Identifying The Demand For Features: An Application To Mainframe Computers

This paper examines the mainframe computer market from 1985–1991 and attempts to identify the types of buyers that demand particular computer features, such as speed and memory. To identify these buyers, demand for computer characteristics is estimated using a demand model based on Rosen (1974). Through these demand estimates we are able to show that the advent of on-line transactions processing was pushing the demand for computer speed and memory to some extent. However, beyond this specialized application, only a few industries seemed to be demanding the newest technology, while the majority of buyers continued to buy small mainframes throughout the sample period.     

An exploration of the competitive value of an accurate accounting system

The value of an accurate accounting system is compared to one that introduces a cross-subsidy. In a two-product experimental market the accurate system is shown to provide value when a competitor has a system that introduces a cross-subsidy. The value appears to arise from better product-mix decisions. But it is likely that this value is transitory, explaining in part why observational studies of practice have found it difficult to document sustained value from improved information systems.     

The United States is a Small Country in World Trade*

Despite being the largest country in world trade and thus presumably having high optimal tariffs, the United States has long had low and declining levels of protection. This paradox suggests that the United States is failing to exploit its monopsony power by levying optimal tariffs. Using data on world output and trade flows, we find that the United States is a small country in world trade in that its trade policies have negligible impacts on world prices. In the median manufacturing industry, US tariffs reduce world prices by only 0.12%. United States optimal tariffs are also typically small (3.6% in the median industry) and are lower than existing US tariffs in most industries. It is no puzzle that the United States has been a champion of free trade since the 1930s—the United States, like other small countries, benefits economically from tariff reductions.     

A functional approach for studying technological progress: Application to information technology

This paper develops and assesses a broad functional category approach to arriving at metrics for assessing technological progress. The approach is applied to three functional categories of information technology — storage, transportation and transformation by first building a 100 plus year database for each of the three functional categories. The results indicate generally continuous progress for each functional category independent of the specific underlying technological artifacts dominating at different times. Thus, the empirical results reported in this study indicate that the functional category approach offers a more stable and reliable methodology for assessing longer time technological progress trends. Therefore, this approach offers the promise of being more useful in technological forecasting for large-scale change even as its ability to forecast specific dominant technological trajectories has been compromised.     

Price discovery in the treasury futures market

The paper conducts a regression analysis utilizing both futures and cash market prices and net orderflow to determine where price discovery takes place as well as the forces at play that influence the location. Specifically, given the strong theoretical linkage between the U.S. Treasury cash and futures markets, they compare how orderflow contributes to price discovery and analyze how and when information flows from one market to the other. How a number of environmental variables (trader type, financing rates, and liquidity) impact the information flows between these two markets is also considered. Their findings provide new evidence on the extent to which price discovery happens away from a primary market. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 27: 1021–1051, 2007     

Does business planning facilitate the development of new ventures?

Many prior researchers have criticized business planning, arguing that it interferes with the efforts of firm founders to undertake more valuable actions to develop their fledgling enterprises. In this paper, we challenge this negative view of business planning, arguing that business planning is an important precursor to action in new ventures. By helping firm founders to make decisions, to balance resource supply and demand, and to turn abstract goals into concrete operational steps, business planning reduces the likelihood of venture disbanding and accelerates product development and venture organizing activity. Empirically, we examine 223 new ventures initiated in the first 9 months of 1998 by a random sample of Swedish firm founders and provide support for our hypotheses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.