Book Prices in the UK Since the End of Resale Price Maintenance

After the Net Book Agreement was abandoned in 1995 and struck down by the Restrictive Practices Court in 1997 Restrictive Practices Court. 1997. Judgment in the matter of the Net Book Agreement, 1995 No 3 and No 4  [Google Scholar], retail book prices were widely expected to fall. Despite deeper and wider retail discounts, official indices show that book prices have subsequently risen more than general inflation. This apparent anomaly may be explained by an argument accepted at the 1962 Restrictive Practices Court hearing: that price competition would lead to concentration and greater buying power in bookselling and to bigger trade discounts from publishers, who would seek to maintain profits by raising list prices. Discounts by retailers would fail to compensate. Evidence provides some support for this explanation. While more research is required to confirm this analysis, it is relevant wherever there is debate about retention of resale price maintenance for books. It also supports the argument for case by case consideration of resale price maintenance, rather than condemnation on principle     

The changed legality of resale price maintenance and pricing implications

From 1911 until 2007, minimum resale price maintenance agreements between manufacturers and resellers were illegal under federal antitrust law. This handicapped manufacturers which sought to exert control over how their products were priced and promoted through the distribution channel. In June 2007, the United States Supreme Court—via the Leegin case—ruled that bilateral minimum resale price maintenance agreements would no longer be automatically illegal. Rather, they would be legal if their net impact is pro-competitive, and illegal only if the net impact is anti-competitive. This ruling empowers manufacturers to use resale price maintenance to create value for their customers and consumers. However, not all stakeholders—including some state legal systems—have embraced the Leegin ruling, thereby creating uncertainty regarding its final impact. Despite this uncertainty, the opportunities created by Leegin are worth exploring and acting upon. Since the Leegin ruling 3 years ago, a new landscape for resale pricing maintenance has been evolving. We discuss this landscape and the considerations for using resale price maintenance within its ambit. For many manufacturers, the chance of benefitting from Leegin outweighs any potential risks.     

Noch tragbar? Versuch einer konsolidierten Erfassung der Eurorettungsrisiken

The overall risk to be borne by Germany in case of further bailouts financed through the EFSF and ESM remains an intriguing question. The German Constitutional Court??s preliminary ruling on 12 September 2012, capping Germany??s ESM risk exposure at ?190 billion, has not rendered further examination of the topic irrelevant. Indeed, Germany??s aggravated risk exposure bomb continues to tick, because EFSF funds have already been promised as guarantees for ailing states and they will continue to be used thusly. The article quantifies these risks, in addition to the Target II risk exposure, to confront the Constitutional Court with facts that it ?? consciously or unconsciously ?? ignored in its aforementioned ruling. If the Court had been more diligent or more open to financial expertise, the worst-case scenario of a near doubling of German public debt (from about ?2 trillion to ?3.7 trillion) makes it hard to understand how the Court could have considered such risk compatible with its own postulate of sustained fiscal democracy.     

Buying while expecting to sell: The economic psychology of online resale

Consumer online resale is becoming increasingly common for transactions of secondhand goods. However, when accompanied by a preconceived intention to resell a product after using it, the initial consumer purchasing decision for self-use is complicated by the estimated resale value of that good. We applied the principles of mental accounting to develop and evaluate a new concept that may influence consumer resale and purchase intention: external resale reference price (ERRP). The study examines how online consumer sellers' economic psychology of buying affected their expectation of future online resale outcome. The results indicate that (1) consumers' awareness of future online resale potential can influence their purchasing decisions; (2) ERRP, which is mediated by the estimated resale return, can increase purchase intention; and (3) the effects of ERRP on purchase intention are moderated by online resale likelihood, but are minimal when consumers are aware that resale possibility is extremely low.     

美国公司因进口不锈钢管质量问题在美国法院诉上海上上不锈钢管公司案评析

上海上上不锈钢管公司向北美萨勒姆钢铁公司出售不锈钢管供其在美国转售,后因质量问题,萨勒姆公司在其住所地美国新泽西州联邦地方法院对上上公司提起诉讼。上上公司依《联邦民事诉讼规则》第12(b)(2)条提起撤案动议,认为法院不具有属人管辖权,请求驳回原告起诉。法院认为上上公司与新泽西州间存在最低联系、且对其行使管辖权不违反传统的公平与实质正义观念,因此,法院驳回了上上公司的撤案动议。本文介绍了该案的基本案情、归纳了法院的裁决理由、并对本案作了简要评析。     

Business at the fingertips of consumers: a scale for measuring resale motivations in online settings

Our current understanding of what motivates consumers to resell second-hand products online is limited. This article lays out the development and validation of an online resale motivation (ORM) scale based on three studies involving 1119 respondents. Study 1 presents the ORM scale development process and the resulting multidimensional construct, including the protester, economic, generative, recreational, practical and social facets of motivation. Study 2 replicates the scale and investigates its predictive value, demonstrating that the ORM scale successfully predicts online resale frequency. Study 3 examines the mediating role of ORM on the relationship between planned resale intentions and online resale behaviour. The findings show that there is no direct link between a consumer’s intention to resell an item prior to its purchase and the frequency with which they resell online. Rather, consumers who more frequently resell online items that they acquired with the intention of reselling do so because they perceive positive economic, practical and recreational outcomes associated with online reselling.     

