چارچوب تحلیلی برای ارزیابی مدل های کسب و کار نظیر به نظیر

While existing research on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services has increased our understanding in many respects, it has not yet supplied a comprehensive theoretical framework that explains business failures of P2P file-sharing network service models. We develop such an analytical model and base it on seven specific market constraints – technical, economic, structural, legal, political, cognitive, and cultural – that are specifically relevant for P2P services. We show how our model can be used as a tool for strategic analysis of P2P business model performance using Napster as a particular case of study. We show also how P2P file-sharing networks have migrated through a series of system typologies by incorporating technological innovations in response to market constraints. Finally, we offer a new theoretical conceptualization that views P2P file-sharing networks as electronic markets.

Millions of consumers are routinely trading digital content files over peer-to-peer networks. Traded content includes images, audio files, software, music, tv shows, games, movies, and other documents. Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks such as Napster, Kazaa, Grokster, BitTorrent and Grouper to name just a few from among dozens, have since 1999 drawn increasing interest from users, and also from innovative businesses exploring ways to use them commercially, as well as from governance and judicial institutions with the responsibility of regulating the new file-sharing activities. There is clearly strong demand for P2P services from consumers in 2006, but no business has so far succeeded in finding a sustainable legitimate and profitable P2P business model that delivers what consumers want. While existing research on P2P file-sharing has increased our understanding in many respects, it has not developed a comprehensive theoretical framework that explains business failures of P2P file-sharing network service models. The present paper aims to address this gap. It is clear that P2P systems, under various conditions, can both destroy and create value as huge amounts of content are distributed, including previously available as well as derivative and new original content. It is also clear that huge amounts of copyrighted material are traded without permission from its owners. Much less clear, however, is how to best distribute and share the value that is created by these new trading networks, and how to design incentives that would entice everyone in the value chain to productively participate in the operation of these networks. Traditional corporate content providers are threatened with loss of control over distribution and quite possibly profits. Some consumers feel legally insecure about sharing content, while others perceive existing P2P file-sharing services as too limited, technically immature, or difficult to use. Some original content creators worry whether they will be able to collect proper rewards for their creative output. Lack of trust and economic risk have seriously undermined the development of consumer-friendly P2P business initiatives, as the content industry largely opposes the use of P2P file-sharing technology. A better outcome for all market participants would be possible if P2P networks for sharing information goods comprehensively addressed the concerns of all stakeholders. Clearly, this is not yet the case with P2P file-sharing services. Hence, there is a need to devise methods that allow us to (a) analytically diagnose service failures and (b) develop better business models for P2P file-sharing. These are the two main research questions that we are addressing in this paper. The IS literature presents P2P file-sharing primarily as an IT application system [1]. In the present paper, however, we take a different, novel approach and view them more broadly as electronic markets. We argue that P2P systems implement all roles and functions of electronic markets. Through an extended analysis of the P2P research literature in the information systems area we develop an analytical framework based on seven constraints – technical, economic, cognitive, structural, legal, political, and cultural – and perform a comprehensive diagnosis of P2P business models. Using the well-known original Napster case, we first demonstrate how our model can be applied ex post to determine the feasibility of specific P2P service and business models. Next, we apply the model to analyze the evolution of P2P services in general. We also discuss the possibility of extending our new analytical framework beyond P2P environments to other electronic market configurations. This paper makes several contributions. First, it offers a new theoretical lens for studying the performance P2P services by conceptualizing them as electronic markets. Second, it develops a new analytical framework for ex post performance analysis of P2P business models. And third, it lays the groundwork for developing a business management tool that can be employed to support strategic decision-making. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The following section will give an overview of the functions and technical implementation of P2P file-sharing networks. Section 3 uses literature analysis to derive specific conceptual constraints that lay the foundation for our analytical model framework for evaluating P2P business models. Section 4 applies the analytical model to the case of Napster, and Section 5 applies the evolution of P2P service models in general. Section 6 will explain why viewing P2P networks as electronic markets rather than just IT applications puts us in a better position to gain insights for performance analysis of P2P business models. Section 7 will outline an implementation of our constraint framework as a business management tool and provide some additional discussion and conclusions.

This paper used exploratory literature analysis within the realm of P2P research to construct an analytical framework for evaluating P2P business models. We proposed seven specific market constraints that determine boundaries for feasible P2P business models. Based on this theoretical framework, we also developed a tool for strategic business analysis, and demonstrated how it can be employed to perform a viability analysis of P2P business models. There are some obvious parallels between our constraints and research that has been done on the design of physical and electronic markets in economics (see [4] for example). Notably, work in the area of experimental economics and market design theory suggests that a small number of fundamental principles determine whether a particular market design can work well or not. Numerous studies have examined and compared different market designs on overall efficiency and effectiveness and all of them have come across upon constraints similar to the ones we propose in the present paper. Our approach is, of course, not limited to studying the historic case of Napster. It can be readily applied to other file-sharing services that are currently operating. While it has become clear that unrestricted copying of content for the mere purpose of sharing is legally inadmissible, it less clear how sharing can be organized as a business so that it generates value for both content owners and consumers. We found that there is a clearly discernable evolution of system typologies from a technological point of view, but the P2P file-sharing market has not yet matured enough to establish a stable typology of business models. There are experiments with advertisement-based business models offering free content, subscription-based services, as well as other fee-based approaches, but none of them so far has been able to effectively incorporate all of our seven constraints and become successful in the marketplace. User-generated content sites are currently among the fastest growing Internet services. Our analytic approach based on electronic market design principles should be useful to help design and develop new business models that are being proposed in these evolving areas. While we considered specifically business models based on P2P file-sharing in this paper, we suggest that our approach could be more generally adapted for businesses in the digital entertainment space. In order to complement our theoretical analysis let us conclude by briefly outlining how our framework can be used as the basis for developing a business management tool to support strategic decision-making regarding designing and developing business models based on content sharing. One possibility we envision is the development of a decision support system software product with a dashboard-style user interface akin to balanced scorecard systems [75]. The goal of the system would be to give a clear and balanced view of the enterprise to the top management by offering strategic feedback showing the present status of the business model and its performance from the seven perspectives defined in our market constraints framework. Diagnostic feedback from the various business processes would guide improvements for developing the business model on a continuous basis. Operational performance measures for each of the seven market constraints would need to be specified so that organizational performance trends could be tracked over time and indicate decision needs as they occur. Each constraint could be represented graphically with specific performance measures, with links to more detailed data sources, plotted in color-coded areas representing four performance levels and directions of change. Improvements and deteriorations would be traced over time and used to spot significant interactions across constraints. Performance targets for each measure would be specified and an analysis would be performed periodically (e.g., every month or quarter). This business model design and redesign process would continue until it reached a state where the business model showed a stable and satisfactory performance. At this stage, the business model development phase would be complete. The venture might be integrated with the general business of the company, and business performance analysis could shift to a regular balanced scorecard system. P2P technologies and file-sharing systems are still evolving swiftly. Although innovations in these systems can be narrowly explored and studied ad hoc, we believe that it is also important to have available a robust and flexible analytic framework that will help IS researchers conduct analyses on various developments in P2P and content sharing markets. The particular fronts on which file-sharing business struggles are being fought shift continually. But the fundamental forces that we have integrated here, on which the actual outcomes depend, however, do not. Thus our contribution here is to provide such a framework for analysis, founded in technology and basic principles of economics and other relevant areas, but oriented toward practical business outcomes for strategic guidance and understanding.