The theory of the marketing firm

The theory of the marketing firm locates the rationale of the modern business enterprise that lies in its responding profitably to the imperatives of marketing orientation. Economic theories of the firm generally fail to recognize these imperatives, enhanced consumer choice and sophistication, which entail marketing orientation as the rationale of the firm. The paper propose a competence theory of the firm as a metacontingency and examines the bilateral contingencies by which firms link to their consumerates, which indicate their capacities for customer orientation. The marketing firm emerges as a means of encapsulating entrepreneurship, economizing on transaction costs, and enabling the management of marketing specialization.     

Item response theory and the measurement of deprivation: evidence from Luxembourg data

Item response theory (IRT) has recently been proposed as a framework to measure deprivation. It allows a latent measure of deprivation to be derived from a set of dichotomous items indicating deprivation, and the determinants of deprivation to be analysed. We investigate further the use of IRT models in the field of deprivation measurement. First, the paper emphasises the importance of item selection and the Mokken Scale Procedure is applied to select the items to be included in the scale of deprivation. Second, we apply the one- and the two-parameter probit IRT models for dichotomous items to two different sets of items, in order to highlight different empirical results. Finally, we introduce a graphical tool, the Item Characteristic Curve (ICC), and analyse the determinants of deprivation in Luxembourg. The empirical illustration is based on the fourth wave of the “Liewen zu Lëtzebuerg” Luxembourg socioeconomic panel (PSELL-3).     

Private returns to R&D in the presence of spillovers,revisited

This is both a replication of Eberhardt et al. (Review of Economics and Statistics, 2013, 95(2), 436–448) using different software, and a critical extension and diagnostic reassessment of the original results. The main findings of the paper are confirmed and sometimes reinforced. We point out some inconsistencies, in particular in the calculation of standard errors for the common correlated effects pooled model; we extend the diagnostic checks; lastly, in the spirit of the original contribution, we show how local cross‐sectional dependence diagnostics can be used to provide a first assessment of the direction of spillovers. We provide complete replication code in open source R.     

In search of FDI horizontal spillovers in China: evidence from meta-analysis

Quality & Quantity - This paper contributes to the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) technology spillover effects, focusing on horizontal spillovers from foreign firms to their...     

Bayesian measurement of productivity and efficiency in the presence of undesirable outputs: crediting electric utilities for reducing air pollution

Many studies have measured productivity change and efficiency when an undesirable output is a by-product. We flexibly treat the bad as a technology shifter of an input distance function and model a system of nonlinear equations subject to endogeneity. Theory dictates that we impose monotonicity on all inputs, outputs, and the bad. Since a Bayesian full-information likelihood approach can easily be misspecified, we utilize the Kim (J. Econometrics 107 (2002) 175) limited-information likelihood (LIL) derived by minimizing the entropy distance subject to the moment conditions from the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator. This represents an extension of the Bayesian Method of Moments approach of Zellner and Chen (Macroeconom. Dyn. 5 (2001) 673), Zellner and Tobias (Int. Econom. Rev. 42 (2001) 121), and Zellner (in: Bayesian Analysis in Econometrics and Statistics: The Zellner View and Papers, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 1997; J. Econometrics 83 (1998) 185) which uses entropy maximization but does not incorporate a specific likelihood. Using Bayes’ Theorem we combine traditional priors with the LIL, which has a mode at the standard multiple-equation GMM estimator, yielding a limited-information posterior distribution. We generalize the approach of Kim (J. Econometrics 107 (2002) 175) by incorporating an unknown covariance matrix in a Gibbs sampling framework and applying the methodology to nonlinear equations. This allows us to estimate shadow prices, technical efficiency, and productivity change for a panel of electric utilities, yielding results that differ substantially from those obtained using standard GMM.     

Technical efficiency of Norwegian banks: The non-parametric approach to efficiency measurement

The nonparametric frontier methodology is applied to a sample of banks, where output levels are measured either by the number of accounts and their average size, or by the total balances of the accounts. The efficiency rankings of individual banks are found to depend substantially on our choice of output metric, whereas the estimated size of potential productivity improvements in the banking sector are less affected. The results on economies of scale are also largely unchanged.The refereeing process of this paper was handled through S. Grosskopf.     

The effect of marketing regulations on efficiency: LeChatelier versus coordination effects

Government regulations designed to promote social welfare can have unintended consequences on efficiency. According to the LeChatelier Principle, regulations that effectively limit substitution possibilities among inputs will reduce firm and industry-wide efficiency. In imperfectly competitive markets, however, government constraints on a strategic variable can facilitate coordination. An advertising restriction, for example, would improve efficiency if it enables firms to produce the same level of sales with less advertising spending. We use data envelopment analysis to estimate the effect of marketing regulations on efficiency in the U.S. cigarette industry. Unlike previous studies, we do not assume that marketing and production technologies are separable. Our results demonstrate that coordination effects dominate LeChatelier effects. Cigarette producers have benefited from advertising restrictions, a result consistent with the capture theory of regulation.

FDI spillovers and firm productivity during crisis: Empirical evidence from transition economies

Most studies on foreign direct investment (FDI) are nested within periods of economic prosperity. Our study investigates the impact of FDI spillovers on productivity during the global financial crisis (2006–2014) and the accompanying credit shortage. A dynamic panel analysis of firm-level data from two neighbouring but distinct transition economies, Croatia and Slovenia, reveals that the impact of the crisis may go as far as halting the process of learning through spillovers if firms have difficulties in accessing external funds. The implications of the study may prove particularly beneficial to policy makers grappling with the economic crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic.     

