Joint Production with ‘Restricted Free Disposal’

A single production system with constant returns can produce any level and composition of demand by appropriate intensities of the cost‐minimizing processes. Hence, in the long run, products can never be in excess supply and there exists a system of prices of production which is semipositive and independent of demand. These (and other) properties do not, in general, carry over to joint production systems where one or several processes produce two or more different products. The proportions in which products emerge will generally be different from those in which they are required for use. The usual approach to that problem is to apply the rule of ‘free goods’. This assumption may be applied to goods which, if they are left where they are and as they are, cause neither costs nor benefits. But it cannot be applied to outworn machines, scrap, wastes or pollutants and is therefore not generally applicable. The present paper aims at finding conditions for the existence of cost‐minimizing systems for cases where this crucial assumption either is completely absent or is substituted by the assumption of ‘restricted free disposal’, i.e. by the assumption that excess production is permitted up to a certain tolerated limit. It will be proved that the conditions for the existence of cost‐minimizing systems with free disposal carry over to systems with restricted free disposal.     

Shopping with the resale value in mind: A study on second‐hand luxury consumers

The market for second‐hand luxury products is growing and the variety of available sales channels has increased; consumers can buy second‐hand luxury goods not only from brick‐and‐mortar stores but also from a myriad of both global and local online channels. Arguably, the increase in available sales channels has changed consumers’ purchasing behaviour as the roles between sellers and buyers are alternating as one can act as a buyer one day and a seller the next. However, prior research on luxury consumption has mainly focused on brand‐new luxury goods, largely neglecting the consumption of previously‐used luxury products and has not accounted for the multi‐channel shopping environment. The purpose of this paper is to understand how consumers mentally approach the purchase of second‐hand luxury products and what kinds of decision‐making styles they use. The empirical interview data of 22 consumers was analysed by the means of shopping style dimensions that account for both consumer characteristics and external shopping conditions. The interviewees were members of a Facebook buy and sell ‐group focused on luxury products and had recently bought a second‐hand luxury product. All the existing dimensions were evident in the data but an additional dimension was also identified: resale value consciousness. The new dimension emphasizes an investment‐led and price‐quality conscious shopping style but was also found to relate to impulse buying and brand consciousness. The emergence of the dimension is argued to be due to the increase in viable online sales channels for second‐hand luxury products.     

Do‐It‐Yourself Projects as Path toward Female Empowerment in a Gendered Market Place

The role of women as homeowners and heads of households are changing the dynamics in which women engage in do‐it‐yourself (DIY) behavior. Because there is limited extant theory associated with female involvement in DIY behavior, a qualitative study using in‐depth interviews was conducted. Through grounded theory analysis several themes emerged during the coding process, and the themes of empowerment were especially relevant to the informants in this study. Five dimensions of empowerment were identified: empowerment through project initiation, production mastery, adding economic value to goods and services, unleashing creative potential, and empowerment through ownership. The findings show women's involvement in DIY behavior and the consumption of DIY‐related goods is closely tied to the concept of female empowerment.     

Why does not everybody purchase fair trade products? The question of the fairness of fair trade products' consumption for consumers1

Current statistics show that more than three out of four people in France have heard about fair trade. However, fair trade goods are purchased in significantly higher proportions by executive class people, individuals with a postgraduate education, urban dwellers and high‐income earners. Why does not everybody purchase fair trade products? An important question follows: is fair trade not really fair for consumers? This paper seeks to gain deeper insight into what social features give rise to the consumption of fair trade goods using quantitative and qualitative data to verify the reasons for which fair trade goods are consumed by particular groups in society. It shows that the lack of access to information and financial resources can explain consumers' refusal to purchase fair trade products. But this explanation is incomplete, as the meaning given by consumers to their consumption appears to be a key‐factor to understand their behaviour: refusing to buy fair trade goods can be a deliberate choice.     

