YiZhu 3008 Marketing Project P08022379

7/31/2019 YiZhu 3008 Marketing Project P08022379

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DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

&

NIELS BROCK COPENHAGEN BUSINESS COLLEGE

Marketing Project

An assessment of Microsoft Silverlights future in RIA (Rich Internet Application) industry

with Porter Five Forces model and the impaction of technology

Yi Zhu

P08022379

Module: MARK3008 Marketing Project

Project submitted in part requirement for the award of

BA (Hons) Business Administration

April 2008

Supervised by:

Charlotte Forsberg


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Abstract

The aim of this research project is to provide insight of Rich Internet Application (RIA) industry

through corresponding industry analysis model and framework. To be specific, Microsoft Silverlight

is selected as the research target while the industry leader Flash Adobe would also be extensively

mentioned and compared with its market follower. Porter Five Forces model is regarded as the

classical tool for industry analysis. With constant critiques and improvement by scholars, it still

plays its role in academic field. However, as an emerging industry, RIA industry doesnt share some

of the characters with most of traditional industry. In this sense, impaction of technology is also

adapted to analysis the industry thoroughly.

To be specific in research methodology, author adapts a combination of Positivism and

Subjectivism. The nature of this research project is deductive. Based on the outcome of literature

review, the power of buyer/users, substitutes, and the intensity of barrier to entry, the existing rivalry,

the impaction of technology in RIA industry are made as research hypothesis. In order to achieve

research data, both a single case study in Agnitio and an Archival research of existing research and

statistics would be involved in this project. Correspondingly, a mixed-method is applied which

indicates that both qualitative and quantitative data would be used.

As a result, all if the hypothesis are matched with research data. It shows a multi-layered structure

of buyers/users group in RIA industry, strong intensity of barrier to entry and existing rivalry. In

addition, as a highlight of this research, impaction of technology which contains three dimensions is

studied through industry data in this research paper. The result of research shows that technical

innovation and disruptive technology are close related to RIA industry. There is the necessary to

involve this force into the RIA industry analysis model.


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Acknowledgements

The writing of this marketing report has benefited from my family, my supervisor and my company.

Without their guide and support this paper would not have been produced.

First of all, we want to pay my tribute to my family, especially to my grandfather and parents, who

encouraged and supported my BA degree education in Denmark.

I am grateful to my companyAgnitio. This marketing research has benefited a lot from all of my

colleagues. Their participation in the single case study and suggestions on the study provided

first-hand empirical data and resounding insight to this research.

This report is also benefited from the support and assistance of my supervisor, Professor Charlotte.

She is a truly guider, who enlightened me with different angles on the research projects and guided

me in a formal academic writing standard.


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Table of content1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 Research background ................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Research aim and obejectives ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.2 .1 Research question ............................................................................................................................ 7

1.2 .1 Research objectives ......................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Research structure ....................................................................................................................................... 7

2. Literature review ................................................................................................................................................ 8

2.1 Research hypothesis ............................................................................................................................ 15

3 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 15

3.2 Research philosophy .......................................................................................................................... 16

3.3 Research approach ............................................................................................................................ 16

3.4 Research strategy ............................................................................................................................... 17

3.5 Research methods ............................................................................................................................. 19

3.6 Primary data collection ...................................................................................................................... 20

3.6.1 Sampling .................................................................................................................................. 20

3.6.2 Semi-structured Interview ....................................................................................................... 21

3.6.3 The aim of semi-structured Interview ..................................................................................... 22

3.6.4 Objectives of semi-structured Interview ................................................................................. 22

3.6.5 Reliability of semi-structured Interview ................................................................................... 22

3.6.6 The design of semi-structured Interview ................................................................................. 24

3.6.7 Questionnaire .......................................................................................................................... 26

3.6.8 Data collection criterion in questionnaire. .............................................................................. 27

3.6.9 The design of questionnaire .................................................................................................... 28

3.7 Using secondary data ......................................................................................................................... 31

3.7.1 Secondary data requirements .................................................................................................. 31

3.7.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data ......................................................... 32

3.7.3 Evaluating secondary data source............................................................................................ 33

3.8 Date analysis approach ........................................................................................................................ 35

4 Findings .................................................................................................................................................... 35

4.1 Analyzing quantitative data ............................................................................................................... 36

4.1.1 Data type .................................................................................................................................. 36

4.1.2 Findings of archival research .................................................................................................... 36

4.1.3 Quantitative data analysis ........................................................................................................ 41

4.2 Analyzing qualitative data .................................................................................................................. 42

4.2.1 Findings of single case study - questionnaire .......................................................................... 42

4.2.2 Findings of single case study interview ................................................................................. 44

4.2.3 Findings of archival research interview record ..................................................................... 45

4.2.4 Data analysis ............................................................................................................................ 46

4.2.5 Gaps between literature review and research data ................................................................. 47

5 Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 47

5.1 Summary of findings .......................................................................................................................... 47

5.2 Accomplishment of research objective and research question ......................................................... 48

5.3 Implications ........................................................................................................................................ 49


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5.4 limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 49

5.5 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 50

5.6 Further research ................................................................................................................................ 51

6. Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................

7. Appendices I ................................................................................................................................................

8. Appendices II ...............................................................................................................................................

9. Appendices III ..............................................................................................................................................

List of tables and figures

Table 1: Primary data requirements29

Table 2: Secondary data requirements..32

Table 3: Interview data code category46

Figure 1: RIA industry model.14

Figure 2: Disruptive innovation..15

Figure 3: End user group size of RIA technical source.37

Figure 4: RIA related job available on internet.38

Figure 5: RIA related tutorial books available on market..39

Figure 6: Rich Internet application statisticAdobe Flash..40

Figure 7: Rich Internet application statistic Silverlight40

Figure 8: Rich Internet application statisticSun java41


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1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

Industry background: As an emerging market, Internet application market is full of technical

innovation and change. In recent years, RIA technical has attracted attention from far and wide in

this field. Rich Internet applications (RIAs) offer a rich, engaging experience that improves user

satisfaction and increases productivity (Adobe Inc, 2009). Today, the media stream technical

provided by Adobe Flash has replaced micro media and real players to become the technical

standard in this field. It has been proved to be able to provide better opportunities for corporations

than did previous generations of traditional internet application in term of deploying their

interactive media technical. Whats more, the growth of RIA is not limited to web media

distribution. Through RIA, big corporations could deliver better user experience to customers and

business partners. It helps them to create more sales opportunities and contributes to profit margin.

Research Company: Back to the current situation of RIA industry, Although Adobe Flash has

already nearly dominated the industry, Microsoft also made their move on 5 years earlier. In 2008,

Microsoft released their latest RIA technical Silverlight 2, which was applied by NBC in the

Olympic game coverage. Benefited from Microsofts sound foundation in development language

and development tools, it shows its own advantage in this field. However, despite of those

achievement and potential advantages, a clear true in is that after 5 years development life cycle,

Silverlight still walks in the shadow of Adobe Flash. It is still far from becoming an industry

standard.

Author in this research project has a 5 years experience with RIA technical, especially on Adobe

Flash. The original research idea of this research is to study Silverlights position in RIA industry,

and to see what kind of potential advantage has attracted Microsoft to put continuous efforts on it.

