Third-Degree Price Discrimination in Oligopoly when Markets are Covered*

We analyze oligopolistic third-degree price discrimination relative to uniform pricing when markets are covered. Pricing equilibria are critically determined by supply-side features such as the number of firms and their marginal cost differences. It follows that each firm's Lerner index under uniform pricing is equal to the weighted harmonic mean of the firm's relative margins under discriminatory pricing. Uniform pricing then lowers average prices and raises consumer surplus. We can calculate the gain in consumer surplus and loss in firms' profits from uniform pricing based only on the market data of the discriminatory equilibrium (i.e., prices and quantities).     

美国卫视播出多部中国动漫作品

炫动传播近日透露,《喜羊羊与灰太狼》的两部大电影、《虹猫与蓝兔》等--ffL优秀国产动画影视剧,已经走向国际荧屏——在美国国际卫视／ICN电视联播网各地频道正式播出。     

Batch quantities when forecasts are improving

This paper considers the choice of initial batch quantities when demand forecasts are improving. We assume that the standard deviation of the demand per period is decreasing exponentially and approaching a long-run value. A discrete time stochastic single-level inventory model is considered. There are traditional holding and backorder costs as well as an ordering cost. The ordering periods must be determined in advance, and we wish to determine a suitable schedule.     

Airport congestion and capacity when carriers are asymmetric

This study investigates pricing and capacity investment for a congested airport served by multiple carriers. Removing the symmetric carrier assumption, when airlines’ market shares are potentially asymmetric, the socially non-discriminatory optimal charge rule should include an additional term that corrects the distortion caused by pricing itself. The first-best outcome cannot be achieved, and the airport overinvests under the non-discriminatory optimal charge. However, if the airport levies discriminatory charges respective to carriers, the first-best outcome can be achieved and capacity investment is socially efficient under discriminatory optimal charges. In addition, the discriminatory optimal charges levied on a carrier with a larger (smaller) market share are lower (higher).     

Quality Leadership when Regulatory Standards are Forthcoming

In many markets, governments set minimum quality standards while some sellers compete on the basis of quality by exceeding them. Such quality leadership strategies often win public acclaim, especially when they involve environmental attributes. Using a duopoly model of vertical product differentiation, we show that if the high-quality firm can commit to a quality level before regulations are promulgated, it induces the regulator to weaken standards, and welfare falls. Our results raise doubts about the social benefits of corporate self-regulation, and highlight the dangers of lengthy delays between legislative mandates for new regulations and their implementation.     

Pricing network elements when costs are changing

This paper compares the pricing rule embodied in the Federal Communications Commissions (FCCs) forward-looking cost model with a competitive equilibrium pricing rule. The rules differ due to differences in discount factors, the time path of operating cost recoveries, and the methods used to spread capital costs over time. A calibrated comparison of the rules for end-office switching reveals that the latter is most significant, causing the FCCs rule to understate cost recoveries by 24 percent. A rough aggregation suggests this difference compounds to billions of dollars nationwide, solely for the direct costs of end-office switching. This understatement is driven by falling switch costs over time, and the FCCs rule would overstate cost recoveries by a similar magnitude for assets whose costs rise over time. The competitive equilibrium rule also clarifies the endogeneity of economic life and reveals that depreciation assumptions are not needed for calculating competitive equilibrium prices.     

Critical events in time and space when cooperation turns into competition in business relationships

This study aims to improve our understanding of the processes of critical events in time and space that lead from cooperation to competition in dyadic business relationships. Within the business network approach there has recently been a call for research into both time and competition, and research combining both is novel. The study identifies and analyzes critical events in time, their connections with each other and the inner and outer space related to each event. The empirical study is based on four qualitative cases. The findings contribute to existing research by presenting several new perspectives on events and spaces, which improves our understanding of time and process in business networks. Business relationships may evolve from cooperation to competition through chronological events involving information sharing, sales-related and opportunistic activities. In space, these events mostly relate to the focal business relationships, the individual companies and third parties, such as customers.     

多形状玩具有益儿童语言发育

据国外媒体最新报道,12月号美国《心理科学》杂志刊登一项最新研究发现,与玩形状相似玩具的孩子相比,玩不同形状玩具的儿童学习新单词速度快两倍。研究人员表示,“玩多种形状玩具的孩子学习新词为什么更多更快”的具体机理尚不清楚,有待进一步研究探索。     

东莞玩具企业进行3个月监督检查

日前从东莞出入境检验检疫局获悉，该局将于2010年4月1日起至6月30日期间，对东莞地区的出口玩具企业进行为期三个月的监督检查，检查获证企业的质量管理和安全控制体系，对出口玩具企业产品进行风险等级评价。据悉，此次监督检查主要针对2010年1月1日前获得玩具出口质量许可证的503家出口玩具产品生产企业。     

Mechanisms for improving the effectiveness of R&D: How many mechanisms are enough?

The author proposes and explains a method of rating the effectiveness of an R&D organisation without attempting to measure its output. He postulates that the basic reason that an R&D organisation does not do the right R&D or get it used effectively is that it is working in isolation. In other words the interfaces between R&D and the outside world are not being managed. To achieve effective interface management requires an organisational change. Hence the problem of increasing R&D effectiveness is transformed to a problem of developing strategies to bring about this change. The author proposes a strategy which first requires the company to define objectives for interface management. The next question is to find out why the interfaces need to be managed; for the present business, for improving the people involved or for creating new opportunities for the future? This is a sequence of increasing refinement. Each phase of the R&D process is then looked at to determine the current state of interface management and take action to bring it to the next more refined stage. The author gives examples of what he means and discusses how his system can help the practising R&D director.     

