Network Externalities in Microcomputer Software (Classic Reprint)

Erik Brynjolfsson, Chris F. Kemerer

ISBN 10: 1333150016 / ISBN 13: 9781333150013

Published by Forgotten Books, 2018

About this Item

Print on Demand. This book explores the economic implications of software's unique qualities: low marginal costs but high fixed development costs. The author constructs and evaluates econometric models to determine which product features are most influential in purchase and pricing decisions for microcomputer software, with a special emphasis on identifying the effects of standards and network externalities. The primary example used is the microcomputer spreadsheet market for the period 1987-1992. The author finds that hedonic regression techniques can estimate the value users place on specific features, and that network externalities significantly influence the value of products, with each 1% increase in a product's installed base enabling an additional price premium. Purchasers also value adherence to standards, such as the Lotus menu tree interface, with a premium of approximately 30% of the average price in the sample. The results indicate opportunities created by changes in technology architecture, and offer guidance into current public policy issues such as the value of intellectual property in software. This book is a reproduction of an important historical work, digitally reconstructed using state-of-the-art technology to preserve the original format. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in the book.

Seller Inventory # 9781333150013_0

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Network Externalities in Microcomputer Software (Classic Reprint)
• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1333150016
• ISBN 13: 9781333150013
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Book Type: print-on-demand item
• Seller catalogs:
  • Marketing

About this title

Synopsis

Excerpt from Network Externalities in Microcomputer Software<br/><br/>These five factors the large market, the low marginal cost, the high learning costs, the network externalities, and the complementarity relationship with hardware provide opportunities for vendors to price their products strategically, taking into account factors such as industry standards, competitor's installed bases, and discontinuities in the hardware market.

About the Author

Erik Brynjolfsson, Schussel Family Professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, is the coeditor of "Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools, and Research" (MIT Press).