讲座题目：Bloatware and Jailbreaking: Strategic Impacts of Consumer-Initiated Modification of Technology Products

报告人：Xianjun Geng, A.B Freeman School of Business, Tulane University

讲座时间：2019年6月12日星期三上午9：00-10：30

讲座地点：tyc234cc 太阳成集团辅楼121教室

讲座内容：Many consumer electronics devices are sold bundled with unwanted applications -called bloatware, which provide additional revenue stream to device manufacturers, but deteriorate the value of purchased devices for consumers. Consumers, in response, find technical means to modify purchased devices- called jailbreaking-to remove those applications, thereby reducing the anticipated bloatware revenue for manufacturers. From the perspective of a monopolistic firm that manufactures a consumer electronic device and can preinstall a third-party app for a fee, we investigate whether bloatware inclusion is a viable strategy and how the firm should price its product with bloatware given that consumers can remove bloatware from the product after purchase. We show that it is not always optimal for the firm to sell a bloatware-included product. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that even if the firm can make it harder for consumers to jailbreak, the firm is not always better off by doing so. Consumers do not necessarily benefit from the reduced cost of jailbreaking either. Since the firm passes part of the bloatware revenue to consumers in the form of a lower price, whenever bloatware inclusion benefits the firm, consumers also benefit. Finally, we confirm that our results are robust to alternative modeling assumptions.

学者介绍：Xianjun Geng, 博士毕业于得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（University of Texas at Austin），现为杜兰大学（Tulane University）教授。主要研究方向为Business analytics，Pricing，Supply chain management，Information security，Behavioral economics。他的研究成果在Management Science，Information Systems Research，Production and Operations Management，MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Production and Operations Management等高水平期刊上发表。此外，Geng曾担任Information Systems Research副主编和Production and Operations Management高级编辑，目前担任MIS Quarterly和Information and Management的副主编。