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.     

The changing information business: Toward content-based and service-based competition

As information-related industries creep into each other's territory and create bybrid “info-tainment” business groups, traditional routes to competitiveness become scarce. Attention is shifting toward content and service-based ways of competing, as postmodern forces sweep aside conventional ways of developing and delivering content. The Dholakias examine both the shift in the basis of eompetition in the information business and in information creation.     

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。     

Buying into Europe

Danger may lurk for the U.S. companies that simply think, “Well, here comes 1992. I guess we had better get a foothold somewhere in Europe.” A company that doesn't make sound choices based on the many complex factors involved will find only trouble—not more profits.     

Regulatory changes and information competition: The case of Taiwan index futures

This article examines the cross‐border competition in price discovery between the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) and the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading (SGX). We focused on the impact of market reforms on the information leadership of similar contracts traded on the two exchanges. Utilizing synchronized transaction data, it was found that reducing the futures transferring tax was the only policy change that enhanced TAIFEX's information role. Evidence supported the trading‐cost hypothesis that a lower transaction cost is associated with better price discovery. A brief linkage between trading volume and price discovery was found when data were broken down into subperiods according to the relative volume of TAIFEX and SGX. Evidence suggested that the SGX's information advantage reported in previous research had diminished as the rival market progressed. It also indicated that exchanges seeking to improve information efficiency should adopt policies that will reduce transaction costs or increase trading volume. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:399–412, 2004     

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。     

Cross-functional selling teams - The loss of control of the selling function

Selling has become dispersed through the use of selling teams that include members from functional areas other than marketing or sales. This now occurs within many firms utilising key account management strategies, within both business-to-business and business-to-reseller environments. This article is aimed at developing a better understanding of factors affecting ‘team selling’ and its impact on sales performance, with clear benefits to company management.     

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。     

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。     

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.     

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.