driven for higher kilometres and at the weekends, while total kilometres that were driven by Liftago’s cars are less than standard taxi services and these trips were mostly taken in workdays. These results show that services of standard taxi industry and ride sourcing services differ regarding characteristics of drivers, trips, vehicles, passengers and cities. Some policy implementations are also provided by this paper to hinder disruptive transportation actions.

Strategy for Improving the Competitiveness of Shipyards in the Eastern Part of Indonesia

In recent years, the number of shipyards in Indonesia has increased significantly to anticipate the increasing demand and the government policy regarding the Cabotage Principles and Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MAEIED), and three Archipelagic Sea-Lanes (ASL’s) in Indonesia. However, shipbuilding and ship repair works have been centered in the western part of Indonesia. Therefore, this study aims to develop a potential strategy of shipyards in the eastern part of Indonesia to compete in the current market situation. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to model the strategy hierarchy and analyze the weight of sub-criteria as the internal and external factors of the shipyard competitiveness. Then, the Blue Ocean Strategy method was used to analyze the competitiveness strategy. To improve competitiveness, the shipbuilding industries in the eastern part of Indonesia have to focus intensively on reforming and upgrading several internal environment factors such as coordination and response, business network, high skill manpower, and complex ship types building ability. Besides, the shipyards also have to focus on external environmental factors, particularly on five factors that have a high influence on improving competitiveness, namely shipping company partners, networks and partnership with suppliers, government policies, human resource development, and cluster formation of shipyards.

Network monitoring tools: enabling the management of network assets, ensuring high availability

With the advancement of technology and communication systems as monitoring tools used to manage the network essential to ensure the continuous functioning of systems and devices on a company's network. Through bibliographic research, with studies on computer network and its communication protocols, experimental, considering procedures and manuals of installation, configuration, descriptive, to verify the data collected by the tools. It presents a comparison between Zabbix and Nagios, two open source tools very popular in the market, to conclude which tool is best suited to media and large companies’ scenarios. In summary, Zabbix presents a more viable option for the growth and efficiency of network management in companies. Nagios, on the other hand, proved to be adaptable to different scenarios, with the availability of several plugins increased by the community.

Revenue Usages, Pricing Schemes, and Media Discussions for Taxing Ridesourcing Services

Shared mobility is transforming transportation in major urban cities. This paper focuses on taxes and fees on ridesourcing services, particularly those revenue strategies levied on their usages, generally on a per trip basis. These revenue strategies are analyzed from three main aspects. First, the usage of revenues was assessed. The majority of localities use them as a mechanism to cover regulatory costs or fill budget gaps, with very few using the proceeds to improve transportation systems or mobility overall. Second, the different pricing schemes used across localities were looked into. Most localities have adopted a fixed fee/surcharge charged per trip. Only two localities have established differential fees depending on the type of ride, aiming to increase vehicle occupancy and reduce traffic congestion. Lastly, a media analysis was conducted to examine the rationale for imposing a revenue-raising strategy, perceptions of key stakeholders, and ongoing discussions. Most debates around the adoption of the revenue-raising strategy involved the legislative and executive branches of governments at different levels, transportation network companies (TNCs), taxi businesses, and so forth. Supporters argued that the measure contributes to customer safety and the enhancement of equitable transportation options for all residents, while opponents stated concerns about the disproportionate impact of the measure on the middle-class and low-income populations. The findings provide a framework of current practices to assist state and local governments to make informed decisions in relation to TNC taxes and regulations.

Tsallis Entropy for Cross-Shareholding Network Configurations.

