IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v78y2024ics0969698924000833.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Implications of counterfeiting and differentiation on online knowledge services with suitability upgrades

Author

Listed:
  • Song, Zhuzhu
  • Qin, Zhongfeng
  • Liu, Tian-Liang

Abstract

The simplicity of duplicating electronic products significantly disrupts the knowledge service environment, exacerbating the issue of copyright infringement. This study focuses on the suitability upgrading of online knowledge services, examining the effects of the presence of counterfeiters and the enhancement of service differentiation on platform performance. By considering a hypothetical scenario without counterfeiters as a benchmark, this paper evaluates the impact of differentiation strategies in the presence of counterfeiters. The findings suggest that a differentiation strategy can concurrently increase market share and profit, potentially enhancing the platform's performance in scenarios involving counterfeiters. Through the analysis of two distinct periods, it was discovered that piracy possesses a unique advertising effect that can boost the platform's market share in the second period. Furthermore, strategies to combat piracy can effectively leverage this effect. While the presence of counterfeiters reduces the number of purchasers, the platform's efforts to combat piracy may increase the overall consumer surplus. Conversely, a tepid response to piracy could diminish the consumer surplus generated by legitimate purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Song, Zhuzhu & Qin, Zhongfeng & Liu, Tian-Liang, 2024. "Implications of counterfeiting and differentiation on online knowledge services with suitability upgrades," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:78:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924000833
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103787
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698924000833
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103787?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryu, Gangseog & Kim, Boha & Park, Kikyoung, 2023. "Anti-counterfeiting advertisements for luxury brands in the post pandemic era: Roles of message type, visual presentation mode, and self-construal," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Hubert Pun & Gregory D. DeYong, 2017. "Competing with Copycats When Customers Are Strategic," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 403-418, July.
    3. Ghamat, Salar & Pun, Hubert & Critchley, Greg & Hou, Pengwen, 2021. "Using intellectual property agreements in the presence of supplier and third-party copycatting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(2), pages 680-692.
    4. Luis Aguiar & Jörg Claussen & Christian Peukert, 2018. "Catch Me If You Can: Effectiveness and Consequences of Online Copyright Enforcement," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 656-678, September.
    5. Wang, Yingjia & Lin, Jiaxin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2020. "Gray market and counterfeiting in supply chains: A review of the operations literature and implications to luxury industries," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Nie, Jiajia & Zhong, Ling & Li, Gendao & Cao, Kuo, 2022. "Piracy as an entry deterrence strategy in software market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(2), pages 560-572.
    7. Bin Shen & Ciwei Dong & Stefan Minner, 2022. "Combating Copycats in the Supply Chain with Permissioned Blockchain Technology," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(1), pages 138-154, January.
    8. Ngo, Liem Viet & Northey, Gavin & Tran, Quan & Septianto, Felix, 2020. "The Devil might wear Prada, but Narcissus wears counterfeit Gucci! How social adjustive functions influence counterfeit luxury purchases," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. Zhang, Jie & Zhang, Rachel Q., 2015. "Supply chain structure in a market with deceptive counterfeits," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 84-97.
    10. Reza Ahmadi & Foad Iravani & Hamed Mamani, 2015. "Coping with Gray Markets: The Impact of Market Conditions and Product Characteristics," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(5), pages 762-777, May.
    11. Appel, Gil & Libai, Barak & Muller, Eitan, 2018. "On the monetary impact of fashion design piracy," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 591-610.
    12. Hawkins, Matthew A., 2020. "The moderating effect of need for belonging and communal-brand connection on counterfeit purchasing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    13. Islam, Tahir & Pitafi, Abdul Hameed & Akhtar, Naeem & Xiaobei, Liang, 2021. "Determinants of purchase luxury counterfeit products in social commerce: The mediating role of compulsive internet use," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Hubert Pun & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan & Pengwen Hou, 2021. "Blockchain Adoption for Combating Deceptive Counterfeits," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(4), pages 864-882, April.
    15. Burmester, Alexa B. & Eggers, Felix & Clement, Michel & Prostka, Tim, 2016. "Accepting or fighting unlicensed usage: Can firms reduce unlicensed usage by optimizing their timing and pricing strategies?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 343-356.
    16. Sarah Yini Gao & Wei Shi Lim & Christopher S. Tang, 2017. "Entry of Copycats of Luxury Brands," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(2), pages 274-289, March.
