Network Externalities and Competition Policy. Comments on Koski and Kretschmer

Although network effects are of great policy relevance, the literature does not provide very clear guidance to policymakers. As a rough first step, a simple algorithm for competition policy is proposed.     

The Competition Policy Approach in the New Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications. Comments on Koski and Kretschmer

Koski and Kretschmer have presented a large review of the recent literature on network industries, particularly on market structure, firm strategies and public policies. They provide a very useful summary of the main papers and highlight some important conclusions, in particular in the context of the policy debate. My objective in this paper is to provide short and limited comments on the first two parts, on market structures and firm strategies, and to discuss more the last section, on public policy issues, in particular on the basis of the competition policy aspects of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications.     

网络产业的市场结构重组、民营化与网络瓶颈

在传统体制下,电信、电力、铁路运输、管道燃气、自来水等网络产业基本上是由国有企业垄断经营的。因此,以促进竞争为导向的市场结构重组与民营化是这些网络产业改革的两大主题。但网络产业的改革必然凸现网络瓶颈,这要求政府制定与实施有效的接入管制政策。     

Competition in the Post-Trade Markets: A Network Economic Analysis of the Securities Business

In order to analyse the role of competition in the post-trade markets a normative network economic analysis of the securities business is provided. The theory of monopolistic bottlenecks constitutes the theoretical reference point for this analysis in order to identify stable network specific market power. It is shown that clearing and settlement are competitive value-added telecommunications services and therefore do not justify ex ante market power regulation. Precondition for competition on the markets for clearing and settlement is non-discriminatory access to the complementary technical regulatory function-the notary function (authenticity, registry, links between competing end custodians). JEL classification  L51, L96, G28     

Survey on Competing in Network Industries: Firm Strategies, Market Outcomes, and Policy Implications

We review the recent literature on market structure, firm strategies and public policy in network industries. In particular, we focus on the latest applied work, including case studies and empirical work as well as refinements of the established theoretical results. We group each set of results along two dimensions: Static (within-generation) and dynamic (across-generations).     

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.     

环境规制、要素禀赋与出口贸易的动态关系——基于我国污染密集产业的动态面板数据

环境规制和要素禀赋均会影响某地区的比较优势,但环境规制对出口贸易的影响存在不确定性,特别是对于污染密集型产业来说。文章建立产业环境污染指数来定义污染密集型产业,同时建立环境规制强度评价体系来计算产业的环境规制强度,并以HOV模型为基础建立动态面板方程,对我国污染最为密集的四个行业的环境规制和出口贸易进行估计。估计的结果表明环境规制对我国污染密集型产业出口贸易的影响是显著的,出口量和环境规制程度之间呈现出"U"型的关系,而且在现有经济水平下大多数制造业处于拐点左侧,环境规制强度的提高仍不利于产业发展和出口贸易。     

Why Quality May Not Always Win: The Impact of Product Generation Life Cycles on Quality and Network Effects in High-tech Markets

Marketing literature has recently witnessed major debates about the critical drivers of success – namely, the quality versus network effect, in high-tech markets as well as the efficiency of such markets. Extant research suggests that both quality and network effects are significant factors determining market share in these markets, but that quality effect is more important. Based on surveys of several retail managers and a new dataset on the US video game industry from 1995 to 2007, we replicate and extend this research in several directions: (1) we replicate and confirm prior results that both quality and network effects are critical drivers of market share; (2) network and quality effects vary over the product generation life cycle, and hence, quality does not always win; and (3) in the Growth and Maturity phases of the product generation life cycle, network effects can trump quality effects. Our empirical results provide some practical insights for retail managers.     

Networks of power and networks of capital: evidence from a peripheral area of the first globalisation. The energy sector in Naples: from gas to electricity (1862–1919)

At the moment of Italian political unification, the Mezzogiorno (i.e. Southern Italy) was affected by a deep institutional change and it entered the wave of financial market openness, attracting all forms of investments from international capital markets. Naples – after having lost its previous role as the Bourbon kingdom’s capital city – enabled projects of large scale urban planning, beginning with basic public utilities. In this process, public and private lighting was chronologically the first area of interest – parallel with railway development planning – where international finance played a role. As evidence of the dynamics which brought this peripheral European area into the orbit of the first globalisation, this article addresses the complex business of energy supply in Naples – between 1862 and World War I – both from the point of view of its financial dynamics and the parallel evolution and organisational characteristics of the business actors involved. The Social Network Analysis (SNA) will support the reconstruction of the diversified and transnational businesses which the Neapolitan energy business was integrated in, at the same time giving evidence of both the bindings linking legally independent companies and the multiple relations between the actors involved. The transition from gas to electricity during this time marked the transition from weak to strong corporate ties according to the evolutionary trends both of technology and international financial markets.     

The role of newly emergent wholesalers in the food and drink industry in Japan,c.1880 to 1940: Focusing on the case of Kokubu

Abstract

This article explores the historical development of Japanese wholesalers in the food and drink industry in modern Japan. Despite many criticisms of Japanese wholesalers as being “multi-layered,” “old-fashioned,” and “outmoded,” there were historical reasons for the existence of wholesalers. While the traditional wholesalers remained even after the Meiji Restoration, the new wholesalers emerged by dealing with new products that appeared for the first time in modern Japan. Utilizing the historical conditions of both producers and retailers, the newcomers such as Kokubu boosted their development by innovative activities and gradually superseded the traditional wholesale market, firmly establishing their position as general wholesalers before the Second World War.