In this work, we develop the Tsallis entropy approach for examining the cross-shareholding network of companies traded on the Italian stock market. In such a network, the nodes represent the companies, and the links represent the ownership. Within this context, we introduce the out-degree of the nodes—which represents the diversification—and the in-degree of them—capturing the integration. Diversification and integration allow a clear description of the industrial structure that were formed by the considered companies. The stochastic dependence of diversification and integration is modeled through copulas. We argue that copulas are well suited for modelling the joint distribution. The analysis of the stochastic dependence between integration and diversification by means of the Tsallis entropy gives a crucial information on the reaction of the market structure to the external shocks—on the basis of some relevant cases of dependence between the considered variables. In this respect, the considered entropy framework provides insights on the relationship between in-degree and out-degree dependence structure and market polarisation or fairness. Moreover, the interpretation of the results in the light of the Tsallis entropy parameter gives relevant suggestions for policymakers who aim at shaping the industrial context for having high polarisation or fair joint distribution of diversification and integration. Furthermore, a discussion of possible parametrisations of the in-degree and out-degree marginal distribution—by means of power laws or exponential functions— is also carried out. An empirical experiment on a large dataset of Italian companies validates the theoretical framework.

Evolution of Transportation Network Companies and Taxis through 2013–2018 in Chicago

The objective of this paper is to highlight important differences between taxis and transportation network companies (TNCs) in a large urban area. We analyze the publicly available dataset from Chicago which includes taxi and transportation network company (TNC) utilization and the level of service measures from five months in 2013–2014 and the same five months in 2018–2019. We compare and contrast the data from these two points in time to document utilization of taxis and TNCs and to measure differences in travel times, travel distances, fares, destinations served, and the spatial and temporal distribution of these trips. Travel to and from airports has been evaluated separately owing to the exceptionally high number of trips they generate. Striking differences between pooled and unpooled TNC trip volumes and other travel metrics have been assessed to highlight their operational diversity despite being considered as the same mode. The exploratory analysis has been carried out across the shared-ride, time, and mode dimensions. The study revealed both similarities and differences in taxi trip characteristics between the two evaluation periods and also outlined how the ridehailing market has grown over the years despite the near stagnation in population and employment in the city. We believe that assessing how taxis have fared through this time and highlighting the intrinsic differences between how the old and new mode of on-demand ride services coexist is important. This study aims to help understand how new-age mobility services are impacting transportation in one of the largest cities in the U.S.

Effect of Promotion and Ease of Use on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty on OVO Application Users

The development of a business that is currently globally quite rapid happening, this is related to the development of increasingly advanced technology, especially those based on the internet. Technological developments in Indonesia have also increased rapidly, one of which is changing daily activities is the payment system, where the circulation of cash is not as much as before. Non-cash payments are currently widely used by the public to transact, from debit card debit, e-money credit cards, and payment by applications through smartphones. With the emerging payment trend like that, many big companies are competing to create the same system, for example the largest network company in Indonesia, Telkomsel with its T-Cash, gojek by creating its Gopay and also recently emerged. with a promotional offer that interets Indonesian consumers is OVO. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of promotion and ease of use on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This type of research is quantitative. The study population was 100 respondents who used the OVO application in Surabaya. The analysis technique used is Partial Least Square (PLS). Data obtained from questionnaires and tested with the SmartPLS 3.0 application. The results of this study indicate that promotion and ease of use have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. And customer satisfaction has a positive and significant impact on customer loyalty.

Examining human attitudes toward shared mobility options and autonomous vehicles

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of people’s attitudes toward shared mobility options and autonomous vehicles (AVs), with a focus on the underlying patterns and potential determinants. A stated preference (SP) survey was designed and implemented in the U.S. Four sets of questions were included in the questionnaire, each focused on one unique aspect of user attitudes, including a) preferences for mobility options and lifestyle (such as overall view of driving, factors in mode choice decisions and technology engagement), b) perceived benefits and concerns of shared mobility option, c) reasons toward or against private vehicle ownership, and d) motivations for and desired features of AVs. A structural equations model was developed to identify latent attitudinal factors and examine the correlations between the latent attitudes (as the endogenous variables) and the observed covariates (including the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and users’ current mobility profile, such as mode use frequency, travel distance, and trip fare). The model identified eleven latent factors that represent various aspects of attitudes toward AVs and shared mobility options. The findings could be used by policymakers and Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to a) recognize the users’ latent attitudes, b) understand the underlying patterns of attitudes, c) implement plans and policies more efficiently, d) guide or influence users’ perceptions, and e) enhance travel behavior models. This study lays the foundation for further analysis on understanding user acceptance and adoption of these emerging mobility options, which is essential to estimate the likelihood and magnitude of behavior shifts in the era of automated, connected and shared mobility.

