From clear to complicated: Buying and selling accounting services post Sarbanes-Oxley

While much has been said and written about the effect of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), one consequence of the new regulation that has been largely neglected is the law's dramatic impact on how audits are bought and sold in the United States. Prior to SOX, the process was clear and simple: accounting firm partners would meet with the publicly held client company's C-level executives to complete the exchange. When SOX was passed, Congress took the buying decision out of the hands of the client company's executives and placed it in the hands of the company's external audit committee. As this inter-disciplinary research will explain, this change—and other similar changes emanating from the “independence” provisions in SOX—has forever complicated the client-auditor exchange. Based on the literature in business-to-business selling, this research proposes two models—one centered around the concept of a “buying center” and another around “selling team” theory—in an effort to advance thinking in this area, and help both client companies and accounting firms operate in this new environment.     

美国汽车销售市场考察见闻

最近，我有幸参观考察了美国的汽车市场。“美国”、“汽车”这两者之间联系的紧密程度和广度，给我留下了深刻的印象。汽车，于美国无所不在：不论是家庭、社会、生活、购物、旅游，还是税收、法律、竞选、交通、贸易等，几乎国家生活、社会生活和家庭生活的方方面面，都与汽车息息相关。在一定程度上，我们可以说，美国是一个建立在车轮上的国家，汽车是每一个家庭的准成员。正因为汽车这一最具科技和人文特色的商     

The perils of selling online: Manufacturer competition, channel conflict, and consumer preferences

Internet channels have grown rapidly in recent years due to advances in information technology. However, many leading manufacturers opt not to sell online. In this paper, we construct a theoretical model with competing manufacturers and an active retailer to explain this market phenomenon. We document the possibility of asymmetric channel structure despite the ex ante symmetry between the manufacturers. Moreover, the increasing prominence of online shopping behaviors does not necessarily lead to the increased adoption of Internet channels. The prevalence of dual-channel strategies can be regarded as a form of prisoners’ dilemma, and the manufacturers may intentionally intensify the product or channel substitution to escape from this undesirable outcome. We explain how demand expansion and competition mitigation drive these unintended consequences and provide some general guidelines for the managerial choice of channel structures.     

Intra-industry trade under perfect monopolistic competition

This paper applies the analysis of perfect monopolistic competition, developed earlier by the author, to the problem of intra-industry trade. It is shown that a high volume of intra-industry trade can be expected even between economies which are identical in all respects and thus between which no trade would be predicted on the basis of comparative advantage. It is shown that similar economies may generate more mutual trade than dissimilar ones, and that tariffs may sometimes increase intra-industry trade.     

Protection for sale under monopolistic competition

This paper broadens the protection for sale model of Grossman and Helpman (1994) by incorporating the Krugman-Dixit-Stiglitz model of monopolistic competition, given its importance in explaining the prevalence of intraindustry trade. Several new results arise in this paper. First, the endogenous import tariff will never fall below zero, even in unorganized sectors. Second, the endogenous export policy for organized sectors is not necessarily an export subsidy, and can be an export tax as in unorganized sectors. Third, the level of import protection varies inversely with the degree of import penetration, regardless of whether the sector is organized or not.     

Commercial policy and dynamic adjustment under monopolistic competition

We explore liberalization of trade in differentiated commodities using a model featuring monopolistic competition and capital accumulation. We identify a mechanism of ‘cumulative causation’ in investment and an associated externality leading to under-accumulation. We provide long-run analytical results for a stylized core model and offer a quantitative treatment of transitional and sectoral issues using a disaggregate computational model. The aggregate welfare gains from unilateral liberalization are about three times larger than in the competitive case with constant returns, and they exhibit a characteristic pattern of generational incidence. Small export subsidies may be self-financing.     

基于购物网站的竞争情报分析

介绍了购物网站的概念、分类标准与发展现状,竞争情报的基本概念与网络环境下的特点。围绕购物网站竞争情报分析活动中对竞争环境、竞争对手与竞争策略的分析进行具体的展开。从电子商务角度讨论企业外部环境和自身内部环境,分析竞争对手的步骤与方法,提出适用于购物网站的竞争策略,目的是为企业掌握竞争环境和提高核心竞争力起一定的指导作用。     

部落电商背景下消费者购买行为影响因素研究

以消费者购买行为作为研究对象,以部落电商背景作为研究视角,对购买行为的影响因素进行实证分析,提出商品的网络认知度、商品的在线口碑、商品的网推力度、商品的日常生活介入度、已购者的分享度与部落电商下消费者购买意愿正相关,支付成本和等待成本与放弃购买的可能性正相关。采取问卷调查的方式,使用线性结构关系模型对假设进行检验,发现除商品的日常生活介入度外,其它变量均通过检验,据此提出部落电商下的商家运营建议。     

中国电视机制造商收购欧洲公司

欧洲和中国公众都没有留意到今年最为大快人心的一项收购行动去年10月,中国电视机制造商TCL宣布,就收购破产的德国电视机制造商辛奈德尔电子(Schneider Electronics)AG公司达成协议。     

国际收购的误区

上个世纪进入九十年代以后,中国的一些大公司开始进军国际市场,打国际牌,收购外国公司,这些公司在进军途中有胜有败,为后来的中国企业大规模进入国际市场赢得了不少经验。     

Probabilistic selling vs. markdown selling: Price discrimination and management of demand uncertainty in retailing

