Effectiveness of Antitrust Sanctions on Modern International Cartels

This paper assesses the antitrust fines and private penalties imposed on the participants of 260 international cartels discovered during 1990–2005, using four indicators of enforcement effectiveness. First, the United States is almost always the first to investigate and sanction international cartels, and its investigations are about seven times faster than EU probes. Second, US investigations were more likely to be kept confidential than those in Europe, but the gap nearly disappeared since 2000. Third, median government antitrust fines average less than 10% of affected commerce, but rises to about 35% in the case of multi-continental conspiracies. Civil settlements in jurisdictions where they are permitted are typically 6 to 12% of sales. Canadian and US fines and settlements imposed higher penalties than other jurisdictions. Fourth, fines on cartels that operated in Europe averaged a bit more than half of their estimated overcharges; those prosecuted only in North America paid civil and criminal sanctions of roughly single damages; and global cartels prosecuted in both jurisdictions typically paid less than single damages.     

Cartel success and institutions. The Finnish Cotton Cartel, 1903–1939

This article uses institutional theory to interpret collusive behaviour in the pre-World War II cotton cartel in Finland. The findings do not support the optimistic view of the institutionalists about the efficiency of economic institutions in boosting cooperation. Only one (the conciliation mechanism) of the four institutions identified in the cotton cartel could check opportunism to a certain degree, although it too lacked effective enforcement characteristics. This article argues that, in cartels, the motivation to follow institutions is fundamentally different from other environments, particularly trade. Besides institutions, organisational solutions, such as a sales agency that removes individual firms' discretion over pricing decisions, are needed to enhance cartel stability.     

Global Antitrust Prosecutions of Modern International Cartels

International cartelists face investigations and possible fines in a score of national and supranational jurisdictions, but the three with the most consistent legal responses to global cartels are the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This paper examines the antitrust fines and private penalties imposed on the participants of 167 international cartels discovered during 1990–2003. While more than U.S.$10 billion in penalties has been imposed, it is doubtful that such monetary sanctions can deter modern international cartels. The apparently large size of government fines is distorted by one overwhelming case. Moreover, deterrence is frustrated by the failure of compensatory private suits to take hold outside of North America and the near absence of fines in most Asian jurisdictions. Without significant increases in cartel detection, in the levels of expected fines or civil settlements, or expansion of the standing of buyers to seek compensation, international price fixing will remain rational business conduct.     

The Empirical Basis for Antitrust: Cartels,Mergers, and Remedies

There have been a number of studies attempting to quantify the impact of cartels and mergers on prices. The state of the art of empirical analysis related to antitrust is best illustrated by the research of John Connor and John Kwoka. Connor summarizes the existing empirical research that estimates the magnitude of the impact of cartels on prices. He estimates that cartels increase prices by >20% on average, and concludes that fines and damage awards do not sufficiently deter cartels and should be larger. Kwoka summarizes research estimating the impact of mergers on prices and other market outcomes, and recommends tighter merger regulation. Since the works of both have been used to support more aggressive antitrust enforcement, it is important to understand the basis for their research and how it is best weighed. This article critiques their substantial efforts to add more empirical content as the basis for antitrust policies.     

零售环节竞争、渠道势力与上游环节行业卡特尔

文章考察零售环节竞争与渠道势力对上游环节形成行业卡特尔的影响。结果表明,零售环节竞争加剧时,上游行业新产生的卡特尔趋于不稳定,已经存在的合谋也更有可能破裂。相反,零售环节垄断性增强时,现有的行业卡特尔更加稳定,并有可能形成新的稳定合谋。当零售商凭借渠道势力向生产商索取利润转移时,上游行业合谋更有可能形成,稳定性也随之增强。由此得到的启示是,竞争型的零售环节与产销对等的渠道势力将有利于防止上游稳定合谋的形成。     

Trade barriers in East and South East Asia: the implications for retailers

Many countries in East and South East Asia have erected trade barriers at various times since 1945. Many retail markets have therefore been closed to outside influence and investment. In the 1990s however such measures are being reversed and markets in East and South East Asia are becoming increasingly open. This openness is both a willing embrace of outside investment and a less willing acceptance of external pressures. This paper reviews the changes taking place and concludes that those retailers taking advantage of the opportunities are faced with a variety of problems. Indeed, it would seem that the removal of international trade barriers simply leads to their replacement with more difficult domestic market policies.     

