Customer solutions in the capital goods industry: Examining the impact of the buying center

Based on in-depth interviews with customers, this study explores the customers' view of relevant solution criteria in the capital goods industry. Our research examines (1) whether the initial four-process conceptualization of customer solutions also holds for this industry, or whether it has to be extended and (2) which criteria of the customer solution matter the most for each member of the buying center. This study reveals that customers purchasing solutions in the capital goods industry expect the provider to be excellent in terms of six customer/supplier relational processes, namely (1) customer requirements definition, (2) customization and integration of goods and/or services, (3) their deployment, (4) post-deployment support, (5) signaling activities, and (6) inter-process management. Moreover, we found that the relevance of these processes differs across the most important members of the buying center (users, buyers, and deciders) due to their specific organizational function.     

On the comparative statics of the dominant-firm model

This paper examines the effect of a change in demand upon a dominant firm's share of the market. The direction of change in market share is not readily determined in the general form of the model. It depends upon the values of a number of parameters. In the linear and log-linear forms of the model, however, the number of crucial parameters reduces to two. The market share of the dominant firm varies directly (inversely) with demand when the y-intercept of its marginal cost curve is greater (less) than the y-intercept of the supply curve of the fringe in the linear model and, in the log-linear model, when the elasticity of marginal cost with respect to output is less (greater) for the dominant firm than it is for the fringe.     

The Revival of Economics at the FTC in the 1960s

This paper examines the declining role of economists at the Federal Trade Commission between 1914 and 1960 and the subsequent growth in their role in the 1960s, including the unique role accorded the Chief Economist as advisor to the Commission and individual Commissioners. It discusses in detail five major contributions of the Bureau of Economics in the 1960s:(1) origins and evolution of a Line-of-Business Reporting Program; (2) contributions to a National Commission on Food Marketing; (3) report on Corporate Mergers; (4) affirmative Disclosure of the Octane Ratings of Gasoline; and (5) FTC Premerger Notification Programs.     

Testing the Competitive Environment and the Persistence of Profits Hypotheses

In the present paper I examine Brozen's (1970, 1971a, b, c, 1982) Competitive Environment Hypothesis and Mueller's (1977) Persistence of Profits Hypothesis in the Greek manufacturing industries between 1958 and 1984. The analysis reveals a positive (market power) association between past and current price-cost margins, although a considerable scrambling in the ranks of price-cost margins takes place over time. A high concentration and high barriers to entry sub-sample of markets examined, showed a general reduction in concentration, barriers to entry and a mobility in price-cost margins ranks, indicating that disciplinary competitive forces are also at work within manufacturing markets.     

Moving toward the EU or the Middle East? An assessment of alternative Turkish foreign policies utilizing the GTAP framework

This paper assesses the new orientation in Turkish foreign policy towards the Arab world by analyzing the potential impact of Turkey’s membership in either the European Union (EU) or the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). We utilize the most recent version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database, its global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, and the gravity border effect approach to estimate the ad-valorem tariff equivalents (AVEs) of non-tariff barriers (NTBs). In our overall analysis, we account for 24 various sectors. However, in our evaluation, we focus primarily on the food and agricultural sectors because this sector is characterized by high tariff and non-tariff protection. In the CGE simulation analysis, we consider the removal of tariffs and NTBs simultaneously. After projecting the GTAP framework to 2020, we conclude that Turkey would gain unambiguously from EU membership, whereas Turkey’s gains from GAFTA membership would be more limited. The paper also presents that the welfare gains from the removal of NTBs are of considerable importance and would generally be greater than the gains stemming from the elimination of import tariffs.     

高固含量乳液制备工艺的优化及实验结果的SAS分析

在一系列单因素试验的基础上,确立了6个主要影响因素,将直接试验设计方法用于高固含量乳液苯乙烯/丙烯酸丁酯/丙烯酸(St/BA/AA)制备工艺的优化,对实验结果利用SAS软件进行了回归分析,建立了乳液的影响因素与乳液主要性能间的最优回归方程模型,并通过实验对该模型赋予的优化值进行了检验。结果表明:乳液固含量、引发剂与功能单体浓度的交互作用、乳化剂用量、软单体BA含量与反应温度的交互作用对乳胶粒粒径有明显的影响。     

The Role of the Interaction between the User and the Manufacturer in Medical Equipment Innovation

It has been empirically observed that 'under-standing user need' and 'good internal and external communications' are factors which discriminate strongly between commercially successful industrial product and process innovations and those that fail. The research reported in this paper examines how the innovating firm achieves desirable levels of these factors through multiple and continuous interaction with the user throughout the innovation process.
In the sample of thirty-four medical equipment innovations from eleven companies, twenty six (76 per cent) were developed through multiple and continuous interaction, resulting in twenty two (65 per cent) of these being successful.
There appear to be two major reasons for this high level of interaction: (1) the requirement that any equipment that is to be potentially introduced into clinical use first needs clinical assessment and trial; and (2) the 'state of the art' clinical and diagnostic knowledge resides in the user. A special relationship is, therefore, needed between the clinical advisory and trial team on the one hand and the manufacturer on the other.
The introduction to this paper reviews the findings of other work in the examination of the role of the user in the innovation process. Details of the sample, the methods of sample selection and classification of the data follow in section 2. The results of the research are summarised in section 3. These detail the nature of the medical equipment innovation process, identifying in particular the high level of interaction between the user, intermediaries and the manufacturer, resulting in good communications and understanding of user need. Section 4 attempts to determine the significance of these results for the effective management of innovation and suggest areas for further research.     

