Brand loyalty and user skills

The paper develops the idea that brand loyalty is a rational thing for a consumer to have. The reason is that a consumer's experience with a brand creates user skills which make that brand more useful to the consumer than other brands, even though these, given the same experience, would be equally useful. In a brand switching model this implies that the consumer will switch brands only if there is an adequately large price differential and that the required price differential increases with user skills. The theory is related to standard search theory and it is shown that user skills and search costs have similar effects in the sense that either can support price dispersion in a market.     

Price competition and the Bertrand model: the paradox of the German mobile discount market

We investigate the degree of price competition among telecommunication firms. Underlying a Bertrand model of price competition, we empirically model pricing behaviour in an oligopoly. We analyse panel data of individual pricing information of mobile phone contracts offered between 2011 and 2017. We provide empirical evidence that price differences as well as reputational effects serve as a signal to buyers and significantly affect market demand. Additionally, we find that brands lead to an increase in demand and thus are able to generate spillover effects even after price increase.     

Mixed pricing in oligopoly with limited monopoly

We analyze price competition between two brands. Buyers consist of switchers and two segments of customers with limited brand loyalty. We identify a unique symmetric mixed-strategy price equilibrium and find that competition is most relaxed when there exists some switchers.     

Brand price differentials in retail distribution: product quality and service quality

A theoretical model is proposed to disentangle the contribution of brand quality and retailer service quality in explaining brand price differentials across retailers. Two testable hypotheses emerge: (i) for each brand type, price differences across retailers are independent of brand quality differentials and (ii) at a given retailer, price differences between different brand qualities are independent of service quality differentials. Our empirical analysis, for a sample of the U.K. grocery retailer prices, discloses that retailers that offer higher service quality sell same quality brands at higher prices. In particular, service quality premia amount to 6% for national brands and are in the range of 9–15% for low-quality store brands. Besides, at a given retailer, the price premia paid for the national brand are very large: around 150% between national brands and low-quality store brands, and around 40% between national brands and high-quality store brands. Also, the price differential between the national brand and the low-quality store brand does not increase with service quality.     

Choice, price competition and complexity in markets for health insurance

The United States and other nations rely on consumer choice and price competition between competing health plans to allocate resources in the health sector. While a great deal of research has examined the efficiency consequences of adverse selection in health insurance markets, less attention has been devoted to other aspects of consumer choice. The nation of Switzerland offers a unique opportunity to study price competition in health insurance markets. Switzerland regulates health insurance markets with the aim of minimizing adverse selection and encouraging strong price competition. We examine consumer responses to price differences in local markets and the degree of price variation in local markets. Using both survey data and observations on local markets we obtain evidence suggesting that as the number of choices offered to individuals grows, their willingness to switch plans given a set of price dispersion differences declines, which allows large price differences for relatively homogeneous products to persist. We consider explanations for this phenomenon from economics and psychology.     

品牌经济学的理论基础——引入品牌的需求曲线及其经济学分析

需求定律是经济学分析的理论基础之一,品牌经济学的理论基础为引入品牌的需求曲线或考虑选择成本的需求定律。把品牌引入经济学中后,品牌信用度的提高使需求曲线右移并变得更为陡峭,同时品牌信用度的提高改变了需求曲线的位置,使得均衡价格提高,均衡数量增加,增加了消费者剩余和生产者剩余,提高了社会福利水平。文章为“品牌战”替代“价格战”提供了理论依据,即通过品牌建设提高品牌信用度,使得在价格提高的条件下需求量增加,而这只有在需求曲线改变位置时方能做到。     

Time lags in the pass-through of crude oil prices: big data evidence from the German gasoline market

This article investigates the pass-through of global Brent oil notations to fuel prices across the oligopoly of retail majors in Germany. We assemble a high-frequency panel data set that encompasses millions of price observations and allows us to distinguish effects by brand. Upon establishing a cointegrating relationship between fuel and crude oil prices using daily data, we estimate an ECM and find that (1) the pass-through of oil prices critically depends on the number of time lags included in the ECM; (2) strict adherence to classical information criteria for determining lag length yields extremely long pass-through durations and (3) the estimated impulse response functions are virtually identical across brands, irrespective of the lag count, suggesting a high degree of competition among brands.     