The effect of income growth on the mix of purchases between disposable goods and reusable goods

With each passing year consumers find more and more disposable goods for sale in the market place. Even goods that were considered to be reusable goods just a few years back are now disposable goods. As a result the American economy has been labelled a ‘throwaway society’. This paper examines a main underlying cause for this trend by linking growth in consumer income with the purchases of disposable goods. More specifically, the model proposes that as incomes rise, consumers will purchase more of both reusable goods and disposable goods. However, as incomes rise, consumers will naturally substitute purchases away from reusable goods and into disposable goods. The shift towards disposable goods occurs because it becomes too costly for consumers to spend their time repairing and maintaining products. Their time is better spent in more productive endeavours. It is simply cheaper (in terms of opportunity cost of time) to dispose of old products and replace them with new products.     

产业转型背景下农村经济结构调整的方向研究——农产品品质结构调整

农村地区的资源相对集中,与城市地区的经济差距也越来越大,所以产业转型是产业发展的必然趋势。如何在产业转型下,实现农村经济结构的调整和优化是现阶段必须要考虑的问题。在市场经济不断发展的过程中,我国农产品供求关系也发生了根本性的变化,由原来的数量需求问题,转变为农产品品质与市场需求不符从而导致的农业结构问题。鉴于上述情况,本文以农产品品质结构调整为根本出发点,以此来分析农村经济结构调整的方向,首先从农产品品质结构调整与农业结构的内在联系作了简要阐述,其次提出了产业转型下农产品品质结构调整的成效以及现存问题,最后从四个方面提出了农村经济结构调整中农产品品质结构调整策略:以市场需求为根本、实施品牌战略、搭建农产品销售平台、强化法规政策,以不断推进我国农村经济结构改革进程。     

Make it Your Own: How Process Valence and Self‐Construal Affect Evaluation of Self‐Made Products

Self‐production, participation of consumers in the production process of products for their own consumption, leads to consumers’ enhanced evaluations of the self‐made products. Three experimental studies investigate how and why self‐production affects consumers’ product evaluations and reveal that not all production experiences create additional value for all consumers. In particular, Studies 1 and 2, using hypothetical stories and real experiences, show that only positive (vs. negative) production experiences enhance evaluations of self‐made products over products made by others. Positive (but not negative) experiences decrease the psychological distance between the self and the product and strengthen identification with it. Study 3 manipulates self‐construal (independent vs. interdependent) to investigate its role on evaluation of self‐made products and products made with close others as a group (i.e., group‐made). Consumers with independent self‐construal evaluate self‐made (vs. other‐made) products more favorably only if the process is positive. However, consumers with interdependent self‐construal evaluate self‐made products more favorably even if the process is negative. Additionally, consumers with interdependent (vs. independent) self‐construal exhibit more favorable evaluation of group‐made products. Finally, even if consumers know how another person feels while making a product, other people's process emotions do not affect consumers’ product judgments as strongly as their own experienced process emotions.     

Export Performance and Access to Intermediate Inputs: The Case of Rules of Origin Liberalisation

Internationally fragmented production processes have highlighted the need of efficient sourcing from foreign suppliers. This paper aims to investigate how exports of final goods are affected by better access to foreign intermediate inputs. In particular, the paper empirically tests whether expanding the set of available intermediate input suppliers through preferential rules of origin liberalisation affects exports of final goods. We exploit the introduction of the southern Mediterranean countries into the Pan‐Euro‐Med zone of diagonal cumulation which meant that foreign intermediate inputs could be used from more countries than before without jeopardising the preferential access to the EU. Using a fixed effects specification that controls for detailed levels of unobserved heterogeneity and multilateral resistance, we examine the effect of the new diagonal cumulation possibilities on southern Mediterranean exports to EU‐15. We find a positive effect on both export intensity, the value of exports, and export diversification, the number of exported products. Being part of the Pan‐Euro‐Med zone of diagonal cumulation is associated with a 20 per cent increase in export intensity and a 5 per cent increase in export diversification.     

Impact of directed‐to‐consumers marketing strategies on firm market value

The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of different directed‐to‐consumers marketing strategies on firm market value. To that end, we follow a microeconometric approach that consists of formulating a model whose dependent variable is an indicator of market value, that is to say, Tobin's Q, whilst the independent variables take the form of a number of different marketing strategies. This model is estimated by using an unbiased survey carried out in the year 2000 to executives working in 405 North‐American firms. The empirical results indicate that the most effective marketing strategies are, in this order, the ability to rapidly develop new products and services, the importance of both providing customized products and goods of high quality and finally, customer loyalty.     