In order to turn the research ideas into a research projects, a research question is defined in the

following section with corresponding research objectives.

Theoretical framework: In order to provide insights into RIA industry, Porter five forces would be


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applied as a theoretical foundation to analysis different industry forces. However, a clear mine of

using a theoretical model like Porter five forces in an emerging internet industry is the lack of

theory support of technology. Therefore, this research would also focus on a new angle of impaction

of technology. In the term of the impaction of technology, disruptive technology would be involved.

Since as a lower developed technical, Silverlight is expected to gain advantage in the future. The

essence of disruptive technology would perfectly fit Microsoft Silverlights character and situation.

1.2 Research aim and obejectives

1.2 .1 Research question

Elimination or survive, Microsoft Silverlights future in Rich Internet Application market.

1.2 .1 Research objectives

To identify important forces in RIA industry

To ascertain how those industry forces impact on the development of RIA technical

To forecast Microsoft Silverlights future in RIA industry based on industry model and

empirical research data.

1.3 Research structure

In the aim of achieving those aforementioned research objectives and provide an answer to the

research questions. This research paper would be divided to four sections. First of all, in the

literature stage, author would briefly examine the development of Porter five forces. Especially on

the industry context Professor Porter based on to summarize those five industry forces. In addition,

author would also concentrate on the impaction of technology in RIA industry through

corresponding frameworks. Author would critically evaluate both Professor Porter point and those

primary critiques. The outcome of literature review is expected to be a combination of Porter five

forces and the impaction of technology, which would meet the character of RIA industry and

generate hypothesis for the following research.


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At the third section, author would go through the methodology applied in this research paper via an

onion model. Through different layers of examining process, a logical and practical research

method would be built. Another crucial mission of methodology section is to list all the data

required for this research including both primary and secondary data. In this specific research case,

author is employed as a Flash graphic designer in Agnitio, which provides RIA solution to

pharmaceutical corporations. It enables the author to conduct a single case study within this

organization to collect primary research data. On the other side, due to the limited sampling scale

and possible technical bias, secondary data is also required in the research. Therefore, a systematic

research methodology would not helps researcher to be critical and logical but also contribute to a

successful data analysis process.

The fourth section in this research paper is research funding. All the data collected through single

case study and archival research would be stated and analyzed in this section. According to the

nature of qualitative data and quantitative data involved in this research, they would be analyzed

separately through either qualitative or quantitative analysis approach. In the term of coherence, this

section is closely related with methodology and literature review. Data collection in section 4 is

expected to meet all the independent variables listed in methodology section. Those variables would

also cover the industry forces studied in literature review stage. Research gaps would then be

revealed through the comparison between theoretical industry model and the research data.

At the end of research, funding in research paper would be summarized. Influenced by the research

data and research process, the original concepts of this research paper would be modified at certain

level. Based on all the efforts made in this research an answer would be provided by author. Besides,

in the light of research results, several recommendations would also be provided for further

research.

2.Literature reviewPorters five forces analysis model is regarded as every managers tool box since it was published in


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early eighty, and there is no doubt that the knowledge it contributes to the study on market entrants

battle. Going forward with critical judges around, Professor Porter never changes any of the five

footstones in his theorywhich are known as the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of

buyer providers, barriers to entry, threat of substitute and rivalry among existing competitors.

However, enjoy the blossom of Internet technical, strategy management enters into a new era.

Strategists should be fully aware of applying analysis models in this new land. In our time, a single

E-Start-up can revolutionize the business models of whole industries (Dagmar, 2001) In this case, I

couldnt agree more with Dr. Dagmars statement of the impaction from internet.

In order to finger out a theoretic model works for pure IT industry such as Rich Internet application

(RIA) providers, the following project will delve into the growing of Porters five forces analysis

model, from the fundament stated in How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy 1979 to the

extension in Strategy and the Internet 2001, and also critical judges from other scholars. Further

study will take a view of combining another force with 5 forces model the impaction of

technology. It would be an attempt to fit a combined model into the aforementioned rising RIA

industry.

Publication of Porter 5 forces and primary critiques.

Michael R.Porters point of defining the industry forces was first stated in his HBR articleHow

Competitive Forces Shape Strategy in 1979. In the fight for market share, competition is not

manifested only in the other players, rather, competition in an industry is rooted in its underlying

economic and competitive forces exist that go well beyond the established combatants in a

particular industry (Porter, M.E, 1979). This theory is regarded as a watershed in strategy history.

Its a simple and revolutionary idea. In former days strategy development, we put no restriction on

strategies in any kind of situation, while a simple rule comes in the light of generic thinking which

helps managers to make further explosion with a lighthouse (Henry Mintzberg, 2008, p83).

However, there are also critical comments on this theory, which could be concluded as follow:

1. In the economic sense, the model assumes a classic perfect market. The more an industry is

regulated, the less meaningful insights the model can deliver (Dagmar, 2001).

Professor Porter was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and finished his study in his homeland (Harvard,


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2008). American is known as the apotheosis of free market economic. His thought and ideas could

be more or less influenced by his mother land. From Professor Porters early work, it could be

crystal clear that his favor of economics is over the politic (Henry Mintzberg, 2008, p113).

But its true that regulation and politic in some cases could impact on industry heavily. For instance,

in the recent economic downturn, without governments bail-out, we will see more banks disappear

from Wall Street, many of them have no way to keep shareholders faith without governments

hand.

Porter stated his opinion on the role of government as - a factor, not a force in his article (Porter,

2008, p88). In Professor Porters perspective, governments involvement could not be judged as

positive or negative by nature, it should be studied in specific situations. And after all, it could be

analyzed in the way of the five forces.

Concerning the impaction of government and regulation, RIA industry is rarely regulated. Its not

strong enough to affect this industry. Whats more, according to Professor Porters principle, it also

makes sense if we explain rules of government as raising barriers to entry (Porter, 2008, p86).

Consequently, in the term of regulation, Porter five forces still works for RIA inudstry.

2. The model is best applicable for analysis of simple market structures. A too narrow focus on

particular segments of industries, however, bears the risk of missing important elements

(Dagmar, 2001).

Besides Dagmar, other scholars have also pointed out that Porters bias toward traditional big

business with relative simple structures (Henry Mintzberg, 2008, p113). It thus causes two obvious

subsequences. Firstly, it could be not applied well to a raising industry say Internet application

provider. It is an industry with totally different structure compares to other traditional ones. There is

no supplier - Internet application providers develop their products or services on their own. And

whats more, the relationship between RIA users and end users are much more complicated than

most of traditional industries. Users/buyers pay for the RIA technical to the technical providers and

create end user group from web users. While the end user group doesnt pay for the application, but

their attitudes and group size will be the determination of whether RIA users/buyers should buy and


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use such kind of RIA technical. It enlarges the user group in return. In the term of substitutes, since

price competition is less sensitive in RIA industry, switching cost of users/buyers would determine

the intensity of this force rather than price.

Secondly, the reply on traditional big business context also implies the problem of outdated

research data, which lies further problem as the structure of industry changes in the future.

