Non-Exclusive Dealing with Retailer Differentiation and Market Penetration

Retailer differentiation exists in most industries and gives manufacturers an incentive to contract with different retailers to penetrate a market. This paper analyzes the impact of this penetration effect on vertical contract exclusivity in an oligopolistic model with differentiated retailers. In the model, manufacturers endogenously choose contract types and negotiate with retailers on wholesale prices. We show that, when the penetration effect is sufficiently strong, non-exclusive contracts lead to higher profits for the manufacturers and retailers. The model is applied to an example with logit demand, which shows that both manufacturers choosing the non-exclusive contracts is a dominant-strategy Nash equilibrium even though they may both be better off under exclusive contracts when the products have high quality or low costs.     

中国资本市场信息供求框架分析

资本市场是以信息为轴心的市场,也是信息最不对称市场。要实现资本市场的有效运行,就必须研究信息的供求机制和运行系统。文章分别探讨了资本市场信息的供给、需求和流通问题,并在此基础上形成了资本市场信息运行的框架。     

中国苯酚/丙酮市场展望及其最新投资情况

近年中国苯酚／丙酮市场相当活跃。受电子通讯工业、汽车工业和建筑业发展驱动，苯酚／丙酮下游产品迅速发展，拉动苯酚／丙酮需求强劲增长。由于国内苯酚／丙酮市场供应紧张，苯酚／丙酮进口量成倍增加，中国苯酚／丙酮市场需求直线上升，引起国内外资本的高度关注。文章还介绍了中国苯酚／丙酮市场现状及发展趋势、下游产品投资热点及装置最新投资情况。     

The impact of firm cost and market size asymmetries on national mergers in a three-country model

This paper studies the impact of firm cost and market size asymmetries on merger decisions. I consider a model where a small and a large country compete in a third (world) market. Each of the two countries has two firms (with potentially different costs) that supply the domestic market and export to the third market. Merger decisions in the two countries are modeled as a simultaneously move game. The paper finds that firms in the large country have more incentives to merge than firms in the small country. In contrast, the government of the large country has more incentives to block a merger than the government of the small country. Thus, the model predicts that conflicts of interest between governments and firms concerning national mergers are more likely in large countries than in small ones.     

The Economics of Style: Measuring the Price Effect of Neo‐Traditional Architecture in Housing

Vintage effects have received considerable attention from economists in the context of house prices. Although strongly related, the impact of architectural building styles on prices has not been studied yet. Using a cross‐sectional hedonic price analysis including building styles of recently developed homes in the Netherlands we find a significant price premium for housing with neo‐traditional architecture. Extensive intervention by local authorities on the supply side of the housing market seems the most probable explanation of this effect. The decreasing price premium over time reflects the impact of supply restrictions on price, but also indicates that style does matter.     

当前国内外油气行业发展形势及展望

2012年上半年,石油需求低迷,供应充足,库存高企,供需从2011年同期的偏紧转为宽松;国际油价波动较大,一季度升至2008年金融危机后的最高水平,二季度大幅回落.天然气市场需求和产量小幅增长,供需保持平衡;北美、欧洲、亚太三大天然气区域市场价差扩大.全球油气并购活动持续低迷,北美非常规气并购市场迅速降温.国际大石油公司生产经营指标下滑.中国石油需求增速大幅回落,对外依存度再创新高;成品油价格前升后降,石油石化行业效益持续下滑;天然气消费快速增长,进口量大幅上升,进口气价倒挂严重.下半年,预期世界经济依然疲软.石油供需仍将宽松,油价略有回升,但将低于去年同期水平;天然气供需继续平衡,三大市场价差仍将维持.中国经济企稳,国内成品油需求有望平稳增长,但涨幅低于预期;天然气将保持消费量与产量、进口量齐增的态势.     

The new political economy of food and agricultural development

This paper emphasizes the benefits of an agricultural strategy of development in developing countries. It begins by analyzing the close links between food and employment in the development process. In an underdeveloped country, food production is minimal, but demand is as well because of the small population growth. After development begins, income rises and food demand outstrips production. Only at later stages of development can food production meet demand. The middle stage of development describes most developing countries, which have averaged annual growth rates of 3% per capita in 1966-80. The growth in food demand must be met through technological advance in agriculture: high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation, which, for example, helped India increase cereal yields 29% between 1954-55 and 1964-65. The rate of growth in cropped areas has declined between 1961-1980, making increased yields more necessary. Growth in employment and income leads to higher food demand, which leads to higher prices and labor costs and a tendency towards capital-intensive agriculture. As the rural sector becomes wealthier, there is also more opportunity for non-agricultural rural workers, creating still more demand. In the final development stage, agricultural products can generate foreign exchange. In Asia, the priority is to ensure efficient outcomes of capital allocations, while in Africa, technology must be instituted. Public investment has been shown to be essential to rapid development in Japan, Taiwan, and the Punjab of India. The absence of this investment in Africa, partly because of an overemphasis on urban sector investment, is largely responsible for the backward state of African agriculture. Often rural areas are overtaxed, agricultural experts are lacking, and there is a growing presence of urban bureaucrats. Both experts in the donor community and farmers themselves must become more vocal in demanding investment in the agricultural sector.     