The measurement of productive efficiency: A robust minimax approach

Some applied aspects of robustness are formulated and empirically tested so as to generalize the Farrell efficiency measure for the frontier production function. A minimax method is used to develop a Chebyshev efficiency measure along with a stochastic production frontier. The relative insensitivity of such a measure in respect of sample size variations and outliers are illustrated by an empirical application to educational production functions.     

Measuring efficiency in the presence of head-to-head competition

We develop a new DEA model that measures organizational efficiency in the presence of head-to-head competition. Our model differs from existing DEA models that ignore competition (or any other form of interaction) among the organizations under analysis. The model assumes that organizations deploy inputs for the explicit purpose of increasing its own outputs while reducing the outputs of its competitors. We apply this model to the 2002, 2004, and 2006 political campaigns in New York State for the US. House of Representatives in which candidates spent money to increase the number of votes that they received and decrease the number of votes that their opponents received. We show that campaign inefficiency can alter the outcome of an election. Specifically, a loser would have won in six of the 57 races had he or she been efficient. We also show that incumbents are more likely to spend inefficiently than are challengers. Overall, inefficiency accounts for less than 5% of campaign funding but a loss of about 9% in votes received. We find evidence that campaign efficiency has increased since the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known widely as the McCain-Feingold Act.     

Better to give than to receive: Predictive directional measurement of volatility spillovers

Using a generalized vector autoregressive framework in which forecast-error variance decompositions are invariant to the variable ordering, we propose measures of both the total and directional volatility spillovers. We use our methods to characterize daily volatility spillovers across US stock, bond, foreign exchange and commodities markets, from January 1999 to January 2010. We show that despite significant volatility fluctuations in all four markets during the sample, cross-market volatility spillovers were quite limited until the global financial crisis, which began in 2007. As the crisis intensified, so too did the volatility spillovers, with particularly important spillovers from the stock market to other markets taking place after the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in September 2008.     

Foreign presence and efficiency in transition economies

This paper presents empirical evidence on the role of foreign presence in the performance of domestic manufacturing firms in five Central and Eastern European countries. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to estimate a frontier for each sector with similar technology common for five transition countries in the sample − Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Following Simar and Wilson (J Econom 136(1):31–64, 2007), this study applies a truncated regression and bootstrap technique in a second stage post-DEA analysis. Some evidence is found to support the hypothesis that foreign presence has an overall positive spillover effects on the performance of domestic firms.     

客户信用管理理论在天然气营销中的应用

探讨了客户信用评价及管理的相关方法和理论，结合国内天然气市场的现状，提出了一种新的客户信用评价和管理的模式，并在实践中付诸应用，取得了良好的效果。客户信用管理体系的建立和应用，可为燃气市场的投资者、参与者、监管者提供一个有效的风险规避工具。     

The relative efficiency of interest-free monetary system: some empirical evidence

Using cointegration and error-correction modeling, this paper empirically examines the merits of interest-free monetary system in the case of Iran and Pakistan. Results from annual data over 1960–1999 suggest that introducing interest-free banking in the two countries around the early 1980s improved, or at least did not hamper, their overall macroeconomic performance. Moreover, compared to interest-based monetary aggregates, interest-free monetary aggregates in both countries (a) exhibit a stable money velocity, (b) provide policy-makers with a highly controllable monetary environment, and (c) provide a robust linkage with ultimate policy objectives.     

External spillovers, internal spillovers and the geography of production and innovation

We consider a three-location duopoly model such that (i) firms choose production and innovation locations before (Bertrand) competition takes place and (ii) there are internal and external knowledge spillovers. We show: (1) agglomerations where firms earn negative profits may exist when there are both external and internal knowledge spillovers; (2) greater external spillovers do not necessarily favor agglomeration; (3) decreasing communication costs tend to favor agglomeration; (4) there are exactly two types of agglomeration equilibria: either both firms innovate in the agglomeration, or there is an innovator and an imitator; and (5) if there is a location where both firms produce, then innovation must take place in this location.     

Trade unions and productivity: theory and evidence

Recent work by economists has generated new theories of the impact of trade unions on productivity. This article gives an exposition of these theories and assesses the extent to which they are supported by empirical evidence.     

Applying efficiency measurement techniques to the measurement of productivity change

Deterministic frontier analysis (DFA), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are alternative analytical techniques designed to measure the efficiency of producers. All three techniques were originally developed within a cross-sectional context, in which the objective is to compare the efficiencies of producers. More recently all three techniques have been extended for use in a panel data context. In the latter context it is possible to measure productivity change, and to decompose measured productivity change into its sources, one of which is efficiency change. However when efficiency measurement techniques, particularly SFA, have been applied to panel data, it has infrequently been made clear what the objective of the analysis is: the measurement of efficiency, which may vary through time as well as across producers, or the measurement and decomposition of productivity change. In this paper I explore the use of each technique in a panel data context. I find DFA and DEA to have achieved a more satisfactory reorientation toward productivity measurement than SFA has.     

Current developments in productivity and efficiency measurement

This collection presents a cross-section of papers addressing new advances in the field of productivity and efficiency measurement. The specific topics covered in this volume focus on several major issues: productivity and efficiency measurement in the presence of undesirable outputs; new and alternative measures of productivity and efficiency; new econometric approaches designed to produce better estimates; and evaluation of different estimators and the statistical precision of those estimators. The hope is that this volume will serve as a well-rounded introduction to this field and as a useful guide of where the latest research in this field is heading.     

个人金融业务营销理论与实务的拓展

个人金融业务之所以难于突破 ,是受制于体制问题 ,而体制改革受观念制约。借鉴学习发达国家私人银行的经验 ,寻找我国开拓个人金融业务市场的途径。切实可行、受市场欢迎、给客户以利益 ,是我国商业银行开拓个人金融业务的立脚点