In conclusion, critiques to Professor Porters model mainly focus on two points: political issue and a

basis on traditional business with relative simple structures. In the target industry this project focus

on, government regulation is considered not strong enough to influence the industry structure, so the

model still works for it. In contrast, the later point lays problems of applying the model on rising

industries, Porter 5 forces model is found hardly to describe the role of RIA providers.

Extension of Porter 5 forces

Since the publication of Porters industry analysis model, there are consistent extensions made by

other scholars in the aim of improvement. Professor Porter himself also published his thesis in 2001

concerning the impaction of Internet.

An important extension to Porter was found in the work of Brandenburger and Nalebuff in the

mid-1990s. Using game theory, they added the concept of complementors (also called "the 6th

force"), which helps to deal with the strategic alliances problem. However, the idea of

complementors has often been related to Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation.

(Wikipedia)

1. Complementors can be government policy or even (regretfully) any terrorist group which could

shift the balance of forces within an industry from outside (Ajit, 2006, P3).

Apart from the role of government, the so called 6th

force Complementor is made to explain a force

from outside which could impact on an industry. Delve into several specific industry scenarios, we

will find out it is unavoidable to consider Complementor as a force. To the specific industry we

study in the project, technical could stand for the force of Complementor. The generation of new

technical has the power of rewrite rules in this industry, i.e. GIF was the most popular way to


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produce animated effect on the web page, it is small (only take several KB) and easy to use. And the

most important determinant of animated staff in the old days was size it should be able to

download quietly by any 56K modem. Nevertheless, with the process of cheaper bandwidth,

internet application technical emerges to fill the vacancy of complicated internet performances.

Professor Porter has argued that it is important to avoid confusing some visible attributes of a given

industry with the fundamental structure (Porter, 2008, p86). However, in the preceding case, I could

hardly agree with Porter point of taking Technical merely as a factor. Cite the same logic Professor

Porter has used, technical is one of the fundamental structure issues in industries such as Internet

application provider.

2 Downes new force - Digitalization: As power of information technology grows, all players in a

market will have access to far more information (Downes, 1998).

Professor Downes is known as identified three forces in the aim of structuring a new framework for

strategy. Among the three new forces, Digitalization is regarded as most valuable by Dagmar, The

most sustainable of Downes new forces will probably be digitalization. The good information will

become more and more important for any economy. (Dagmar, 2001, p4)

It is crystal clear that Digitalization has become a powerful force since 20th century. Performing as

a way of spread information, the use of Internet is becoming more and more efficient and profitable.

Companies equip with better IT channels of gathering market information can always take the first

move in time and quickly to response any attack or impaction from outside. While in the target

industry of this project, the digitalization ability is also a key to success in this field. RIA providers

will ceaseless gather feedback from end users to improve their product. In this sense, digitalization

could be also considered as a dimension of technical force the way to access information lies to

technology at the end.

As a response to the academic attackers and also an extension of his theory with Internet, Professor

Porter stated that (Porter, 2001):

1) Succeed companies only use Internet as a complement to traditional ways of business.

2) Technology is often economically unsustainable. And the old forces will regain their currency.

3) The growing of IT increases switching coast while makes competition more fierce.

4) Technology providers can flourish for a time even the uses of Internet is unprofitable, and the


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future of them will be dark as companies realize the investment is economically unsound.

5) Internet doesnt create industry; the fundamental 5 forces still determine the value created by any

product, service or technology.

According to Professors logic about Internet, the future of online services will be forced to show its

real benefit, and as customers will realize the switching cost is low, it could be hardly sustainable.

However, fit Porters model into the pure internet industry, just as the early critics had argued,

Professor Porters analysis are always based in the favor of traditional business and simple structure

industries. The instances he used to support the aforementioned logic are companies like Amazon

and Ebay (Porter, 2001, p64), which takes advantage of internet as a platform and channel but cant

stand for the whole internet industry. In the target case of RIA industry, providers develop value on

their service and products based purely on the Internet and technology, it is totally distinct from

using internet to perform a traditional trade where suppliers and buyers both act during the process.

Technology is the only resource they have to use, and in most cases they are self-provided.

Concerning the economically unsustainable, since the widespread of Internet in 20th century, it has

never lower its step of development. An industry which counts on this is unfair to be judged as

unsound. Refers to the switching cost, it depends on the complexity of a technology. I.e. a developer

tool for building an RIA could be extremely high on switching cost to a company, which means

changing a programming language the developers used to use into another.

To sum up, the extension of Porters classical models focus on two points, the Complementor and

Digitalization, which can be equal to the force of Technology in the specific industry this project

aims; it covers the power from outside and the dimension of information gathering. The extensions

Professor Porter made concerning Internet, although logical and convictive, are based on the

traditional profit model and notion, which could not be fitted into a pure IT industry.

A new angle of combining Porters five forces with impaction of technology

From the early critiques on Professor Porter model which imply the basis on traditional industry

structure and the neglect of other forces such like political, to the extension by Porter and other

scholars due to the impaction of Internet. It shows that Porter five forces flaw when fits it into a

rising industry with Internet technology.


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As a bit of a variation on the model, the final model I apply in this project, which will work for RIA

industry is as bellow.

Figure 1: RIA industry model

Instead of the power from classical supplier, technology plays its function in the new land of

Internet. In the target industry case in this project, E-products and services are both self-developed,

so the force of supplier plays out. It covers three major sources:

a) Digitalization: which stands for the ability of accessing to more information as a company s

information technology grows (Downes, 1998).

b) The generation of new technology: Companies should be fully aware of that if a technology

could provide better opportunities for them than did previous generation. It has the power of

rewriting rules in this specific industry.

c) Disruptive Technology: It is defined as time goes, a low-performance, less expensive technology

will gain a foothold and continues to improve with a greater acceleration than the older and once

stronger one (Clayton Christensen, 1997).

The disruptive innovation is regarded as one of the most important innovation theories of the last

decade (Daniel Scocco, 2006). This theory perfectly answers the question of fierce competition in

the RIA circle, where the advantage of leading provider could be easily demonstrated through the

Internet. So what could the following players gain in this field? The principle of disruptive

innovation shows that, even the inferior technology, will gain sustainable advantages as it continues

to improve.

Figure 2: Disruptive innovation (Clayton Christensen, 1997)


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In conclusion, the new force instead of the suppliers bargaining power will help companies to

judge the structure of RIA industry at a different angle. It consistes of three major sources:

Digitalization, The generation of new technology which has been discussed in the earlier sections.

And the third source - Disruptive Technology comes with a light of surviving in the fierce

competition in the Internet world.

2.1 Research hypothesis

Based on the aforementioned analysis on Porter Five Forces model in RIA industry with the new

impaction of technology, hypotheses are made as follow.

1. The bargaining power of end users is strong in RIA industry.

2. The bargaining power of buyers/users is strong in RIA industry in designer group.

3. The relationship between end users and buyers/users is positive sum in RIA industry.

4. The switching cost for buyers/users is relatively week in RIA industry in programmers group.

5. The force of barriers to entry in RIA industry is strong.

6. The force of rivalry among existing competitors in RIA industry is strong.

7. The force of impaction of technology is strong in RIA industry.

3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

The aim of achieving research objectives and provide an answer to the research question. All the


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data collection and data analysis approaches would be deliberated before conducting. To be specific,

an onion model would be applied in this methodology section, which divides the structure into

several layers before addressing the core point (Mark and etc, 2006, p102).

