Service Value Chain Research Articles

Distributor intermediation in the farm to food service value chain

AbstractShort food supply chains, such as those of fruit and vegetable farmers delivering fresh product directly to restaurants, promise potentially higher returns to primary producers by avoiding the expense of intermediary distributors. Direct farm-to-chef supply chains also present a lower barrier to entry for small and beginning farmers, who are often scaled-out of the restaurant market by the volume requirements of food service distributors. High transactions costs for direct exchange, however, impede growth in this type of market channel. This From the Field paper describes an ongoing initiative by a regional food service distributor to play an active and collaborative role in the farm to food service supply chain, acting as a value chain partner to identify produce items desired by chefs, supply this market intelligence to growers and to garner commitments from farmers to grow and chefs to buy these products in upcoming seasons. By the eighth month of the effort, the distributor had assigned one of its produce buyers to act as a local specialist, working directly with chefs and local growers; and had initiated a series of mini local food shows to provide chefs and growers opportunities for face-to-face communication. The ultimate objective—to garner product-specific commitments from chefs and from growers—remains a work in progress.

The Digital Transformation in Banking and The Role of FinTechs in the New Financial Intermediation Scenario

One of the main changes in the industry is becoming digitalization which is witnessing a profound transformation to the banking system. Digitalization offers new opportunities for banks to place the customer at the center of the development process. New technologies seem to be and stay in the market to disrupt the retail financial service value chain, as well as introducing new players into the competitive arena. Incumbents and new comers have innovative levers to adopt. The forces shaping these changes have led the industry to reconsider the role of banking and finance, more as an “enabler” than a provider of products and services. The article aims at defining digital transformation in the banking industry, outlining what banks and FinTech companies are both developing in the market, and also pointing out that it is not going to be the technology itself that will be the disruptor of the banking industry, but rather how firm deploys the technology that will cause the disruptio

Research on Service Value Chain and Innovations of the Commodity Platform Economy

To help address serious homogenization problems and chaotic financial” issues currently existed in the services delivered under the commodity platform economy, this paper puts forward a strategy with an innovative and integrated service model to help create new competitive advantages. Using the service value chain and innovations of the platform economy and the shared economy as the underlying foundation, and further utilizing the Internet as the modular application interface, the strategy presented in this paper would capture both the economy of scale of the commodities spot trading and the current customized transaction settlement trends. It would then provide customers with a comprehensive and convenient one-stop service experience, and bring higher profits to the company. The Guangxi sugar network, an industry leader and the subject of our case study, created an innovative platform economy by combining these elements: e-commerce + modern logistics + supply chain financing. This practice provides customers with the most value for the services they receive.

DIGITAL LOGISTICS AND ELECTRONIC DATA EXCHANGE IN FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION

[For the English abstract and full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version)].ABSTRACT The article depictures approaches to building a new model of interaction and system optimization of business processes based on the use of digital technologies at all stages of shaping the value chain of products and services that provide the creation of an information platform for digital economy. The methodical foundations of formation of the evidence base for development of digital logistics and introduction of legally significant electronic data exchange in the organization of rail transportation are considered. Keywords: digital technologies, freight transportation market, electronic document management, information system of organization of relations with customers of the holding Russian Railways in the field of freight transportation, losses in the transport sector.

Innovating Managed Services Business Models

Objective: Business Model Innovation approaches in service business model context are not adequately studied in the extant literature and there is a clear need for extension of different business model typologies for innovating service business models. Principal aim of this study is to explore how service business model archetypes can be explained as a business model representation such as Business Model Canvas, particularly what the term managed services really mean. Also, it is intended to add clarity to current business model innovation approaches in providing managed services, especially business process services in a service value chain. This will prompt further research to address related implications of networked business model setup and information technology as an enabler in managed services context. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Established framework of Business Model Canvas from extant literature and recent trends in business model representations that cover digitally enabled service business models are compared and contrasted. In line with service dominant logic, approaches for management and optimization of key resources and key activities are used as basis of stacking up different service business model archetypes. Service value chain and network business model implications are emphasized for further differentiating the innovation approaches in managed services business models. Findings: Among various business model design tools and representations, service business models can be better represented as a business model canvas with special emphasis on how key resources and key activities are managed and optimized in a service value chain. Digital enablement with the use of IT and/or cloud infrastructure shall act as accelerators for effective business model innovation in service context. Service business models shall be categorized as a stack of service offerings such as outsourced services, resource outsourcing, professional services, BPO/ITeS, managed services and Business Process As A service (BPaaS). services currently mean to only manage IT services but there is new paradigm of Managed Business Services which is emerging. Applications/Improvements: Suggested findings of this paper and the identification of broad types of service offerings, which clearly differentiate managed services from other service models, can be applied in practice. This approach shall bring in more consensuses about understanding of managed services business models among practitioners and researchers.

