The Methuselah market

In this paper the authors focus on the Methuselah Market, defined as those people within five years of retirement age. Demographic change over the last 100 years has led to a substantial increase in the proportion of the population in the older, near retirement age group. Yet as consumers the needs of this sector of the population have been neglected by marketers. The size, characteristics and potential of the Methuselah Market are discussed, and specific product areas of particular interest to this market are identified. A further paper will be published in the November issue reviewing the decision‐making process of the older consumer and indicating specific marketing strategies relevant to the Methuselah Market.     

The counter-effects of market regulation

Regulation can have counter-effects that work against the interests of those who advocate it, in both centrally-planned and market economies. Little research on these effects has been carried out so far, with the result that they have been ignored by policymakers.     

家乐福的市场战略

3年前,家乐福在世界零售商排名榜仅列第6位,但3年后,它一跃成为仅次于沃尔玛的世界第二大零售商。“善变”和“创新”是它的两张王牌。家乐福在不少国家的消费者中耳熟能详,但它的发展历史并不长。1959年,富尼耶和德富雷家族成立了家乐福公司。次年,在法国开设了第一家超市。1970年,家乐福股票在巴黎上市。后由于法国政府对在本土开设超市限制较多,在本土扩张不尽如意,于是在1973年,家乐福走出法国,在西班牙巴塞罗那开设了第一家国外超市。1981年,家乐福推出“通行证”,即会员制。1984年,家乐福开始进入金融服务业。1995年,家乐福进军中国市…     

The informal venture capital market: Aspects of scale and market efficiency

Risk capital is a resource essential to the formation and growth of entrepreneurial ventures. In a society that is increasingly dependent upon innovation and entrepreneurship for its economic vitality, the performance of the venture capital markets is a matter of fundamental concern to entrepreneurs, venture investors and to public officials. This article deals with the informal venture capital market, the market in which entrepreneurs raise equity-type financing from private investors, (business angels). The informal venture capital market is virtually invisible and often misunderstood. It is composed of a diverse and diffuse population of individuals of means; many of whom have created their own successful ventures. There are no directories of individual venture investors and no public records of their investment transactions. Consequently, the informal venture capital market poses many unanswered questions.The author discusses two aspects of the informal venture capital market: questions of scale and market efficiency. The discussion draws upon existing research to extract and synthesize data that provide a reasonable basis for inferences about scale and efficiency.Private venture investors tend to be self-made individuals with substantial business and financial experience and with a net worth of $1 million or more. The author estimates that the number of private venture investors in the United States is at least 250,000, of whom about 100,000 are active in any given year. By providing seed capital for ventures that subsequently raise funds from professional venture investors or in the public equity markets and equity financing for privately-held firms that are growing faster than internal cash flow can support, private investors fill gaps in the institutional equity markets.The author estimates that private investors manage a portfolio of venture investments aggregating in the neighborhood of $50 billion, about twice the capital managed by professional venture investors. By participating in smaller transactions, private investors finance over five times as many entrepreneurs as professional venture investors; 20,000 or more firms per year compared to two or three thousand. The typical angel-backed venture raises about $250,000 from three or more private investors.Despite the apparent scale of the informal venture capital market, the author cites evidence that the market is relatively inefficient. It is a market characterized by limited information about investors and investment opportunities. Furthermore, many entrepreneurs and private investors are unfamiliar with the techniques of successful venture financing. The author's scale and efficiency inferences, coupled with evidence documenting gaps between private and social returns from innovation, prompt questions about public as well as private initiatives to enhance the efficiency of the informal venture capital market.The article concludes with a discussion of Venture Capital Network, Inc. (VCN), an experimental effort to enhance the efficiency of the informal venture capital market. VCN's procedures and performance are described, followed by a discussion of the lessons learned during the first two years of the experiment.     