3.2 Research philosophy

The research philosophy in this research is a combination of Positivism and Subjectivism, all of the

research approaches and methods involved in the research would be influenced by this philosophy.

Different from the interpretivism, the principle of Positivism suggests that the observation of real

world could then yield a series of law-like generalizations similar as the outcome of natural

scientists. Researchers are encouraged to generate hypotheses based on existing theories and

industry models (Mark and etc, 2006, p103). On the other hand, a subjectivist view judges the social

phenomena as a creation of consequent actions of a social actor. Researchers should be capable to

understand the logic and inducement behind actions (Mark and etc, 2006, p108). The choice of

research philosophy is closely related to the research objectives and questions. In order to address

the research question, author made an endeavor to develop a theoretical model to meet the specific

situation of RIA industry, and the following research would be conducted to test the hypotheses. On

the other side, especially in this specific research case, social actors action and perspective will

directly determine the research outcomes. And due to the current industry situation as well as the

limitation of research samples, not only the author but also the majority of target group involved in

this research are users of the dominating technical in this industry, which tend to be more loyalty to

this technical than others. Therefore, applying this mixture of philosophy would help the author to

be critical in research design and avoid possible bias.

3.3 Research approach

In the aim of fully analysis the industry forces of RIA industry, an industry model was set up in the

literature review phase. Thus, the research approach in this paper would be deductive, which would

be used to test the aforementioned theory and hypothesis. In the literature section, the author


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combined the impact of technology and porter 5 forces to study the target industry, it therefore

generated hypothesis of whether those industry forces are sufficient and reliable to forecast Sliver

Lights future in RIA industry. The advantage of deductive approach is it enables researchers to use

a highly constructed methodology to test the hypothesis, and base on the feedback from research,

researchers are also required to modify the theory in the light of research outcomes (Gill & Johnson,

2002). The effort would then in return ensure the reliability of research.

Another important characteristic of deduction is known as generalization, which requires an

adequate number of samples to support the generalize process. However, in this specific case, the

collection of qualitative primary data could not stand for the whole users group in RIA industry.

Therefore, the author of this research would also collect sufficient amount of secondary data in this

industry to complement the sampling limitation of primary data.

3.4 Research strategy

The purpose of this research is exploratory. It is conducted in a light of studying in what extent

porter 5 forces model and the impaction of technology would affect an emerging industry such as

RIA industry. Experts perspectives and focus groups opinion are expected to be taken to test the

finding from literature review section. The essential reason to apply an exploratory study is that its

a flexible research approach. In this specific research, although enlightened by the previous

correlative theories and industry models, the result is still uncertain to the author. It is necessary to

be able to apply new angles in the process of research.

In order to meet the research objects and generate an answer to the research question, a mixture

strategy which combines case study and archival research is applied in the research paper.

A case study approach includes empirical investigation of a specific contemporary phenomenon at

a real life context. By doing this kind of research, researchers are required to provide multiple

sources of evidence (Robson, 2002, p178). The considerable capacity to answer a what question

would support this exploratory research. To be specific, a single case study is applied in this project.


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During the time this research paper is written, the author is working as a part-time Flash developer

in an IT-solution company Agnitio, where RIA technical is extensively used to provide a

close-loop IT solution to pharmaceutical corporations. This opportunity enables the author to collect

primary data in a research correlative environment. Triangulation data collection technical is

conducted in this organization includes both semi-structured interview and questionnaires. However,

the minus of such a single case study approach is author s involvement in the research process

especially on technical dimension and emotional dimension would affect the research result.

Although benefit from the unique resource of the working environment, anther clear minus of a

single case study would be the shortage of a large amount of quantitative data to support a

deductive research. The research sample would be limited by the size of the target company. And

whats more, the corporation culture shared by employees on technical bias and working philosophy

would cause further limitation on this research. In order to counterbalance the limitation in the

single case study, archival research is also applied in this research which adapts quantitative data in

a wider scope.

Through archival research, researchers are benefited from a wider data resource such as records and

documents (Mark and etc, 2006, p138). As a supplement to the case study, authors will also study

existing secondary data. The mines of using those records would be that they might not include

appropriate information to meet the demand of research. However, in this specific research, due to

the lack of well-done survey available to the author, the secondary data involved in archival

research would be statistics from organizations. Each data would contains information covers one or

more dimensions of this research. Consequently, the research would rely on both the primary data

collected from the single case study as well as secondary data collected from archival research.

To sum up, the single case study provides the author opportunity to study thoroughly in a given

environment. And the author is able to design questionnaires and in-depth interview according to

the outcome of literature review stage. On the other side, an archival research would be applied to

supplement data resource and in the aim of avoiding possible bias and limitation. However, due to

the limitation and availability of research in this field, author would apply relevant statistics instead

of studying existing researches. Therefore, the dominating data in this research would still be


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question, while the logic and questioning order might be varied during the interview. Those

aforementioned requirements clearly also indicate the necessary of taking a semi-structured

interview.

3.6.3 The aim of semi-structured Interview

Besides choosing the appropriate primary data collection technical, its also essential to have a clear

aim for the following research. A semi-structured interview in most of cases would help researchers

to explore answers from interviewees responses and study their opinions precisely. However, the

interviewee in some cases would answer questions by their own logic and ideas. The quality of data

would depend on the depth of interviewers understanding of their responses. Thus, the purpose of

this interview is to lead the interviewees to the specific theme and explore their answers in an

optimized manner. In addition, the order and logic of questions have to be changed in order to

capture the core arguments of interviewees.

3.6.4 Objectives of semi-structured Interview

Acquire in-depth information in RIA industry on an administrant level.

Acquire a definition on target group development on an administrant level.

Test the impaction of five forces in RIA industry.

Get views from project managers on technical innovation through personal experience.

Get views from project managers on disruptive technology through personal experience.

3.6.5 Reliability of semi-structured Interview

As three important dimensions of data quality issues, reliability, validity and bias of interview

should be consider at the beginning stage of interview design. The aim of driving a

non-standardized interview is to explore dynamic and complicated questions by a flexible approach.

In the contrast, the mines of this kind of research would be lack of reality and feasibility. Thus,

Marshall and Rossman (1999) suggested researchers to make those mines clear to other researchers


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by using research design notes. By studying the process of research and certain limitation, reliability

could be developed and analyzed by other researchers in the future. Therefore, a research limitation

section would be explained at the end of this research paper.

Level of knowledge: An interviewer occupies with sufficient knowledge has the basis to capture

more information accurately (Healey & Rawlinson, 1994). The author has a 5 years experience in

this specific field which includes 1year and halfs work experience. It enables the author to

understand the terminology and current situation of RIA industry. Another advantage of author is

the employment relationship with the research target company. Benefits from this situation, author

also holds a broad view of the target companys work flow and finance condition. Whats more,

besides literature review, up-to-data information and industry trend in the world wide are collected

and studied by author prior to the research. Those efforts would in return help author to build

credibility in the view of research participant.

