Foreign trademarks in developing countries

Foreign trademarks are used in some cases to cover imported goods and generally products made in the host countries by foreign manufacturing subsidiaries and licensees. This industrial property right is a major source of market power for those subsidiaries making consumer goods. Domestic enterprises making similar goods must either accept a reduced share of the market or must enter into trademark license agreements. But even in those cases, although licensees of foreign-owned trademarks receive a current profit out of the licence, they cannot enjoy the result of the goodwill development.Although the advertising expenditures are borne by the consumers of the developing countries, the accrual in goodwill is for the benefit of non-resident owners of this intangible asset. These private benefits — mostly appropriated by the foreign trademark owner — can be considered as net social costs to the recipient country.     

Ethics,Welfare, and Markets: An Economic Analysis

The present article examines society's welfare when goods with identical physical attributes can be produced using two alternative technologies, one of them less ethically desirable but less expensive for at least some producers. For the scenario where identification costs must be borne by producers and consumers of the high‐quality good, the outcome under unregulated markets is identical to the optimal solution of a central planner constrained to neither ban the undesirable technology nor segregate the low‐quality good. However, under certain circumstances the unregulated market equilibrium may be improved upon by government intervention that shifts the burden of identification costs to the producers of the low‐quality good, or which bans the production of the low‐quality good. The optimal intervention needs to be determined case‐by‐case and depends on consumer preferences, relative production costs, and relative costs of identification and fraud prevention.     

服装商标翻译的文化差异及翻译策略

随着经济全球化进程的加速,商标的英汉互译日益显示出其重要性,而服装商标的翻译是决定服装在国际市场上营销成败的关键因素之一。本文通过个案分析探讨服装商标翻译问题,分析了服装商标中的文化差异主要表现在审美心理和风俗习惯等方面,并总结了四种适用于服装商标的翻译策略,即音译法、直译法、意译法、混合译法。     

Do Client Bankruptcies Preceded by Clean Audit Opinions Damage Auditor Reputation?*

There is a maintained assumption within the accounting literature that client bankruptcies preceded by clean audit opinions (Type II going concern opinion (GCO) errors) damage an auditor's reputation. Consistent with this view, the PCAOB proposes that stakeholders may use Type II GCO errors as indicators of low audit quality. This study examines audit committee and investor responses to Type II GCO errors. I find no evidence that audit offices with Type II GCOs are more likely to be dismissed, have lower subsequent audit fees, or have a lower likelihood of being selected for new audit engagements. These findings are consistent with audit committees not using Type II GCO errors as indicators of low auditor quality. Using event study analysis, I find evidence of modest incremental negative investor responses for clients of audit offices with Type II GCO errors. However, these negative investor responses are found only during the financial crisis period of 2008–2010 and are observed only within windows of 30 days or less. Given this limited evidence that stakeholders do respond to Type II GCO errors, I examine whether stakeholders should respond to Type II GCO errors. I find that audit office Type II GCO errors are positively associated with subsequent restatements, an established measure of low audit quality. Taking the results as a whole, I do not find that audit offices incur substantial reputational costs for Type II GCO errors. However, the negative investor response and the positive association with restatements provide some evidence that Type II GCO errors may serve as indicators of low audit quality.     

A reapraisal of the capital goods sector in Hong Kong: The case for free trade

This paper was provoked by an earlier one by Fransman (1982) in which he examined the functioning of the capital goods sector in Hong Kong and came to the conclusion that it needed special protection by the government to allow it to reap the benefits of externalities essential for increasing its design and production capabilities. Statistical evidence is provided indicating that the capital goods sector as conventionally defined is prospering. Even following Fransman (1982), and equating the capital goods sector with the machine-producing sector, the latest survey of production indicates considerable dynamism. His case for infant industry protection is further weakened by consideration of the nature of the particular industrial structure of Hong Kong and the quality of the social relations that prevail between entrepreneurs. It is argued that the costs of singling out the capital goods sector for special treatment in terms of the impact of the highly competitive export-oriented manufacturing sector are likely to be high, while the theoretical benefits from externalities are liable to be illusory in a small economy.     

基于社会网络效应的多产品扩散竞争策略研究

产品扩散与竞争策略是营销管理研究重要领域。产品扩散过程受社会网络结构、产品质量、初始种子用户、竞争环境等多种因素影响,往往呈现出富者更富机制,形成流行产品。基于社会网络视角,采用多智能体仿真实验的方法,建立产品扩散模型,模拟分析产品扩散中富者更富机制的形成机理,以及产品质量策略与初始种子用户策略在市场竞争中的效果。通过仿真数据分析表明,产品质量策略在初始种子用户较低、采纳人数较少的情况下,具有较好的效果,而当产品采纳比例超过0.16,富者更富机制形成并表现出强大的正反馈效应,形成不可扭转的趋势。在多产品市场竞争中,则需要两种策略同时使用,从而能以较低的投入成本,达到良好的竞争效果。     

