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Gillette’s historically successful “razor and blade” business model (RBM) has been a promising benchmark for multiple businesses across diverse industries worldwide in the past several decades. The extant literature deals with very few nuances of this business model notwithstanding the fact that there are several variants of this business model being put to practical use by firms in diverse industries in grossly metaphorically equivalent situations.

This study adopts the 2 × 2 truth table framework from the domains of mathematical logic and combinatorics in fleshing out all possible (four logical possibilities) variants of the razor and blade business model for further analysis. This application presents four mutually exclusive yet collectively exhaustive possibilities on any chosen dimension. Two major dimensions (viz., provision of subsidy and intra- or extra-firm involvement in the making of razors or blades or both) form part of the discussion in this paper. In addition, this study synthesizes and streamlines entrepreneurial wisdom from multiple intra-industry and inter-industry benchmarks in terms of real-time firms explicitly or implicitly adopting several variants of the RBM that suit their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of evolution in situations that are grossly reflective of the metaphorically equivalent scenario of razor and recurrent blades. Inductive method of research is carried out with real-time cases from diverse industries with a pivotally common pattern of razor and blade model in some form or the other.

Several new variants of the razor and blade model (much beyond what the extant literature explicitly projects) have been discovered from the multiple metaphorically equivalent cases of RBM across industries. All of these expand the portfolio of options that relevant entrepreneurial firms can explore and exploit the best possible option chosen from them, given their unique context and idiosyncratic trajectory of growth.

This study has enriched the literature by presenting and analyzing a more inclusive or perhaps comprehensive palette of explicit choices in the form of several variants of the RBM for the relevant entrepreneurial firms to choose from. Future research can undertake the task of comparing these variants of RBM with those of upcoming servitization business models such as guaranteed availability, subscription and performance-based contracting and exploring the prospects of diverse combinations.

Smart entrepreneurial firms identify and adopt inspiring benchmarks (like razor and blade model whenever appropriate) duly tweaked and blended into a gestalt benchmark for optimal profits and attractive market shares. They target diverse market segments for tied-goods with different variants or combinations of the relevant benchmarks in the form of variegated customer value propositions (CVPs) that have unique and enticing appeal to the respective market segments.

Value-sensitive customers on the rise globally choose the option that best suits them from among multiple alternatives offered by competing firms in the market. As long as the ratio of utility to price of such an offer is among the highest, even a no-frills CVP may be most appealing to one market segment while a plush CVP may be tempting to yet another market segment simultaneously. While professional business firms embrace resource leverage practices consciously, amateur customers do so subconsciously. Each party subliminally desires to have the maximum bang-to-buck ratio as the optimal return on investment, given their priorities ceteris paribus.

Prior studies on the RBM have explicitly captured only a few variants of the razor and blade model. This study is perhaps the first of its kind that ferrets out many other variants (more than ten) of the razor and blade model with due simplification and exemplification, justification and demystification.

This study aims to investigate the impact of Internet use on household financial market participation and portfolio choice.

Based on the Chinese General Social Survey 2017 (CGSS2017), this study empirically explores whether Internet use affects household financial market participation in China with an Endogenous Switching Probit model.

The results show that households using the Internet are more likely to invest in financial markets. Further research shows that households with high Internet use are significantly more likely to participate in financial markets than households with low Internet use. From the perspective of household portfolio choice, Internet use has a certain role in increasing the probability of portfolio diversification. However, among households that have invested in financial markets, those with a high-frequency use of the Internet do not show an impact on portfolio diversification.

This study complements existing research about the impact of Internet use or not on household financial market decisions and portfolio choice, expands the knowledge on the household financial market choice from the respective of the degree of Internet use.

Cryptoassets are a diverse category of digital assets that rely on blockchain technology. They encompass various categories, such as cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, security tokens, tokenized assets and securities, and stablecoins. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital units of value that enable secure and transparent transactions. Utility tokens provide access to specific services or products within a blockchain network. Security tokens offer rights and entitlements similar to traditional securities, representing ownership in real-world assets or participation in investment opportunities. Tokenized assets and securities are digital representations of tangible or intangible assets, allowing for fractional ownership and enhanced liquidity. Stablecoins are blockchain-based digital assets designed to maintain a stable value, often pegged to fiat currencies or physical assets. This chapter examines each category's characteristics, benefits, and risks; explores their implementations and current applications in the fintech ecosystem; and discusses relevant regulations and future development opportunities.

