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.     

Geography and power in an organizational forum: Evidence from the U.S. Senate Chamber

We examine the role that geography plays in structuring interactions within an organizational setting designed to promote broad patterns of interaction: the organizational forum. We propose that, within a forum, an individual's location structures his or her access to peer support, but individuals with power (i.e., those who control the flow of organizational resources) can transcend these geographic constraints. We examine these propositions with data collected on strategic actors in the U.S. Senate Chamber. Using a dyad fixed effects approach, time‐varying controls, selection‐on‐observables estimation, and quasi‐exogenous shocks to seating arrangements, we find support for our propositions. These results contribute to our understanding of strategic interaction patterns, with an emphasis on the geographic scaffold upon which strategic actions are constructed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国高校贷款融资运营与管理的经验及启示

目前我国高校市场化融资主要靠银行贷款，引发了一系列风险和问题，使得高校市场化融资陷入困境。而美国高校债务融资的历史经验非常值得我们学习和借鉴，我国政府和高校，以及商业银行都可以借鉴美国经验，采取相应的措施，共同努力解决目前的债务危机问题。     

The impact of industry environment on early market entry decisions by B2B managers in the U.S. and Japan

Managers form simplified mental models to cope with market environment uncertainties and to process information. A critical decision is whether to enter a high-potential market early. Large innovation and development investments involved in this decision increase uncertainty. We examine the importance ascribed by U.S. and Japanese managers to competitive forces when making early market entry decisions. We expect that the competitive forces will have different effects on the likelihood of early market entry in the U.S. versus Japan due to cultural and business environment differences, and we thereby develop several propositions. We develop a decision-making exercise simulating early market entry decisions, and tested our propositions with managers in medium to large business-to-business (B2B) firms from both countries. We assessed impacts of the competitive market forces on entry strategy selection via relative weights, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and frequency analysis. Our findings revealed differences in the mental models of Japanese and U.S. managers. Buyer power had a larger effect on the decision to make an early market entry for Japanese managers, while threat of new firm entry had a larger effect for U.S. managers; these findings were consistent with our propositions. We also found several areas of agreement between U.S. and Japanese managers. We conclude with theoretical implications and recommendations to B2B management.     

Managerial perceptions of global pioneering advantage: Theoretical framework and empirical evidence in the U.S. and Korea

Managers form mental models of their business environment, and make strategic decisions based on these perceptions of reality. We study managerial perceptions of the competitive advantage gained by a pioneering firm. We expect that managers will make pioneering entry decisions based on their perceptions of pioneering advantages. Due to cross-national cultural and business environment differences, managers from different countries will employ different mental models and thus perceive the relative advantage of pioneering differently.Drawing from the literature on cultural influence on decision-making, we build a theoretical framework of perceived pioneering advantage in different cultural environments. From this framework, and from cultural differences that exist between the United States and South Korea, we derive hypotheses regarding expected cross-cultural perceptual differences. We test these hypotheses using samples of senior product managers from both countries. We find that some, but not all, of the principles of pioneering advantage empirically verified in North America are generalizable to the culturally-different South Korean business environment.     

科索沃和阿富汗:美国争夺石油利益的战略通道

在新旧世纪之交的短短3年内，美国以避免“人道主义危机”和“反恐”为由先后发动了科索沃战争和阿富汗战争。今天看来，尽管这两场战争有着不同的理由和不尽一致的战略意图，但都隐藏着一个共同的战略目标：依靠军事力量在世界“石油供应心脏地带”及其油气连接通道地带进行油气地缘政治(oil-gas geopolitics)扩张，维护和控制美国主导的中亚通往西欧的石油运输通道和通向印度洋的石油供应通道，阻隔通向中国和俄罗斯实施的石油连接战略要道，以实现美国新的“大中东”石油霸权战略。     

A comparative study of online privacy regulations in the U.S. and China

Online privacy seeks to protect the identity of individuals who use the internet to collect information or express opinions. However, given the proliferating vehicles through which one's identity can be ascertained, the question remains as to what policies can most effectively protect personal identity. This paper explores the similarities and differences with online privacy regulation in the United States and China. The scope of privacy measures examined here ranges from government to personal levels, from communication and finance to personal records, for adults and children. As might be expected in a democracy, American legislative initiatives are more comprehensive and far-reaching than those of their Chinese counterparts. In China, there was until recently no specific right of privacy specified in dedicated legislation, with privacy having been instead protected under the right of reputation in the Civil law. Policy implications stemming from these competing models are evaluated. Study findings underscore the notion that privacy should be a universally established individual right, and that both countries are moving—at least in rhetorical terms—to strengthen it as such.     

