Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk State University. 2017. No. 10 (406). Economic sciences. Issue. 58. S. 15-25.
UDC 330.111.6 BBK U011.2
DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS1
E. V. Ustyuzhanina, A. V. Sigarev, R. A. Shein
Russian Economic University. G. V. Plekhanov, Moscow, Russia
Despite a significant number of works devoted to the discussion of the phenomenon of "digital economy", there is still no clear understanding of what the digital economy is as a socio-economic system. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the hypothesis that the transition to digital economy is not another change technological order(option - the fourth industrial revolution), but represents a change in the paradigm of economic development, entailing changes in the nature of the division of labor, the way economic entities interact and the basis of economic power. The change in the nature of the division of labor is expressed in the separation of intellectual and organizational centers from production and service units. The change in the leading mode of inter-firm interaction is manifested in the gradual displacement of the free market by value networks. Property ceases to be the main basis of economic power, its place is taken by a position in the hierarchy of the field of interaction (firm, market or network).
Key words: digital economy, digital revolution, economic development paradigm, division of labor, economic power.
Recently, the phrase "digital economy" has become one of the most mentioned both in the press and in numerous economic forums. This is largely due to the obvious interest in this topic of V.V. Putin, who has repeatedly publicly voiced the need for our country to move in the appropriate direction. In our opinion, we are not talking about another fashionable slogan such as "modernization", "reindustrialization", "innovative orientation", declaring the "right direction" of the development of the domestic economy, but about an objectively determined process that is unfolding before our eyes and affecting in that or otherwise the economies of almost all developed and developing countries. Information and communication technologies are penetrating today into almost all spheres of human life, cyber-physical systems capable of autonomous exchange of information, independent initiation of actions and independent control of operations are becoming more widespread. According to the president of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Klaus Schwab, "the nature of the ongoing changes is so fundamental that world history has not yet known such an era - a time of both great opportunities and potential dangers" .
1 This work was supported by the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G. V. Plekhanov.
The realization of the radical nature of the upcoming changes has led many states to develop "road maps", or state strategies for the development of the digital economy. Examples include Digital Economy (USA), Internet Economy (China), Industrie 4.0 (Germany), Technet (Russia). The government of the Russian Federation, together with the presidential administration, was instructed to develop and approve the Digital Economy program.
However, until now, most researchers do not have a clear understanding of what the digital economy is as a social system, what socio-economic consequences of the ever-deepening technological changes taking place before our eyes can lead to. It is precisely these questions that the present work is devoted to.
What is the digital economy
From a technological point of view, the digital economy is the result of the mutual superposition of fundamental breakthroughs in the development of many branches of intellectual activity, including: the creation of cyber-physical and cyber-biological systems, fundamentally new materials, new means of production, information technologies, genetic engineering, renewable energy sources, etc. The transition to a digital economy is characterized by technological explosions, under which
is understood as a combination of technologies that makes it possible to create new products and services that, on the one hand, create and form new areas of activity, and on the other, destroy or radically change existing sectors of the economy.
Technical development is exponential: every year new science-intensive technologies become more perfect, and their physical embodiment is more and more qualitative (material storage media become smaller and cheaper, and their capacity and speed of information processing increase many times). With regard to the information accumulated in the world, the situation is even more explosive: the time intervals required for a twofold increase in information are constantly decreasing. The active development of information and communication technologies (ICT), coupled with the spread of the Internet, led to the emergence of a new concept - Big data (a set of approaches, methods and tools for analyzing huge amounts of structured and unstructured data).
Revolutionary changes in many traditional industries and the simultaneous emergence of new areas and opportunities for the development of human activity make it unrealistic to accurately predict the future, which depends not only on the level of radical technological changes, the speed of their improvement and spread, but also on the institutional support of these processes. At the same time, some significant characteristics of the digital economy can already be identified:
Turning ICT into technologies of wide application. A general application technology (GST) is a technology that allows for numerous improvements, has various use cases, is applicable in many sectors of the economy and can be combined with other technologies to significantly increase their effectiveness.
Improving the information support of the decision-making process through remote access to information in real time and the creation of systems for processing large amounts of data. This changes the logic of the organization of the management process both at the business level and at the state level.
Increasingly active transition of the population and business to online interaction and online service.
Replacing human labor with robotic labor. Transfer of a significant part of production to a digital format.
Replacement of a significant part of machine tools with 3D printers for various purposes - for home, industrial, medical, construction and other uses. Computer production of new types of goods, including human organs.
Reducing the role of office, production and retail space, the territorial dispersal of participants in economic interaction, from online transactions to intra-company remote interaction.
Reducing the asymmetry of information by increasing the possibilities of access to it and advanced technologies for its processing.
The emergence of Internet things - objects with built-in electronic devices, exchanging information about the state of the object of the external world or the consumer himself without human participation.
The emergence of fundamentally new products on the market (unmanned vehicles, energy storage devices, etc.).
The emergence of new electronic types Money.
The growing role of sharing goods (consumers acquire not the goods themselves, but the rights of access to the goods and the rights to use them).
Strengthening the role of digital platforms in the economy connecting suppliers (sellers) and consumers (buyers).
Gradual displacement of hydrocarbons by renewable energy sources, development of energy-saving technologies.
The embodiment of the idea of a “digital city” is the integrated informatization of transport, housing and communal services, etc.
Development of innovative biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals that provide effective rejuvenation and treatment of the body.
Reducing transaction costs by replacing intermediaries with automatic network services.
Implementation of the e-government concept.
Real globalization of social ties.
The emergence of a new form of interaction between companies and end users through the creation of personal
fixed production chains, sometimes referred to as the “economy on demand”.
Of course, the listed characteristics are not exhaustive and do not provide an accurate definition of the concept of "digital economy". The pace of change is so great that it is very difficult to make predictions and try to predict exactly which path technology will take.
The most famous examples of changes recent years: digital cameras film cameras were destroyed; smartphones have almost replaced push-button mobile phones; The taxi market has undergone a "ruber revolution" - the digital platform has not destroyed the traditional taxi services, but has radically changed the architecture of the market, sharply increasing competition.
On the this moment many innovations have been developed, the mass distribution of which should lead to radical changes in the markets. However, for these inventions to become technologies of wide application, it takes time to reduce the cost of their production and realize a two-way network effect - at the same time significantly reducing costs for producers and increasing value for consumers.
The name matters
The transformation of socio-economic relations associated with the widespread dissemination of information and communication technologies is interpreted differently by different scientific schools. The most common is the technical and technological approach, which explains what is happening as another technological revolution. At the same time, the designations of the stage of technological development may differ: a new (sixth) technological order, a new (fourth) industrial revolution, a new industrialization, etc.