Digital distribution and the prohibition of resale markets for information goods

An existing theoretical literature finds that frictionless resale markets cannot reduce profits of monopolist producers of perfectly durable goods. This paper starts by presenting logical arguments suggesting this finding does not hold for goods consumers tire of with use, implying the impact of resale is an empirical question. The empirical impact is then estimated in the market for video games, one of many markets in which producers may soon legally prevent resale by distributing their products digitally as downloads or streamed rentals. Estimation proceeds in two steps. First, demand parameters are estimated using a dynamic discrete choice model in a market with allowed resale, using data on new sales and used trade-ins. Then, using these parameter estimates, prices, profits, and consumer welfare are simulated under counterfactual environments. When resale is allowed, firms are unable to prevent their goods from selling for low prices in later periods. The ability to do so by restricting resale outright yields significant profit increases. Renting, however, does not raise profits as much due to a revenue extraction problem.     

Can cigarette advertising be prohibited? Advertising and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Smoking has been considered a health problem virtually since its introduction to Europe in the 1500's. At various times, laws were enacted to attempt to control smoking, while cultivation of tobacco became economically more and more important. The development of widespread recognition of the health consequences of smoking has led to numerous suggestions that cigarette advertising be banned. However, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of the press. Analysis of the legal issues involved in such a ban requires consideration of the entire trend of Supreme Court decisions in the area of commercial speech. While it is not possible at this time to predict exactly how the Court would rule in this area, a comprehensive regulatory effort to reduce tobacco consumption could probably include a ban on tobacco advertising.     

Can Someone Please Settle This Dispute? Canadian Softwood Lumber and the Dispute Settlement Mechanisms of the NAFTA and the WTO

The long‐running Canada‐US softwood lumber dispute provides a useful backdrop for comparison of the dispute settlement mechanisms of the Canada‐US Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the dispute settlement mechanisms of the World Trade Organisation because it is the only dispute to have been litigated in all three venues. By looking at a dispute in which the central arguments of the litigants have remained consistent while the venues for litigation have changed, this article aims to evaluate the utility of these mechanisms for resolving some of the world trading system's most difficult disputes and highlights several weaknesses within each that both hamper their effectiveness and suggest avenues for future change.     

GATT and the agricultural sector

The agricultural sector has to a large extent remained on the fringes of the process of trade liberalisation that has been going on for the last 25 years. The rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) cover agricultural trade, but countries have found it expedient both to ask for derogations to protect their own domestic agicultural interests and also to be less rigorous in the enforcement of such rules even when derogations have not been requested.     

Entrepreneurial failure and discrimination: lessons for small service firms

This paper draws lessons from a case decided by the USA Supreme Court, wherein the firm failure was perceived by the minority entrepreneur as an outcome of racial discrimination. Implications of this case are significant because the failure rate of minority-owned US businesses has been consistently higher than the average failure rate of US business. We argue that the impact of discrimination by a customer is greater for small service firms. Through the Domino's Pizza case, we assert that issues relating to equal employment, inter-company contracting and choice of business organisation must be managed by the owner of a service firm.     

全球贸易视角中的技术性贸易壁垒

在全球自由化的浪潮下 ,有人认为贸易保护主义将不会存在 ,而对技术性贸易壁垒也由于《技术性贸易壁垒协议》以及《卫生与植物检疫措施协议》的制定而认为壁垒将会走向终结。但是自国际贸易产生开始 ,贸易就成为一国经济的重要组成 ,与一国的利益紧密相关 ,只要国家间存在利益上的差异 ,保护主义就不会消失 ,而TBT、SPS协议的制定并未实际约束到非技术贸易壁垒 ,所以很有必要对此进行研究 ,把握今后贸易的发展 ,以便能制定合适的贸易政策 ,并积极参与全球贸易规则的制定。     

WTO下的金融服务贸易自由化与国家经济安全

本文通过对《金融服务协议》(FSA)有关条款及制度设计的考察,说明WTO下的金融服务贸易自由化可保证成员国政策的独立性、资本的有限流动及金融资产安全;各国金融服务市场开放程度由谈判程序和正列举承诺方式决定的制度设计可保证成员国根据本国金融业竞争力水平自主决定其开放进程。文章结论认为,WTO下的成员国金融服务贸易自由化不会引致本国经济的不安全。     

Should reputable e-retailers undertake service activities along with sales?

