Evaluation of Alternative Market Channels for Farm-Raised Catfish

Abstract

Catfish producers have traditionally marketed catfish to centralized processing plants that eviscerate and fillet the fish for distribution to the food service sector and to retail markets. However, low prices offered by the processing plants since December of 2001 have fallen short of the breakeven costs for some farmers. Developing alternative marketing channels that offer higher prices to catfish producers have been suggested to help improve farmers' revenue by spreading price risks. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of alternative marketing channels and average size on the average price of farm-raised catfish. The results of this analysis suggest that catfish farmers can increase the average price received for live food-sized catfish by decreasing the percentage of fish marketed to processing plants and live haulers, while increasing the percentage of fish marketed to retail outlets in an average size range of 0.57 kg to 0.90 kg. This can be achieved with on-farm value-added processing. However, retail outlets are relatively limited and may not provide a solution to large-scale producers of the catfish farming industry.     

Price Tests to Define Markets: An Application to Wholesale Gasoline in Canda

The concept of relevant markets is fundamental to antitrust analysis, particularly to those relating to mergers. However, defining relevant markets is sometimes difficult ot operationalize. This has triggered a substantial literature in which price tests have been used to define both economic and antitrust markets. This paper reviews some price tests and applies them in order to define relevant geographic markets in wholesale gasoline in Canada. We find that relevant geographic markets can be larger than cities but smaller than East and West Canada.JEL classification: L490, L810The views expressed here are solely thoseof the authors and are not purpoted to be those of the Commissioner of Competition, the Competition Bureau, or Finance Canada.     

3PL服务提供商参与下的供应链定价及协调策略

基于单个制造商,单个3PL服务提供商和单个零售商组成的三级供应链系统,将第三方物流服务提供商定量的引入到供应链协调中来,并在物流服务价格由制造商和零售商共同分担的条件下,应用博弈论理论对供应链系统的定价、产量和利润进行了分析。联合定价时,运用相同利润总增长率的协调方式,确定了批发价和物流服务价格的大小;对独立决策和联合协调决策两种情形下均衡解的比较,得出协调定价不仅批发价、零售价和物流服务价都降低,而且还提高了供应链系统的整体利润;通过观察企业定价的大小,可以判断企业是否采取合作的态度,从而为决策者提供理论依据。     

A POST KEYNESIAN PERSPECTIVE ON COMMERCIAL BANK BEHAVIOR AND REGULATION

The purpose of this paper is to present a post Keynesian perspective on commercial bank behaviour and regulation. It is assumed that: i) the quantity of loans is endogenous; ii) banks are dual purpose institutions whose functions are to create credit and supply means of payment and liquidity; iii) uncertainty pervades decision making; and iv) banks are price setters in retail markets, but price takers in wholesale markets. The effects of a number of instruments of regulation are analysed including lender of last resort, liquid reserve requirements, deposit insurance, capital adequacy and open market operations.     

Price-matching guarantees in dual channels

Many retailers offer price-matching guarantees (PMGs) whereby they promise their customers that any lower price offered by competition for an identical product will be matched. Suppliers sometimes also offer PMGs to consumers in their direct channels. However, the extant literature on PMGs focuses on retailers and is silent on the role of upper stream chain members. We contribute to the literature by identifying the implications of PMGs in a dual distribution channel in which a supplier reaches consumers via a direct channel in addition to the retail channel. We show that the presence of PMGs in a dual channel hinges on supplier’s strategic ability, or lack thereof, to adjust its wholesale price in relation to the guarantee. Specifically, a PMG fails to prevail at equilibrium when the supplier is capable of strategically adjusting its wholesale price - but may prevail at equilibrium otherwise. The main reason is that the supplier can manage the competition between the retail channel and the direct channel through its wholesale price decision, and offering a PMG limits this ability. On the other hand, offering a PMG can be a beneficial strategy for the supplier when the supplier cannot adjust its wholesale price; for instance in a retail dominant chain where the retailer dictates the transfer price. In a retail dominant chain, if the direct and retail channels are perceived to be similar in quality and service offerings, then both channel members benefit from offering a PMG because it softens the intensity of price competition. On the other hand, when the two channels are sufficiently differentiated in quality and service offerings, then retail managers should be cautious and avoid offering the guarantee if their channel is in a superior position in terms of perceived quality.     

Pricing coordination of a dual-channel supply chain considering offline in-sale service

With the rapid development of e-commerce, the problem of pricing conflicts between online and offline channels has become increasingly prominent. And the in-sale service has become an important factor influencing consumers' purchase decisions. To study the impact of in-sale service, this paper establishes a dual-channel supply chain model considering offline in-sale service. Using Stackelberg's game theory and backward induction, it solves the optimal pricing of supply chain members and makes comparisons in both cooperative and non-cooperative situations. Finally, it coordinates the supply chain through a two-part tariff contract. The results show that (1) The optimal wholesale price and offline retail price are positively correlated with in-sale service quality. And the opposite of the optimal online direct selling price. (2) With the quality of in-sale service improving, the retailer's profit will increase and then decrease but the manufacturer's profit will always decrease under non-cooperation. The total profit of the supply chain will rise and then fall under cooperation. (3) The two-part tariff coordination maximizes profits with the manufacturer reducing the wholesale price and the retailer paying a transfer cost. (4) Cooperative decision is better than the non-cooperative decision in terms of the supply chain as a whole.     