The technical and technological approach is based on the idea that ICT marks the next stage in the development of the production method, the foundations of which were laid during the Great Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution itself usually dates from the second half of the 18th century. The symbolic countdown is from the opening in 1771 of Arkwright's textile factory in Cromford. The factory is considered the first example of an industrial one - combining machine production and water energy into a single system, which made it possible to move from single manual production to mass machine production.
According to the concept of uneven development of scientific and technological progress, the period that can be called the era of industry (originating from the time of the Great Industrial Revolution and continuing to this day) is characterized by a regular change in technological patterns, which are based on technological revolutions that radically change the structure social production. At the same time, fundamentally new technologies become widely used technologies not immediately after their appearance, but with some delay.
Adherents of the theory of technological patterns currently distinguish six patterns - "industrial eras". The first begins, in their opinion, along with the industrial revolution in the 1760s and 70s. This is the era of the use of water energy and the first machines that replaced manual labor. The second way is positioned as the era of steam and railways. Its symbolic beginning is usually dated to 1829 - the testing of the Rocket steam locomotive for the Manchester - Liverpool railway. The era of electricity, steel and heavy engineering is the third technological order. Its beginning is timed to coincide with the opening in 1875 of the Carnegie steel plant in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). The symbolic beginning of the fourth technological order (the era of oil and automobiles) is considered to be the launch in 1908 of the production of a cheap Model-T car (Ford) with an internal combustion engine (Daimler & Benz) - the transfer of the automotive industry to mass production. Finally, the fifth technological order is called the era of microelectronics and computer science and its beginning is associated with the advent of a computer on microcircuits (1971 - Intel). There has not yet been a consensus on the main content and starting point of the sixth technological mode. Some researchers focus on NBIC technologies (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information, Cognitive Science), others talk about robotics and new energy.
The developers of the concept of technological structures believe that in different countries at the same time, technologies inherent in different technological paradigms can dominate. Moreover, it is possible to simultaneously combine different technological structures in different fields of activity in one country. At the same time, countries lagging behind in terms of technological development have a chance to get ahead when changing technological patterns .
Somewhat different in terms of periodization, but not very different in essence, point of view
adheres to the German technological school, which believes that we are talking about the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. According to the German tradition, a sequence of industrial revolutions that began in the second half of the 18th century stands out. . According to this approach, “the first industrial revolution lasted from the 1760s to the 1840s. Its trigger was the construction of railways and the invention of the steam engine, which contributed to the development of mechanical production. The second industrial revolution, which began at the end of the 19th century and lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, led to the emergence of mass production due to the spread of electricity and the introduction of the assembly line. The third industrial revolution began in the 1960s. It is commonly referred to as the computer or digital revolution because it was catalyzed by the development of semiconductors, the use of mainframe computers in the 1960s, personal computers in the 70s and 80s, and the Internet in the 1990s.
According to Klaus Schwab, the fourth industrial revolution is characterized by the universal spread of the mobile Internet, the reduction in the size and cost of means of production, artificial intelligence and learning machines, as well as the synthesis of physical, digital and biological innovations.
Obviously, here, as in the case of the last and penultimate technological modes, there is a certain intersection of the basic technologies of the third and fourth stages. We are talking about the very information and communication technologies that are the object of study of this article.
A different, alternative technological approach can be called a structural-sectoral one. These are numerous concepts for the end of industrial society, ranging from Bell's post-industrial society to Toffler's third wave. According to the structural approach, the classification of various types of society is based on such a criterion as the field of activity with largest share employed. Accordingly, an agrarian, industrial and post- or superindustrial society is distinguished, a characteristic feature of which is the transfer of most of the activity to the service sector and intellectual (innovative) activity, the transformation of scientific knowledge into an independent factor of production.
1 This is the terminology adopted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
Today this point of view is actively criticized. Proponents of the idea of a "new industrial society" pay attention to the fact that the concept of denying the leading role of material production is not confirmed by practice. Material production has not disappeared anywhere - it has simply moved to other countries. Moreover, a powerful wave of industrialization unfolded in the world South and East, which led to a sharp increase in the share industrial production in the respective regions and, as a result, to an increase in the share of workers and engineers employed in a purely industrial sphere in the world “total worker”. However, the proportion of people employed in one or another type of activity, as well as the type of engine (water, steam, internal combustion, or electric) can hardly be a weighty argument in a dispute about the essence of ongoing processes. Just as the industrial revolution did not eliminate the agricultural sector, but simply significantly reduced its scale in the national economies of the countries leading industrialization, so a new wave or a new economic revolution (if it takes place) does not imply the withering away of the industrial sector, but a decrease in its role in social production, in particular, a reduction in the share of value added created in this sector.
Another thing is that in itself the transfer of industrial production to the periphery of the world economic system is an extremely significant phenomenon. But the answer to the question is important: is territorial expansion and the accompanying change in price proportions a natural way for the development of the existing world economic system or a manifestation of some new deep-seated processes that change the very paradigm of economic development?
Economic revolution
We believe that this is not about a change in the technological order and/or another technological (industrial) revolution, the consequences of which are major structural shifts in the economy, changes in price proportions and the emergence of new markets, but about a change in the paradigm of economic development - an economic revolution comparable in terms of significance from the Neolithic (transition from an appropriating to a reproductive type of management) and industrial (transition from a predominantly agricultural economy to factory production) revolutions.
The use of the term "economic revolution" does not mean a spasmodic
changes (which in all three cases are of the accumulative nature of a gradual transition from quantity to quality), but about their radical nature - the formation of a new model of the economic structure of society. In this sense, economic revolutions differ significantly from political revolutions, during which first there is a sharp change in the conditions of life (the social paradigm of development), and then a partial restoration of the past begins.
To substantiate the thesis about the formation of a new paradigm of economic development, we need to explore the fundamental changes associated with economic revolutions, which include: a change in the nature of the division of labor, a change in the way economic entities interact, and a change in the basis of economic power.
Changing the nature of the division of labor. The change in the paradigm of economic development is characterized primarily by a change in the nature of the division of labor. Thus, the first (Neolithic) economic revolution is associated with the formation of stable areas of division of labor - the division of the community into those who are constantly engaged in valiant activities (cattle breeding, hunting, war), and those who are engaged in low-prestige work in the household, including agriculture. .
The second (industrial) revolution is characterized not only by the transition from manual labor to machine labor, the formation of industry as an independent sphere of production and the redistribution of most of the created social wealth into it. Simultaneously, there is a massive separation of production (enterprises) from households. Mainly natural economy, in which the economy includes the institution of exchange (market), but most of the products are produced to meet their own needs (including the need for luxury), gives way to a market economy, where goods are produced mainly for exchange, and the target function of business organizations is to make a profit.
