J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex., Volume 5, Issue 4 (December 2019) – 31 articles

This study investigates whether higher start-up intention leads to innovative behavior and whether innovative behavior is increased by the medium of entrepreneurship. This study tested the hypotheses by conducting a survey on students participating in entrepreneurship club activities in university. The results showed that start-up intention affects innovative behavior and has a significant effect on the sub-factors of entrepreneurship, such as innovation, risk taking, and proactiveness. The result of an analysis of the mediating effect of entrepreneurship on innovative behavior showed that all sub-factors performed a partially mediating role. It can therefore be said that higher start-up intention leads to more innovative behavior and that entrepreneurship serves as an important link in this relationship. These results show that increasing start-up intention may lead to innovative behavior and imply that this has educational relevance in cultivating entrepreneurship. However, this study is limited in terms of the generalizability of the results, as the subjects are university students participating in entrepreneurship club activities in Korea. Therefore, more significant outcomes can be obtained in further research by targeting a broader scope of subjects. Full article

The sharing economy is emerging as one of the hottest issues of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The ownership paradigm was dominant during the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, so the formation of the sharing economy was almost non-existent, but it has grown to 5% of the global GDP during the Third Industrial Revolution as the sharing paradigm became prominent. It is expected that the scale of the sharing economy will reach up to 50% of the global economy by 2025 as the online to offline convergence (O2O) phenomenon (GE, 2012). The sharing economy is generally considered complex, diverse, and simply chaotic territory due to its various meanings or types despite its importance. In short, there is a great need to do more research to develop a unified model of the sharing economy. Our study defines sharing economy as “an activity where economic agents share economic objects together to create values”. The KCERN Sharing Economy Cube Model presented in the study is a unified model where the subjects of sharing—supply, market platform, demand, etc.—share the objects of sharing—information, materials, relations, etc.—in order to engage in economic activities, both for profit and nonprofit, to create values. The model reflects all these activities and encompasses all the other definitions of the sharing economy. This study aims to systematically draw a roadmap for the national sharing economy in the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution era based on the integrative sharing platform economy model. Full article

The Business Process Model to represent the process of developing a medical device is presented in this paper. In the age of population aging and a growing amount of patients, enormous pressure is put on improving their care and living conditions. The development of medical devices is a complicated and expensive process. Therefore, the whole process was subjected to an analysis of business processes, and the resulting model was expressed using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). The model aims to illustrate the consentient process of designing a medical device using graphical notation. This notation is suitable for displaying models of healthcare environments thanks to its user-friendliness and easy comprehensibility for all parties involved. In addition, this study demonstrates that the model in BPMN notation by its depth of specificity falls to the level of activity sub-processes. This level of abstraction allows a comprehensive view of the entire process, as well as future extensions for a more in-depth analysis and process mining techniques. Full article

In the era of economic globalization, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as an engine of sustainable economic development in both the developed and developing world. In literature, three competitive challenges—the sustainability challenge, the global challenge and the technological challenge—faced by industrial entities in the current globalized economy, are categorized. Of them, this paper undertakes a systemic review of the literature covering the theme of SMEs and technology in order to identify how technological progress in the SMEs, correlates with SMEs survival improvement in the global competition. The review identified six driving forces—social capital, link with Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and Transnational Corporations (TNCs), innovation, sharing and networking, information technology, and adoption of productivity-enhancing technology—influencing technological upgrade in the SMEs. The review also identified two conditions for successful technological adaptation in the SME sector—availability of technologically skillful workforce in the economy, and identification of opportunities of new technologies in the competition. These conditions could be viewed in the macro environment and emphasize the need for the economies’ readiness towards SMEs’ success. Full article

The diffusion of the New Public Management philosophy determines an increasing innovation in the public field. The need for open innovation management is relevant to improve and also increase performance in healthcare organizations. Moreover, this is strictly connected with an efficient accounting and information system able to process, store and share data. Through an inductive approach to the consideration of needs, this paper deals with the social open innovation theory, the innovation of cycle theory, and the microcosting approach. Our analysis allows us to create a new framework which includes both theories and provides results for health managers and health decision-makers. Full article

