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As of May 2018 a new law by the European Union will be in effect, the so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR aims to protect all EU citizens from privacy and data breaches. It is based on the first 1995 directive regarding data protection, but has been updated in order to meet the demands of the data-driven world we currently live in. The law has quite some effects for companies, and not only for ones based in Europe (EUGDPR, 2017).

In fact, it applies to all companies processing data of subjects residing in the European Union. In other words, every firm that has one or more customers, suppliers or any other data subjects that live within the European Union is affected by this new law. Compliance to the newly enforced standards is mandatory or massive fines will need to be paid. A breach of the GDPR can be fined up to 4% of annual turnover or €20 million, whichever is greater (EUGDPR, 2017).

A large number of organisations is speaking about the need to comply with GDPR. However, if they take the approach of compliance is all that matters, they are bound to fail. Firms focusing on compliance are likely to be ineffective and they wrongfully think they are on the right track when it comes to security. Sure, they will be able to tick a few boxes along the way, but they will not be protected properly from a data breach nor the impact that such a breach would have.  Instead, data protection should be at the heart of a firm’s strategy. There have been many compliant organisations that still encountered issues with data breaches, making them have to deal with all the ugly consequences (Tucker, 2017).

Data protection is not new, but the EU regulation is. However, corporate objectives should be aimed at protecting data and not at complying to the law. A true approach should be embedded in the business and with this central approach, compliance will come by itself.

 

References:

EUGDPR. (2017). GDPR Key Changes. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://www.eugdpr.org/key-changes.html.

Tucker, E. (2017). GDPR for the CIO: Data protection is about more than GDPR compliance. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/GDPR-for-the-CIO-Data-protection-is-about-more-than-GDPR-compliance.

5/5 (2)

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC8bWoCZDm0

 

Our video on the Technology of the Week revolves around Electronic Markets and Auctions. More specifically, we focused on the industry of selling second hand cars, which is mostly done using auctions. It is valued at more than $100 billion in 2016 (Overby, 2017). The industry has been disrupted over the past decades due to the rise of digital technologies and consequently the new business models that have been adopted by online auction platforms.

In the offline world of car auctions, the most widely used form of auctioning is the hammer auction, which is similar to the English Auction (Lu et al., 2016). A second way of auctioning cars is the tender or silent auction, similar to the Sealed Bid Auction (Lu et al., 2016). These offline forms of auctioning are commonly used in online auctions too. However, with the rise of online auctioning; new formats have been developed as well. A new common practice has been adopted by AutoAuctionMall (2017), which allows buyers to bid on a certain car that is up for auction, but also allows buyers to instantly buy the car for a fixed price. Bids can be placed at any time during the auction and from anywhere with access to the internet. For seller, this means they are able to set the reserve price for their product as well as a target price.

To analyze the industry disruption, we used the Five Forces Framework (Porter, 1979). This allowed us to examine how the fundamental elements of the industry have been affected. First, competitive rivalry has increased, as the internet vanished geographical borders and it became easier for bidders to choose between auction events. Second, the bargaining power of buyers also increased, because the switching costs dropped dramatically. The third force concerns the bargaining power of suppliers. Whereas suppliers are not limited to their local auctioneer, the auctioneer is not limited to local suppliers either. Auctioneers can easily switch between suppliers as differentiation is relatively low, so ultimately the power of suppliers decreased. Fourth, the threat of substitutes increased, as the internet made it possible for suppliers to bypass auctioneers and be directly linked to potential buyers. Finally, the rise of digital technologies decreased the barriers of entry to the industry, thereby increasing the threat of new entry.

The rise of the internet stimulated consumer uncertainty, which is an information asymmetry problem. It can be represented by the market for lemons and leads to adverse selection, which over time causes the market to collapse (Dimoka et al., 2012). Whereas inspections and warranties are currently given out to counteract this phenomenon, we envision the use of augmented reality (AR) to be the solution to this problem in the future (Raab & Roytman, 2017). AR allows buyers to virtually walk around the car and take a look inside, thereby getting a sense of the “look and feel” of the car. Because of this, sellers and buyers have access to virtually the same information, thereby taking away the asymmetry.

 

References (Applies to both the blog text as well as the video) :

AutoAuctionMall. (2017). Auctions. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from https://www.autoauctionmall.com/auctions/.

Autoveiling. (2017). Hammer auction. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from https://www.autoveiling.nl/veilingen/hamerveiling.html

CarAuction. (2017). Auctions. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from http://www.thecarauction.be/index. php?id=434.

