Effects of agricultural market policy on crop production in China

This paper investigates the effects of Chinese market policy on crop production in the reform process. After a brief review of the policy changes due to the reform, the theoretical significance of Chinese market policies for crop production is demonstrated diagrammatically. It is shown that under the current market system the production of main crops is significantly influenced by both market and quota prices. While relatively high quota reduces the influence of market prices on production, relative price changes between competing crops will lead to shifting farmers’ cultivation preferences if inputs are constant. Empirical analysis, based on cross-section data for the period 1985–1997 from the province of Zhejiang, confirms these hypotheses. The effects of policy variables, however, prove to be crop-specific. If the potential of crop production in China is to be better used, an even more market-oriented agricultural policy is required.     

Dispersion of influence between Marketing and Sales: Its effects on superior customer value and market performance

In this study the authors investigate how dispersion of influence between Marketing and Sales (DIMS) affects the creation of superior customer value and the firm's market performance. Hypotheses are tested on a sample of 326 strategic business units using structural equation modelling analysis. Three main results emerge which contribute to the understanding of the consequences of DIMS within companies. First, DIMS increases interaction and collaboration between Marketing and Sales, without blurring their respective goals, roles and responsibilities. Second, DIMS contributes to the diffusion of a customer oriented-culture across the organization. Third, the findings of this study clarify how and why DIMS affects organizational performance by showing simultaneously that superior customer value mediates the effects of DIMS on market performance, and that Marketing–Sales interface and customer-oriented culture mediate the effects of DIMS on superior customer value. The authors discuss the study's theoretical contributions and offer directions for future research. Overall, this study provides a new and broader perspective to managers responsible for the allocation of decision making influence between Marketing and Sales over a range of market-related issues.     

Price and market policy for agriculture

The focus of this policy assessment is on the recent history of regulatory measures in market-oriented economies where the dominating triad of problems is stablisation, farm income support and market surplusses. Alternative forms of intervention are reviewed with respect to their impact on domestic supply and demand, international trade, farm income and labour, and finally how they cope with the process of change in agriculture. The author concludes that stabilisation policies in agriculture are not suitable for perishables where they can easily become a burden for consumers and governments alike.     

Diversification and market performance

Review of Industrial Organization - Recent theoretical research indicates that diversification may affect industry profitability for reasons (e.g., improved efficiency and increased entry) other...     

R&D team diversity and performance in hypercompetitive environments

Research summary : This article examines the effects of an R&D team's composition on its performance outcomes in hypercompetition. The fundamental feature of firms in hypercompetitive settings is that they are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness in a relentless race to outperform one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find an inverse U‐shaped relationship between team diversity in task‐related experience and performance an important result that diverges from well‐established theories developed in more stable environments. Fundamentally, we show that the role of R&D team experience diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. While we find a moderating effect for firm age, this effect is not as robust as that of firm size. Managerial summary : This article examines the relationship between R&D team composition and performance in fast‐moving environments. Firms in these environments are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness by outperforming one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find that a team's diversity in job‐related experience increases its performance up to a certain extent. Once R&D teams become too diverse, performance decreases because communication and coordination become more difficult. We also show that the role of R&D team diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. Overall, our findings provide several novel implications for the strategy, innovation, and team literatures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

资本市场"新政"为企业"造血"助力

纺织企业新的发展机遇 光大证券研究所分析师 李婕 国家推进资本市场改革和发展政策的出台,使我国资本市场有了个明确的发展方向和目标,也为纺织上市公司的发展提供了一个良性环境,为优势纺织企业提供了新的发展机会.     