Finally, the third (digital) revolution marks the separation of organizational and intellectual centers from production and service units, the localization of individual components production process in various parts of the world - another great division (great unbundling).
The change in the nature of the division of labor that is taking place before our eyes is distinguished by such features as:
The redistribution of most of the social wealth created in the sphere of intellectual and organizational activities(generation and commercialization of ideas, control over networks of value creation);
Expanding the scale of remote interaction, which allows not only coordination and cooperation of geographically distributed participants, but also remote control robotic systems;
Customization and return of the production of a significant part of consumer goods and services to the household through improvement household appliances; in the future, this trend is likely to increase: 3D printers will allow households to produce many goods on their own;
The gradual replacement by computers and robots of specialists in many professions, including those requiring high qualifications: education, health diagnostics, surgical operations, management of complex technical devices etc.; as a consequence, increased differentiation of the nature of labor;
The displacement of human labor by robots due to computerization and automation of the vast majority of operations, including those related to decision-making. As a result, if the institutional conditions of employment do not change, there may be an increase in unemployment and the problem of “surplus population”.
Changing the way of economic interaction - forms of building relationships between subjects economic activity and ways to coordinate their activities.
The industrial revolution, as noted above, was accompanied by a transition to the market as the main way of coordinating economic (intercompany) interaction. K. Polanyi believed that the pre-industrial economy included the institution of market exchange, but was not controlled by the market. To describe the pre-industrial economy, he introduces such types of transactions as transactions of reciprocity (reciprocity), redistribution, housekeeping and exchange.
The market way of coordinating economic activity assumes that the interaction of economic agents is regulated by the mechanism of free pricing - the balance of supply and demand based on the competition of independent sellers and buyers seeking to
to maximize their own benefit (in this sense, it is more correct to use the term "price method of coordination"). However, even in market-type economies, price regulation is by no means the only way to coordinate economic interaction. Almost always and everywhere it is supplemented by standardization (in the form of both formal norms and routines and traditions), administrative regulation (in particular, in the form of redistribution transactions) and mutual agreement (for example, in the form of reciprocity transactions).
If we talk about economies of the pre-industrial type, we also find a combination of several ways of coordinating economic interaction. At the same time, in communal-type economies, transactions of reciprocity and their inherent mechanism of mutual agreement (consultative coordination) prevail, and in hierarchical-type economies, which include not only feudal, but also planned economy, redistribution transactions and the administrative method of coordination.
The question arises: if the transition from an agrarian type of economy to an industrial one was accompanied by a transition to the market as the leading way of coordinating economic interaction, then what way of coordinating economic interaction can claim to be the leading one in the digital economy?
Apparently, we are talking about network forms of economic interaction, which are based on the formation of stable ties between economic entities on the basis of constant exchange of information and building relationships of trust. Just as the market is born in the depths of pre-industrial economies, network forms of economic interaction are born in the depths of the industrial economy. According to S. I. Parinov, we are talking about a return to a communal form of government based on expanding the possibilities of information exchange. “It is logical to assume that market and hierarchical forms arose in response to the inability of the communal form of government to provide efficient service system of division of labor, when it began to go beyond the community. The reason is the limited capabilities of the means of communication and information exchange systems of that time, which did not provide a wider range of people with the level of information exchange that is necessary for the normal operation of the community economy.
In other words, the development of ICT allows solving the problem of direct exchange of information,
and, consequently, the establishment of direct links and relationships of trust between a very wide range of people. Before our eyes, the market as a universal way of intercompany interaction between independent producers is being gradually replaced by network forms of cooperation, within which the leading method of coordination is mutual agreement. I would like to emphasize that network forms replace predominantly market rather than intra-company interaction, since the weakening of the problem of information asymmetry gives rise to opportunities not only for the formation of stable inter-company relations, but also for the consolidation of corporations, as well as strengthening the intra-corporate vertical of power.
Changing the basis of economic power. Usually, when analyzing various socio-economic formations (modes of production), researchers focus on what is for them the main factor of production (the main object of ownership). According to popular belief, under feudalism (agrarian economy) such a factor is the land ( Natural resources), under capitalism (industrial economy) - the means of production (capital), and in the new economy - knowledge (information)1.
It seems to us that this approach somewhat simplifies the problem of economic power, reducing it to the problem of property. This formulation of the problem seems to be explained by the temptation to study past and future institutions on the basis of today's analogies. This is most clearly manifested in relation to the broad interpretation of the concept of "property". So, many researchers, describing the feudal system, attach decisive importance to the relations of ownership of land. Meanwhile, as Veblen notes, “in the Middle Ages, the direct source of rights, powers and privileges was customary power. The clear notion prevailed that a person's rights to property were established insofar as the transfer of that property was authorized by the ruler, and any claim not based on such an express or implied sanction was perceived as unfounded. In other words, in the constantly recurring dilemma "power - property" the advantage was on
1 Speaking specifically about the theory of socio-economic formations, its supporters believe that in a slave-owning society, people (slaves) are the main object of property.
side of power. Moreover, this power was based not only on coercion, but also on a hierarchically built system of legitimization, leading from God himself1.
In this situation, land ownership was only a concomitant condition for a person's position in the social hierarchy. Its role in redistribution was secondary, since the seizure of a part of the product of a serf (dependent) peasant was based primarily on the so-called feudal contract - the restriction of rights and freedoms in exchange for protection2. The power of the feudal lord consisted of three components: landlord (land ownership), economic (servage) and political, including judicial, power. Therefore, in particular, the identification of corvée or quitrent with land rent is hardly justified. The corresponding duties were a kind of intermediate link between communal forms of collective protection, tribute to the enslaver, and only last but not least, rent. Another question is that lease relations represent the direction in which over time, as the transition from the serfdom of villans to copyholders, the feudal contract is transformed.
Describing the modern economy, we also expand the understanding of the category of "property", identifying it, in fact, with the possibility of restricting the rights of others. Thus, the concept of “intellectual property” is deciphered by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (CC) as “protected results of intellectual activity and equivalent means of individualization” (Articles 128 and 1225), and the content of exclusive rights to an object intellectual property is interpreted as the right “at one's own discretion to allow or prohibit other persons from using the result of intellectual activity or means of individualization” (Article 1229).
Meanwhile, in today's economy, power relations are far from always based on property relations. Even if we are talking about the power to dispose of resources or the power of re-
1 According to A. Bard, J. Zoderqvist, the concept of God acted as the central link in the paradigm of medieval society (the supposed constant of being), while for an industrial society such a constant is the value of individual freedom.