Evolving Competitive Strategies of Ocean Container Operators:

The international intermodal ocean shipping industry has, until recently, been highly regulated and operations-oriented, offering a commodity service at rates fixed by cartels of steamship companies. Deregulation and other environmental changes, however, are forcing intermodal steamship companies to focus on strategic marketing as a means of survival and successful competition. This paper provides industry background, attempts to predict emerging marketing strategies of ocean liner operators, and draws some implications (largely positive) for international marketers. Finally, research needs in this area are identified, and a preliminary research plan is offered.     

Cotton: ‘The Most Studied of all Manufactures’

This article offers an account of European cartelisation in the rayon industry, with a particular emphasis on the inter-war period. It adds to the debate about the role of European cartels in the multinationalisation of European big business. While showing that cartelisation went hand in hand with rapid growth and a boom in foreign direct investment in the 1920s, it argues that, contrary to a widely held view, the collapse of the international financial system, the smooth working of which was a sine qua non for the functioning of a European sales agency, hindered international cartelisation in the 1930s.     

强化金融创新意识适应知识经济挑战

强化创新意识,是银行参与国际竞争与国际银行业接轨的需要,是增强企业发展后劲,培植优良客户群体,提高管理水平和效益水平的需要。实施金融创新必须解决缺乏创新原动力,资产业务创新少,效益观念淡薄等问题。要以人为本,建立新业务创新考核激励机制;以加快技术进步,构建金融创新的科技支撑力;以加强内部管理,为金融创新提供坚实的基础。     

共享经济视域下竞争政策的完善路径

共享经济作为基于互联网以及智能设备产生的新型经济模式,是以信息技术、定位导航系统、移动支付等创新技术的高度整合为基础,结合共享理念,并付诸商业实践的市场新形态。共享经济的优势在于最大限度发挥闲置资源的价值,加快行业改革的步伐与进程,并通过竞争政策及其机制彰显市场资源配置的最优化和共享经济的价值特征。共享经济相较于传统经济模式具有高技术性、信用依赖性、非占有性的特点,对竞争政策在共享经济领域的适用带来新挑战。在此背景之下传统行业的转型与新型行业或领域的兴起,使整个市场中竞争状况发生巨大变化。从实践角度多方面剖析共享经济企业的实际竞争状况,以共享经济交通行业和共享旅游住宿行业为例归纳共享经济的行业分布情况与企业数量,分别解析共享交通出行行业的平台模式和分时租赁模式的企业数量与产品差异程度,并根据波特竞争模型阐释共享经济行业的整体市场竞争环境。从共享经济的目标功能出发,分析共享经济的定价机制,阐述共享经济中的掠夺性定价行为、横向合并行为、独家交易行为等限制竞争行为的现状和表现形式,挖掘在共享经济视域下三种限制竞争行为规制的难题,提出共享经济视野下竞争政策的具体完善措施:转变竞争政策实施思维,明确竞争政策的优先地位;综合运用竞争政策工具,尤其是公平竞争审查制度的适用;从执法“零容忍”和构建竞争软文化两方面出发,推动竞争执法的常态化;构建合理有效的定价机制,以调动共享经济各方的积极性。     

CEO International Assignment Experience and Corporate Social Performance

Research suggests that international assignment experience enhances awareness of societal stakeholders, influences personal values, and provides rare and valuable resources. Based on these arguments, we hypothesize that CEO international assignment experience will lead to increased corporate social performance (CSP) and will be moderated by the CEO’s functional background. Using a sample of 393 CEOs of S&P 500 companies and three independent data sources, we find that CEO international assignment experience is positively related to CSP and is significantly moderated by the CEO’s functional background. Specifically, CEOs with international assignment experience and an output functional background (e.g., marketing and sales) are positively associated with greater CSP.     

