How does Prosper.com Make Money?
Sunday, April 29, 2007 Permanent link to this post
Recently one of the readers of this blog - Akash, posed this question about Prosper.com:
Current Revenue and Cost Streams for Prosper
I agree that on the current scale of operation, Prosper is not making too much money. However - look at the other side - the business model is risk free - once the loan has originated, the future revenue stream (apart from defaults) is guaranteed. The cost elements of the business are very low - running the site costs only little, they do not have too many employees (double figures only), Prosper is not doing any paid marketing and once the platform is established, they can outsource most of the routine work. With sustained growth for a few years - they will have enough scale to make decent money with very little downside.
My sense is that their current cash burnout rate is quite low - so their $50 million venture funding should go a long way. Even if they need extra cash, they have a positive cash flow in future with all the loan repayments - so they shouldn't have problem raising either secureed debt or the next round of venture financing.
Future Revenue Streams
I imagine that once they have established their current business model, they will start cross-selling other financial products. Lender's insurance, database mining, prosper security backed credit cards, syncing your prosper account with your paypal account... secondary trading in Prosper loans... the possibilities are endless. Oh yes - Prosper Loan insurance - insurance than lenders can buy that will protect them against loan default - this can be a pretty good business - I will buy it, especially after suffering through the pain of a couple of defaults!!
Secondary Trading of Prosper Loans
As far as secondary trading in Prosper loans is concerned - I hope Prosper introduces something similar soon. Currently there is no "exit" for Prosper lenders - you got to wait 36 months for your payments to slowly trickle in. What if you need some cash out? Right now the only good way is for you to actually borrow in Prosper for a similar amount that you have lent out. I am not sure whether anybody has really tried it as an exit strategy - although there are several lenders which try to use it as an arbitrage strategy. Creating a secondary market is not difficult at all - in fact it will be remarkably similar to the current platform. A current lender can put a portfolio of loans up for auction and other lenders can bid for it. Once the auction clears - the documentation can get shifted to the new owners of the loan. Easy! This secondary market will bring liquidity to Prosper loans and encourage more lenders to participate as they will always have an opportunity to exit the market.
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Great blog. I am trying to understand the p2p lending biz models out there, such as prosper and zopa. What I am struggling with how these guys make money:Here are my thoughts on the subject:
- looking at the public data, these sites take on average 1% origination fee from borrower, and 0.5% from lenders (on outstanding loan), then it would appear that they are not making a lot of money even on a loan volumes of $1 Billion ($15M in revenue)
- when will these companies make money? their expenses even running an internet outfit will be high
- they have raised over $20M in VC money;
Questions:
- what are investors seeing that I am not able to grasp? (assuming they will get traction)
- will they be able to monetize their loans in the secondary market somehow
Current Revenue and Cost Streams for Prosper
I agree that on the current scale of operation, Prosper is not making too much money. However - look at the other side - the business model is risk free - once the loan has originated, the future revenue stream (apart from defaults) is guaranteed. The cost elements of the business are very low - running the site costs only little, they do not have too many employees (double figures only), Prosper is not doing any paid marketing and once the platform is established, they can outsource most of the routine work. With sustained growth for a few years - they will have enough scale to make decent money with very little downside.
My sense is that their current cash burnout rate is quite low - so their $50 million venture funding should go a long way. Even if they need extra cash, they have a positive cash flow in future with all the loan repayments - so they shouldn't have problem raising either secureed debt or the next round of venture financing.
Future Revenue Streams
I imagine that once they have established their current business model, they will start cross-selling other financial products. Lender's insurance, database mining, prosper security backed credit cards, syncing your prosper account with your paypal account... secondary trading in Prosper loans... the possibilities are endless. Oh yes - Prosper Loan insurance - insurance than lenders can buy that will protect them against loan default - this can be a pretty good business - I will buy it, especially after suffering through the pain of a couple of defaults!!
Secondary Trading of Prosper Loans
As far as secondary trading in Prosper loans is concerned - I hope Prosper introduces something similar soon. Currently there is no "exit" for Prosper lenders - you got to wait 36 months for your payments to slowly trickle in. What if you need some cash out? Right now the only good way is for you to actually borrow in Prosper for a similar amount that you have lent out. I am not sure whether anybody has really tried it as an exit strategy - although there are several lenders which try to use it as an arbitrage strategy. Creating a secondary market is not difficult at all - in fact it will be remarkably similar to the current platform. A current lender can put a portfolio of loans up for auction and other lenders can bid for it. Once the auction clears - the documentation can get shifted to the new owners of the loan. Easy! This secondary market will bring liquidity to Prosper loans and encourage more lenders to participate as they will always have an opportunity to exit the market.
Labels: Prosper
the way that proper has adopted for the loans facility looks good to me as i deal with insurance sector.
