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Short-term and long-term competition between providers of shrink-wrap software and software as a service

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  • Fan, Ming
  • Kumar, Subodha
  • Whinston, Andrew B.

Abstract

Software as a service (SaaS) has moved quickly from a peripheral idea to a mainstream phenomenon. By bundling a software product with delivery and maintenance service, SaaS providers can effectively differentiate their products with traditional shrink-wrap software (SWS). This research uses a game theoretical approach to examine short- and long-term competition between SaaS and SWS providers. We analyze the factors that affect equilibrium outcomes, including user implementation costs, SaaS provider's operation efficiency, and quality improvement over time. Bundling software with service lowers software implementation cost for users, and our results suggest that it increases equilibrium prices. In providing software services, SaaS providers have to incur significant operation cost. In the long run, service operation cost may significantly affect SaaS firm's ability to improve its software quality.

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  • Fan, Ming & Kumar, Subodha & Whinston, Andrew B., 2009. "Short-term and long-term competition between providers of shrink-wrap software and software as a service," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 661-671, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:196:y:2009:i:2:p:661-671
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    10. Arne Katzmarzik, 2011. "Product Differentiation for Software-as-a-Service Providers," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 3(1), pages 19-31, February.
    11. Vincent Cho & Aman Chan, 2015. "An integrative framework of comparing SaaS adoption for core and non-core business operations: An empirical study on Hong Kong industries," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 629-644, June.
    12. Mark Bender & Esther Gal‐Or & Tansev Geylani, 2022. "The emergence of streaming and its impact on pricing and product strategies of content providers," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2148-2171, September.
    13. Zan Zhang & Guofang Nan & Minqiang Li & Yong Tan, 2022. "Competitive Entry of Information Goods Under Quality Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2869-2888, April.
    14. Li, Gang & Huang, Feng Feng & Cheng, T.C.E. & Zheng, Quan & Ji, Ping, 2014. "Make-or-buy service capacity decision in a supply chain providing after-sales service," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(2), pages 377-388.
    15. Jia, Kunhao & Liao, Xiuwu & Feng, Juan, 2018. "Selling or leasing? Dynamic pricing of software with upgrades," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(3), pages 1044-1061.
    16. Yang, Bibo & Ng, C.T., 2010. "Pricing problem in wireless telecommunication product and service bundling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 473-480, November.
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    19. Aaqif Afzaal Abbasi & Hai Jin, 2018. "v-Mapper: An Application-Aware Resource Consolidation Scheme for Cloud Data Centers," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
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