Dimoka, A., Hong, Y., & Pavlou, P.A. 2012. On Product Uncertainty in Online Markets: Theory and Evidence. MIS Quarterly 36(2) 395-426.

Encyclopedia. (2002). Electronic Markets. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from http://www.encyclopedia. com/computing/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/electronic-markets.

Forbes. (2014). eBay Through The Lens Of Porter’s Five Forces. Retrieved October 4, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/11/24/ebay-through-the-lens-of-porters-five-forces/#215346edd146.

Lu, Y., Gupta, A., Ketter, W. & van Heck, E. (2016). Exploring Bidder Heterogeneity in Multi-channel Sequential B2B Auctions: Evidence from the Dutch Flower Auctions. MIS Quarterly, 40 (3), pp.645-662.

Overby, J. (2017). Auto auctions: $100 billion industry in 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from http://www.autoremarketing.com/wholesale/auto-auctions-100-billion-industry-2016.

Phillips, J., Somok, B., & Zheng, X. (2005). How to dominate the online auction market. Retrieved October, 4, 2017, from http://www.mcafee.cc/Classes/BEM106/Papers/2005/eBay.pdf.

Porter, M.E. (1979). How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review.

Raab, C. & Roytman, A. (2017). Augmented Reality Drives An Immersive Car-Buying Experience. Retrieved October 7, 2017, from http://www.cmo.com/opinion/articles/2017/5/1/driving-an- augmented-car-buying-experience-tlp-ptr.html#gs.UhK_700.  

Rouse, M. (2016). What is Augmented Reality (AR)? Retrieved October 7, 2017, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/augmented-reality-AR.

 

Authors:

Corné van den Essenburg – 384315

Evelin Gyenes – 486999

Iman Hitli – 413763

Thomas Keuter – 413997

5/5 (2)

Digital technologies are changing the way we do business all around the world. However, their impact is not only limited to the parts of the day we spend at the office. Digital technologies are omnipresent and are starting to make an appearance in the sports we watch as well. Not only are referee’s decisions being improved by using video-assistant referees (e.g. field hockey) or Hawk-eye systems (e.g. tennis), teams are now making use of excessive amounts of data on their players in order to win more games. In fact, the use of Big Data has helped Germany secure the world cup in 2014.

With football being the most popular sport around the globe (over 4 billion followers), it is no surprise that teams are doing all they can in order to gain an advantage over their opponents (TotalSportek, n.d.). Matches are often won by the tiniest of margins and therefore, all major clubs and countries have started to track data on their players. Metrics, such as heart rate, covered distance, speed, acceleration and shooting power are giving insight to managers as to which athletes are in the best shape and which players are struggling with their fitness. This data is mostly collected during training sessions and supports the manager’s decision making as he is putting together his team (Rejec, n.d.). Next to this, Global Navigation Satellite System data is being used to track player’s movements and corresponding fitness during matches as well, providing managers with even more information that they can use to their advantage (Alger, 2015).

The applications of Big Data within the world of football are not limited to tracking individual player metrics. A number of companies have started to track performance data on all players around the world, including statistics on goals scored, assist given and passes completed. These companies are aiding clubs in scouting new talent and signing the best new players, selected on a wide range of criteria. Clubs now have huge databases at their disposal in which they search and compare virtually all players to see which ones would best fit their squad and what transfer fees they should be looking to pay (IQ, 2015).

Clearly, Big Data is transforming the world of the beautiful game. Training sessions, in-game substitutions, scouting networks and transfer negotiations have already been impacted by the use of data and more areas of the sport are certainly up next. As it has helped Germany win the most prestigious prize of the game, there is no reason for clubs to give up on Big Data.

 

References:

Alger, K. (2015). Real-time match data set to transform the beautiful game. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.raconteur.net/technology/in-game-performance-data-is-a-football-first.

IQ. (2015). High-tech football transfers: How big clubs use Big Data to sign the best players. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://iq.intel.co.uk/high-tech-football-transfers-how-big-clubs-use-big-data-to-sign-the-best-players/.

Rejec, J. (n.d.). How Big Data is Changing the World of Football. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://datafloq.com/read/how-big-data-is-changing-the-world-of-football/1796.

TotalSportek. (n.d.). 25 World’s Most Popular Sports (Ranked by 13 factors). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://www.totalsportek.com/most-popular-sports/.