Life Insurance
Life Insurance
Research Conferences in Information Systems
Saturday, April 28, 2007 Permanent link to this post
One of the ways I decide what to post about is by looking at what search terms browsers are looking for while reaching my blog. This is quite easily accomplished by using traffic tracking services like sitemeter or mybloglog (I use both). Recently many visitors came to my blog looking for information about Information Systems research conferences. So - here is an attempt to provide some commonly needed information about Information Systems research conferences. This includes large conferences that look at business application of Information Technologies/Systems. This consolidated information would be useful for starting PhD students in MIS/IS/IT area. Disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive list and the acceptance rates mentioned are approximate.
Starting off there are two kinds of research gatherings - those that publish full papers in proceedings and those that don't. The difference is important to realize. Since you can publish a paper only once, if the paper is published in its full form in a conference proceeding then you can not publish the paper in a journal without significant revision. On the other hand, conferences that do not publish proceedings or only publish a abstract of the paper in their proceeding - then you are free to publish the same paper later in a journal. Conferences of this type are often called a workshop.
ICIS - International Conference on Information Systems (Link to ICIS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 1
Acceptance Rate: 12-15%
Proceedings: Full Paper
ICIS is the most prominent research conference in IS research area. Its a large gathering with a very international profile. I have been to last two ICIS (Vegas and Milwaukee) and both have been very positive experiences. The papers are of good quality, attendance in paper sessions is quite decent and most active researchers in IS are usually there. ICIS also hosts job interviews for IS faculty positions. ICIS 2007 is in Montreal, Canada. ICIS publishes full proceedings and is very very selective. Its acceptance rates in past years have been around 12-15% - which is very low for a conference - its quite difficult to get a paper accepted at ICIS.
AMCIS - Americas Conference on Information Systems (Link to AMCIS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Full Paper, Research-in-Progress
AMCIS is a really large gathering of IS researchers - but mostly has participation from US. The high acceptance rate means that its easy to get your paper accepted here - but it also means that the average quality of paper is not very good. Attendance in paper sessions is usually low. However - I recommend going to this conference as you get to know a lot of IS researchers and some Universities hold their hiring interviews at AMCIS.
HICSS - Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (Link to HICSS 2008):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Full Paper
HICSS is an expensive conference to go to - Hawaii in January! Its a great vacation if you stay for a couple of days after the conference - however - the conference itself nothing too great. Good thing is that the atmosphere is quite casual (think shorts and printed shirts) and stress free; bad thing is that attendance levels are low (what else can be expected - when you are in Hawaii in Jan). Since the conference is so expensive to attend, number of submissions are lower - so a 50% acceptance is not bad. One really bright part of the conference is the Competitive Strategy, Economics and IS mini-track organized by three leading lights of IS research - Rob Kauffman, Eric Clemons and Rajiv Dewan. This track has low acceptance, really good papers and very good participation.
WISE - Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (Link to WISE 2006):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
For researchers studying Information Economics or Business Value of IT, this is THE place to be. Its a two day workshop where all the big guns get together and have a really good critical discussion. Its a short, interactive and very valuable workshop. This also happens to be my first ever research conference - so I like it even better. You only submit a five page extended abstract to WISE - so you can submit in-progress research as well - which is great. This also has one of the last deadlines (early Sept) - so you can submit your summer work here - good timing. WISE is one of the many workshops that happen just before ICIS (pre-ICIS workshops) - and it is usually very close to ICIS location - so you can combine the two visits.
Academy of Management - OCIS Division (Link to AoM-2007):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Abstracts and Extended Abstracts
Academy is the biggest gathering of all - all management divisions are there. Information Systems researcher usually find place in the OCIS division. I haven't been to this conference as yet - so no first hand information - I am scheduled to go this year - so I will know more soon. The acceptance rates are reasonable/easy and it only publishes abstracts or extended abstracts - so works well for in-progress research papers.
CIST - INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (Link to CIST 2007):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
The annual INFORMS conference is a big deal (and a big gathering) for Operations researchers. As part of the INFORMS conference, IS researchers organize the two day WISE-like event called CIST. Difference is that you need to submit a full paper for CIST. The level of discussion and participation is same as WISE. A very good conference to present your research before you submit it to a journal, especially for research connected with operations. CIST also has some practitioner participation.
WITS - Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (Link to WITS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
WITS is another pre-ICIS workshop - but its focus is more technical than WISE. Design science researchers find this particularly attractive. My research usually does not fall under the WITS umbrella - I have heard good things about it though.
Alright - that finishes my top of the mind info in research conferences/workshops in Information Systems. Hope somebody finds this useful. Feel free to add to this info by posting comments.
Updates:
There are 0 Comments. Post a Comment
Starting off there are two kinds of research gatherings - those that publish full papers in proceedings and those that don't. The difference is important to realize. Since you can publish a paper only once, if the paper is published in its full form in a conference proceeding then you can not publish the paper in a journal without significant revision. On the other hand, conferences that do not publish proceedings or only publish a abstract of the paper in their proceeding - then you are free to publish the same paper later in a journal. Conferences of this type are often called a workshop.