Uncertainty and the market valuation of R&D within a real options logic

The aim of this study is to provide new theoretical insights and empirical evidence on the effect of market and technological uncertainty on the market valuation of a firm's R&D capital. A set of hypotheses is developed adopting a real options logic and tested on a panel dataset of 290 manufacturing firms traded in the UK. Consistently with our theoretical model, we show that market and technological uncertainty have distinct effects on the valuation of R&D investments. The results have several important implications for resource allocation to R&D under uncertainty, which we discuss in the concluding section. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Excess market value,market power,and inside ownership structure

This study is an empirical investigation of whether principal-agent problems do in fact significantly affect corporate managers' decision making, and hence the price of the firms' securities. If inside ownership structure of firms is reflected in firm market value, then agency theory leads one to expect that market value will be a positive function of the degree of inside ownership. This study demonstrates that rational investors recognize inside ownership and its resultant effect on market value. Furthermore, it is shown that excess market value as measured by the Tobin's Q-ratio is related to the level of advertising and R&D expenditure, the degree of market power as proxied by the Lerner Index, leverage, and firm size.     

Customer value, overall satisfaction, end-user loyalty, and market performance in detail intensive industries

The objective was to test a customer value variable, as operationalized by a modification of Ulaga and Eggert's scale, as a direct explanatory concept in predicting satisfaction, loyalty, and market performance in a hybrid veterinary pharmaceuticals market. The market was considered to be a hybrid because physicians purchase on behalf of their clients. The scale proved to be reliable and valid in a detail intensive market using 220 veterinary physicians as respondents. To achieve an acceptable structural equation modeling fit, the customer value variable had to be dropped. The final model indicated a direct influence by product, strategic, and personal benefits as well as perceived sacrifices on the dependent variables. Management implications of the study are described.     

Partner technological heterogeneity and innovation performance of R&D alliances

This study investigates the impacts of partner technology heterogeneity on innovation performance of alliance firms both in terms of R&D output and the enhancement of partners’ innovation capability. We apply a generalized semi-parametric model on a questionnaire survey result of 413 High and New Technology Enterprises in China. In order to ensure the robustness and practicability of our result, PCA is applied to extract comprehensive information and SiZer analysis is employed to test the linearity and significance of the nonparametric functions in the model. Our results indicate that collaborations between partners with different industry technologies exert inversed U-shaped R&D output pattern and affect very little the innovation ability of focal firms. The impact of industry domain divergence is no longer significant when partner technology heterogeneity is added in the model of analysis. Partner technology heterogeneity leads to an ascending S-shaped R&D output pattern and contributes positively to innovation capabilities. One of the implications of our findings is that when choosing R&D alliance partners, firms are better off avoiding candidates from a different industry domain but opt for potential collaborators who are in the same industry but in the different technical domain, which may facilitate more effective organizational learning. Further, we argue that the reasons behind the S-shaped R&D output pattern led by technology heterogeneity being the co-existence of competition and cooperation between partners where firms collaborate in value-creation by combining diverse resources and compete for acquiring partner’s distinct technology and resources. Therefore, we suggest that, for the sustainability of collaborative innovation outcome, both cooperation and competition amongst alliance partners should be encouraged and well balanced at different stages of joint R&D projects.     

Stock market surveillance and market performance: The case of Taiwan

In this paper we investigate the effect of warning announcements on the price behaviour of stocks. We also study the effects of various corrective treatments (trading halts, call trading and 100% payment/delivery with order) on the performance of stocks in the Taiwan stock market. It is found that warning announcements serve to improve the performance of stocks, except in the case of consecutive warnings. Generally speaking, the corrective measures taken after the consecutive warnings are able to reduce the volatility, the abnormal returns and the excess liquidity of the stocks.The authors are Professors from the National Sun Yat-sen University, and the Securities and Exchange Commission respectively.     

Managing communications— the value of choice

Thirty years ago virtually the only device attached to the Public Switched Network in the UK was the telephone handset. In 1956 six manufacturers were allowed to supply PABXs directly to users, although the equipment was both manufactured to Post Office specifications and maintained by the Post Office. Today we have answering machines, autodiallers, facsimile, data modems, etc. The recent Eurodata study of the growth of data terminals in Europe predicts that the number of terminals in Western Europe will grow from 625 000 in 1979 to 3 960 000 by 1987.     

