Vertical integration as a remedy for imbalances in the ‘Porterian’ value system. The Dutch financial securities industry at the beginning of the 20th century

The way of accounting for vertical integration, of this paper is based on the ‘Porterian’ value system and focuses on the relation between the creation and appropriation of value. The essence of a value system is that at each stage in the system value is created and added to the value created at previous stages. We propose that firms which are unable to appropriate the value they create at the stage they currently inhabit, would find it advantageous to integrate vertically towards stages offering a more attractive relation between value appropriation and value creation. This argument will be illustrated here by the case of a large Dutch bank that integrated vertically towards securities trading.     

Explaining Vertical Integration Strategies: Market Power, Transactional Attributes and Capabilities

abstract    We analyse vertical boundaries of firms by identifying and comparing industrial, transactional and firm-specific factors in such a way that industrial organization, new institutional economics and the capability-based view are all taken into account. After testing the model in 155 firms in the Spanish meat industry, we observe that only factors associated with both transaction costs and capabilities have a statistical and economic relevance for explaining vertical integration. Firms vertically integrate to create specific investment between stages of the value chain, to internally exploit their pool of knowledge and capacities, and to guarantee quality of inputs and services employed. On the other hand, firms avoid high levels of vertical integration in the presence of high demand changes in order to stay flexible. Finally, providers or clients with market power do not seem to affect vertical boundaries in any consistent way.     

Evolutionary stability of altruism and envy in Tullock contests

This paper considers Tullock contests with altruistic and envious individuals as players. Altruism (envy) is beheld as another motivation for low (high) dissipation rates in contests. A pure population of altruists has higher payoffs than a purely envious population, but the altruist has a lower payoff if he is confronted with an envious individual. In an evolutionary approach in which the population share of the type with the higher material payoff rises, it can be shown that there is a possibility of either envy or altruism becoming extinct. Furthermore, we find an advantage of envy in such a manner that very altruistic individuals always die out, but very envious ones only do so under certain conditions. I am grateful to Alexander Haupt, two anonymous referees, and the editor for constructive comments on this paper.     

海峡两岸休闲农业产业链整合研究

本文从产业链角度分析了两岸休闲农业产业链的构成与特点,对其进行了纵向分解,并提出从模块化分工的角度重构产业链。在基于产业链整合基础之上,探讨了两岸休闲农业的合作途径,提出从生态保护、民俗文化保护、文化创意产业、民宿等产业合作角度拓展休闲农业产业链,加快产业集聚,实现两岸新一轮休闲产业的高水平合作创新。     

Downstream Competition, Foreclosure, and Vertical Integration

This paper analyzes the effect of competition among downstream firms on an upstream firm's payoff and on its incentive to integrate vertically when firms in both segments negotiate optimal contracts. We argue that as downstream competition becomes more intense, the upstream firm obtains a larger share of a smaller downstream industry profit. The upstream firm may encourage downstream competition (even excessively) in response to high downstream bargaining power. The option of vertical integration may be a barrier to entry downstream and may trigger strategic horizontal spinoffs or mergers. We extend the analysis to upstream competition.     

A model of vertical integration and investment in generation capacity in electricity markets: The case of the bidding game

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of (partial) vertical integration between generators and retailers on generation capacity choice and its subsequent welfare consequences. We present a framework in which final demand is perfectly inelastic and stochastic. Nevertheless, wholesale demand is elastic because of the existence of outside opportunities (mainly international transmission capacity). The model is a three-stage game. Neither transmission nor retail costs are taken into account.

In the first stage of the game, generators choose capacity only knowing distribution of demand and thus maximizing their expected profit. The second stage of the game represents the competition for market share between retailers in a market where consumers have switching costs. The former face unknown demand and maximize their utility based on two factors: the expected profit and a risk element. Finally, generators submit bid functions to the system operator given known demand and maximizing their profit during the last stage of the game. Retailers and generators interact in the wholesale market, which is cleared by the system operator whose function is to match supply (represented by the bids of the generators) and demand through a system of single price auctions. The wholesale market is the only means to buy and sell energy; there are no bilateral contracts between firms, except if they are vertically integrated.