数码相机产业将继续增长

近年来,中国数码相机发展势头异常迅猛,进出口总金额呈现跳跃式发展。美国是我国数码相机出口的最大市场之一,尽管数码相机在美国的普及率已经相对饱和,但其2010年的销售情况仍然喜人,这是消费电子行业蓬勃发展的一个缩影。据行业观察     

上海服装市场分析

近年来．在上海经济连续保持两位数增长和消费品市场规模不断扩大的良好环境下．上海服装市场保持稳步增长势头。2004年上海市场零售各种服装142亿件，比上年增长47％．其中针织内衣零售量为4893万件比上年增长73％。2004年上海市场羊毛衫零售量为1333万件比上年下降78％。2005年1-10月份上海各种服装零售量为129亿件比去年同期增长91％其中针织内衣零售量为4210万件．比去年同期增长60％羊毛衫零售量为1134万件比去年同期增长153％。市场主要呈现以下特点：     

The single market and EMS instability

The following analysis of the 1992/93 crisis of the European Monetary System finds that the unfolding of the single market dynamics will make European Monetary Union a difficult stage to achieve. Further monetary integration is only feasible if full employment and sustained growth are achieved in the EC. The Maastricht Treaty needs some add-ons if economic and monetary union is to succeed.     

正在崛起的中国奢侈品消费市场

近几年,随着全球化趋势的加剧,国外高档奢侈品在我国市场的渗透力迅速扩大,我国GDP总量的不断提高,奢侈品的消费群体不断扩大,目前已成为全球第三大奢侈品消费国,达到12%,仅次于日本的41%和美国的17%,并且正以平均每年20%左右的速度增长。     

浅谈政治发展与市场经济

随着我国民主政治制度改革的不断深入,市场经济体制的不断完善,社会结构及社会关系也在不断的发生变化,政治制度体制的发展也日益迅速,市场经济从各个方面极大地促进了政治文明的发展.作者详细阐述了我国市场经济与政治发展之间相互依存相互作用的关系.     

The Chinese equity index options market

Using Bakshi et al. (2000), and Bakshi and Kapadia's (2003) methodology, this paper studies the Chinese equity index options market that has been developing since 2015. Empirical evidence shows that the market price of call (put) option is generally lower (higher) than their Black-Scholes prices with historical volatility. The prices of the options do not support the one-dimensional diffusion model properties. We find 61.79% (63.25%) of delta-hedged gains in call (put) options to be negative. The analysis of the non-zero delta-hedged gain suggests that the investors are mainly trading on additional volatility risk in the options market in China.     

The impact of global factors on stock market movements in emerging market economies

Global factors are becoming increasingly important as a cause of international capital fl ows. It is nearly impossible for some countries to protect themselves from outside infl uences on their fi nancial markets. This paper investigates the extent to which various global factors such as stock market volatility, international liquidity and global interest rate levels impact on the effective fi nancial market exchange rates of selected emerging market economies. These results are compared with effects on the fi nancial market exchange rates of the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.     

浅谈政治发展与市场经济

随着我国民主政治制度改革的不断深入,市场经济体制的不断完善,社会结构及社会关系也在不断的发生变化,政治制度体制的发展也日益迅速,市场经济从各个方面极大地促进了政治文明的发展.作者详细阐述了我国市场经济与政治发展之间相互依存相互作用的关系.     

The new market for volatility trading

This study analyses the new market for trading volatility; VIX futures. We first use market data to establish the relationship between VIX futures prices and the index itself. We observe that VIX futures and VIX are highly correlated; the term structure of average VIX futures prices is upward sloping, whereas the term structure of VIX futures volatility is downward sloping. To establish a theoretical relationship between VIX futures and VIX, we model the instantaneous variance using a simple square root mean‐reverting process with a stochastic long‐term mean level. Using daily calibrated long‐term mean and VIX, the model gives good predictions of VIX futures prices under normal market situation. These parameter estimates could be used to price VIX options. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:809–833, 2010     

银色市场开发策略

<正>时下老年人被称为"银发族",老年人的市场自然也就被称为"银色市场",老年人的消费状况是其生活中最重要的组成部分和生活质量高低的表现。因此,企业应当认真关注老年人的消费状况,开发银色市场,不断提高老年人的生活质量,切实解决银色消费中存在的诸多问题。