Firm and destination-specific export costs: The case of the Swedish food sector

This paper focuses on sunk export costs in the Swedish food and beverage sector. Its purpose is threefold. First, it investigates whether the estimation of the importance of sunk costs is sensitive to persistence bilateral (firm-destination) effects such as specific market knowledge compared to firm-specific effects such as managerial skills or product quality. Second, it analyses the effects of firm and market characteristics on firms’ export decisions. Third, it tests whether the importance of sunk costs varies with destination as well as firm characteristics. The main results are: (1) that firm-destination effects are more important than general, unobserved firm characteristics, (2) that more productive and larger firms are more likely to export and that firms’ expectations from exporting increase with market size and exchange rate stability, and (3) that the importance of sunk export costs varies with firm and market characteristics.     

Lower Bounds of Concentration in a Small Open Economy

We examine how Sutton’s “bounds” approach works in a small country where industries have relatively high export and import intensities. The bounds are estimated as stochastic frontiers, where observable industry characteristics, entry barriers, and export intensity are allowed to affect the mean and variance of the deviations from the frontier. In accordance with the theory, high R&D intensity industries have a lower bound for concentration, which is higher than that for exogenous sunk cost industries. For high advertising industries the theory does not hold as well.      

Trading in strategic resources: Necessary conditions,transaction cost problems,and choice of exchange structure

The paper develops a theoretical framework for analyzing the exchange structure in the trading of imperfectly imitable and imperfectly mobile firm resources. It first explores the conditions for such resources to be gainfully traded between firms and then investigates the interconnections between barriers to imitation and impediments to trading. A major part of the paper is devoted to developing an integrative and yet parsimonious model for assessing the exchange structure between firms that are involved in the trading of strategic resources in the face of signifcant transaction cost problems. The model is applied in the last part of the paper to the analysis of the choice between acquisitions and collaborative ventures.     

From relationships to partnerships—new forms of cooperation between buyer and seller

An increased focus on operational performance and the reliance on fewer suppliers by industrial customers call for a higher quality of buyer-seller relationships.This article elaborates on economic explanations for value generated partnerships and describes the distinctive qualities of partnerships as something more than ordinary customer relationships. Particular attention is paid to the managerial implications and pitfalls awaiting companies when pursuing a partnership approach and a definition of vertical partnerships is provided.     

Contestability and two-part pricing

This paper contributes to the debate over the relevance of contestability by demonstrating that the welfare properties claimed by proponents depend on the inability of incumbent firms to divide the market. Given the ability to divide the market using two-part prices, the incumbent can protect profitability. This possibility further illustrates the extremity of the assumptions upon which contestability rests as two-part pricing is commonly observed in some of the very markets that might be suggested to be more nearly contestable.The authors thank Barnali Gupta, William G. Shepherd and two reviewers for suggestions on earlier drafts.     

The consequences of voluntary traceability system for supply chain relationships. An application of transaction cost economics

This paper analyses the effects of voluntary traceability on vertical relationships within food supply chains using a transaction cost perspective. The analysis makes reference to the Italian situation where the national standard organization has introduced a private standard for traceability that provides a higher degree of information associated with the individual product than the European mandatory traceability system. A survey was conducted by questionnaire to assess changes in transaction characteristics, costs and governance after the introduction of voluntary traceability. The sample represents all Italian firms applying this standard. Factorial and cluster analyses were applied to find the different reorganizations of transactions. The results highlight an increase in asset specificity and a decrease in the uncertainty level throughout the supply chains. The introduction of voluntary traceability shows increased vertical coordination for firms that previously used oral agreements and variation in transactions conditions for firms using contracts. Instead vertically integrated firms do not reveal any variation in the governance of transactions as they are already internally safeguarded.     

Group purchasing, nonlinear tariffs, and oligopoly

Loyalty discounts are nonlinear tariffs that condition rebates or marginal prices on meeting aggregate purchase or market share targets. These discounts are widespread, and are often the impetus for consumers to form buying groups, or group purchase organizations (GPOs). This paper models the competitive effects of the introduction of a GPO into a market within which the preferences of the GPO's members are horizontally differentiated. While nonlinear tariffs are an effective way for a monopolist to extract consumer surplus, when two suppliers compete using such schedules, the results are far more competitive in comparison to simple Bertrand–Nash competition with linear tariffs. This result holds when the product of each of the suppliers is attractive to a substantial portion of consumers. In our model, the nonlinear schedule puts all customers “in play” to a degree that contrasts sharply with the competition at the margin characteristic of constant per unit prices. Moreover, competing in nonlinear tariffs removes allocative inefficiency that can result from single price competition.     

关系网络与雇主机会主义行为的实证研究

在相同的司法体系下,为什么不同地区和不同类型企业的劳动争议数量和频率仍会有很大的差异？本文从关系网络的角度,分析作为第三方实施的社会实施机制--关系网络对经济主体行为的约束.员工拥有越多当地的社会关系网络,关系网络对雇主机会主义行为的约束力就越大.因而,一个地区外来劳动力越多,雇主的机会主义行为就越猖獗.一个地区外来雇主越多,雇主的机会主义行为也越多.本文用中国2000年31个省区的横截面数据验证了以上命题.     

Renegotiation of Listing Contracts, Seller Opportunism and Efficiency: An Economic Analysis

When a property owner engages a real estate broker to sell his or her property, the parties enter into a listing contract which entitles the broker to a commission if a ready, willing and able buyer is found before the contract expires. While a limit on the duration of the contract provides the broker with an incentive to work hard to find a buyer, it also creates the potential for seller opportunism. In particular, sellers have an incentive to renegotiate a lower commission as the end of the contract approaches. The paper concludes that, from an efficiency perspective, courts should generally enforce such renegotiations, given that transaction costs between brokers and sellers are ordinarily low.     

