An analysis of B2B ingredient co-branding relationships

The proliferation of co-branding in consumer markets has been given considerable attention in the literature, yet attention to the practice in business-to-business markets has been limited, despite the growing attention to the role of relationships in the B2B arena. In an examination of co-branding in the industrial sector, this paper discusses the use of ingredient co-branding and uses an econometric modeling approach to offer a rationale for why it occurs. The analysis provides insight into why downstream manufacturers participate in a relationship that strengthens the supplier's position in the market. We find that under the threat to the supplier of entry from a competitor whose costs are unobservable, co-branding relationships will be entered into resulting in a reduced probability of entry. This co-branding arrangement benefits both the incumbent supplier and the downstream manufacturer. The incumbent supplier benefits from the reduced probability of competitor entry, and the downstream manufacturer is rewarded with a lower price. Further, we find that the cost of the co-branded product is lower, due to a mitigation of double marginalization in a vertically-integrated solution. We examine co-branding relationships with and without advertising support and find that co-branding relationships with advertising support tend to be superior.     

The cloud and its silver lining: negative and positive spillovers from automotive recalls

Marketing Letters - Product recalls hurt the sales of non-recalled products in the category because of negative spillovers. Recently, there has been some evidence of positive spillovers from...     

Digital Systems,Partnership Networks,and Competition: The Co-Evolution of IOS Use and Network Position as Antecedents of Competitive Action

This study examines and tests a holistic model of relationships among interorganizational systems (IOS), partnership networks of firms, and firms' competitiveness. The model integrates concepts from these three areas of study to give a basis for more fully understanding and investigating issues inherent in IOS-intensive coopetition networks. Introducing social network analysis and competitive dynamics research into this study, we test the model using an automotive network comprised of the world's major competing sports car makers and their many value/supply chain partners. We collect and analyze data about these firms' network structures, usage of IOS, and competitive actions. Results support the holistic view that there are systematic associations between IOS use, competitive action, and network structure. Based on this view, we introduce a framework characterizing the roles of IOS in achieving firm competitiveness.     

The European unemployment problem: its cause and cure

The stubbornly high unemployment experienced by European countries since the mid-1970s have led to a major reconsideration of the natural rate paradigm. Traditional theories which describe movements of unemployment as fluctuations around a moving natural rate have been challenged by hysteresis theories. The question arises how one can discriminate between these competing theories. To this end, we estimate a time-varying parameter model of the unemployment rate for the US, UK, Germany, and France. The parameters of the model were estimated jointly by maximum likelihood estimation using the Kalman filter algorithm. When the moving natural rate model is tested against the alternative of a unit root process, the unit root hypothesis is resoundingly rejected. Among the determinants of the natural rate institutions that alter labour market incentives for workers appear to have been more important than institutions that affect labour demand.     

Expatriates of host-country origin: ‘coming home to test the waters’

Expatriates are an integral part of any multinational company's (MNC) staffing strategy. However, the high failure rate of expatriates has forced these firms to look at alternate or complementary staffing strategies. This paper focuses on one such strategy, i.e., transferring people of host-country ethnic origin from parent-country to manage host-country operations. The purpose of this exploratory study is to ascertain whether and how MNCs have used expatriates of host-country origin (EHCO) as a global staffing strategy, in the context of India, and the extent of its success both for the individuals and the organizations concerned.

Based on a survey and in-depth interviews of human resource managers of 15 MNCs with operations in India, the study concludes that EHCOs are more willing to accept expatriate assignments than parent-country nationals (PCNs); however, their success on the assignment depends on the breadth and depth of their experience both in the parent and host country. With regard to their work effectiveness vis-à-vis PCNs, no significant difference was found. Managerial implications of this staffing strategy are explored and future research directions identified.     

Zone-quadratic preference,asymmetry and international reserve accretion in India: An empirical investigation

Empirical estimates of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) intervention reaction function suggest that the central bank actively intervenes in the foreign exchange market to contain volatility but this intervention is neither continuous nor linear. It is better described by a nonlinear policy reaction function with a target range as opposed to a point target. It responds much more vigorously to appreciating or depreciating pressure outside the target range but the response is much more muted within the range. Moreover, the tolerance band is asymmetric i.e., the RBI responds much more strongly to appreciating pressure than depreciating pressure. Such a policy response in an era of continuous net capital inflows accounts for the large build-up in foreign exchange reserves witnessed in India in the recent past.     

Representing Heterogeneity in Consumer Response Models 1996 Choice Conference Participants

We define sources of heterogeneity in consumer utility functions relatedto individual differences in response tendencies, drivers of utility, formof the consumer utility function, perceptions of attributes, statedependencies, and stochasticity. A variety of alternative modelingapproaches are reviewed that accommodate subsets of these various sourcesincluding clusterwise regression, latent structure models, compounddistributions, random coefficients models, etc. We conclude by defining anumber of promising research areas in this field.     

A framework for communication support in group work with special reference to negotiation systems

Communication is central to all group interactions, including negotiations. Group interfaces can limit or enhance communication flows among participants. Hence, group interface design requires the identification of the communication flows among participants, which in turn requires an identification of the various dimensions of intragroup communication. This article outlines a framework to guide researchers in examining the communication needs of group members in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), highlighting its application to the context of negotiation. An analysis of communication flows is provided along four dimensions:concurrency, message, channel andparticipant characteristics. The framework is intended to encourage a detailed focus on key aspects of the group interface, to provide a scheme for categorizing the contributions of empirical work, and to identify factors worthy of empirical scrutiny.An earlier version of this article, A Communication-Based Framework for Group Interfaces in Computer-Supported Collaboration by F. Lim and I. Benbasat, appeared in theProceedings of the 24th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, pp. 610–620.     

Understanding the Opportunistic Approach to Disinflation

One approach to achieving price stability is to undertake a deliberate path to an ultimate goal of low inflation—deliberate disinflation. In contrast an opportunistic strategy for disinflation has gained credence in recent years though on the face of it suboptimal. Our procedure is to seek a set of sufficient conditions under which the opportunistic strategy is optimal for a central bank maximising the preferences of the representative agent. We find that such a sufficient set of conditions consists of adaptiveness in expectations and an asymmetry in the Phillips curve of a specific sort.