Effect of Promotion and Ease of Use on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty on OVO Application Users

The development of a business that is currently globally quite rapid happening, this is related to the development of increasingly advanced technology, especially those based on the internet. Technological developments in Indonesia have also increased rapidly, one of which is changing daily activities is the payment system, where the circulation of cash is not as much as before. Non-cash payments are currently widely used by the public to transact, from debit card debit, e-money credit cards, and payment by applications through smartphones. With the emerging payment trend like that, many big companies are competing to create the same system, for example the largest network company in Indonesia, Telkomsel with its T-Cash, gojek by creating its Gopay and also recently emerged. with a promotional offer that interets Indonesian consumers is OVO. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of promotion and ease of use on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This type of research is quantitative. The study population was 100 respondents who used the OVO application in Surabaya. The analysis technique used is Partial Least Square (PLS). Data obtained from questionnaires and tested with the SmartPLS 3.0 application. The results of this study indicate that promotion and ease of use have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. And customer satisfaction has a positive and significant impact on customer loyalty.

Integrating Supply and Demand Perspectives for a Large-Scale Simulation of Shared Autonomous Vehicles

Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) have been steadily increasing the share of total trips in metropolitan areas across the world. Micro-modeling TNC operation is essential for large-scale transportation systems simulation. In this study, an agent-based approach for analyzing supply and demand aspects of ride-sourcing operation is done using POLARIS, a high-performance simulation tool. On the demand side, a mode-choice model for the agent and a vehicle-ownership model that informs this choice are developed. On the supply side, TNC vehicle-assignment strategies, pick-up and drop-off operations, and vehicle repositioning are modeled with congestion feedback, an outcome of the mesoscopic traffic simulation. Two case studies of Bloomington and Chicago in Illinois are used to study the framework’s computational speed for large-scale operations and the effect of TNC fleets on a region’s congestion patterns. Simulation results show that a zone-based vehicle-assignment strategy scales better than relying on matching closest vehicles to requests. For large regions like Chicago, large fleets are seen to be detrimental to congestion, especially in a future in which more travelers will use TNCs. From an operational point of view, an efficient relocation strategy is critical for large regions with concentrated demand, but not regulating repositioning can worsen empty travel and, consequently, congestion. The TNC simulation framework developed in this study is of special interest to cities and regions, since it can be used to model both demand and supply aspects for large regions at scale, and in reasonably low computational time.

Changes in the social architecture of business model in the perspective of the Industry 4.0 concept

After three industrial revolutions, the fourth comes, which transfers production to sophisticated networks of companies equipped with intelligent devices, machines, means of transport, communicating with each other using modern technologies. It creates new challenges for industrial enterprises, it requires redefining existing business models. The development of the concept of Industry 4.0 forces modern enterprises to quickly and flexibly adapt to the changing conditions of the technological environment. This is reflected in the changes taking place in the area of social and technical architecture of business models. Industry 4.0 contributes to creating a new kind of interaction between people and machines. These interactions significantly affect the way work is done and the resource allocation in the social and technical architecture of business models. The aim of the article is to identyfy the changes taking place in the area of social architecture of the business model in the era of Industry 4.0.

