百年梦圆北京 奏响和谐乐章 写在2008年8月8日奥运会开幕之际

<正>远在百年前的1908年,著名的爱国教育家张伯苓先生在《天津青年》撰文提出:中国何时能派一名运动员参加奥运会?中国何时能派一支运动队参加奥运会?中国何时能举办奥运会?当时的中国落后腐朽,积贫积弱,这三个愿望只能是一个梦想。     

百年梦圆北京奏响和谐乐章

远在百年前的1908年,著名的爱国教育家张伯苓先生在<天津青年>撰文提出:中国何时能派一名运动员参加奥运会?中国何时能派一支运动队参加奥运会?中国何时能举办奥运会?当时的中国落后腐朽,积贫积弱,这三个愿望只能是一个梦想.     

有奖竞猜

<正>1.济南灵龟脊柱调理中心总经理是谁?2.劲面王的推广单位在哪个城市?3.第二届读者节于何时结束?4.第二届读者节十佳读者都有谁?5.党新喜被援助的项目是什么?     

低碳,我们真的准备好了吗?

低碳,时下最热的词汇。低碳住宅,时下地产行业最流行的宣传点。低碳住宅在哪里?低碳革命何时成功?低碳是口号还是行动?本期安家沙龙特邀业内人士,共同探讨这个我们既熟悉又陌生话题……     

论小产权房转正的基石

小产权房的发展一直是大家比较关心的事情,很多人都在观望小产权房是否有转正的机会。2015小产权房最新消息,国土部表态:土地改革不是小产权房转正,那么购买小产权房有哪些风险?小产权房何时才能转正?怎样才能转正?     

知情权与传媒竞争

赖秘密为生,为秘密所毁。若漪:在中国股市,试问"郑百文"们的兴衰史,剧变背后是什么?现如今危机依然存在的上市公司还有多少,真实内幕何时能曝光?宋固青:由于一些上市公司弄虚作假令人震惊,     

四路狙击

<正>连续加息、发行特种国债、大幅调整出口退税、增加有效供给,有形之手四路狙击。能否有效遏制疑似危机?未来物价是否还会疯涨?预计何时开始下降?     

知情权与传媒竞争

赖秘密为生,为秘密所毁。若漪:在中国股市,试问"郑百文"们的兴衰史,剧变背后是什么?现如今危机依然存在的上市公司还有多少,真实内幕何时能曝光?宋固青:由于一些上市公司弄虚作假令人震惊,     

中国的贸易"短腿"

几千年持续未断的文化传承,一直是中国人的骄傲;巨额的文化贸易逆差,也一直是中国贸易抹不去的痛楚。中国有着丰厚的文化资源,却在“抱着金饭碗讨饭吃”,原因何在?文化产业何时不再是中国贸易的“短腿”?     

宽带何时进我家

网速慢是网民最为头痛的问题之一。中国电信近期突然宣布“2001年是中国的宽带年”,这给网民带来无限惊喜,也使人们产生几分疑虑:中国的宽带网建好了吗?宽带何时能进入普通百姓家?请看本期“热点话题”。     

超市里来了“菜市场”

<正>据《北京晚报》6月7日报道,习惯遛早后去早市买菜的市民,现在开始排队到超市买更便宜、新鲜的蔬菜了。目前各超市争相通过向农民直接采购农产品以降低产品价格、保持货品新鲜,不仅同行之间竞争,也与菜市场争客流。     

论鲜活农产品市场流通与价格决定——来自蔬菜市场的观察

文章从鲜活农产品市场流通过程中存在消费者和生产者“福利双损”这一社会现象出发,基于开放市场条件下的基础经济假设,采用数理模型推演、案例分析和自回归模型,对当前我国蔬菜流通中价值链构成问题和蔬菜价格走势的核心决定因素进行了深入分析。研究结果表明,受制于终端零售者的规模及鲜活农产品的市场出清特征,蔬菜终端零售费用占比相对过高的现象不可避免;同时,由于蔬菜价格是均衡经济系统内生决定的,而时间序列模型也说明了蔬菜价格与经济系统的高度一致性。因此,从蔬菜市场宏观调控的政策出发,“使市场机制在资源配置中起决定性作用”,容忍蔬菜价格的周期性波动,实际上是经济最优选择。     

