Trademarks and venture capital valuation

This study investigates the role of trademarks in the start-up valuations of venture capitalists (VCs). Our results show that the number and breadth of trademark applications have inverted U-shaped relationships with the financial valuations of start-ups by VCs. The findings also indicate that in later funding rounds, the value of trademark applications decreases when the start-up progresses into more advanced development stages. Start-ups should consider these findings when seeking funding from VCs and should stress their market and growth orientations and their willingness to protect their marketing investments by highlighting their trademark activities.     

Cross-cultural factors in international branding

Abstract

This is the second special issue resulting from the symposium titled ‘The Brand and Its History’. This issue aims at deepening the knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of the origin, uses, and meanings of modern branding. This editorial summarises previous contributions from economic, marketing, and historical literature; presents the main findings of the seven articles included in this issue; and reflects on possible further research.     

商业秘密权及其法律保护

商业秘密权与商业秘密是权利与权利客体的关系,它与以专利为代表的传统知识产权相比较,在权利主体、客体、权利内容、保护期限方面等方面都有较大的差异。对商业秘密权的法律保护,应秉承维护商业道德、促进技术进步的宗旨,构建起一个"投入——回报——激励"的体系。     

Understanding retail branding: conceptual insights and research priorities

With the growing realization that brands are one of a firm's most valuable intangible assets, branding has emerged as a top management priority in the last decade. Given its highly competitive nature, branding can be especially important in the retailing industry to influence customer perceptions and drive store choice and loyalty. We integrate lessons from branding and retail image research to provide a better understanding of how retailers create their brand images, paying special attention to the role of the manufacturer and private label brand assortment. We also highlight some important areas that deserve further research in the form of three sets of research priorities.     

Private-label branding and willingness to pay: evidence from an auction experiment

The competitive pricing of private-label brands is a strategy used to gain a competitive advantage. Notwithstanding the introduction of many private-label brands – i.e. private-label brands with a name identical to that of a firm (own-name brands) and private-label brands with a name distinctive from that of a firm (other-name brands) – that compete with national brands, identifying equitable prices that reflect brand value remains difficult. This study aims to determine the appropriate price of private-label brands by measuring consumers’ willingness to pay. An experimental auction method measures ‘actual’ willingness to pay in a non-hypothetical setting. The study was conducted in Thailand, which has the lowest price discrepancy between national brands and private-label brands. The results show that the willingness of consumers to pay for both types of private-label brands is higher than that for un-branded products. However, there is no significant difference in the premium between own-name and other-name private-label brands. Unlike leading and second tier national brands, consumers are willing to pay a discounted price for both own-name and other-name private-label brands; for the latter, they are willing to pay a more steeply discounted price. The finding of this study regarding the amount that consumers are willing to pay for an own-name private-label brand is consistent with the current market price strategy, whereas the current market price strategy for other-name private labels is inconsistent with the amount participants are willing to pay. The study shows that to appropriately price their products in a manner that yields the highest returns, retailers must determine how much consumers are willing to pay.     

从中美知识产权博弈看我国的知识产权立法

中关之间的知识产权博弈由来已久，本首先总结了我国改革开放以来中关知识产权博彝的过程．然后通过对中关知识产权博弈原因的分析提出了对我国知识产权立法现状的看法。     

Employer branding and CSR communication in online recruitment advertising

While multiple studies have discussed the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recruiting, two important but unaddressed questions constrain the understanding and practice of presenting firms’ socially conscious efforts to their prospective employees. First, are companies engaged in CSR communicating their CSR practices effectively in online recruitment advertising? And second, what CSR information should companies include in online job advertisements to improve their employer attractiveness to prospective candidates? The findings of this study show that CSR communication in recruitment advertising is often limited, an ad-hoc practice, and mostly focused on company practices concerning employee participation and development. Even companies with a great CSR reputation take surprisingly little advantage of their CSR image when it comes to attracting job candidates. To improve employer attractiveness, we recommend that human resources managers consider (1) optimizing the structure of online job advertisements by including a company overview section in which CSR information can be presented easily, (2) expanding the scope of CSR dimensions in job advertisements to include environmental performance and community relations, (3) offering information about opportunities for employee engagement with CSR, and (4) adopting a strategic approach to the inclusion of CSR content in online job advertisements.     

The role of destination personality fit in destination branding: Antecedents and outcomes

Drawing from fit research in strategic management, this study develops and investigates a model predicting destination attitude and (re)visit intention. The study introduces the concept of destination personality fit on the basis of how well consumer perceptions of a tourist destination's brand personality fits that of what the destination brand manager wishes to convey. A model incorporating destination advertising awareness as an antecedent of destination personality and consumer‐manager destination personality fit is tested on international consumers with the destination personality of Switzerland as the study setting. Structural equation modeling results reveal that destination advertising awareness does indeed relate positively to both stronger perceived destination personality and destination personality fit in consumers’ minds. Interestingly, the subsequent destination personality–destination attitude relationship is moderated by consumer–manager destination personality fit in such a way that the link grows stronger in cases where fit is high. The results have important implications for destination brand managers in that they reinforce the importance of strong and distinct destination personalities. The findings also show the importance of actively communicating the destination brand to consumers since the positive outcomes of a strong destination personality increase in magnitude when successfully communicated, and the vision of the destination brand manager has been adopted by the consumer.     