Vertical Intra‐industry Trade and Fragmentation: An Empirical Examination of the US Auto‐parts Industry

The global auto industry has undergone a significant structural transformation in the last two decades as a result of the international fragmentation of production. This increase in cross‐border production‐sharing activities in the auto industry led to intra‐industry trade (IIT) in auto‐parts. In this study, the extent of IIT in the US auto‐parts industry is examined by decomposing trade into inter‐industry trade, vertical IIT and horizontal IIT. Then the development of vertical IIT is analysed as an indicator of international fragmentation between the US and 29 trading partners. Several country‐specific hypotheses suggested by the fragmentation literature are tested for the period 1989–2006. The results indicate that a substantial portion of IIT in the US auto‐parts industry is vertical IIT, and the econometric results generally support the hypotheses drawn from the theory. In particular, the findings show that the extent of the US vertical IIT is positively correlated with average market size, differences in market size, differences in factor endowments and outward foreign direct investment, while it is negatively correlated with distance and differences in per capita GDP.     

Imitator‐to‐innovator S curve and chasms

Over the past 20 years, some latecomer firms in Korea and China have successfully transformed themselves from imitators into innovators. In this article, we focus on the imitator‐to‐innovator transformation process. We try to answer the following questions: What are the evolutionary paths and mechanisms? What may be the challenges in the transformation process? In this article, we suggest the technological capability building in latecomer firms can be characterized by successive S curves. And we use a five‐phase model and dynamic S curve to analyze their transformation from imitator to innovator. We also discuss the four chasms in the transformation and identify the challenges and three‐level factors facilitating chasm crossings. This article makes two contributions: proposing a new framework for and introducing the S curve and chasm into studying the latecomer firms' development, and elaborating key challenges in and major differences among the four chasms in the imitator‐to‐innovator transformation, which have been neglected in the literature. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Rise of China and East Asian Export Performance: Is the Crowding‐Out Fear Warranted?

This paper examines how China's emergence as a major trading nation is affecting export performance of its East Asian neighbours. Following a stage‐setting overview of trends and patterns of China's export performance, it probes China competition in third country markets and emerging patterns of imports. The East Asian export experience is examined in a wider global context against the backdrop of the ongoing process of global production sharing. The findings indicate that the ‘China threat’ has been vastly exaggerated in the contemporary policy debate. China's rapid market penetration in traditional labour‐intensive manufactured goods has occurred mostly at the expense of the high‐wage East Asian countries, without crowding‐out the export opportunities of low‐wage countries in the region. More importantly, China's rapid integration into global production networks as a major assembly centre has created new opportunities for the other East Asian countries to engage in various segments of the value chain in line with their comparative advantage.     

Global production sharing: Exploring Australia's competitive edge

Cross‐border dispersion of production processes within vertically integrated global industries (“global production sharing”) has been an increasingly important structural feature of economic globalisation in the recent decades. This paper examines patterns and determinants of global production sharing with an emphasis on how Australian manufacturing fits into global production networks (GPNs). Though Australia is a minor player in GPNs, there is evidence that Australian manufacturing has a distinct competitive edge in specialised, skill‐intensive tasks in several industries such as aircraft, medical devices, machine tools, measuring and scientific equipment and photographic equipment. Specialisation in high‐value‐to‐weight components and final goods within GPNs, which are suitable for air transport, helps Australian manufacturing to overcome the “tyranny of distance” in world trade. Being predominantly “relationship specific,” Australian GPN exports are not significantly susceptible to real exchange rate appreciation.     

Who Uses Intermediaries in International Trade? Evidence from Firm‐level Survey Data

The present paper uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted in Turkey in 2005 to shed light on the firms that use intermediaries in international trade. It lends robust empirical support to recent theories which suggest that indirect exporters are mostly small firms that are not profitable enough to cover the high fixed costs of building an own distribution network abroad. Manufacturers who develop new products are more likely to use trade intermediaries, as are firms that produce low‐quality goods. In contrast, neither foreign ownership nor credit constraints are correlated with the choice of export mode. Moreover, firms that rely on trade intermediaries to sell their goods abroad also do so to source their foreign inputs, implying that the role of intermediaries in facilitating trade may be larger than previous studies suggest.     