Strategic analysis of the mobile services value chain in Iran’s capital market and development of a mechanism to promote it

Strategic analysis of the mobile services value chain in Iran’s capital market and development of a mechanism to promote it

Integrating South and Southeast Asia through Services Value Chain: The Cases of India and Thailand

ii 1. Overview, Composition and Trends in Trade in Services – India and Thailand iii 1.1 Bilateral Trade in Services: India and Thailand v 1.2 Investment Flows v 1.3 Reforms in the Services Sector and Creation of Value Chains vi 2. Primary Survey: Key Findings ix 2.1 Broad Survey Findings x 2.2 In-depth Survey of Select Services Sectors xii 2.2.1 Physical Connectivity xii 2.2.1 People-to-people Connectivity 18 2.2.3 Institutional connectivity 20 3. Barriers to Bilateral Trade and Investments 20 3.1 Barriers Related to Investment and Movement of People in Thailand 21 3.2 Barriers Related to Investment and Movement of People in India 23 4. Liberalisation in International Trade Agreements 24 4.1 Multilateral Liberalisation 24 4.2 Bilateral and Regional Liberalisation 25 4.2.1 Regional Agreements 25 4.2.2 Bilateral Agreements 27 5. Conclusion and the Way forward 31 Appendix 1 34 References 36 List of Tables & Figures Table 1: India and Thailand Global Trade in Service in 2014 (in US$ million) iii Table 2: RCAs of India and Thailand in Exports of Services iv Table 3: Value Added Embodied in Exports of India by Select Countries in 2009 viii Table 4: Sector-wise Value Added by Thailand in India’s Exports in 2009 viii Table 5: Design and Coverage of India and Thailand’s Bilateral Agreements 29 Table A1: List of India’s FTAs and PTAs that include Services (as on October 2013) 34 Table A2: List of Thailand’s FTAs and PTAs that include Services (as on October 2013) ......... 35 Figure 1: Factors Determining Investment Decisions for Indian Companies in Thailand x Figure 2: Select Infrastructure Projects for ASEAN–India Connectivity 15 Figure 3: Ranks of Barriers faced by Indian Companies in Thailand 22

Value Chains of Public and Private Health-care Services in a Small EU Island State: A SWOT Analysis.

The global financial and macroeconomic crisis of 2008/2009 and the ensuing recessions obliged policy makers to maximize use of resources and cut down on waste. Specifically, in health care, governments started to explore ways of establishing collaborations between the public and private health-care sectors. This is essential so as to ensure the best use of available resources, while securing quality of delivery of care as well as health systems sustainability and resilience. This qualitative study explores complementary and mutual attributes in the value creation process to patients by the public and private health-care systems in Malta, a small European Union island state. A workshop was conducted with 28 professionals from both sectors to generate two separate value chains, and this was followed by an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The latter revealed several strengths and opportunities, which can better equip health-policy makers in the quest to maximize provision of health-care services. Moreover, the analysis also highlighted areas of weaknesses in both sectors as well as current threats of the external environment that, unless addressed, may threaten the state’s health-care system sustainability and resilience to macroeconomic shocks. The study goes on to provide feasible recommendations aimed at maximizing provision of health-care services in Malta.

Trade Agreements and Services Value Chain: The Case of India and Thailand

Services sector is an important component of the world trade and production networks. With the opening up of world economy, the role of services in the global value chain and value added has expanded. Services liberalisation is becoming a crucial component of free trade agreements. This is particularly true for trade agreements between South and Southeast Asia. Given this background, the objective of this paper is to understand the scope of establishing services value chain between two countries in South and Southeast Asia - namely India and Thailand - by integrating the two markets through trade agreement. The analysis is based on secondary data, in-depth interviews with policy makers and stakeholders in India and Thailand and an examination of the existing trade agreements of the two countries. The paper found that the present level of integration between the two markets is low due to the existence of market access barriers and regulatory bottlenecks. The paper makes recommendation on how the two countries can reduce barriers to trade in services, thereby fostering greater integration and leveraging the development of a global value chain.