ICIS - International Conference on Information Systems (Link to ICIS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 1
Acceptance Rate: 12-15%
Proceedings: Full Paper
ICIS is the most prominent research conference in IS research area. Its a large gathering with a very international profile. I have been to last two ICIS (Vegas and Milwaukee) and both have been very positive experiences. The papers are of good quality, attendance in paper sessions is quite decent and most active researchers in IS are usually there. ICIS also hosts job interviews for IS faculty positions. ICIS 2007 is in Montreal, Canada. ICIS publishes full proceedings and is very very selective. Its acceptance rates in past years have been around 12-15% - which is very low for a conference - its quite difficult to get a paper accepted at ICIS.
AMCIS - Americas Conference on Information Systems (Link to AMCIS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Full Paper, Research-in-Progress
AMCIS is a really large gathering of IS researchers - but mostly has participation from US. The high acceptance rate means that its easy to get your paper accepted here - but it also means that the average quality of paper is not very good. Attendance in paper sessions is usually low. However - I recommend going to this conference as you get to know a lot of IS researchers and some Universities hold their hiring interviews at AMCIS.
HICSS - Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (Link to HICSS 2008):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Full Paper
HICSS is an expensive conference to go to - Hawaii in January! Its a great vacation if you stay for a couple of days after the conference - however - the conference itself nothing too great. Good thing is that the atmosphere is quite casual (think shorts and printed shirts) and stress free; bad thing is that attendance levels are low (what else can be expected - when you are in Hawaii in Jan). Since the conference is so expensive to attend, number of submissions are lower - so a 50% acceptance is not bad. One really bright part of the conference is the Competitive Strategy, Economics and IS mini-track organized by three leading lights of IS research - Rob Kauffman, Eric Clemons and Rajiv Dewan. This track has low acceptance, really good papers and very good participation.
WISE - Workshop on Information Systems and Economics (Link to WISE 2006):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
For researchers studying Information Economics or Business Value of IT, this is THE place to be. Its a two day workshop where all the big guns get together and have a really good critical discussion. Its a short, interactive and very valuable workshop. This also happens to be my first ever research conference - so I like it even better. You only submit a five page extended abstract to WISE - so you can submit in-progress research as well - which is great. This also has one of the last deadlines (early Sept) - so you can submit your summer work here - good timing. WISE is one of the many workshops that happen just before ICIS (pre-ICIS workshops) - and it is usually very close to ICIS location - so you can combine the two visits.
Academy of Management - OCIS Division (Link to AoM-2007):
Reputation: Tier 3
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Proceedings: Abstracts and Extended Abstracts
Academy is the biggest gathering of all - all management divisions are there. Information Systems researcher usually find place in the OCIS division. I haven't been to this conference as yet - so no first hand information - I am scheduled to go this year - so I will know more soon. The acceptance rates are reasonable/easy and it only publishes abstracts or extended abstracts - so works well for in-progress research papers.
CIST - INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (Link to CIST 2007):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
The annual INFORMS conference is a big deal (and a big gathering) for Operations researchers. As part of the INFORMS conference, IS researchers organize the two day WISE-like event called CIST. Difference is that you need to submit a full paper for CIST. The level of discussion and participation is same as WISE. A very good conference to present your research before you submit it to a journal, especially for research connected with operations. CIST also has some practitioner participation.
WITS - Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (Link to WITS 2007):
Reputation: Tier 2
Acceptance Rate: ~30% (guesstimate)
Proceedings: No Proceedings
WITS is another pre-ICIS workshop - but its focus is more technical than WISE. Design science researchers find this particularly attractive. My research usually does not fall under the WITS umbrella - I have heard good things about it though.
Alright - that finishes my top of the mind info in research conferences/workshops in Information Systems. Hope somebody finds this useful. Feel free to add to this info by posting comments.
Updates:
- Andrea has this very informative blog about pre-ICIS workshops. Click here for Andrea's blog.
- Prof Don Harter at Syracuse has maintained a page on IS Conferences with links to past conferences. Link to Don's Conferences Page.
Labels: Conference Presentations, Information Systems, Research
H-1B, International Students and US Auto Industry
Sunday, April 22, 2007 Permanent link to this post
H-1B Visas: Problems All Around
Its old news that this year the annual quota for H-1B visas filled twice over in just two days (Link to CNN story). This has given rise to all kinds of discussion on whether H-1B cap should be raised; whether H-1B should even exist and what effect does H-1B has on wage levels in US. There is a bipartisan bill on table in congress that is expected to make matters worse.
Among all the noise, there is one group of people who are finding themselves in the middle of the crossfire - International students in US Universities. The H-1B visas are no longer available for students who will graduate at the end of the current academic year. Most of them have job offers with US companies, provided that they are get their H-1B visa. This really is a double whammy for them - first of all - employment opportunities for international students are severely limited in US. Here in Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, during the past internship season for the MBA class of 2008, only 255 of the total 490 job listings accepted applications from international students. On top of that, even these jobs are in jeopardy because of visa restrictions. Just to be sure - these are students from one of the top MBA programs in the world and any country/company should welcome them with open arms as they will script the future of the business world tomorrow - and here they are rebuffed and rejected.
