Sample-selection procedures for estimating the relationship between concentration and profitability from cross-industry data

Aggregation of homogeneous product markets into industry classifications or disequilibrium in terms of differences between expected and actual market shares can lead to bias in the estimated relationship between concentration and profitability from regressions using cross-industry data. The relationship between concentration and profitability over the period from 1965 to 1980 is estimated for various samples of Canadian manufacturing industries. Regressions for the full sample of industries lead to rejection of the hypotheses from either structure-conduct-performance (structuralist) analysis or a model of oligopolistic equilibrium. However, regressions for subsamples of industries selected to remove industries subject to aggregation provide results consistent with the structuralist hypothesis, while regressions for industries selected to remove industries subject to both aggregation and disequilibrium provide results consistent with the oligopolistic equilibrium hypothesis.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1990 Meetings of the Canadian Economics Association. Helpful comments from Jeff Church, Steve Davies, Simon Domberger, Ben Heijdra, Dave Sapsford, Pam Weidler and participants at the meetings are gratefully acknowledged. Useful suggestions were also received from an anonymous referee of this journal.     

Market share,advertising, R&D,and profitability: An empirical analysis of leading industrial firms in Japan

This paper develops a dynamic model of a leader firm which chooses the time paths of R&D and advertising inputs so as to maximize the present value of expected profits. From this theoretical model simultaneous-equations system for market share, advertising, R&D, and profitability is derived and estimated using the data on the leading industrial firms in Japan. Our results show that, as far as top firms are concerned, market share and demand growth have significant positive effects on profitability, and an increase in the stock of goodwill increases market share as well as profitability.This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Education in Japan. Helpful comments were provided by H. Odagiri. Also I am indebted to an anonymous referee for advice and criticism on various points.     

Conceptualization and measurement of relationship quality: Linking relationship quality to actual sales and recommendation intention

Following over a decade of relationship marketing, this paper re-visits the notion of relationship quality to determine relational drivers of account profitability. Customer executives from multiple industries are interviewed to identify critical success factors in buyer-seller relationships. Based on their responses, a “back-to-the-basics,” grass roots approach to the measurement of relationship quality is offered. To further demonstrate its value for marketing practice, this measure of relationship quality is administered to a nationwide sample of key customer decision-makers to determine its link to profitable outcomes. The results support this measure as a driver of actual sales and recommendation intention.     

Antecedents and consequences of relationship intention: Implications for transaction and relationship marketing

The terms relationship marketing (RM) and loyalty have been extensively promoted in marketing literature. Advocates of RM and loyalty have argued that RM leads to loyalty and loyalty leads to profitability. However, currently available evidence questions these arguments. We propose a term relationship intention. Relationship intention is willingness of a customer to develop a relationship with a firm while buying a product or a service attributed to a firm, a brand, and a channel. We build a multi-item scale for measuring relationship intention. We propose a framework, wherein we argue that the relationship intention is influenced by the customers' perceived firm equity, perceived brand equity, and perceived channel equity. We propose the consequences of relationship intention as being low cost to serve, price premium, word-of-mouth promotion, and company advertisement. We also argue that relationship intention moderates the association between lifetime duration and profitability. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of relationship intention in terms of transaction and RM.     

A relationship strategy perspective on relationship portfolios: Linking customer profitability,commitment, and growth potential to relationship strategy

The paper develops a three-dimensional portfolio model for business relationships which distinguishes among six different categories. Based on assessments of customer profitability, customer commitment, and growth potential, the positioning of a given customer relationship in the portfolio allows managers to determine appropriate customer relationship strategies and appropriate performance indicators. Results from applying the portfolio model are reported and managerial implications and future research are discussed.     

Customer accounting and customer profitability analysis for the order handling industry—A managerial accounting approach

Market-oriented businesses are concerned with customer satisfaction and business profitability, both in the longer term. Thus the marketing managers need updated decision-relevant information (marketing metrics) with respect to the set of processes that are leading to customer values and economic customer values. The attention of this study is focused on the profitability aspects of marketing. The context is the business-to-business order-handling industry, i.e. four exporting companies and 176 of their customers in 36 various markets. A market-oriented accounting framework that can be included as a natural part of a managerial accounting system is introduced and discussed, and financial reports as well as graphic representations and key figures for various levels of a market hierarchy are presented. The findings with respect to the profitability of orders, customers and markets are presented and the managerial implications are discussed.     