Foreign Ownership,Competition, and Survival Dynamics

The impact of foreign direct investment on host countries’ industrial sectors has received considerable attention. It is shown by many researchers that foreign plants are more productive than are domestic ones, but the empirical evidence regarding spillovers is not unambiguous. In this paper, we suggest that the impact of foreign direct investment on local industry hinges on the dynamics of foreign and domestic plants—i.e., on entry and selection (exit) processes. Our analysis of foreign investment and competition dynamics in Turkish manufacturing industry for the period 1983–2001 indicates that foreign plants have a better performance level than do domestic ones when they are first established in the local market, and, subsequently, are more likely to survive but; the difference in survival probabilities disappears when the industry and/or plant characteristics are controlled for. Moreover, foreign presence seems to have no long-term effect on the survival prospects of domestic plants.      

Stable heterogeneous cartels

We define a nation of cartel stability which allows firms to perceive the impact of their actions on overall competitiveness in the market. We demonstrate that in an industry with linear demand and diverse linearly increasing marginal cost functions a stable cartel always exists. Furthermore, we examine uniqueness and size of such cartels as well as the impact of cost and demand conditions on their characteristics. In particular, we establish that the most efficient firms will be in the cartel while the less efficient ones will remain outside.     

Estimating broadband diffusion in the EU using NUTS 1 regional data

In this paper we use panel data on NUTS 1 regional data for 27 EU countries in the years 2006–2010 to analyze determinants of broadband diffusion. We estimate both linear demand specification and the logistic diffusion function. We find that, after controlling for regional differences due to socioeconomic factors, inter-platform competition approximated by an inter-platform Herfindahl index has a significant positive impact on broadband diffusion. Broadband deployment is lower in countries in which DSL has a greater share in Internet access and it is higher in countries in which cable modem has a greater share in Internet access. Moreover, we find that competition between DSL providers has a significant and positive impact on broadband penetration. First, higher prices for a fully unbundled local loop connection, which represent the cost of providing copper-based Internet services, have a significant and negative impact on broadband penetration. Second, a greater incumbent share in DSL connections has a significant and negative impact on broadband penetration.     

Supply Adjustments to Demand Shocks in the Commercial Real Estate Market

This paper contributes a theoretical investigation of real estate supply adjustments in the commercial real estate market. Simple theoretical linkages between the goods market (the demand side) and the space market (the supply side) are developed and then used to explain the optimal supply decisions of space producers. Propositions relating to how space production decisions are made under conditions of demand certainty, demand uncertainty and free entry are derived from optimization models. Under demand certainty, the adjustment of space supply is shown to be affected by whether an exogenous shock is perceived as mild or disastrous. Under demand uncertainty, construction based on pent-up demand is shown to be suboptimal.     

Race to the top: Does competition in the DSL market matter for fibre penetration?

High speed broadband creates potential productivity gains and has a positive impact on economic growth. Achieving Europe's broadband access objectives will require large scale investment in next generation broadband networks, and it is imperative that an appropriate investment climate is created to encourage fibre network rollout. This study considers whether and how competition in the DSL market affects the incentives of operators to invest in the deployment of high-end fibre optic networks. Most earlier research on the drivers of investment in broadband technology has focused on the effect of mandatory access policies, such as local loop unbundling, or competing infrastructures. We posit that competition in the DSL sector may also influence fibre penetration, possibly to a considerable extent. We find that the relationship between service-based competition and fibre penetration is non-linear: a lack of or severe DSL competition is correlated with a negative effect on fibre penetration, but if a moderate degree of competition is already present in the market, more service-based competition may positively influence fibre penetration. The scale of these effects however varies with the openness of the DSL market: operators' incentives to invest in fibre appear to be more sensitive to changes in DSL competition if there is extensive local loop unbundling.     