蔬菜市场批零价差和价格传递机制分析——以北京市为例

我国蔬菜的市场零售价格不断上升的一个重要原因是蔬菜批零价差过大。因此,研究农产品不同流通环节的价格传递机制,对于提高农产品流通效率具有重要意义。对北京蔬菜市场上小白菜、西红柿和土豆的价格变化进行研究,发现零售价格是影响蔬菜批零价差的主要因素,同时也发现蔬菜市场的零售商对某些产品拥有一定的市场支配力,能够通过一定的途径提高零售价格,扩大价差。     

农产品批发价下的供应链协调研究

本文在回溯已有研究的基础上,主要研究在农产品批发价格情况下,供应链中各个环节的协调情况。其环节包括零售商根据供应商给予的批发价以及市场的需求情况决定相应的订购量,而供应商负责生产并给出批发价等,从而使供应链稳定发展。     

Assessing the Impact of Price Promotions on Consumer Response to Online Stockouts

The recent growth of e‐commerce technologies has disrupted the traditional retail environment, leading to more consumers shopping online. While the manner in which consumers shop is changing rapidly, our understanding of how changing consumer behaviors affect retail supply chain management is lacking. In particular, our understanding of how consumers react to stockouts in an online shopping environment remains unclear. Making the challenge even more difficult is the fact that price promotions are heavily used to attract consumers in an online retail environment where consumer switching costs are low. This research develops a theoretical framework, based on expectation‐disconfirmation theory, to explain the effect of price promotions on consumer expectations of product availability and their reactions to stockouts in an online retail environment. Surprisingly, our findings suggest that consumers are actually less dissatisfied with a stockout of a price promoted item than a nonprice promoted product and are less likely to switch to another retailer's website. These findings may suggest that price promotions actually create a type of switching cost in the online retail environment, leading to interesting implications for researchers and supply chain managers.     

Price transmission and volatility spillovers in Asian rice markets: Evidence from MGARCH and panel GARCH models

ABSTRACT

This article examines world rice price transmission and volatility spillovers across six major Asian rice markets over the period 2005-13. In addition to the conventional GARCH models, we use a panel GARCH framework to estimate the spillover effects along with the consideration of heterogeneity and interdependence among countries. Empirical results suggest that changes in the world rice price affected not only the price levels of domestic rice markets but also their conditional variances. Moreover, interdependence across rice markets contributed to a strong spillover of a price shock in one country to another within the region.     

Resilience and response of wine supply chains to disaster: the Christchurch earthquake sequence

ABSTRACT

The study of resilience for organisations and their extended supply chains has become an important field given the increase of supply chain disruptions. The 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes provide an opportunity to examine the resilience of supply chains to a disaster; the specific context of this study is the product category of wine. Theoretically, we use a three phase model of disaster resilience; readiness, response and recovery, to frame our study of the wine supply chain. We adopt a case study method to examine five members of the wine distribution channel, as a subsector of the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, from the wholesale sector to retail. We identify key factors of supply chain resilience: building performance, distributed networks of locations and IT, owned assets, critical infrastructure and adaptable work force. We report on the actions taken and what can mitigate future risk and enhance resilience in FMCG supply chains.     

不同市场力量下的再制造闭环供应链决策研究

本文建立了由一个制造商和两个竞争零售商组成的再制造闭环供应链博弈模型,研究了制造商领导的Stackelberg博弈、零售商领导的Stackelberg博弈、制造商和零售商Nash均衡博弈等三种市场力量结构,研究和对比了三种市场力量结构下的均衡回收率、批发价、零售价、渠道成员利润、渠道总利润。研究结果表明：零售商的回收率在市场无领导者时最高,在制造商领导的市场中最低。批发价格在制造商领导时最高,最小的是零售商领导情形。零售价在制造商领导时最高,最小是市场无领导者情形。消费者和整个行业均受益于无领导者的市场结构。然而,制造商和零售商均有动机成为领导者。在具市场领导的市场结构下,消费者和整个行业偏好零售商领导的市场结构。     

Incorporating sales and marketing considerations into a competitive multi-echelon distribution network design problem with pricing strategy in a stochastic environment

This paper presents a multi-echelon distribution network design problem with pricing strategy in a stochastic environment, where location, inventory, and pricing decisions in retail and wholesale channels are made simultaneously. The considered network is comprised of a central warehouse, a set of distribution centers, and a set of retailers and wholesalers. The objective of the problem is to maximize the supply chain profit. The decisions include the location of distribution centers and the allocation of retailers and wholesalers to them, order-size for each distribution center and product price at retail and wholesale channels for different payment conditions. A mixed-integer nonlinear mathematical model was formulated and solved using the Lagrangian relaxation method and a Genetic algorithm. Computational results indicate that Lagrangian relaxation algorithm has good performance in terms of objective function value and runtime, even in large sized problems.     