Uber: examination of socio-economic situation of its clienteles and security components in Lagos

This work provided empirical examinations on the determinants of Uber’s passengers’ characteristics and the security components of its operation in Lagos. Two sets of respondents participated in the study. Multistage and random sampling techniques were used in selecting each set of participants. 122 passengers and 69 drivers participated in the study. Three hypotheses were tested, results from the regression model showed the five selected socioeconomic variables explained a paltry 5% of the variance and were not a significant determinant of Uber’s patronage (R2 = .0.55, F(5,117) = 1.27, p > .005). Furthermore, an independent t-test result indicated that there is a significant difference between the perceptions of female passengers and male on how secured Ubers are. Lastly, regression showed that there is a significant relationship between the perceptual beliefs of how secured it operating environment is and the preference for it rather than convectional cabs (F [1, 68] =8.36 P < .005) with an R2 of .11). The paper suggests key sustainable practices that could engender the growth of Transport Network Companies (TNCs).

Resource Orchestration in Corporate Social Responsibility Actions: The Case of “Roteiros de Charme” Hotel Association

This article aims to identify the factors that generate a competitive advantage, based on resource orchestration, in associated companies in networks with an emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The “Roteiros de Charme” hotel association was the object of study, deepening the analysis into four hotels and hostels participating in the association, all located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The method chosen was qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), as it allows for the use of data from a small number of cases. The authors identified that individual CSR strategy, the environmental impact of CSR actions and the structuring of companies’ portfolios of resources cover the possible causality and present consistency in the creation of a competitive advantage based on resource orchestration. The analysis of the data showed that the companies associated can structure their portfolio of resources through bundled and leveraged resources for capacity building. The study represents an important managerial contribution since it clarifies what they (resources) are and how the resources of the hotel and the association can be orchestrated for a better financial, social and environmental results. The present study makes a unique theoretical contribution when analyzing the effects on the competitive advantage of CSR actions with the use of the QCA method.

Are drivers cool with pool? Driver attitudes towards the shared TNC services UberPool and Lyft Shared

The transportation network companies (TNCs) Uber and Lyft have introduced shared ride services, called “UberPool” and “Lyft Shared,” which use real-time cyber-connectivity to match travelers with similar origins and destinations so they can share discounted rides. It is hoped this will reduce the amount of vehicle miles traveled that TNCs are adding to the roads. However, previous evidence suggests that drivers and passengers have some dissatisfaction with these services. This paper uses a survey of 309 TNC drivers to examine the driver experience with providing shared rides. We find that in the aggregate drivers are considerably less satisfied with providing shared trips compared to solo trips with services such as UberX and Lyft Classic. There are a number of sources of dissatisfaction. Although some feel shared services add to their earnings, more drivers perceive their compensation for shared rides to be unfair. Further, although drivers sometimes enjoy the social interactions that Pool and Shared generate, many drivers complain that customers are often unhappy due to issues like trips taking longer than expected and friction between passengers. Finally, drivers feel serving shared trips is difficult and stressful work, due to things like routing and pick-up instructions that sometimes seem irrational and change frequently, difficult pick-ups and drop-offs, and long trips. We offer suggestions for improving driver satisfaction with Pool/Shared by raising and restructuring driver compensation, better publicizing the ways in which Pool/Shared increase driver incomes, increasing ridership through means such as better advertising of shared services and raising the price of solo travel, improving the information given to drivers, incentivizing good passenger behavior, and improving the passenger experience.

Experimental research of electrical loads in residential and public buildings

The Association “Roselectromontazh” conducted a study of electrical loads for residential and public buildings in the Republic of Tatarstan showed that actual electrical loads are 1.5 - 2.5 times lower than in regulatory documents. Recently constructed cable networks and transformer substations of 0.4 / 10 kV in fact turn out to be underloaded. Moreover, this underload is such that most of the transformers rarely operate at 30% of their capacity during hours of maximum power consumption. The calculation of electric load is the basis for designing the power supply system of any capital construction facility. According to the open joint-stock company “Network Company” and with the support of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Association “Roselectromontazh” carried out an experimental study on updating the requirements for calculating electricity consumption in public and public buildings of the Republic of Tatarstan. The actualization of electrical loads will lead to a significant economic effect by reducing the declared capacity and accordingly the power and number of power transformers reducing the cross-sections of power cables and consequently, capital costs during construction and operation.