Marketing and advertising practices of Turkish entrepreneurs in transition economies: Evidence from Georgia

As a transition economy, Georgia has an uncertain, complex, and immature business environment, typical of transition economies in the Eurasian region. In an effort to provide insights into marketing and advertising practices in the Eurasian transition economies, this study empirically examines the marketing and advertising practices in Georgia through two surveys conducted with Turkish entrepreneurs in Georgia and Georgian consumers. On the one hand, the findings of the survey of the Turkish entrepreneurs indicated that an overall adaptation strategy is needed in Georgia; in addition, foreign entrepreneurs willing to enter the Georgian market are advised to offer a variety of products by collaborating with local distributors and agents. Although Georgian consumers do not have high income, low-price strategy does not always work as consumers equate low price with inferior quality. Marketing of prestigious products are to be sold at higher prices and appropriate product positioning strategies must be developed for each target market segment. Merchandising strategies must be congruent with the target market served as well as retail stores/outlets utilized. On the other hand, the Georgian consumers demand better customer service and increased variety of products; advertising is welcomed to a certain extent as long as advertising provides useful product/brand and company information.     

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Fruits and Vegetables: Empirical Evidence from a Consumer Survey in India

Numerous consumers confronted with increasing environmental problems, food safety issues, and augmentative health problems increasingly desire to have healthier and more natural foods grown in an eco-friendly manner. Hitherto organic foods only partly benefit from this increasing market environment, and their market share stays rather low despite high growth rates. This article aims to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic fruits and vegetables and relevant factors affecting consumers WTP. The contingent valuation method was selected to estimate WTP. Empirical data was drawn from a 250-consumer survey conducted in Bangalore during February 2013. A binomial logistic regression model was applied to obtain the value of WTP and determine the factors influencing it. The results indicated that about 90% of the consumers were willing to pay a premium price ranging between 5% to more than 100% in order to acquire better-quality fruits and vegetables; factors such as family income, size of the family, gender, and other opinion variables such as chemical residue in conventional foods, trust on retailers, taste, and environmental concerns significantly influence consumers’ WTP. More than 87% of the consumers indicated that high price, lack of availability, narrow range, and irregular supply are the major barriers for them to buy these products. The results provide useful evidence to pertinent governmental agencies in terms of assisting in the design of policies for the promotion of organic food production and marketing and reaching the target public. Furthermore, firms involved in the organic foods business may also see benefits when drawing information in order to calibrate marketing strategies.     

How Good Are You at Getting a Lower Price? A Field Study of the US Automobile Market

Many large ticket items, such as cars and real estate, involve extensive bargaining on the part of consumers. From a consumer protection perspective, it is thus important to understand the determinants of bargaining outcomes and identify ways in which consumers can improve their bargaining performance. This research identifies several situational factors, including the information available to the consumer, the promotional environment, and a customer??s trade-in, that may have an impact on the bargaining outcome. A unique dataset is created from the US automobile market that combines actual vehicle transaction data with survey data on buyer search and bargaining behaviour. The results show that these situational variables indeed have an impact on the price a consumer pays. Specifically, on average, consumers who used the Internet and those that were offered a manufacturer rebate saved $481 and $2,126, respectively, while consumers who traded-in their old vehicle ended up paying $159 more on the new car compared to consumers who did not trade-in. Interestingly, the impact of some of these situational variables differed depending on the consumers?? ability to bargain and their enjoyment of bargaining. For example, high ability bargainers achieved more price reductions than low ability bargainers, given more information and a more active promotional environment, but this advantage did not extend in overcoming the negative impact of a trade-in. On the other hand, while buyers who enjoy bargaining do not possess a better position in a bargaining situation, they have greater tendency to search for price information and thus are better at identifying suppliers that offer a lower initial price. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that information search should be encouraged and made easier, particularly for consumers who dislike bargaining. Furthermore, even if some consumers have a high bargaining ability, there are still circumstances where their ability to get a lower price is limited. Education that highlights these pitfalls is likely to improve the final bargaining outcome and thus enhance consumer welfare.     

