Uniform and Non-Uniform Second-Best Input Taxes

We investigate second-best, input-based taxes foragricultural nonpoint pollution control when marketprices are endogenous and production isheterogeneous. Theoretically, we derive the optimalforms of taxes which take account of heterogeneity(non-uniform taxes) and a tax which does not (auniform tax). Empirically, we use a multi-factor,market-equilibrium simulation model to determineoptimal tax rates and associated equity effects,particularly differences in landowner gains/lossesacross a heterogeneous region. When market prices areendogenous, second-best tax policies result inpecuniary externalities that affect existingenvironmental externalities. In particular, thepecuniary externalities amplify the effect of producerheterogeneity on determination of sub-regionaldifferences in tax rates and returns to land,particularly for the uniform policy. With endogenousprices, the uniform tax rate is considerably higherthan any of the non-uniform rates and, ironically, thenon-uniform taxes result in less dispersion oflandowner gains across sub-regions than the uniformtax.     

Initiating Negotiations: The Role of Machiavellianism, Risk Propensity, and Bargaining Power

Initiation is an often-overlooked yet essential stage of the negotiation process. This study examined the effects of two measures of personality—Machiavellianism and risk propensity—and relative bargaining power (as based on multiple situational factors) on three phases of the initiation process—engaging a counterpart, making a request, and optimizing the request. Using a multi-scenario approach, one hundred fifteen participants indicated their initiation preferences for three distinct negotiations. The results of repeated measures ANOVAs indicate that bargaining power influences an individual’s decision to initiate negotiations. In addition, those high in Machiavellianism choose to initiate negotiations even when relative bargaining power is low, whereas those high in risk propensity tend to optimize their requests. The implications of these findings for practitioners and future research are discussed.     

Electronic Commerce and the Future for SMEs in a Global Market-Place: Networking and Public Policies

This paper explores three inter-related issues: globalisation; the role of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); and electronic commerce (e-commerce). A central question is whether e-commerce offers advantages to SMEs that may facilitate their access to global markets and help them overcome the disadvantages they face vis-à-vis large transnational corporations (TNCs)? The paper starts by briefly considering the extent of globalisation and its relationship to free trade. We then go on to consider recent developments in e-commerce, focusing on the key issue of e-payment systems. Differences in the requirements of large and smaller firms are identified, and we identify a number of key issues concerning access of smaller firms to e-payment systems and the (virtual) market place, and outline their implications for regulatory policy. Our analysis highlights the importance of network externalities, and institutional factors affecting trust and the relationships amongst different economic actors. This leads to a consideration of networking and public policies more broadly. One of the central conclusions of our analysis is that there are important synergies between e-commerce (virtual) networks and (real) production networks. This suggests that policy makers and smaller firms should think in terms of extending existing, and catalysing new, real production networks to incorporate e-payment systems for networks of firms in order to facilitate their access to virtual markets.

     

Risk Aversion and the Bid–Ask Spread

This paper studies the properties of bid and ask prices posted by a monopolistic market maker, without parametric assumptions about the utility function of the market maker or about the probability distribution of the return of the risky asset. We first prove that the two prices can be higher or lower than the expected value of the asset, and that the spread is decreasing in the initial wealth when the market maker exhibits decreasing absolute risk aversion. We conclude by some examples illustrating the fact that almost all shapes can be obtained for the bid–ask spread (as a function of the inventory) depending on the probability distribution of the payment of the risky asset.     

The Effects of Market Network Heterogeneity on Innovation Diffusion: An Agent‐Based Modeling Approach

Innovations usually have an initial impact on very few people. The period of learning or early evaluation precedes the diffusion of the technology into the wider addressed population. More than a transfer, this is best characterized as communication of benefits, costs, and compatibility with earlier technologies and a relative assessment of the new state of the art. Innovation development by an organization or individual creates not just a device (i.e., process or tacit knowledge) but concomitantly a capacity on the part of other organizations or persons to use, adopt, replicate, enhance, or modify the technology, skills, or knowledge for their own purposes. How innovations actually diffuse is to understand the communication of progress, and this framing helps one to design innovations and also design the marketing and testing programs to ready innovations for market and launch them efficiently. Diffusion theory's main focus is on the flow of information within a social system, such as via mass media and word‐of‐mouth communications. This theory presents often in the form of mathematical models of innovation and imitation. Distinct from classical diffusion models, however, consumers are not all identical in how they connect to others within a market or how they respond to information. We examine the effects of various network structures and relational heterogeneity on innovation diffusion within market networks. Specifically, network topology (the structure of how individuals in the market are connected) and the strength of communication links between innovator and follower market segments (a form of relational heterogeneity) are studied. Several research questions concerning network heterogeneity are addressed with an agent‐based modeling approach. The present study's findings are based on simulation results that show important effects of network structure on the diffusion process. The ability to speed diffusion varies significantly according to within‐ and cross‐segment communications within a heterogeneous network structure. The implications of the present approach for new product diffusion are discussed, and future research directions are suggested that may add useful insights into the complex social networks inherent to diffusion. A simple summary is that discovery of significant prime communicator nodes in a network allows innovation development practices to be better calibrated to realistically multiple market segments.     

Exploring the brand value-shareholder value nexus for consumer goods companies

It is generally claimed that brand names are a corporate asset with an economic value that creates wealth for a firm’s shareholders. However, the scholarly literature has neither provided a comprehensive theoretical basis for this claim nor documented an empirical relationship between brand value and shareholder value. This exploratory study describes a rationale for, and documents, the statistical strength and functional form of a brand value-shareholder value relationship for publicly held consumer goods companies in the United States. A theoretical argument supportive of a positive relationship between a firm’s accumulated brand value and market-to-book (M/B) ratio was empirically validated. However, even though firms with higher accumulated brand values have higher M/B ratios, the functional form of the relationship was found to be concave with decreasing returns to scale. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are outlined, as well as study limitations and directions for future research. Roger A. Kerin (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is the Harold C. Simmons distinguished professor of marketing at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University. His research focuses on marketing strategy and product management issues. He has published more than 50 articles appearing in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Strategic Management Journal, andManagement Science, in addition to authoring four books. He presently serves on numerous editorial review boards and is a former editor of theJournal of Marketing. Raj Sethuraman obtained his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and is an assistant professor at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University. His research focuses on competitive marketing strategies, especially price and advertising strategies. He has published in several journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology.     

Skilled maintenance work at British Telecom: findings from the Social Change and Economic Life Research Initiative

Here the author examines the relationship of technical change and job skills amongst maintenance workers in telecommunications in Britain. It demonstrates that there are significant variations within different areas of such maintenance work and strongly challenges the notion that such maintenance work is subject to a generic process of deskilling in the present era.