Competition and Efficiency in Transacting: The Case of Residential Real Estate Brokerage

This paper examines the functioning of the market for brokerage services for residential real estate. The central issue addressed is whether the manner in which brokerage services have traditionally been provided and priced is consistent with efficiency. In approaching this question, the paper first describes the activities usually associated with the brokerage function and develops criteria for the efficient provision of brokerage services. After the structural characterisitcs and pricing practices of the brokerage industry are analyzed, a model of brokerage firm competition is developed. The principal finding is that the traditional absence of price competition among brokers may have led to an inefficiently large commitment of resources to the brokerage industry, supported by excessive rates for consumers of brokerage services. These results stem from the way that competitive pressures emerge when price competition is largely suppressed.     

产业生态:一个企业竞争的视角

本文基于对产业生态研究视角的澄清以及有关产业生态定义的回顾 ,对产业生态的概念作了广义和狭义两个层面的界定。根据已有的研究成果 ,对“资源生产率”与企业竞争力的关系进行了多角度的梳理 ,并着重就产业生态观与企业竞争行为的互动可能进行了理论上的探析。     

煤炭企业技术岗位公开竞聘存在问题及对策

以山东能源临矿集团为例,介绍了临矿集团为解决人才断崖问题,推行技术岗位和管理岗位"双通道"人才晋升发展的模式情况,并对在岗位公开竞聘中存在的问题进行分析,提出了实施适当轮岗交流、健全和完善"管理、技术、技能"3个通道等人力资源优化配置的相关对策。     

在竞争形势下电信企业的企业文化建设浅析

探讨电信企业文化建设,如何确定适应市场发展,又适合员工思想状态及能力水平的思路及具体操作方法.     

Political and economic processes in the privatization of the Korea telecommunications industry: A case study of Korea Telecom, 1987–2003

The Korean government completed its privatization of Korea Telecom (KT) in May 2002. Privatization was undertaken at a gradual pace at first mainly because the Korean government did not want to hand over its managerial power to the privatized telecommunications service company, although it announced its plan in 1987. However, the inauguration of the World Trade Organization (WTO) system and the Korean economic crisis of 1997 forced the government to accelerate its full privatization plan. During this process, several main players such as the Korean government, transnational corporations, international organizations, and large domestic conglomerates played important roles. The full privatization of KT is the result of the political, social, and economic demands of these players.     

管理层人力资本对全要素销售效率及其收敛性的影响研究--以钢铁上市公司为例

本文利用DEA方法对2002～2011年25个钢铁上市公司的全要素销售效率进行测算,并分析了人力资本、人力资本结构对全要素销售效率及其收敛性的影响,研究结果表明：（1）总体平均全要素销售效率为0.825,从演进的角度来看,平均全要素销售效率经历了“V”型变化趋势。（2）只有硕士以上管理层比例对企业全要素销售效率存在显著的正影响,而其他人力资本结构变量和平均人力资本的影响不显著。（3）各分组的硕士以上管理层比例和全要素销售效率都呈σ收敛趋势,他们的变异系数存在长期稳定的协整关系,实证结果表明具有高级人力资本的管理层比例趋同是全要素销售效率趋同的重要原因。     

The Impact of Trade Unions on the Diffusion of Technology: The Case of NC Machine Tools

This paper reports the results from an econometric analysis of the impact of unionism on the diffusion of technology. It is found that the extent of unionism does not have any significant influence on the diffusion rate of NC machine tools in the US engineering industries in the period of 1979-83.     

The Impact of Foreign Competition and New Technologies on the Demand for Heterogeneous Labor

This paper investigates the impact which foreign competition, investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and investment in capital goods other than ICT-related have on the demand for heterogeneous labor. A dynamic interrelated factor demands model serves as the theoretical framework and is estimated by an ordered probit model. Cross-sectional data from a business survey in the service sector are used in the empirical analysis.It turns out that skill-biased technological change is adeterminant of the recent decline in relative demand for lowskilled labor in the business-related services sector.Expected foreign competition positively affects the demandfor unskilled workers and for workers with completed vocationaltraining, while it leaves the demand for the other skill groupsunchanged.     

The Assessment of Exclusive Contracts: The Competition Case Against Computicket in South Africa

Review of Industrial Organization - This article reviews an abuse of dominance decision against the main outsourced ticketing firm in South Africa. The decision of the Competition Tribunal in...     

Public value mapping of network neutrality: Public values and net neutrality in Korea

Network neutrality (NN) is of broad and current interest despite its complex and multifaceted nature. This study examines NN in the Korean context in terms of policy, industry, values, and society. It addresses the policy effectiveness of ongoing NN discussions by analyzing user attitudes and perceptions. The proposed model empirically tests policy effectiveness through user perceptions by incorporating factors representative of NN. Possible NN factors are derived from the previous literature and perceptions of NN concepts. The results find that regulation and competition are two primary factors constituting network neutrality, and these factors differently influence the formation of attitudes toward policy effectiveness. Political and social implications are discussed based on the proposed model. This study provides comprehensive analysis and heuristic data on user drivers, industry dynamics, and policy implications in the NN ecosystem.     