Increasingly US universities are looking abroad to get qualified students. In most top MBA programs, international students make up more than one third of the student body. These students pay higher out of state tuition and take huge loans (more than $120K) and are willing to legally pay taxes and contribute to the US society and economy - there is no reason to not allow them to work and prosper in US.
Update: International PhD students that take up a job with a US University are not counted as part of the usual H-1B limit. This is good news for all aspiring faculty members like me! (More information available at Carnegie Mellon's excellent page on the subject.)
US Competitiveness: Auto Industry
Already many people including Bill Gates and Harvard Crimson have raised their voices. Bloggers have even suggested that restricting companies from hiring foreign workers will actually lead them to go to the source of talent and outsource more work. In the middle of these, New York Times has written an excellent piece on increasing skill levels of outsourcing firms in India. Combine this with excellent engineering innovation like the sub-$2,500 car I mentioned in my last post - and the indicators are not good for long term competitiveness of the US economy.
If someone really needs some hard data after all this, here are the latest automobile sales figures for US market for March 2007 (market share means share among the producers mentions, not total market share, sales mean unit sales not dollar sales). Look at how the Detroit Three are doing against the Asian Three:
Since I live in Michigan, the auto industry is always top of the mind - and the figures above are so disappointing for any true fan of Detroit's auto history. Not only are GM, Ford and Chrysler losing market share, they are doing worse even in their supposedly strong area - trucks and SUVs. In cars its not even a competition anymore - its a rout! Toyota is already the largest car maker in US and is third if we include both cars and trucks. With gas prices and emission requirements pushing the market towards smaller and more efficient Toyotas and Hondas, its only a matter of time before Toyota and Honda take the leadership position in US auto market from GM and Ford.
Toyota and Honda are both excellent value with forward PE in 13.50 range. I own Honda as I am slightly concerned with Toyota's ability to sustain growth with the large base that it has. Plus I expect Honda to take back the green leadership that it seems to have lost to Toyota Prius.
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Its old news that this year the annual quota for H-1B visas filled twice over in just two days (Link to CNN story). This has given rise to all kinds of discussion on whether H-1B cap should be raised; whether H-1B should even exist and what effect does H-1B has on wage levels in US. There is a bipartisan bill on table in congress that is expected to make matters worse.
Among all the noise, there is one group of people who are finding themselves in the middle of the crossfire - International students in US Universities. The H-1B visas are no longer available for students who will graduate at the end of the current academic year. Most of them have job offers with US companies, provided that they are get their H-1B visa. This really is a double whammy for them - first of all - employment opportunities for international students are severely limited in US. Here in Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, during the past internship season for the MBA class of 2008, only 255 of the total 490 job listings accepted applications from international students. On top of that, even these jobs are in jeopardy because of visa restrictions. Just to be sure - these are students from one of the top MBA programs in the world and any country/company should welcome them with open arms as they will script the future of the business world tomorrow - and here they are rebuffed and rejected.
Increasingly US universities are looking abroad to get qualified students. In most top MBA programs, international students make up more than one third of the student body. These students pay higher out of state tuition and take huge loans (more than $120K) and are willing to legally pay taxes and contribute to the US society and economy - there is no reason to not allow them to work and prosper in US.
Update: International PhD students that take up a job with a US University are not counted as part of the usual H-1B limit. This is good news for all aspiring faculty members like me! (More information available at Carnegie Mellon's excellent page on the subject.)
US Competitiveness: Auto Industry
Already many people including Bill Gates and Harvard Crimson have raised their voices. Bloggers have even suggested that restricting companies from hiring foreign workers will actually lead them to go to the source of talent and outsource more work. In the middle of these, New York Times has written an excellent piece on increasing skill levels of outsourcing firms in India. Combine this with excellent engineering innovation like the sub-$2,500 car I mentioned in my last post - and the indicators are not good for long term competitiveness of the US economy.
If someone really needs some hard data after all this, here are the latest automobile sales figures for US market for March 2007 (market share means share among the producers mentions, not total market share, sales mean unit sales not dollar sales). Look at how the Detroit Three are doing against the Asian Three:
Since I live in Michigan, the auto industry is always top of the mind - and the figures above are so disappointing for any true fan of Detroit's auto history. Not only are GM, Ford and Chrysler losing market share, they are doing worse even in their supposedly strong area - trucks and SUVs. In cars its not even a competition anymore - its a rout! Toyota is already the largest car maker in US and is third if we include both cars and trucks. With gas prices and emission requirements pushing the market towards smaller and more efficient Toyotas and Hondas, its only a matter of time before Toyota and Honda take the leadership position in US auto market from GM and Ford.Toyota and Honda are both excellent value with forward PE in 13.50 range. I own Honda as I am slightly concerned with Toyota's ability to sustain growth with the large base that it has. Plus I expect Honda to take back the green leadership that it seems to have lost to Toyota Prius.