In this era of technological advancement, the capabilities of devices and telecommunications have changed the pattern of media consumption among consumers. This study examined the research landscape and advancements in OTT services.

This study adopted a hybrid review consisting of bibliometric and thematic analyses to present advancements in the OTT platforms. A hybrid review integrates both systematic and narrative approaches by emphasizing a literature search strategy and the study selection process.

This study focuses on previous literature to understand recent developments in the domain. The authors derive six major OTT themes: OTT infrastructure and technology advancement, OTT consumption behaviour, shifting trends towards OTT platforms, viewers’ engagement in digital media, OTT in the global market, OTT policies and regulatory mechanisms.

The findings of this study will be useful for marketers/stakeholders associated with the entertainment and media industries, such as sales promotion teams, media planners/advertisers, content management companies and policy regulators, to penetrate OTT viewers.

The literature related to OTT is progressively rising, but it remains highly fragmented because of inconsistencies in the methodologies and theories used in the domain of OTT. This study offers directions in terms of theory, methodology and future research on OTT services.

The cyber-physical system (CPS) is a well proven technology for improving system performance, resilience, and interconnectivity. In emerging nations like India, the logistics industry lacks practices connecting logistical equipment with cyberspace. This paper aims to bridge this gap by identifying and evaluating the performance metrics of connectivity solutions. Its goal is to establish an appropriate infrastructure that enables seamless connectivity within the CPS-enabled logistics ecosystem.

A novel integrated decision method is employed to classify the optimal connectivity solution for CPS. It integrates Regret Theory (RT) and Preference Ranking for Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE-1) method in a Hesitant Fuzzy (HF) environment. This method considers the psychological traits of decision-makers and effectively incorporates their hesitancy for the classification.

The findings highlight security (c10) as the foremost critical performance metric, followed by cost (c6), scalability (c9), traceability (c2) and trustworthiness (c1) to build connective infrastructure for CPS. For extensive coverage scenarios, like freight transportation, cellular connectivity (a2) emerges as the most suitable connectivity solution.

This study provides a roadmap to logistics managers for selecting a suitable connectivity infrastructure to enhance seamless connectivity in logistics operations and processes. Technology providers can utilize the findings to develop the CPS infrastructure for effective freight logistics management.

This research introduces a novel decision-making tool for making choices related to advanced technology assessment. It holds significant value in facilitating well-informed decisions in the digital transformation era.

This study aims to examine consumer purchase behavior towards E-pharmacy from a consumption value perspective. For this purpose, the influence of consumption values on consumer purchase intention is evaluated. Further, the role of consumer involvement in online purchase setup in the context of E-pharmacy is observed using moderation analysis.

The study used a cross-sectional survey design, wherein the respondents in the Delhi-National Capital Region of India were approached using a purposive sampling method. Responses received through the structured questionnaire were subjected to analysis using Smart PLS Version 4.0.9.6.

Results indicate a significant influence of functional (partial), emotional, social and conditional values on consumers’ purchase intention. Moreover, the moderation effect of consumer online involvement is seen in functional value (partial) and emotional value–purchase intention relationships.

This study reinforces the use of the consumption value perspective to explain consumer purchase behavior toward information system (IS)-based platforms such as E-pharmacy. Some of the results, in this context, that did not establish significant relationships between a given form of consumption values and purchase intention, open up the possibilities of retesting the said relationships in the future. The researchers would realize the benefit of such examinations, as the E-pharmacy sector further evolves and matures in the future. Further, the successful establishment of a significant moderating role of consumer online involvement in certain consumption value-purchase intention relationships such as safety, perceived convenience and comfort value paves the way for future researchers to explore consumer online involvement for a similar role in IS research.

This study provides cues for E-pharmacy marketers to focus on enhancing product safety, usage comfort, users’ social image and awareness toward health consciousness that will help build purchase intention and assist in overcoming the challenges in the long run. It further suggests that marketers should have a strong re-look at forming price value perceptions and they must enhance the interactive features of the company’s mobile apps/websites with the help of the emerging artificial intelligence tools to re-orient the epistemic value and perceived convenience value toward E-pharmacy services. Furthermore, this study recommends following digital marketing practices to increase consumer online involvement, which would help strengthen perceived convenience formation that would otherwise be difficult to attain for E-pharmacy consumers.

