A Study on consumers＇ continuing to use online group-buying platforms： The impact of price performance expectations

In this study, we aim to understand the characteristics of online group-buying consumers and to investigate salient factors which influence the continuance intention of online group-buying platforms （OGBP） to bridge this knowledge gap. An expectation-confirmation model of information systems （IS） continuance is adapted to construct a research model in online group-buying contexts. A total of 289 complete and valid responses were collected. Our findings contribute to academics and practitioners in two ways： Firstly, our respondents show that they are young （93% of the respondents＇ ages range between 19 and 28 years old）, female （88% of the respondents）, and thrifty （82% of the respondents＇ transaction amounts are below US$16）. Secondly, based on our results, price performance expectations have a direct impact on confirmation. In addition, in contrast to the IS continuance model （Bhattacherjee, 2001）, the effect of perceived usefulness on satisfaction is not supported. Thus, in online group-buying settings, confirmation is the key antecedent of satisfaction. Satisfaction and perceived usefulness are significantly associated with OGBP continuance intention. Consequently, in addition to offering a wide assortment of merchandise and a convenient online shopping experience to enhance customers＇ perceived usefulness of OGBP, OGBP managers should aim low-price marketing strategies at this female, young, thrifty and price-sensitive segment to transcend consumers＇ price expectations and attract consumers＇ continued intention to visit OGBP.     

Research on mechanism of technological diffusion in industry cluster

The main aim of the paper is to explain the reason and mechanism of technological diffusion in industry cluster. Following the idea showed in Zhou Qin＇s model, we further develop the theoretical analysis that how the technological gap between strong enterprises and weak enterprises determines the level and speed of technological diffusion. The bigger the technological disparity between strong enterprise and weak enterprise is, the quicker technology spreads and knowledge overflows; on the contrary, the smaller the technological disparity between strong enterprise and weak enterprise is, the slower technology spread and knowledge overflows. Therefore, this kind of mechanism is helpful for enterprises in an industry cluster to learn from each other and to enable each enterprise close to the ＂the average level＂ of technology or knowledge. As a result, we think that, there exists a close relation between technological gap and technological diffusion. The paper puts forward the way of knowledge overflows of the strong enterprises： imitationdemonstration effect, the longitudinal connection in the industrial chain, the labor force flow and transfer, informal exchange.     

Quantificational analysis and simulation of Technical Barriers to Trade with two country model

The Technical Barriers to Trade （TBT） is an important problem faced to the export of China. Based on the number differences of TBT notifications between countries, we propose the concept and computational method of the technical barrier coefficient. By means of price-production and price-demand functions, a trade model with a developed country and a developing country is designed. The available trade policies such as technical barriers, tariffs and export subsidies are simulated and analyzed. According to the simulation results, several trade strategies to come over technical barriers are suggested. These suggestions were provided to several export enterprises for their export strategy design.     

The Cosine-Shaped Pattern of Innovations and Technological Advantages： Theory and Evidence

Using data from 24 OECD countries, we find that the relationship between a country＇s R＆D investment and technological advantage in a sector （measured by the country＇s labor productivity of the sector relative to the rest of the world） is non-monotonic. In particular, for countries whose technology levels are much lower or higher than the rest of the world in a sector, their sectoral R＆D investment declines as their advantages in the sector improve; for counties with middle technology levels, the opposite is true. Extending the Eaton and Kortum framework, we develop a static model to theoretically analyze the relationship between R＆D investment and technological advantages. We show that when the research efficiency in a sector is sufficiently elastic with respect to the sectoral technological advantage, a country＇s R＆D investment increases with its technological advantage, and vice versa.     

