Consumers’ preferences for the attributes of post-PC: results of a contingent ranking study

With the explosive growth of the internet and the change in consumer demand, post-PC is emerging as a substitute for the existing desktop PC and laptop PC. post-PC is a new computer which is portable with wireless networking, cheaper than the existing PC and specializing in the specific functions that consumers want. Rudimentary post-PCs such as PDA, web-pad and smart-phone are already in use. In the future, owing to technological progress, the heterogeneity of related companies and the low entry barrier, various post-PCs will be developed. This paper attempts to analyse consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for post-PC with such attributes as portability, CPU speed, data input method (using key board or electric pen), monitor size, and price. To this end, a contingent ranking method is applied, which makes the respondents rank hypothetical post-PC alternatives featuring various combinations of attributes, via a survey data collected in Korea. Using the estimated WTP, the shape and the capacity of future post-PC are predicted and policy implications drawn for national- and company-level R&D strategies.     

The role of networking and commitment in foreign market entry process: Multinational corporations in the Chinese automobile industry

This study addresses the role of business networking and commitment to local market when MNCs enter an emerging market. We investigate the reasons for variations in the speed of MNCs’ foreign market entry. Particularly, we examine whether MNCs’ networking with the key local actors facilitates MNCs’ entry and whether learning and commitment in the context of networking affects the speed of MNCs’ entry process in the Chinese automobile market. The study is based on the experiences of three MNCs, a U.S.-based firm, a European firm, and a Korean firm. Data is collected through in-depth interviews and through secondary sources related to the entry process of these cases. The cases illustrate that speed of foreign market entry is significantly influenced by business networking between MNCs and the key business and socio-political actors, since different types of business networking determine the level of learning and commitment. Our cases also show that the effects of business networking generated during the initial foreign market entry by the MNC may be different than those during sequential entries.     

Ex-ante evaluation of the consumers' preference for the 4th generation mobile communications service

Research about next-generation mobile communications (MCs) technology has become an issue in these days since MCs bear a close relationship to our daily lives. The third generation (3G) MCs technology is now evolving into the fourth generation (4G) MCs technology. An initial analysis of potential consumer preferences for the technology is essential to ensure successful strategies and changes. This paper attempts to apply a choice experiment to evaluating consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for each attributes of the 4G technology. The experiment encompasses five attributes: data rates, the quality of communications service, the number of broadcasting channels, video-on-demand (VOD) service, and supplementary services. We consider the trade-offs between the price and attributes of the 4G for selecting a preferred alternative and derive the marginal WTP (MWTP) estimate for each attribute. The results indicate that the average MWTP for the improved communications service is KRW 4443 (USD 4.03) and the average MWTP for one more broadcasting channel is KRW 67 (USD 0.06). The average MWTPs for VOD and supplementary services is KRW 1932 (USD 1.75) and KRW 1601 (USD 1.45), respectively.     

How an Economic Recession Affects Qualitative Entrepreneurship: Focusing on the Entrepreneur's Exit Decision

This study analyzes how an economic recession affects entrepreneurship from a qualitative perspective. We define entrepreneur as a person who takes risks under uncertainty. Based on this definition, an entrepreneur's exit decision is modeled using real options theory to measure entrepreneur's willingness to accept uncertainty. We find that entrepreneurs who entered before a recession exit when their critical revenue stream reaches 0.16 times the average revenue stream value. The equivalent value for entrepreneurs who enter during an economic recession is 0.33 times the average revenue stream. Furthermore, when uncertainty doubles, the exit probability of entrepreneurs who enter during an economic recession is approximately 2.75 times higher than that of entrepreneurs who enter before recession. We conclude that the majority of entrepreneurs who enter during an economic recession are qualitatively disadvantaged, which leads to the overall decrease in qualitative entrepreneurship. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

集群式创新对高技术企业研发绩效的影响——基于国家自主创新综合示范区高技术产业面板数据的实证研究

文章基于随机前沿分析模型(SFA)模型,以中国自主创新综合示范区(以下简称自创区)高技术产业面板数据为检验对象,就集群式创新对自创区高技术企业研发绩效的影响进行了实证研究,研究发现:这种影响是正向的,企业的知识吸收转化能力越强、互动强度越大,这种正向作用越明显;与国有独资企业企业相比,这种正向作用在混合所有制企业中体现得更加充分.针对以上结论,提出集群式创新政策建议,以期为利用集群式创新提升自主创新能力和高技术研发效率提供参考.     

