Competition,governance, and relationship‐specific investments: Theory and implications for strategy

This paper uses biform games to examine the endogenous decision to invest in relationship‐specific assets. It addresses the questions of how competition affects suppliers' decisions to produce a general‐purpose product or a relationship‐specific product for a buyer and under what circumstances a governance arrangement designed to share investment costs between the transacting parties increases the investment in relationship‐specific assets. We offer a balanced perspective that emphasizes both the superior transaction value of relationship‐specific products and their high transaction costs while considering the competition effects generated by alternative investment plans. The model and its extensions generate new insights into investment decisions regarding relationship‐specific assets. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

审计市场中的合并、产业专用化投资和价格竞争

本文从产业组织的角度，分析了审计市场的合并、产业专用化和价格竞争等竞争行为，并进一步探讨了这些行为对审计质量和社会福利的影响。本文认为，审计质量的信号传递机制推动了产业中的合并行为，而审计产业的专用化投资行为在于策略性地阻止进入。由于审计产品的异质性、信任品特性以及强大的买方谈判能力使得审计市场存在激烈的价格竞争，而合并和产业专用化投资有助于事务所降低成本。因而，审计市场的竞争提高了社会福利。     

Declared essential patents and average total R&D expenditures per patent family

The sharp increase in SEP declarations and declaring firms emphasizes the necessity for understanding firms’ innovation investment behavior in standardization. This paper empirically investigates whether declared standard-essential patents (SEPs) and the declaring firm’s business model (operationalized as a firm’s location in the value chain) are associated with a firm’s innovation investment behavior. To this end, we measure firms’ innovation investment behavior through average total research and development (R&D) expenditures per filed patent family for publicly listed firms from 1999 to 2018. Our sample mainly includes major SEP family declarants. We rely on a binary business model taxonomy differentiating upstream and downstream firms. Within that setting, total R&D expenditures rise with increasing fragmentation of declared SEP families, suggesting that firms adjust their R&D investments to declaration developments in standard-setting organizations (SSOs). We also show that upstream firms have significantly lower total R&D expenditures than downstream firms, which could indicate structural differences in their intellectual property (IP) and R&D management processes. Our results can help SSOs and regulators better understand firms’ innovation investment behavior.     

Competition‐driven repositioning

We study competition as an impetus for firms to reposition—to abandon their current positioning strategy and adopt a new one. We predict that as a strong firm moves closer, competition erodes the profitability of situated firms and prompts them to reposition. We expect this effect is pronounced the greater difference in competitive strength. However, we expect that countervailing forces exist such that the viability of alternative positions and the opportunity cost of abandoning a current position mitigate this effect. Evidence from a natural experiment in China's satellite television industry supports our hypotheses. This research adds to the existing literature on repositioning, which emphasizes the phenomenon as opportunity‐driven, and to the competitive interaction literature, which typically does not distinguish between noncounterattack strategies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A critical review of the “ladder of investment” approach

The “ladder of investment” is a regulatory approach proposed by Cave (2006), which has been widely embraced by national regulatory authorities in the European telecommunications sector. The approach entails providing entrants, successively, with different levels of access—the “rungs” of the investment ladder, while inducing them to climb the ladder by setting an access charge that increases over time or by withdrawing access obligations after some pre-determined date (i.e., by setting sunset clauses). Proponents of the ladder of investment approach claim that such regulatory measures would make service-based entry and facility-based entry complements—albeit they have been traditionally viewed as substitutes—in promoting competition. The regulators, thus, have shown a strong interest in this approach. The paper provides a critical review of the ladder of investment approach by setting out its two underlying assumptions and discussing their validity with references to the related industrial organization literature.     

提升代建制下政府投资项目工程质量的对策研究

政府投资项目具有投资规模大、专业化程度高、非私有品及较大的外部性等特性,同时大都属于国家基础设施建设,关系到国民经济的发展.我国政府投资项目在代建制模式下得到了很好的发展,但工程质量仍存在很大隐患.文章通过对代建制下政府投资项目工程质量的现状进行分析,归纳总结出导致工程质量存在问题的主要原因,进而提出了从建立健全代建制下政府投资项目监管体系、完善代建制及其相关配套制度等方面,来提升代建制下政府投资项目的工程质量,为充分发挥代建制在政府投资项目中的优势作用提供参考.     

The venture capital entry model on game options with jump-diffusion process

This paper aims to apply game options to construct the optimal decision-making and management tool for venture capital (VC) firms. This model emphasizes the inferences with game options on the market structures formed by different competition and investment strategies of the two VC firms to reflect the investment returns. These market structures are classified into an entry-deterred game (specific monopoly), a leader's dominated strategies (duopoly), and simultaneous investment. It is considered how to select investment timing to avoid any potential competitive threats in order to provide the optimal expected threshold values for the investment decisions of VC firms.     