International Development Strategies of Luxury-goods Players in China

The aim of this paper is to study and analyse the intemationalisation strategies chosen by the main luxury-goods players in the Chinese market, demonstrating the business intemationalisation processes. The research questions are： ttow luxury companies have developed distribution strategies in the Chinese markets？ What are the main formats of distribution for the Chinese markets？ Are there any differences in the internationalization process between the main players of the luxury markets and the smaller ones？ The methodology is based on the analysis on multiple-case ~.nalysis on a sample of luxury-goods companies and identifies and compares the different strategies used by the players analysed. The research process starts from identifying and selecting the most well-known companies operating in the luxury branded sector, which have established a presence in the Chinese market with their own brand, collecting secondary data for the selected companies （website, corporate profile, articles on websites and in trade magazines and interviews with the management）, analysing the data collected and interpreting the main results to have emerged from the research. The main findings and conclusions are that the route to development in the Chinese market taken by the players in the luxury-goods sector, historically undertaken by delocalising production operations, has in recent years begun to accelerate with new forms in play, principally linked to distribution. The Chinese market tbr luxury brands is ever more an outlet market rather than a production hub. The ability to create brand awareness will become a key factor for successful consolidation of the competitive position in this market, an operation that can only be performed through distribution. Moreover, Chinese high-end consumers are becoming ever more demanding, seeking out an ever more sophisticated shopping experience. Just as happening in other markets, opening directly operated stores is a strategic choice for reaching and convincing end-consumers, sinc     

The importance of product positioning and global branding for sustaining competitive advantage within the companies＇ global marketing strategy

In today＇s globally competitive world, because of the globalization, new business patterns and the changing nature of consumers, the companies feel the necessity to act strategic in the market and to reach up the target markets and sustain maximum customer satisfaction in order to compete and survive. In this context, within the study it is tried to define product positioning in international markets and global branding strategies conceptually and to focus on their contributions to the overall competitive advantage of the company. Initially, the study tries to present the association between product positioning and global branding approaches of the companies and sustaining competitive advantage. Justifications for the examination of the importance of companies＇ international product positioning and global branding orientations as a basis of creating competitive advantage were derived from the literature. It is suggested that the companies＇ product positioning and global branding orientations and sustaining competitive advantage are the important aspects in multinational management and international business areas. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of product positioning and global branding strategies of the companies with special references to various industries and global brands.     

On Realization of Technological productivity

Technology has been a major force in modem economic development and world economy, but technology is only potential productivity and has a long distance from real productive forces. There are two major paths in turning technology into real productive forces. First, technological innovation is a process in which technology is tranaformed into real productivity in essence . The market is another channel for transformation of technology into productive forces. The transformation of technology into productive forces has its laws and mechanisms. In China, there are many obstacles to transformation of technology into real productive forces. We must take seventeen pieces of countermeasures to overcome these obstacles, and speed up the realization of technological productive forces.     

Mixed Market Competition in a Quality Differentiated Duopoly Model An Approach to Banking Sector

This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to investigate the competitive implications of quality choices of financial institutions whereby they charge prices to consumers based on their willingness to pay for the service qualities in the mixed market scenario under vertical product differentiation model. Initially, it analyzes benchmark equilibrium solutions of monopoly and duopoly to establish the degree of quality differentiation between two private banks in an uncover market configuration. Further, it estimates the quality differentiation between private and public banks, and examines the interaction between two market structures keeping public bank as both leader and follower, and then measures the social welfare from different prospectives. The explicit operation of two stages Nash equilibrium game forecasted that public banks＇ monopoly seems to be still better than a private banking, and it is socially optimal. The outcome demonstrates a significant importance of vertical quality differentiation for policy implication in banking industry and provides an insight on the reasons of particular co-existence of public and private banking services in the specified location. In this context, it is concluded that the presence of public banks in banking industries is a crucial condition for obtaining the higher range of social welfare.     

