Dynamic pricing in subsidized performing arts

While current pricing strategies in public theaters are mostly based on static schemes, this paper analyzes the potential of dynamic pricing. Subsidized performing arts organizations face the challenge of selling a fixed capacity (available seats of a venue) to a broad and varied audience. Based on the literature and on empirical evidence from a survey among Swiss theaters, we discuss whether and to what extent yield management and uniform‐price auctions—two widespread dynamic pricing mechanisms in the Internet age—can be applied to public theaters in view of the particular goals and targets imposed by their source of funding and by subsidy contracts. Our analysis suggests that although the application of yield management may not be advantageous in the current environment, the introduction of dynamic elements (including auctions) to prevailing pricing strategies can help public theaters respond to temporal demand fluctuations and fill up performances with a varied audience. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pricing‐to‐Market and Market Structure*

Stimulated by imperfect competition/sticky prices framework of the new open economy macroeconomics, empirical research has reconsidered the role of exchange rates in international adjustment. This paper reassesses the link between exchange rates and traded good prices by estimating pricing‐to‐market equations for the five main euro area countries over the period 1990–99. We minimize selection biases by keeping all manufacturing products and all destination markets and show that exchange rate pass‐through (ERPT) is much larger, almost complete, than previously estimated. Thanks to a huge variability in terms of exchange rate variations, products and destination markets, we can map differences in ERPT into market structures and, at the same time, reconcile our results with the empirical literature. We find that ERPT is highly incomplete for sales by oligopolistic industries into advanced economies, indeed in the order of 50–60% as previously estimated. ERPT is instead almost complete in emerging and developing economies where therefore exchange rate movements can help adjust external imbalances. We also find that ERPT is largely asymmetric: it is almost complete after an appreciation of the exporter's currency, rather incomplete after a depreciation. This result is very robust across specifications.     

基于预算约束的商品房价格形成机制研究

我国商品房市场上存在一定程度的预算约束。本文通过类比的方法,参考经典预算约束方程,得出了商品房交易市场的预算约束方程,并在此基础上通过理论分析和实证分析得出了商品房价格形成机制。笔者认为,流动性、城市化、人均可支配收入、交易量、持有成本为商品房价格的主要影响因素。从预算约束角度出发对商品房价格的形成机制进行研究,对政府的住房需求治理具有一定的参考意义。     

Q‐FACTORS IN EMPIRICAL ASSET PRICING: A REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS

The latest development in the asset pricing literature is the emergence of empirical asset pricing models comprising q‐factors (profitability and investment factors) in conjunction with other factors. However, as in the case of the older empirical models, there is scepticism regarding the application of these newer factor models consisting of q‐factors because of the debate surrounding the explanatory power of these empirically inspired asset pricing models. This review attempts to synthesize studies pertaining to the four alternative explanations of the asset pricing models comprising the q‐factors (profitability and investment) – the data snooping hypothesis, the risk‐based explanation, the irrational investor behaviour explanation and the interpretation that suggest that the combination of the risk‐free asset and the factors comprising the model span the mean‐variance efficient tangency portfolio that prices the universe of assets.     

Iterative Project Processes Within Temporary Multi‐Organizations in Construction: The Self‐, Eco‐, Re‐Organizing Projects

Theory‐based studies claim that informal processes interfere with the formal mechanisms and structures of projects in the construction sector. These processes structure and transform multi‐organizations. This four‐year case study reveals empirical evidence about how processes effectively evolve over time and affect formal mechanisms and structures. The results show: (1) the significant differences between what is planned and what actually unfolds in project processes; (2) how iterative processes overshadow linear ones; (3) how informality and “iterativity” eventually end up as self‐, eco‐, and re‐organizing projects and organizations, confirming that projects (re)create the very processes and structures that initiate them.     