We compare fully disintegrated and partially vertically integrated structures using a comparative statics approach. In this paper, the analysis will focus on the last stage of the game: the bidding game. We find that partial vertical integration between generators and retailers tends to lower wholesale prices but not unambiguously. Depending on which firm (vertically integrated or disintegrated generator) has installed the higher capacity and depending on level of demand, prices can stay unchanged or even rise.     

基于XML技术的物流价值链信息集成研究

XML标准作为新一代的数据交换标准,具有很多优点。采用XML标准的物流价值链信息系统相互间可以实现异构的数据交换。本文基于XML技术研究电子商务环境下物流价值链信息集成,重点研究基于XML技术的物流价值链信息系统整体结构,以及集成数据的访问机制。最后通过实例说明XML技术在物流价值链信息系统中集成多个数据源的具体应用。     

猪肉食品供应链分析及其优化

文章以猪肉的生产、流通和消费为主要研究对象,针对传统猪肉供应链模式和“公司＋基地＋农户”模式做对比分析,然后指出现阶段猪肉食品供应链管理存在的主要问题,如缺乏信息技术的支撑、供应环节的质量得不到保障,价格波动大、猪肉供应链成员间的合作与信任程度较低等,最后提出建立先进的信息系统,实现信息共享、加大猪肉产业链一体化投资力度,形成品牌效应、建立协调的、利益一体化的供应链合作伙伴关系等措施,对猪肉供应链进行优化。     

基于风险视角的供应链系统生命周期研究

从风险与供应链系统耦合给供应链带来影响这个新的视角,将供应链系统的生命周期划分为培育期、协同期、失调期、危机期和解体重组期等五个阶段,并对各个阶段的特点及演化机理进行了分析。通过分析,发现供应链系统的价值贡献主要是在供应链系统的协同阶段创造的,它是供应链系统维持长久稳定的竞争力的关键;应重视供应链系统的失调期,供应链失调是供应链内外部风险因素与供应链系统相互耦合中的量变性特征,供应链系统在失调期的补救和改进措施所付出的努力也是整个周期阶段最小的。     

Advertising a product to face a competitor entry: a differential game approach

We analyze a market in which advertising is the dominant marketing tool to create market share. We assume that an incumbent firm dominates the market during an initial stage, and that a new competitor is going to enter the market. In particular, we analyze the different advertising policies that the incumbent firm can adopt, before and after the entry of the rival. We explore three possible behaviours. In the first scenario the firm knows that the competitor will arrive at a given instant. In the second one we assume the original firm to be surprised, in the sense that it does not anticipate the entry of the opponent either because it does not expect the competitor to arrive, or it is not prepared to react before the entry takes place. Finally, in the third scenario, the original firm knows that the competitor will enter at a constant rate. We characterize a differential game model and compare the firms’ behaviours in a strategic perspective.     

Foreclosure with Incomplete Information

We investigate the robustness of the new foreclosure doctrine and its associated welfare implications to the introduction of incomplete information. In particular, we let the upstream firm's marginal cost be private information, unknown to the downstream firms. The previous literature has argued that vertical integration is harmful because it allows an upstream monopolist to limit output to monopoly levels, whereas a disintegrated structure will "over-sell," producing more in equilibrium. By contrast, we find that with incomplete information, high-cost firms will often "under-sell" in equilibrium, that is, supply less than their monopoly output. Low-cost firms continue to over-sell, so all types of firms have a reason to integrate downstream, but this is socially harmful only for low-cost types. For high-cost firms vertical integration can be Pareto-improving, resulting in higher output, profits, and consumer surplus.     

Flexible Outsourcing

Flexibility is definitely a key for success and is crucial in vertical relationships. Then, it seems worth analyzing the selection of the optimal degree of vertical integration and/or separation in a dynamic uncertain environment, where a flexible firm can switch from a certain degree of outsourcing back to vertical integration. The enterprise we investigate never throws away the vertical control of the manufacturing chain as it does not outsource the entire input requirement. On the contrary, it keeps the ability to make the intermediate good in‐house as a kind of prudential conduct. Higher uncertainty lets firms enter earlier, as vertical flexibility provides a hedge against risk. After entry, an increase in uncertainty boosts the probability of outsourcing. These results differ from received literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国深度嵌入全球价值链对行业技术进步的影响研究