Country of Origin Association in Retail and Wholesale Branding

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to consider country of origin in terms of its association with brand heritage and its implications in fashion branding, thus providing a new perspective within the context of retail and wholesale brands. This qualitative study demonstrates how country of origin is widely used as a communicative tool by retail and wholesale brands, associated with brand heritage. However, the way country of origin is manifested and/or associated (e.g., brand name, color, etc.) varies depending on a brand's history, positioning, brand value, and the type of market sector that the retail and wholesale brands are targeting.     

Musings on the Macroeconomic Effects of Oil Price Increases

In considering the macroeconomic effects of oil price increases, it is important to be mindful of whether changes come from the supply or demand side and whether they are accompanied by impacts on financial markets. Also, it is important to know whether a change is likely to be temporary or permanent and whether it can be offset by policy responses. Finally, the short-run effects of oil price changes are likely to be different from the long-run effects. This paper explores these questions and their ramifications for macroeconomic growth.     

Transmission of Rice Prices from Thailand into West African Markets: The Case of Benin,Mali, and Senegal

ABSTRACT

The integration of West African rice market to the world market is assessed in order to derive the implication for food security. To this end, the transmission of rice price changes on the world market to selected markets in West Africa was examined to test for the presence of transaction costs. Using the two-regime threshold cointegration procedure on monthly price data, evidence in support of the hypothesis of asymmetric price transmission was found between Thailand and some West African markets. Price increases on the world market were more quickly transmitted to domestic price than were price decreases in Benin and Mali, suggesting short-run dynamic inefficiencies and the presence of transaction costs. In Senegal, the adjustment was linear, suggesting greater integration with the world rice market. The results suggest that West African governments should design and implement adequate policies to develop the domestic rice sector, improve market infrastructures in order to reduce their country dependency to international markets and ensure food security.     

Market Efficiency and Price Discovery in Cocoa Markets

ABSTRACT

This paper tests the efficiency and price discovery mechanism in the cocoa cash and futures markets over the period March 1981–August 2009. The results indicate that the price discovery is done in the cash market and spreads to the futures markets and that the futures price can be seen as an unbiased predictor of future cash prices. There is no sign of a risk premium in the futures price. Since the cash behaves like a random walk we cannot reject market efficiency.     

Work Ethic,Locus of Control and Salesforce Task Performance

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between work ethic, locus of control and salesforce task performance. Using data from Uganda retail firms, this study finds that work ethic was a significant positive predictor of salesforce task performance. Further, there was a significant relationship between the different behavioural families of work-related activity work withdrawal behaviours, organizational retaliation behaviours and salesforce task performance. Results from regression analysis indicate that organizational retaliation behaviours and work withdrawal behaviours are important factors for explaining declining performance of salespeople in Uganda retail firms. Managers aiming to improve salesforce task performance should recruit individuals with a strong work ethic. Additionally, retail managers need to reduce work withdrawal and organizational retaliation behaviours so as to increase salesforce task performance.     

Decomposing the effect of advertising: What happens in the retail channel?

The diverging interests of manufacturers and retailers famously give rise to the double marginalization problem but have consequences far beyond pricing. Advertising is another marketing instrument that is under the control of the manufacturer but its ultimate effect on consumer demand also depends on retailers’ pricing decisions. We decompose the effect of advertising in the channel and highlight an additional route through which advertising affects sales, namely via the changes in the retail price that a strategic retailer makes in response to changes in demand following manufacturer advertising. The total demand effect of advertising thus comprises the direct effects of advertising on market shares, and the indirect effects coming through adjustments that the retailer makes to the in-store prices of all the brands in a given product category in response to the shifted demand due to advertising. We match advertising data for four different categories (both food and non-food) to store-level scanner panel data, which also include information on wholesale prices. Controlling for wholesale prices, we establish in a reduced-form model that the retailer reacts to manufacturer advertising by changing retail prices instead of simply imposing a constant markup on the wholesale price. To further explore the role of the strategic response of the retailer in a systematic fashion and quantify the effects derived in the decomposition, we estimate a discrete-choice model of demand and determine the magnitude of the direct and indirect effects. We find that the indirect effect of advertising through retailer prices is about half the size of the direct effect, and thus substantively affects advertising effectiveness.     

粮食价格波动对主产区福利影响的实证分析

基于粮食主产区1978—2009年粮食生产与消费的相关数据,在对粮食供给弹性和需求弹性估计的基础上,运用Minot福利效应模型,分析粮食价格波动引致主产区福利变化及其影响。结果表明:主产区生产福利变动与粮食生产价格变动具有同向作用关系,而消费福利变动与粮食零售价格变动具有负向作用关系;粮食价格变动引起主产区福利变化的长期福利效应优于短期福利效应,但整体效果不明显。