Public–private partnership conceptual framework and models for the funding and financing of water services infrastructure in municipalities from selected provinces in South Africa

This paper presents public–private partnership (PPP) framework models for funding and financing of water services infrastructure at local government (municipalities) level (sphere) in South Africa. Data were assembled from various stakeholders, viz., private and public sector institutions in the Gauteng and Limpopo Provinces of South Africa. The framework for PPPs identified three models, viz. state, hybrid and private sector models. In the ‘state model’ the water services value chain is 100% government funded and owned infrastructure. Government is a key player in infrastructure investment and inefficiencies within the public expenditure management systems are particularly detrimental, e.g., there are significant problems in spending of infrastructure budgets. In the ‘private model’ harnessing the significant potential for capital markets to finance water infrastructure, particularly local bond markets, is contingent on their strengthening and further development. Well-functioning and appropriately institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, etc.) would be natural sources of long-term financing for water services infrastructure because liabilities would better match the longer terms of water infrastructure projects. The ‘hybrid model’ is in the middle of the water services value chain, i.e., a partnership between government and the private sector. The use of this framework is essential in the including of the private sector in the implementation of water infrastructure development projects. The research results highlight the underlying principles that underpin, support, determine and confirm the success of the PPP models and value chain framework for local government water infrastructure in South Africa. Twelve key parameters were identified that would drive the success of any water services infrastructure PPP model. Even though PPP is an alternative procurement vehicle, PPP models are considered to be used as vehicles for addressing institutional challenges in local government. However, in most cases it has been indicated that lack of technical and financial skills and monitoring of the private operator are serious challenges. Keywords: financing, funding, Gauteng and Limpopo Provinces, PPP framework, PPP models, water services infrastructure

Regulatory Cooperation in the WTO and at the Regional Level: What Is Being Achieved by CETA and TPP?

Due to globalisation and their role as enablers in global value chains, services are playing an increasingly important role in international trade. The supply of services around the world provokes an increased vulnerability to certain barriers, created by differing domestic regulation. This increase is caused by the fact that services are being supplied in various countries, at the same time, which obliges the service supplier to adapt to every country’s domestic regulation regarding his specific service. The need for country-specific adaptation to domestic regulation entails significant (sometimes even prohibitive) costs.The fact that services value chains and services-intermediates have grown immensely has implications for the global economy and the trade barriers that need to be addressed. However, the present normative framework for trade does not adequately deal with the issue of regulatory incoherence. This paper compares the approach taken in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and contrasts its incompleteness with the new provisions in both the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The aim of this paper is to assess whether these two new "deep-RTAs" successfully include new disciplines dealing with regulatory incoherence.

Global Structural Change and Value Chains in Services. A Reappraisal

The scholarship on Global Value Chains is very recently recognising the increasing importance of fragmentation of production that involves services – and in particular business services – offshoring. A predominant stand by scholars emerges in this embryonic domain (Blinder, 2006; Gereffi and Fernandez-Stark, 2010; Ventura, 2014). Participation in GVC in business services might be considered a sort of ‘third unbundling’ of internationalisation of production, which opens up new opportunities for catching up in transition and developing countries. What are the theoretical and empirical bases for such a claim? Do these apply to both developed and developing contexts? Is the occurrence of “a flat world” (Friedman, 2005) ultimately responsible for a global sectoral structural change involving services? Is this process leading to smart and equitable catching up processes? This chapter selectively systematises the traditional and emerging literature on GVCs and claims the importance of domestic and local Hirschman-linked specialisation before joining GVCs as a catching-up strategy.