Functions of industrial supplier relationships and their impact on relationship quality

Although recent scholarly work on business relationships often discusses relationship quality as a major issue, especially with regard to the phenomenon of vendor stratification, there is still little empirical research on this important construct. In this paper, the authors provide a thorough conceptualization of relationship quality and its possible antecedents, i.e., the direct and indirect functions of the relationship for the customer. Drawing on an empirical base of 230 buyer questionnaires, the authors show that the extent to which a supplier fulfills direct and indirect functions in a relationship has a direct positive impact on the relationship quality perceived by the customer. This impact is especially strong when the customer can easily replace the supplier or, in other words, when the supplier faces competition. The findings are discussed and the authors provide managerial implications for decision-makers from both buyer and supplier organizations.     

The Influence of Credit Union and Savings and Loan Competition on Bank Deposit Rates in Idaho and Montana

This study examines the effect of S & L and credit union competition on bank behaviorin Idaho and Montana. A structure-performance OLSmodel is used to estimate bank interest rates oncertain deposits. Two key independent variables arelocal market share of credit unions and S & Ldeposits. Overall, previous studies found littleevidence that thrift competition affects bankperformance. We found some evidence that thriftcompetition, especially from credit unions, resultsin higher interest rates for bank CDs. Theseresults have policy implications as banking groupscurrently seek to restrict credit union competition.     

Enabling relationship structures and relationship performance improvement: The moderating role of relational capital

Based on data from 248 asymmetric subcontractor–customer relationships in Finland, this study analyzes the direct impact of relationship structures, relational capital, and the subcontractor's relationship-specific investments on the improvement of operational relationship performance. In addition, the study investigates the moderating role of relational capital on the links between relationship structures, relationship-specific investments, and relationship performance improvement. We found that both relational capital and relationship-specific investments directly affect the relationship performance improvement, while relationship structures do not. However, relational capital positively moderates the link between relationship structures and relationship performance improvement by creating enabling structures. Thus, our findings contribute to the existing literature and discussion on enabling organizational and relationship structures by demonstrating how relational capital changes the role and impact of relationship structures.     

Network pictures: Building an holistic representation of a dyadic business-to-business relationship

Network pictures are perceived as providing a picture of a company's position within a network and as providing managers with a framework for strategic decision making. This exploratory paper sets out to investigate the application of network pictures of individuals from two companies involved in a business relationship. More specifically between companies and between individuals, it examines the boundaries of the network pictures, the lines of communication, the perceived relationship atmosphere and the impact of environmental factors. Within the companies the individuals were found to have different network pictures which reflect their managerial level and function. We suggest that the boundaries of the individuals' network pictures, their frequency of communication and perceptions of the relationship atmosphere systematically vary with their managerial level. Systematic variation occurred between the companies with regard to the perceived lines of communication and the relationship atmosphere.     

Changes in sales call frequency: A longitudinal examination of the consequences in the supplier-customer relationship

Sales calls are one of the most valuable and expensive resources available to industrial sales managers. The main purpose of this research was to look at the relationship between an increase in sales call frequency and some important outcomes in the buyer-seller relationship. To do so, we adopted a longitudinal research design where data from 357 customers of one industrial supplier were obtained over a two-year period of time. Results indicated that an increase in call frequency has a positive effect on sales volume, perceived service quality, perceived value for money and overall customer satisfaction. Furthermore, these effects tend to diminish as relationships become longer, and are stronger at higher levels of hierarchy in the buying company.     

Construct validity of some unweighted product-count diversification measures

Construct validities are assessed for three simple-to-compute, unweighted, SIC-based continuous diversification measures and a recently proposed two-dimensional, SIC-based categorical diversification measure. Two of the three continuous measures are found to correspond strongly to Rumelt's categorical measures, suggesting that these two objective and easy-to-calculate measures are better suited for large sample, strategy research than has previously been assumed. No support is found for the two-dimensional measure.     

Buyers' perspectives of buyer-seller relationship development

Long-term buyer-seller relationships have been a focus of research for several years. The present study draws on interaction/network theory to test a model examining the interaction mechanisms and relationship characteristics of buyer-seller relationships during four progressive phases of relationship development. Data from 174 members of the Institute for Supply Management offer empirical support for the associations proposed in the model, as well as some surprising results. One of the most useful findings of the research is that the patterns of these associations vary as buyer-seller relationships progress through the four phases of relationship development. Specifically: in the awareness phase, joint problem solving increases buyer uncertainty; in the exploration phase, communication quality and joint problem solving increase relationship-specific investments; and in the expansion phase, joint problem solving increases relationship-specific investments and severe conflict resolution increases buyer uncertainty. Seller reputation moderates many of these relationships. The major conclusion of the research is that buyers and sellers should recognize that while information exchange and conflict resolution are important aspects of buyer-seller relationships, their use may not always lead to the desired relationship characteristics. Managerial implications of these findings and further research ideas are presented.     