Patenting and the early‐stage high‐technology investor: evidence from the field

We discuss the importance of patenting to the venture capital investor in high‐technology firms. While literature suggests that patenting will have an impact on the nature and level of investment, the investors themselves are keen to suggest otherwise. We investigate this issue by the use of new primary‐source empirical data, gathered by fieldwork methods. Our results help explain a link between the existence of patenting and the level of investment made. We further support our analysis with illuminating quotes from investors currently active in the field.     

Revenue Sharing with Heterogeneous Investments in Sports Leagues: Share Media,Not Stadiums

This study examines revenue sharing in sports leagues where franchises engage in multiple types of investments. Previous literature typically treats revenues and investments as homogeneous, but we add to the literature by differentiating between investment types and revenue sources. This is important because investment in talent leads to winning, which is a zero-sum game for the league and therefore owners have an incentive to limit talent investment. However, other investments, such as stadiums, are not a zero-sum game, and therefore the implications of revenue sharing are different for the league. We provide sufficient conditions under which it is more efficient to share media revenue compared to stadium revenue. We conclude by providing applications of this model.     

Labor‐Market Specialization within Same‐Sex and Difference‐Sex Couples

We use data from the 2000 decennial U.S. Census to compare differences in earnings, hours worked, and labor‐force participation between members of different household types, including same‐sex couples, different‐sex couples, and roommates. Both same‐sex and different‐sex couples exhibit some degree of household specialization, whereas roommates show little or no degree of specialization. Of all household types, married couples exhibit by far the highest degree of specialization with respect to labor‐market outcomes. With respect to differences in earnings and hours, gay male couples are more similar to married couples than lesbian or unmarried heterosexual couples are to married couples.     

The Limits on Pay as a Strategic Tool: Obstacles to Alignment in Non‐Union Environments

Strategic human resource management literature emphasizes the potential of pay to secure strategically desirable employee outcomes for the employer. Strategic pay, in contrast with pluralist models of pay determination, assumes an absence of collective bargaining constraints. This article analyses the process of determination of non‐unionized managerial, professional and technical pay in seven leading consumer goods firms that claim to use pay as a strategic tool. It demonstrates that implemented pay practice is often remote from what is aspired to strategically. Despite the absence of collective bargaining constraints, there remain unavoidable obstacles to the ability of management to implement pay systems aligned to strategic goals. These constraints impose fundamental limitations on the use of pay as a strategic tool.     

基于IFAHP的房地产企业投资风险评价

房地产企业投资是一个高风险行业,为避免投资失误,提高决策水平,进行房地产企业投资风险评价具有一定的理论和实践意义。针对房地产企业投资风险的复杂性和不确定性,在借鉴近期国内有关房地产企业投资风险相关研究和分析基础上,利用问卷调查法对投资风险因素进行了识别,构建了风险评价指标体系,并采用改进模糊层次分析法对风险指标体系进行了评价分析,从理论上找出影响房地产企业投资的关键风险因素,为房地产企业投资风险评价提供了较为合理的参考依据,使投资决策更为科学。     

Interplay between internal investment and alliance specialization in R&D and marketing

A firm's efforts to build its technological and marketing capabilities are not limited to internal investments but can be extended to include external knowledge acquisitions. We examine the interaction between a firm's specialization in R&D or marketing through its internal investments and its alliances in two different industrial contexts. Our results, based on secondary data sources such as Compustat and SDC Platinum from 1985 to 2009, show that the interaction effects of internal specialization and alliance specialization are contingent on the types of tasks (i.e., R&D and marketing) and the industrial context (i.e., high- and low-tech industries). Our findings indicate that a firm in a high-tech industry is able to achieve greater gains by complementing its internal focus on R&D with its external focus on marketing or by focusing on R&D both internally and externally. In contrast, a firm in a low-tech industry is able to achieve greater performance when R&D and marketing complement each other, without regard for how they are aligned through internal investments and alliances. The firm is also able to improve its performance by focusing on marketing both internally and externally. These findings provide new insights into the complementarity between internal investments and alliances.     