With the growth of e-commerce and the elevated service requirements of consumers, e-retailers should carefully evaluate the profitability of delivering product services themselves that were once provided by suppliers. Within this context, we apply game theory to construct a principal-agent model to study a sales and service choice problem faced by an e-retailer. Three strategies are proposed in our paper, pure platform strategy (as the benchmark), resale strategy, and resale plus service strategy. Through comparison and analysis, we find that the sales and service strategy preferences of the e-retailer are influenced by reputation and service costs. Additionally, highly reputable e-retailers tend to provide superior levels of service and prices rather than excessively pursue market demand under the resale plus service strategy. Furthermore, we define the ratio of quality plus service to price as the consumer's performance ratio. Interestingly, reputable e-retailer may bring bad consumer's performance ratio. Moreover, the win-win situation occurs when the e-retailer provides the resale strategy or when the supplier prefers the resale plus service strategy. Our study suggests that e-retailers should make tradeoff between control over services and service costs, and make full use of the advantage of reputation to adjust their income strategy, avoiding blindly pursuing low prices and ignoring the service. In addition, for the supplier, it is appropriate to transfer the service to the e-retailer according to his own conditions.     

我国进口贸易与经济增长的实证分析

进口贸易对于我国经济增长的积极作用,已经被越来越多的人认识和接受。如果利用回归模型,对进口与经济增长的相关数据进行实证分析,结果证明,我国自改革开放以来,进口贸易一直是经济增长的增量因子,进口增长对经济增长具有较强的推动作用,二者之间存在着显著的正相关性。     

The 'Value Of Marketing' and 'The Marketing Of Value' in Contemporary Times –A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Over the last quarter of a century, it has become increasingly apparent that the traditionally accepted production based view of the value adding process is no longer realistic. Awareness of the value created through the provision of services and the increasing importance of services in the economic and business environment suggests that value can also be created through the consumption process. For marketers to use the value adding potential of consumption to fulfil the marketing concept, the nature of the process and the value created by it need to be investigated. This paper provides an overview of the changing business environment and its implications for our understanding of the concept of value. It examines the increasing interest in the literature in the concept of experiential value and highlights the problems caused by its very personal, idiosyncratic and situational nature; and, suggests a conceptual model around which research into the topic can be organised. Finally, it suggests a methodology for carrying out research that would provide some insight into the factors that cause consumers' perceptions of experiential value to vary so much.     

A conceptual model of motivations for consumer resale on C2C websites

More consumers nowadays are acting the role of reseller by taking advantage of online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) auction sites. Such auctions may involve new behaviours created by the new technology. Yet the amateur consumer seller, a key player in C2C online auctions, has rarely been the focus of research; scholars know little about online reselling behaviour. Using a literature review, from participant observation and in-depth interviews with 48 Taiwanese consumers involved in 250 online resale transactions, 4 intrinsic motivations of online resale behaviour are identified. A conceptual model of consumer resale motivations is presented and corresponding research propositions are developed based on the existing literature and the preliminary findings of this exploratory empirical study. Finally, conclusions, managerial implications and outline directions for further research are discussed.     

ABTA,THE CONSUMER AND THE RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICES COURT DECISION

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has operated since 1965 a set of restrictive practices known as the stabilizer. Such practices in service industries became illegal in 1976 and the stabilizer agreement which was defended by ABTA came before the Restrictive Practices Court in the Summer of 1982. The Court accepted the argument that the stabilizer was in the interest of consumers in that ABTA rescued and reimbursed holiday-makers when tour firms ceased to operate, and concluded that ABTA should continue its practice of exclusive dealing.     

Inkeepers may still lose liability suits: Despite compliance with statutory regulations

There was once an understanding that, as long as innkeepers met all legal requirements regarding building and safety codes, it could be established as a matter of law that the innkeepers had met their duty of reasonable care. Such a finding can no longer be guaranteed, however, as demonstrated by the case described here.     

Expensive Living: The Greek Experience under the Euro

Apart from its widely accepted direct advantages, the introduction of the euro has been widely perceived as causing a surge of inflation in most of the EU member states. Particularly in Greece there has been a decided shift in sentiment concerning EMU membership. Is the common perception among Greeks that the euro has been the primary cause of recent price hikes correct? The authors wish to thank Y. Stournaras and P. Kazakos for their helpful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.