2 Protection was expressed both in the performance by the feudal lord of the function of a "sedentary bandit", and in the provision of an insurance function - in the years of crop failure, the food and seed reserves of the feudal lord were used to support his subjects.
regulation of access to a resource, including electronic (Skype, Torrent, etc.), we are faced with complex phenomena, for the study of which it is necessary to distinguish between operational rules and rules of collective choice, and also take into account the possibility of dispersal of individual ownership rights. But the most important thing is that the power to dispose of resources, which is usually called power-property, is far from the only basis of economic power. As we have already said, no less important is the power of status, which can be based on estate privileges, official position, clan (family) hierarchy, tradition, etc.
Another basis of economic power is monopoly. “Power-monopoly is based on the inequality of the bargaining power of the parties due to the limited space of choice ... This provision can be conditioned both by control over a unique resource, including intellectual property, infrastructure facilities (pipeline, the only road); access to the market, etc., as well as a unique place in a particular value chain” . In other words, a monopoly can be due both to the possibility of regulating access to a resource, including an intangible one (and in this case, some analogy with the rights and rules characteristic of property relations is appropriate), and to locking the counterparty in a certain system of relations. The best illustration of the second type of monopoly is a fundamental transformation, when the negotiating power of the parties changes as a result of one of the counterparties investing in specific assets, and power is transferred not to the owner of these assets, but to his counterparty.
The next important source of power can be called economic coercion - power-temptation. It is beneficial for suppliers to cooperate with large retailers, since such cooperation enables them to realize economies of scale and drastically reduce transaction costs. True, you have to pay for this by agreeing to dictate the terms of interaction on the part of the counterparty (prices, delivery times, product quality, packaging, etc.). Taxi drivers with platforms like Uber, space owners with Airbnb, or industrial companies, which are suppliers of components for Boeing. In all the cases we have described,
about the inequality of bargaining power, based not on the monopoly of one of the parties to the transaction, but on its position in the hierarchy of its market field. In other words, if power-monopoly is based on the limitation of the space of the current choice, then power-temptation is based on the current profitability of cooperation. Satellite companies focused on maximizing current benefits (minimizing current losses) voluntarily agree to a dependent position in the value chain, exchanging their freedom not only for today's subordinate position, but also for limiting the space of future choice1.
It should be noted that in real life the power of one subject over others is almost always based on several grounds. However, we can also talk about the dominant basis or basis of economic power, characteristic of each paradigm of economic development. In our opinion, in an agrarian society, economic power was based mainly on status (position in the class hierarchy), in industrial society - on property (in its classical sense), and in digital society - on economic coercion (position in the hierarchy of the market field and / or the network of creation cost).
1 There is a direct analogy here with a free employee who voluntarily agrees to exchange his economic freedom for a guaranteed wage reward.
Conclusion
Our analysis indicates the inevitability of the digital transformation of social production and, as a result, a fundamental change in socio-economic relations. This is not just about another industrial or technological revolution (a change in the technological order), but about a change in the paradigm of economic development, comparable in importance to the Neolithic and industrial revolutions.
The change in the paradigm of economic development is most clearly manifested in three areas: a change in the nature of the division of labor, a change in the leading mode of interaction between economic entities, and a change in the basis of economic power. The change in the nature of the division of labor is expressed primarily in the separation of intellectual and organizational centers from production and service units. Gradually, an increasing part of the social wealth created will move into the sphere of innovation. The free market as the leading mode of inter-firm interaction is likely to be replaced by relatively stable value networks, both in terms of the composition of participants and the internal structure. Finally, property in its classical sense will cease to be the main basis of economic power. Its place will be taken by a position in the hierarchy of the field of interaction (firm, market, network), which makes it possible to establish rules for interaction and distribution of added value.
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Elena Vladimirovna Ustyuzhanina - Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Economic Theory, Russian University of Economics. G. V. Plekhanov. Moscow, Russia. [email protected]
Alexander Viktorovich Sigarev - Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Economic Theory, Russian University of Economics. G. V. Plekhanov. Moscow, Russia. [email protected] mail.ru
Ruslan Alexandrovich Shein - Postgraduate Student, Department of Economic Theory, Russian University of Economics. G. V. Plekhanov. Moscow, Russia. [email protected]
E. B. ycmm^aHUHa, A. B. C^apeB, P. A. Noem
Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University.
2017. No. 10 (406). Economic Sciences. Iss. 58.Pp. 15-25.
DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES OF ECONOMIC RELATION1
Ye. V Ustyuzhanina
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia. [email protected]
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia. [email protected] en
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia. [email protected]
Despite a large number of scientific works dedicated to the digital economy, most researchers still fail to have a clear understanding of what it really is as a socio-economic system. The aim of the article is to explain that the transition to the digital economy brings about a transformation in the paradigm of economic development rather than just another technological revolution. This transformation is characterized by changes in labor division, changes in interaction between economic agents and changes in economic power foundations. Intellectual and organizational centers are being separated from production and service units. Free market is being replaced by value networks. Property ceases to be the basis of economic power - position in the interaction field hierarchy comes to the fore.
Keywords: digital economy, digital revolution, paradigm of economic development, labor division, economic power.
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1 The article was supported by Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
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Education: Moscow State University them. M.V. Lomonosov, Faculty of Economics (bachelor's, master's, postgraduate studies).
In 2014, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences on the topic “Pricing strategies of firms in the context of electronic commerce.”
Teaching activity
- Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics (Advanced level)
- Macroeconomics ( advanced level)
- Economy
General work experience
10 years
Work experience in the specialty
10 years
Advanced training / professional retraining
2019:
Features of inclusive education.
- Work in an electronic educational environment (using DOT). Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
- Occupational Safety and Health. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
2018:
- Features of the competition of research and design work schoolchildren. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
2017:
The use of modern educational technologies in teaching economic disciplines. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
2016:
Summer School of the Yegor Gaidar Foundation and the Higher School of Economics in Macroeconomics.
Institutional economics: development, teaching, practice. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
Linguistic training of scientific and pedagogical staff of higher educational institutions: academic competence of conducting lectures and seminars at English language. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov".
Macroeconomics, macroeconometrics and numerical simulation(intermediate and advanced levels), NRU "Higher School of Economics".
2015:
Statement on the balance sheet of the results of intellectual activity.
Creation of small and medium innovative enterprises, technology transfer centers in accordance with 217-FZ, incl. commercialization and promotion of the results of intellectual activity on the market.
Commercialization of results of intellectual activity and management of intellectual property.
year 2012:
Technologies of intellectual property management at the university, innovations in the educational environment, problems of commercialization of scientific developments,
Creation of small and medium innovative enterprises, technology transfer centers.
