{"title":"Optimal investment and pricing strategies of online–offline model for mobile health provider","authors":"Wuhua Chen, Yuan Tang","doi":"10.1007/s10660-023-09766-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Due to the lack of medical examinations, in online health platforms (called online channels), a portion of users are unable to be diagnosed. Recently, many mobile health providers have started investing in offline clinics or hospitals (called offline channels) to offer further health services to these customers (i.e., the online–offline model). Providers need to determine the optimal investment and pricing strategies of online and offline channels to maximize profits. In this paper, we first analyze the optimal strategies of the provider in a monopoly case, and find that the properties of optimal online and offline decisions tend to be opposite due to the competitive nature of the two channels. Furthermore, we compare this with the case where the provider invests only in the online channel (i.e., the online-only model) in terms of profitability and show that if the value of the online health (or the offline health) is not high (high enough), then the provider should choose the online–offline model, otherwise she should adopt the online-only model. Finally, we investigate a case of an m-health platform competing with local clinics and find certain interesting insights. In particular, unlike the monopoly case, in the competition case, the platform should operate the offline channel when the sensitivity of patients to the online service quality is at a moderate level, and not otherwise.</p>","PeriodicalId":47264,"journal":{"name":"Electronic Commerce Research","volume":" 20","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Electronic Commerce Research","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09766-6","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Due to the lack of medical examinations, in online health platforms (called online channels), a portion of users are unable to be diagnosed. Recently, many mobile health providers have started investing in offline clinics or hospitals (called offline channels) to offer further health services to these customers (i.e., the online–offline model). Providers need to determine the optimal investment and pricing strategies of online and offline channels to maximize profits. In this paper, we first analyze the optimal strategies of the provider in a monopoly case, and find that the properties of optimal online and offline decisions tend to be opposite due to the competitive nature of the two channels. Furthermore, we compare this with the case where the provider invests only in the online channel (i.e., the online-only model) in terms of profitability and show that if the value of the online health (or the offline health) is not high (high enough), then the provider should choose the online–offline model, otherwise she should adopt the online-only model. Finally, we investigate a case of an m-health platform competing with local clinics and find certain interesting insights. In particular, unlike the monopoly case, in the competition case, the platform should operate the offline channel when the sensitivity of patients to the online service quality is at a moderate level, and not otherwise.
期刊介绍：
The Internet and the World Wide Web have brought a fundamental change in the way that individuals access data, information and services. Individuals have access to vast amounts of data, to experts and services that are not limited in time or space. This has forced business to change the way in which they conduct their commercial transactions with their end customers and with other businesses, resulting in the development of a global market through the Internet. The emergence of the Internet and electronic commerce raises many new research issues. The Electronic Commerce Research journal will serve as a forum for stimulating and disseminating research into all facets of electronic commerce - from research into core enabling technologies to work on assessing and understanding the implications of these technologies on societies, economies, businesses and individuals. The journal concentrates on theoretical as well as empirical research that leads to better understanding of electronic commerce and its implications. Topics covered by the journal include, but are not restricted to the following subjects as they relate to the Internet and electronic commerce: Dissemination of services through the Internet;Intelligent agents technologies and their impact;The global impact of electronic commerce;The economics of electronic commerce;Fraud reduction on the Internet;Mobile electronic commerce;Virtual electronic commerce systems;Application of computer and communication technologies to electronic commerce;Electronic market mechanisms and their impact;Auctioning over the Internet;Business models of Internet based companies;Service creation and provisioning;The job market created by the Internet and electronic commerce;Security, privacy, authorization and authentication of users and transactions on the Internet;Electronic data interc hange over the Internet;Electronic payment systems and electronic funds transfer;The impact of electronic commerce on organizational structures and processes;Supply chain management through the Internet;Marketing on the Internet;User adaptive advertisement;Standards in electronic commerce and their analysis;Metrics, measurement and prediction of user activity;On-line stock markets and financial trading;User devices for accessing the Internet and conducting electronic transactions;Efficient search techniques and engines on the WWW;Web based languages (e.g., HTML, XML, VRML, Java);Multimedia storage and distribution;Internet;Collaborative learning, gaming and work;Presentation page design techniques and tools;Virtual reality on the net and 3D visualization;Browsers and user interfaces;Web site management techniques and tools;Managing middleware to support electronic commerce;Web based education, and training;Electronic journals and publishing on the Internet;Legal issues, taxation and property rights;Modeling and design of networks to support Internet applications;Modeling, design and sizing of web site servers;Reliability of intensive on-line applications;Pervasive devices and pervasive computing in electronic commerce;Workflow for electronic commerce applications;Coordination technologies for electronic commerce;Personalization and mass customization technologies;Marketing and customer relationship management in electronic commerce;Service creation and provisioning. Audience: Academics and professionals involved in electronic commerce research and the application and use of the Internet. Managers, consultants, decision-makers and developers who value the use of electronic com merce research results. Special Issues: Electronic Commerce Research publishes from time to time a special issue of the devoted to a single subject area. If interested in serving as a guest editor for a special issue, please contact the Editor-in-Chief J. Christopher Westland at westland@uic.edu with a proposal for the special issue. Officially cited as: Electron Commer Res
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