This study aims to investigate the effects of product and process innovations on manufacturing firm performance in Southeast Asian emerging markets. To this end, using a cross-national sample of 2324 manufacturing firms from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) dataset of 2015, we test the effects of product and process innovations on the sales growth of manufacturing firms in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. This study finds that product innovation is positively related to sales growth while new operating technologies are negatively associated with sales growth. For high-tech firms, product innovation is positively related to sales growth. The findings imply that in Southeast Asian emerging markets, governments and manufacturing firms can enhance performance by investing in product innovation. Full article

To sustain in today’s ever-changing and competitive landscape, firms must work within and outside of their organizations’ boundaries. Open innovation (OI) strategies such as external technology acquisition (ETA), and external technology exploitation (ETE), can effectively improve the innovation performance of the organizations. Technologies like social media can help organizations to scout for appropriate technology, and source for ideas and knowledge from external sources to support their innovations. Moreover, digitalization can hasten business operations and enhance the innovation process of the firm. Focusing on open innovation (OI), this study takes an integrated approach towards investigating the impact of OI strategies, technology scouting through social media, and digitalization vision on innovation and firm performance. Data were drawn from 153 organizations in Malaysia, and the partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analyze data. The findings revealed that ETE, technology scouting through social media, and digitalization vision have a significant relationship with innovation performance. This, in turn, shows a positive relationship with firm performance. However, ETA does not have a significant relationship with innovation performance in the Malaysia context. This study extends the current literature on OI through the use of specific technology variables, such as technology scouting through social media and digitalization vision to support organizations’ innovation. Full article

The millennial generation plays a leading role in today’s connected world in which exists a confluence of numerous technologies and the internet in science, economy and innovation. This study aimed to identify the key factors that characterize the millennial generation within the online chatter on Twitter using an innovative approach. To this end, we analyzed the user generated content (UGC) in the social network (SNS) Twitter using a three-steps knowledge-based method for information management. In order to develop this method, we first used latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), a state-of-the-art thematic modeling tool that works with Python, to analyze topics in our database. The data were collected by extracting tweets with the hashtag #Millennial, #Millennials and #MillennialGeneration on Twitter (n = 35,401 tweets). Secondly, sentiment analysis with a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was also developed using machine-learning. Applying this method to the LDA results resulted in the categorization of the topics into those that contained negative, positive and neutral sentiments. Thirdly, in order to gather the final results, data text mining techniques were used. The negative factors that characterize the behavior of this generation are depression, loneliness and real-world relationship. The positive factors are body image, self-expression, travelers and digital life and the neutral factors are self-identity and anxiety. Practical implications can be used by public actors, companies or policy makers that are focused on the millennial generation as a target. The study has important theoretical applications as the topics discovered can be used to test quantitative models based on the findings and insights extracted from the UGC sample. Full article

Commercialization strategy is an all-encompassing plan that organizes technology transfer office goals to commercialize a university’s technologies. Measurement strategy requires feasible variables that make up those goals. This strategy also ensures that all variables that are important in measuring contribute to the larger goals. A useful way to assess and explain the effectiveness of the technology transfer office (TTO) of universities is to model this within a production function/frontier framework. Such a production function is typically estimated econometrically. This study presents evidence on the relative efficiency of research commercialization in the university through the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The implication of the DEA efficiency result is to derive the efficiency level of the TTO’s strategy from the observed performance. It also helps in identifying the benchmarking of other TTOs, which would be valuable information for improving their new technology commercialization strategy. In detail, a benchmark is provided to improve the weakness of strategy and resource allocation of a poorly performing TTO. The proposed matrix of indicators is an exploit of how performance could be measured within the decision-making units that have been chosen. By introducing the measure to commercialization strategy framework the development of technology transfer offices policies are considered. Full article