中韩两国科技政策的比较研究

本文认为产品质量是服务质量的核心,管理质量是服务质量的根本。名优产品及其创新、延伸是经济效益的基础,是立企业之本。优质服务是经济效益的源泉,是强企业之路。坚持质量标准是振兴国民经济的战略性措施。为此,对企业服务质量存在问题和原因进行分析,并提出改善对策。     

Strategic corporate social responsibility of high-speed rail in China

This paper investigates the strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) of a high-speed rail (HSR) firm when competing with an airline firm in a differentiated transportation market and the interactions with government environmental policies in the context of a Cournot–Bertrand comparison. We find that a standard CSR chosen by the government is lower under Cournot than that under Bertrand when both the marginal cost of HSR and product substitutability are low enough, while a voluntary CSR chosen by the HSR operator is always higher under Cournot than that under Bertrand. We also find that the voluntary CSR could be higher or lower than the standard CSR, depending on marginal costs, product substitutability, and competition modes. We then show that when the government imposes an environmental tax together with CSR activities, both the strategic CSR and environmental tax are always lower under Cournot than those under Bertrand. Finally, we show that equilibrium traffic volumes, ticket fares, consumer welfare, and social welfare are independent of competition modes with environmental tax.     

Exchange rate effects on a firm's output composition

Summary Goods produced for competitive markets and goods produced for imperfectly competitive markets are likely to have interdependent production costs in the sense that an increase in the price or the quantity produced of one type of good raises the costs of producing the other. Such production costs inderdependencies are ignored in the existing literature on exchange rate effects on domestic and foreign output. This article does take these interdependencies into account and shows then that exchange rate effects may be dramatically different. In particular, it is explained why aggregate output measures may be insensitive to exchange rate changes.The idea for this paper was born during a research visit to Reading. The paper was further developed benefitting from comments by Mark Casson from the University of Reading, Henk Jager and Eelke de Jong from the University of Amsterdam, and two anonymous referees. I am most grateful for their suggestions. Any remaining errors are, of course, mine.     

The evolution of an industrial cluster in China

We use two rounds of surveys, taken in 2000 and 2008 in the Zhili Township children's garment cluster in Zhejiang Province, to examine in depth the evolution of this industrial cluster. Firm size has grown on average in terms of output and employment, and increasing divergence in firm sizes has been associated with a significant rise in specialization and outsourcing among firms in the cluster. Although the investment amount needed to start a business has more than tripled, this amount remains low enough that formal bank loans remain an insignificant source of finance. Because of low entry barriers, the number of firms in the cluster has risen, driving down profits and bidding up wages, particularly since the year 2000. Facing severe competition, more firms have begun to upgrade their product quality. By the year 2007, nearly half of the sampled firms had established registered trademarks and nearly 20 percent had become International Office of Standardization (ISO) certified.     

Deficit versus balanced budget financing of ICT Infrastructure and Export Quality

This paper examines whether and how provision of better quality of ICT infrastructure by the government incentivizes quality upgrading of exports of IT-enabled services of a small dependent economy that displays a diversified export basket. The central idea of the analysis is that infrastructure development has both benefits and costs, and thus may not necessarily improve quality of service exports.Method of financing the ICT infrastructure is also important. We show that if the skill-productivity augmenting effect of better quality of ICT dominates its adverse wage-cost effect, then the quality of the export of ITeS will be upgraded if the government switches from deficit financing to balanced budget financing (through an input tariff) of its expenditure on ICT development. An exogenous increase in expenditure on ICT development raises the quality of service exports regardless of how it is financed, though raises it by a larger magnitude when financed through an increase in the input tariff. Thus, when the primary objective is to incentivize upgrading of quality of exports, balanced budget financing of infrastructure development seems to be the more preferred policy.     

Promoting or preventing labor migration? Revisiting the role of language

Large migration inflows increase the linguistic and cultural diversity of the place of destination, which facilitates the universal interchange of ideas and contributes to economic growth. However, the impact of language on migration is under-researched in developing countries. In this paper, we address this question in the context of China based on micro-level data and find a robust inverted U-shaped relationship between the probability of migration and the dialect distance between one's place of origin and the destination. Our identification strategy carefully addressed the selection bias and investigated different channels through which language affects the decision to migrate through imposing communication barriers, establishing social identity, and enhancing the exchange of skills. The results suggest that migration costs are mainly due to the difficulties of social integration, and the communication costs are small because of the wide use of standard Putonghua in China. In contrast, the benefits of migration increase when individuals move to a more linguistically distant place.     

社会责任对公司竞争力的影响研究

层出不穷的产品质量事件引起公众对于企业社会责任的关注,也对企业竞争力造成了负面影响。文章根据企业竞争力的发展阶段特征,分析了在全球化竞争阶段企业社会责任构成了企业竞争力的重要内涵。公司社会责任可以提高市场份额、降低经营成本、提升公众影响和品牌知名度以及吸引人才等。企业应该采取制定社会责任战略、健全社会责任组织体系和发布社会责任报告等措施。     

Mixed duopoly,location choice,and shadow cost of public funds

We examine the relationship between equilibrium and efficient levels of product differentiation in a mixed duopoly, where a welfare‐maximizing public enterprise competes with a profit‐maximizing private firm. We introduce shadow costs of public funding (i.e., the excess burden of taxation). The profits of public firms obtained by the government reduce these costs. We find that in a mixed duopoly, the level of product differentiation is too low for social welfare. This result is in sharp contrast to the private oligopoly, where the level of product differentiation is too high. Finally, we show that when the shadow cost is high, privatizing the public enterprise improves welfare.     

