By Wael Jabr📧, and Suvrat Dhanorkar📧
In International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2023 Proceeddings, 2023, 13. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2023/soc_impactIS/soc_impactIS/13
When stakeholders are unaware of information that is of relevance to them and when this information is costly to obtain (due to costs associated with information awareness, acquisition, and integration), those stakeholders suffer from information asymmetry vis-à-vis the producer and owner of this information. To overcome those conditions, mandated disclosure has been used in a number of settings, requiring the owner of information such as a chemical manufacturer to disclose the types and level of toxic releases it produces. However, without the ease of information acquisition and subsequent dissemination, such disclosure’s value remains limited. In this paper, we study broadband penetration in the United States as an enabler of the public to be better informed about manufacturers’ pollution and its implications on curbing toxic releases. Because some marginalized communities have been documented to suffer more from such toxic releases, we also study the disproportionate impact of broadband on Black communities.
Deprivation Costs Functions (DCFs) are key to designing effective relief distribution operations after disasters. In this paper, data are collected in Colombia and Ecuador to estimate DCFs for water and food, considering the influence of individuals’ attitudes on preparedness, risk perception, and trust in response agents. Hybrid Choice Models are used to analyze and compare the estimated DCFs. The analyses confirm that DCFs differ by commodity. Additionally, socioeconomic characteristics of individuals influence their willingness to pay for critical supplies to reduce their own suffering. Preparedness, risk perceptions and trust in response agents impact individuals’ behavior in disaster situations. The results also show that community and religious groups are considered the most trusted response agents in both countries. As a result, their involvement in official relief efforts should be more articulated. Colombia and Ecuador show significant differences in their estimated DCFs, confirming that deprivation costs are context-specific by nature. As such, DCFs should not be directly transferred among disaster locations. The findings from this study will support decision-makers in designing effective preparedness and response plans that are based on trust relationships that serve as foundations for community resilience.
The case presents a sourcing problem and a manufacturing problem faced by an original equipment manufacturer, seeking recommendations for sourcing a diverse range of parts for high-voltage equipment, as well as making decisions on the manufacturing strategy for a component used in a water monitoring system. The case provides an opportunity to explore the qualitative and quantitative aspects of three-dimensional (3D) printing versus traditional manufacturing, specifically in terms of operational cost. Furthermore, this case facilitates discussions on the potential impact of 3D printing on supply chains. It is suitable for use in graduate and undergraduate courses, as it introduces key concepts such as manufacturing and inventory policies, queueing theory, and life cycle analysis. Ultimately, the case is designed to promote a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that manufacturers face in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Social media—and, in particular, social media influencers—are playing an increasingly central role in shaping public opinion on a variety of issues. The political sphere is no exception. In response to the impact that social media influencers have on citizens’ political views and voting behaviors, political parties adapt their messages and policies during election campaigns. Media outlets, too, faced with competition for readership from social media, are adjusting their news coverage. To analyze the nature and extent of the impact of social media on parties’ policies, media outlets’ news reports, and citizens’ opinions, we used a game theoretical model of electoral competition involving four key stakeholders—citizens, political parties, media outlets, and social media influencers. Our results show that with social media, parties’ policy positions become more moderate while media outlets’ editorial positions become more extreme. We also show that citizens’ opinions may become more polarized when the influencers’ true editorial positions are more homogeneous as a result of increased information distortion.
Customers of many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in business-to-business markets today demand product servicizing in which instead of buying the product from the OEM they buy the use of a product during a lease. During the lease, (i) the customer uses the product and returns it to the OEM after the use reaches a specific level, (ii) the OEM remanufactures the product in a costly process and sends it back to the customer, and this usecycle is repeated multiple times. The lease terms typically involve a use-based payment. While a greater product use by a customer brings a larger revenue to the OEM, it also increases the remanufacturing cost incurred by the OEM. We investigate this trade-off using an analytical model for a contract that is used extensively in industry. For the case of homogeneous customers with a common use rate of the product, we optimize lease payment terms and identify market and product-remanufacturing characteristics for which the OEM should servicize the product instead of selling it. We show that an OEM should not servicize a product when the customers’ use rate exceeds a threshold. This is because, beyond this threshold, the remanufacturing cost increases disproportionably, exceeding the higher usage-based revenue. Subsequently, we consider a market with two segments with different use rates. We consider two servicizing modes: (i) servicize both market segments or (ii) selectively servicize only one segment and sell the product to the other segment, and the default mode of selling in both segments. We develop optimal lease payment terms for these use-based servicizing modes, identify thresholds of product and market characteristics for the optimality of these modes. Finally, we extend the results to a market with more than two segments and compare the environmental impacts of the servicizing or sell decision. Numerical results informed by empirical data show that the OEM’s loss of profit from choosing a suboptimal servicizing/sell decision can be significant.