Content and advertising in the media: Pay-tv versus free-to-air

We compare the advertising intensity and content of programming in a market with competing media platforms. With pay-tv, media platforms have two sources of revenues, advertising revenues and revenues from viewers. With free-to-air, media platforms receive all revenues from advertising. We show that if viewers strongly dislike advertising, the advertising intensity is greater under free-to-air television. We also show that free-to-air television tends to provide less differentiated content whereas pay-tv stations always maximally differentiate their content. In addition, we compare the welfare properties of the two different schemes.     

Competition between exchanges: A research agenda

This paper describes open research questions related to the competition and market structure of financial exchanges and argues that only a combination of industrial organization and finance can satisfactorily attack these questions. Two examples are discussed to illustrate how the combination of these two approaches can significantly enrich the analysis: the “network externality puzzle”, which refers to the question of why trading for the same security is often split across trading venues, and the impact of the multi-sided character of financial exchanges on pricing and profitability.     

Media substitution and economies of scale in advertising

Two important issues in the economics of advertising are media substitutability in generating sales and scale economies in advertising. If media are substitutes then partial bans, e.g., broadcast bans on cigarettes or alcoholic beverages, may be ineffective; and mergers among radio and TV firms, currently widespread in the U.S. and Mexico, are unlikely to result in market power in setting advertising rates. If there are scale diseconomies in advertising, concerns that advertising increases entry barriers may be unfounded. Using U.S. beer firm data over 1983:Q1–1993:Q4 for three media categories, we find evidence of high substitutability and diseconomies of scale.     

The New Competition Law in Thailand: Lessons for Institution Building

The new competition law in Thailand, which replaces the totally ineffective 1979 anti-monopoly law, aims to enhance the competitive process by improving the enforcement mechanism. Unfortunately, the Trade Competition Commission's rulings on the first two complaints about allegedly illegal conduct by two large companies with obvious market power were disappointing. Although political pressure was a significant factor affecting the decisions, this paper argues that there were also other important issues. The complex legal, business, and economic problems in both cases, the weakness of the competition law, poor institutional design, inadequate resources and lack of experience among the officials involved have all contributed to the unfortunate decisions, and will certainly affect the performance of competition law enforcement in the future.     

Smart TV and the online media sector: User privacy in view of changing market realities

Smart TV and online media enable precise monitoring of online media consumption, which also forms the basis for personalised recommendations. This new practice challenges EU policy in two respects. Firstly, the legality of monitoring individual media consumption and using personal data of users is primarily addressed under data protection law. Secondly, tracking of viewing behaviour and personalisation of media content can also affect individuals’ freedom to receive information, as well as the realisation of media policy objectives such as media freedom and pluralism, implications that so far are not reflected in media law and policy, or only marginally. This article addresses the increasing reliance on personal data and personalised services in the audiovisual and online media sector and queries the appropriateness of the legal status quo in light of implementation and enforcement actions in Germany and the Netherlands. The analysis concludes with a call for media policy makers and regulators to pay more attention to the issue of ‘smart surveillance’ of media users, and develops a number of concrete recommendations on how to accommodate the specific privacy concerns of media users.     

Competition and performance in the UK telecommunications industry

Judging by historical and crossnational experience, privatization of British Telecom promises to increase the rate of expansion of telecommunications usage, but also to redistribute services and charges. Public dissatisfaction with these reallocations could recreate the political discord that stunted the early growth of the British telecommunications manufacturing sector, unless the new technology and regulatory institutions substantially alter the economic environment. More intense competition. rather than prospective changes of network ownership, seem to have improved the seem to have improved the manufacturing industry's performance in recent years.     

Competition policy, collusion, and tacit collusion

In this paper, I pursue three goals. The first is to model collusion in a way that is distinct from noncooperative collusion. The second and third are to develop a particular specification of a standard model of noncooperative collusion that permits explicit solution for equilibrium outputs and reversion thresholds and to extend this analysis to allow for a deterrence-based competition policy that investigates conduct based on observed high prices (investigation thresholds).     

