Encroachment Patterns of the “Best Products” from the Last Decade*

Based on the examination of 239 “best products” (all those on Business Week's annual lists from the past decade), this article tests and validates a conceptual framework identifying six ways in which new products open new markets and/or encroach on original products. Three of these six scenarios involve high‐end encroachment (the new product first opens a new high‐end market, or enters at the high end of an existing market, and then diffuses down‐market), and three scenarios involve low‐end encroachment (encroachment starts at the low end, followed by diffusion up‐market). As illustrated in a 2 × 3 matrix, high‐end encroachment ensues when the new product enhances performance with regard to the market's core attribute (low‐end encroachment ensues when this performance is diminished). The three high‐end sub‐types and three low‐end sub‐types are determined by the strength of performance along an ancillary attribute dimension. If the ancillary attribute performance is week, then the encroachment of the new product on the old market is immediate (corresponding to immediate high‐end encroachment and immediate low‐end encroachment, respectively). If the ancillary performance is moderate, then the new product expands the market at the high or low end (corresponding to new‐attribute high‐end encroachment and fringe‐market low‐end encroachment, respectively). If the ancillary performance is strong, then the new product first opens an entirely new market at the high or low end (corresponding to new‐market high‐end encroachment and detached‐market low‐end encroachment, respectively). The reliability and comprehensiveness of the encroachment framework is tested by asking a panel of eight judges to categorize each of the 239 products. Results show inter‐judge reliability of 98%, with all products falling within one of the six encroachment categories. Each of the encroachment types has unique implications on product positioning and pricing, as further discussed in the paper. Thus the model helps firms identify and analyze the various possible strategies that they might choose from when introducing new products.     

Repeated Auctions with Impatient Bidders and Externalities

This article studies collusion in repeated auctions both among patient and among impatient bidders when the outside option of the participation constraint is endogenous due to negative externalities. We find that (i) there are no bidding wars along the equilibrium path both for patient and for impatient bidders; compared to the optimal collusive bidding scheme for patient bidders, that for impatient bidders involves (ii) a lower threshold type above which bidding starts when externalities are small or (iii) more frequent jumps in a bidding scheme when externalities are large. The results carry an empirical implication that we should observe either a higher probability of sales or a higher number of bid levels in auctions that are repeatedly offered in unstable markets than those offered in stable markets.     

Preferenced Trading,Quote Competition,and Market Quality: Evidence from Decimalization on the NYSE

We examine the impact of decimalization on preferenced trading in NYSE‐listed stocks and show a significant decline in preferenced trading around decimalization. For the largest NYSE stocks, the total decline is nearly 22%. We also find a negative correlation between the changes in preferenced trading and the changes in quote competition intensity, and a positive correlation between the changes in preferenced trading and the changes in spreads. Consistent with the cream skimming hypothesis, we find that abnormal changes in information asymmetry cost for NYSE trades are positively correlated with the changes in preferenced trading.     

组合赋权法在软件项目风险评估中的应用研究

针对软件项目风险评价问题,提出了一种多属性决策方法。应用模糊层次分析法确定属性的主观权重和熵法确定属性的客观权重,并把客观权重和主观权重综合,使得到的综合权重同时反映主观和客观程度。最后的实例说明该方法是可行、有效的。     

Allocation problems among sharing groups

We deal with allocation problems among sharing groups. There are n agents. The agents are divided into several sharing groups. A homogeneous good is allocated among sharing groups rather than among the agents. The good is a private good for sharing groups, and a public good for the members of each sharing group. That is, all of them in the same sharing group can consume it without rivalry. We introduce some allocation rules and axioms. The utilitarian allocation rule and the egalitarian allocation rule are characterized by some axioms.     

基于关联规则的推荐系统在电子商务中的应用

电子商务的发展加剧了企业的竞争。为了充分应用商务网站的信息,本文提出了建立基于关联规则的电子商务的推荐系统;探讨了电子商务推荐系统模型、生成关联规则和形成推荐集的过程。主要应用FP-Tree算法挖掘客户的行为模式和购买组合,根据用户的兴趣度和置信度产生相应的推荐侯选集,实现网站的个性化服务。根据挖掘的客户知识,网站可以制定针对目标客户的营销方案,从而提高客户的忠诚度,增加商务网站的赢利水平和竞争能力。     

Home-based telecommuting and commuting behavior

The existing spatial models for home-based telecommuting assume that all the jobs are located at the central business district. At the same time, they do not duly treat the conflicting interests of the employer and the employee in adopting the telecommuting as an alternative work mode. The first objective of the paper is to present a spatial equilibrium model overcoming some of these important modeling drawbacks. The second objective is substantive. In the city where telecommuting is adopted, the conventional commuting pattern may no longer prevail: one may commute more to distant workplace than to the nearby workplace. Using the concept of relocation and substitution effects, I show how these two effects are interacting in their impacts on the household's time allocation and the vehicle distance traveled (VDT). It is shown that most of the commute time saved is again put for more work and no more time could be allocated to leisure hours. In addition, when people put a high value on the work on site, the VDT may even increase.     

China and the Exports of Other Asian Countries

We analyze the impact of China’s growth on the exports of other Asian countries, distinguishing China’s demand for imports from its penetration of export markets. We account for the endogeneity of Chinese exports by applying instrumental variables in a gravity model with country-pair fixed-effects. We find that China’s crowding-out effect is felt mainly in markets for consumer goods and hence by less-developed Asian countries, not in markets for capital goods or by the more advanced Asian economies. Meanwhile, China has been sucking in imports from its Asian neighbors, but this effect is mainly felt in markets for capital goods. Hence, more and less developed Asian countries are being affected very differently by China’s rise. JEL no. E5, F4     

Does income inequality lead to banking crises in developing countries? Empirical evidence from cross-country panel data

This study empirically examines whether increasing income inequality results in banking crises using panel data for 68 countries covering the years 1973 to 2010. The results show that developing countries with high inequality tend to have higher levels of domestic credit and that domestic credit booms increase the probability of banking crises. We also find that developing economies display direct channels from inequality to banking crises without an association with credit booms. We find no consistent evidence that income inequality contributes to banking crises in advanced economies. In developing countries, the probability of banking crises increases dramatically as income inequality levels increase: The probability of a systemic banking crisis within three years is 9.5% when the Gini is as low as 0.2 in developing countries and increases to 57.4% when the Gini is 0.4. These results are robust to several specifications.     

Network Updating and Exploratory Learning Environment*

abstract This paper examines how the current relevance of social capital derived from a task‐advice network affects an actor's exploratory learning environment. Building on Burt's (1992 ) structural holes hypothesis that a large, sparse task advice network enhances an actor's exploratory learning environment, I propose that such effects hold only when the direct and indirect network ties are composed of current network contacts (ones that have been updated since the last change in positions of an actor). Analyses of data from a sample of 230 salaried employees of a high‐technology manufacturing corporation support my arguments. In addition to the focus of social capital research on network structure, therefore, this study emphasizes the time‐contingent value of social capital.