Title

Using P2P Sharing Activity To Improve Business Decision Making: Proof Of Concept For Estimating Product Life-Cycle

Author Info

Sudip Bhattacharjee, University of Connecticut - Storrs
Ram Gopal, University of Connecticut - Storrs
Kaveepan Lertwachara, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis ObispoFollow
James R. Marsden, University of Connecticut - Storrs

Recommended Citation

Postprint version. Published in Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring April 1, 2005, pages 14-20.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2004.10.003.

Abstract

Estimating the life-cycle or duration of a product can be an important input into a firm’s decision-making related to production and marketing. In the music industry, online Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks have attracted millions of potential music consumers and have had substantial impact on the music business. In this paper, we investigate the possible use of P2P information in estimating product “shelf-life,” in particular the duration of a music album on the Billboard 100 chart. We identify and track the music albums that appear on the Top 100 of the Billboard Charts, spanning a period of six months. We show that P2P sharing activity can be used to help predict the subsequent market performance of a music album.

Disciplines

Business

Copyright

2005 Elsevier.