Consumer deliberation and quality signaling

Consumers are often uncertain about their product valuation before purchase. They may bear the uncertainty and purchase the product without deliberation. Alternatively, consumers can incur a deliberation cost to find out their true valuation and then make their purchase decision. This paper proposes that consumer deliberation about product valuation can be an endogenous mechanism to enable credible quality signaling. We demonstrate this point in a simple setup in which product quality influences the probability that the product has high valuation. We show that with endogenous deliberation there may exist a unique separating equilibrium in which the high-quality firm induces consumer deliberation by setting a high price whereas the low-quality firm prevents deliberation by charging a low price. Compared to the case of complete information, the price of the high-quality firm can be distorted upward to facilitate consumer deliberation, or distorted downward to avoid the low-quality firm’s imitation. In an extension we show that dissipative advertising can facilitate quality signaling. The high-quality firm can utilize advertising spending to avert imitation from the low-quality firm without distorting price downward, earning a higher profit than that without advertising. However, advertising mitigates the distortion at the expense of consumer surplus and social welfare.     

Incompleteness,regularity, and collective preference

This paper examines the incompleteness of collective preference. We provide a series of Arrovian impossibility theorems without completeness. First, we consider the notion of regularity introduced by Eliaz and Ok (2006, Games and Economic Behavior 56, 61–86); it is an appropriate richness property for strict preference when preference is allowed to be incomplete. We examine the implication of imposing regularity on collective preference. Second, we propose responsiveness, a variation of positive responsiveness. This axiom requires that some changes in individual preferences make an alternative weakly better than another. Third, we consider coherency conditions for collective preferences; this conditionally requires the existence of comparable pairs in a certain manner. We prove an impossibility result for each condition using Arrovian axioms.     

Asset preference,skewness, and the measurement of expected utility

This article shows that serious analytical errors may occur in expected utility theory when Taylor series approximation methods are used without careful attention to underlying mathematical assumptions. Recent studies have developed theory incorporating skewness of return into expected utility calculations based on a Taylor series approximation. It is apparent that this theory is invalid if assumptions for application of a Taylor series cannot be met. Errors may occur if returns fall outside the region of convergence of the utility function ot if the partial sums of the Taylor series provide poor approximations to the utility function. Stylized examples are presented to illustrate miscalculation of utility when the various assumptions are violated. These examples are motivated by the use of Taylor series approximations in current literature which deal with the new spectrum of financial securities.     

Brand Equity, Consumer Learning and Choice

The aim of this paper is to explore the links between brand equity, consumer learning and consumer choice processes in general and considering two recent trends in the market place: store brands and the Internet. We first review the advances that have occurred in brand equity research in marketing in the past decade, with particular emphasis on integrating the separate streams of research emanating from cognitive psychology and information economics. Brand equity has generally been defined as the incremental utility with which a brand endows a product, compared to its non-branded counterpart. We amplify this definition: we propose that brand equity be the incremental effect of the brand on all aspects of the consumer's evaluation and choice process. We propose an agenda of research based on this amplified definition.     

Strategic Compatibility Choice,Network Alliance,and Welfare

Based on a simple model of compatibility choice under differentiated Cournot duopoly with network externalities, we consider how the levels of a network externality and product substitutability affect the choice of compatibility. In particular, if the level of network externality is larger than that of product substitutability, there are multiple equilibria involving imperfect and perfect compatibility. Furthermore, we demonstrate the conditions for constructing such a network alliance so that firms provide perfectly compatible products. The network alliance is stable and socially optimal.     

Sex,spies and celluloid: Movie content preference,choice, and involvement

This study empirically tests the congruity between movie‐content preference and choice on television, video, and at the cinema; and the impact of consumer involvement on this relationship. The results support the need to treat preference and choice differentially. Media type added little in way of explanation of changes in preference–choice congruence. Involvement with movie choice was found to vary by medium, yet correlational analysis showed that it did not unequivocally change the nature of preference–choice congruence. Nonetheless, further enquiry into the role of involvement is warranted before it is dismissed as irrelevant in the choice of leisure media products. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Globalization and domestic conflict

When a resource like oil is domestically contested, trade patters and welfare can be very different than when property rights are costlessly enforced. Whereas (small-country) importers of the contested resource gain unambiguously relative to autarky, exporters of the contested resource lose under free trade, unless the world price of the resource is sufficiently high. Regardless of what price obtains in world markets, countries tend to over-export the contested resource compared to the absence of conflict. For a wide range of prices, higher international prices of the contested resource reduce welfare, an instance of the “natural resource curse.”     

Globalization and domestic conflict

When a resource like oil is domestically contested, trade patters and welfare can be very different than when property rights are costlessly enforced. Whereas (small-country) importers of the contested resource gain unambiguously relative to autarky, exporters of the contested resource lose under free trade, unless the world price of the resource is sufficiently high. Regardless of what price obtains in world markets, countries tend to over-export the contested resource compared to the absence of conflict. For a wide range of prices, higher international prices of the contested resource reduce welfare, an instance of the “natural resource curse.”     

Smart Choice,FEDDERS Living

一FEDDERS是一个拥有百年历史的美国家电品牌,多年来始终以卓越的产品和专业的服务理念,为客户创造最佳的生活环境,提供最优的生活品质.同时,作为一家专业的家电制造商,FEDDERS始终以舒适为宗旨,智能革新为核心理念,采用全新的形式来革新并开发家用电器系列.Fedders将智能革新的精神理念带到了中国,那么Fedders在中国市场推广的品牌策略以及愿景是怎样的呢?我们的愿景是我们提供一个方案,我们不是一家公司只是提供产品,我们会以方案为主,其实我们的使命更在于提供一系列的家电方案,给到终端消费者或者是我们的专业消费群,这是我们看成的一个使命吧.因为,很多家电公司可能都以产品为主,我们会以方案为主,然后方案包括产品,包括服务,包括售前售后的服务,是一整包的.     