The University technology transfer (UTT) process is hindered by various barriers to achieving a successful translation of innovative technologies from universities to industries and other partners. Identifying these various barriers and understanding their interrelationships would provide a better understanding of the complex nature of the UTT process, which may be considered as inputs to crucial decision-making initiatives. This paper addresses this gap by holistically determining UTT barriers and their intertwined relationships. Using the Delphi method and fuzzy cognitive mapping, a case study in a state university in the Philippines was conducted to carry out this objective. The Delphi process extracts 24 relevant barriers of UTT, out of 46 barriers obtained from a comprehensive review of the extant literature. The results show that misalignment between research and commercialization objectives is the barrier that was influenced most by the other barriers. In contrast, high costs of managing joint research projects in terms of time and money and institutional bureaucracy have the highest out-degree measures or are the barriers that influence other barriers the most. These findings provide guidelines to various stakeholders and decision-makers in understanding the existence of barriers in the formulation of strategies and initiatives for a successful UTT process. Full article

How can we place climate change issues at the heart of technological innovation? From our point of view, artistic practice is a powerful tool to infuse sustainability dimensions into technological developments. By using a sensitive approach based on a dialogue with his/her inner self, the artist questions the nature and meaning of technological developments and therefore appeals to users’ deep motivations. We explore first how the artist inner self engagement in the creation process relates to climate change mitigation. Then, through a qualitative survey-type experimentation derived from Jeanne Bloch’s art-tech installation, we expose how the confrontation with a panel of users helps to understand the characteristics of the dialogue an artist engages in with an “immersed” audience, particularly on the issue of climate change. Full article

The purpose of a Smart City is to solve its inherent problems while simultaneously reducing its expenditure and improving its quality of life. Through the 4th Industrial Revolution technology, the advantages of Smart City are estimated to overcome the city’s expenses with city platformization. While a city traditionally is the subject of creation and not consumption, a Smart City currently is the key industry in generating more than 60% of its GDP in value creation from a production viewpoint. Moreover, with the expansion of online-offline convergence, cities can grow without limitation on its size, where connectivity and innovation determine the inclination of the city’s benefit-cost curve. As a city platform is responsible for connectivity, its value drastically increases through the 4th Industrial Revolution’s O2O (online to offline convergence) platform. When a city reflects on its own as a Digital Twin in the Cloud and when complete information becomes accessible through citizen’s participation through smartphones (Edge), Self-organization takes place, an ideal linkage between the city and citizens. Cities go through the self-organizing process of complex adaptive systems like the human brain. This research proposes a future model of a “Self-organizing City,” and suggests implementing the Smart City model based on the Smart City Tech-Socio Model in implementing strategies. Full article

Research and development organisations (RTOs) are at the heart of innovation systems. They help to connect innovation system actors to foster industrial innovation. Due to this intermediary role, they act as paradigmatic open innovation (OI) actors. In this context, RTOs need to balance their knowledge stocks and flows, while assuring their own innovation capabilities and positively impacting the innovation system they influence. Thus, RTOs need to develop collaboration approaches that support their own performance while increasing their capabilities and not threatening their competitive advantages derived from their knowledge stock. In this study we extend the OI research to research organisations analysing their OI approach and the impact on its own performance, developing a new framework for OI study in RTOs using a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. The research, based on a sample of Spanish RTOs, arises two substantive conclusions. First, an increased number of collaboration partners (collaboration breadth) and the use of a variety of OI practices have a strong impact on RTOs’ overall performance (scientific, transference, and economic results). Second, RTOs need to foster their aperture and promote an active management to benefit from collaborating partners, whereas managers should pay special attention to questions related to the protection and management of intellectual property when promoting the use of different OI practices. Both results also emphasise the importance of managing firms’ knowledge flows in the implementation of OI in RTOs. Full article