Level of information supplied to interviewee: credibility can be improved by supplying

research-related information to the interviewee before the interview. The purpose of providing an

interview themes list is to warm up the interviewees, and enable them to consider the topic in an

advance.

Interview theme list:

Microsoft Sliverlights market situation in RIA industry.

The conception of disruptive innovation.

The possibility of technical innovation in RIA industry.

The conception of Porter five forces.

The extent to which Porter five forces, the impaction of technical innovation and disruptive

innovation might affect the RIA industry?

Interview themes listed above are mainly derived from the outcome of literature review the

theories involved in this research. Besides, Sliverlights up-to-data industry information is also

provided to interviewees. The question at the bottom of list is designed to relate the three

conceptions together. Interviewee would then develop his/her answer bases on those perspectives.


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Appropriateness of location: The location of interview is chosen at the meeting room of Agnitio,

where most ofcompanys meetings are held. It would make the interviewee feels comfortable and

focus his/her full attention to the interview.

Approach to questioning: An appropriate questioning approach would limit the possible bias in

the interview and contribute to the reliability (Mark and etc, 2006, p324). The reality of RIA

industry is that Adobe Flash occupied the majority of users. Without exception, Agnitios IT

solution to pharmaceutical companies extensively also replies on Flash. It is regarded as an industry

standard. In this case, questioning method plays an essential role to reduce technical bias. Although

it is suggested to avoid amount of theoretical concepts (Easterby-Smith et al, 2002), questions

embed with theoretical framework could be an ideal solution to avoid bias. The interview theme list

to interviewees prior would brief them with certain levels of understanding, and drives them to

judge the specific situation at a new angle. In addition, the concepts should also be related with

interviewees experiences. Keaveney in 1995 introduced the critical incident technique in interview;

this would be especially valuable in this single case study (Keaveney, 1995). In this interview,

interviewees are required to give response to themes such like technical innovation with their own

working experience.

3.6.6 The design of semi-structured Interview

Questions used in the semi-structured interview could be categorized by three types: Open

questions, probing questions, specific and closed questions. The purpose of dividing questions into

groups is to distinguish functionalities, which will help author to develop a clear question logic and

also contribute to the final analysis

Question list of semi-structured interview:

a) What is your opinion towards technical innovation in IT industry?

- Would you consider employing new stuffs to meet the technical innovation?

b) What kinds of strategies have been used in Agnitio to meet technical innovation?


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c) Adobe CS4 design package was published in this year, technically, there is not huge change

compares to the CS3 version, why you applied this latest version in Agnitio?

d) What methods or polices have been applied in your company to employee training for latest

technical?

- Will you arrange special trainings for them or encourage them to pick it up by themselves?

e) How does your team deal with the transitional period between two technical?

f) To what extent, your consider buyers demand in your IT solution?

g) To what extent, your consider end users demand in your IT solution?

h) Do you have practical experience of Microsoft Silverlight in projects?

i) Do you consider the switching cost of technical in IT industry in strong?

Open questions: The design of an open question would help researchers to gather facts behind

answers through encouraging interviewee to establish an extensive definition of the question

(Grummitt, 1980). As the nature of open questions, why, how and what would be involved in

those questions. It indicates to require a direct answer from interviewee. Thus, the design of

questions should clearly state the essence of question but also leave enough space for interviewee to

develop their answers.

Question A D F G in this semi-structured interview can be defined as open questions.

Probing questions: Probing questions might be worded like open questions, but it requires a

specific focus or directions from the participants (Mark and etc, 2006, p330). Considering the

particularity of an RIA industry, in this semi-structured interview probing questions would be

extensively used. And it would also meet the demand of applying the finding from literature stage to

the research methodology - four dimensions in Porter five forces model and the impaction of

technology should be involved in the questions. Whats more, supplementary questions are also

used in questions A and D. If an open question fails to reveal an expected answer form interviewee,

interviewers are suggested to ask a much more detailed question (Torrington, 1991).

For instance, in order to study the impaction of technical innovation in RIA industry. The


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interviewee would be expected to provide their attitude towards it, and what kind of strategies they

applied to enable the change. A clear logic can be found in the series of questions, and background

information has been mentioned in advance such like question C to clearly state the question.

Question B, C, and supplementary questions of A and D in this semi-structured interview belong

probing questions.

Specific and closed questions: The specific and closed questions are used to gather specific answer

or to evaluate a fact. Although the characteristic of specific and closed questions would limit

interviewees answer, but considering the interview time limitation and the complexity of questions,

it is also applied in this research.

Question H and I in this semi-structured interview are designed as specific and closed questions.

3.6.7 Questionnaire

As an important approach of primary data collection, questionnaire is a technique used to gather

responds to a set of questions in a fixed sequence from different people (deVaus, 2002). In this

single case study research process, questionnaire would be the most suitable approach to collect

information from employees in the creative department and development department in Agnitio. In

the later analysis stage, data collected by questionnaire would be the basis of primary data in this

research. And the findings will be complemented by the semi-structured interview, which would

then be explored to a result and used to provide a much deeper understanding.

Another important reason of applying a questionnaire in the single case study is because it is less

sensitivity to the respondents than other research approaches (Jankowicz, 2005). In this research,

the impact of technical innovation is regarded as an essential factor. However, to some of the

employees in an IT company, it is a quiet sensitive topic. They might have a strong loyalty towards

the technical they are using or emotionally flight against the technical innovation. Therefore, an

anonymous questionnaire with well-warded questions would be the most ideal solution in this case.


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2005).

Dependent variable: In this research, dependent variable is 1) the comprehensive competitive

advantage of Microsoft Sliverlight in RIA industry.

Independent variable: According to the outcome of literature review, the independent variables

are: 2) the switching cost of a new technical in RIA industry. 3) The bargaining power of end users

in RIA industry. 4) The bargaining power of buyers in RIA industry. 5) The existing rivalry in RIA

industry. 6) The users loyalty towards a specific technical in RIA industry. 7) The impaction of

technical innovation in RIA industry. 8) The impaction of disruptive technical in RIA industry.

Extraneous variable: The extraneous are 9) the user experience period of a respondent in RIA

industry. 10) The category of a respondents work in RIA industry. 11) The category of a

respondents dominating tasks. 12) The respondents user experience of Microsoft Silverlight. 13)

The respondents forecast ofMicrosoft Silverlights future.

In the term of types of variables, variable 2,5,6,8,13 can be defined as opinion variables, since they

are used to record how the participants feel about a specific concept. In the contrast, variable 3,4,7

belong to behavior variables. They are designed to record the experience of participants or theier

potential behavior towards a given situation. Lastly, variable 9, 10, 11 and 12 are attribute variables,

which contain the characteristics of participants. They would help researchers to explore how

opinion and behavior differ between different participants (Dillman, 2000).

3.6.9 The design of questionnaire

Table 1: Primary data requirements

Investigative questions Variables required Detail in which data

measured

Code in

question

naire.Does respondent consider The switching cost of a new


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Does the respondent have

experience with Microsoft

Silverlight? (attribute)

The respondents user

experience of Microsoft

Silverlight

The user heard about it,

has a roughly idea about

or has used it

6

How does the respondent

forecast the future of

Microsoft Silverlight?