An Intermediary Organization Finds Potential Needs By Exploiting Serendipity

This paper intends to clarify the needs serendipity in creating new business. The authors will show that serendipity is capability method of finding potential needs and/or new markets. In economic society, potential needs and/or new markets are only partially exposed, such as an iceberg. Serendipity is a capability that can expose the potential hidden part through accidental opportunity. Something more concrete can be formed from the exposed parts. The authors describe cases that demonstrate the usefulness of serendipity. In one case, a high-tech start-up had intended to use medical electronic equipment and/or industrial electronic equipment as the first application of their core technology. In these markets, they were competing with established major companies, so this start-up had difficulty entering these markets. However, a specific distributor found potential needs that were met by the start-up＇s products, and has created a new market by combining their core technology with social needs. The authors define serendipity capability by analyzing this case example and argue that serendipity can contribute to finding opportunities and solving social issues.     

Study on the clustering of a typical industry：a case of apple industry in Shaanxi Province, China

The apple industry in Shaanxi Province is a resource-based industry; compared to the best productiveregions at home and abroad, it is advantageous in high quality as well as geographical and natural resources. Currently,big changes have occurred in the apple market supply-demand relations; long-term and comprehensive shortage haspassed; the buyer＇s market has come into being; competitions in the domestic market are fierce. At the same time, theforeign apple will impact on the domestic market, increasing competitive pressure. Foreign anti-dumping measures,green barriers and technologies restrict the exportation of the domestic apple. Based on successful experience of otherindustrial clusters, this paper analyzes the existing problems in the development of Shaanxi apple industrial cluster,combining empirical analysis, qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, proposes specific policy recommendationsand get the conclusions. First, the characteristics of the agricultural industrial cluster are analyzed; Shaanxi appleindustry is characterized by cluster. Second, the rapid development of Shaanxi apple industrial cluster exposes someproblems. Third, we need the government to control the disorderly competition of Shaanxi apple industry.     

Corporate Social Responsibility——From the Perspective of Polish Enterprises

Corporate social responsibility （CSR） is becoming more and more frequently emphasized part of management in the structure of Polish enterprises. These results from the fact that growing awareness of consumers, destructive impact of industry on the natural environment, economic scandals, unethical behavior among entrepreneurs, bring about redefining the principles of a business activity on the market by entrepreneurs. As a result of the above, such values as honesty, trust, or responsibility take on greater importance. Additionally, more and more often, Polish entrepreneurs pay attention to the influence of the company on the environment, the way the stakeholders are treated, while striving to maximize profit. The present paper looks into the subject of social responsibility from the point of view of Polish enterprises. To verify this objective, there was the analysis of the due literature performed, and also carried out the survey among 174 entrepreneurs running their business activity in the area of Southern Poland. The research tool used in the research was the questionnaire （PAPI and CAWI）. In the conducted research, there were factors analyzed referring to knowledge of social responsibility among the people holding both managerial and lower-level positions, in particular opinion, is it important for enterprises to be driven by ethical standards？ How to implement CSR in their structures？ How to understood concept of CSR？ What are the reasons for the implementation of CSR in the strategy of the company？ The considerations （both the theoretical and practical ones） confirmed that the Polish enterprises feel the increased need to implement the activities in the field of social responsibility, which, in the present conditions, constitutes an important part of running a business activity.     

Entry and technology transfer in a Cournot model

This work studies entry and technology transfer in a Cournot model where there are two domestic firms. A foreign firm has a patent on a technological innovation that reduces the costs of all firms. The foreign firm can license the innovation to one or both domestic firms. The authors consider two standard licensing policies： （1） auction policy and （2） unit royalty policy. The foreign firm can license the innovation either by staying outside the domestic market, or it can enter the market, license the innovation and compete with the domestic firms. The authors show that （1） when the foreign firm stays outside, it is never optimal for it to use royalties, （2） if it licenses the innovation by entering the industry, then royalties could be optimal and （3） when it decides on its entry strategy by taking its optimal licensing policies into account, it always finds it optimal to enter the domestic market.     