Relationship among 5M in the Value Chain of Nanotechnology and Cost Leadership Strategy

In recent decades, nanotechnology is as a main way of in international competitiveness that is due to science and technology. Hence, nanotechnology is known as a new industry or science in the global market competition topics. Most of big companies pursue nanotechnology business in the global market from different products and services through the intensive competitions, especially energy sector in the future. A company can be utilized cost leadership strategy in the value chain of nanotechnology products or services through raw material, machine, manpower, method, and money. Nanotechnology, Nano products and materials can be found as solutions for many existing and latent problems in the future. Consequently, cost leadership and innovation are as strategies for efficiency of services or companies to be frontier in the world. Therefore, this study aims to examine the associations among material, machine, manpower, method, and money in the value chain of nanotechnology and cost leadership. To achieve the aim, seventy questionnaires were distributed among the staffs of two companies of nanotechnology in Iran that are active in production. The sample was selected as Simple Random Sampling (SRS) among their staffs. Quantitative analysis confirmed that there were significant relationships between cost leadership and each independent variable. The minimum correlation was allocated to the relationship between Nano machine and cost leadership (r=3.35, SD=0.79). In addition, maximum correlation was obtained from the relationship between cost leadership and Nano method (r=3.66, SD=0.64). DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2p343

Value Chains as the Tools for Differentiation of Offer in Services

Customers are generally characterized by having different requirements in selection from the product offer. They are interested in the so-called differentiated offers on the market because the differentiation of services is based on providing higher added value to the customers in comparison with competitors. One of the ways of possible solution is the use of value chain which enables company to find the opportunities to differentiate its product portfolio. The value chain can be used for finding the sources of differentiation and suitable placement in a customer value chain, for identifying a way to create the value of competition as well as for ensuring of the most profitable placement in supply and distribution value chains. Contribution focuses on the possibility of using diagnostics of value chains in services and it also presents a draft sequence of the diagnostic phases applied in the evaluation of activities/processes contained in the value chains. An important part of this contribution is connected with the ideas about the completion of traditional value chain with virtual value chain. It presents the proposals to discussion which should currently integrate the virtual world of information into further value chains of service company activities.

Services and Global Value Chains: Servicification of Manufacturing and Services Networks

The role of services as an input into manufacturing production — often termed "servicification" of manufacturing — is substantial in both developed and developing economies. The paper lays out conceptual and measurement issues related to services networks and provides evidence based on trade in value added statistics. Compared to goods value chains, services networks appear less fragmented internationally based on trade in value added statistics and survey evidence. However, to better capture the international services fragmentation, advances in statistics by enterprise characteristics and by mode of supply, i.e., taking into account the movement of labor and capital, are required.

Slicing Up Global Value Chains: a Micro View

Global value chains, GVCs, have had a transformative impact on the world economy since the early 1990s. We study 45 specific GVCs with company-confidential invoice-level data. We find that the case companies’ headquartering functions capture a large share of the overall value added, 27 % on average. The value added shares of other functions are as follows: distribution 21 %, final assembly 16 %, and logistics 5 %. The remaining 30 % of the value added goes to vendors. Upon considering value added by country, we find that the home economy’s share is 47 % on average. This share is reduced with offshored—as opposed to Finnish—final assembly: 2 percentage points for a high-end smartphone, over ten percentage points for a low-end feature phone, and 27 percentage points for machinery and metal products. We attribute the latter large drop to co-location of non-assembly functions, intellectual property issues, transfer pricing, and profit allocation. We conclude that GVCs are complex and heterogeneous; value chains of basic products and services are not nearly as global as those of advanced ones; and the value added share of wholesaling and retail is large in consumer products. We nevertheless argue that value added is less tied to assembly—and other tangible aspects of GVCs—than conventional wisdom suggests; the intangible aspects—market and internal services, and creation and appropriation of intellectual property—are more important. The increasing presence of GVCs brings about several thorny policy issues that are yet to be addressed.

Analysis of Future Prospects of Environmental, Physical and Psychosocial Working Conditions on Companies Offering Services

The research “Analysis of future prospects of environmental, physical and psychosocial working conditions on companies offering services” via the application of a survey using the LEST format (Guelaud, Bauchesne, Gautrat and Roustang, France, 1978) aims to identify the most important human factors which will affect the quality of services. It is how we will identify opportunity areas where to move industrial engineering tools to help improve and facilitate the provision of services. The research conducted on the summer of 2014 was based on information submitted by the Ministry of Economy of the State of San Luis Potosi, resulting in the implementation of 500 surveys (it means the 50% of the employees of 96 SMEs (small and medium enterprises, which represent the 70% of the local industry) giving a result with 98% reliability. This research proved that the quality of services depends on mental aspects rather than physical. It was shown that the handling of information, communication and relationship with peers, allows workers to provide better customer service. It also defined that there are additional situations that affect the value chain of services and, with minor improvements, can contribute to increased quality of service. Employees and immediate supervisors agree that to reach the customer satisfaction, it is necessary to reach the working team satisfaction first, because in the end it is the workers who manage such moment.