Labels: Auto, Immigration, India, US
I think that your concerns about Japanese automakers clobbering US automakers are well founded, but don't you think at some point they'll level off?
I think that Toyota will most likely become a victim of it's own success, with all manufacturers endeavoring to become better versions of Toyota. For instance, the big three have seen dramatic quality improvements in the last decade. Couldn't this be continued and collapse many of the advantages Japanese automakers have?
Whatever the answer is, it is fair to say Toyota's decline is probably a few years off (if it ever happens). Witness the new Toyota Tundra -- the response to this vehicle is astounding considering the truck market is so brand conscience. Websites like Toyota Tundra are great examples of the grass roots response to this entry into a traditional American market.
I think that Toyota will most likely become a victim of it's own success, with all manufacturers endeavoring to become better versions of Toyota. For instance, the big three have seen dramatic quality improvements in the last decade. Couldn't this be continued and collapse many of the advantages Japanese automakers have?
Whatever the answer is, it is fair to say Toyota's decline is probably a few years off (if it ever happens). Witness the new Toyota Tundra -- the response to this vehicle is astounding considering the truck market is so brand conscience. Websites like Toyota Tundra are great examples of the grass roots response to this entry into a traditional American market.
Thanks Admin for your comments. I agree with your thoughts on Toyota - and thats the reason that I don't own Toyota stocks. I don't see Toyota growing too much beyond its current size - it will surely take leadership in the US market and will then level off. However, opportunities are much better for Honda which has a smaller sales scale in US but an equal or better capability/perception as far as "green" and fuel efficiency is concerned.
Honda stock has been declining recently and I have been buying on lows. It seems to have bottomed out now and I expect a significant uptrend during summer months.
Honda stock has been declining recently and I have been buying on lows. It seems to have bottomed out now and I expect a significant uptrend during summer months.
Giving Up on LaTeX
Saturday, April 21, 2007 Permanent link to this post
I am a huge fan of LaTeX (especially on Emacs). I love the output generated by LaTeX and I would have been so happy continuing to write my research papers and dissertation in LaTeX - but alas - that is not to be. First of all, Information Systems research conferences ask for submission in MS-Word format - no exception. Secondly, now that I am handling large numbers of references and a huge pdf document library for my dissertation, I can not escape using EndNote for managing references - and EndNote does not support LaTeX.
So finally, I am giving up on LaTeX and shifting all my writing to MS-Word. I would continue to keep my LaTeX skills updated though - with the hope that once I graduate and (hopefully) become a faculty - I will perhaps be able to migrate back to LaTeX.
Sidenote: EndNote is amazing! I recommend EndNote to all researchers and especially doctoral students who are building their research paper library. It has helped my research productivity big time.
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So finally, I am giving up on LaTeX and shifting all my writing to MS-Word. I would continue to keep my LaTeX skills updated though - with the hope that once I graduate and (hopefully) become a faculty - I will perhaps be able to migrate back to LaTeX.
Sidenote: EndNote is amazing! I recommend EndNote to all researchers and especially doctoral students who are building their research paper library. It has helped my research productivity big time.
Labels: EndNote, LaTeX, Research
LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system, specially designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. It is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. LaTeX is used because of the quality of typesetting achievable by TeX.
Wind Energy *Continues* to Power India
Friday, April 20, 2007 Permanent link to this post
I had written before about the growing wind energy capacity in India (Link: Wind Energy Powering India). Wind energy has continued to expand at a phenomenal pace in India. In year 2006, wind energy capacity in India increased by 41.5% amounting to 1,840 MW of new capacity. India was third in the world in new capacity additions (after US and China) and fourth in the world in total installed capacity (after Germany, Spain and US). The table below shows the distribution of installed wind power capacity in the leading countries:
Fast growth in US was expected because of recent tax concessions and the large suitable area and energy demand. China's emergence as the second largest capacity addition in 2006 is more of a surprise. Till few years back China did not really cared about alternative energy. China's ability to quickly ramp up is admirable though.
Things are moving in the right direction. Wind energy is the cleanest renewable energy source available and even though it had problems of high capital cost and non-optimal load distribution, its good to see rapid growth in wind energy capacity. This is one positive impact of the rise in oil prices - the renewable energy sources are now looking more and more attracting in comparison. I will continue to follow growth in wind and other renewable energy resources.
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Fast growth in US was expected because of recent tax concessions and the large suitable area and energy demand. China's emergence as the second largest capacity addition in 2006 is more of a surprise. Till few years back China did not really cared about alternative energy. China's ability to quickly ramp up is admirable though.
Things are moving in the right direction. Wind energy is the cleanest renewable energy source available and even though it had problems of high capital cost and non-optimal load distribution, its good to see rapid growth in wind energy capacity. This is one positive impact of the rise in oil prices - the renewable energy sources are now looking more and more attracting in comparison. I will continue to follow growth in wind and other renewable energy resources.