Automatic‐renewal contracts with heterogeneous consumer inertia

Automatic contract renewals are a common feature in consumer markets. Since these contracts renew automatically unless a consumer actively cancels, firms can use them to exploit consumer inertia. As a source of inertia I study limited attention and investigate how firms use contract renewal to sell to consumers with different degrees of inattention. In monopolistic markets, adverse selection of more‐attentive consumers limits the exploitation of naively inattentive consumers. When signing a contract, naively inattentive consumers overestimate their future probability to make an active cancellation decision. To exploit this mistake, the monopolist wants to target these consumers with large prices after contracts renew. These back‐loaded contracts, however, adversely attract more‐attentive consumers who cancel more often when choosing these exploitative contracts. To mitigate adverse selection, monopolists focus less on exploiting naively inattentive consumers. Adverse selection induces fewer consumer mistakes and can increase efficiency. I show that competition mitigates adverse selection, which induces firms to focus more on exploitation with more back‐loaded pricing. I discuss implications for recently implemented policies on automatic‐renewal contracts.     

Learning quality through prices and word‐of‐mouth communication

This paper studies the effect of word‐of‐mouth communication on the optimal pricing strategy for new experience goods. I consider a dynamic monopoly model with asymmetric information about product quality, in which consumers learn in equilibrium from both prices and other consumers. The main result is that word‐of‐mouth communication is essential for the existence of separating equilibria, wherein the high‐quality monopolist signals high quality through a low introductory price (lower than the monopoly price), and the low‐quality one charges the monopoly price. The intuition is simple: low prices are costly, and will only be used by firms confident enough that increased experimentation (and therefore communication among consumers) will yield good news about quality and increased future profits. Additional results are the following: for the high‐quality seller, the expected price (quantity) is increasing (decreasing) over time; whereas for the low‐quality one, the opposite is true. Moreover, signaling becomes more difficult when consumers pay less attention to their peers' reports and more attention to past prices. Finally, word‐of‐mouth communication improves consumer welfare.     

Conceptualizing businesses as social actors: A framework for understanding sustainability actions in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) can play a crucial role in advancing environmental and social well‐being. Yet various—often conflicting—explanations have been offered to clarify why SMEs pursue sustainability. Some arguments foreground possibilities of profit maximization, whereas others emphasize individual values and convictions. Research supporting such contradicting explanations is often biased towards large enterprises or small, innovative frontrunners. In this article, we examine the underlying drivers of social and environmental interventions of SMEs by exploring empirical data from a survey of over 1,600 Canadian SMEs and complementary in‐depth interviews. We argue that sustainability actions of SMEs can be understood by viewing these firms as social actors—organizations that are shaped by individual values, internal and external interpersonal relationships, and are embedded in a social environment. This conceptualization directs attention to the full range of factors that shape sustainability engagement of SMEs and highlights frequently overlooked forms of sustainability‐oriented actions.     

Peer‐to‐Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer‐to‐peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client–server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all peers are endowed with standard preferences and show that the endogenous structure of the network is conducive to sharing by a significant number of peers, even if sharing is costlier than freeriding. We build on this model of p2p to analyze the optimal strategy of a profit‐maximizing firm, such as Apple, that offers content available at positive prices. We characterize the size of the p2p network as a function of the firm's pricing strategy, and show that the firm may be better off setting high prices, allowing the network to survive, and that the p2p network may work more efficiently in the presence of the firm than in its absence.     

“Music to our ears”: understanding why Canadians donate to arts and cultural organizations

The contribution of donations and volunteer time to North American arts and cultural organizations is impressive. Growing economic uncertainty coupled with the increasingly competitive nature of philanthropic work and fluctuating volunteerism rates describe some of the challenges facing nonprofit managers in the arts and cultural field today. The intent of this study was to explain charitable giving to an arts and cultural organization in a Canadian context using variables supported in the literature related to philanthropic behavior. The variables included the norm of social responsibility, donor benefits, philanthropic behavior, and household income. Data (233 questionnaires) were collected at a renowned community symphony with revenue from various sources including over $1 million annually in private support. Multiple regression analysis determined two of the four hypotheses were supported and two were partially confirmed. While the norm of social responsibility and household income did confirm existing literature, philanthropic behavior seemed only defined by length of time as donor rather than by volunteering for arts and cultural organizations and donor benefits included tax incentives but not receiving a “gift” in exchange for a support. Research such as this, which contributes to our understanding of arts and cultural donors and the benefits they seek, continues to be important with the potential to inform nonprofit managers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward High Reliability Project Organizing in Safety‐Critical Projects