价值链会计库存管理新议

库存管理最优化在单个企业和整条价值链之间的矛盾———牛鞭效应,本文对其产生的原因与对策进行了详细阐述。     

Actor engagement,value creation and market innovation

We extend the discourse on actor engagement by arguing that the ‘actor’ should be viewed both as a single-actor (humans or machines) and a group of actors (collectives or organizations), and that engagement implies both exchange-based and non-exchange-based resource contributions, which are facilitated by dispositions, formed partly by actor specific characteristics and partly by the institutional and organizational arrangements prevalent in the context in which the resource contributions occur. We further show how the resource contributions, combined with other resources, improve resource density and, thus, drive value creation. This mechanism can be the foundation for ‘economies of actor engagement’; focal actors can achieve increasing returns by mobilizing actor engagement. Building on this, we argue that actor engagement is central for market-shaping strategies that aim for market innovations, which we define as the emergence and institutionalization of resource linkages that improve resource density and, hence, value creation in a market. Finally, we suggest that the dramatic shifts that we see in the operating environment are elevating the role of actor engagement, making the management of actor engagement a strategic priority.     

Innovation,R&D productivity,and global market share in the pharmaceutical industry

In this paper, we estimate two empirical models using a pooled, cross-section sample of international pharmaceutical firms for the period 1987 to 1989. The first model tests the relationship between R&D productivity and a vector of firm-specific characteristics. The second model tests the determinants of global market share. The empirical analysis reveals three findings. First, we find evidence that there are diminishing returns in the pharmaceutical R&D process. Second, we find that firm size has a positive effect on average R&D productivity and a positive impact on the marginal R&D productivity for plausible R&D staff sizes. And third, we find evidence that R&D productivity and the number of sales employees have a positive effect on the firm's global market share.The views presented in this paper reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. International Trade Commission or any of its individual commissioners. We thank William Comanor, Daniel Gropper, Daniel Hamermesh, Susan Pozo, Paul Thistle, and Mark Wheeler for their comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. We assume all responsibility for any errors contained herein.     

A note on dominant firm market share and economic performance

The hypothesis of a positive concentration-profits relationship has been one of the most thoroughly tested in economics. Market share has been used in a number of these studies as a measure of horizontal dominance by a firm in an industry. Although these studies have shown empirically that a positive relationship exists between market share and rates of return, little theoretical evidence for this relationship exists. The price leadership model can be used to show that a continuous, direct relationship exists between market share and competitive injury. From a simulation exercise based upon the price leadership model, a positive association is demonstrated between increasing market share of the dominant firm (or collusive leading firms) and increasing competitive injury (as evidenced by a greater divergence between the competitive versus price leadership price-output decisions). This exercise establishes market share as a fundamental structrual variable in describing the short run competitiveness within the industry. The results of this model imply that intra-industry cross section studies, utilizing a carefully defined price leader(s) and price followers dictomy, should yield better statistical fits. At the present stage of empirical testing, however, only the roughest approximations using rather arbitrary definitions of the price leader-follower dichotomy have been made.     

Creating value while avoiding its destruction through R&D management and innovation

Value creation and capture remain a key but quite a challenging objective for many organizations. R&D and innovation management have to operate in a context of increasing complexity, particularly enriched by emerging technologies, new opportunities for transformation of business models, and multidimensional changes in market demands. This special section proposes new options to deal with this challenge. One paper contributes to the adoption of open business models by studying their antecedents and casual relationships. The three other papers propose using a different focus on value, avoiding its destruction by adopting different unusual mindsets; i.e. learning through failure, learning by deviating and investigating motivations for not participating in innovation communities.     

GMO standards,endogenous policy and the market for information

The paper develops a composite index of GMO standards restrictiveness for 60 countries, assigning objective scores to six different regulatory dimensions. Using this index and its components, we empirically investigate the political and economic determinants of GMO regulations for 55 countries, controlling for spatial autocorrelation. Results show that many of the determinants highlighted in the theoretical literature, such as the structure of the agricultural sector and the institutional environment are important determinants of the restrictiveness of the GMO regulation. As a key result there emerges a prominent role of the market for information, showing that the structure of domestic mass media (public vs. private) is an important driver of GMO standards.