Optimal pricing for new and remanufactured products

This work investigates the optimal pricing of new and remanufactured products using a model of consumer preferences based on extensive experimentation. The experimental investigation reveals two distinct segments of consumers. One segment is relatively indifferent between new and remanufactured products and displays high sensitivity to price discounts. The second segment shows strong preferences for new products—with an accompanying aversion to remanufactured products—and realtively low sensitivity to price discounts. The pricing analysis examines several scenarios involving a new product manufacturer, ranging from a simple monopolist scenario to a more complex scenario involving competition with third-party remanufacturers. In contrast to the usual finding that new product prices should decrease when competitive remanufactured products enter the market, the introduction of market segments reveals a robust finding across all scenarios: when remanufactured products enter the market, the optimal price of the new product should increase. Through appropriate pricing of new products, the OEM can mitigate the effects of cannibalization and increase profitability.     

A conceptual framework for platform-based design of non-assembled products

In this study, the use of platform-based product family design of assembled products has been reconceptualised into a framework of platform-based design of non-assembled products for the process industries. As a point of departure, platform-based design is defined as shared logic in a company's activities, and a “function-based” leveraging strategy is employed to identify non-assembled products with similar characteristics and commonalities among product families, related production processes and raw materials. It is proposed that a production platform philosophy and platform-based design of non-assembled products should rely on Product platforms, Process platforms and Raw-material platforms that are well-integrated into common Production platforms, in an end-to-end perspective. However, platform-based design of non-assembled products may differ depending on whether company production relies solely on a captive raw material base or on purchased raw materials on the open market, or on both. The congruence of the development of Production platforms with the QFD methodology and House of Quality was noted in this study, as well as the simplicity of using the methodology on homogeneous products compared to multi-level hierarchical assembled products. It is argued that the proposed conceptual framework can be used in internal company discussions and reviews whether and how such an approach in product innovation can be a fruitful avenue to explore and adapt.     

Two state capital accumulation with heterogenous products: Disruptive vs. non-disruptive goods

The paper considers the problem of a firm that, while producing a standard product, has the option to introduce an innovative product. The innovative product competes with the standard product and will therefore reduce revenues of the standard product. A distinction is made between innovative products that do or do not become even more relatively appealing as their market share grows (e.g., because of network externalities). It is shown that in the former case, which we call a “disruptive” good, history dependent long run equilibria can occur, which are in line with recent real life economic examples.     

知识产品在线定制的交易成本分析及其治理机制研究

近期国内外出现了一批专注于知识产品定制交易的在线市场。虽然这些在线市场可以降低交易双方的搜索成本,但面临着由各种因素引发的高交易成本的挑战。文章从知识产品在线定制交易的特点出发,刻画了此类交易中主要的交易成本因素,构造了一个交易成本分析框架,并基于该框架讨论了可用的交易成本治理机制,最后观察了国内外三个典型的知识产品在线定制市场的交易成本治理实践。文章为知识产品在线定制的市场设计和管理提供了理论指导和实践经验。     

Broad-based stock options: before and after the market downturn

We examine labour productivity in small, medium and large firms that broadly distribute stock options under starkly different market conditions – during the bull (1995–7) and bear (2000–2) stock markets. We find greater labour output in both upward and downward markets in all firm size categories, with the exception of small firms in a declining market, where the productivity is also greater, but the statistical significance of the result is weak.     

Integrating sustainable development in the supply chain: The case of life cycle assessment in oil and gas and agricultural biotechnology

It is widely accepted that firms play an important stewardship role in addressing sustainable development concerns. A key challenge in this role is to balance the often conflicting pressures created by sustainable development—firm-level economic performance versus environmental degradation and social disruption. Drawing on complexity theory, risk management, stakeholder theory and the innovation dynamics literature, we discuss the problems of integrating sustainable development concerns in the supply chain, specifically the applicability of life cycle assessment (LCA). Many authors have emphasized the importance of the “cradle to grave” approach of LCA in optimizing closed-loop supply chains, improving product design and stewardship. Based on two case studies (an agricultural biotechnology and an oil and gas company) with supporting data collected from key stakeholders, we argue that sustainable development pressures have increased complexities and presented ambiguous challenges that many current environmental management techniques cannot adequately address. We provide a framework that addresses these deficiencies and discuss implications for practitioners and management theory.     

Forecasting category sales and market share for wireless telephone subscribers: a combined approach

The ability to forecast market share remains a challenge for many managers especially in dynamic markets, such as the telecommunications sector. In order to accommodate the unique dynamic characteristics of the telecommunications market, we use a multi-component model, called MSHARE. Our method involves a two-phase process. The first phase consists of three components: a projection method, a ring down survey methodology and a purchase intentions survey. The predictions from these components are combined to forecast category sales for the wireless subscribers market. In the second phase, market shares for the various brands are generated using the forecast of the number of subscribers that are obtained in Phase 1 and the share predictions from the ring down methodology. The proposed methodology produces the minimum Relative Absolute Error for each market as compared to the forecasts from each individual component in the first phase. The value of the proposed model is illustrated by its application to a real world scenario. The managerial implications of the proposed model are also discussed.     

