When piracy is rampant, its negative impact makes manufacturers and retailers worse off — but anti-piracy measures are often expensive. Before going full force against piracy, organizations should ponder whether doing so would be a worthwhile investment. One factor to consider: Research shows that a moderate level of piracy — not too much, not too little — can actually benefit the manufacturer, the retailer, and consumers, all at the same time.

A study of cryptocurrency markets provides some new insight into why people make the choices they do online. Crypto-currency traders used bots that executed over 100,000 small trades in 217 cryptocurrencies over the course of six months. Analysis reveals that traders are very susceptible to peer influences. The design of the online exchanges also appears to contribute to activity if functionality, graphical user interfaces, or application programming interfaces promote collective excitement.

Much as relationships in social networks have been analyzed to understand and influence how ideas flow among people, researchers wondered whether it might be possible to use the structure of product recommendation networks online to understand or influence how demand flows among products. The short answer is yes, and the implications for marketers are important.

Companies create product versions from multiple components. The big challenge is how to take the available components and combine them into the product versions and product lines that will maximize profits.

New product launches are highly complex and can pose major challenges to companies. But managing the interplay between product generations can greatly increase the chances for success.

Breaking free of linear chain thinking and viewing value creation from a multidimensional grid perspective provides the greatest opportunities for innovation.