Open innovation contributes to serving the customers of organizations with higher quality, as the customers become an active part of the innovation process. A successful solution for implementing open innovation can be achieved if organizations first create a total quality management (TQM) culture and then build on this foundation an ISO 9004:2018. The success of a quality management system depends first and foremost on the attitudes of the stakeholders, and the importance of technological and other conditions is only secondary. The goal in developing a successful philosophy of TQM is to build and sustain the leaderships’ and employees’ commitment, while the key to the success of ISO 9004:2018 is to establish and maintain the employees’ commitment and customer loyalty. The case study presented in this article demonstrates the need to increase the affective and normative commitment of leaders and employees in TQM, and after its implementation, there is a need to increase the employees’ continued commitment and customer loyalty in ISO 9004:2018 in order to succeed in quality management systems and open innovation. Full article

Scientific crowdsourcing, which can effectively obtain wisdom from solvers, has become a new type of open innovation to address worldwide scientific and research problems. In the crowdsourcing process, the initiator should satisfy his own research needs by selecting a proper solver from the crowd, and the solver must have multiple competitions in order to obtain scientific research tasks from the initiator. The participants in the scientific crowdsourcing are based on the knowledge flow to realize the value added of knowledge. This paper discusses a few factors, including knowledge utility, knowledge transfer cost, knowledge distance, and knowledge trading cost, which all affect the solvers to achieve game equilibrium and win tasks in scientific crowdsourcing. By referring to the concept of Hotelling model, this paper constructs a game model with the solvers as the participants, and analyses solvers’ behaviours in scientific crowdsourcing and their profit impacts by each of the key elements. The results show that from a crowdsourcing solver’s point of view, increasing knowledge utility, controlling knowledge transfer cost, shortening knowledge distance to the initiator, and leveraging with a knowledge trading cost are four effective approaches to wining the competition of a scientific crowdsourcing task. The research conclusions provide a theoretical basis and practice guidance for crowdsourcing solvers to participate in scientific crowdsourcing from the perspective of the knowledge flow process. Full article

This study aims to examine the impacts of firm constraints and proactive innovation on firm performance, using a sample of 3504 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam from 2011–2015. Our findings suggest that technological innovations in general are beneficial to firm performance, increasing firm sales and profits. Further filtering innovations into two categories of proactive and reactive ones, we find that reactive innovation negatively affects firm performance, consistent with the view that proactive entrepreneurial behavior is a highly sought-after characteristic or a valuable resource for a firm as specified in resources-based theory. Finally, our result implies that if firms have low constraint or have sufficient resources, proactive strategies should be the choice if firms seek to improve their performance. Full article

As the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices increases, services expand and illegal hacking and infringement methods become more sophisticated, an effective solution for blockchain technology is required as a fundamental solution to security threats. In this paper, we develop the security module of an IoT device based on blockchain technology that blocks hacking and information infringement and forms a multi-security blockchain system between the IoT device and the user device and we develop a user application. We contribute to addressing the security threats faced by IoT application services by developing a new method. In particular, we present some schemes for the development of a multi-security certification system based on blockchain for IoT security. Full article

In Korean society, where aging is rapidly progressing, the happiness of the elderly is no longer an economic issue. An esthetics program has the effect of improving depression or low self-esteem to increase psychological and physical satisfaction, which is a good way to raise the happiness index of the elderly. However, there is a lack of esthetics education or esthetics programs in Korea to train estheticians to serve elderly people. This study confirmed the possibility of open innovation through esthetics education to increase the happiness index of the elderly. As a research method, a self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 572 estheticians and analyzed statistically. In this study, Korean estheticians were very positive about the need for the development of professional care programs for the elderly, and it was found that they are willing to care for the elderly. Developing a variety of esthetic programs through the training of professional manpower for the elderly in the future will contribute to enhancing the happiness index of elderly Korean people. Full article

This paper explains the concept of a city-based cultural ecosystem service, and how innovations and systematic operations management can help an international city to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Previous studies suggest that most of the PPP models focus on the operation and analysis of PPP construction projects, limited attention of the subsequent operations and management for PPP facilities. This paper thus proposed an integrated PPP management framework with the principles of Cultural Ecosystem Service (CES) and open innovation to support better operations management of PPP projects. While the management of modern PPP projects will inevitably encounter the challenges of cross-disciplinary management and service innovation in the period of operations management, Cultural Ecosystem Service Innovation (CESI) framework is useful to support the practice and continuous improvement. A real-world case of Kaohsiung Dome in Taiwan has been benchmarked and analyzed with empirical data. With in-depth expert interviews, the paper demonstrates the use of CESI framework to support business strategy and operations management for sustainable system development and shared values. Management implications were addressed to promote multiple positive feedbacks with the government, enterprises, and the general public and jointly strive to support the development of a benchmarked city. Full article

