%0 Journal Article
%A Madjid Tavana
%A Debora Di Caprio
%A Santos Arteaga, Francisco Javier
%T An optimal information acquisition model for competitive advantage in complex multiperspective environments
%D 2014
%@ 0096-3003
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/114004
%X The optimal information acquisition process is a major strategic task for sustaining a firm’scompetitive advantage. We define the optimal sequential information acquisition behaviorof a rational decision maker (DM) when allowed to acquire two pieces of information fromand observe positive credible signals on a set of multidimensional products. We illustratehow firm reputation affects the continuity of the expected utilities derived from a givensearch and may generate reversals in the information acquisition incentives of DMs whendeciding whether or not to shift their search processes between different signal-inducedmarkets. This study makes a number of important contributions to our understanding ofa firm’s information acquisition. First, it provides a formal analysis of the informationacquisition process when the characteristics defining a product have a continuous set ofvariants. Second, it allows for the study of risk-averse DMs, while most of the literatureconcentrates on risk-neutral DMs. Third, it opens the way for strategic scenarios to be considered when analyzing the information acquisition processes of firms and creates a directlink to the game theoretical literature on strategic reporting. Fourth, it can be easily implemented within multicriteria decision making methods such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to study the information acquisition behavior of DMs when the characteristicsof the products are unknown.
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