Environmental Tax and Public Ownership in Vertically Related Markets

This paper investigates the optimal rate of environmental tax and level of privatization in a vertical relationship between one partially privatized producer and two private sellers. The main results are as follows: First, privatization of the producer firm decreases environmental damage. Second, the optimal environmental tax rate equals the Pigouvian level. Third, fully nationalizing the producer firm is optimal when the government simultaneously decides upon the environmental tax rate; then, privatization decreases social welfare.     

Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions Policy in Service Markets

We provide facts showing that in service markets: (i) restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) are under reform, (ii) cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions dominate as the entry mode of FDI, and (iii) there is often a high market concentration. Based on these facts, we present a model for analyzing cross-border merger and acquisition policy in liberalized service markets taking into account efficiency and market power effects. Our findings suggest that a merger policy, but not a discriminatory policy towards foreigners, seems warranted. Moreover, policies ensuring competition for domestic target firms seem warranted. In this vein, harmonization of the EU takeover regulations may particularly benefit assets owners in countries with many target firms.     

Entry into Export Markets and Product Quality

Using a rich data set of Chilean exporters, we analyse several issues regarding the relationship between entry into export markets and product quality. We find that every year, a large number of new exporting relationships are initiated, but the survival rate of these entries is very low and declines over time. Using unit values as a proxy for product quality, our estimations show that entry is generally associated with higher product quality. This higher quality, however, tends to reduce over time and eventually disappears three years after entry. In addition, our evidence suggests that the positive relationship between entry and quality is more prevalent in new exporters. To better identify this effect, we explore whether there are systematic differences across sectors. As expected, for sectors in which quality differentiation may be important, our findings reveal that reference‐price and differentiated products show a higher price in the year of entry and a longer convergence to incumbent prices. These results hold after controlling for potential sample selection bias.     

产品市场的竞争性与企业资本结构选择

随着经济全球化的发展,国内外产品市场的竞争越来越激烈。从产品市场竞争性的角度,研究产品市场的竞争性对企业资本结构的影响,结论是:企业资产负债率与其所处的产品市场的竞争程度正相关,且产品市场竞争程度对资产负债率差异的解释力非常显著。     

Integrated Marketing Communications and New Product Performance in International Markets

ABSTRACT

This research probes marketing communications for international product launch. Marketing communications is found to be more visible if the firm is more marketing proficient and the market is more turbulent. The communicated messages are less consistent when the firm is more proficient in marketing and the market is more hostile, but more consistent when the firm is more internationalized and the market is more turbulent. Both visibility and message consistency of marketing communications enhance new product performance. However, greater visibility lowers message consistency, implying that message and media strategies for international product launch need to be carefully formulated and handled.     

Understanding New Religion-Compliant Product Adoption (NRCPA) in Islamic Markets

This study examines the relationships between religious beliefs, brand personality, and new religion-compliant product adoption (NRCPA) in Islamic markets. Findings confirm that religious consumers tend to behave in accordance with a society or group that follows the same beliefs, and that these consumers’ behavior and lifestyle are influenced by similar religious groups and social relationships. In addition, the more religious the consumer, the more likely they will adopt or favour/disfavour a new product in accordance with his/her religious beliefs. Finally, the three constructs–relative advantages, compatibility and complexity–are found to partially mediate the influential relationship between religious beliefs and new religion-compliant product adoption. International firms that target Muslim markets, with an aim to profit and fit in these markets, must take into account the Islamic values, standards and guidelines.     

The Effects of Manufacturer Disclosure on Consumer Perceptions of Private Brand Grocery Product Attributes

New food label disclosures are frequently proposed. One such proposal, the identification of manufacturer or packer of private label food items, has potentially far-reaching effects upon food choice decision making and ultimately upon the cost and availability of private label food products. This experimental study examined consumer perceptions of private brand grocery product attributes before and after manufacturer disclosure. Attribute evaluation scores from the experiment were compared against each other and against a control group. Subjects appeared to be influenced by the information, but the effects varied by product and by attribute. The overall impact of mandatory manufacturer disclosure should be carefully weighed against the consumer's right to know. Much more needs to be known about consumer use of this information before implementing this requirement.     

Dumping and Injury Margins in Markets with Horizontal as well as Vertical Product Differentiation

This paper examines the GATT/WTO rules for anti-dumping measures in a duopoly model with both horizontal and vertical product differentiation. The GATT/WTO rules allow for anti-dumping measures if domestic producers, exposed to price discrimination, also demonstrate injury where price-undercutting is an important indicator of the latter. The paper shows that the procedure for calculating injury is flawed due to negligence of quality differences in the calculation of the margin of price-undercutting. This gives countries with high-quality producers an option to practice protectionism. This asymmetry between countries in ability to implement anti-dumping measures predominantly favors the developed countries which are specialized in producing high-quality products. The paper suggests an overall critical look at the lenient rules for implementing anti-dumping measures—especially the rules for injury determination—in order to restrict the use of such measures to a minimum and to move the world economy closer to free trade.     

Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility and Product Perceptions in Consumer Markets: A Cross-cultural Evaluation

The concept of corporate social responsibility is becoming integral to effective corporate brand management. This study adopts a multidimensional and cross-country perspective of the concept and analyses consumer perceptions of behaviour of four leading consumer products manufacturers. Data was collected from consumers in two countries – Spain and the UK. The study analyses consumers’ degree of interest in corporate responsibility and its impact on their perception about the company. The findings here suggest a weak impact of company-specific communication on consumers’ perception. The implications of this study are relevant to companies for strengthening their social responsibility associations with the consumers. Dr. Jaywant Singh is Senior Lecturer at Kingston University, London where he teaches consumer behaviour and international marketing. His research interests include customer loyalty, product variants, new brands, corporate social responsibility, and consumer panel data. He received his PhD in marketing in 2004. Dr. Maria de Mar Garcia de los Salmones is Lecturer at University of Cantabria (Spain). Her current research interests include corporate social responsibility, brand image and consumer behaviour. She received her PhD in business administration in 2002. Dr. Ignacio Rodriguez de Bosque is Professor of Marketing at the University of Cantabria (Spain). His current research interests include Business Communication, relationship marketing and distribution channels. He has published in several international journals such as Tourism, Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services and Industrial Marketing Management.     

Personal Factors Related to Consumer Product Disposal Tendencies

Extended channels of distribution provide numerous options for consumers who wish to move still useful but unwanted products to other consumers. The rationales consumers use in choosing disposal options, including those resulting in redistribution, are described. Affect and demographic correlates for each disposition tendency provide information to help develop consumer behavior theory regarding redistribution, as well as provide strategic implications for extended channels.     

基于离散选择模型的产品差别市场降价竞争研究

从计量经济学的离散选择模型角度，在消费需求异质性和厂商竞争优势异质性假设下，利用消费产品性能边际效用递减和产品性能边际成本递增的规律，对消费剩余与厂商竞争优势的动态关系以及厂商之间降价竞争的有效性进行定量研究，得出降价竞争失效的原因及降价失效区间大小的定量模型。     

纵向关联市场、环境政策强度和中国环保产业的发展

在开放经济背景下,本文通过构建基于纵向关联市场的博弈模型分析环境政策强度对我国环保产业发展的影响。研究表明,由于中国和发达国家在环保产品生产技术和环境政策强度方面存在差距,当中国和发达国家环保产品的生产技术差距较大时,中国可以通过提高环境政策强度而获得更多环保产品的市场份额;环保产业的存在可以提高一国的环境政策强度,发达国家由于拥有更为先进的环保产业,其环境政策的强度将高于发展中国家。虽然中国政府提高环境政策的强度会在一定程度上削弱中国下游产业的出口竞争力,却可以减少对外国环保产品的依赖,有利于扶持本国环保产业的发展。     

Competition in Markets and Competition for Markets

This paper builds on a distinction that is sometimes made between competition in a market and competition for a market. Competition for a market refers to the struggle to create a new market, or to erect a new standard, and it is usually associated with the process of innovation that brings new displacing technologies to market. Competition in a market is the conventional view of competition, and concentrates on the actions of incumbents and imitative entrants in well-established markets. The paper reviews some of the issues that competition for markets raises for anti-trust policy makers, and then asks whether competition for a market is a perfect substitute for competition in a market.     

Market Concentration and Product Variety under Spatial Competition: Evidence from Retail Gasoline

We show that for a spatially differentiated economy reduced product variety is the likely outcome of mergers except in cases where exit costs in relation to (outlet specific) fixed costs are high. Our empirical analysis of the Austrian retail gasoline market confirms that increases in concentration reduce product variety. Ignoring this product variety effect is likely to lead to an underestimate of market power in structural merger analysis.     

出口产品种类与比较优势——基于中美双边贸易的实证研究

文章对中美双边微观贸易数据进行整理,并通过面板数据进行经验分析,发现出口产品种类的增加对两国出口产品比较优势的提升均有明显的促进作用;同时,在中高技术产业和中低技术产业的分组回归中又发现,中高技术产业中出口产品种类的增长对比较优势的提升有显著促进作用,但在中低技术产业中则不显著。因此,我国应重视出口产品种类的创新,尤其是中高技术产业内的新产品种类研发,以提升出口产品的国际竞争力并获得更广泛的国际贸易利益。     

A Cross-Category Analysis of Shelf-Space Allocation,Product Variety,and Retail Margins

Retailers' allocation of shelf space as well as the breadth of varietyoffered varies across categories. Many researchers have developedheuristics for determining what retailers should do with regard tothese decisions. We explore how these constructs are actually relatedin practice. We utilize data obtained from Marsh Supermarkets, a largeIndianapolis-based grocery retailer, to explore the relationshipsbetween these variables. The results of this analysis are a set of rawfacts concerning the relationship between some of grocery retailers'more important category-level decisions.     

Horizontal Mergers and Successive Oligopoly

This paper considers a successive oligopoly setting in which a set of upstream firms sell output non-exclusively to a group of downstream firms using a linear tariff. If the concavity of retail demand is constant then the profitability of horizontal merger at either the upstream or the downstream stage is shown to depend on the number of firms in the stage experiencing the merger and not on the number of firms in the other stage. Furthermore, the profitability of merger at either stage is the same as the profitability of merger amongst a set of vertically integrated firms in a setting in which all firms are vertically integrated. Finally, mergers at either stage are shown to reduce the sum of producer and consumer surplus. Moreover the negative effects of merger on surplus are unambiguously increased by increases in concentration in the merging stage and ambiguously affected by increases in concentration in the non-merging stage.JEL classification: L10, L20, L40