This research developed a solution approach that is a combination of a web application and the modified differential evolution (MDE) algorithm, aimed at solving a real-time transportation problem. A case study involving an inbound transportation problem in a company that has to plan the direct shipping of a finished product to be collected at the depot where the vehicles are located is presented. In the newly designed transportation plan, a vehicle will go to pick up the raw material required by a certain production plant from the supplier to deliver to the production plant in a manner that aims to reduce the transportation costs for the whole system. The reoptimized routing is executed when new information is found. The information that is updated is obtained from the web application and the reoptimization process is executed using the MDE algorithm developed to provide the solution to the problem. Generally, the original DE comprises of four steps: (1) randomly building the initial set of the solution, (2) executing the mutation process, (3) executing the recombination process, and (4) executing the selection process. Originally, for the selection process in DE, the algorithm accepted only the better solution, but in this paper, four new selection formulas are presented that can accept a solution that is worse than the current best solution. The formula is used to increase the possibility of escaping from the local optimal solution. The computational results show that the MDE outperformed the original DE in all tested instances. The benefit of using real-time decision-making is that it can increase the company’s profit by 5.90% to 6.42%. Full article

The purpose of this study is to identify the difference in firm performance and employment growth between successful and failed capital procurement through equity-based crowdfunding. We conduct an empirical analysis using entire crowdfunding projects that attempted to raise capital through equity-based crowdfunding in South Korea in 2016. We summarize our findings as follows. Descriptive statistics show that the survival rate, sales growth rate, profitability growth, absolute employment growth, and employment growth rate of companies with successful crowdfunding are higher than those of companies with failed crowdfunding. However, from the difference analysis, we do not find a significant difference in the survival rate, sales growth rate, and profitability growth between companies with crowdfunding success and companies with crowdfunding failure. We find that the absolute employment growth and employment growth rate are significantly higher for companies that succeeded in crowdfunding projects compared to companies that did not. In this study, we find that the characteristics of these firms that are conducting or verifying new projects through equity-based crowdfunding financing are similar to those of prior studies results confirming the short-term effects of entrepreneurial activities or new business activities on economic performance and employment growth. In particular, it is very meaningful to confirm that the direct effect of employment growth is also found in start-up firms that raise capital through equity-based crowdfunding. By investigating the difference in firm performance and employment outcomes according to the results of equity-based crowdfunding investment, this study provides useful insights to investors for their efforts to validate participation in crowdfunding. Also, our study raises important policy implications for regulators in their efforts to resolve unemployment and the lack of capital problem for startups and new businesses. Full article

As the Korean government expands the budget for national research and development, the need for an institute that deliberates, coordinates, and operates research development and its budget has increased. In response to these demands, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) was recently established. However, to achieve a creative economy, which is the economic system where value is based on novel imaginative qualities rather than the traditional resources of land, labor, and capital, more efficiently, fundamental research regarding the current state of the Korean national administration system of science and technology in Korea is required. Accordingly, this study first analyzes the function and organizational structure of the NSTC in Korea. Second, it investigates the current state of the NSTC in other countries. Finally, the study derives several implications for improving NSTC operation based on the benchmarking study and suggests an operational improvement plan for NSTC with respect to enhancement of function, operation of organization, human resource management, and improvement of the relationships between other departments. The study contributes to analyze the current state of the NSTC in Korea and science and technology (S&T) Councils in other major countries, systematically and in detail. In addition, based on benchmarking study, this study derived operational improvement of NSTC in Korea with four perspectives, including enhancement of function, operation of organization, human resource management, and improvement of the relationships between other departments. Full article