Strategic groups,competitive groups and performance within the U.K. pharmaceutical industry: Improving our understanding of the competitive process

Strategic group research originated in the 1970s and a number of notable studies centered on the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Results were, however, conflicting. This paper explores the nature of strategic groups in the U.K. pharmaceutical industry. The study confirms the presence of between six and eight strategic groups across the period studied, 1998–2002. The study also demonstrates a statistically significant relationship between these strategic groups and performance using three performance measures. The paper then compares strategic groups with competitive groups and concludes that the distinction is important and may explain the contradictory findings in earlier strategic group research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Planning and control in the U.S. Federal Government: A critical analysis of PPB,MBO and ZBB

PPB, MBO and ZBB have each been implemented in the U.S. Federal government, ostensibly as means for facilitating planning and control in agencies and programmes. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of these techniques as management tools, political strategies and ritualistic symbols using concepts discussed in the organizational theory, planning and control, and policy science literatures. Two basic conclusions emerge from the evaluation. First, PPB, MBO and ZBB may inappropriately encourage the use of an analytical, computational decision strategy, and a cost/benefit method of performance assessment at a level within the organization and in environmental settings which call for an inspirational decision strategy and social test performance assessment. As a result, environmental variety may not be matched by an organizational response which is equally variable. Secondly, PPB, MBO and ZBB may have been used more as political strategies and ritualistic symbols for controlling and directing controversy by both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Federal government and less as management tools for improving decision making within the U.S. Federal bureaucracy. These management tools give the appearance of rationality in the formulation of public policy which is consistent with man's need for confidence building and conflict avoidance in running the affairs of state.     

Deregulation without apology: A truncated survivor analysis of long-run efficiency gains in the U.S. trucking industry

Deregulation of the U.S. trucking industry is found to have promoted long-run technical efficiency among less-than-truckload carriers of general commodity freight. It did so by exposing all carriers to competition which caused the very largest group, hauling more than five billion ton-miles annually, to lose output share to smaller carrier groups. Their inability to survive in-full implies that efficiency gains were achieved by reducing the extent of operation under decreasing returns to scale. This conclusion conflicts with other recent findings that deregulation promoted long-run efficiency by creating new ways for all carriers, even the very largest, to achieve economies of scale. The discrepancy in conclusions is significant in that previous findings of continuous scale economies, post-deregulation, leave open the possibility of rising industry concentration with all due repercussions on consumer welfare. A more encouraging outlook emerges from the present survivor analysis which finds the minimum efficient size to be below one billion ton-miles annually. This finding strongly supports a prediction of vigorous competition in the future, at least for this one segment of the trucking industry.This study was funded by a Faculty Summer Research Grant from Villanova University. The author acknowledges and appreciates the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects at Villanova for its support.     

Recent Antitrust Enforcement Actions by the U.S. Department of Justice: A Selective Survey of Economic Issues

This paper discusses some of the most interesting economic issues raised by U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division proceedings that had significant developments between June 1, 2001 and May 31, 2002. The paper reviews six recent merger enforcement actions and three actions involving unilateral anticompetitive conduct.     

An empirical analysis of sustained advantage in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry: impact of firm resources and capabilities

The authors test a model of the relationships among firm resources, firm capabilities, and sustained competitive advantage between 1971 and 1989. Sustained comparative advantage was captured by two variables: therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs. The results show that R&D and salesforce expenditures have indirect and direct effects, respectively, on sustained competitive advantage. Firm capabilities were differentiated into component and integrative capabilities. Component capabilities were captured by the firm’s internal R&D efforts and therapeutic market focus, while integrative capabilities were concerned with the firm’s ability to obtain FDA approvals and to develop radical new drugs. Findings on each of these four capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs are mixed. The direct and indirect effects of these resources and capabilities on therapeutic differentiation and global NCEs suggest important managerial implications in the way firms coordinate and combine their assets so as to achieve sustained competitive advantage. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of mandatory trans fat labeling on product mix and consumer choice: A longitudinal analysis of the U.S. Market for margarine and spreads

The impact of changes in food labeling policy on food consumption depends on how market participants—both firms and consumers—react to the changes across all products in the market. We investigate how both responded to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2006 rule mandating that the quantity of trans fat in food products be separately labeled on the mandatory Nutrition Facts Panel across an entire differentiated product category. Using a longitudinal data set tracking both product offerings and consumer purchases in the market for margarine and spreads for over a decade, we analyze how product mix and consumer purchase behaviors were influenced by the new regulatory requirement. We find that the number of products bearing voluntary “trans fat free” labels increased after the labeling regulation was implemented. However, a large number of the newly introduced products exited the market within five years. As a result, the FDA’s 2006 rule had a stronger short-run than long-run effect on product offerings. Even after the introduction of additional “trans fat free” labeled products, such products remained only a small percentage of margarine and spreads product offerings, increasing from a pre-regulation level of 2.3% of the market to a peak of 6.5% in 2007 before dropping to 3.1% by 2011. In addition to firm response, we examine demand-side reactions to the 2006 rule and find that consumers significantly increased their expenditures on “trans fat free” labeled products soon after the labeling changes were implemented, increasing from about 1.2% of the market in 2001 to a peak of 5.9% in 2007, before returning to 1.8% in 2011. We further explore variations in responses across different demographic characteristics. Although long-run effects are small, the market for “trans fat free” labeled margarine and spreads settled into a new equilibrium with a somewhat higher level of products in the market than prior to the 2006 rule taking effect and a somewhat higher share of expenditures in the category. Overall, our category-wide analysis of both firm and consumer behavior indicates that the effects of the labeling policy change were smaller in the longer run in this market than would be indicated by an analysis of only new product introductions in response to the policy change.     