(opinion)

The respondents forecast Open answer 13

Open questions: Although open question is mainly used in interviews, it can be also applied in

questionnaire technical when the researcher is uncertain about the response to the question.

Especially in exploratory research, the researcher expects to obtain the uppermost response from

respondent (Mark and etc, 2006, p369). In this case, question 13 is designed an open question,

which requires the respondent to forecast Microsoft Silverlights future. Though the respondents

attitude towards a new RIA technical could be drawn from answers to other questions, it is still hard

to reveal their opinion on Silverlights future success. Whats more, an open question will allow the

respondent to answer by using their own words. Factor such as emotion could then be recorded. In

addition, considering the time limitation for the respondent and the expectation of answer, the space

for the answer would be one line. It indicates that it requires the uppermost response from

respondent.

List questions: A list question offers the respondent a wide range of choices. A clear advantage is

that it would require the respondents to read each choice carefully and then made their selections. In

this case, question 2 is designed as a list question, the purpose ofwhich is to record respondents

work category by using RIA technical. And since the diversity of works could fulfilled by RIA

technical, respondent is expected to make multi choices.

Category questions: Category question is mainly used to collect behavior and attributes data. And

in order to keep accuracy of the responses, a category question in self-administered questionnaire is

suggested to hold no more than 5 categories (Fink, 2003). In this specific questionnaire, category

questions are widely used, including question 1,3,4,6,7,12. And all the categories keep a same logic

sequence, which would help respondent to locate the selection.

Rating questions: Different from category question, rating question is applied to collect opinion


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data. From literature, there is variety of scaling methods available to researchers. A simple Likert

Scaling method is used to measure the opinion on specific questions from residents. The nature of

Likert Scaling is that measurement includes both positive and negative responses to a given

situation (Likert, 1932). In this questionnaire design, author weighs more on the measurement

criterion rather than the measurement scale. Especially in question 5, respondent is required to

answer their wiliness to pick up a new RIA technical. The measurement criterion is made as if a

RIA user prefers to learn a new RIA technical in his/her leisure time. According to the reality in IT

field, companies would spend time and money on employee training when technical innovation

takes place. On the other side, in order to improve the competitive ability, developers would also

pick up new technical in their spare time. Therefore, it would be much more accurate to make a 3

points Likert scale item rather than a hierarchy scale item which measures the intensity of wiliness

from respondent. The rating questions been used in this questionnaire with a simple Likert-style

scaling are question 5 and 8.

The layout of the questionnaire: Research on questionnaire technical shows that the length of

questionnaire will affect the response rate and quality (deVaus, 2002; Edward et al, 2002). The final

length of this within-organization self-administered questionnaire is two A4 pages.

3.7 Using secondary data

Due to the limitation of accessing to the existing published research in RIA industry, author in this

research paper would rely on documentary secondary data to achieve the goal of archival research.

To be specific, written documents refer to the journal, article and also public records. Thosedocuments could be applied to support quantitative data and generate statistical measures (Bryman,

1989). On the other side, non-written materials which include voice and video records could

provide qualitative data.

3.7.1 Secondary data requirements

The first step of making use of secondary data is to establish a list of data required in the research,


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and those data should likely to be available as secondary data (Mark and etc, 2006, p253).

Table 2: Secondary data requirements

Data required Types of data source Variables required Data source

Statistics of user groupsize for both Flash and

Silverlight.

Public statistics. Bargaining powerof buyers/users

Online Rich InternetApplication Statistics

Statistics of end users

preference on RIA

technical

Public statistics. The threat of

substitutes &

Rivalry among

existing

competitors

Microsoft, Inc; Adobe

Systems, Inc; Sun, Inc

Statistics of Relative

tutorials available on

markets for both Flash

and Silverlight.

Public statistics. Bargaining power

of end users

Computerworld Inc

Statistics of Relative

work position available

on internet for both

Flash and Silverlight.

Public statistics. Bargaining power

of end users

Computerworld Inc

Experts interview on

the topic Silverlight vs.

Flash.

Voice and video

records.

All of the five

dimensions

O'Relly Media

3.7.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data

Advantages: A major plus of using secondary data is the resource saving (Ghauri&Grnhug, 2005).

The research object in this research paper is to study Microsoft Silverlights future in an industry

based analysis. Thus, a secondary data approach would contribute to the final object with a low

research cost. Another advantage of secondary data is to provide contextual and comparative data,

the outcome of case study could be tested by quantitative data, and qualitative data would be used to

enrich data collection. In this research, primary data is collected in Agnitio, it is important to locate

the finding from single case study to a larger context. Almost every employee in Agnitio creative

and development team is Flash user, who enjoys an average user experience of more than 3 years.

Technical bias would be clear in this single case environment. Nevertheless, as the principle of

longitudinal study, voices from other RIA technical users should be also heard and analyzed. Lastly,


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it also contributes to unforeseen discoveries. As the nature of an exploratory research, its crucial to

conduct a research at all possible angle. The bridge between different facts could provide new

insight to a question (Dale et al, 1988). For instance, the creation of work position available on

internet and relative tutorials on RIA technical are applied in light of secondary data in this field.

Disadvantages: The uppermost difference between primary data collected by author and the

secondary available on database/internet is that they are collected for distinct purposes. Those

purposes would be different from authors research objectives as well as research questions

(Denscombe, 1998). In this case, the required data listed in the above section only covers one or two

perspective of the research. And the gap between collection times also generates limitation. Another

mine of secondary data is known as aggregation. Especially in video and audio of experts, although

the topic would also be the comparison between Flash and Silverlight, questions would not cover

exactly the five dimensions stated by the author. In this extent, variables in those data should be

defined and distinguished to avoid confusion. And the possible missing of research dimension in

secondary data collection would affect on the result on certain level.

3.7.3 Evaluating secondary data source

Secondary source appears relevant at the beginning stage might not be suitable or close to the

research objectives and questions (Mark and etc, 2006, p263). The essence of taking advantage of

secondary data is to make evaluation prior to use (Stewart and Kamins, 1993). And in order to

conduct an appropriate evaluation, a three steps process will be applied in this section.

3.7.3.1 Overall suitability

Measurement validity: Measurement validity is regarded as the most important criterion when

refers to Overall validity. The secondary data in research paper would not always be appropriate.

One of the consequences could be invalid answer (Kervin, 1999). Therefore, data measurement

should be set up and used correctly to test the validity secondary data. To be specific, in this

research, data in the requirement list are mainly statistics and public record.


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The criterion of measurement validity is Criterion-related validity (William M.K, 2006). And

according to the scope of secondary data applied to this research, author will cover Predictive

validity, Concurrent validity and Convergent validity in this section. First of all, especially in an IT

field, research shows that there is no clear correlation between a developers experience and his/her

capacity (Tom &Timothy, 1999). So there would be no simple solution to ensure the validity of

non-written materials in this research. The way author applied there is to rely on the expert view of

media who conducted the interview. The selection of media would helps to insure the predictive

validity of the non-written materials they recorded.