High reliability organizations claim to be special organizations that have consistently demonstrated safe performance in operating environments, which are simultaneously of high technical complexity, high consequence, and high tempo. This article argues that the literature on high reliability organizing, which emerged through studying day‐to‐day operations in the nuclear industry, air traffic control industry, and U.S. navy aircraft carriers, might hold important lessons for how the project management community can approach the management of safety‐critical projects—projects in which safety is of paramount importance. Its aim is to consider how high reliability organizing might be realized in these safety‐critical projects.     

The making of twenty‐first‐century HR: An analysis of the convergence of HRM,HRD, and OD

Twenty‐first‐century HR is emerging to uniquely combine activities and processes of human resource management (HRM), human resource development (HRD), and organization development (OD)—three fields that “grew up” distinct from each other. Contributing strategically to organizations demands that HRM, HRD, and OD coordinate, partner, and think innovatively about how they relate and how what they do impacts people and organizations. An analysis of the evolutions of these fields helps to explain why the distinctions between them continue to blur and how the similarities among them provide the necessary synergy for HR to be a truly valued organizational partner. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Alignment,integration, and consistency in HRM across multi‐employer networks

Most studies of human resource management (HRM) have been conducted within the context of the single employing organization, which is strange given the recent growth in multi‐employer networks. In this study, the authors examine whether alignment, integration, and consistency—concepts central to or implicit in most analyses of HRM—has meaning and relevance in the multi‐employer context. They focus specifically on networks in which collaboration is intended to deliver high levels of product quality or customer service, precisely where one might expect employers would be attracted to “strong” HRM systems. Data was collected via interviews and document analysis in four networks, spanning both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom. Despite a set of potentially favorable conditions within these networks to promote alignment, integration, and consistency, implementation was impeded by other equally powerful forces, including differences in employer goals within networks, especially between public and private sector organizations; intraorganizational tensions within internal labor markets for organizations involved in networks; using divergent HR policies between organizations within multi‐employer networks; and contradictions between the pursuit of “among employee” or “temporal” consistency for workers. Rather than prescribing a one‐size‐fits‐all solution for these problems, it is argued that detailed analysis of each network is necessary. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”

This paper explores what sustainability managers do when attempting to scale sustainability to a strategic level within their organization. Drawing on semistructured interview data with 44 sustainability managers in large, for‐profit companies, we identify three distinct scaling microstrategies that individuals use when scaling sustainability. We label these conforming, leveraging, and shaping. Our analysis also finds that sustainability managers deploy combinations of these microstrategies in three distinct approaches, which we call the assimilation approach, the mobilization approach, and the transition approach. Finally, we interrogate the degree to which employing these different approaches achieves a peripheral, intermediate, or strategic scale of sustainability within the organizations represented in the study. Our paper contributes to theory and practice at the interface of strategy and sustainability by developing a practice‐based Scaling Approach Framework, whereby an assimilation approach is associated with organizations with sustainability at a peripheral scale, a mobilization approach is associated with an intermediate scale of sustainability, and a transition approach is associated with scaling sustainability to a strategic level. From these results, we propose a Scaling Progression Model that reflects the phases that individuals progress through when scaling sustainability.     