A literature review on markets for ideas: Emerging characteristics and unanswered questions

Markets for ideas (MFIs) are virtual marketplaces connecting individuals and organizations selling their ideas (namely knowledge owners) to companies in search for specific innovative solutions (namely knowledge seekers). This phenomenon finds its root in the open innovation paradigm and empirical data clearly demonstrate how its economic importance is constantly growing, as well as the interest paid by academics. Nevertheless, despite their increasing relevance, it remains unclear which are the main dynamics and characteristics of these markets. Therefore, the present paper aims at providing an overview of this specific topic by reviewing and discussing the main findings available in the scientific literature. The analysis of the literature is structured around three main market dimensions – ideas, knowledge owners, and knowledge seekers. In addition, actual examples of MFIs are reported in order to strengthen literature's results. The contribution of this review is threefold. First, it provides an insight into the literature on MFIs, by collecting and describing the main features of ideas, knowledge owners, and knowledge seekers. Second, it presents propositions inferred by the characteristics emerging from the review. Finally, it spots literature gaps and traces new research directions. Hence, the study sheds new light on the main characteristics of MFIs, pointing out several research questions that need to be further addressed by scholars.     

Harnessing Innovation for Change: Sustainability and Poverty in Developing Countries

To date, a well‐developed business perspective on how to promote sustainability for those in poverty is sorely lacking. For sustainability enhancing innovations in developing countries, poverty presents unique challenges. In this paper, we argue that if sustainability enhancing innovations introduced in developing countries are to stick, they need to be designed with local customers, networks, and business ecosystems in mind. We illustrate this view using case examples from mobile telephony, fuel efficient stoves, clean drinking water, and household electrification. Our paper underscores the need for today's managers to understand poverty as an integral part of the sustainability nexus and the new international business equation.     

Optimization tools for design and marketing of new/improved products using the house of quality

Quality function deployment (QFD) has helped many firms realize significant reduction in product design costs and development time. The QFD process includes ranking customer preferences, rating the competitors, and parts deployment for the new/improved product. Prior to this research, such activities have been performed based on expert opinion, or the “best-in-class” approach. We develop and solve optimization models for the identification of consensus rankings and ratings, that take into account the priorities and perceptions of all the customers in a target market. Then, based on the consensus rankings, we identify a parts mix for the new/improved product that satisfies a budget constraint and matches or exceeds the performance expectations of all customers surveyed in the target market. Finally, we show how the QFD charts can be used to identify competitors that are falsely perceived as superior, as well as areas where the firm's marketing strategies have had the desired effects. Such insights are useful in developing the future marketing strategy of the firm.     

Supplier relationship-specific investments and the role of safeguards for supplier innovation sharing

The vast majority of the supplier innovation literature has focused on how buying firms can effectively “pull” innovations from their suppliers. Yet, we know remarkably little about the factors that contribute to a supplier voluntarily “pushing” innovations to its customers. The present study addresses this research gap in the context of industrial buyer–supplier relationships and with a specific focus on relationship-specific investments. Drawing on theory from the relationship-marketing literature and on transaction cost theory, we devise and test a proposed theoretical model that links the level of a supplier's relationship-specific investments to its sharing of innovative ideas regarding products and processes with customers. The model also considers the role of contract length, relationship age, and buyer–supplier cooperation as possible safeguards. The empirical results suggest that a supplier's relationship-specific investments encourage a supplier to suggest ideas of process innovations but to refrain from suggestions about product innovations. The latter effect, however, can be attenuated by appropriate formal and informal safeguards.     

产品市场竞争与现金价值:掠夺理论还是代理理论

本文利用2000～2009年沪深两市上市公司的非平衡面板数据来考察产品市场竞争与现金价值之间的关系。检验结果表明,比行业竞争对手持有更多现金的企业具有较高的价值,垄断程度较高的行业企业所持现金的价值更高。基于倾向得分理论的检验结果表明垄断性行业子样本的现金价值显著高于竞争性行业子样本。进一步的检验结果表明成长性、市场化程度和现金持有量的区间效应因素并不影响文章的研究结论。这些实证结果都支持了掠夺理论的分析。     

Modelling conditional skewness: Heterogeneous beliefs,short sale restrictions and market declines

This paper tests the relationship among heterogeneous beliefs, short sale restrictions and time-varying conditional skewness under different market conditions. The results show that heterogeneous beliefs and short sale restrictions have negative impacts on conditional skewness during periods of market decline but have negative, positive or no impacts during periods of market growth. This evidence reconciles conflicting evidence in recent empirical studies on the relationship among heterogeneous beliefs, short sale restrictions and conditional skewness.     