《抽油泵及其组件规范》采标的滞后问题

通过对2001年版API Spec 11AX《抽油泵及其组件规范》的研究分析，指出了新版标准的先进性、科学性和合理性，阐明GB／T18607—2001：API Spec 11AX(1996)《抽油泵及其组件规范》在采标中存在滞后问题。     

Fuzzy approach to the spatial games in the total market area

The paper presents a fuzzy approach to building up a model of spatial hierarchy based on spatial games. It is derived from the analytical model by Bogataj and Bogataj (Int. J. Prod. Econ. 71 (1–3) (2001) 277). The main strategic problems of a supply chain are connected with the question of location and capacity of individual activity cells to achieve the best supply chain coordination. The results of supply chain coordination between two activity cells on the plain originate from Girlich's research paper (Inventory Modelling, Lecture Notes of the International Postgraduate Summer School, Vol. 2, ISIR, Budapest-Protoroz, 1995, pp. 13–24) and have been later transformed in frequency space, using the methodology of input–output analysis, Laplace transforms and MRP developed at Linköping Institute of Technology by Grubbström and his research group. The analytical results developed by Bogataj and Bogataj (2001) are compared with the results achieved by fuzzy set approach. In our paper the problem is formulated as a non-constant sum game. In this case the total market area is constant and the conditions for lower central places are described for different positions of these central places in an urban hierarchy in the case of two-level production. The results of fuzzy approach in logistic games are compared with analytical results.     

增强我国高新技术产业创新效率的方法研究

本文以申请专利数、新产品销售收入为因变量,以科技与发展人员全时当量（LNpeo）、高技术产业研究与试验发展经费（LNrd）、研究与试验发展机构数（LNjg）、产业总产值（LNcz）、高技术产业利润额（LNlre）为自变量,进行加权最小二乘（WLS）回归估计,实证研究得出：申请专利数、新产品销售收入与其影响因素,即科技与发展人员全时当量（LNpeo）、高技术产业研究与试验发展经费（LNrd）、研究与试验发展机构数（LNjg）、产业总产值（LNcz）、高技术产业利润额（LNlre）之间存在正相关关系;其中科技与发展人员全时当量（LNpeo）、高技术产业研究与试验发展经费（LNrd）是影响我国高新技术产业创新效率两个最重要的变量,其影响系数为0.673、0.783。     

Current Economic Issues at the FTC

This paper provides a summary of recent economic issues ofparticular interest in the Bureau of Economics (``BE') of the FTC. Further developmentof empirical analyses suitable for antitrust investigations is currently of particularinterest to BE. This paper outlines several areas where BE has focused in the past yearincluding: (1) Unilateral effects; (2) coordinated interaction; (3) mergerretrospectives; (4) natural experiments; (5) price discrimination; (6) intellectual property; (7) healthcare;and (8) energy. For each area, we discuss the issues under consideration, the work thatis being done, and what additional research would be useful.     

Resource recombinations in the firm: knowledge structures and the potential for schumpeterian innovation

Building on the resource-based view of the firm, this paper explores the notion of ‘resource recombinations’ within the firm. We suggest such recombinations can occur when competencies within the firm (which are interpreted as organized clusters of firm resources) either combine to synthesize novel competencies (synthesis-based recombinations) or experience a reconfiguration or relinking with other competencies (reconfiguration-based recombinations). Central to this paper is an examination of the antecedents necessary for such innovation to occur, and in particular the nature of knowledge in the firm. We argue that several characteristics of knowledge (tacitness, context specificity, dispersion) and its social organization (the way competencies come to be formed and institutionalized) will have important consequences on the likelihoods of resource recombinations. Our paper develops a model of resource recombination likelihoods and propositions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Comparison of the Reinvestment Risk of the Price Level Adjusted Mortgage and the Standard Fixed Payment Mortgage

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the risk of the indexed mortgage, commonly referred to as the price level adjusted mortgage (PLAM). This is accomplished by comparing, analytically, the reinvestment risk of the PLAM and the standard fixed-payment mortgage (FPM) under conditions of stochastic inflation and real interest rates. The conclusion is that the PLAM has less reinvestment risk. From the viewpoint of an investor concerned with periodically reinvesting payment streams, the PLAM is the superior mortgage.     