Budget over health unless overweight: A Solomon four‐group study

Budget and health motivations for food purchase (e.g., discounts and health consciousness, respectively) affect consumer choice while shopping and well‐being afterward. However, not all findings from research have suggested that discounts/taxations on healthy/unhealthy food encourage health‐conscious food choice. On the other hand, the consumer behaviour line of research on the influence of front‐of‐package health messages has mostly echoed similar results that such communication leads to overconsumption; thus, obesity. We examined the influence of market practices targeting consumers’ budget and health‐related motivations for food purchase in a 2 (price: recommended retail price, discount price) × 2 (product: regular potato chips, potato chips with ‘75% less saturated fat’) experiment using six Solomon four‐group designs. Our results indicate that overweight consumers are not prone to discounts, unlike their normal‐weight counterparts. A price cut nullifies the influence of health messages on purchase intentions among normal‐weight buyers when the regular and healthier packaged foods are both on discount.     

Vertical Integration in the Japanese Movie Industry

This study examines vertical integration in the Japanese movie industry. I estimate an admission price equation, and a moviegoing demand equation derived from a discrete choice model of product differentiation. In order to overcome identification problems, this study exploits a panel structure dataset. My results show that the price of vertically integrated theaters tends to be higher than nonintegrated theaters, but it appears to be due to the inherent high quality of vertically integrated theaters. On the other hand, vertically integrated theaters are more popular among consumers and have higher attendance than nonintegrated theaters. Even after controlling the theater fixed effects, attendance for vertically integrated theaters is still larger than nonintegrated theaters. That is, the integration of producers/distributors and theaters is likely to be a source of economic efficiency. Policy implications are also proposed.     

Consumers and the common agricultural policy

The NCC is an independent, government funded public body which carries out policy work in the interests of consumers. In 1988 at the request of the British government it published a study of the EEC Common Agricultural Policy summarised below. The outcome was a set of proposals for far-reaching reform. Since publication the EEC has made some tentative moves towards reform with the latest farm price review proposals for price cuts and the introduction of support for farmers through direct income aids, which should be a more satisfactory form of support for farmers than price fixing. However, the collapse of the GATT Conference in Montreal demonstrates the dangerous lack of agreement over world agricultural policy, which could have serious consequences for consumers and farmers.     

Price-matching guarantees in dual channels

Many retailers offer price-matching guarantees (PMGs) whereby they promise their customers that any lower price offered by competition for an identical product will be matched. Suppliers sometimes also offer PMGs to consumers in their direct channels. However, the extant literature on PMGs focuses on retailers and is silent on the role of upper stream chain members. We contribute to the literature by identifying the implications of PMGs in a dual distribution channel in which a supplier reaches consumers via a direct channel in addition to the retail channel. We show that the presence of PMGs in a dual channel hinges on supplier’s strategic ability, or lack thereof, to adjust its wholesale price in relation to the guarantee. Specifically, a PMG fails to prevail at equilibrium when the supplier is capable of strategically adjusting its wholesale price - but may prevail at equilibrium otherwise. The main reason is that the supplier can manage the competition between the retail channel and the direct channel through its wholesale price decision, and offering a PMG limits this ability. On the other hand, offering a PMG can be a beneficial strategy for the supplier when the supplier cannot adjust its wholesale price; for instance in a retail dominant chain where the retailer dictates the transfer price. In a retail dominant chain, if the direct and retail channels are perceived to be similar in quality and service offerings, then both channel members benefit from offering a PMG because it softens the intensity of price competition. On the other hand, when the two channels are sufficiently differentiated in quality and service offerings, then retail managers should be cautious and avoid offering the guarantee if their channel is in a superior position in terms of perceived quality.     

National Demand for Fresh Organic and Conventional Vegetables: Scanner Data Evidence

Using AC Nielsen scanner data on U.S. household consumption of selected fresh vegetables from 1999 to 2003, this study provides an overview of the organic fresh vegetable market by investigating market shares and price premiums of selected organic fresh vegetables and estimating the interrelationship between consumer demand for organic and conventional fresh vegetables. The linear Almost Ideal Demand System was found to fit the data best among alternative demand models. Expenditure, own, and cross price elasticities were computed for both organic and conventional vegetables based on the best fitting model.