Product Market Competition and Lobbying Coordination in the U.S. Mobile Telecommunications Industry

This paper empirically investigates market behavior and firms?? lobbying in a unified structural setup. In a sequential game, where firms lobby for regulation before they compete in the product market, we derive a testable measure of lobbying coordination. Applying the setting to the early U.S. cellular services industry, we find that lobbying expenditures, as measured by campaign contributions, and market conduct were consistent with a one-shot Nash equilibrium and that price caps were binding on average. Furthermore, campaign contributions from cellular firms effectively lowered the burden of the price caps and reduced production costs.     

Product Mixes in U.S. Multinationals:

When U.S. Multinationals venture into foreign markets, they must decide what sort of product mixes to put in front of customers. This 229 subsidary-28 MNC study shows that American firms use many U.S. products abroad, although some industries have lines with mainly non-U.S. product transfers or locally created goods. Level of market sophistication seems to determine whether non-American transfers of locally built products predominate.     

The U.S. Television Set Market

The U.S. television set market is projected to reach the $27 billion mark by 2010, up from $25 billion in 2006. The bulk of this growth will come from the flat-panel television set segment, which is projected to grow 65 percent from 2006-2010. The transition to digital television continues to be a major underpinning of the television set market in the United States. Additionally, consumers are increasingly looking to use their television sets for a myriad of non-traditional activities including accessing the Internet, checking e-mail, and watching content accessed from hardware devices like digital video recorders. JEL Classification L63     

Domain-Specific Consumer Involvement in the U.S. Wine Market

An 18-item multidimensional scale was developed to measure wine consumer involvement level impact on behavior and consumption dynamics. Data were collected at wine tasting events in Portland, Oregon, U.S., yielding a final sample size of 101 respondents. Male wine consumers do not display a higher level of involvement with wine as a product than females, and neither do consumers 45 years and older in comparison with younger consumers. Consumers with high education and income levels do not use these as a basis of their involvement level with wine. Price is not more frequently used by low involvement wine drinkers in the wine purchasing decision.     

Advertising Spending Efficiency of Beauty-Care Product Companies: Comparison Between Local Companies and Multinational Companies in the U.S. Market

ABSTRACT

In this study, the authors apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the financial efficiency of U.S. beauty-care companies and foreign companies based on their media advertising expenditures in eight key media outlets (i.e., magazines, newspapers, outdoor, network TV, spot TV, syndication TV, cable TV, and radio) and their revenues in the U.S. market. The analyses revealed that 47.4% of the companies examined advertised efficiently. Companies that advertised inefficiently could save, on average, 75% of their advertising spending. The results also indicated that although U.S. companies are more efficient overall than are non-U.S. companies in terms of advertising spending, the competitiveness of non-U.S. companies should not be underestimated because some of them advertised efficiently (e.g., Kao Corporation from Japan) or almost efficiently.     

Downgrade of U.S.Credit Rating Rattled Global Market

The Standard & Poor's rating agency announced on August 5 that it has downgraded the U.S.credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA for first time.In response to S&P's move,Asian and Oceania markets saw intense volatility on August 8 as major stock markets in Australia, New Zealand,Japan,South Korea,Singapore, Mainland China,Taiwan and Hong Kong en-     

Foreign Manufacturing Subsidiaries' Channel Selection in the U.S. Market:

This study investigates what factors affect foreign manufacturing subsidaries' channel choice, that is, the selection between integrated channels and independent distributors for their products in the U.S. market. The results of a logit analysis with 172 foreign-owned subsidiaries as a sample show that the product's transaction-specific assets are the most important factor explaining the use of integrated channels. Additionally, sales size, the time the product has been on the market, and the experience of operating in the United States were found to be significant factors. However, the home country nationality does not appear to affect significantly the channel selection of a foreign firm in the U.S. market.     

The U.S. Market for Power Lawn and Garden Equipment

The U.S. Market for Power Lawn and Garden Equipment equipment is expected to grow at 3.1 percent per year from 2004 to 2009, unchanged from the rate that prevailed from 1999 to 2004. JEL Classification L6