Service risk perceptions and risk management strategies in business-to-business tourism partnerships

While risk management, distribution channel behavior, and tourist risks research agendas have gained considerable attention in tourism management over the past years, there is a lack of research on how tour organizers perceive risk related to service collaboration in the value chain and what strategies they apply to handle these risks. This study explores the ways in which incoming tour operators (ITOs) in Madagascar perceive the tourism value chain in terms of risk upstream (towards local service providers) and downstream (towards outbound agencies) and what strategies they apply to cope with these risks. The findings suggest that uncalibrated service quality among local service providers represents a major risk factor for ITOs. Additional risk categories upstream the service value chain include product and infrastructure constraints and competence lack. Downstream the value chain, market expectation and information about the destination are perceived as risk factors. To absorb these risks, ITOs commonly apply market analysis and communication followed by control and enhancement of value co-creation, competence development, and diversification. This study emphasizes the gap between what is perceived as the dominating risk category (uncalibrated service quality upstream) and the strategy that is applied to minimize service risks (market communication downstream) in the tourism value chain. Based on the findings, the authors propose a conceptual model for predicting risk-coping behaviors in business-to-business tourism partnerships and discuss the ways in which tour organizers can deliver added value in business-to-business partnerships both upstream and downstream the tourism value chain.

Over the Virtual Top. Digital Service Value Chain Disintermediation Implications for Hybrid Heterogeneous Network Regulation

An over-the-top (OTT) application is an app or service providing a product over the Internet. OTT media and communication services generally are more adaptive to user needs, networks, and devices as well as lower in cost than traditional delivery methods, typically for video content. This paper reviews how Fortune 50 firms and the federal government architecturally organize their information technology and network services using a cloud operating model to create value, over the virtual top, today. Enterprise cloud services offer content, service, and things in an infrastructureless overlay network, Over the Top to create innovative products and services. As business investment in value-creating activities is increasingly focused on cloud services and ‘big’ data analytics, might regulators inadvertently inhibit innovation through mis-regulation of some of the constituent parts of those services? Disintermediation of digital service value chains including through OTT video value chains continues to accelerate, with legacy video network and service supply chain partners and competitors naturally vitally interested. For academics and regulators, the view inside real, hybrid, virtualized heterogeneous networks provided in this paper may be helpful to identify policy and regulatory concerns OTT (over the top) regulation of digital services including OTT video, might or might not address. The paper suggests Amazon cloud services from AWS are technically the same suite of computational, service, and software components whether used by Netflix or any other cloud operating model enterprise; and differing regulatory treatment of the same service must be carefully scrutinized for unintended (perhaps intended by some) negative consequences. This paper suggests continued regulatory treatment of Internet services as information services, which is the default (Title 1) regulatory approach to OTT video, will remain most appropriate as cloud services restructure industry value chains. Competition policy monitoring of firms in dominant positions in specific information services markets, such as Netflix and Google YouTube, and in other sectors, Comcast and Verizon Wireless, is also suggested. Legislative or regulatory intervention in hybrid heterogeneous networks of cloud to edge services for Internet of Things and edgeware applications markets would be premature, beyond the routine monitoring of firms in dominant positions. Since none of them or anyone else is dominant in the next generation of technologies and markets now emerging across clouds and things, Over the Virtual Top. The evolving broadband ecosystem naturally raises regulatory concerns and policy issues also far beyond entertainment markets as digital service value chain disintermediation disrupts markets, and creates new ones. Enterprises deliver digital services orchestrated in hybrid clouds on virtual machines, using software-defined networks and network function virtualization to enable firms to create, and tear down, heterogeneous, policy-compliant services and networks in an instant as users wish, Over the Virtual Top, as this paper is titled. The paper concludes with regard to prospective regulation of over the virtual top services that: •Inhibiting ongoing digital service value chain innovation and discouraging investment in heterogeneous network infrastructure if value chain partner costs are raised in cloud and edge services is the likely unintended consequence of a not well thought out regulatory intervention in Over the Top digital service markets. •Markets for Over the Top services and other managed cloud services, such as IPTV, can continue to evolve at their own pace if Title I information service treatment of Internet data is not tampered with. •The paper suggestions advancing Open Internet-compliant regulatory models towards conditions for further growth of Over the Virtual Top services for secure Internet of Things across heterogeneous networks and hybrid clouds that is well beyond the sterile and misleading ‘network neutrality’ regulator has no clothes or clue misconception. •The paper concludes that even if well-meaning, public sentiment and most policy analyses of network neutrality are generally far off the mark in that they are not grounded in true network design and use, such as that presented in this paper. In the real world, no one wants a neutral network full of spam, thieves, malware, and phishing emails. •Maintaining the Open Internet is essential, which is much easier if the network neutrality red herring were to finally be seen for what it is, a distraction from the substantial technology, market, and Hybrid Hetnet regulation and policy challenges emerging from digital service value chain disintermediation.