STOLPER–SAMUELSON REVISITED: TRADE AND DISTRIBUTION WITH OLIGOPOLISTIC PROFITS

This paper investigates the distributional impact of international trade when goods markets are oligopolistic and firms partially pass‐through changes in tariffs into prices and factor costs for differentiated products. Trade liberalization raises mark‐ups and profit shares in the export industry and lowers them in the import‐competing industry, while Stolper–Samuelson effects on real prices of primary factors are attenuated or possibly reversed. An extended model shows how ‘offshoring’ (trade in intermediate goods) can potentially increase mark‐ups for oligopolistic producers of final goods. The analysis illuminates why business interests generally support trade liberalization policies today, regardless of their countries' factor abundance.     

“Seize the Deal,or Return It Losing Your Free Gift”: The Effect of a Gift‐With‐Purchase Promotion on Product Return Intention

The current article sheds light on an important issue in marketing: how marketers can prevent consumers from returning previously purchased goods. This research examines the relationship between a gift‐with‐purchase promotion and consumer product returns, hypothesizing that consumers who purchase products that come with a free gift will be less likely to return the products. Evidence shows that a gift‐with‐purchase promotion reduces consumer product returns and that this relationship is mediated by perceived loss in returning a product. Then, the results indicate that the choice of free gifts reduces product return intention and that this relationship is serially mediated by perceived ownership and perceived loss. The findings further suggest that when consumers with high product involvement can select free gifts among alternatives, they tend to perceive more ownership and loss and thereby are less likely to return the promoted product. Overall, the current research proposes that consumers prefer to seize the deal rather than to return it when they get a gift‐with‐purchase, have a chance to select a free gift, and are highly involved with the product.     

China’s Foreign Trade: Perspectives From the Past 150 Years

This paper studies the trade of China in the past 150 years, starting from the first opening of China after the Opium War. The main purpose of the paper is to identify what is (and was) China’s ‘normal’ level of foreign trade, and how these levels changed under different trade regimes, from 1840 to the present. We present new evidence on China’s foreign trade during the treaty port era (1842–1948), drawn from disaggregated trade data collected by the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, that yields important findings for current research. First, although the volume of foreign trade remained limited initially, there was a notable expansion in the diversity of products, with many new goods being imported into China. Second, the regional diffusion of foreign goods through China was greatly facilitated by the expansions of the port system. Third, the importance of Hong Kong as an intermediary in China’s trade has undergone long‐term fluctuations suggestive of learning effects. China’s recent wave of liberalization has led by the early 1990s to a trade level comparable to the high of the 1920s. While much of China’s recent growth in world trade is in line with her income growth, there is no doubt that China’s trade openness today, comparable by some measures to Denmark’s, is a stunning reversal relative to the pre‐1978 and also the pre‐1840 period. The paper emphasises the roles that history and institutional change have played in this.     

The role of consumers in product‐oriented environmental policy: can the consumer be the driving force for environmental improvements?

In environmental policy, it is increasingly accepted that more emphasis should be placed on consumption and its implications from the point of view of the environment. Another relatively new feature is the focus on products. At the policy level, this perspective is known as product‐oriented environmental policy or, in brief, product policy. This approach is closely related to the idea of product chain thinking, which means recognizing the fact that environmentally relevant decisions are made at all stages during the products’ life cycle, from raw material extraction to consumption and beyond. Based on a Finnish study on product chain actors and environmental improvements, this article discusses the role of consumers in product policy (i) with respect to theories on consumer mecision‐making and (ii) in the light of product chain thinking. As consumers’ decision‐making models with respect to consumer products are most often based on heuristics simplifying the decision process, incorporating environmental considerations into these models is a challenging task for environmental policy.     

EXISTENCE OF THE STANDARD SYSTEM IN THE MULTIPLE‐PRODUCTION CASE: A SOLUTION TO THE MANARA PROBLEM

In this paper we show that the Manara problem in the case of Sraffa's generalized multiple‐production case arises due to the presence of superfluous processes of production. We argue that ‘goods’ should be defined from the perspective of the system and not the observer. We provide a mathematical procedure to remove superfluous processes from the construction of Sraffa's Standard system. Once this is done, the Manara problem disappears.