    17. Yi Qian, 2014. "Counterfeiters: Foes or Friends? How Counterfeits Affect Sales by Product Quality Tier," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2381-2400, October.
    18. Ling Xue & Peijian Song & Arun Rai & Cheng Zhang & Xia Zhao, 2019. "Implications of Application Programming Interfaces for Third‐Party New App Development and Copycatting," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(8), pages 1887-1902, August.
    19. Matthew Hawkins, 2020. "The moderating effect of need for belonging and communal-brand connection on counterfeit purchasing," Post-Print hal-02943037, HAL.
    20. Soo-Haeng Cho & Xin Fang & Sridhar Tayur, 2015. "Combating Strategic Counterfeiters in Licit and Illicit Supply Chains," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 273-289, July.
    21. Yuxiang (Chris) Zhao & Xixian Peng & Zhouying Liu & Shijie Song & Preben Hansen, 2020. "Factors that affect asker's pay intention in trilateral payment‐based social Q&A platforms: From a benefit and cost perspective," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(5), pages 516-528, May.
    22. Quan Wang & Beibei Li & Param Vir Singh, 2018. "Copycats vs. Original Mobile Apps: A Machine Learning Copycat-Detection Method and Empirical Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 273-291, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Yu & Gao, Xiang & Luo, Suyuan & Xiong, Yu & Ye, Niangyue, 2022. "Anti-Counterfeiting in a retail Platform: A Game-Theoretic approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Gao, Sarah Yini & Lim, Wei Shi & Ye, Ziqiu, 2023. "Optimal channel strategy of luxury brands in the presence of online marketplace and copycats," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(2), pages 709-721.
    3. Weiting Wang & Yi Liao & Wenjing Shen, 2023. "The Impact of Online Anti-Counterfeiting on Channel Structure and Pricing Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-26, May.
    4. Hubert Pun & Pengwen Hou, 2022. "Combating copycatting from emerging market suppliers in global supply chains," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(8), pages 3304-3319, August.
    5. Bian, Junsong & Zhang, Guoqing & Zhou, Guanghui, 2023. "The strategic impact of vertical integration on non-deceptive counterfeiting," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    6. Hu, Shu & Fu, Ke & Wu, Tong, 2021. "The role of consumer behavior and power structures in coping with shoddy goods," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. Niu, Baozhuang & Ruan, Yiyuan & Xu, Haotao, 2024. "Less is more? Channel separation to mitigate triple competition and combat copycats in agency e-commerce," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 315(1), pages 242-270.
    8. Li, Zhiwen & Xu, Xianhao & Bai, Qingguo & Guan, Xu & Zeng, Kuan, 2021. "The interplay between blockchain adoption and channel selection in combating counterfeits," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    9. He, Chao & Tan, Chunqiao & Ip, W.H. & Wu, C.H., 2023. "Combating counterfeits with the Blockchain-technology-supported platform under government enforcement," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    10. Ghamat, Salar & Pun, Hubert & Critchley, Greg & Hou, Pengwen, 2021. "Using intellectual property agreements in the presence of supplier and third-party copycatting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(2), pages 680-692.
    11. Bin Shen & Ciwei Dong & Stefan Minner, 2022. "Combating Copycats in the Supply Chain with Permissioned Blockchain Technology," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(1), pages 138-154, January.
    12. Ching, Kenny & Forti, Enrico & Katsampes, Spyridon & Mammous, Kostantinos, 2024. "Style and quality: Aesthetic innovation strategy under weak appropriability," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    13. Wang, Yingjia & Lin, Jiaxin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2020. "Gray market and counterfeiting in supply chains: A review of the operations literature and implications to luxury industries," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Hou, Pengwen & Zhen, Ziyan & Pun, Hubert, 2020. "Combating copycatting in the luxury market with fighter brands," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Sun, Jiong & Zhang, Xing & Zhu, Qingyuan, 2020. "Counterfeiters in Online Marketplaces: Stealing Your Sales or Sharing Your Costs," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 189-202.
    16. Hubert Pun & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan & Pengwen Hou, 2021. "Blockchain Adoption for Combating Deceptive Counterfeits," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(4), pages 864-882, April.
    17. Wagner, Laura & Gürbüz, Mustafa Ҫagri & Parlar, Mahmut, 2019. "Is it fake? Using potentially low quality suppliers as back-up when genuine suppliers are unavailable," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 185-200.
    18. Yuan, Mao & Pun, Hubert & Guan, Xu, 2022. "Information disclosure in a supply chain with copycat threat," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(3), pages 1018-1030.
    19. Niu, Baozhuang & Ruan, Yiyuan & Xu, Haotao, 2023. "Turn a blind eye? E-tailer's blockchain participation considering upstream competition between copycats and brands," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    20. Zhang, Tianyu & Dong, Peiwu & Chen, Xiangfeng & Gong, Yu, 2023. "The impacts of blockchain adoption on a dual-channel supply chain with risk-averse members," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:78:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924000833. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.