Once the value configuration, a distinct value proposition, and an initial plan for the revenue mechanism or the internal benefits of the innovation are clarified, it is time to scope the business potential of the innovation. This involves thinking through the resources and activities needed to implement and deliver the innovation and assessing how they should be organized and how much they would cost to offer or access. The innovator now needs to identify the resource base needed for the value configuration designed in the first stage. This chapter analyzes how the value configuration relates to the broader business ecosystem in which it is embedded.

This is a case study about the development and growth of e-books at Barnes & Noble. By 2012, both Apple and Barnes & Noble had gained footholds in the e-book marketplace. While Amazon initially controlled 90 percent of the e-book market, in 2012 Barnes & Noble had about 25 percent and Apple 11 percent of the market, pushing Amazon down to about 60 percent. However, the struggles were not over. How could Barnes & Noble create a sustainable competitive advantage, and a profitable business, against the e-commerce giant Amazon on one side and the electronics giant Apple on the other side?

Chapter 15 focuses on how language learners develop pragmatic competence in a new language and target culture(s). Through presenting a variety of real-life examples, the authors highlight the importance of teaching language learners what sorts of communication styles they might encounter outside of the classroom and what interactional approachs may be more or less appropriate given these social situations. Both receptive and productive practices for teaching pragmatics are shared at the conclusion of the chapter.

Having examined the production, consumption, and valuation of information and data, we can start to design business models for information goods. We examine the fundamental characteristics of information and data goods that we need to consider. It is critical for a digital innovator to design mechanisms that allow users to discover their valuation and preferences, and that allow the innovator to discover users’ willingness to pay. Ideally, such mechanisms account for cognitive tendencies to prefer intuitive, familiar, simple, and quick solutions to our data and information needs.

Newspapers are an archetypal information business. They have been struggling to transition to the digital marketplace. Around the year 2000, newspaper revenues consisted primarily of advertising revenue. Classified ads were a particularly lucrative market where major newspapers practically held monopolies in their primary circulation region, such as the New York City metro area for The New York Times. This case explores the journey of The New York Times to adopt digital features and compete in the digital ad market.

Communication technologies change relentlessly and “coevolve” with the social and economic systems within which they are embedded, particularly with the dynamics of the marketplace. Many high-technology industries evolve through a cyclical pattern that helps predict how the next-generation networks and services take shape and grow. This chapter describes this pattern of evolution to understand what to expect in information and communication technology markets and how to make decisions about adopting and innovating new information and communication services. It then discusses the implications of this pattern for future communication networks and products.

The models of Chapter 3, based on technology- and factor endowment differences can explain inter-industry trade but not intra-industry trade – the simultaneous import and export of similar types of goods and services – which is empirically important, especially between rich countries. Competitive pressure by foreign firms and strategic interaction may entice companies to engage in mutual trade flows of homogeneous products, leading to lower mark-ups, lower prices, larger volumes, and welfare gains for consumers. Firms can also engage in trading similar for better use of scale economies, lower prices and access to a larger number of varieties. The international business literature focuses on multinational firms, investigating why some multinationals can do better than others by creating a competitive advantage. In a setting of intra-industry trade, international business (dealing with firm-level competition) thus meets international economics (focusing on country-level trade).

All firms have to deal with risks and uncertainty, but international firms face additional risks and uncertainties, as analysed in this chapter. The first part of the chapter deals with largely manageable risks that international firms are familiar with, can quantify, and know how to confront, such as foreign exchange risk and spreading risks via diversification. The second part of the chapter asks how international firms should act in the face of fundamental uncertainty when the external environment in which they operate changes because of a systemic shock or global crisis. We will show that risk assessment by firms plays an important role, both in terms of the causes and the consequences of crises. We use various insights of previous chapters to understand how firms deal with uncertainties. We conclude with our view of how the rise in risk and uncertainty might affect the global economy.

Chapter 18 discusses the role of resources like textbooks, guided readers, newspapers, and blogs in language classrooms. The authenticity, comprehensibility, and pedagogical qualities are examined in light of second language acquisition theories. The chapter also includes a guide for teachers to use as they evaluate the resources in their curriculum.