Cross‐hedging and forward‐contract pricing of electricity in the Pacific Northwest

This paper develops a linear regression model for using actively traded NYMEX natural gas futures as a cross‐hedge against electricity spot‐price risk in the Pacific Northwest and for pricing the forward contracts in the presence of temperature and hydro risks. Our approach comports with reality and provides power purchasers with an effective instrument through which they can hedge their electricity bets through natural gas futures. It also demonstrates the sharp month‐to‐month variations in the natural gas futures' optimal hedge ratios and hedge effectiveness. Finally, it finds significant risk premiums in the Pacific Northwest forward prices, supporting the hypothesis that forward‐contract buyers are relatively more risk‐averse than sellers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multilevel examination of skills‐oriented human resource management and perceived skill utilization during recession: Implications for the well‐being of all workers

This article examines whether organizations can enhance employee well‐being by adopting human resource management (HRM) practices strategically targeted to improve skill development and deployment in a recessionary context. Employee skill utilization is proposed as the mediating mechanism between HRM practice and well‐being. The role of workplace skill composition is also examined as a boundary condition within which HRM differentially impacts employee outcomes. Using a nationally representative survey of UK workplaces (Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2011) and matched management and employee data, the analysis focused on organizations that had implemented some recessionary action following the 2008–2009 global financial and economic crisis. The findings show that human capital enhancing HRM and enriched job design positively influenced both job satisfaction and work‐related affective well‐being through increased employee skill utilization. Organizations with predominantly high‐skilled workforces were more likely to adopt these skills‐oriented HRM practices. Nevertheless, the effects of HRM on employee outcomes via skill utilization applied across organizations, regardless of workforce skill composition. The findings demonstrate employee skill utilization as a driver of HRM outcomes and the sustainability of “best practice” HRM arguments across all skill levels, even in the face of recession.     

The Network‐Performance Relationship in Knowledge‐Intensive Contexts—A Meta‐Analysis and Cross‐Level Comparison

This study examines the generalizability of the network‐performance relationship across individual and group levels, focusing on knowledge‐intensive contexts. Drawing on a meta‐analytical approach, we synthesize the results of 102 empirical studies to test whether network characteristics such as centrality, brokerage, and tie strength similarly influence the job performance of individuals and groups. Results show that while there are no differences in the direction of the network‐performance relationship across levels, there are substantial differences in magnitude. Individual performance profits more strongly from a high number of direct connections, whereas groups reap higher benefits from brokerage positions. Additional analyses reveal that the network measurement method, tie content, and performance criteria function as moderators of the network performance relationship, but their influence is consistent neither across network characteristics nor across levels. By meta‐analytically comparing and contrasting the network‐performance relationship for individuals and groups, we contribute to multilevel research on networks and organizations. Particularly, we move toward the development of a multilevel homology theory of networks. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Creating a company‐wide,on‐line,performance management system: A case study at TRW Inc.

When new company leadership took the helm in 2001, TRW sought to create systems that supported what was, in essence, a cultural revolution—a new culture driven by six company‐wide “Behaviors.” Impeding this revolution, however, were the countless systems and methods for evaluating and managing the development of TRW's nearly 100,000 employees. The senior Management Committee challenged TRW's human resources function to create a common, on‐line, company‐wide system that supports performance appraisal, professional development, and succession management. A cross‐disciplinary and cross‐business team led by the Director of Leadership Development created a uniform Web‐based system in four short months. This system is now in place company‐wide in 36 countries on five continents. The approach we took and the success we have enjoyed can be replicated by other organizations seeking a uniform and effective way to evaluate and develop employees. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pricing by state‐owned enterprises: the case of postal services

Sappington and Sidak develop a model of state‐owned enterprise (SOE) pricing behavior in which firms maximize a weighted average of revenues and profits. The model predicts that SOEs will lower prices in more‐elastic markets and raise them in less‐elastic markets if the weight they place on profit is positive. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 relaxed the institutional constraints on pricing by the US Postal Service, which allows a test of the Sappington–Sidak model. The model's predictions are broadly confirmed. Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006, which may help address some anticompetitive concerns in this industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.