Biography

Fred Riggins is currently an Assistant Professor in the Information and Decision Sciences Department at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the faculty at the Carlson School he served as a faculty member at the University of Alberta and Georgia Tech. Prior to that he earned his doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University where he received the 1994 William W. Cooper Doctoral Dissertation Award in Management Science. His dissertation work was also among three finalists for the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in Information Systems at the International Conference on Information Systems in 1994. He has presented his research at many conferences and has published his work in several leading academic journals including Management Science, the Journal of Management Information Systems, and Communications of the ACM.

Background: “Prior to returning to school for my doctoral studies I worked at the Boeing Company in the procurement area as a financial analyst specializing in the negotiation of software development costs. It was this interaction with our suppliers that motivated me to want to study how information technology systems that cross company boundaries impacts the buyer-supplier relationship. As more and more IT investment is targeted at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of these external relationships, the nature of the relationship changes resulting in closer integration with trading partners, or in some cases, more procurement in online markets and auctions. Understanding these changes and how companies can utilize IT to better position themselves within their industry, or in new industries, is an exciting research area. As a professor investigating these industry dynamics I am able to apply principles from economics, inter-organizational theory, learning theory, and industrial organization to these problems.”

Research Interests: “Most of my research is along two different tracks. First, I continue to study the use of IT at the B2B buyer-supplier interface. We have conducted studies that look at how do firms motivate trading partners to engage in closer electronic business partner relationships using inter-organizational systems such as EDI. In some cases a reward strategy, or carrot approach, works best, however in other cases a punishment, or stick approach, works best. In a recent study, we found that reciprocal IT investments on the part of the buyer help reduce uncertainty on the part of the supplier, which then motivates the suppliers to engage in greater EDI volume and with more diverse EDI transaction sets. We are extending this work to newer technologies such as XML and RFID. My second area of research looks a new models for B2C online commerce. For example, we are looking at the role of product comparison sites and other online intermediaries to reduce risk on the part of the customer to encourage more participation in online commerce. What factors contribute to some individuals adopting online commerce while others don’t is a critical area of study. In addition, I am interested in how the provision of online information-based goods is different from traditional physical goods. For example, Boeing is rolling out a new service to offer broadband service at 30,000 feet on trans-Atlantic flights. How should they price this service? To whom should it be targeted? What is the business model for making a profit on this type of venture? I’m in the process of developing a new MBA course for next year entitled ‘Information-Based Goods in the Network Economy.’”

Current Research Projects: “Currently I am engaged in three very interesting projects that span these research areas. One involves how providers of goods and services that sell in both online and offline channels simultaneously should adjust their selling strategy in light of the digital divide. The digital divide can act as a market segmentation mechanism such that the people who visit a company’s online storefront should be different from those who walk through their physical door. While the digital divide has been examined from a public policy perspective there has been little research on the impact of this divide on management strategies. We’ll be hosting a research symposium at the Carlson School in Summer 2004 on this issue. A second project I’m working on is the development of models that examine how personalization impacts online pricing and quality levels and to which types of customers this personalization should be targeted. Finally, we are just beginning an initiative that will examine how firms get value from RFID technology, and how does it change the buyer-supplier relationship. Companies like Wal-Mart are mandating that suppliers adopt this technology, but it is not clear how benefits from this technology will be divided up, how suppliers will be reimbursed for this technology, or how the balance of power in the relationship may change in the future. Further, rather than tagging products, some firms would like to use this technology to tag customers to provide a more personalized shopping experience.”

General Impressions: “I am excited to be a part of the strong tradition of MIS at the University of Minnesota. It is a privilege to work with faculty who have been founders in the field and continue to be dominant leaders in both research and teaching. The Carlson School has a bright future and I believe IT education and research will be a prominent player in that future.”

For contact information, please visit the IDSc Faculty Information Page.