Financial innovation by means of Fintech firms is one of the more disruptive business model innovations from the latest years. Specifically, in the financial advisor sector, worldwide assets under management of artificial intelligence (AI)-based investment firms, or robo-advisors, currently amount to US$975.5 B. Since 2008, robo-advisors have evolved from passive advising to active data-driven investment management, requiring AI models capable of predicting financial asset prices on time to switch positions. In this research, an artificial neural network modelling framework is specifically designed to be used as an active data-driven robo-advisor due to its ability to forecast with today’s copper prices five days ahead of changes in prices using input data that can be fed automatically in the model. The model, tested using data of the two periods with a higher volatility of the returns of the recent history of copper prices (May 2006 to September 2008 and September 2008 to September 2010) showed that the method is capable of predicting in-sample and out-of-sample prices and consequently changes in prices with high levels of accuracy. Additionally, with a 24-day window of out-of-sample data, a trading simulation exercise was performed, consisting of staying long if the model predicts a rise in price or switching to a short position if the model predicts a decrease in price, and comparing the results with the passive strategies, buy and hold or sell and hold. The results obtained seem promising in terms of both statistical and trading metrics. Our contribution is twofold: 1) we propose a set of input variables based on financial theory that can be collected and fed automatically by the algorithm. 2) We generate predictions five days in advance that can be used to reposition the portfolio in active investment strategies. Full article

This paper extends resource dependence logic by investigating the antecedents of technological diversification and further identifies its boundary condition. We argue that this resource dependence logic is bound by state ownership through coalitions with firms, a less discussed component of interdependence. The empirical results, based on a panel data analysis of Chinese listed firms, suggest that environmental dynamism positively relates to technological diversification, while environmental munificence negatively relates to technological diversification. These relationships changed when state ownership is considered. The theoretical implications for resource dependence theory and diversification research are discussed. Full article

Industry 4.0, started in Germany in 2011, was fervently promoted by various advanced countries and followed by the introduction of “smart manufacturing”. As an innovative strategy of the manufacturing industry “smart manufacturing” has attracted considerable attention in the field of academics and practice. However, the issues of huge investment and differentiation of individual enterprises have created a big gap between policy promotion and production at the site of actual industrial manufacturing and resulted in limited progress in smart manufacturing. In view of the situation, the authors have previously developed in relation to the practice of individual companies in the industry a practical structure of “Lean Smart Manufacturing: a conceptual framework and solution based co-creative platform” combining Lean Production with smart manufacturing to achieve customer value. In addition to filling the gap between government policy and industry in Industry 4.0, the practical structure suggests the possibility of balancing differentiation and open innovation. Taiwan’s bicycle industry is one of Taiwan’s most internationally competitive industries. GIANT, the leading manufacturer of bicycles in Taiwan, has been actively promoting TPS since 2000. With the development of Industry 4.0, GIANT has been working on the application of Industry 4.0 related technologies in order to further enhance customer value. In the application of the practical structure of “Lean Smart Manufacturing”, there are few cases of corporate practice. This study focuses on the A-Team which is constructed by the bicycle industry in Taiwan and GIANT for empirical research, to see how GIANT implement the “Lean Smart Manufacturing” and construct the co-creative platform, to balance differentiation and open innovation, then strengthen its competitiveness. The research results show that although this case is still in the development stage, it has the basic form of “Lean Smart Manufacturing: a conceptual framework and solution based co-creative platform”. This case, as we advocate the use of differentiated advantages of “Lean Smart Manufacturing”, pragmatically from the establishment of the smart factory platform on the physical system, gradually extended to the strategic co-creative platform of the cyber system. Full article

