How value drivers of internet medical business model affect value creation: a configurational approach

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how value drivers of internet medical business model affect value creation through a configurational approach. The internet medical business model (IMBM) is such a business model that integrates online and offline medical services with the driving force of internet technologies covering prediagnosis, in-diagnosis and postdiagnosis. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the support of national policies have boosted the development of internet health care. However, there are still many challenges in practice, such as the unclear innovation path, as well as difficulties in landing and profiting. Academic research has not yet provided sufficient theoretical insights. Therefore, to better explain and guide practice, it is urgent to clarify the innovation path and mechanism of value creation for IMBM. Design/methodology/approachBased on the sample of 58 internet medical firms in China, this paper adopts fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the configurational effects of IMBM's value drivers on value creation. FindingsBuilding on the business model canvas and the characteristics of internet health care, five value drivers of IMBM are identified, namely, functional value proposition, emotional value proposition, user involvement, resource capabilities and connection properties. And the five value drivers form three configurations, which are, respectively, labeled as resource-driven configuration, user-operated configuration and product-combined configuration. From the perspective of the integration of traditional and emerging theories, such as resource-based view, internet economics and value cocreation, each configuration leads to value creation and improves value results with different mechanisms behind it. Originality/valueFirst, combined with the business model canvas and the characteristics of internet health care, this paper identifies five value drivers of IMBM, thus improving the relevant research on internet health care. Second, based on the configurational effects, this paper discusses the mechanism behind the configurational effects of IMBM's value drivers on value creation, thus expanding relevant research on the value creation of business models. Third, applying fsQCA and combining the advantages of qualitative research and quantitative research, this paper adds to the configurations of IMBM's value drivers that achieve high-value results.

Potential Mechanism of Colchicine against COVID-19 and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer based on Network Pharmacology and Bioinformatics Analysis

Colchicine is an alkaloid with antitumor effect isolated from Colchicum autumnale plants, it has been reported in multiple studies as a potential treatment for coronavirus disease-19 and this study applied network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis to explore the potential mechanism of colchicine against non-small cell lung cancer and coronavirus disease-19. The R software was used to determine the differentially expressed genes of non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19, and carry out prognostic analysis and clinical analysis of the differentially expressed genes, the targets of colchicine were obtained from various databases, the protein-protein interaction network of intersection targets of colchicine and non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19 was constructed, enrichment analysis of gene ontology and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathways was performed by Metascape database and the molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation were completed. We obtained a total of 716 differentially expressed genes and identified 13 potential prognostic genes associated with the clinical characterization of non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19 patients. C-C motif chemokine ligand 2, toll like receptor 4, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma, interleukin 17A, interferon gamma, angiotensin I converting enzyme, fos proto-oncogene, nuclear factor kappa B inhibitor alpha, TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1 and secreted phosphoprotein 1 were core targets. The intersection targets of colchicine and non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19 were mainly enriched in biological processes such as inflammatory response, response to cytokine and response to lipopolysaccharide, as well as signal pathways such as interleukin 17 signaling pathway, hypoxia inducible factor 1 signaling pathway and nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-like receptor signaling pathway. The results of molecular docking showed that the colchicine is better combined with the core targets. Analysis of molecular dynamics simulation showed that the protein and ligand form a stabilizing effect. Based on bioinformatics analysis and network pharmacology, we obtained biomarkers that may be used for the prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19 patients and revealed that colchicine may play a potential role in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer/coronavirus disease-19 by regulating multiple targets and multiple signaling pathways and participating in multiple biological processes.