Labels: Alternative Energy, China, India, US, Wind Power
AMCIS 2007 and AMCIS Doctoral Consortium
My papers have been accepted at both the AMCIS (Americas Conference on Information Systems) 2007 conference as well as AMCIS 2007 Doctoral Consortium. Its great news - a good start to the conference and job hunting season. The papers accepted and their abstracts are below:
AMCIS 2007 is in Keystone, Colarado from August 9-12, 2007.
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Impact of Service Oriented Architecture Adoption on Electronic Supply Chain Performance
Service Oriented Architecture (“SOA”) has been viewed as a strategic approach to IT that provides increased flexibility. However, there is scant research evidence of SOA adoption leading to tangible performance benefits across a cross section of firms. We fill this research gap by empirically analyzing the impact of SOA adoption on the performance of electronic supply chains for a cross section of large US firms. We estimates the moderating impact of SOA adoption on relationships between supply chain performance and complexity and transparency of information sharing relationship between firms and their suppliers. Our results show that while SOA adoption mitigates the negative effects of information sharing complexity, it also reduces the positive benefits of information sharing transparency. Thus while SOA adoption can lead to potential improvements in performance, the extent of the benefit depends on characteristics of the information sharing relationship.
Bank of One: Empirical Analysis of Peer-to-Peer Financial Marketplaces
Peer to peer financial marketplaces provide a platform for individual lenders and borrowers to interact and transact. These marketplaces dis-intermediate the traditional financial services business models. In this exploratory paper we study the operation and effectiveness of one such marketplace: Prosper.com. We analyze six months of lender, borrower and loan repayment data to answer preliminary research questions about lender behavior, market effectiveness and antecedents of loan default. We show that lenders mostly behave rationally and charge appropriate risk premiums for antecedents of loan default. We also show that there are mismatches between risk premiums charged and relative importance of factors that drive loan default. We then explore the dynamic process of lenders adjusting their lending strategies to reduce these mismatches. Interestingly, our results indicate that the group reputation used in marketplace is not effective and needs to be enhanced. Our analysis provides a base for future research in this exciting and evolving context. Our results provide directions for practice applications as well as future research in design of financial marketplaces, investing and risk mitigation strategies and improving effectiveness of financial marketplaces.
AMCIS 2007 is in Keystone, Colarado from August 9-12, 2007.
Labels: Conference Presentations, Research
Comment Moderation, Adsense and Tata Motors
Saturday, April 14, 2007 Permanent link to this post
I have been trying my hands on various ways available to coax some money out of this blog. You can see that there are a few AdSense ads on the blog and also one Google search link on the sidebar.
I am not sure how this is going to work out - but I am going to make a try. I really don't need money from this blog - my stock and Prosper.com investments take care of that. Its just a nice little challenge... and I like challenges. I intend to donate all money I raise from this blog to charity.
There has been a few instances of junk comments past few days - so I am putting the comment moderation on. I would of course approve genuine comments (both appreciative as well as unflattering) as soon as possible.
Lastly, I have been writing a lot recently about my investments in Tata Motors (TTM). BusinessWeek seems to concur with my views and has written a long feature that relates to TTM's future prospects. I am sitting pretty with a strong core position in TTM and trade around that according to my time tested trading strategy.
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I am not sure how this is going to work out - but I am going to make a try. I really don't need money from this blog - my stock and Prosper.com investments take care of that. Its just a nice little challenge... and I like challenges. I intend to donate all money I raise from this blog to charity.
There has been a few instances of junk comments past few days - so I am putting the comment moderation on. I would of course approve genuine comments (both appreciative as well as unflattering) as soon as possible.
Lastly, I have been writing a lot recently about my investments in Tata Motors (TTM). BusinessWeek seems to concur with my views and has written a long feature that relates to TTM's future prospects. I am sitting pretty with a strong core position in TTM and trade around that according to my time tested trading strategy.
Labels: Adsense, Blog, Investing, Tata
Sanjeev, by proper positioning of your Adsense ads your CTR as well as earnings would definitely increase.
Adsense tweaks are often very simple. Expert advise to keep the headlines of the ads as blue the default links colour. But in my case I keep headlines black, text 40%black and URL black again. it gives me a ctr as high as 45%. I would also like to mention that I put ads above the folder and site template is very poor.
Sanjeev, there are plenty of ways you can optimize your site for Adsense and it'll bring you a few bucks a day if you have reasonable traffic. Have a look at my piece on it here - http://www.welcometowallyworld.com/optimizing-adsense/
but one of the best things i did was to have the content wrap around the Adsense, blend the background and stick with the standard OOOOFF Blue for the links so that they don't look like obvious ads. Hope this helps. Mal, Paris.
but one of the best things i did was to have the content wrap around the Adsense, blend the background and stick with the standard OOOOFF Blue for the links so that they don't look like obvious ads. Hope this helps. Mal, Paris.