This study explores the differentiated properties of service design in the context of the final value pursued by this methodology, avoiding the interpretation of pending issues to which service design is applied. First, the following were identified as the core properties of service design, differentiated from other design methodologies: “Design Thinking”, a creative problem-solving process; “User Experience Value”, the pursued goal; “Participatory Design”, a practical research methodology; and “Interaction between Users and Providers”, the core research scope of pending issues. Second, the study proposed a six-step service design process model based on the interrelationships between these properties. The “problem recognition” step identified a decline in the quality of user experiences and forms a self-awareness of dissatisfaction. Next, the “problem understanding” step conducts multidisciplinary cooperative research on dissatisfaction. Subsequently, the “problem deduction” step determines users’ unsatisfied desires through visualization of the core pending issues, and the “problem definition” step performs creative conception activities with problem-solving approaches for the unsatisfied desires. Further, the “problem-solving” step develops service design models, and finally, the “problem-solving strategy check” step confirms the utility of the models in a real-world application. Full article

Increasing demand for various social services in accordance with the global social change in time requires a systematic and efficient system based on a user-oriented policy operation method beyond an administrative operation method of social services. Therefore, this study aimed to present a specific direction for the development of the social service system by empirically deriving and discussing the critical factors that can lead to sustainable success of the social service system. To this end, 12 factors in 3 areas were critically analyzed through a questionnaire survey and analysis on the basis of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for the social service workers and users of the 50 Plus Foundation, an organization that helps the elderly in Seoul to continue their social participation. The analysis results confirmed that the service delivery system was the most important factor among the service delivery system, service administration, and service network, and, in particular, factors for users’ active system access, such as accessibility and participation possibility, were the most influential factors for sustainable success of the social service system. Ultimately, unlike in the past, system development and direction should be sought by considering service users rather than a one-sided policy approach of the government for the development and operation of the social service system. Full article

Customer engagement in different phases of creation of new products and services is argued to be a significant success factor by some scholars and practitioners, and unnecessary—by others. The paper analyses the findings of a pilot study, conducted with the intention to see whether ordinary citizens from different countries could highlight problems which really could bring forth ideas for innovative products or services. The data were collected via electronic survey with the further qualitative content analyses of the problems that, to the respondents’ minds, are worth solving. The expert group analysis of the ideas which derived from the problems was conducted to decide the feasibility of the approach, whose efficiency was concluded not to be high. Reliability and consistency of the experts’ assessments were tested using statistical software SPSS 20 based on the correlation analysis of five criteria—usefulness, social impact, customer base, frequency of use, and novelty. The research revealed 16 groups of problems. Full article

Maintaining a consistently trending portfolio of complements is vital to sustaining platform leadership. Prior research has highlighted the value of open innovation, but has largely disregarded the strategic identification and management of distinctive complements that drive extended platform value, particularly via platform policy modifications. The relevance of prior research around influential policies such as refund leniency becomes largely irrelevant once applied to platform conditions. Utilizing Steam as the medium of analysis, this paper distinguishes complements into three classifications of sustainability, representing its contribution to developing platform leadership. Steam’s refund policy alteration is investigated for its effects on refund revenue reductions and additional demand on each classification, assessed using an indirectly related linear regression between playtime distribution and game age, and a binomially distributed t-test on the percentage of favorable games. The results reveal that, while all patterns experience significant volumes of refunds, corresponding revenue enhancements are perceived only among unsustainable games. This creates a disadvantageous foundation for high-value complements and consequently, an unforeseen disincentive for association, potentially inciting preferential linkage with competitors. This paper further proposes a precedent for future open innovation and platform management research, where complements of highest relevance are identified and granted heightened priority to protect their sustainability. Full article

This study aimed to compare two techniques of business knowledge extraction for the identification of insights related to the improvement of digital marketing strategies on a sample of 15,731 tweets. The sample was extracted from user generated content (UGC) from Twitter using two methods based on knowledge extraction techniques for business. In Method 1, an algorithm to detect communities in complex networks was applied; this algorithm, in which we applied data visualization techniques for complex networks analysis, used the modularity of nodes to discover topics. In Method 2, a three-phase process was developed for knowledge extraction that included the application of a latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model, a sentiment analysis (SA) that works with machine learning, and a data text mining (DTM) analysis technique. Finally, we compared the results of each of the two techniques to see whether or not the results yielded by these two methods regarding the analysis of companies’ digital marketing strategies were mutually complementary. Full article