IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v78y2024ics0969698924000833.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Implications of counterfeiting and differentiation on online knowledge services with suitability upgrades

Author

Listed:
  • Song, Zhuzhu
  • Qin, Zhongfeng
  • Liu, Tian-Liang

Abstract

The simplicity of duplicating electronic products significantly disrupts the knowledge service environment, exacerbating the issue of copyright infringement. This study focuses on the suitability upgrading of online knowledge services, examining the effects of the presence of counterfeiters and the enhancement of service differentiation on platform performance. By considering a hypothetical scenario without counterfeiters as a benchmark, this paper evaluates the impact of differentiation strategies in the presence of counterfeiters. The findings suggest that a differentiation strategy can concurrently increase market share and profit, potentially enhancing the platform's performance in scenarios involving counterfeiters. Through the analysis of two distinct periods, it was discovered that piracy possesses a unique advertising effect that can boost the platform's market share in the second period. Furthermore, strategies to combat piracy can effectively leverage this effect. While the presence of counterfeiters reduces the number of purchasers, the platform's efforts to combat piracy may increase the overall consumer surplus. Conversely, a tepid response to piracy could diminish the consumer surplus generated by legitimate purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Song, Zhuzhu & Qin, Zhongfeng & Liu, Tian-Liang, 2024. "Implications of counterfeiting and differentiation on online knowledge services with suitability upgrades," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:78:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924000833
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103787
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698924000833
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103787?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:78:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924000833. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.