Scientific research
Research interests: e-commerce, Internet, pricing, innovation, innovative marketing, Internet marketing.
Participation in conferences:
- International scientific conferenceLomonosov Readings - 2019 " Economic relations in the context of digital transformation"
IX International Scientific and Practical Conference "Modern Economy: Concepts and Models of Innovative Development", Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov, February 2018
- International scientific conference
Lomonosov readings - 2016 "Economics and the development of university scientific schools (on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov)"Seventeenth All-Russian Symposium " Strategic planning and development of enterprises” (April 2016, CEMI RAS).
VIII International Scientific and Practical Conference "Modern Economy: Concepts and Models of Innovative Development" (February 2016, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics).
II International Scientific and Practical Conference "Economics and Management: Problems, Trends, Development Prospects" (Cheboksary, February 2016).
VII International scientific and practical conference "Actual directions of scientific research: from theory to practice" (Cheboksary, February 2016).
All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "Intelligent Systems in Information Confrontation" (December 2015, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics).
P panel discussion “Prospects for the transformation of the global financial system with the formation of currency zones, in particular, the zone of China and Southeast Asia with the yuan and the Eurasian zone with the ruble” (December 2015, President Hotel).
II Interfaculty Ultet scientific-practical conference of young scientists: "Prospects for the development e-business and ecommerce" (November 25, 2015, Lomonosov Moscow State University).
Seventh International Scientific Conference "Innovative Development of the Russian Economy: Interdisciplinary Cooperation" (April 2014, Lomonosov Moscow State University).
Sixth International Scientific Conference "Innovative Development of the Russian Economy: Regional Diversity" (April 2013, Lomonosov Moscow State University).
XXV and XXVII International Scientific and Practical Conferences "Plekhanov Readings" (February 2011, February 2013, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics).
Scientific and Practical Conference "Applied Analysis of the Problems of Post-Crisis Development of the World Economy" (November 2011, MGIMO).
Third international scientific conference "Innovative development of the Russian economy: the role of universities" (April 2010, Lomonosov Moscow State University).
Additional Information
Grant from the Yegor Gaidar Foundation under the Higher School of Economics program "Macroeconomics" (06/27/2016 - 09/30/2016).
RFBR grant participant
No. 17-06-00080 A "Comparative analysis of pricing strategies in the markets of network goods based on economic and mathematical modeling" (2017 - 2019)Participant of the RFBR grant No. 16-36-00163mol_a "Development of the theory of sustainable competitiveness of a company in the context of technological shifts" (2016 - 2017)
RFBR grant participant
No. 18-10-00216 A "Identification of patterns of network dynamics in order to form a portfolio of strategies for effective participation Russian companies in global and regional networks of value creation in the context of the digital revolution" (2018 - 2020)Contacts
480 rub. | 150 UAH | $7.5 ", MOUSEOFF, FGCOLOR, "#FFFFCC",BGCOLOR, "#393939");" onMouseOut="return nd();"> Thesis - 480 rubles, shipping 10 minutes 24 hours a day, seven days a week and holidays
Sigarev Alexander Viktorovich. Pricing strategies of firms in the context of electronic commerce: dissertation... candidate of economic sciences: 08.00.01 / Sigarev Alexander Viktorovich; [Place of defense: Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov].- Moscow, 2014.- 157 p.
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. The place and role of e-commerce in modern economy . 15
1.1. Concept and types of e-commerce 15
1.2. Significance of e-commerce development for the country's economy 27
1.3. Online store as the main subject of electronic commerce 34
1.4. The dynamics of the development of the e-commerce market 44
CHAPTER 2 Pricing transformation under the influence of e-commerce development . 55
2.1. Fundamentals of pricing 55
2.2. Pricing strategies of companies and the possibility of their application in the context of e-commerce 66
2.3. Theoretical models describing the features of pricing companies in the context of the development of electronic commerce. 83
CHAPTER 3 Pricing strategies of firms in the markets of information goods in the context of electronic commerce 103
3.1. Influence of features of information benefits on the choice of the firm's pricing strategy in the e-commerce markets 103
3.2. The specifics of applying the policy of price discrimination in the implementation of information benefits through electronic commerce 114
3.3. Mobile applications as an electronic channel for the realization of economic benefits. 124
3.4. Modeling the process of setting a price for an information good based on the characteristics of consumer choice in the context of electronic commerce. 133
Conclusion 141
List of used literature
Importance of e-commerce development for the country's economy
The theoretical basis of the study is the work of representatives of various economic schools in relation to issues of price, value, value, pricing. The specifics of electronic commerce and its impact on the transformation of traditional ideas about economic processes is revealed in the works of Russian and foreign researchers. The works of such scientists as K. Shapiro, H. Varian, E. Brynjolfsson, Michael D. Smith, J. Hugh, M.S. Rahman, A.A. Dick, Jeffrey R. Brown, O. Goolsby, E. Greenwald, J. Kephart, J. Stigler, J. Bakos, M.R. Bay, J. Morgan, P. Scholten, Z. Tan, A. Montgomery, M.D. Smith, D. Ulf, N. Vulkan, I.A. Sagittarius, O.N. Antipin, who consider various aspects of pricing in the context of the development of electronic commerce and the information economy.
In the work, priority is given to the microeconomic approach - the analysis of pricing strategies and the possibilities of their use is based on the study of new opportunities for firms (in particular, in the form of cost reduction), as well as the characteristics of consumer choice in the context of electronic commerce.
To achieve the set goal and implement the objectives of the study, general scientific methods of cognition were used, such as observation, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, systematization, modeling.
Information and legislative framework works are statistical materials, information and analytical studies, scientific articles and publications of Russian and foreign economists, thematic reviews of Russian associations and Internet companies (RAEK, RATEK, AKIT, NAUET, InSales, etc.), federal laws RF, as well as sociological and other research.
Scientific novelty. As a result of the work done, the following results were achieved:
1. The definition of “electronic commerce” has been clarified, which is proposed to mean economic activity in the field of sale and purchase of tangible and intangible goods, carried out through the use of the Internet.
2. A classification of economic benefits realized in the conditions of electronic commerce into informational and material ones is proposed. In the structure of information goods, pure information goods are distinguished, which are produced, distributed and consumed in digital form, and impure information goods, which can be presented both in digital form and on a tangible medium.
3. Based on the proposed classification of economic benefits, the specific features of two types of electronic commerce are revealed, which allows us to consider electronic commerce either as a market or as one of the distribution channels for products. The first type includes electronic commerce as a form of implementing a set of relations for the exchange of products of economic activity between buyers and sellers in the market of pure information goods, in relation to which the Internet is a necessary condition for production, distribution and consumption. Electronic commerce of the second type, associated with the service of the sale and purchase of impure information goods and material flow products, is one of the ways to promote and sell goods, competing with traditional trade.