Over the Virtual Top. Digital Service Value Chain Disintermediation Implication for Hybrid Hetnet Regulation

An over-the-top (OTT) application is an app or service providing a product over the Internet. OTT media and communication services generally are more adaptive to user needs, networks, and devices as well as lower in cost than traditional delivery methods, typically for video content. This paper reviews how Fortune 50 firms and the federal government architecturally organize their information technology and network services using a cloud operating model to create value, over the virtual top, today. Enterprise cloud services offer content, service, and things in an infrastructureless overlay network, Over the Top to create innovative products and services. As business investment in value-creating activities is increasingly focused on cloud services and ‘big’ data analytics, might regulators inadvertently inhibit innovation through mis-regulation of some of the constituent parts of those services? Disintermediation of digital service value chains including through OTT video value chains continues to accelerate, with legacy video network and service supply chain partners and competitors naturally vitally interested. For academics and regulators, the view inside real, hybrid, virtualized heterogeneous networks provided in this paper may be helpful to identify policy and regulatory concerns OTT (over the top) regulation of digital services including OTT video, might or might not address. The paper suggests Amazon cloud services from AWS are technically the same suite of computational, service, and software components whether used by Netflix or any other cloud operating model enterprise; and differing regulatory treatment of the same service must be carefully scrutinized for unintended (perhaps intended by some) negative consequences. This paper suggests continued regulatory treatment of Internet services as information services, which is the default (Title 1) regulatory approach to OTT video, will remain most appropriate as cloud services restructure industry value chains. Competition policy monitoring of firms in dominant positions in specific information services markets, such as Netflix and Google YouTube, and in other sectors, Comcast and Verizon Wireless, is also suggested. Legislative or regulatory intervention in hybrid heterogeneous networks of cloud to edge services for Internet of Things and edgeware applications markets would be premature, beyond the routine monitoring of firms in dominant positions. Since none of them or anyone else is dominant in the next generation of technologies and markets now emerging across clouds and things, Over the Virtual Top. The evolving broadband ecosystem naturally raises regulatory concerns and policy issues also far beyond entertainment markets as digital service value chain disintermediation disrupts markets, and creates new ones. Enterprises deliver digital services orchestrated in hybrid clouds on virtual machines, using software-defined networks and network function virtualization to enable firms to create, and tear down, heterogeneous, policy-compliant services and networks in an instant as users wish, Over the Virtual Top, as this paper is titled. The paper concludes with regard to prospective regulation of over the virtual top services that: •Inhibiting ongoing digital service value chain innovation and discouraging investment in heterogeneous network infrastructure if value chain partner costs are raised in cloud and edge services is the likely unintended consequence of a not well thought out regulatory intervention in Over the Top digital service markets. •Markets for Over the Top services and other managed cloud services, such as IPTV, can continue to evolve at their own pace if Title I information service treatment of Internet data is not tampered with. •The paper suggestions advancing Open Internet-compliant regulatory models towards conditions for further growth of Over the Virtual Top services for secure Internet of Things across heterogeneous networks and hybrid clouds that is well beyond the sterile and misleading ‘network neutrality’ regulator has no clothes or clue misconception. •The paper concludes that even if well-meaning, public sentiment and most policy analyses of network neutrality are generally far off the mark in that they are not grounded in true network design and use, such as that presented in this paper. In the real world, no one wants a neutral network full of spam, thieves, malware, and phishing emails. •Maintaining the Open Internet is essential, which is much easier if the network neutrality red herring were to finally be seen for what it is, a distraction from the substantial technology, market, and Hybrid Hetnet regulation and policy challenges emerging from digital service value chain disintermediation.