The impact of technology advancement strategies on consumers' patronage decisions

Among the many factors that encourage return patronage of incumbent technology, two that have received scholarly attention in other contexts are network externalities and switching costs. However, the roles of network externalities and switching costs in encouraging return patronage of technology have not yet been subjected to rigorous empirical testing. Furthermore, no examination has been conducted of the degree to which these factors play a role in the success or failure of corporate technology advancement strategies designed to encourage return patronage. In this context, we propose a systematic framework to explore the nature of the links between technology advancement strategies and consumer technology patronage via network externalities and switching costs. Based on consumer survey data from South Korea, we find empirical support for the link between technology advancement strategies and consumers' technology patronage. Specifically, both network externalities and switching costs are found to be positively associated with technology patronage. According to this study, consumers value compatibility because it gives them access to a larger network. Further, compatibility strategy is associated with the costs involved in switching away from incumbent technology because of an abundant or varied supply of complementary goods. The results also show that preannouncement is a key marketing strategy to achieve favorable expectations and to retain the patronage of current technology users. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE PROFITABILITY OF TECHNICAL ANALYSIS?

Abstract.  The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence on the profitability of technical analysis. The empirical literature is categorized into two groups, 'early' and 'modern' studies, according to the characteristics of testing procedures. Early studies indicate that technical trading strategies are profitable in foreign exchange markets and futures markets, but not in stock markets. Modern studies indicate that technical trading strategies consistently generate economic profits in a variety of speculative markets at least until the early 1990s. Among a total of 95 modern studies, 56 studies find positive results regarding technical trading strategies, 20 studies obtain negative results, and 19 studies indicate mixed results. Despite the positive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies, most empirical studies are subject to various problems in their testing procedures, e.g. data snooping, ex post selection of trading rules or search technologies, and difficulties in estimation of risk and transaction costs. Future research must address these deficiencies in testing in order to provide conclusive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies.     

实施自主创新战略的国家级大学科技园

华东理工科技园是依托华东理工大学专业优势而创办的国家级大学科技园.科技园的管理运作主体机构是上海华东理工科技园有限公司,由华东理工大学,上海创业投资有限公司、上海华泾集体资产投资管理中心.上海徐汇国有资产投资经营有限公司于2∞3年12月共同投资2500万元组建而成.强强联手的战略投资者之间的合作,使科技园集聚了社会优质资源,具备了专业.人才、区域、政策等多方面的综合优势.     

National culture and environmental sustainability: A cross-national analysis

This paper demonstrates the significance of culture in examining the relationship between income and the environment. Specifically, we examine the relationship among scores on the Environmental Sustainability Index of the World Economic Forum and the four dimensions of national culture proposed and measured by Hofstede (1983). We find that there are significant multidimensional interrelationships among the cultural and environmental sustainability measures. As an important application, we examine the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) phenomenon. Our finding suggests the limited applicability of the EKC notion when cultural variables are included in the model.     

Are Exports of China,Japan and Korea Diverted in the Major Regional Trading Blocs?

In recent years China, Japan and Korea, the three major economies in East Asia, have been gearing up their efforts to sign free trade agreements with many different regions and countries. One of the main reasons for this is that they fear that with a regionalism movement rising in every corner of the world, their exports are discriminated against and diverted in the trading blocs of other nations. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether this is a real fear. We utilise the gravity equation augmented with dummy variables for regional trading blocs in three different specifications. One is the static, standard gravity model to examine the effect of regional blocs on the ‘level’ of exports from these three countries in 2003; the second is the fixed effects and random effects panel models for the period 1993–2003; and the third is the dynamic, partial‐adjustment model to examine the effect of blocs on the ‘changes’ in exports between 1993 and 2003. The results show that trade diversion is observed only for China's exports in EU, EFTA and EAEC, but no diversion effect is observed for Japan's and Korea's exports in any of the major trading blocs. On the other hand, trade creation is observed for exports from China in ASEAN, for exports from Japan in ASEAN, CACM, CARICOM, EAEC, EU and NAFTA, and for exports from Korea in ASEAN, CACM, EAEC and MERCOSUR. Thus, Japan's and Korea's fear of discrimination and trade diversion is ungrounded, while China's fear is grounded only to a limited extent.     

天津滨海高新区研发转化和创新模式研究

天津滨海高新区的创建与发展，面临着国内外环境的深刻变化。滨海高新区研发转化模式的创新，应该站在新的历史起点上，既要体现新的时代要求，又要吸取和借鉴国内外各成功园区的经验，更要落实滨海新区发展的战略意图。一、滨海高新区研发转化的背景分析 1摈海高新区研发转化模式创新的必要性和紧迫性一是提升我国产业国际竞争力的需要。进入新世纪以来，研发全球化进一步推进，其核心是以跨国公司为主导，在全球范围内利用和争夺技术与人才资源，对全球产业进行整合。高技术内涵的知识密集型产业占经济总量的比重越来越大。高科技项目的研发转化、引进吸收，是应对挑战、抓住机遇的重要切人点和明智选择。     

DOES THE OCTOBER 1987 CRASH STRENGTHEN THE CO-MOVEMENTS AMONG NATIONAL STOCK MARKETS?

This study examines the effect of the October 1987 crash on the co-movements among national stock markets. Interrelationships among the price movements in different national stock markets are analyzed using correlation and exploratory factor analysis. The data on weekly returns of 12 national stock market indices over the period from August 1984 to December 1990 are used in both local-currency and U.S. dollar terms for the analysis. This study finds that national stock markets became more interrelated after the crash, and the strengthening co-movements among national stock markets continued for a longer period after the crash. In addition, it is shown that the co-movements among national stock markets were stronger when the U. S. stock market was more volatile. These results imply that after investors experienced the October crash, they tend to give more weight to international factors in making investment decisions after the crash than before.     

Output-inflation tradeoffs in industrial and developing countries

This paper presents further international evidence on output-inflation tradeoffs implied by Lucas's model of the Phillips curve. Various relationships among the output-inflation trade-off coefficient and variances of the nominal shocks and the general price level implied by the theoretical model are evaluated among two groups of countries. These relationships are strongly confirmed for nineteen industrial countries, but are only moderately supported for the group of thirty-seven developing countries.     

A guide to using event study methods in multi‐country settings

While the event study method has made significant contributions to strategic management research, most event study research published in management journals has analyzed the financial implications of corporate announcements in a single country. This study discusses solutions to methodological challenges that emerge when applying the event study method to multiple countries. Specifically, this study develops the world market model, illustrating how to simultaneously assess the financial impact of strategic actions in multiple countries. These challenges and solutions are illustrated by an example of a multi‐country event study analyzing 241 international alliance announcements of 23 firms in 16 countries. The findings show that the use of the single country market model in a multi‐country event study is likely to overestimate changes in firm value, demonstrating the need for this world market model. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prior performance characteristics of related and unrelated acquirers

In the diversification literature, studies, particularly those using accounting‐based performance measures, have found that related diversifiers are more profitable and that related diversifiers are in more profitable industries than unrelated diversifiers. Due to the very nature of these studies based on cross‐sectional data, however, the causal relationship between diversification strategy and performance was not clear. This paper focuses on a single event of a large acquisition, which enables us to better identify the sequential relationships between prior firm profitability, prior industry profitability, and subsequent acquisition strategies. By doing so, this paper makes clearer the causal relationships between firm profitability, industry profitability, and acquisition strategies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.