On the Mechanism of Evolution for Enterprise＇s Sustainable Growth Based on the Theory of Self-organization

The capabilities of industry, technology, institution and market power form the model of four-capability structure for enterprise＇s sustainable growth. The firm＇s system has the characteristics of dissipative structure. The process of the formation for the sustainable growth capability is one of self-organization operations. The evolution and development of sustainable growth capability is the result of inter-functions and inter-operations among all the sub-systems. On the whole, the current level of sustainable growth capability, the four-capability structure and the random rise-and-fall elements of the external environment determine the direction, speed and level of transition of sustainable growth capability. The self-organization mechanism of the enterprise＇s sustainable growth can be illustrated by the instability of system evolution, the sequence parameter, the potential function and the nonequilibrium phase transition. Chinese firms must pay attention to industry selecting and positioning, technology innovation, institution reform and cultivation of market power, and accelerate the formation of self-organization and effective operation through the dynamic integration and inter-operation of industry, technology, institution and market power. Only in this way can firms cultivate and develop their sustainable growth capability and realize enterprises＇ sustainable growth finally.     

Strategic group theory： A customer-oriented view

Barney and Hoskisson （1990） argue that the strategic group research has neither established the existence of strategic groups, nor their relationship to firm performance. The primary reason behind the unsatisfactory results is the lack of a theoretical framework： what strategic variables to include in the analysis and their relative importance; the definition of an industry, and how to make competitive strategy operational. First, the author presents a customer-oriented theory of management which submits that, like Procter and Gamble, understanding customers should be the primary focus of a business. Second, the author proposes an integrated approach to competitive strategy. Because customer-perceived quality is far more critical to long-term success than any other factor, it should be the centerpiece of competitive strategy. The author suggests that competitive strategy should be divided in two interdependent dimensions： external and internal. It is the external strategy that should be considered the primary dimension because it reflects the customers＇ perspective, and provides a sense of direction regarding how the internal resources should be used. Next, the author presents an operational framework of competitive strategy which proposes that the best route to market share leadership in consumer markets is competing in the mid-price segment, offering superior quality compared to competition at a somewhat higher price： （1） to maintain an image of quality, and （2） to ensure that the strategy is profitable and sustainable. Finally, the author offers a framework of business or industry definition that extends Abell＇s （1980） three dimensions to seven. He suggests that an integrated approach to market segmentation provides the foundation for conducting strategic group analysis in consumer markets. So, in strategic group research, we need a bottom-up approach that begins with a product-market segment. In each product market, real competition occurs at the brand level. This is the ground where actual competitive wars are fought, and this is where the rich dynamics of competition often come to light.     

Export Performance of China: A Constant Market Share Analysis

In the light of the fact that there has been substantial growth in China's exports in last three decades, particularly after China joined the WTO in 2001, this article investigates the major sources of China's export performance during 2002-2014 by using the constant market share (CMS) model. In this study, exports are further decomposed in three categories based on their technological intensity using Lail (2000) classification on 3 digit SITC Revision-3 data provided by UN Comtrade via WITS database. The categories are high technology, medium technology and low technology. It is found that growth of China's exports has, moreover, remained above world exports growth in all three categories during the period of study. The analysis reveals that export performance is mainly attributed to 让s competitive strength in the global market, though decreasing trend has been observed in the competitiveness of all three categories. Increasing cost of labor and appreciating RMB could be the causes behind decreasing competitiveness of Chinese exports. Product structure effect, on an average, has turned out to be negative in all the categories which is the most disturbing aspect of China's export performance. On the other hand, geographical structure effect has positive impact on export performance of high-technology based exports whereas it has negative impact on export performance of low-technology and medium-technology based exports. China being the world's largest exporter, decreasing competitiveness and wrong product structure effect could adversely influence its export performance in particular and its growth in general.     

