Should sequels differ from original movies in pre-launch advertising schedule? Lessons from consumers' online search activity

Sequels have become a profitable strategy in the U.S. motion picture industry because of their strong name recognition. However, while the established positioning of a sequel may help insulate it from competing firms' advertising messages, its familiarity may cause moviegoers to be more easily satiated with advertising from the sequel. Therefore, this study examines how sequels differ from original concept movies in terms of their ad effectiveness. We focus our analysis on pre-launch periods, given these periods' importance in shaping the financial outcomes of motion pictures. We consider the weekly online search volume of a movie as a measure of consumer interest in it, and thus as an intermediate response to pre-launch advertising. We then develop a model that assumes ad effectiveness can decline, due to copy and repetition wearout, and increase, due to forgetting, over time. We find that copy wearout is greater for original movies, while repetition wearout and forgetting are greater for sequels. These findings suggest that sequels should allocate more in early pre-launch periods and less immediately before release, relative to originals, to maximize pre-launch consumer interest.     

How does local partners network embeddedness affect international joint venture survival in different subnational contexts?

Do local partners' network attributes affect the survival of high-tech international joint ventures (IJV)? How does the effect of network attributes vary in different subnational institutional environments? While the classic economic explanation for IJV formation and subsequent performance draws from the resource-based view (RBV), we add the relational dimension to explain that IJV survival may be affected by local partners’ relation-specific assets within the local network. We test the effect of the local partners’ network attributes as calculated by UCINET (centrality, network status, and structural hole position) on IJV survival. We additionally assert that this relationship is moderated by subnational institutional heterogeneity. Using our sample of 125 IJV dyadic pairs of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in high-tech industries and their local partners in China, we find partial support for our claims.     

组织支持感与员工创造力——相对组织支持感和情感承诺的影响

从自我提升视角出发，基于社会比较理论与社会交换理论，分析组织支持感影响员工创造力的过程机制，相对组织支持感的调节作用以及情感承诺与创造力之间的曲线关系。基于458份企业员工与主管的配对样本，研究结果表明：相对组织支持感显著正向调节了组织支持感与情感承诺之间的关系，情感承诺与员工创造力呈显著的倒U型关系，情感承诺在组织支持感与创造力关系之间起到了瞬时中介作用。研究结果拓展了对组织支持感的影响机制及其边界条件的分析，深化了情感承诺与员工创造力关系的检验。     

Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Consumer Prices: The Increasing Role of Energy Prices

Open Economies Review - A number of researchers have found that the rate of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to domestic prices has declined substantially over the last few decades. We revisit...     

房建工程地基基础施工关键技术探究

地基处理技术是近年来我国房屋建筑工程施工中一种较常见的施工处理技术,多见于房屋建筑工程中的软土地基施工环节。通过以往的房屋建筑经验,如果直接在软土地基上进行建筑施工,地基区域软土很容易会影响房屋建筑工程的稳定性,所以,在针对这一部分软土区域的施工环节,需要针对拟施工的地基软土区域进行处理,提升其软土的稳定性。到目前,地基处理技术已经在我国房屋建筑工程施工中广泛应用,这一技术应用过程中存在的不足也逐渐凸显,如何针对这一技术的不足予以完善,以此提升地基处理技术对房屋建筑质量的积极影响,成为了现阶段房屋建筑地基基础施工质量提升的重要环节之一。     

Consequences of a green image of drone food delivery services: The moderating role of gender and age

Drone food delivery services play a significant role in protecting the environment, because the services are operated by batteries that can be charged with electricity. Therefore, this study tried to examine a green image in the context of drone food delivery services. More specifically, this study proposed that a green image of drone food delivery services plays an important role in the formation of attitude toward using the services. In addition, it was hypothesized that the attitude has a positive influence on behavioral intentions including intentions to use, word‐of‐mouth intentions, and willingness to pay more. Lastly, the moderating role of gender and age was proposed during the theory‐building process. A theoretical model, which included 12 hypotheses, was developed and tested using a total of 427 samples collected in Korea. The data analysis results showed that a green image of drone food delivery services has a positive influence on attitude toward using the services, which in turn positively affects three subdimensions of behavioral intentions. Furthermore, gender and age played partly as a moderator. The current paper was the first to study the green image of drone food delivery services, so the findings of this study mean a lot to the theoretical aspect.     

我国“一带一路”沿线地区风险投资时空分布及影响因素研究

深入分析我国“一带一路”沿线地区风险投资时空格局及影响因素，有助于促进创新创业与企业发展、提高区域科技创新水平。运用空间分析方法和空间计量模型，对2003-2018年我国“一带一路”沿线139个城市风险投资的时空分布特征及影响因素进行分析，结果表明：①沿线地区的风险投资发展具有不均衡性，呈现为沿海高、西部低的分异格局；②风险投资的全局自相关系数均为正，呈现出明显的空间集聚特征；③风险投资机构数、国家高新区数量、风险投资退出、政府引导基金发展、财政科技支出对区域风险投资具有显著促进作用，环境污染对风险投资有一定抑制作用。随着ESG投资理念逐渐获得认可，沿线地区可以通过提升绿色发展水平促进风险投资发展。     

Do Air Quality Alerts Affect Household Migration?

This article examines the effect of air quality information on immigration and emigration of households in California counties by measuring the change in the number of air quality alert days. Based on panel data for 2000–2014, I find evidence suggesting that more frequent air quality alerts reduce the rate of population growth in a county by decreasing immigration of households. This is driven by “Unhealthy” air alerts, which signals weaker air quality than “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.” The negative impacts on immigration are larger for high household income counties and are strongest when there is a sharp increase in the number of air quality alerts.     

Policy Uncertainty and the Dual Role of Corporate Political Strategies

Firms use active political strategies not only to mitigate uncertainty emanating from legislative activity, but also to enhance their growth opportunities. We find that a firm's systematic risk (beta) can be hedged away by employing various political strategies involving the presence of former politicians on corporate boards of directors, contributions to political campaigns, and corporate lobbying activities. The hedging effect is greater when firms operate in more uncertain industries. In addition, active political strategies are associated with greater firm heterogeneity and make real options more value relevant as potential drivers of competitive advantages in uncertain environments.