Painting Your Point: The Role of Color in Firms' Strategic Responses to Product Failures via Advertising and Marketing Communications

Color plays a significant role in firms' strategic marketing communications and advertising. This research examines how color (red versus blue) in advertising and marketing communications that follow a firm's failure dynamically influences consumers' interpretations of negative firm information and sensitivity to the firm's response to the failure. We find that the color red used in postfailure advertising and firm marketing communications narrows the scope of consumers' conceptual attention on the firm failure and makes consumers less sensitive to a firm's response to the failure. In contrast, exposure to the color blue expands the scope of consumers' conceptual attention and makes them integrate the firm's response in their firm evaluations. In addition, the negative effect of red is mitigated via the use of a more benign cue, leading to the broadening of the scope of conceptual attention and integration of a firm's response that are consistent with blue cues.     

It Is Much Bigger Than What We Thought: New Estimate of Trade Diversion

Estimates of the trade diversion (TD) effect of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) tend to be much smaller than that of the trade creation (TC) effect. This paper examines two sources of estimation bias of the TD effect. The first bias arises from the failure to recognise that the concept of TD is inapplicable for a substantial proportion of PTAs, and thus, previous studies wrongly count cases where trade cannot be diverted as cases where trade is not diverted. The second bias arises from the difficulty in controlling for multilateral resistance and other unobserved time‐varying country heterogeneity when estimating both TC and TD effects simultaneously due to perfect multicollinearity. This paper corrects these two biases using a new measure of TD which provides a better mapping between the concept and data characteristics. Removing the two sources of bias leads to a multifold increase in the estimate of the TD effect. It is found that the total TD effect is comparable to the TC effect in dollar terms.     

Consumers’ Responses to Public Figures’ Transgression: Moral Reasoning Strategies and Implications for Endorsed Brands

This paper proposes an empirical assessment of the main factors behind the decision of a corporate sponsor to launch a socially responsible (SR) fund. Our analysis is performed on a database that encompasses 414 SR fund creations by 46 corporate sponsors between 1990 and 2012. We provide evidence that economic and human resources slack, leverage, low media coverage and high extra-financial performance of the corporate sponsor contribute to an increase of the probability to propose SR funds. These results lead us to argue that the introduction of such funds goes beyond the economic objective of enlarging the market share of the corporate sponsor. It may thus be seen as a particular strategy in terms of communication and signaling, due to the specific characteristics of SR funds.     

Deregulation and earnings management: The case of the U.S. airline industry

This paper examines earnings management dynamics in the airline industry during the airline industry deregulation of 1978. We expect that earnings management would increase after deregulation, since industry deregulation generally increases managerial discretion, whereas internal corporate governance systems are sluggish in adapting to newly changed environments. As corporate governance structures become more effective in tempering highly discretionary managers, and as capital markets learn more about how to design better management incentive systems, managers’ incentives and capacity to engage in earnings management will diminish. Based on industry data, we find that the magnitude of absolute values of discretionary accruals increase significantly in the post-deregulation period. Managers in the airline industry were inclined to engage in income increasing earnings management after deregulation. However, the increased level of earnings management then decreased to return close to the level seen during the regulation period. The findings support the predicted deregulation impact on earnings management dynamics.     

The differential roles of brand credibility and brand prestige in consumer brand choice

This study explores how brand credibility and brand prestige affect brand purchase intention and empirically investigates how the combinatory mechanism of brand credibility and brand prestige materialize across multiple product categories. The proposed model of six latent constructs is tested with structural equation modeling analysis: brand credibility, brand prestige, perceived quality, information costs saved, perceived risk, and brand purchase intention. The results suggest that both brand credibility and brand prestige positively influence brand purchase intention through perceived quality, information costs saved, and perceived risk under different product categories representing the high and low self‐expressive nature. Several implications for advertising messages and brand positioning strategies are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.