Chapter 1 discusses the role of target language production, or output, in the language learning process. Through examining hypotheses in the field of second language acquisition, as well as learner data, the authors consider why it is important for learners to have the opportunity to talk and write in the language they are learning. Strategies for how to structure these types of interactions and how to promote language production in learner-centered lessons are also included.

We analyse the difficulties and opportunities of managing firm activities across national borders. Firms can enter foreign markets via six entry modes, where three are non-equity-based (exporting, licensing, franchising) and three are equity-based (greenfield investments, acquisitions, joint ventures). First, we discuss the advantages of and risks associated with each entry mode. We show how transaction costs theory, real options theory and institutional theory can help explain the optimal entry mode. Second, we include time and show how firms dynamically learn about markets to reduce their liability of foreignness. Third, we discuss the digital aspect, where we show that digital firms are different in various ways, but the arguments used to explain the entry mode still apply. Fourth, we discuss the challenge to balance pressure for global integration, cost effectiveness and standardisation with the pressure to make local adaptations. We evaluate four possible strategies, in particular for international HRM and marketing.

Chapter 10 describes how differences between a learner’s first language(s) and the target language(s) may influence their learning experience. Concepts like crosslinguistic transfer, grapheme-phoneme correspondence, and typography are presented through a variety of exemplars. Research-based strategies on how to teach a new writing system, introduce text-based resources featuring unfamiliar scripts, and differentiate instruction based on learners’ linguistic backgrounds are provided.

Chapter 19 explores how different technological resources may help or hinder language learning efforts. Technology is discussed in its capacity to support learners, to create new real-life communicative tasks, and to assist teachers as an additional resource. The chapter includes several ways in which technology can be used to maximize learner motivation and engagement in classes of varying ages and proficiency levels.

Evolving communication networks create expanding opportunities to measure real-time economic activity, such as social behavior or performance of production equipment. This chapter explores how to deploy instruments to measure, adjust, and analyze business activities, and how to commercialize the resulting data through internal or external channels. By contributing to a better understanding of the drivers of business performance, data can help improve and innovate new products and services, and potentially generate additional revenue streams.

The design of a new digital business model is typically based on shaky assumptions and rough estimates. As the innovator further develops the proposed product or service, they need to carefully collect user feedback and market data to refine the assumptions and generate more precise estimates. Some of the trickiest challenges in launching a digital innovation include customer acquisition, business model validation, and gaining network momentum. This chapter first discusses how to address the challenges of customer acquisition in digital markets, and then describes an experimental method for validating the features of the business model. The chapter finishes with tools for kindling network effects and fomenting the growth of the platform ecosystem.

Our analysis in this chapter focuses on comparative advantages, perhaps the most fundamental insight of international economics. If countries either completely or partially specialise production according to their comparative advantages, they can reap the benefits of the gains from specialisation in terms of achieving higher total production and welfare levels. The underlying causes of comparative advantage can vary. It can be technology-driven (Ricardo) or it can derive from the relative cost differences resulting from different relative factor abundance (Heckscher–Ohlin). As was to be expected, empirical research indicates that both elements (technology and factor abundance) are important for explaining the composition of international trade flows. Throughout the chapter, we emphasise the fact that the comparative advantages for nations should not be confused with the competitiveness of individual firms.

Technological development typically has outcomes that can be perceived as both positive and negative for humanity. In a capitalist society, the benefits of new technology are often evaluated in economic terms, whereas the negative impacts are often evaluated in social, health-related or environmental terms – the externalities of conventional economics. The benefits of a new technology are often immediately obvious, while the negative consequences appear rather later. In this chapter, we examine four areas of major development or change: industrial technology, agricultural technology, medical technology, and digital and communication technology. Each has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on individuals, families, communities and societies, as well as on the understanding and practice of social work. These are discussed using the questions identified above: Who owns? Who uses? Who or what benefits? Who or what loses? This allows us to consider their implications for social work and for the re-imagining of social work in the twenty-first century.