4. Based on the refined concept of a pricing strategy, defined as an algorithm for setting a price by a firm for its products, depending on current market conditions and contributing to the achievement of the company's goal, fundamentally new opportunities are identified that Internet commerce opens up for using differentiated pricing strategies, which consist in simplifying the process collecting information about the buyer and analyzing consumer preferences, which in turn allows the firm to appropriate most of the consumer surplus.
5. As a result of the analysis of empirical data, it has been proved that due to the strong competition among online stores in the market of a homogeneous good, electronic commerce provides a lower average price compared to traditional distribution channels. However, the spread of prices offered by online stores is significant due to the presence of significant differences in the services that accompany the sale and purchase of a homogeneous good.
6. Based on the analysis of the behavior of book buyers via the Internet using a shopbot (a program that allows you to instantly sort the proposed alternatives according to a given criterion, most often by price), an optimization rule is formulated pricing policy Online store: due to the low (close to zero) costs of searching and comparing price offers, the price charged should not be so high that software product the presence of the store's offer was identified among the most profitable, but not so low that, in the conditions of asymmetry of information about the quality, the potential client refused to purchase.
7. Using the hotel booking market as an example, the strengthening of competition for the consumer between its subjects at three levels is demonstrated, achieved through the presence of electronic sales channels (Internet sites, mobile applications) and leading to a reduction in transaction costs and prices offered.
8. A model for setting the price of an information good from the standpoint of assessing its value for the consumer is proposed, confirming the conclusion that the pricing policy of the company is formed not on the basis of production costs, but from the standpoint of the value of the good for the consumer. It is proved that the buyer will acquire the information good if the total expected value benefits (taking into account risk and other positive factors), expressed in cost units, will not be lower than the expected assessment of the sum of negative factors and costs.
The theoretical significance of the work. The theoretical significance of the results of the study is to substantiate the transformation of pricing strategies of firms in the context of the development of electronic commerce. As a result of studying the principles of their formation, new opportunities for theoretical modeling of the price setting process in cyberspace have been identified, including when implementing differentiated pricing strategies, as well as in the case of selling network goods. The proposed model for setting the price of an information good based on the characteristics of consumer choice in the context of electronic commerce is of interest for further development and study of the ideas put forward.
The dynamics of the development of the e-commerce market
In addition to the qualitative criterion for classifying pricing strategies, there are others. Gerard J. Tallis, depending on the diversity of customers, the competitiveness of the firm, or grocery set, identifies several main groups of companies' pricing strategies:81 1. Differentiated pricing; 2. Competitive pricing; 3. Assortment pricing. The twelve strategies are shown in Table 3, which briefly describes their essence and gives the author's interpretation of the relevance of application in the conditions of electronic commerce. The use of differentiated pricing strategies is determined by the heterogeneity of demand and is manifested in the offer of different prices for the same product. These pricing strategies include: - discount pricing strategy in the "secondary" market. The meaning of this pricing strategy is to form the price of products based on both full and reduced costs. In the "primary market", the firm will charge higher prices based on the full cost, 81 J.J. Tellis, P. N. Golder, Will and Vision. SPb.: Stockholm School of Economics in St. Petersburg, 2005. including fixed costs. At the same time, if it is possible to increase production, the company can enter the “secondary market” with less effective demand (trade in another region, targeting other social strata of the population, etc.) and set a lower price based on reduced cost, since the return of constant costs will be provided by the "primary market". The applicability of this pricing strategy in e-commerce is possible due to the blurring of borders between countries and regions. For example, an online store operating in Moscow can recoup fixed costs due to the high price of the products sold (due to higher average salary Muscovites are more solvent), and deliver to the regions at a lower price; - price strategy of periodic discount. It is based on the characteristics of demand and its changes over a period of time. The same product can be sold at different prices at different times: airlines often have sales during the "low" season, the same applies to fashion houses; cinemas for morning and afternoon screenings appoint more than low prices than for a party, etc. These price changes are predictable and known to buyers.
A similar strategy is used electronic services , providing access to legal databases. The Consultant Plus company provides access to documents of federal legislation on a paid basis during business hours and encourages companies to purchase paid access for their employees. At other times, access to documents is freer; - pricing strategy "random discount" (selling at variable prices). The essence of this strategy boils down to the presence of costs for the buyer associated with the search for products (based on them, informed buyers are distinguished, that is, those who are willing to spend time searching for a better price, and uninformed ones). Consumers know that there is a price range in the market, but not everyone is ready to study the market in detail, as some of them value their time more than potential gain. In this case, the company may periodically lower prices, creating the illusion of a profitable purchase for the consumer. Thus, uninformed consumers will consider their purchases profitable (having bought a product at an affordable price once, they will think that the purchase is profitable again, since they do not compare prices). Informed consumers, in turn, will monitor prices and wait for the next discount. The use of this pricing strategy in electronic markets is especially important due to the dynamic pricing. The electronic price tag does not need to be rewritten and any change can be pre-planned by the “robot”. The price can change both randomly and depending on the specified parameters. For example, when buying an air ticket, a consumer uses a search engine site that collects information with price offers from various intermediaries, choosing the cheapest option. Thus, the consumer has the impression that it is possible to purchase air tickets at the lowest price from this intermediary and next time he will go to this site directly. However, when you go directly to the site, the price of the offer will be higher than when you follow the link from the search engine site; - market segmentation strategy. If the seller has the possibility of a clear division of demand into different groups (age, professional, etc.) and even individual buyers, and the possibility of reselling goods is minimal (this mainly applies to services), the company can segment the market or personalize sales . The essence of the strategy is that in different segments of the market or for different buyers, different prices will be assigned to products, although the costs of its production will be the same. E-commerce entities often use this strategy when pricing their products. An example is the fee for access to electronic databases containing various information (proposals for the purchase / sale of real estate, resumes of applicants, etc.).