本文采用投入-产出法对2009~2018年10年间的工业行业数据进行研究。结果表明,发展中国家在嵌入全球价值链不深入的情况下,其技术进步是依附并适应跨国公司而取得的。若代工企业处于价值链上游,会过多地分割跨国公司的市场,对技术进步造成不利影响。在全球价值链中,很多行业的技术进步与嵌入深度为非线性倒U型曲线关系。建议各行业主动转变低端的生产参与模式,全方位提高自主创新水平;充分发挥自贸区试点作用,纵向扩展对外开放程度;借助国际会议交流机会提升国际话语权以参与构建更公平的国际经贸准则。     

供应链信息共享实现机制研究

牛鞭效应使得供应链管理变得更加复杂和困难,而在供应链中高效地共享信息能够极大减弱牛鞭效应。结合供应链信息共享的特点,给出供应链信息共享需要考虑的内容,并根据这些内容提出供应链信息共享的信息查询机制、数据交换机制和安全机制。这三种机制保证了在供应链中安全高效地共享信息。     

Competition under continuous technological change

This paper examines competition patterns and competitive strategies when technology changes continually. It first discusses optimal behavior for investment in technology. It is argued that although technological innovations supersede existing technologies, there are economically justifiable barriers to investing in the new technologies. These economic barriers, coupled with continuous technological change, have implications for certain aspects of strategy, such as entry by means of new technologies, timing of entry, leapfrog-type competition, vertical integration, the productivity dilemma, and escalating commitment. Finally, the industrial transformation of the steel industry is used as an example to illustrate these implications.     

Open standards,vertical disintegration and entrepreneurial opportunities: How vertically-specialized firms entered the U.S. semiconductor industry

This paper shows how the emergence of open standards has created large numbers of entrepreneurial opportunities in the semiconductor industry by enabling vertical specialization. Integrating data on firms and technology evolution, we find a gradual increase in the percentage of firms represented by newly-founded “de novo” entrepreneurial startups, instead of “de alio” ones, as open standards emerged in semiconductor products and processes over the life of the industry. This standardization reduced transaction costs and fostered specialization, thus facilitating the entry of vertically-specialized new ventures. Vise versa, the rise of such new ventures further pushed the adoption of open standards, and the vertical disintegration of the industry. Our theory on how standardization creates opportunities for new ventures and our analysis of the semiconductor industry contribute to the technology entrepreneurship literature, as well as the industry architecture literature that has primarily focused on the impact of standardization on the disintegration of vertically-integrated incumbents.     

购物网站与快递的供应链合作研究

以购物网站与快递企业组成的供应链为研究对象,分析了这种网购供应链的结构与特征;面对目前这种购物模式存在的若干问题,从供应链横向一体化和纵向一体化两个角度分析双方的合作问题,探讨我国购物网站与快递物流发展转型过程中的双赢之路。     

信息分享对原始设备制造商与其合同制造商竞争的影响

研究了原始设备制造商的预测信息分享对一个原始设备制造商和一个与其同时有合作和竞争的合同制造商组成的供应链系统的影响,建立制造商间信息分享的模型,该模型包括一个原始设备制造商和一个合同制造商。研究发现,原始设备制造商关于市场潜在需求预测信息的分享对其预期利润是不利的,同时需求信息预测的精度对原始设备制造商信息分享的决策也有影响,原始设备制造商没有动机与其供应链成员进行信息分享,但信息分享使得供应链整体利润增加。最后,建立一个信息分享补偿机制分享供应链利润的增加量,以期通过信息分享补偿机制促使原始设备制造商有动机进行信息分享,从而实现其与合同制造商的“双赢”。     

价值链管理思想下财务管理的发展趋势

价值链管理的产生带来了管理思想的变革。价值链管理思想强调将企业的内部资源进行优化和重组,建立起企业长期稳定的竞争优势,同时要充分利用企业的外部资源,向供应商和顾客延伸,建立起上下游共同谋发展的利益联盟体。价值链管理思想为管理带来了很多新的理念,财务管理作为管理的一个重要组成部分,也必将受到价值链管理的影响。价值链管理的目标是为企业创造价值增值,这也正是财务管理的目标所在。