Assuming that you guys have lots of articles sitting on your PC, but haven't the knowledge or time to turn them all into moneymaking websites? I have found that there is a quick and easy way to turn any set of text or HTML articles into a complete, ready to use website, packed with moneymaking advertisements, search engine optimization solutions and special visitor friendly features like matching videos, language translation and automated search tools.
The Article Site Power Kit is a complete, easy to use collection of software tools and ready to use templates, all designed to help you generate quality article websites in minutes.
With these superb tools, you can save tons of time and immediately start generating revenue from your article content.
Let's take a detailed look at these powerful, quality tools now... Pleae note that I use this software to generate 62 websites with adsense content and every month the monetary return increases.
http://www.software.dotcominformer.com
Scroll down to the Article Site Power Kit. It takes two minutes to build a site.
Best, Bill
The Article Site Power Kit is a complete, easy to use collection of software tools and ready to use templates, all designed to help you generate quality article websites in minutes.
With these superb tools, you can save tons of time and immediately start generating revenue from your article content.
Let's take a detailed look at these powerful, quality tools now... Pleae note that I use this software to generate 62 websites with adsense content and every month the monetary return increases.
http://www.software.dotcominformer.com
Scroll down to the Article Site Power Kit. It takes two minutes to build a site.
Best, Bill
What i learn from forums is to make your ads blend to look as close to your blog as you can. Make it look like its part of the website. Another trick is to put the ads above the fold.
There is money still to be made from blogs, and if that is your main motivation for writing then blogging about a small niche topic that you actually know something about is the way to go. Competing with 3 million blogs on a popular topic is out of reach for most, but write about something you know well and love (or hate, passion is they key)and they will come. Other options to consider are small affiliate adds. Signing up with an affiliate network (take a look at the affiliate page on my site dollardemon) is what I always advise newbies to online marketing as its much easier than going to individual programs. They key is to keep your focus on your blog, don't write with the intention of making a dollar, write what you love and readers will return again and again (hopefully to click that relevant link!)Good luck Sanjeev!
Have you looked at some affiliate programs such as commission junction which is really nice allowing you to encrypt your links with some other cool options so that others don't profit from your work. Get people to stumble your pages since traffic is most important before generating any income... just my two cents on the subject. Hope it was helpful.. Thanks for letting me leave the post.. Dan from http://www.the411onhair.com
3> Hi,
You have done a good job and I really appreciate your decision that we may get success or not but we should try for everything. Without thinking about your income you should try to make your blog a quality one. If your blog is a quality blog then it will automatically generate revenue, you just need to follow appropriate optimization strategy. I wish you all the best.
http://www.ddslandscaping.com.au/
You have done a good job and I really appreciate your decision that we may get success or not but we should try for everything. Without thinking about your income you should try to make your blog a quality one. If your blog is a quality blog then it will automatically generate revenue, you just need to follow appropriate optimization strategy. I wish you all the best.
http://www.ddslandscaping.com.au/
Comment posted by 
: 20 December, 2007 22:00
: 20 December, 2007 22:00
I've always found the the adsense 160 x 600 sky scraper has the best conversions.
Like it was done http://crotchrockets.blogspot.com
or
http://emetropcs.blogspot.com
Like it was done http://crotchrockets.blogspot.com
or
http://emetropcs.blogspot.com
Comment posted by : 17 January, 2008 10:24
: 17 January, 2008 10:24
There's lots of posts about how to make easy money online but you can't beat quality content for ranking high in the search engines. A simple search will unearth lots of quality articles for your website, so what's stopping you?
There are really only a few way you can make money online: sell a product, or advertisements. For advertisements you will need traffic, I recommend Utah SEO, social media, pay-per-click, and affiliate networks. I guess one last thing is you could sell links off your website.
Comment posted by : 09 July, 2008 19:18
: 09 July, 2008 19:18
Well.. Its really hard to control the comments when you use Blogger.com
The best Blogging Platform is WordPress and you can block all the spam comments with the help of the plugin called 'Askimet', which is preinstalled.
However.. The one good thing I like about Blogger is, it has a CAPTCHA system unlike WordPress. But, you can install a plugin which asks the user to type the CAPTCHA on WordPress blogs too.
btw.. Good luck :)
The best Blogging Platform is WordPress and you can block all the spam comments with the help of the plugin called 'Askimet', which is preinstalled.
However.. The one good thing I like about Blogger is, it has a CAPTCHA system unlike WordPress. But, you can install a plugin which asks the user to type the CAPTCHA on WordPress blogs too.
btw.. Good luck :)
Good post Sanjeev. If you really want to make money online with your blog then I don't think Google Adsense will really bring in the money you are looking for. Try to join up with some affiliate programs and learn some affiliate marketing. That is one of the best ways to make money online because it doesn't have expensive start up costs as opposed to starting up your own business product and service.
My two cents
Learn to make money online now with affiliate programs!
My two cents
Learn to make money online now with affiliate programs!
Sanjeev, howsoever, you set up your adsense ads with proper positioning, you need a quality traffic to get the clicks and earn. As a viable alternative you can get your hands on CPA(Cost per Action)Affiliate Networks to make some big bucks. Of course, you will have adsense too.