动画创作后继乏人中国动画莫为浮云遮望眼

动画片《小蝌蚪找妈妈》、《三个和尚》、《大闹天宫》、《阿凡提的故事》。 动画，既有电影的叙事功能，又有绘画的表现力，因此常常被称为“奇幻的艺术”。说起动画，可以说是众人皆知，甚至是一个热门产业一一越来越多的高校开设起相关专业，许多地方建起了规模不一的动漫产业园反。     

Erratic strategic decisions: when and why managers are inconsistent in strategic decision making

While decision makers in organizations frequently make good decisions rooted in stable and consistent preferences, such consistency in outcomes is not always the case. In this study, we adopt a psychological perspective of judgment to investigate managers' erratic strategic decisions, which we define as a manager's inconsistent judgments that can shape the direction of the firm. In a study of 2,048 decisions made by 64 CEOs of technology firms, we examine how both metacognitive experience and perceptions of the external environment (hostility and dynamism) could affect the extent to which managers make erratic strategic decisions. The results indicate that managers with greater metacognitive experience make less erratic strategic decisions. The results also indicate that in hostile environments managers make more erratic strategic decisions. But contrary to our expectations, in dynamic environments managers make less erratic strategic decisions. Similarly, hostility and dynamism interact in their effect on erratic strategic decisions in that the positive relationship between environmental hostility and erratic strategic decisions will be less positive for managers experiencing high environmental dynamism than those experiencing low environmental dynamism. These results have important implications for strategic decision‐making research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When good intentions are not enough: Sequential entry and competition in the Turkish mobile industry

A decade into the liberalization of the Turkish mobile industry, the sector remains one of the most concentrated in Europe. This paper analyzes the links between the regulatory environment and competitive outcomes in the Turkish context. The paper argues that 7 years of duopoly incumbency resulted in a significant first-mover advantage. It then focuses on the role of the regulatory tools that could potentially restrain the incumbent operators’ first-mover advantage and stimulate competition: national roaming, interconnection regulation, and number portability.     

Auctions with resale when private values are uncertain: Evidence from the lab and field

Auction theory represents one of the richest areas of research in economics over the past three decades. Yet, whether, and to what extent, the introduction of secondary resale markets influences bidding behavior in sealed-bid first-price auctions remains under researched. This study begins by examining field data from a unique data set that includes nearly 3000 auctions (over 10,000 individual bids) for cutting rights of standing timber in British Columbia from 1996 to 2000. In comparing bidding patterns across agents who are likely to have resale opportunities with those who likely do not, we find evidence that is consistent with theory. Critical evaluation of the reduced-form bidding model, however, reveals that sharp tests of the theoretical predictions are not possible because several other differences may exist across these bidder types. We therefore use a laboratory experiment to examine if the resale opportunity by itself can have the predicted theoretical effect. We find that while it does have the predicted effect, a theoretical model based on risk-averse bidders explains the overall data patterns more accurately than a model based on risk-neutral bidders. Beyond testing theory, the paper highlights the inferential power of combining naturally occurring data with laboratory data.     

Relationship quality as a resource to build industrial brand equity when products are uncertain and future-based

This article extends our understanding of industrial branding and the influence of buyer–seller relationships by examining key constructs within an industrial context where products are uncertain and future-based. SEM results elicited from 249 buyer surveys empirically validate satisfaction, trust and commitment as dimensions of relationship quality, and show that buyer–seller relationship quality facilitates direct and indirect seller brand equity accruals. Findings reveal that while focusing on sellers' corporate and product brands is good advice for building buyer–seller relationships, seller resource allocations to these areas should vary depending upon the selected target market segment(s). Findings support that sellers should place more focus on developing quality relationships with buyers than they should in focusing on the non-relational attributes of their corporate brands; however, if sellers choose to bypass building high quality customer relationships, they should instead funnel resources into their product brand offerings. Findings demonstrate that buyers credit their own skills and acumen when evaluating products with which they are confident, and ascribe increased value to the involvement of the seller as their attitude and certainty decrease. These findings provide strategic guidance to the sellers of uncertain and future-based industrial products.     

A New Approach for Evaluation of Variance of Construction Project when no Existing Relevant Rate or Price

成本加利润原则已成为监理人确定“无适用或类似子目单价”的工程变更项目综合单价的主要原则,然而这种估价方法并未考虑承包商投标报价时自愿承担的风险,致使变更导致调价发生时承包商提出按照变更发生时市场价和定额价进行估价,从而将投标报价时承包商自愿承担的风险转移至业主方.通过对项目招标控制价和承包商投标报价的关系进行分析,提出量化承包人投标报价时承担风险的方法,即让利率的确定,并结合案例对“无适用或类似子目单价”的工程变更项目综合单价的确定方法进行了详细介绍.     

The sufficiency of product and variable costs for production-related decisions when economies of scope are present

This article examines the usefulness of product and variable costs for pricing, product mix, and capacity expansion decisions when economies of scope are present. A numerical example demonstrates that the sufficiency of product and variable costs are diminished when economies of scope are present, even under economic conditions that are the most conducive for product and variable costs to lead to an optimal decision. Further analysis of production-related decisions with hard constraints indicates that the usefulness of variable costing incorporating the effect of a bottleneck activity is also diminished when economies of scope are present. Since economies of scope are one of the primary conditions necessary for firms to produce multiple products in a competitive economy [Panzar, J., Willig, R., 1981. Economies of scope. American Economic Review 71 (2), 268–272], the findings of this article bring into question the sufficiency of product and variable costs for production-related decisions.