中印出口商品技术结构比较

随着经济全球化的发展,中国与印度参与国际分工与国际贸易的广度和深度也在不断地提高。为了更加深入地了解两国出口商品竞争程度,以及两国在国际分工中的地位,本文通过按技术构成对产品进行分类,并借鉴有些学者计算产品附加值的方法,出口产品重叠指数和技术高度指数等指标,比较分析了中国和印度自1990年以来出口商品的结构变化,以期为中国出口商品结构的进一步优化提供参考。     

The Costs of Compliance: A CGE Assessment of Canada’s Policy Options under the Kyoto Protocol

Canada has committed itself under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012 on average by six per cent from the base 1990 level. As of 2009, however, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are far above its 1990 level which calls for stringent short‐term policy measures if Canada is to meet its legally binding commitment. This paper uses a multi‐region, multi‐commodity static general equilibrium model to quantify the economic impacts of alternative compliance strategies for Canada in the context of climate policies undertaken by other Kyoto parties. The numerical results confirm fears by Canadian policymakers of substantial economic adjustment costs should Canada fulfill its Kyoto commitments solely through domestic action. However, a rigorous use of the project‐based CDM on top of international emissions trading could allow Canada to live up to its international climate policy commitment at politically much more tolerable costs.     

New venture internationalization,strategic change,and performance: A follow-up study

Although many scholars, business experts, and government agencies enthusiastically advise all firms, including new and small ventures, to internationalize, such advice does not appear to be based on empirical evidence. Few researchers have empirically examined the link between new venture performance and the internationalization of new ventures. At best, the evidence suggests that there is no significant relationship.We used a sample of 62 U.S. new venture manufacturers in the computer and communications equipment industries during the late 1980s. These industries were purportedly globalizing and may have been leading other industries into increased international operations. We found that higher levels of internationalization (percentage of foreign sales to total venture sales) were associated with higher relative market share two years later. However, there was no significant direct relationship between percentage of international sales and subsequent return on investment (ROI). Perhaps international operations simply cost more than expected. Or perhaps, as MacMillan and Day (1987) found in their study of corporate ventures over a 4-year time period, increases in market share may be a prelude to higher ROI as scale benefits translate into higher profitability. However, the 2-year time period of our study may simply not be long enough for investments in higher market shares to produce improved profits.During the 2-year study period, many of the ventures changed their level of internationalization. Of the 36 ventures who were domestic (no international sales) in the prior study, 10 expanded into international markets over the 2 years. Of the 26 originally international ventures (international sales of at least 5%), half increased their percentage of international sales, nine reduced it, and four stayed the same. Whereas the average change in international sales percentage of the ventures was only 2.9 percentage points, the large standard deviation of 13.0 percentage points, and the leptokurtic distribution (9.2) reflected the dramatic changes made by some of the ventures. Using subgroup analysis we examined these changes in percentage of international sales in conjunction with changes in strategies and performance. Ventures that had increased international sales, relative to those that had not, exhibited more positive associations between the degree of strategic change and performance as measured in terms of both relative market share and ROI. Increased international sales in technology-based new ventures seems to require simultaneous strategic changes in order to positively impact venture performance.This study is a follow-up to McDougall's (1989) finding that technology-based new ventures that had sales in foreign markets had significantly different strategies than similar ventures that sold their products only domestically. The current study enriches the previous findings by adding consideration of (1) changes in degree of internationalization, (2) changes in strategy, and (3) venture performance.Although we found no performance penalty associated with increasing international sales alone, indiscriminant advice for new ventures to sell in foreign markets without other supporting strategic actions is inconsistent with our findings. Internationalization, alone, did not lead to increased profitability.Entrepreneurs of young technology-based firms who are considering internationalization should take heed of our results. Internationalization of sales does not appear to be a simple matter of applying established strategies and procedures developed for a domestic arena. Successful internationalization appears to require changes in the venture's strategy as well.     