Depending on the category of the buyer (legal entity or individual), the price will vary. Also, the price will differ depending on the period of time for which access will be purchased (with a monthly subscription of 30,000 rubles, the price of a daily subscription can be 5,000 rubles, which pushes the consumer to purchase access for a longer period, which will be done by companies whose employees need a daily access to such databases). Another group of pricing strategies, competitive pricing strategies, is based on the competitiveness of the firm. This group includes: - pricing strategy for market penetration. It is usually used in the sale of consumer goods and consists in the initial establishment of relatively low prices for manufactured products. As a rule, this strategy is used in the case of launching new products on the market or to strengthen the company's presence. Possible losses (or lost profits) resulting from the establishment of a low price are compensated by a decrease in average costs due to the expansion of production. In electronic markets, companies also arrange similar price rallies to win over the consumer. The effect of reducing average costs in terms of the sale of digital goods is most pronounced - the costs of selling an additional electronic copy of the product are minimal, and the value of average costs, in which fixed ones prevail, will decrease; - pricing strategy according to the "learning curve". This strategy is based on the acquired “experience” of manufacturers, which is expressed in lower production costs with a greater degree of development of production. This strategy is typically applied to non-essential durables where companies compete on price to win long term. At the same time, the nature of a possible price reduction in this case lies in the level of development of production. In this case, consumers who make a purchase at the beginning of the business cycle gain external savings relative to subsequent consumers because they purchase a product at a lower price than they are willing to pay for it; - price signaling strategy. The essence of the strategy lies in the psychology of a part of consumers who perceive a high price as a signal of high quality. In this case, the stereotype is triggered that a good thing cannot be cheap (or what is expensive cannot be bad). Thus, the firm inflates its prices in the hope of inexperienced and new buyers who are ill-informed and have little idea of market movements. As noted in the first chapter, when purchasing goods via the Internet, the consumer may have doubts that he will be deceived (they will not deliver the paid purchase, they will not bring the goods good quality, fake, etc.). Given this, some consumers will be afraid to purchase goods in online stores with the lowest prices and overpay, while feeling more confident; - price geographic strategy. The name of the strategy speaks for itself - the company assigns different prices in different geographical markets. Prices vary depending on the distance between the seller and the buyer, as well as due to the different levels of competition in different markets. The question of the relevance of this pricing strategy in the context of the development of electronic commerce is ambiguous. On the one hand, the boundaries between geographic markets are blurring (primarily when selling goods in electronic form), and on the other hand modern technologies, as noted in the first chapter, allow online stores to set prices depending on the location of the consumer.
Pricing strategies of companies and the possibility of their application in the context of e-commerce
The use of first-degree price discrimination in e-commerce was studied by D. Ulf and N. Vulkan.105 In their paper, the authors described two effects associated with the use of such a strategy. The first effect, called the enhanced surplus extraction effect, is related to the company's traditional desire to sell products at individual prices in the context of facilitating the collection of information about the consumer. The authors call the second effect the “intensified competition effect”, its essence lies in the fact that in order to sell an additional copy of a good, it is necessary to interest the consumer in lowering the price, which ultimately will lead to a price reduction to the level of marginal costs (an analogy with the Bertrand model ).
The authors came to the conclusion that depending on the degree of difference in consumer preferences, one of the effects prevails over the other, which ultimately leads to the need for the company to use different pricing strategies.
If consumer preferences are similar, then the “increasing competition effect” prevails. In this case, there is a gradual decrease in the selling price of the good, the company's profit decreases. This situation has a positive effect on the welfare of consumers, as they have the opportunity to purchase differentiated products at reduced prices.
If consumer preferences differ significantly, then the “increasing desire to appropriate consumer surplus effect” becomes more important, and firms are able to increase their profits by selling products at high prices to consumers with a high willingness to pay. In this case, the firm needs to compare the increase in profits from selling products at high prices to loyal customers with the decrease associated with the loss of market share, consisting of less wealthy individuals. In the event of a potential win, using a first-degree price discrimination strategy makes sense. However, as noted by D. Ulf and N. Vulkan, in many cases companies refuse price discrimination of the first degree.
In addition to greater opportunities for first-degree price discrimination strategies, with the development of the Internet, firms have the opportunity for mass customization. In this case, the firm can offer the consumer many different options for a good produced at the same marginal cost in order to better satisfy his needs and, accordingly, benefit from such differentiation. The specifics of the realization of information benefits in the context of the development of electronic commerce and the wide possibilities for studying consumer preferences allow customization with low fixed marginal costs. For example, a news feed can be formed and updated in accordance with the interests of the user, as well as collections of music files can be compiled in accordance with his taste. All this greatly simplifies the search for the necessary information, reduces the consumer's time costs, increasing his willingness to pay for such a service.
The possibilities of simultaneous use of first-degree price discrimination and mass customization in the context of the development of e-commerce were studied by D. Ulf and N. Vulkan, already mentioned above.106
By modeling a duopoly, the authors concluded that a company that implements a first-degree price discrimination policy will benefit if it simultaneously begins to implement a strategy for mass customization of its products, regardless of the actions of competitors. Indeed, in this case, the company will sell an individualized product at individual prices, which should lead to the maximum possible appropriation of consumer surplus.
However, the researchers conclude that if consumers depend on a particular trademark is low, then the prospects for increasing profits through the use of first-degree price discrimination and mass customization are reduced. In this situation, it makes sense for companies to stop using these strategies altogether, but, nevertheless, the equilibrium outcome is to continue using them and reduce profits.
The establishment of individual prices and the implementation of perfect price discrimination is not always possible. At the same time, it may remain possible to use price discrimination of the second and third degrees, self-selection strategies and sales of goods in sets.
The main point of using the self-selection strategy is that the seller of an information good does not directly set different prices for different consumers, but, having an idea about the consumer groups that exist on the market, releases different versions of the product, giving consumers the opportunity to make their own choice depending on their sensitivity to price. The use of this strategy refers to price discrimination of the second degree, when the manufacturer knows about the existence of several consumer groups with different willingness to pay, but cannot distinguish them.
The specifics of applying the price discrimination policy in the implementation of information benefits through electronic commerce
Common views regarding competition on the Internet are highly controversial. A number of researchers evaluating Internet sales channels express the opinion that the characteristics of the Internet will lead to markets perfect competition where the seller's "location" will not matter, buyers will be fully aware of prices and supply, and all sellers will have zero economic profit. At the same time, there are opinions that the Internet cannot be a completely effective sales channel.
A study of empirical data shows that the prices set in cyberspace for homogeneous goods are indeed lower than in traditional trade, but their spread remains quite significant. The use of shopbots gives consumers the opportunity to choose the minimum price offer, but in most cases this does not happen. This fact can be explained by the consumer's concerns about the quality of the purchased goods, the existence of a system for evaluating the quality of the online store, as well as the availability of related services and services (such as delivery, warranty service, etc.). In this case, despite the fact that the product offered different sellers, the same (homogeneous), the service for its sale is differentiated (each seller has its own rating among consumers and offers different additional options).
An analysis of the behavior of buyers when purchasing books on the Internet using a shopbot makes it possible to give recommendations to online stores regarding the prices to be set. As a result of consumers preferring to shop online at low prices without spending a lot of time researching and comparing price offers, the price charged should be low enough to ensure that the store's offer is in the top of the most profitable, but not so low as to scare away a potential client.