Foreign and domestic US policies: Spectrum reservations and media balance

This article examines the US opposition to a priori planning of the HF and space satellite spectrum, and ‘orbital slots’. This opposition is then contrasted with the rationale of domestic pre-engineered allocation and allotment plans for television and FM radio. The article then contrasts the US animus towards Third World calls for a ‘balanced’ information flow with the longstanding US commitment to fairness, balance, equal access and diversity. The author suggest that the operation of a foreign-domestic double standard could damage US credibility.     

Competition Policy under Laissez-Faireism: Market Power and its Treatment in Hong Kong

The paper describes the current competition policy framework in Hong Kong: how it came into existence, what business practices are prohibited, and how the enforcement system works. Recent cases in the telecommunications industry are used to illustrate the sectoral approach, a unique feature of Hong Kong's competition policy. We argue that a sectoral approach faces two fundamental drawbacks. First, due to having different ``rules of the game' for different sectors, the allocation of resources may be distorted in the long run. Second, since the relevant regulatory agencies perform dual roles both as competition policy enforcer and as traditional regulator of natural monopolies, the impartiality of their competition decisions may not be credibly conveyed to the public. We also address other specific problems associated with the sectoral approach, such as the exclusion of structural issues, narrow coverage of sectors, and the lack of public enforcement. We conclude that an overall competition law can better promote competition and economic efficiency in Hong Kong.     

Stochastic market sharing, partial communication and collusion

This paper analyzes the role of communication between firms in an infinitely repeated Bertrand game in which firms receive private signals of a common value i.i.d. demand shock. It is shown that firms can use stochastic, inter-temporal market sharing as a substitute for communication in low demand states. Partial communication in high demand states is sufficient to achieve the most collusive, full communication outcome and strictly dominates partial communication in low demand states. Communication in high demand states allows firms to coordinate their pricing, choose the most efficient uninformed price and avoid price wars. I demonstrate that under some conditions consumers are better off with communication among colluding firms.     

Competitive Balance and Market Size in Major League Baseball: A Response to Baseball's Blue Ribbon Panel

Major League Baseball's recently convened Blue Ribbon Panel concluded that competitive balance had been reduced in the latter half of the 1990s. Specifically, the Blue Ribbon Panel argues that smaller-marketteams now know before theseason begins that there is little chance for post-season success. Such a finding is contrary to the findings of numerous economists who contend that Major League Baseball at the close of the twentieth century has never been more competitively balanced. The purpose of this work is to reconcile these disparate viewpoints via an analysis of the link between various definitions of market size and competitive balance. In general, our analysis of the 1990s reveals that market size, however it is defined, is not consistently related to the level of competitive balance in Major League Baseball.     

电力市场的合理补偿原则与核心竞争模式

在四个方面阐述了电力市场的合理补偿原则与核心竞争模式:一是电力市场中的经济补偿与核心竞争模式关系;二是不考虑网络安全限制时的竞争模式;三是考虑网络安全因素时的补偿及竞争模式;四是考虑电力市场发电资源优化配置时的补偿及竞争模式,并作出了三点结论。     

企业竞争力研究的新视角:企业在产品市场与要素市场的竞争

本文从研究企业之间的竞争问题入手,分析了企业的竞争者不仅包括产品市场的竞争者,也包括要素市场的竞争者;提出在产品生命周期的不同阶段,企业的主要竞争对手会发生变化。基于上述研究,我们提出企业竞争力可以分为要素市场竞争力、产品市场竞争力、企业运营效率竞争力,这三种竞争力分别从投入、产出、转换三个角度测量了企业的竞争力。在企业竞争力的三个方面,“要素市场竞争力”及“企业运营效率竞争力”是企业竞争力更为重要的两个方面。     

The CAN-SPAM Act: New rules for sending commercial e-mail messages and implications for the sales force

The CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) Act significantly modifies the legal understanding of spam, offers important protections for consumers and, at the same time, holds the company primarily responsible for e-mail sent by salespeople on its behalf. This new law prohibits deceptive headings, using e-mail addresses obtained illegally, requires senders to have a working unsubscribe system, assesses liability, and criminalizes certain types of e-mail actions. Statutory damages are ascribed at up to US$2 million for violations, tripled to US$6 million for intentional violations with unlimited damages for fraud and abuse. Since commercial e-mail messages have become such a vital medium of communication for salespeople, it becomes imperative that sales strategies comply with and benefit from this new regulation. Therefore, this paper serves to clarify the implications of the CAN-SPAM Act for salespeople and sales managers. Specific managerial guidance on how the sales force can comply with this law is provided.     

彩票市场的竞争性质与我国彩票监管体制的重构

世界各国的彩票产业都处于政府的监管之下，但监管模式主要是从“预防犯罪”等角度来设计的，没有考虑这一市场的产业组织特征。本文认为，间接竞争是彩票产业理想市场结构。基于彩票市场的产业组织特征及其与彩票监管体制的相互关系，本文在分析了英国、美国和法国彩票市场结构的特点与问题，以及我国彩票市场存在问题的基础上，提出了我国彩票市场结构重构的方向与彩票监管体制改革的目标模式。     

Advertising, Its Determinants, and Market Structure

This study derives a formal model of firm advertising behavior and applies it to the industry level to figure out the relationship between advertising and market structure. The firm advertising model shows that both consumer preference andfirm-specific advertising competence jointly determineprofit-maximizing advertising intensity. At the industry level, advertising intensity is represented multiplicatively by consumer preference and a measure of market structure, which reflects the joint distribution of the levels of advertising competence and market shares among firms. The new market structure measure suggests that those single-dimensional measures of market structure such as seller concentration and the Herfindahl index are inadequate in explaining interindustry differences in advertising intensity, and that the long-debated advertising-concentration relationship differs depending primarily on the appropriability of advertising. An empirical analysis of 426 five-digit Korean manufacturing industries shows that an inverted U-shaped relationship between the Herfindahl index and industry advertising intensity is observed for consumer goods industries but a lazy J-shaped relationship for producer goods industries.     

Enacting the internet and social media on the public sector's frontline

Recognising their growing role in public services, this article draws on the notion of ‘enactment’ to argue that the internet and social media (I&SM) need to be understood in particular institutional, organisational and social contexts. Focusing on street‐level bureaucrats who deliver frontline services, we explore efforts to integrate I&SM into youth work with clients who are thought to be ‘digitally savvy’ but also in need of protection from the ‘online world’. As clients can be vulnerable and trust is a key relational component, organisation–practitioner–client boundaries are complex and under continuous renegotiation. However, the layering of new virtual channels of interaction adds extra complexity. This change necessitates the development of innovative routines, practices and protocols, but these are being developed in a wider social context where the norms of using social media have not caught up with practice and the use of these tools is still often surrounded by moral panic.     

Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands

Previous research has established the benefits of branding for business-to-business (B2B) organizations. Various tools can be used to support B2B brands, including the internet and other interactive technologies. Yet research on how organizations use Social Networking Sites (SNS) to achieve brand objectives remains limited. This study addresses the gap by focusing on B2B SMEs and their social networking practices, particularly, usage, perceived barriers, and the measurement of effectiveness of SNS as a marketing tool. Findings from a mail survey show that over a quarter of B2B SMEs in the UK are currently using SNS to achieve brand objectives, the most popular of which is to attract new customers. On the other hand, the most significant barrier is the lack of perceived relevance for particular sectors. Notably, the overwhelming majority of users do not adopt any metrics to assess SNS effectiveness. Almost half of the sample of SMEs that currently use SNS have indicated their intention to increase their marketing spending on this channel, highlighting the growing importance of SNS in a B2B context.