Bilateral intra-industry trade flows and intellectual property rights protections: further evidence from the United Kingdom

This paper investigates the relationship between the United Kingdom's (hereafter referred as UK) bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT) and foreign intellectual property rights (IPRs) protections. The empirical investigation is based on pooled UK data and benefits from the theoretical distinction between horizontal and vertical IIT. It also estimates a gravity equation for international trade using both fixed and random effects models. We then extend the analysis by employing the GMM system for dynamic panel models. The principal findings suggest that the UK's IIT is stimulated when the level of a trading partner's IPRs and its imitative ability are considered jointly. However, when IPRs and imitation abilities are considered separately, their disparate effects are not an important factor in determining UK IIT flows.     

自由贸易的新障碍:知识产权壁垒

近年来，随着知识产权保护水平的不断提高，出现了一种新形式的非关税壁垒一知识产权壁垒。它在知识产权保护的名义下，比传统的非关税壁垒更具隐蔽性、歧视性和报复性，对国际贸易的影响日益加深，因此应引起有关国家的高度关注。像中国这样的发展中国家应深入了解研究WTO规则，加强自主知识产权的开发，完善国内立法，以更好地应对国际知识产权壁垒。     

知识产权制度驱动科技创新

知识产权制度的建立,对科技创新活动起到了极大的促进作用。知识产权制度为科技创新创造了公平、有序的市场环境。是科技创新的动力,能够有效地促进科技创新成果的商品化和市场化,能够为创新提供智力资源．并且实现创新资源的有效配置。     

Domestic institutions and export performance: Evidence for Cambodia

The paper analyzes the relevance of domestic institutions for export performance of Cambodia. Regulatory quality, control of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness, and political stability are introduced in an augmented gravity model with a panel data set over 1996–2015. The research is the first application to Cambodia, until 2015 a least developed country which is generally believed to have poorly developed institutions. Due to high multicollinearity among the variables, the institutional variables are introduced in the model one by one. Estimation is by the Hausman–Taylor method, which reduces or removes the correlation between the composite error terms and the included variables. All institutional variables show a highly significant positive relationship with Cambodia's exports, with rule of law having the largest impact. It is concluded that the government should give high priority to the further improvements of the legal environment and to strong enforcement of property rights and contracts.     

Crafting a paying-it-forward mindset in business: Five principles for a competitive employer branding advantage

Kindness can strengthen your employer brand. The business environment is changing, and the value of kindness in the corporate world is garnering increased attention. Paying it forward is a way to pass acts of kindness on to others. This allows employees and business partners to go above and beyond formal expectations that not only benefit the individuals involved but also the businesses they represent. Paying it forward can potentially create competitive advantage for firms from an employer branding perspective (to attract and retain talent) and in the broader market sense. This behavior can strengthen the employer brand in numerous and effective ways, and managers must understand, engage in, and encourage such conduct. In this article, we discuss different examples, benefits, and risks of paying kindness forward on a micro-, meso-, and macro-level. After providing this foundation, we introduce practical guidelines for managers on how to foster a paying-it-forward mindset among employees and the broader organization. The guidelines were created using insights from interviews we conducted with stakeholders in a business ecosystem in northern Sweden.     

Dumping and Subsidy Cases at the ITC: Voting Discretion and Commissioner Attributes

Every year, the United States evaluates the protection of intellectual property rights in foreign markets in the context of its Special 301 review. U.S. trading partners that are found to provide inadequate protection are designated as priority countries. This article quantifies the increase in U.S. receipts of royalties and license fees from countries after they were designated as Special 301 priorities, using an econometric model of U.S. royalty receipts from 33 countries over the period 2001–2008. The priority designations between 2001 and 2007 are associated with a cumulative $5.4 billion increase in annual U.S. royalty receipts.     

浅析电子商务环境中的相关法律问题

目前,电子商务已经成为一种全新的贸易方式。电子商务的诸多不同于传统交易方式的特性给传统商业带来了巨大的冲击,同时也带来了一些法律方面的问题,主要包括电子合同、电子支付安全、电子交易安全、知识产权保护、隐私权保护等问题,这在一定程度上影响了我国电子商务的发展。为了营造良好的竞争环境,促进电子商务持续健康的发展,就必须建立和完善网络法律体系,制定出适应信息化社会的法律制度,用法律手段来保证电子商务的有序发展。从而维护电子商务交易各方的利益,保障网络交易的顺利进行。     

The agency of branding and the location of value. Hallmarks and monograms in early modern tableware industries

This article addresses early modern guild-based hallmarks from the perspective of modern branding. Although guilds could have firm-like functions and create ‘brand names’, collective marks at least in ‘strong guilds’ (on the continent) served a primarily socio-political function for small manufacturing masters who controlled and sanctioned branding practices themselves. While helping to solve problems of information asymmetry, the collective marks objectified product quality by locating it in the political standing and ‘quality’ of guild-based masters. The crucial shift at the end of the Ancien Régime involved the disappearance of this link between the status of urban ‘freemen’ and the cultural identity of their products.     

欧盟对外贸易中知识产权保护的特点及对我国的启示

在我国与欧盟双边贸易摩擦中，知识产权保护冲突日趋凸现，纠纷日益增多，导致我国企业遭受巨额损失，如何应对欧盟的知识产权保护壁垒已经成为当前理论界争论的热点问题。本文将对欧盟对外贸易中知识产权保护的特点进行分析，在总结其特点的基础上，借鉴欧盟对外贸易中知识产权保护的经验，对我国知识产权保护制度的改进以及企业如何应对知识产权纠纷提出相应的建议。     

奥运会营销中的知识产权保护与特许权运用

现代奥运会营销的成功得力于对奥林匹克知识产权的保护和市场化运作,其中完整的知识产权体系的建立和日趋完备的法律保护,为国际奥委会和各组办国以特许经营的形式运用奥林匹克知识产权,提高现代奥运会的经济价值和社会价值发挥了重要作用,对促进特许经营在我国的健康发展也具有重要的意义。