Heterogeneous Investor Sentiment and Institutional Real Estate Investments

Commercial real estate investors differ in their sentiment due to factors such as market expertise, investment strategies and expectations about future market conditions. Focusing on the office market, we investigate whether investors with a multiasset investment focus such as pension funds or insurance companies rely on the sentiment of specialized real estate investors such as public REITs or private developers/owners as source of information in their investment decision‐making. Using disaggregated sentiment measures and vector autoregression (VAR) we find evidence that changes in REIT and private real estate investor sentiment lead to changes in institutional investor sentiment in the suburban office and office REIT market. Our findings suggest that institutional investors rely on the sentiment of specialized real estate investors to make real estate investment decisions. Our study contributes to the existing literature on sentiment in commercial real estate markets by emphasizing the heterogeneity of investor sentiment and introducing a disaggregated sentiment measure. We also contribute to the institutional herding literature.     

The state of the art in the study of technology transfer—a brief survey

Abstract Technology transfer involvesthe movement of new concepts, processes or products from one area of science or engineering technology to another. The nature of the literature dealing with technology transfer is described. Discursive or 'wisdom' literature predominates indicating a great concern with the problem by industry and government. There are some case studies that provide insights into various aspects of the process, but there are very few empirically based field studies. Apart from research on the diffusion of innovation and studies in other allied areas, little theory building with accompanying field tests of propositions has been done. It is now appropriate to begin such studies to obtain information that will provide a more sound basis for government policy and industry investment in R&D.     

Locational Determinants of Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in China

This study examines 2,933 cases of Japanese investment in 27 provinces and regions in China to identify the role that policy determinants had in influencing the sub-national location decision of Japanese firms in China. The empirical results show that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Opening Coastal Cities (OCCs) were a successful policy instrument initially, as SEZs and OCCs had a strong influence on Japanese foreign investment during the early years of China's liberalized foreign investment environment. Since the mid-1990s SEZs and OCCs have attracted proportionally less foreign investment as competition from other special investment zones has intensified in China. From these observations, we discuss the periodic influence of SEZs and OCCs and introduce and review the influence of newly emerging investment zones. We also draw inferences to the location choice literature in terms of understanding the variable influence of policy factors and traditional locational indicators as driven by temporal changes in investor motivations and preferences in a country.     

产业分工细化与经济中介组织的发展

经济中介作为产业分工细化的产物是产业链上重要的一环，这种制度安排有利于分工利益的获取。本文运用经济学的专业化分工理论分析经济中介从产业分工中内生的原因及条件，讨论专业化分工产生的中介服务的特点以及分工网络对经济中介业发展规律的影响，并试图对经济中介的产生和现代经济中介业的市场结构提供理论解释。     

工程建设项目三大目标的辩证关系

质量、进度、投资是工程建设项目目标控制系统的三大目标。工程项目目标控制人员，不仅要理解它们各自的含义，掌握各自的控制方法，而且还要认识及掌握它们之间的辩证关系。只有这样，才能对工程项目进行有效地控制，本具体阐述三大目标之间的辩证关系，并指出掌握这种关系对工程项目目标控制的重要作用。     

税收优惠对节能环保上市公司研发投入影响的实证研究

伴随我国经济的快速发展,面临的资源与环境问题日益突出,激励节能环保企业增加研发投入进行技术创新具有重要意义。论文以深沪两市118家节能环保A股上市公司2011～2015年的数据作为研究样本,以研发投入作为被解释变量,以税负总额、所得税税负和流转税税负作为解释变量,结合节能环保产业自身特点,运用多元回归模型分析了税收优惠对节能环保上市公司研发投入的影响。实证结果表明：税收优惠政策对节能环保上市公司技术创新产生了正面影响,所得税优惠政策比流转税优惠政策对研发投入的影响更显著。建议从继续完善所得税税收优惠、逐步加大流转税优惠力度、建立健全配套措施等方面完善激励节能环保企业增加研发投入的税收优惠政策。     

我国“一带一路”基础设施投资效率对经济增长方式转变的空间效应分析

基础设施投资效率是有效实施供给侧改革以及顺利进行“一带一路”战略工作的根基,是经济增长方式转型升级中重点关注和解决的问题。本文基于2003～2014年的面板数据,借助DEA方法和空间杜宾模型,对比分析全国与“一带一路”国内段沿线地区硬软性基础设施投资效率及其对转变经济增长方式的本地效应与空间溢出效应。研究结果表明：“一带”的硬性基础设施投资,“一路”的软性基础设施投资呈现较高的技术效率水平;区域经济增长方式转变呈鲜明的空间依赖性;与全国比较,硬软性基础设施投资效率对“一带一路”的经济增长方式转变具有显著的促进作用。硬性基础设施投资效率对“一带”沿线的效应较大,尤其是对西北地区产生的本地和溢出效应最大;软性基础设施投资效率最明显促进“一路”沿线的集约化水平及带来显著的积极外溢效应。