What's your motivation for monetizing this blog? There are lots of good tips above but ask yourself if it's really worth it...
Cricket World Cup - Billions Lost, Billions Devastated, One Silver Lining
Friday, April 13, 2007 Permanent link to this post
Cricket World Cup 2007
The cricket world cup is going on in West Indies. Till now it has been a disaster - India and Pakistan, with a combined population of 1.2 billion and a cricket media market worth many billions went out of the contention in the first round itself. Billions of dollars were lost, billions of people were utterly devastated (for those who know the influence of cricket on lives of ordinary Indians and Pakistanis - they know how deep the hurt it) and the Pakistan team coach was even murdered.
Within all this turmoil, the Sri Lankan team has emerged as a bright silver lining. The small island country of 20 million or so with a deeply unstable political and social environment has produced a team that is holding the Asian flag high. The team itself is so unorthodox and quaint - it even has three players that won the world cup 11 years ago!! In the age of world's fascination with youth and everything skin deep, they bring a depth of skill that gives you reason to continue believing. Mukul Kesavan has captured the essence of Sri Lankan team in his blog on CricInfo. The blog post and the ensuing discussion is highly recommended for all with any interest in cricket.
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The cricket world cup is going on in West Indies. Till now it has been a disaster - India and Pakistan, with a combined population of 1.2 billion and a cricket media market worth many billions went out of the contention in the first round itself. Billions of dollars were lost, billions of people were utterly devastated (for those who know the influence of cricket on lives of ordinary Indians and Pakistanis - they know how deep the hurt it) and the Pakistan team coach was even murdered.
Within all this turmoil, the Sri Lankan team has emerged as a bright silver lining. The small island country of 20 million or so with a deeply unstable political and social environment has produced a team that is holding the Asian flag high. The team itself is so unorthodox and quaint - it even has three players that won the world cup 11 years ago!! In the age of world's fascination with youth and everything skin deep, they bring a depth of skill that gives you reason to continue believing. Mukul Kesavan has captured the essence of Sri Lankan team in his blog on CricInfo. The blog post and the ensuing discussion is highly recommended for all with any interest in cricket.
Labels: Cricket, India, Sri Lanka
Group Reputation System at Prosper.com - II
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Permanent link to this post
My last post on the group reputation system at Prosper.com focussed on the effectiveness of the system. Since then I have continued my research on the same and will likely deploy a survey to group leaders in next couple of months to test my hypotheses.
There has been a lot of research recently on online reputation systems like the ones used at eBay and Amazon. There are some important differences between the "individual" reputation systems at eBay etc and the group reputation system at Prosper.
Links
1. Thanks are due to Prosperous PF Strategies for leaving a thoughtful comment. Link to the comment.
2. Rate Ladder is an excellent resource for Prosper participants. It is a little cluttered with ads - but has great information.
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There has been a lot of research recently on online reputation systems like the ones used at eBay and Amazon. There are some important differences between the "individual" reputation systems at eBay etc and the group reputation system at Prosper.
- Seller Only Reputation: First of all, Prosper's reputation system is essentially a seller reputation system. Buyers do not need to prove their reputation as they bear all the risk (since they pay money upfront). This is a key difference compared to eBay where the reputation system includes both buyer as well as seller transactions.
- Credit Scores: While the reputation system is the ONLY window to a seller's reliability in eBay; in Propser, buyers have access to the credit history of sellers - which gives them all sorts of information to judge seller's reliability. So the reputation system here is of only incremental importance over and above the information available in the credit history. The group reputation system is essentially as secondary reputation system with the credit score being the primary reputation system.
- No Repeat Transactions: Unlike eBay and Amazon, sellers at Prosper rarely conduct repeat transactions (second, third loan). Since the sellers are unlikely to come back to the market, their incentive for keeping a great reputation in the market is quite low. Hence, there needs to be factors beyond the marketplace to force them into complying with buyer's expectations.
- Group's Core Connection: Prosper expects that if sellers are part of a tightly knit group then there would be peer pressure from the group for the seller to behave nicely. However, this would only be true if the group has a strong core connection (whether offline or online) which has some value to the seller. Currently most groups in Prosper do not have a core connection - they are just an online group of people with similar needs. This is unlikely to lead to good behavior by sellers and we have seen the evidence of same in the repayment data.
- Filtering by Groups: Prosper also expects the group to be a filtering mechanism where group leaders check the listings and only let trustworthy borrowers come to the market. However, many groups do not even enforce the mandatory review of the listing by the group leaders - so even this expectation is futile.
- Conclusions: Based on the above - we come to the following conclusion:
- Groups that share a strong core connection (offline or online) would perform better
- Groups that have a strong process for filtering listings would perform better
Links
1. Thanks are due to Prosperous PF Strategies for leaving a thoughtful comment. Link to the comment.
2. Rate Ladder is an excellent resource for Prosper participants. It is a little cluttered with ads - but has great information.
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