Disentangling the Role of Management Control Systems for Product and Process Innovation in Different Contexts

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the relationship between the use of management control systems and different types of innovation (product and process), taking into account innovation contexts (high-tech versus low-tech sectors). We develop and test our hypotheses based on a large sample of Spanish manufacturing firms and find that input controls have a positive association only with process innovation in both innovation contexts. Behavior controls have similar effects on both types of innovation outcomes for high-tech firms, while they have stronger positive associations with process than with product innovation for low-tech firms. Output controls are equally relevant for product and process innovation in both contexts.     

现代物流教育发展趋势及课程设置

近年来,我国的物流教育发展势头迅猛,但各个高校教育实践中存在的物流教育模式与教育水平与社会发展需求脱节的问题,特别是市场需要的适用性、复合型物流管理人才与高校现有物流人才培养供给模式之间的矛盾已严重影响了高校自身的生存和发展。我们需要展望物流教育未来发展趋势,研习国外及港台物流教育经验,为我国的物流教育创新提供参考和借鉴。     

Deposit structure,market discipline,and ownership type: Evidence from Indonesia

In this paper, we extend the literature on the discipline imposed by depositors on banks by disentangling the impact of macro risk and micro risk. We also take advantage of a unique dataset in which depositors are split into different categories of deposit size in different types of banks (bank ownership structure). We consider the Banking Stability Index, which is used by the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation as a dashboard to monitor banking stability at the country level as well as individual stability measures such as the Z-score. Using monthly data from 2005 to 2013, our findings show that both macro and micro levels of risk are considered by depositors to discipline banks. Large uninsured depositors are more effective at disciplining banks, highlighting the credibility of the insurance system that is in place. Bank ownership type also matters in explaining the difference in market discipline by depositors.     

Second wind for exploitation: Pursuing high degrees of product and process innovativeness in mature industries

This paper investigates to what extent and how an exploitation-oriented innovation logic can enable innovations characterised by a high degree of newness. The paper is based on an embedded case study of 11 innovation initiatives by the Swedish pulp and paper companies and uses a multi-dimensional framework that takes into account both product and process innovation dimensions as well as multiple stages in the value chain. The results show that the studied initiatives are characterised by new to the companies or new to the industry products and processes in the primary or final steps in the value chain (or both). It is also shown that such high degrees of novelty can be the result of an exploitation innovation logic, where novelty is enabled and facilitated by unchanged or slightly modified products and processes in other parts of the value chain. It can therefore be concluded that exploitation strategies can contribute to more than incremental innovation outcomes and, consequently, that mature industries hold considerably higher innovation potential than the previous literature assumes.     

Value investing anomalies in the European stock market: Multiple Value, Consistent Earner, and Recognized Value

Empirical academic studies have consistently found that value stocks outperform glamour stocks and the market as a whole. This article extends prevailing research on existing value anomalies. It evaluates simple value strategies for the European stock market (compared to many other studies that test market data on a country-by-country basis) as well as sophisticated multi-dimensional value strategies that also include capital return variables (Consistent Earner Strategy) and momentum factors (Recognized Value Strategy), the latter reconciling intermediate horizon momentum and long-term reversals of behavioral finance theories. It can be shown that these “enhanced” value strategies can produce superior returns compared to returns of the whole market or “simple” value strategies without capturing higher risks applying traditional risk measures.     

Tradability,closeness to market prices,and expected profit: their measurement for a binomial model of options pricing in a heterogeneous market

A reliable method of options pricing in real time would help various players, including hedgers and speculators, to make informed decisions. In this study, we develop an extensive simulation with multiple business environments, which includes the use of real data from the S&P 500 Index between the years 2010–2017 for the 30 days prior to expiration of the options. Forecasted tradability is computed based on the SH model: a theoretical model of real-time options pricing that takes into account players’ heterogeneity with regard to their willingness to accept offers proposed by the opposing player. The quality of the model is examined for the scenario in which the model players are speculators who act against the real market prices. We show that the equilibrium prices predicted by the SH model are close to the market prices (a deviation of up to approx. 3%) in an In-The-Money environment. Additionally, the tougher the players (i.e., the greater their level of unwillingness to accept a bid from the opposing player), the higher the average tradability. We also find that the level of willingness of the players has a greater effect on tradability than does option moneyness or the market trend.

     

Adaptive market hypothesis: The story of the stock markets and COVID-19 pandemic

Since the level of markets’ information efficiency is key to profiteering by strategic players, Shocks; such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can play a role in the nature of markets’ information efficiency. The martingale difference and conditional heteroscedasticity tests are used to evaluate the Adaptive form of market efficiency for four (4) major stock market indexes in the top four affected economies during the COVID-19 pandemic (USA, Brazil, India, and Russia). Generally, based on the martingale difference spectral test, there is no evidence of a substantial change in the levels of market efficiency for the US and Brazilian stock markets in the short, medium, and long term. However, in the long term, the Indian stock markets became more information inefficient after the coronavirus outbreak while the Russian stock markets become more information efficient. Intuitively, these affect the forecastability and predictability of these markets’ prices and/or returns. Thereby, informing the strategic and trading actions of stock investors (including arbitrageurs) towards profit optimization, portfolio asset selection, portfolio asset adjustment, etc. Similar policy implications are further discussed.