¹Department of Decision and Information Sciences, RSM Erasmus University, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Ting Li, Department of Decision and Information Sciences, RSM Erasmus University, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 0 10 408 1961; Fax: +31 0 10 408 9010; E-mail: tli@rsm.nl

Received 18 February 2008; Revised 1 July 2008; Re-revised 15 October 2008; Re-revised 17 November 2008; Re-revised 2 January 2009; Accepted 12 January 2009; Published online 17 February 2009.

Abstract

Using the process-oriented view and resource-based theory, we investigate how mobile ticketing technologies can successfully enable revenue management. We collect data from 17 cases worldwide in which smart cards and mobile devices have been adopted in the public transport industry over the last decade. The use of these technologies allows service providers to capture real-time and complete information of customers' actual travel. This enables service providers to employ advanced price differentiation and service expansion strategies and achieve new 'best practice' in revenue management. The results demonstrate that service providers that use more sophisticated mobile ticketing technologies are more likely to adopt advanced strategies to create value. Further, they are more likely to achieve higher performance gains.