The development of e-commerce not only simplifies the process of buying physical goods, but also opens up fundamentally new opportunities for both buyers and sellers of digital content.
The formation of a global information society, in which knowledge and information become the main sources of growth, is accompanied by the formation of an information economy. When considering pricing issues in information markets, specific features of information goods and their differences from traditional goods are highlighted.
The growth in the number of online stores that sell information goods leads to a change in the standard form of average and marginal cost curves, which makes it impossible to use the neoclassical model of perfect competition, according to which the price is set at the level of marginal costs. Applying such theoretical modeling in practice would mean setting prices close to zero and ruining firms. Under such conditions, pricing should be built not from the standpoint of assessing production costs, but from the standpoint of assessing the value of the good for the consumer. In order to succeed in the competition, producers of information goods seek to increase their value to the consumer. In the context of reducing information asymmetry, achieving this goal is possible by giving distinctive characteristics to your products, using the potential of the Internet as a source of differentiation. The desire of companies to achieve such goals leads to the formation of markets of imperfect competition.
Thus, one of the main features of pricing in the information economy is that the price is formed not in the sphere of production, but in the sphere of the sale of information goods in the markets of imperfect competition. As a rule, the change in prices for an information good has limits due to the presence of monopoly barriers, as well as the existence of legal acts regulating the protection of copyrights and intellectual property. Therefore, the price of an information good not only does not tend to the value of the marginal costs of its production, but, in the case of controlled distribution (sale of passwords, licenses, etc.), allows the manufacturer to extract monopoly excess profits.
The development of electronic commerce greatly simplifies the use of price discrimination methods by sellers of information goods. The Internet allows sellers to get more information about the consumer than traditional sale goods and services. When the buyer and the seller communicate through the World Wide Web, the latter has the opportunity to more thoroughly study his client and offer him an individual price, since this interaction is not visible to other users and is similar to the situation in a regular clothing market, when there is no price tag on the item, and the seller calls price, based on their subjective ideas about the solvency of the counterparty.
As an example of new opportunities opened up as a result of the development of electronic commerce, an example of an online store for mobile applications is given. App Store. The App Store is an application store, which is one of the sections of the iTunes Store online supermarket and allows you to buy or download various applications for free for mobile phones iPhone, iPad tablets or other Apple products. The App Store is a huge platform where developers can host their apps by sharing 30% of the proceeds, and users can download them. The App Store's pricing strategy is clear and simple - giving companies a way to make money in exchange for a portion of the revenue generated by users who buy Apple products and install the required apps on them.
Application development companies, in turn, use different methods of monetization. The developed application should not only be of interest to users, users should be willing to spend money on it.
As a result of the widespread use of electronic distribution channels (Internet sites, mobile applications), competition for the consumer is intensifying at three levels, which leads to a decrease in transaction costs and prices offered. These relationships are demonstrated on the example of the hotel booking market.
Acquisition of information good in e-shop has both positive and negative consequences for the consumer. As a result of modeling consumer behavior, which takes into account factors that contribute to both increasing and decreasing the value of the acquired information good, the optimal price is determined.
The buyer will acquire an information good if the sum of the expected value of the good (taking into account risk and other positive factors), expressed in cost units, exceeds (or equals) the estimated sum of negative factors and costs. Based on these conditions, sellers in an e-commerce environment must set prices for information goods.
Thus, the features of e-commerce open up wide opportunities for the use of various pricing strategies, as well as for their scientific study. The high growth rates and benefits of e-commerce indicate significant opportunities to reduce costs and increase the competitiveness of small businesses. Using the possibilities of e-commerce allows you to solve the marketing and management tasks facing traditional companies much faster and at a lower cost.
The process of introducing a business to the Internet is similar to entering a new market - there are rules and laws here. Often, knowledge about offline markets on the Internet loses its value, and taking into account the traits attributed to the network through the media and Internet promotion policies is not enough for successful business. A detailed study of the features of the Internet environment helps to build the right strategy for entering the market, successful strategies for competing and pricing, allows you to take into account the rapidly developing situation and quickly respond to it. Only in this case, the company will be able to take advantage of the obvious advantages of online business and successfully develop it over the years.
To narrow the search results, you can refine the query by specifying the fields to search on. The list of fields is presented above. For example:
You can search across multiple fields at the same time:
logical operators
The default operator is AND.
Operator AND means that the document must match all the elements in the group:
research development
Operator OR means that the document must match one of the values in the group:
study OR development
Operator NOT excludes documents containing this element:
study NOT development
Search type
When writing a query, you can specify the way in which the phrase will be searched. Four methods are supported: search based on morphology, without morphology, search for a prefix, search for a phrase.
By default, the search is based on morphology.
To search without morphology, it is enough to put the "dollar" sign before the words in the phrase:
$ study $ development
To search for a prefix, you need to put an asterisk after the query:
study *
To search for a phrase, you need to enclose the query in double quotes:
" research and development "
Search by synonyms
To include synonyms of a word in the search results, put a hash mark " #
" before a word or before an expression in brackets.
When applied to one word, up to three synonyms will be found for it.
When applied to a parenthesized expression, a synonym will be added to each word if one was found.
Not compatible with no-morphology, prefix, or phrase searches.
# study
grouping
Parentheses are used to group search phrases. This allows you to control the boolean logic of the request.
For example, you need to make a request: find documents whose author is Ivanov or Petrov, and the title contains the words research or development:
Approximate word search
For approximate search you need to put a tilde " ~ " at the end of a word in a phrase. For example:
bromine ~
The search will find words such as "bromine", "rum", "prom", etc.
You can additionally specify maximum amount possible edits: 0, 1 or 2. For example:
bromine ~1
The default is 2 edits.
Proximity criterion
To search by proximity, you need to put a tilde " ~ " at the end of a phrase. For example, to find documents with the words research and development within 2 words, use the following query:
" research development "~2
Expression relevance
To change the relevance of individual expressions in the search, use the sign " ^
" at the end of an expression, and then indicate the level of relevance of this expression in relation to the others.
The higher the level, the more relevant the given expression.
For example, in this expression, the word "research" is four times more relevant than the word "development":
study ^4 development
By default, the level is 1. Valid values are a positive real number.
Search within an interval
To specify the interval in which the value of some field should be, you should specify the boundary values in brackets, separated by the operator TO.
A lexicographic sort will be performed.
Such a query will return results with the author starting from Ivanov and ending with Petrov, but Ivanov and Petrov will not be included in the result.
To include a value in an interval, use square brackets. Use curly braces to escape a value.
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