STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE OF MARKET COMPETITION: THE TAIWANESE CABLE TV INDUSTRY IN THE 1990s

Cable TV plays a dominant role in the media environment of Taiwanese society. Before the passage of the Cable TV Law in 1993, the industry was a vibrant informal sector; it was highly differentiated, and acted as a democratic alternative to the formal media. The 1993 Cable TV Law, which designed a competitive market with five licenses issued in each area, was touted as a victory for democracy by the opposition parties. In less than a decade, however, drastic merger movements led to a monopolistic structure. The abuse of monopolistic power has become pervasive. This article studies this unexpected historical twist by examining the industry's market dynamics during the country's democratization in the 1990s. To show the path‐dependent mechanisms in the nonlinear development trajectory of the market, a sociological approach is applied that emphasizes firms’ competitive strategies in controlling the multiple dimensions of uncertainties and rules that induce this competition.     

INVESTMENT IN FIXED CAPITAL AND COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

This paper explores the possibilities for complex dynamic behaviourin an industry where a fixed capital good, once acquired andinstalled, is specific to that industry. A central theme isto understand the sorts of factors which can impose bounds onthe behaviour of market price and which can impart stabilityto the system. The analysis highlights the significance notonly of the durability and specificity of physical capital goodsbut also of capacity (under-) utilisation decisions and of thecautiousness of producers when expanding their capacities.     

THE POLITICS OF REREGULATION: GLOBALIZATION,DEMOCRATIZATION, AND THE TAIWANESE LABOR MOVEMENT

Since the early 1990s, Taiwanese workers have faced two simultaneous trends: democratization and globalization. These two trends have different, if not exactly opposite, implications for the labor movement. Democratization has empowered the working class and made its members more effective in the political process. Globalization, however, has led to an increase in the flexibility of the labor market and made workers more vulnerable to changes in the economic environment. This paper begins with a discussion of the general characteristics of Taiwan's labor movement and the general impact of globalization on labor institutions. Then, by examining the transformation of Taiwan's labor institutions in recent years, and specifically the process of union reorganization and the revisions of the Labor Standards Law, the paper shows how, against the background of globalization, Taiwanese workers have used their newly acquired political power to maneuver between different political forces and set the development course for the labor movement.     

SCHOOLING IN INDONESIA: CRISIS-RELATED AND LONGER-TERM ISSUES

Though Indonesia had been making considerable progress in expanding its education system before the economic crisis broke in 1997, 30% of children were still failing to complete primary school,and the quality of education was far from satisfactory. The economic crisis threatened to lead to massive dropout, and social safety net programs were therefore introduced. This paper outlines issues facing primary and secondary education before and during the crisis, assesses the extent to which the social safety net programs have helped to limit dropout, and discusses longer-term issues in achieving the goal of nine years' universal basic education, raising educational quality and achieving increased equity of access.     

TESTING PROFIT AND STRUCTURE RELATIONSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN BANKING MARKETS USING EFFICIENCY MEASURES

This paper provides a comparison between the developed and developing European countries through investigating the profit–structure relationship in the banking industries. The reduced‐form profit equations are estimated for each group of countries for the period 1995–2006. The results suggest that the inclusion of X‐efficiency and scale efficiency directly in the reduced‐form profit equation is crucial in explaining the bank profit–structure relationship in the European banking markets. When we control for direct measures of efficiency, the market share and concentration coefficient become insignificant in all regressions. The results support the efficiency versions of the efficient‐structure hypothesis over the relative market power and structure–conduct–performance hypothesis. For the developing economies of Europe, the findings of the paper indicate that efficiency is a crucial factor for establishing a sound banking system and the banks in these countries should increase their scale of operations to attain an optimal profit level.     

STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND SPECIALIZATION IN BRAZILIAN INDUSTRY: THE EVOLUTION OF LEADING COMPANIES AND THE M&A PROCESS

This paper analyzes changes in the Brazilian productive structure and in ownership structures of leading companies during the 1990s. It uses information from balance sheets published in Gazeta Mercantil and from the Thomson Financial Securities Data database on M&A. The main findings are: (i) the sectoral distribution of leading companies has remained stable; (ii) there has been a strong change in the ownership structure in Brazil, with an increase in the participation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the sample of leading companies; (iii) this increase in participation may be partially, though not integrally, explained by M&A transactions; (iv) though the M&A process has been quite intensive in the period, productive concentration has decreased among the group of leading companies; and (v) acquiring firms have adopted specializing strategies during the period. This trend is even clearer when private national enterprises (PNEs) are examined separately.     

TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION: JAPANESE AMMONIUM SULPHATE INDUSTRY IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

Trade is considered an effective antidote to the exercise of domestic market power. This article, through an analysis of the structure, conduct and performance of the Japanese ammonium sulphate industry during the interwar period, shows that trade is not always a sufficient condition for domestic markets to become competitive. In industries exhibiting substantial economies of scale, availability and diffusion of technology, existence of surplus international capacity and the ability of domestic producers to deter imports can impede instantaneous adjustment of international supply to imbalances in demand and supply thereby allowing domestic producers to exercise their market power.