Markdown selling (i.e., price reductions over the course of the selling season) is a strategy to implement price discrimination and to manage market uncertainty that has been widely adopted by retailers. This paper explores the potential advantage of introducing an additional tool to the arsenal of retailers, probabilistic selling (i.e., offering consumers a choice to buy a product that can turn out to be any item from a predetermined set of distinct items). We show that both probabilistic and markdown selling strategies serve as price discrimination tools by offering buyers an option to purchase a “damaged” good (an uncertain product under the former and delayed consumption of a product under the latter). However, the two strategies segment markets based on different types of buyer heterogeneity: buyer preference strength under probabilistic selling and buyer patience under markdown selling. Our analytical model reveals that, compared with markdown selling, probabilistic selling can (1) improve margin management by increasing revenue from full-price sales and reducing the magnitude of discounts; and (2) improve inventory utilization by reducing stockouts and the amount of excess inventory. We identify the conditions required for probabilistic selling to be more profitable than markdown selling.     

营采中的损耗控制

防损作为涵盖到管理过程中每一个细节的持续化过程,应该引起管理者的高度重视,在企业发展过程中,每个环节都应有防损意识.企业发展的不同阶段,都会有相应的损耗问题,以采购为例,不同企业、不同阶段都会有相应的回扣问题.     

Global key account management and systems selling

Adoption of global key account management systems typically represents a response by selling companies to two inter-related structural changes in their business environment: first, the growing internationalisation of their industry and unprecedented levels of foreign competition; and second, the urgent need to retain customers of strategic importance (i.e. key accounts) against a background of centralised purchasing and supply base rationalisation. Global key account management is central to the ongoing, and often acrimonious debate captured in the slogan, “Think Global, Act Local”, suggesting serious implications for organisation structure, co-ordination/control and relationship management. Yet global key account management is under-researched and its efficacy, therefore, only partially understood. Such matters have long preoccupied executives in multi-national companies operating in industries where “systems selling” is a way of life and where practice is ahead of both theoretical development and empirical research.     

Short selling,unwinding, and mispricing

This article highlights the impact of short selling restrictions and early unwinding opportunities on the relation between futures and spot prices. Within a multiperiod equilibrium model, the influence of optimal arbitrage trading on the mispricing is analyzed. Results concerning trade volume and level, mean reversion, and path dependence of the mispricing are provided. The empirical evidence suggests that short selling restrictions and early unwinding opportunities are influential factors for the mispricing behavior. They help explain empirical findings reported in the literature. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 18:903–923, 1998     

Credit Card Use and Compulsive Buying Behavior

ABSTRACT

Compulsive buying behavior is a negative form of behavior that leads to overspending. In the current study, the author examines the applicability of a compulsive buying behavior scale developed by Valence et al. (1988) with Indian consumers. Compulsive buyers are likely to relate money to power, success, and status. Compulsive buyers perceive their purchases as a way of overcoming negative self-esteem and anxiety. The influence of consumers’ attitude toward credit cards, demographic factors, and credit card use on compulsive buying was studied. The findings suggest the compulsive behavior scale should be modified in the Indian context. Age, income, education, and marital status influence compulsive buying. Consumers’ attitude toward credit cards did not affect compulsive buying.     

对我国直销业的思考

自1990年雅芳登陆中国，拉开中国直销市场帷幕至今已有十几年的时间了。从事直销的中外企业比比皆是，直销范围也已涉及化妆品、保健品、家用电器、玩具、教育用品等等十多个与人们生活休戚相关的领域。中国直销业的发展经历了曲折的历程，直销行业对我国市场经济的发展起了一定的作用。有关法律法规从无到有，对直销的监管积累了不少经验，2005年下半年再次开放了直销市场，将会使直销业步入规范、有序的良性循环。本拟就直销业在我国的产生和发展历程、对我国经济的影响、尚存在的不足及应对措施几个方面谈谈笔的观点。     

卖车就是卖服务

把车卖给回头客,才是实在的销售,这是汽车销售业内被广泛认可的行风.因为回头客的再度登门,除了对汽车内在质量的肯定外,更包含着对经销商售前售后服务的认定.所以在当前汽车市场竞争激烈的环境中,卖车就是卖服务不仅仅只是一个追求,而应该具有实实在在的内容.     

Organisation and Control in Retail Buying Groups

Retail alliances are a mechanism which enables small and medium retail businesses to compete with corporate retail chains. Alliances face different organisational problems from those of corporate chains because of the need to ensure convergence of interests between the individual member and the organisation as a whole. This paper examines how retail buying groups organise in terms of membership structures, control mechanisms, incentive structures and management systems to meet these needs. A study of retail buying groups in the United Kingdom is reported. Results show that these groups are not mirror images of corporate retail chains but vehicles to preserve the independence of their members through voluntary participation and democratic control structures.     

Discounting and Its Impact on Durables Buying Decisions

The phenomenon of discounting is well established in the economics literature. However, this research has traditionally assumed that households have a single discount rate and make all intertemporal tradeoffs based on that rate. More current research in decision making and marketing has challenged the economics approach to intertemporal choice behavior. In this article, we propose two aspects of discounting research that are particularly relevant to consumer behavior toward durable goods. We propose first that consumers have individual discount rates for product categories. The second proposition is that, in a multiattribute modeling context, consumers have different discount rates for different attributes. We also discuss the strategic implications of these discount phenomena for marketing managers.