The second criterion is known as Concurrent validity, it indicates that data measurement involved

should be able to distinguish two similar groups (William M.K, 2006). However, in this research,

author found that there is the necessary to involve different target groups in data selection rather

than distinguish them. RIA industry is known as a multi-layered technical field. It includes both

designer and programmers. Although there is huge difference between the two occupations, only the

combination of them can support a research in this field with sufficient insight. To sum up, opposite

to the essence of Concurrent validity, the data measurement criterion in this research would be the

ability to combine similar group together.

Lastly, the Convergent validity exams the extent of similarity between the target operationalization

studied in a research and other operationalizations. In order to achieve this criterion, one of

secondary data measurement in this research is set up to avoid using statistics from single RIA

technical provider. In most cases, the statistics from single provider will tend to be more positive to

its own side. Thus, statistics from third party would be much more objective. In instance, when

refers to the user group size of RIA technical, author applied statistic from a research organization

rather those major RIA technical providers.

Coverage and unmeasured variables: In the aim of achieving coverage criterion. The data applied

in this research is measured by time and sampling scale. Its crucial to make sure that data variables

used in a research covers the appropriate sampling scale, and the data should also be able to reflect

the up-data industry trend (Mark and etc, 2006, p264). In this sense, the secondary data author used

is from world-famous research organization and media. And the time period has been limited to at


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latest one year earlier. On the other side, irrelated data from those data source should also be

possible to eliminate. For instance, in the non-written material, the unwanted data should be clearly

distinguished from the source.

3.8 Date analysis approach

Research data collection in this research project would be divided to qualitative data and

quantitative data. According to the essence of mixed-method, those two types of data would be

studied separately.

Qualitative data analysis: Considering the data collection by questionnaires in single case study, it

would be analyzed as qualitative data. It would be categorized as 5 dimensions stated in the

research hypothesis. Figures would not be used to display research result due to the small amount of

sampling. On the other side, both interview in the single case study and interview record in the

archival research would be analyzed as qualitative data. In those cases, a category table would be

made and applied on the analysis of interview scripts.

Quantitative data analysis: The only quantitative data involved in the research is statistics in

archival research. Similar to the analysis approach of questionnaires, research data would also be

categorized through dimensions. However, data tables would be used there since the large sampling

size.

4 Findings

Through the primary data collection in single case study and secondary data collection in archival

research, both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected. The purpose of the deductive

research is then to test hypothesis in an early stage. In the following chapters, quantitative and

qualitative data would be studied and analyzed separately. The results would also be compared with

the industry model set up in literature stage.


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4.1 Analyzing quantitative data

4.1.1 Data type

Through the data requirement listed in chapter 3.7.1, statistics cover end-users number of RIA

technical, designers/developers number of both Flash and Silverlight, job position available on the

internet and RIA tutorial books available on the market are needed. A character shared by those data

is that they can be measured numerically. Therefore, in this research, data available from archival

research can be categorized as discrete data.

Discrete data: discrete data is able to carry a value, and can be thus measured accurately (Morris,

2003). In this research, data comparison is conducted for both Flash and Sliverlight in RIA industry.

For this purpose, those aforementioned statistics are also categorized into the two categories. To be

specific, all the data would hold a precise number. Therefore, in order to reveal the total number

being measured of the two RIA technical, discrete data would be the most suitable solution.

4.1.2 Findings of archival research

Quantitative data in this archival research are collected from reliable organizations and measured

with specific criterion according to the requirement of this research. All those data available on

those organizations have already been categorized and presented in corresponding charts or tables.

However, according to the validity evaluation process stated in chapter 3, unrelated data should be

excluded prior to analysis. In this purpose, all the data collected in this research are rearranged.

4.1.2.1 Bargaining power of end users

One of the essential dimensions in RIA industry is the end users preference. The end user side of

RIA technical is known as plugin web application. Both Flash and Silverlight has a special plugin

application, it enables web user to experience the functionality of its RIA technical. And its worth

to mention that the plugin applications have to be installed into web users computer manually as

the first time they want to use them. Thus, through statistics of the computers installed plugin


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application of Flash and Silverlight, researchers would get an amount of end users size of Flash and

Silverlight,

A fact in RIA industry is the huge difference between the release period of Flash and Sliverlight

10 years VS 5 years (Microsoft, Inc; Adobe Systems, Inc, 2009). Therefore, an increasing trend

together with market share would make much more sense than a directly end users size comparison

between the two technical. In addition, due to another factor of the up-data of plugin application

every year in both Flash and Silverlight, the sample version in this research would be the last two

versions of Flash and Silverlight in last 6 months. The source of this archival research is based on

system data from numerous web sites and organizes.

Figure 3: End user group size of RIA technical source (StatOwl.com)

Two variables are required in the finding of end users size: 1) the increasing rate of emerging RIA

technical. 2) The updating rate of mature RIA technical. Figure 3 illustrates that in the last six

months, the end users size of Silverlight plugin enjoyed a significant rise, from 10% to 22%. On the

other side, as a mature RIA technical, the total user size of Flash plugin stands at around 90%. In

addition, its also worth to study the updating rate of Flash pulgin. In merely six months Flash

puglin 10 has occupied more than 55.26% of market share.

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09

End user group size

Adobe Flash Pulgin version 9 Adobe Flash Pulgin version 10

Microsoft Silverlight version 1 Microsoft Silverlight version 2


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4.1.2.2 Bargaining power of buyers/users

In RIA industry, the consuming group is made up by RIA developers/designers. Due to the lack of

access to the user number of both Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silver Light, data collection is made

on the number of job position available on the internet and RIA tutorial books available on the

market, which could contribute to the user group size. The aim of data requirement in this section is

to study the correlation between user group size and the end user group size.

Figure 4: RIA related job available on internet (Eric Lai, 2008)

Figure 5: RIA related tutorial books available on market (Eric Lai, 2008)

20,704 19,945

10,199

6,0943,922

2,076 1,951 1,156 299593 613 250 158 116 87 29 21 8

Job position available on the internet

No. of ads that mention Flash No. of ads that mention Silverlight


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In Figure 4, Based on an Internet search conducted at March 4th

2008, using the most basic

keywords possible without any additional parameters. Flash related jobs are found 24-67 times

more than Silverlight related jobs. A similar picture can be also seen in Figure 5. Through a search

of computer category in Amazon.com, there are 43 times more programming books on Flash than

Silverlight. It shows that there is a positive correlation between a RIA technicals end user group

size and user/buyer group size. And the ratio between them is around 40.

4.1.2.3 The threat of substitutes & Rivalry among existing competitors

In the aim of keeping data validity, Statistics in figure 6,7 and 8 are collected from 1720908 daily

unique browsers across 55 sites in the past 30 days by Riastate.com. The result is similar to

StateOwl.coms market data report. Flash Pulgin is dominating the RIA market with 95% of users

installed and Silverlight takes a 24%. Besides the statistics of those two RIA technical, Riastate.com

also records the user size of another internet application technical JAVA, which stands at a 74%

installed rage.

Figure 6: Rich Internet application statistic Adobe Flash (RiaStats.com, 2009)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Flash

Silverlight

RIA tutorial books available on the market

Book numbers


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Refers to the rivalry among existing competitors, data shows that rivals in RIA industry has the

aspiration to leadership and to become technical standard. In this case, the industry leader Adobe

Flash has occupied 95% of sampling users. It indicates a great intensity of rivalry in RIA industry.