This study provides novel insight into consumer purchase intention evaluation through the consumption value perspective in an emerging E-pharmacy market. The consumption value frame of reference helps to understand consumers’ buying rationale that affects their buying behavior beyond the initial adoption. Further, the moderation analysis of consumer online involvement provides an additional dimension to understanding consumer buying behavior concerning E-pharmacy.

The purpose of this study is to examine the variables affecting college students’ consumption behaviour in the context of the internet celebrity economy and the We Media environment.

In this study, five independent variables − perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, We Media environment and internet celebrity marketing, as well as one mediating variable, consumption intention, are used to analyse college students’ consumption behaviour.

This study concluded that all five independent variables have positive relationships with the consumption intention and that the consumption intention also has a positive relationship with the consumption behaviour.

This study expanded the technology acceptance model and theory of planned behaviour model, which could provide insights for future research on consumption intention and behaviour. In addition, this study gives guidance for businesses considering to join this new industry in the internet celebrity economy.

For nanostores, striving to become the community group-buying leader is gaining prominence. This paper aims to construct Hotelling linear models to investigate whether nanostores should be registered as leaders and their decisions in a competitive environment.

This paper constructs three Hotelling linear models: neither nanostore registers as community leader, only one nanostore registers as community leader and both nanostores register as community leader. The competitive operation strategies of two general nanostores under three scenarios are solved.

The study finds that nanostores without a cost advantage may benefit from being the first leader. The nanostore's preferred decisions depend on the investment cost parameters of its own and competitors which may lead to market share competition. Furthermore, consumers' sensitivity to community group-buying service has a negative effect on nanostores' profit.

The study is one of the few to consider the competition between community leaders. Besides, the study considers that the utilities functions of consumers are concurrently impacted by the service decisions, along with the price in different nanostores. It can provide nanostores useful implications in the dynamic industry.

This paper investigates the ways digital media applications in rural areas have transformed the influence of social networks (SN) on farmers' adoption of various climate change mitigation measures (CCMM), and explores the key mechanisms behind this transformation.

The study analyzes data from 1,002 farmers’ surveys. First, a logit model is used to measure the impact of SN on the adoption of different types of CCMM. Then, the interaction term between digital media usage (DMU) and SN is introduced to analyze the moderating effect of digital media on the impact of SN. Finally, a conditional process model is used to explore the mediating mechanism of agricultural socialization services (ASS) and the validity of information acquisition (VIA).

The results reveal that: (1) SN significantly promotes the adoption of CCMM and the marginal effect of this impact varies with different kinds of technologies. (2) DMU reinforces the effectiveness of SN in promoting farmers' adoption of CCMM. (3) The key mechanisms of the process in (2) are the ASS and the VIA.

This study shows that in the context of DMU, SN’s promotion effect on farmers' adoption of CCMM is strengthened.

This study aims to investigate the impact of ex-ante regulatory interventions on emerging digital markets related to data sharing and combination practices. Specifically, it evaluates how such interventions influence market contestability by considering data network effects and the economic value of data.

The research uses agent-based modeling and simulations to analyze the dynamics of value generation and market competition related to the regulatory obligations on data sharing and combination practices.

Results show that while the promotion of data sharing through data portability and interoperability has a positive impact on the market, restricting data combination may damage value generation or, at best, have no positive impact even when it is imposed only on those platforms with very large market shares. More generally, the results emphasize the role of regulators in enabling the market through interoperability and service multihoming. Data sharing through portability fosters competition, while the usage of complementary data enhances platform value without necessarily harming the market. Service provider multihoming complements these efforts.

Although agent-based modeling and simulations describe the dynamics of data markets and platform competition, they do not provide accurate forecasts of possible market outcomes.

This paper presents a novel approach to understanding the dynamics of data value generation and the effects of related regulatory interventions. In the absence of real-world data, agent-based modeling provides a means to understand the general dynamics of data markets under different regulatory decisions that have yet to be implemented. This analysis is timely given the emergence of regulatory concerns on how to stimulate a competitive digital market and a shift toward ex-ante regulation, such as the regulatory obligations to large gatekeepers set in the Digital Markets Act.