基于层次分析法的企业品牌竞争力评价与测度研究

随着经济全球化的发展,企业面临的竞争逐渐上升为品牌竞争。品牌竞争力同品牌资产价值一样,更侧重于品牌在外在市场上所表现出的相对竞争能力,更具有直观性和可比性。因此,构筑科学合理的企业品牌竞争力评价指标体系,可对企业的品牌竞争力进行科学准确的综合评价,有助于为企业的品牌管理和品牌竞争力的提升提供决策依据。     

A Theory of International Strategic Alliance

As an alternative to exporting, a firm can enter a foreign market by forging a strategic alliance with its foreign counterpart. The alliance eliminates transportation costs and duplications in product distribution networks. At the same time, strategic alliance lessens competition between the firms so that it leads to smaller outputs and higher prices. The degree of lessening of competition depends on the firms’ ability to commit to output levels. In the case where the firms can credibly commit to output levels, the alliance effectively becomes a cartel, restoring prices to the monopoly level. On the other hand, if such commitment is not credible or not possible, prices will be lower than the monopoly level but will still be higher than that if firms had exported to each other's market directly. The welfare effects of the strategic alliance are in general ambiguous.     

Strategic Pricing, Consumer Search and the Number of Firms

We examine an oligopoly model where some consumers engage in costly non-sequential search to discover prices. There are three distinct price-dispersed equilibria characterized by low, moderate and high search intensity. The effects of an increase in the number of firms on search behaviour, expected prices, price dispersion and welfare are sensitive (i) to the equilibrium consumers' search intensity, and (ii) to the status quo number of firms. For instance, when consumers search with low intensity, an increase in the number of firms reduces search, does not affect expected price, leads to greater price dispersion and reduces welfare. In contrast, when consumers search with high intensity, increased competition results in more search and lower prices when the number of competitors in the market is low to begin with, but in less search and higher prices when the number of competitors is large. Duopoly yields identical expected price and price dispersion but higher welfare than an infinite number of firms.     

A tale of two Italian cities: brand-level milk demand and price competition

We apply the BLP random coefficient logit model demand model to fluid milk sales data from two north-south Italian cities: Turin and Naples. By virtue of their location and socioeconomic differences, these cities provide a natural experiment for contrasting consumer choices and retail market power related to milk physical and marketing characteristics. Results reveal that, regardless of location, consumers negatively value price increases, fat content and ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment. However, location matters with respect to brand and type of milk purchased. While in Turin (the higher-income region) demand for the leading manufacturers’ brands is the most price inelastic, in Naples consumers have the lowest price elasticities in case of cheaper milk, often small manufacturer or private label brands. Unlike previous studies, we do not find price elasticities for private labels to be consistently lower (or markups to be higher) compared to manufacturer brands, indicating that private labels have reached maturity in these markets. Further, while demand for fresh milk is more price inelastic in Turin, it is more inelastic for UHT milk in Naples. Likewise, markups and Lerner indexes are higher for fresh milk in Turin and for UHT in Naples corresponding to the more inelastic demands under Bertrand price competition.     

Consumer poaching,brand switching,and price transparency

This paper addresses price transparency on the consumer side in markets with behavioral price discrimination which feature welfare reducing brand switching. When long-term contracts are not available, an increase in transparency intensifies competition, lowers prices and profits, reduces brand switching and benefits consumers and welfare. With long-term contracts, an increase in transparency reduces the use of long-term contracts, leading to more brand switching and a welfare loss. Otherwise, the results are the same as without long-term contracts.     

论企业品牌经营与核心竞争力的提升

在经济全球化背景下,发达国家的成熟品牌纷纷进驻中国,在激烈的竞争中,我们己明显地感到我国企业与经济发达国家企业的差距。现阶段,品牌经营在企业间激烈的竞争中越发展现出其内在的优势。同时,对核心竞争力的发掘、培育和管理也成为企业谋取独特的、持久的竞争优势的重要途径。因此,致力于企业核心竞争力与品牌经营的研究,帮助我国企业提高综合素质,增强核心竞争力,培育强势品牌,走向国际市场具有极为重要的现实意义。文章通过对品牌和核心竞争力两方面的基本理论进行分析和总结,指出推行科学化品牌经营,是企业巩固、维护核心竞争力不可或缺的基本修炼与手段。     

