Opportunities for Innovation in the Delivery of Interactive Retail Services

In today's volatile economy, innovation in providing interactive services to consumers through a variety of channels is critical in retailing. Interactive service innovations offer opportunities for retailers by creating new markets or offering new benefits in existing markets. They also pose threats as existing customers encounter new alternatives offered by competitors. This article explores some of the most promising opportunities in interactive retail services; namely, the increasing power of consumers, channel synergies, pre- and post-transaction service, optimal use of resources, and consumer heterogeneity. In discussing these areas of opportunity we identify knowledge gaps and suggest research questions relevant to these gaps that warrant attention. Collectively, these questions offer a research agenda for the topic of interactive retail service innovation.     

THE PURE CHARACTERISTICS DEMAND MODEL*

In this article, we consider a class of discrete choice models in which consumers care about a finite set of product characteristics. These models have been used extensively in the theoretical literature on product differentiation and the goal of this article is to translate them into a form that is useful for empirical work. Most recent econometric applications of discrete choice models implicitly let the dimension of the characteristic space increase with the number of products (they have “tastes for products”). The two models have different theoretical properties, and these, in turn, can have quite pronounced implications for both substitution patterns and for the welfare impacts of changes in the number and characteristics of the goods marketed. After developing those properties, we provide alternative algorithms for estimating the parameters of the pure characteristic model and compare their properties to those of the algorithm for estimating the model with tastes for products. We conclude with a series of Monte Carlo results. These are designed to illustrate: (i) the computational properties of the alternative algorithms for computing the pure characteristic model, and (ii) the differences in the implications of the pure characteristic model from the models with tastes for products.     

All About the Giants: Probing the Influences on World Growth and Income Inequality at the End of the 20th Century

This paper presents estimates of world output growth from 1970to 2000, the distribution of income among countries and personsfor the years 1980, 1990 and 2000, and world income povertyrates for the same years. It also presents the results of aseries of simulation exercises that attempt to isolate the effectof particular country and regional experiences on world outputgrowth and changes in global income inequality and poverty. The authors find that rapid growth in China (despite a downwardadjustment of official growth estimates) had a powerful impacton the growth of world output in both the 1980s and 1990s, butthat negative economic growth in Eastern Europe more than offsetthat effect in the 1990s. With respect to the distribution ofworld income between countries, the impressive growth performancesof the worlds most populous countries, China and India, ensureddecreasing levels of inequality during both the 1980s and 1990s.When the distribution of world income between persons is measured,the equalizing effect of China's rapid growth remains dominantthrough both the 1980s and 1990s, despite the contradictoryimpact of increasing domestic inequality. Only India's influenceremained substantial by comparison. Other identifiable eventsof the period, such as the economic contraction in Eastern Europeand continued economic decline in Africa, had little statisticalimpact. However, when the combined influence of China and India'sabove-average growth rates is removed, or their size effectdampened, the improving global distribution of (inter-countryand inter-personal) income suggested by all statistical measuresbecomes one of sharply worsening inequality. The impact of thesetwo countries is similarly critical with respect to global povertyreduction. (JEL F0, I3, O4)     

Long waves and geography in the 21st century

Intersecting macrohistorical rhythms provide insights into the processes that will guide geographical change in the first half of the next century. The repetition of long-wave rhythms provides a key to what lies 25 and 50 years ahead, helping us to identify the patterns, determine the processes, and work out their logical consequences. To understand this it is necessary to clarify the concepts of ‘techno-economic systems’ and ‘long waves of prices’ and their interrelationships in ‘growth logistics’. A second key to the next half-century is provided by the baby boom-baby bust generational rhythms that interlock with long waves and growth logistics at double the frequency. Together, the two keys not only provide a macrohistorical framework for unraveling the course of economic and social history; they provide a basis for geographical anticipations.     

Meeting Magnet research evidence-based practice expectations through hospital-based research centers

Hospital-based nursing research centers can create the structures and processes needed to promote and sustain research and evidence-based practice (EBP) and assist in the monitoring of care delivery outcomes. At the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, a highly successful nursing research center has succeeded in creating a Magnet environment that incorporates research and EBP into strategic planning, individual employee performance review, and organizational processes. Support of a hospital-based research center can provide the foundation for an infrastructure that supports achievement of Magnet designation research and EBP criteria. The costs pertain primarily to the staff required to develop and manage the center and the educational programs offered through it. Based on the experience at this center, administrators should plan 3-5 years before significant impact is seen in terms of numbers of consultations performed and tangible increases in staff and leadership participation in research and EBP initiatives.     

Ramsey pricing in the presence of risk

This article examines Ramsey (second-best) pricing for a multi-product regulated monopolist when marginal costs fluctuate with a known probability function. When all marginal-cost risk is absorbed by consumers, the degrees of Pratt-Arrow absolute risk aversion and the marginal cost variances in the various markets have an affect on the appropriate Ramsey prices. An analogous result is obtained when investors absorb all of the cost risk. When the cost risk is optimally shared by consumers and investors, the deterministic Ramsey prices are obtained.