Product classifications,consumer characteristics,and patronage preference for online auction

An important unanswered question in the area of Internet auctions is what dynamics influences consumer preferences for shopping on these online auctions. Two key aspects of studying what sells on the Internet auctions are (a) the characteristics of products to be purchased and (b) consumer characteristics. This research focuses on the relationship between product purchase preference, prior experience, and socioeconomic characteristics for the online auction participants. It uses product classification theory rooted in information economics and marketing. The study results are based on a US national sample of online auction participants. The findings suggest that product class affects online auction patronage, yet socioeconomic characteristics may not be as influential as once perceived. The online merchants can benefit from the inquiry to improve auctions for search, experience, and credence goods. The five key contributions of the findings add value to the theory and practice of consumer behavior.     

IPTV,在观望中蓄势

IPTV是一种利用宽带基础设施,通过互联网络协议(IP)向用户提供数字电视节目、可视电话、VOD视频点播、阳光政务、网络游戏、网上购物和远程教育等在内的交互式多媒体信息服务。2005年3月,SMG获得了首张国家广电总局颁发的IP电视集成运营牌照,并获准"BesTV百视通"作为     

The role of conflict, culture, and myth in creating attitudinal commitment

Using qualitative methods, the authors examine commitment in the sports industry and specifically in a NASCAR context. Commitment, or the culmination of the customer-service provider relationship, plays a particularly critical role in NASCAR, for which more than 70% of fans consciously choose a current sponsor's brand over a competitor's. Previous research, primarily in the domain of business-to-business marketing, focuses on attitudinal, instrumental, and temporal components of commitment; this article examines attitudinal commitment within the NASCAR context. Whereas previous research conceptualizes attitudinal commitment as identification, value congruence, and affiliation, this research presents a wider view. Specifically, within the NASCAR consumption culture, hero/villain myths surrounding drivers create conflict that heightens attitudinal commitment to the sport. This research therefore offers implications regarding non-traditional components of attitudinal commitment.     

诉讼风险、审计师选择与盈余质量

本文分析诉讼风险对企业审计师选择决策的影响及其经济后果.检验发现,面临更高诉讼风险的企业,选择高质量审计师的概率越低.同时,高诉讼风险企业披露的盈余信息质量显著更差.但是,如果高诉讼风险企业选择了高质量审计师,那么诉讼风险对盈余质量不再具有显著影响.这表明,高质量审计师能有效缓解诉讼风险对盈余质量的消极效应,提升高诉讼企业的信息披露质量.上述结论为诉讼风险的经济后果提供了新的解释,也进一步丰富和拓展了有关审计师选择决策影响因素的研究.     

CEO控制权、事务所选择与审计公费

本文以2007-2014年A股上市公司为研究对象,实证检验了CEO控制权、事务所选择与审计公费之间的关系。研究发现： CEO 控制权越大,越不倾向选择“四大”,而更倾向选择本土大所; CEO控制权越大,越倾向支付较低的审计公费;控制了事务所自选择后,由“四大”审计的上市公司CEO控制权对审计公费的影响不明显,而由综合排名十大和本土十大审计的上市公司CEO控制权与审计公费显著负相关。     

物流技术的创新、选择和演进

本文认为,物流技术创新涉及经营管理和工具、装备、设施等领域,包括运输、储存、装卸、搬运、包装、配送、流通加工、信息等。一种新物流技术能否被社会选择,需求和相对要素价格变化是重要的影响因素。文章提出,物流技术与装备的发展趋势是先进性、信息化、多样性与专业性、标准化与模块化、系统性与可扩展性、智能性与人性化、绿色化与节能化。具体来说,物流技术会与信息技术紧密结合,实现高度自动化;运输技术会朝着高速化、重载化、节能化和更安全的方向演进,如重载列车、超级生态船、超高速飞机等;装卸搬运技术将向更加节省人力、更加智能、更有效率的方向发展,如激光导引自动车、搬运机器人等;仓储技术将向更加节约土地、节约空间、更加高效率的方向发展,如自动化立体仓库、驶入式激光导引高密度储存系统等。     

Goals, decision-making mechanisms and instruments in the Japanese-American trade conflict

Trade conflicts flaring up at intervals have become a feature of economic relations between Japan and the USA. The following article examines the history of these conflicts against the background of the two countries’ differing political traditions, goals, negotiating mechanisms and policy instruments.     

Conceptualizing data‐deliberation: The starry sky beetle,environmental system risk,and Habermasian CSR in the digital age

Building on an illustrative case of a systemic environmental threat and its multi‐stakeholder response, this paper draws attention to the changing political impacts of corporations in the digital age. Political Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) theory suggests an expanded sense of politics and corporations, including impacts that may range from voluntary initiatives to overcome governance gaps, to avoiding state regulation via corporate political activity. Considering digitalization as a stimulus, we explore potential responsibilities of corporations toward public goods in contexts with functioning governments. We show that digitalization—in the form of transparency, surveillance, and data‐sharing—offers corporations’ scope for deliberative public participation. The starry sky beetle infestation endangering public and private goods is thereby used to illustrate the possibility of expanding the political role of corporations in the digital sphere. We offer a contribution by conceptualizing data‐deliberation as a Habermasian variation of PCSR, defined as the (a) voluntary disclosure of corporate data and its transparent, open sharing with the public sector (b) along with the cooperation with governmental institutions on data analytics methods for examining large‐scale datasets (c) thereby complying with existing national and international regulations on data protection, in particular with respect to privacy and personal data.