Standards and Institutional Capacity: An Examination of Trade in Food and Agricultural Products

The ability of developing countries to cope with emerging standards in food and agricultural products is influenced by their institutional capacity. This paper develops original measures of four dimensions of standards-related, institutional capacity: information, conformity, enforcement, and international standard-setting. These measures are incorporated into a gravity model to investigate whether these capacities offset the negative effects of Aflatoxin B1 standards on food and agricultural product trade. The results indicate that informational capacity and conformity capacity do indeed have such offsetting effects. The evidence with regard to enforcement and international standard-setting is less clear.     

Relationship between Inflation and the Comparative Evolution of Wages in Industry and Services within the Spanish Economy

A large body of empirical literature ascribes a high degree of responsibility by the service sector for the difficulties in lowering inflation in the Spanish economy in the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the fact that most of the branches in this sector are characterised by their lower ability to increase productivity, service wages have increased at a similar rate to those of other activities that, however, have been able to generate constant growth in productivity. On the other hand, tertiary activities have been able to transmit the growth in wage costs to prices without this having significant repercussions on the amount demanded as they are more protected from international competition. In this context, the reasons why service growth is accused of being one of the key causes of price growth are understandable. Nevertheless, throughout the1990s, important changes have taken place due to the technological revolution of modern economies that have created a doubt that services are still for the most partly protected from competition. This article makes a comparative study of the evolution of wages in industry and services, finding initial evidence that tertiary wages are presenting in their evolution the lowest productivity of most of tertiary activities pressurised by greater competition, which is lowering the incidence on inflation of the sector and of the economy in general.     

Response strategies of local firms to import competition in emerging markets

Using a sample of 3808 firms from 1996 to 2007, the impact of three strategic options that can be implemented by local Asian (i.e., Indian) firms facing increased import competition in their domestic market is analyzed. On average, firms with greater investments in intangible resources and tighter product focus do better, while firms with greater international sales perform poorly compared to their peers. However, in industries characterized by high import competition, firms with international operations and product focus tend to have higher performance, while firms with intangible resources perform poorly.     

How emerging market governments promote outward FDI: Experience from China

Large scale outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by emerging market enterprises has become common in today's business world. Nested within the political economy perspective, this article elucidates why and how emerging market governments enthusiastically stimulate OFDI. Drawing upon our detailed analysis of the Chinese context, we developed the logic that OFDI promotion policies set by emerging market governments are economically imperative and institutionally complementary to offsetting competitive disadvantages of emerging market enterprises in global competition. This study presents the governmental institutions that impact Chinese OFDI, discusses evolutionary changes of OFDI policies, and describes current policies and measures that stimulate Chinese companies to expand into the global market. This article concludes with theoretical and managerial discussions wherein we call for convergence between two seemingly paradoxical views – institutional escapism and governmental promotion – presently used as an institutional logic explicating international expansion of emerging market enterprises.     

全球贸易竞争对美国反垄断政策的影响

反垄断政策是美国政府最重要的经济政策之一。在贸易全球化时代,有观点认为,反垄断政策不利于美国企业在国际市场上的竞争,甚至认为应当将反垄断政策置于贸易政策之下。但美国政府接受了经济学家迈克尔·波特的理论,坚持激烈的国内市场竞争有助于美国企业国际竞争力形成的观点,反对将反垄断政策作为贸易政策的工具,并在政策取向上一方面对反垄断政策进行调整,使反垄断政策有助于推动企业创新;另一方面积极推动反垄断领域中的国际合作,为美国企业创造更加平等的竞争环境。     

Are There Such Things as International Property Rights?

This paper argues that the process of economic globalisation is to remain partial, because of its continued reliance upon the national institutions in charge of the definition and enforcement of private property rights. Emerging economies often face critical enforcement problems, but the experience of the European Single Market also suggests that, in this respect, institutional convergence remains extremely slow. Second, the globalisation process since 1990 has seen a sharp growth in private inter‐temporal contracts, exemplified by private financial transactions and by contracting on intellectual property rights; both are much more vulnerable to local institutional failures than trade in tangible goods and sovereign credits, which were the hallmark of previous phases of international liberalisation. Thus the ‘frontier’ of globalisation now makes markets more exposed to the underlying fragmentation of national property institution than before. This suggests that multilateral negotiation, as an instrument for the coordination of State institutions, will remain the backbone of international economic integration.