Currency exposures of the oil and natural gas stock prices in the Hushen-300 stock market： A nonlinear model approach

The paper embarks to investigate the relationship between currency risk and stock prices of the oil and natural gas exploitation industry in the value-weighted Hushen-300 stock market, by applying the standard Capital Asset Pricing Model （CAPM） and nonlinear exchange rate exposure model to the Renminbi against US dollar. The results show that the currency exposure does vary in the oil-gas stock prices throughout the bull and bear market. The study suggests that the models of the equilibrium exchange rate exposure must be extended to considering the nonlinear exchange rate exposure, the regime periods of bull and bear market, and the industry types that is sensitive to the currency exposures. The nonlinear dynamic relationship between the exchange rate changes and the Chinese energy stock prices throughout the bull and bear market add to the recent empirical evidences that foreign exchange markets and stock markets are closely correlated.     

Generational management in corporate America： The differences and challenges in management of four generations of working adults

There are many differences and challenges that employers face while managing employees in the current work force. Our present day workforce is made up of a diverse group of people： Matures, also known as Veterans （age 55＋）, Baby Boomers （age 45-54）, Generation X （age 35-44） and Generation Y also known as Millennial （age 18-34）. The differences and challenges among these groups will be evident when reviewing recognition and praise, managerial styles, subordinate responses to generational leadership. Companies are stepping back and looking more holistically at how to develop programs and deploy technology that will speak to four distinct generations in the workforce （Sprague, 2008）. Each generation has their own definition of work ethic, responsibility, and performance. The best way to deal with the multi-generations is coming up with ways that make everybody feel like they are members of a team, thus helping them to learn how to develop a better way of communication than what exists between them now. If everybody is a part of a team, then they are all sharing the benefits that the other generations can bring to the table, making them a strong entity. Matures and boomers can become mentors to the X and Y＇s, and the X and Y＇s can then share and impart their knowledge of technology to the Matures and boomers. Companies in today＇s workplace must learn a better way to understand the values of the four generations, for it is very important in understanding and guiding these people in the workplace. Without this proper understanding, the guidance and alliance that managers are hoping to achieve will be even longer in the making and then one, possibly two, whole generations will be gone from the workforce and their knowledge and skill gone as well.     

FDI and Technology Spillover in China

Foreign-invested enterprises＇ influence on China＇s enterprises＇ technology is one of the most important issues. We use the panel data of China＇s state-owned enterprises to analyze this influence. The result shows that the foreign-invested enterprises have a significant influence on the native enterprises. We find that the extent of the technology spillover is positively related to the technological level of the foreign-invested enterprises, while their caoital and asset scales have rather comnlicated influences.     

The Impacts of the Green Barrier against China＇s Agricultural Products Exports

Green Barrier is one of the non-tariffbarriers, which has its special characteristics. More and more countries have imposed green barriers on China＇s agricultural products exports in a bid to protect their domestic agriculture. When studying the green barriers oriented market access system, we should handle well the following works： popularizing agricultural standardization, improving quality standard systems of agricultural products, propelling the technological innovations of green production, establishing an emergency system for the foreign trade of agricultural products by which the green production and operation can be supported from funds and policies, etc.     

The impact of environmental regulations on international competitiveness of textile industry in China

A greater focus of environmental protection is directed toward environmental regulations in China. This paper focuses on environmental regulations and their impact on textile industry. The academic circle does not reach a consensus on the relationship between environmental regulations and international competitiveness. Some hold the view that environmental regulations lower international competitiveness while others think that environmental regulations improve both environment and economic performance. This paper aims to analyze the impact of the environmental regulations on the international competitiveness of textile industry in China. This study starts with theories relative to this subject; the second part, based on the impact mechanism of environmental regulations on competitiveness, analyzes the environmental impact on textile from the perspective of cost and market. The conceptual exploration comes to the conclusion that environmental regulations make a negative impact on the international competitiveness on the cost side and improve it by means of innovation and product differentiation on market side; the third part gives time series evidence to examine the impact. In this part the Pearson Correlation Analysis is conducted based on the data of China＇s textile industry of the period from 1991 to 2005. It turns out to prove that the negative environmental impact on cost side exceeds the positive environmental impact on market side, namely, environmental regulations deteriorate the international competitiveness in textile industry as a whole during the inspected period.