DEA在轿车企业品牌战略有效性评价中的应用

本文将DEA方法引入国内轿车企业品牌战略有效性研究中,通过对国内轿车行业品牌竞争状况的综合分析和八家企业品牌战略有效性的评价,以及合资品牌与自主品牌的比较,指出合资品牌和自主品牌目前在品牌建设中存在的问题及其改进方向,为国内轿车企业提升品牌竞争力提供建议。     

Mergers, brand competition, and the price of a pint

Mergers in the UK brewing industry have reduced the number of national brewers from six to four. The number of brands, in contrast, has remained relatively constant. We analyze the effects of mergers on brand competition and pricing. Brand-level demand equations are estimated from a panel of draft beers. To model brand-substitution possibilities, we estimate the matrix of cross-price elasticities semiparametrically. Our structural model is used to assess the strength of brand competition along various dimensions and to evaluate the mergers. In particular, we compute equilibria of pricing games with different numbers of players.     

品牌经济学的理论基础——引入品牌的需求曲线及其经济学分析

把品牌引入经济学后,品牌信用度的提高使得需求曲线发生变化,一方面在其他条件不变的情况下,品牌信用度的提高将有效地降低消费者的选择成本,消费者“趋利避害”的本性使得在任意价格下需求量增加,需求曲线右移;另一方面品牌信用度的提高使得品牌商品的需求弹性变小,需求曲线变陡峭。引入品牌后改变了需求曲线的位置和形状乃品牌经济学的理论基础。在此基础上,品牌信用度的提高通过改变需求曲线的位置将使得均衡价格提高,且均衡数量增加,同时将会增加消费者剩余和生产者剩余,提高社会福利水平。     

Smoke screen: Estimating the tax pass‐through to cigarette prices in Pakistan

This article estimates and compares the speed and magnitude of the tax pass‐through across major cigarette brands at different price points (budget, mainstream, and premium) in Pakistan by using a novel dataset of monthly observations on cigarette prices in 50 cities during the period 2004 to 2015. The empirical analysis indicates that the pass‐through of cigarette taxes to the final consumer price is fast but incomplete in Pakistan. The pass‐through coefficient is estimated to be in the range of 70 to over 90 percent across four major cigarette brands, and most of the pass‐through occurs contemporaneously within a period of 2 months. The results imply that a 1‐Pakistan rupee (PR ) increase in taxation leads to an increase of PR s 0.8, on average, in cigarette prices. In other words, cigarette taxes are undershifted to consumers in Pakistan. With respect to the tax pass‐through at different price tiers (budget, mainstream, and premium), I find significant variation in the pass‐through coefficient, which is close to one for the premium cigarette brand and significantly lower for the budget and mainstream cigarette brands.     

区域品牌发展潜力测评指标体系探讨

随着我国经济的快速发展以及国际市场竞争的不断加剧,品牌竞争力已经成为一个企业综合竞争力的重要体现。本文以品牌竞争力的来源为切入点,分离出品牌发展潜力的构成要素。结合区域品牌的特点以及形成要素,提出了由品牌创新力、品牌资源力、品牌营销力、品牌成长力和品牌管理力构成的区域品牌发展潜力测评指标体系。通过对这些基础要素的评价。以期对区域品牌竞争力的提升寻求基础支撑。     

Price discrimination and price dispersion in a duopoly

This paper analyses the problem of price discrimination in a market where consumers have heterogeneous preferences both over a horizontal parameter (brand) and a vertical one (quality). Discriminatory contracts are characterized for different market structures. It is shown that price dispersion, i.e. the observed range of prices for each class of customers, increases almost everywhere as competition is introduced in the market.     

中国轿车行业的品牌价值及其动态变化趋势——基于特征价格模型的实证研究

中国轿车行业的品牌价值正处于动态变化的趋势之中。在控制产品差异化特征之后,外国品牌对本土品牌具有显著的溢价,但其溢价逐年递减;在4大类国别品牌中,欧系品牌具有显著的溢价,其溢价也在逐年递减;在10类企业品牌中,6个企业有显著的品牌溢价,1个有显著的品牌折价,其它品牌则不显著。轿车的车型特征与价格之间的关系并非简单的线性关系,而是呈现出"U型"的关系。这些研究结果有助于我们理解近几年来本土企业对自主品牌的发展战略所进行的调整。