A research paper written by seven LMU MBA students received the Association of Indian Management Scholars (AIMS) – Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) Outstanding Paper Award at the 13th Annual AIMS International Conference on Management in Bangalore, India. The paper, titled “A Value Framework for Mobile Payment with Examples from Selected Asian Countries,” was written by Mailan Bui, Kiera Carvalho, Jennifer Evans, James Frakes, Paul Prisco, Heather Toll and Taylor Walker. It was presented on their behalf by Dr. Kala Seal, professor of Applied Information Management Systems at LMU’s College of Business Administration and director of the Comparative Management Systems (CMS) Program. The conference was organized by The Association of Indian Management Scholars (AIMS) International and the Indus Business Academy Bangalore with support from the International Forum of Management Scholars.
“It was such an honor to be represented at the AIMS conference and simply exhilarating to win the outstanding paper award,” said Jennifer Evans. “We were delighted to see our work recognized by such a prestigious organization.”
The students’ paper focused on how mobile payments are a potential threat to existing payment mechanisms in various markets. With the integration of near field communication (NFC) technology in new smartphones, that possibility is on the verge of becoming a reality. However, creating widespread adoption of mobile payments is still a huge challenge because of the complexities involved in delivering compelling values beyond those already offered by existing payment systems. The paper presents a framework to systematically investigate the values and barriers associated with mobile payment systems and validate it with examples from their field research in the US, South Korea, Japan and China.
“The true challenge of this process has been bringing together eight voices, with a wealth of information, in order to tell a single, succinct story,” said Heather Toll. “Dr. Seal was a great guide through this process, helping us filter through the minutia to identify the bigger story. This ultimately led to our framework (the 7 C’s) and the backbone of our paper. It’s incredibly rewarding to see what was once fragmented ideas and scribbled notes win an award and be so well received.”
Dr. Seal praised the student team noting, “This was a very talented group of students who really wanted to understand the changing world of mobile payment by conducting primary research. I had a terrific experience working with them and guiding them through the process. On their own, the team landed some impressive interviews with some of the leading mobile payment providers in the world such as Alibaba in China, SK Telecom in South Korea and Sony in Japan. During the trip, we worked hard but also had a ton of fun together! I am very proud of their achievement.”
To learn more, the full paper can be found here.