Figure 7: Rich Internet application statistic Silverlight (RiaStats.com, 2009)

Figure 8: Rich Internet application statistic Sun java (RiaStats.com, 2009)

95%

5%

Rich Internet Application statistic

Adobe Flash Pulgin Undetected

24%

76%

Rich Internet Application statisticMiscrosoft Silverlight Pulgin Undetected


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4.1.3 Quantitative data analysis

In the literature review stage, author made a combination of porter 5 forces and the impaction of

Internet to analysis the RIA industry. According to the research strategy, quantitative data collection

in this archival research will cover two dimensions of the industry model.

Bargaining power of end users/buyers: first of all, the dimension of end users are studied through

the increasing rate of emerging RIA technical and the updating rate of mature RIA technical. The

value of those two variables indicates a remarkable updating rate of RIA end users. It also shows

that the end user group of RIA technical has an increasing demand, and they hold positive attitude

towards the technical innovation, and a desire to use the latest technical.

On the buyers/users side, industry bargaining power is studied through user group size of both

Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. The size of user group could reflect the demand of a RIA

technical in market. In order to meet the demand, more developers and designers will pick up this

RIA technical and to develop more internet application on the websites. Research data shows that

there is a positive correlation between the user group size and the end user group size.

As hypothesis made in literature review section, the increasing of end user group size and user

group size in RIA industry is like a loop. Research data collection also proofs this hypothesis. The

74%

26%

Internet Application statistic

sun java Undetected


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power of buyers/users controls the end user group size, and in return, a larger end user group size

would create more work opportunities to RIA developers and thus enlarge the user group size.

The threat of substitutes: Based on the critical discussion of threat from substitutes in RIAindustry, price competition is not sensitive. When it refers to the threat of substitutes, researchers

should focus more on users/end users switching cost to the substitute.

Sun JAVA is the major substitute technical in the internet application industry (Sun Microsystems,

Inc, 2009). Quantitative data on the user group size shows that the user group size is as high as 74%

of the target sample. It indicates that users/end users switching cost of using another internet

application rather RIA is relatively low since the large end user group has already existed.

4.2 Analyzing qualitative data

As a deductively-based analytical produce, researchers are suggested to make theoretical

propositions before data collection and analysis processes (Yin, 2003). Quantitative data collection

is this research includes 1) data collection by questionnaire in the single case study. 2) Data

collection by semi-structure interview in the single case study. 3) Voice records in archival research.

A pattern matching analytical approach would be applied to analysis those three data source. In

chapter 3.6.8, both dependent and independent variables have been listed, which are drawn from the

outcome of literature.

4.2.1 Findings of single case study - questionnaire

In this singe case study, 15 stuffs including programmers, designers and project managers in Agnitiowere asked to fill out the questionnaire. Due to the benefit of applying a self-administered delivery

and collection within the organization, the response rate reaches 100%.

As it stated in hypothesis, three user groups should be studied separately in order to fully

understand the forces in RIA industry. Different from using secondary data which doesn t contain

those segmentations, author in this single case study is able to differentiate information collection

from the three groups.


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Bargaining power of buyers/users: In this dimension, respondents are required to answer

questions regarding the technical switching costs and provide their attitude towards technical

innovation (question 4, 5 and 7). Research data shows that 75% of the respondents spent within

several months to learn a RIA technical in order to fulfill their first formal RIA task. And 87.5% of

them are willingly to pick up a new RIA technical while also suggest their team to use this technical

if it shows significant advantage than the one they are using now. However, none of the 8 designers

are willingly to spend their leisure time for that. To sum up, this target group appears a relatively

low switching cost in RIA industry. A similar situation can be also found in project managers side.

In contrast, although all the programmer respondents are more positive towards a new RIA

technical, research data shows that it takes them more time to learn a RIA technical and 80% of

them would not suggest the team to use a new RIA technical even its much more efficient.

Bargaining power of end users: Refers to the power of end users, only 46.6% of respondents have

the experience of meet the end users demand in their project work occasionally. It indicates that

end user group in RIA industry has few power to influence the purchasing behavior of RIA

users/buyers.

Barriers to entry: Besides the switching cost of customers, incumbency advantage independent of

size and capital requirements are also crucial for understanding RIA industry. In this case, Adobe

Flash is regarded as the most powerful incumbency in RIA industry. It has a variety of advantages

over Silverlight. In this single case study, author will focus on user loyalty of Adobe Flash as the

incumbency advantage. Research shows that 60% of the RIA developers/designers in Agnitio have

more than 3 years of experience in Flash, while the rest 40% have 1-3 years experience. In the

opposite, none of the respondents have any user experience in Silverlight. On the side, 86.7% of

respondents believe that it requires at least 2-5 years building up a technical user group in an RIA

industry.

It shows that in the term of technical loyalty, industry incumbency advantage is strong in RIA

industry while it also requires a large amount of development capital to build up user group. Those

two points both increase the barrier to entry a RIA industry.


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Impaction of technology: In the outcome of literature review, author stated the impaction of

technology with three dimensions. Therefore, in the questionnaire data collection, disruptive

technology and technology innovation are concerned.

Respondents are asked to answer their notion on the essence of disruptive technology. Since there is

slightly difference between the responses of three target groups, research data would be analyzed

together. Although most of respondents are uncertain about this concept, responses tend to be more

positive. In the term of technology innovation, research data shows that it influences on the 80%

respondents team occasionally. It reveals that those two points are both impacting on the RIA

industry evidently.

4.2.2 Findings of single case study interview

Data collected through case studyinterview record in this research paper is processed manually.

First and foremost, a table contains category codes is built (Table 3). It covers all the possible

branches of points mentioned in literature section. Then the units in the transcript of interview

record are labeled with corresponding category code (Appendix III). Through this process, data

units labeled with category code could then be used as precise source in the research.

Bargaining power of buyers/users: Considering the power of users switching cost, this force is

strong in Agnitio. All the current technology systems are set up by Flash in Agnitio. Even an

emerging RIA technical such like Silverlight could provide much better performance; it is sill

challenging to shake the foundation of Agnitio. And currently, Agnitio dont have special plan on

technical training for stuffs.

Bargaining power of end users: Martin believes the switching cost of RIA end users is rare.

Impaction of technology: The advantage provided by the latest RIA technical is regarded as the

essential momentum for company like Agnitio to apply technology innovation. Considering the

disruptive advantage, although the manger in Agnitio agreed with the principle of disruptive


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advantage, but it would still not be considered in decision making process.

4.2.3 Findings of archival research interview record

Same as the category code technical applied in the case studyinterview, the transcript of interview

record from video is listed in Appendix II

Bargaining power of buyers/users: Different from current Flash developer/designers, the

switching cost for programmers to choose Silverlight is lower than Flash. Microsoft has leveraged

its advantage on development language and development tools. On the other side, business user

group is sensitive to the price for instance, NBC applied silver as the RIA technical to broadcast

Olympic game on line due to lower server price.

Bargaining power of end users: Christ believes that there is few switching cost of RIA end users.

Barriers to entry: Despite of the significant market penetration Adobe Flash has a great experience

on multi platforms. It supports all the mainstream operating

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YiZhu 3008 Marketing Project P08022379