What determines the scope of the firm over time and around the world? An Asia Pacific perspective

“What determines the scope of the firm?” is a fundamental question in strategy research. We argue that a new generation of diversification research needs to address the extended question: What determines the scope of the firm—both product and geographic—over time and around the world? This article has three goals: (1) to increase awareness among researchers on the necessity to add the much needed but often neglected time and geographic dimensions by introducing a new typology in diversification research, (2) to review how Asia Pacific research, including articles in this Special Issue, has contributed to our global understanding along both dimensions, and (3) to advance an institution-based view on diversification strategies that has largely been propelled by Asia Pacific research.     

复合模板剂合成SBA-15介孔分子筛的结构表征及机理研究

采用复合模板剂P123及Tritonx-100合成新型SBA-15介孔分子筛,分别利用N2等温吸附、X射线衍射及透射电镜对样品进行表征。介孔分子筛比表面积可达600 m2/g,单位质量的孔容积大于1 mL/g,平均孔径为7~8 nm,孔径分布窄,孔道长程有序,结晶度较高。通过与单一模板剂合成样品的比较可知,辅助模板剂Tritonx-100能有效地改善孔径分布及孔道排列,通过实验找出了最佳模板剂配比为n(Tritonx-100)∶n(P123)=4∶1。     

Measuring the Employer's Return on Investments in Training: Evidence from the Literature

Three components of the literature on measuring the employer's rate of return to investments in employee training are reviewed: (1) studiesthat use large samples of firm-level or establishment-level data collected through mail or phone surveys, (2) studies that use data from one or two companies to conduct an 'econometric' case study, and (3) company-sponsored case studies. The strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches are evaluated and the estimated returns on investments (ROIs) are compared. The analysis indicates that the employer's return on investments in training may be much higher than previously believed. In order to obtainaccurate information on the employer's ROI from training, researchers should be encouraged to gain access to company databases and to supplement them with data-gathering efforts to collect information on variables needed to isolate the effect of training.     

The visible and the invisible hand: Resource allocation in the industrial sector

The standard economic analysis holds that resource allocation in the industrial sector is primarily a market process operating through the capital markets. The current political resurgence of free market economics has popularized this approach. Contrary to this approach the authors demonstrate that: (1) trends in the size, diversity and administrative complexity of firms; (2) structural features of the capital markets; and (3) the emergence of the state as a major source of capital in developed countries imply that internal organizational and political/ ideological considerations are also vital to understanding resource allocation in the economy.     

Purchasing-driven sales: Matching sales strategies to the evolution of the purchasing function

The personal selling field has witnessed the emergence of various sales strategies, including relationship, value, key account, and solution selling. Despite claims about their effectiveness, recent work challenges the relevance of existing sales strategies across buying contexts. Specifically, emerging sales strategies often focus on the user in the customer organization, without being explicitly aligned with the increasingly important purchasing function. To define the critical role of the purchasing function for sales effectiveness, this study collects data from 32 firms in two markets; their purchasing departments reveal four stages of purchasing evolution: passive (price focused), independent (cost-focused), supportive (solution/innovation focused), and integrative (strategy focused). The research demonstrates that each stage of purchasing evolution then requires distinct sales strategies by selling firms and any mismatch of purchasing evolution and sales strategy may be detrimental to sales. This novel view and the supported findings offers several implications for both research and practice.     

The need for skills in the factory of the future

The 'automated factory' as the culmination of ingenuity has fascinated engineers and social visionaries (albeit for different reasons) for a considerable period. This article discusses the skill requirements of advanced automated production.     

Using the economics of platforms to understand the broadband-based market formation in the New Zealand Ultra-Fast Broadband Network

The government of New Zealand is currently building a nation-wide fibre-optics network, a project known as the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative. The UFB network will cover 75 percent of New Zealanders over 10 years and will cost NZD $1.5 billion to the New Zealand government. The technical and economic characteristics of the new network will have a deep impact on the current landscape of the telecommunications markets. Institutional arrangements are in place for the development of the New Zealand's UFB: a government-owned agency, Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH); private investors who jointly with CFH own the Local Fibre Companies (LFCs) which will operate the UFB; and Retail Service Providers (RSP) that will provide end-user services by purchasing wholesale services to the LFCs. Relying on a normative economics approach that uses recent advances in the theory of platform-based markets with cross-network effects – also known as theory of two-sided platforms – the paper proposes a novel view of the way markets over the UFB will unfold. On one hand, the theory is used to explain the rationale behind regulatory decisions already made and their effect on the development of UFB-based markets for contents and services. Such analysis is followed, on the other hand, by the introduction of a simple taxonomy for the RSPs which provides the framework to argue about the most likely scenarios for service deployment and competition to develop over the UFB. The analytical framework reveals that the UFB ecosystem will be fraught with cross-network externalities which are the basis for regulatory decisions already adopted and the source of particular forms of strategic behavior adopted by the UFB-based market innovators.