Alliance portfolios and firm performance: A study of value creation and appropriation in the U.S. software industry

This study reveals the multifaceted contribution of alliance portfolios to firms' market performance. Extending prior research that has stressed the value‐creation effect of network resources, it uncovers how prominent partners may undermine a firm's capacity to appropriate value from its alliance portfolio. Analysis of a comprehensive panel dataset of 367 software firms and their 20,779 alliances suggests that the contribution of network resources to value creation varies with the complementarity of those resources. Furthermore, the relative bargaining power of partners in the alliance portfolio constrains the firm's appropriation capacity, especially when many of these partners compete in the focal firm's industry. In turn, the firm's market performance improves with the intensity of competition among partners in its alliance portfolio. These findings advance network research by highlighting the trade‐offs that alliance portfolios impose on firms that seek to manage and leverage their alliances. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regulating the use of facial recognition technology across borders: A comparative case analysis of the European Union,the United States,and China

Regulating the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) presents a Collingridge dilemma regarding the great demand for common legal principles to mediate the practical conflicts between privacy and efficiency, autonomy and authority, and safety and accountability. This study compares the enforcement by legitimate authorities in the European Union, the United States, and China of the laws and regulations applied in practical FRT cases and explores the fundamental principles and values manifested in these judgments and their results. The findings presented here indicate that (1) the E.U. regulations tend to move from downstream to upstream based on the notions of “privacy by design” and “privacy by default,” (2) the U.S. regulations are not limited to private contexts but tend also to target the (semi-)public sector, and (3) the Chinese regulations have been shifting from a practice represented by the phrase “nine dragons playing with a pearl” to a practice of “learning by doing”. Specifically, with respect to the determination of violations, the E.U. jurisprudence endorses deontological ethics and the U.S. jurisprudence a kind of universal egoism while the core FRT legislation in China valorizes utilitarianism. Overall, a top-down regulatory framework relating to FRT usage was apparent in the E.U. countries, a self-regulatory approach was observed in the United States, and a “presumption of fault” principle was manifested in China's process of assessing damages.     

Industries Behind Bars: An Economic Perspective on the Production of Goods and Services by U.S. Prison Industries

This note focuses on two key issues about production in U.S. prisons for sale to customers outside their walls: the relative labor productivity and wages of these prison industries compared with other U.S. industries; and the types of goods and services that these prison industries produce. The results are drawn, in part, from my own survey of state prison industry directors.     

The influence of digital divide frames on legislative passage and partisan sponsorship: A content analysis of digital equity legislation in the U.S. from 1990 to 2020

Government funding is essential for digital equity. Scholarship on policies to improve internet access often examines the funding mechanisms behind subsidies, or the quality and reach of services provided. However, a better understanding of the issues and constituencies to receive government support to date may help digital equity activists more strategically lobby for new digital divide policies in the future. To do this, we take a macro-level approach to Van Dijk's resources and appropriation theory and examine how the framing of all digital divide–related U.S. Congressional legislation introduced between 1990 and 2020 may be associated with a bill's passage or the political party of its sponsor. Content analysis revealed that bills highlighting privacy literacy programs, educational outcomes, and corporate transparency were more likely to be passed into legislation. Bills sponsored by Republicans were 422% more likely of being passed into legislation. Certain frames were also associated with partisan sponsorship: Republican-sponsored bills were more often framed around deregulation, privacy programs, corporate transparency, and rural access, whereas Democrat-sponsored bills were more often framed around digital skills such as digital literacy and educational outcomes. Findings serve as a historical record of digital equity priorities in the U.S. and highlight possible strategies for future policy design.     

The environment and its impact on satisfaction with supplier performance: An investigation of the mediating effects of control mechanisms from the perspective of the manufacturer in the U.S.A.

An important question for manufacturers relates to how to conduct exchanges with suppliers when the interaction is done in an uncertain environment. Existing literature suggests the use of unilateral control (i.e., vertical control over the supplier) to reduce the negative effects of environmental uncertainty, whereas recent research on relational norms suggests bilateral control mechanisms (i.e., the norm of information sharing) as an alternative. We propose that in order to secure satisfactory performance from suppliers, manufacturers rely on different control mechanisms depending upon the level of environmental uncertainty on one hand, and the nature of interdependence in the manufacturer-supplier relationship on the other. Our empirical results based on 162 manufacturers indicate the following: 1) manufacturers' reliance on vertical control increases as environmental uncertainty and power asymmetry increase; 2) by contrast, reliance on the bilateral information sharing increases as interdependence magnitude increases and as environmental uncertainty decreases; 3) suppliers' performance, as perceived by manufacturers, increases with the use of bilateral information sharing.