The Differential Impact of Accurate Product Cost Information in Imperfectly Competitive Markets: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation*

Many researchers claim that costing systems that provide materially more accurate or precise cost reports have a strict value-enhancing effect on decisions (i.e., Cooper 1988, 1995; Cooper and Kaplan 1991; Christensen and Sharp 1994; Rogers. Comstock. and Pritz 1994; Swenson 1995; Gupta and King 1997). However, this study provides theoretical and empirical evidence that the value of more accurate cost information may be dependent upon the firm's competitive market structure, as well as the firm's product market strategy. We extend the theoretical work of Gal-Or 1986 to incorporate an endogenous imprecise cost signal in two imperfect market structures: Cournot competition and Bertrand competition with imperfectly substitutable products. In addition, we theoretically link market structure to product market strategy. To examine product market strategy, we employ a laboratory markets design that allows for strategic reaction by a rival firm in each of these markets, because the competitive position of a firm is determined by its capacity to produce at low cost, or to differentiate its product from other products (Porter 1985). Consistent with our theoretical work, we argue that firms that compete on the basis of cost leadership (which we demonstrate may be characterized as Cournot competition), benefit through increased profits from increased product cost accuracy, whereas firms that compete on the basis of product differentiation (which we demonstrate may be characterized as Benrand competition) do not benefit from such increased product cost accuracy. Our results are consistent with this contention. That is, profit is higher in the experimental cost leadership markets (operationalized as Cournot markets) when subjects know their true cost, while profit is higher in the experimental product differentiation markets (operationalized as Bertrand markets) when subjects receive uninformative cost reports and make their decisions based on expected costs. These results suggest that the value of more accurate cost reports may be dependent upon the firm's competitive market structure strategy and product market strategy.     

Time-to-market in vertically differentiated industries

This paper analyzes the optimal time to introduce a new product in a vertical differentiated market when the delay between innovation and market opening can be shortened through investments whose costs increase, the shorter the desired delay. The timing process is affected by the trade-off between being first and getting monopoly profits, and postponing entry for reducing time-to-market costs. We study the balance of these forces and how this balance is influenced by market structure. In our model, it is possible a priori to observe at the optimal solution both a quality-upgrading equilibrium (first entering the market with the low quality good and then marketing the high quality variant) and quality-downgrading equilibrium (first entering the market with the high quality good and then marketing the low quality variant) while in the existing published literature a quality-upgrading equilibrium is always observed.     

Two-Part Pricing with Costly Arbitrage

This paper considers the optimal two-part pricing strategy of a monopolist whose customers collude when they purchase the firm's product. In contrast to the sentiment in the existing price discrimination literature, I find that a monopolist's profit can actually increase when consumers share its good. When transaction costs for collusion are zero the firm can extract the full consumer surplus through two-part prices. When transaction costs are positive or there are a substantial number of consumers without access to resale, the firm may be hurt by arbitrage.     

Factors That Account for the Large Variations in U.S. Export Prices

Using product level U.S. export data from 1989 to 2001, there is evidence that U.S. exporters price discriminate across markets. Variation in the quality of the products is one reason for the observed price differentiation. U.S. exporters also price discriminate based on transaction costs. Finally, U.S. exporters practice pricing-to-market and this pricing strategy is another source of the variations in U.S. export prices. Some of these conclusions though are weakened when export prices toward the center of the price distribution are considered. JEL no. F14     

Leading and Merging: Convex Costs,Stackelberg, and the Merger Paradox

This paper examines the consequences of a Stackelberg leader merging with followers when costs are convex. Such mergers are always profitable for the participants, and the followers often do better merging than remaining excluded rivals. This resolution of the merger paradox cannot be generated either by Stackelberg leadership without convex costs or by convex costs without leadership. In addition, with convex costs, a merger with the leader can actually harm excluded rivals (suggesting why they might object to the merger) and increase social welfare.     

The Effects of Multitasking on Auditors’ Judgment Quality

Auditors must frequently multitask in order to complete their work efficiently. However, the potential impact of multitasking on auditors’ judgment quality is poorly understood. Using Ego Depletion Theory and a laboratory experiment, we predict and find that auditors become less able to identify seeded errors after multitasking, and that this effect is most prominent in the identification of conceptual, rather than mechanical, errors. These negative consequences of multitasking are mitigated when auditors are exposed to an intervention based on a theoretical countermeasure of replenishing depleted self‐control resources, in that multitasking auditors identify more seeded errors with the intervention than without. Given that multitasking is a pervasive feature of the current audit environment, these findings have direct implications for audit practice. Beyond identifying multitasking as a cause of impaired performance in auditing, this study's results provide initial evidence that such negative effects can be mitigated, resulting in improved audit quality and, by extension, improved financial statement quality.