光伏发电产业亟需政策扶持

分析了在世界光伏产业迅猛发展的背景下,我国目前光伏产业快速发展的现状和存在的内需不足、研发和创新能力弱等问题;研究了欧、美、日等发达国家对光伏产业的扶持政策和上网电价,分析了发达国家对光伏产业扶持政策的特点;从发达国家的经验可以看出,光伏发电产业的发展离不开政府的支持,在我国太阳能产业“两头在外”的形势下,大力促进太阳能作为清洁能源的开发利用更需要政府扶持,所以要创建具有中国特色的光伏产业扶持政策。     

中国消费不足的特异性表现

与西方发达国家的消费不足相比,当前中国的消费不足具有显著特异性,具体表现为:投资需求旺盛与消费需求低迷并存,储蓄规模庞大与购买力不足并存,市场消费不振与通货膨胀压力并存,无效供给过剩与有效供给不足并存以及外需增长迅速与内需增长缓慢并存。     

Efficient versus Responsive Supply Chain Choice: An Empirical Examination of Influential Factors

Contemporary strategies in operations management suggest that successful firms align supply chain assets with product demand characteristics in order to exploit the profit potential of product lines fully. However, observation suggests that supply chain assets often are longer lived than product line decisions. This suggests that alignment between supply chain assets and demand characteristics is most likely to occur at the time of initial market entry. This article examines the association between product demand characteristics and the initial investment in a supply chain at the time of market entry. We characterize supply chains as responsive or efficient. A responsive supply chain is distinguished by short production lead‐times, low set‐up costs, and small batch sizes that allow the responsive firm to adapt quickly to market demand, but often at a higher unit cost. An efficient supply chain is distinguished by longer production lead‐times, high set‐up costs, and larger batch sizes that allow the efficient firm to produce at a low unit cost, but often at the expense of market responsiveness. We hypothesize that a firm's choice of responsive supply chain will be associated with lower industry growth rates, higher contribution margins, higher product variety, and higher demand or technological uncertainty. We further hypothesize that interactions among these variables either can reinforce or can temper the main effects. We report that lower industry growth rates are associated with responsive market entry, but this effect is offset if growth occurs during periods of high variety and high demand uncertainty. We report that higher contribution margins are associated with responsive market entry and that this effect is more pronounced when occurring with periods of high variety. Finally, we report that responsive market entry also is correlated positively with higher technological demand uncertainty. These results are found using data from the North American mountain bike industry.     

The impact of interfirm relationships on investment: Evidence from the Polish dairy sector

Financial constraints and credit market imperfections are a major constraint on investment, growth and poverty reduction in transition and developing countries. This paper analyses the impact on investments of financial assistance programs as part of interfirm relationships. Our empirical evidence is based on a two-stage survey methodology. Qualitative evidence on dairy companies’ assistance programs was gathered in the first stage through in-depth interviews at the level of the dairy companies. Quantitative data on 290 milk producing rural households in Poland was collected through a random survey in the second stage. The empirical analysis shows that dairy companies have played an important role in financial assistance, in particular for dairy-specific investments. In addition, they had an important indirect impact on farm activities and investments through feed supply and loan guarantee programs.     

The food system transformation in developing countries: A disaggregate demand analysis for fruits and vegetables in Vietnam

Food systems in developing countries are currently undergoing a rapid transformation towards high-value products and modern supply chains. While supply side aspects of this transformation have been analyzed previously, issues of consumer demand have received much less attention. This article analyses demand patterns for fresh fruits and vegetables in Vietnam, using household survey data and a demand systems approach. Demand for products from modern supply chains – particularly supermarkets and non-traditional imports – is highly income elastic, and the income effect is stronger than the impact of prices and supermarket penetration. This highlights the importance of considering demand side aspects when projecting future trends. Our results imply a continued restructuring of the food sector in the further process of economic development.     

The impact of market liberalization on vertical scope: the case of Argentina

This paper analyzes the impact of market liberalization on the vertical scope of firms. Using the case of Argentina, it is shown how the opening of the economy can improve contracting abilities and heighten competition, increasing the ability and incentive of firms to outsource. Survey findings support the main hypothesis as well as the specific importance of reforms relating to inflation, import costs, and heightened demand standards in increasing the use of outsourcing. A case study of the steel producer Siderar, highlights that while firms may reduce their presence in peripheral activities, they may also increase their presence in core areas so as to increase their value proposition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of intra-platform competition on broadband penetration

There has been an extensive debate about the role of broadband access regulation on market outcomes. This paper estimates the impact that the different modes of competition have had on broadband take-up to date, using a data set for EU27 countries. We find that ULL, which is one of main types of access-based competition in Europe, has had a positive impact on broadband take-up. However, the impact of ULL becomes smaller as its share increases. That is, ULL entry is less effective in areas where ULL take up is already high. Further, there is evidence of a crowding out effect between ULL and inter-platform competition. This means that ULL is less effective in enhancing broadband penetration in the areas where alternative networks already have a significant share of broadband lines.