A Basic Quantification of the Competitive Implications of the Demise of Arthur Andersen

Andersen’s exit from the already-concentrated market for auditing services is shown to have increased market concentration and audit fees. Changes in market concentration are found to be significantly related to changes in audit fees, suggesting that the structure-performance hypothesis is applicable to the post-Andersen accounting industry and that the “Final Four” accounting firms may have exercised market power in this environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of Andersen’s exit from the market.     

我国在合理用药中的问题与对策

目的探讨促进合理用药的有效措施,为药品使用管理提供参考。方法结合实际,通过对影响因素及原因进行具体分析,提出有针对性的建议。结果与结论我国药品使用环节的制度尚不完善,建议通过制度完善限制医生处方权,提高药品自身各方面水平,提高社会对药品合理使用的认识,以促进合理用药。     

Estimating the effects of agri-environmental measures using difference-in-difference coarsened exact matching

This paper studies the effect of agri-environmental measures (AEMs) in improving greener farming practices. We focus on the quantification of the effectiveness of AEMs implemented in the Rural Development Programme of the Lombardy Region, during the 2007–2013 programming period. Our work attempts to address the well-known potential failures of these kinds of policy instruments – such as adverse selection effects – by relying on an innovative matching procedure, the coarsened exact matching (CEM). This methodology presents a number of interesting properties that are worth considering in policy-evaluation analyses. Our empirical analysis focuses on three AEM schemes protecting and enhancing the environment, Crops diversification, Grassland maintenance and Organic farming. Overall, our results suggest that AEMs were apparently effective in improving the farms’ environmental performances. However, our preliminary cost-benefit analysis highlights that the costs of implementing this policy, when compared to the additional results obtained, tend to be quite large.     

Exporter-importer relationship quality: The inhibiting role of uncertainty, distance, and conflict

The article examines the impact of uncertainty, distance, and conflict on key elements comprising the quality of the relationship between U.S. industrial exporters and their overseas customers. Information received from 151 manufacturers revealed that these three parameters play a significant negative role in building sound relationship quality, in terms of adaptation, commitment, communication, cooperation, satisfaction, trust, and understanding — which, in turn, may inhibit the firm's progression along the internationalization path. Specifically, an inverse association was found between uncertainty, distance, and conflict, on one hand, and commitment, cooperation, and satisfaction, on the other. In addition, in relationships characterized by high uncertainty, adaptation, communication, trust, and understanding were low. In high distance relationships, communication was insufficient, and in high conflict situations, trust and understanding were low. Several managerial implications are extracted from the study, as well as directions for future research.     

An inventory reservation problem with nesting and fill rate-based performance measures

In many inventory settings companies wish to provide customer-differentiated service levels. These may, for example, be motivated by differences in the perceived customer lifetime value or by specific contractual agreements. One approach to provide differentiated service levels is to reserve some portion of the available inventory exclusively for specific customer classes. Existing approaches to inventory reservation are typically based on the assumption that a company can assign a customer specific revenue or penalty cost to any order or unit of demand filled or unfulfilled. In practice, however, it is usually extremely difficult to accurately estimate (especially long term) monetary implications of meeting or not meeting customer demand and corresponding service level requirements. The research presented in this paper addresses the problem of setting appropriate inventory reservations for different customer classes based on fill rate-based performance measures. We model a single period inventory reservation problem with two customer classes and nesting. We develop exact expressions for two conflicting performance measures: (1) the expected fill rate of high priority customers and (2) the expected loss in the system fill rate induced by inventory reservation. With these expressions a decision maker can analyze the tradeoff between the loss in overall system performance and the higher expected fill rates for prioritized customers. We provide analytical insights into the effects of nesting and the impact of relevant problem parameters on these two performance measures. The analytical insights are illustrated and highlighted through a set of numerical examples. Although we limit our analysis to a single period inventory reservation problem, we expect that our results can be utilized in a wide range of problem settings in which a decision maker has to ration a perishable resource among different classes of customers.     

探索大学校园精神文明建设的现状及实施对策

校园精神文明建设是整个社会主义精神文建设的重要组成部分.良好的校园精神文明建设对学生思想品质、道德情操的形成具有潜移默化的作用,对陶冶和塑造学生美好心灵产生积极的影响.本文探索了当前大学校园精神文明建设的现状并提出了实施对策.     

石家庄市灰霾天气特征分析及防控对策

通过研究石家庄市灰霾天气的现状及特征,分析了石家庄市灰霾天气形成原因,针对石家庄市的环境现状,提出了具有可操作性的防控对策。