Factors influencing the pricing of applications in the Apple App Store: A developers’ perspective

Many know how Apple Inc. owes its success in Mobile Commerce to the introduction of the new “App Store” business model. This new market is characterized by the opening to third party mobile apps, which are distributed to consumers through the App Store. This paper investigates factors that might influence the pricing of applications in the Apple Mobile Application Store. By reviewing the existing literature on the issue and analyzing the strategic features characterizing the App Store, we detect three main factors that could influence prices for apps, that is the number of developed apps, the presence of two-sided network externalities and developer’s specialization. An empirical analysis o…

Governance, contract structure and risk assessment in inter-firm relationships (IFRs) and venture capital investments

Drivers influencing the governance of inter-firm relationships in the biopharmaceutical industry: an empirical survey in the Italian context

This paper focuses on factors influencing the choice of the governance form in inter-firm relationships (IFRs) between pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. By reviewing the relevant literature on transaction cost economics, property right theory, real option and resources-based view, we located some drivers that might influence such relationships and we formulated a set of hypotheses linking them to governance forms. Such a theoretical framework has been empirically tested through a survey conducted among the Italian companies associated to Farmindustria. Empirical results provide some interesting insights on how shaping bio-pharmaceutical deals; we found that the developmental stage…

Capital structure decisions in the biotechnology industry: the role of R&D collaborations with pharmaceutical incumbents

This study focuses on the importance of collaborative R&D attitudes of biotech firms in the capital structure determination. Specifically, we investigate the short term impact of R&D agreements on financial leverage and we analyze whether this relationship depends on alliances’ features and the type and characteristics of the partners involved. Our results suggest that agreements with established pharmaceutical incumbents are followed by a reduction in the level of debt, while collaborations with biotech firms do not play a significant role, at least in the short term. However, different explanations are plausible. Our findings could be consistent with an “extension” of the pecking order th…

Strategic drivers influencing the governance of inter-firm relationships between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies: an empirical survey

This paper investigates the drivers influencing the choice of the governance form in inter-firm relationships (IFRs) between pharmaceutical and biotech companies. By analyzing the relevant literature on the issue, we have located the main drivers that might influence such relationship and a set of hypotheses linking them to governance forms. Such theoretical framework has been empirically tested through a survey conducted among the companies associated to Farmindustria. The result of the empirical analysis provides some interesting insights on how shaping bio-pharmaceutical deals; we found that the developmental stage of the product object of the deal, the existence of previous collaboratio…

How do airlines preferences about engines influence the competition in the commercial aircraft industry: an empirical analysis

This paper examines the competitive context in the commercial aircraft industry. In particular, the aim of the research here presented is to understand what are the main drivers influencing the choice of a specific engine manufacturer in an aircraft, and how such preferences influence the competition between Airbus and Boeing. In order to do that, we have collected data about the fleet composition of the top 25 airlines and we have located the main drivers influencing the engine configuration in: route specialization, business model and maintenance policy. Implications of such empirical findings in the competition among aircraft manufacturers are finally discussed.

How risk influences the choice of governance mode in biopharmaceutical inter-firm relationships

Abstract This paper proposes a new theoretical framework for assessing the influence of risk in shaping the governance form in biopharmaceutical inter-firm relationships. In particular, we propose a multidimensional operationalization of relational and performance risk and, by following Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Real Options (RO) theory constructs, we hypothesize a relation between the aforementioned risk components and the choice of governance form. Specifically, following TCE reasoning, we hypothesize that a high level of relational risk leads towards more hierarchical governance forms, while, following RO theory, we hypothesize that a high level of performance risk leads towar…

Capital Structure Decisions in the Biopharmaceutical Industry