Competition in Grocery Retailing: The Impact of a New Strategic Group on BLS Price Increases

Metropolitan areas with a significant presence of warehouse stores had lower retail food price increases during 1977 to 1992 than did areas with no warehouse stores. The negative impact occurred largely during the first half of the 15-year period. Strategic learning appears to have led to a different response from incumbent supermarkets during 1985–1992. Change in prices was positively related to change in concentration and negatively related to entry.     

The 'Skill-oriented' Strategies of German Trade Unions: Their Impact on Efficiency and Equality Objectives

In the present debate about options for the modernization of trade unions, the predominant argument being propounded is that trade unions and workers' representatives at plant level should take more 'responsibility' for the competitiveness of the firms. Among other things, they are advised to enter into 'alliances' with management at the level of qualification politics. This paper considers some important collective bargaining arrangements which the German trade unions have negotiated over the last few years in order to improve mutually beneficial further training decisions within German firms. The emphasis is on the potential of different agreements for achieving efficiency and equality objectives in the context of contemporary changes in production and restructuring processes.     

营销能力对企业自主创新影响研究

中国企业普遍缺乏自主创新是否与营销能力低下有关,国内外已有研究没有能够很好回答该问题。本文提出了将企业的自主创新分为自主创新欲望、自主创新预期和自主创新绩效相互关联的行为逻辑过程,并建立了营销能力对这三个基本构面影响的理论假说和研究框架。通过企业实际数据验证表明:营销能力对企业自主创新过程存在正向显著影响。这一关系的证实将从营销能力视角,为提高中国企业自主创新的积极性、主动性和持续性提供新的对策研究思路与理论依据。     

The Determinants of Pricing in the Mexican Domestic Airline Sector: The Impact of Competition and Airport Congestion

Low-cost airlines in Mexico affect the lowest-quoted fares of one of the two principal incumbent carriers, but have no effect on the lowest-quoted fares of the other incumbent carrier. The same conclusion holds for competition between incumbent carriers where the lowest-quoted fares of one of the incumbent carriers is lower when incumbents compete. Congestion at the Mexico City airport is limiting potential competition, with carriers being able to charge a significant price premium. This suggests that the societal costs of airport congestion can go well beyond the negative congestion externality and should also include the effects of reduced competition. These findings raise important public policy issues.     

Adoption of Product and Process Innovations in Differentiated Markets: The Impact of Competition

The paper examines the effects of the degree of competition on firms'decisions to innovate in differentiated markets. Firms favor productinnovations if they produce close substitutes (so competition is severe) andfavor process innovations if products are differentiated (so competition isless severe). Assumptions on the strategic complementarity of product andprocess innovations and on the decreasing returns of a product innovationare found to be the critical assumptions in the sense of Milgrom and Roberts (1994).     

The Impact of Enterprise Size on Employment Tribunal Incidence and Outcomes: Evidence from Britain

Employment Tribunals are the formal means of adjudicating disputes over individual employment rights in the UK. This article hypothesizes that, because small firms favour informality over formality, they are more likely (i) to experience employee claims than large firms; (ii) to be subject to different types of claims; (iii) to settle prior to reaching a formal Tribunal; and (iv) to lose at a Tribunal. Data from the 2003 Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications are used to examine these hypotheses. They are generally supported, although in relation to the third there was no size effect. Furthermore, our results show that firms that have procedures and follow them are more likely to win than those firms that do not have any procedures. Recognizing the benefits of informality, while also ensuring that small firms follow proper standards of procedural fairness, is a policy dilemma that has yet to be resolved.     

基于三阶段DEA模型的企业技术创新效率研究

本文以我国各地区大中型工业企业数据为基础,利用三阶段DEA模型,分析和讨论了我国企业技术创新的效率水平。研究发现,我国地区企业技术创新的整体效率不高,且规模效率较低是抑制其发展的主要原因。政府R&D资助、企业利润对企业技术创新效率有显著的正向影响,企业与科研院所的合作、企业规模有显著的负向影响,而企业与高校合作的影响并不显著。根据纯技术效率和规模效率,本文将各地区企业技术创新划分为4种模式,各地区可结合自身效率的特点,有针对性地开展创新实践活动。     

The Role of Competition in Natural Monopoly: Costs, Public Ownership, and Regulation

Conventional policy for industries with very high economies of scale is to permit monopoly but to subject it to regulation or public ownership. Since the latter may not result in cost minimization, however, it is possible that competition, by forcing firms to operate at the cost frontier, may be less costly despite sacrificing some scale economies. The paper sets out the relevant analytical considerations, estimates a cost function for electric distribution utilities in the U.S., and tests for the relative costs of monopoly and duopoly utilities. Among other notable findings, it concludes that competition does indeed lower net costs.     

Turning Around a State Owned Enterprise: The Case of Scooters India Limited

Past research on firm turnaround shows that the propensity of an organization to undertake a successful turnaround depends on a complex interaction between action choices in the organization and constraints in the business environment. This article extends this line of research by examining corporate decline and turnaround in an environment with numerous challenging environmental constraints: the state-owned sector in India. Using an in-depth case study of a state-owned enterprise in India, this research found that the business environment, the firm's decision-making process, its leadership characteristics, and the stakeholders' responses were are all found to influence the firm's action choices and turnaround process. This study also shows that in addition to the strategic and operational changes so commonly associated with firm turnaround, the importance of leadership and the basic credibility of the firm's top management with major stakeholders and government officials also play key roles in the turnaround.