Interstate Long Distance Rates: Search Costs,Switching Costs,and Market Power

A number of authors have argued that the divestiture of AT & T did not reduce the rates of long distance telephone companies as often believed. However, the literature has offered few explanations as to why competition has not lowered rates. This study argues that rates have failed to fall due to the importance of search and switching costs in the industry. Using a panel data set of rates for the three largest long distance carriers, stretching from 1984 to 1993, a reduced form equation is specified to empirically test for the influence of search and switching costs on the price cost margin of the three carriers. The results illustrate that both search and switching costs have provided long distance carriers with market power.     

Globalization and the Renewal of Asian Business Networks

How are Asia's business networks responding to the growing integration of the region into the global economy? To address the question the paper identifies two distinct types of Asian business network originating in two different institutional contexts. It is argued that these original contexts have imprinted upon dominant firms' governance structures and influence their preferred networking mode. Consequently, the renewal of business networks reflects the pressures of globalization and the governance structures of the dominant organizational forms in the networks. Two types of network (global commodity chains and family business groups) are described and the global pressures for change bearing upon them outlined.     

我国对外工程承包公司面临的挑战和对策

本论述了我国对外工程承包公司面曲的挑战和对策，并系统地分析了两种生产组织方式优缺点。针对我国对外工程承包公司的自身特点，指出了今后应采用的生产组织方式。详细论述了电子商务是实施横向联合生产模式的有效战略。对于增强我国承包公司的竞争力有重要的理论意义和较大的实用价值。     

Fruit and vegetable access to EU markets: Dissecting tariffs faced by Mediterranean countries

This paper analyzes the access of Eastern and Southern Mediterranean countries to the EU fruit and vegetables market and provides a measure of the level of preferences from which they benefit. To take into account the complexity of EU protection in the F&V sector, in particular the seasonality of protection and the Entry Price System, we conducted our analysis at a very disaggregated level (eight digits of the nomenclature, monthly data). We showed that, on average, Mediterranean countries do have significant preferences compared to other countries exporting to the EU. However, the magnitude of the preferences differs among countries; Morocco has the highest preference, while Syria and Israel have the lowest. We simulated a multilateral reduction in the MFN tariffs (as planned in the Doha Round) and showed that this would reduce the heterogeneity within the zone by more strongly eroding the preferences of the most advantaged countries. The classification of Entry Price products as sensitive products would either benefit or have no effect on most Mediterranean countries.     

Partnerships, Profit Sharing, and Quality Competition in the Medical Profession

This paper contains a theoretical model of medicalpartnerships with individual quantity and qualitychoice. The firm selects price, the number ofpartners and profit sharing. The firm encouragesinter-firm quality competition and discouragesintra-firm quality competition through differentialprofit sharing. An empirical model using data from anationwide survey of medical practices supports thetheoretical results. Further, empirical resultssupport the view that time per visit can be used as aproxy index for quality in the primary carephysician market.     

电站EPC项目总承包商的成本控制

结合电站项目管理的实践,阐述了电站 EPC 项目在合同执行阶段总承包商控制成本、实现效益的有效途径。     

风电场集电线路工程施工常见问题分析及其对策建议

风电场集电线路工程主要由杆塔基础、杆塔、导线、横担、绝缘子、金具、拉线等组成,具有线路长,杆塔、附件、箱式变电站（箱变）、风机数量多,可施工的时间短,技术难度大等特点。风电场集电线路工程通常采用EPC／交钥匙总承包的形式,合同范围涵盖监理、设计、施工、设备材料采购、调试。对风电场集电线路工程中较为普遍存在的问题进行了分析,并提出处理对策,对于风电场集电线路工程EPC总承包具有实践意义。     

企业战略中经济利益与环境利益的博弈研究

经济与环境之间博弈一直是人们争论的焦点。根据争议的内容使用分类框架将相关文献分为4类加以分析研究,针对目前研究缺少实践指导的情况,提出基于价值分析的前瞻性环保投资决策方式,使用项目对价值的冲击和资源投入的灵活性两个指标来对前瞻性环保项目可行性进行判断,旨在通过为企业提供可操作性的投资指导,引导企业走适应自身特色的可持续发展之路。     

Access pricing: A comparison between full deregulation and two alternative instruments of access price regulation,cost-based and retail-minus

In this paper, two instruments of access price regulation, cost-based and retail-minus, are compared with the full deregulation hypothesis. For this purpose, a model that considers an upstream monopolist firm that sells a vital input to an independent firm and to a subsidiary firm in the downstream market is developed. The main conclusion of the paper is that retail-minus regulation avoids foreclosure and leads to better results than cost-based regulation in terms of investment level and consumer surplus. Moreover, retail-minus regulation allows a higher consumer surplus than deregulation of access price as long as the regulator carefully defines the retail-minus instrument.     

Mode of entry and ex-post performance

In this study I develop and empirically test hypotheses delineating how a set of industry- and firm-level factors are differentially associated with postentry performance of de novo and acquisitive entrants. First, I conceptualize structural entry barriers as sunk costs or irrecoverable investments that entrants must make in the entered industry to be competitive vis-à-vis incumbents. I then argue that de novo and acquisitive entrants differ in three important ways: (1) incremental vs. up-front sunk cost investments in overcoming impediments to entry; (2) increasing productive capacity vs. changing ownership in the entered industry; and (3) low vs. high costs of integration when realizing synergies with parent firms. I use the Trinet, FTC-ALB, and Compustat data bases to construct a sample comprising de novo and acquisitive entries made during the period 1980–82. Next, I evaluate postentry survival and growth between 1982 and 1986. Overall, empirical tests provided partial support for the hypotheses, and the explained variance in my models ranged from 17 percent to 37 percent. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.