Evolving China Strategies: How the Japanese Compare

Taking a sceptical view of the ‘Asian miracles’ proposition that government failure is the main culprit behind development failure, this article reviews the Philippine development experience. The Philippine configuration consists of a weak state carrying out industrial promotion and a large private sector whose dynamics depend heavily on state-managed privileges. In the final section, the article proposes an alternative to the rent-seeking model, in which rents defined as returns contingent on political position and rivalry over political position determine private investment behaviour. In such a society, there is limited internal basis for structural change and growth is accidental to external developments.     

Book Reviews

This paper argues that much current campaign tracking and econometric modelling is systematically undervaluing good agency planning practice and the potential of media advertising. This is not a reflection on the detailed execution of such projects, but rather on basic design weaknesses and a concentration on average achievements. Unlike other marketing inputs, such as price and distribution, advertising is complex and multi-faceted. For this reason it is unreasonable to expect that it is possible to represent the advertising input adequately with a single expenditure or gross rating points (GRPs) figure. The paper identifies seven component factors within any campaign that could and should be incorporated as analysis factors in any assessment project. The problems of achieving this desirable objective are considered, and the likely benefits discussed. The paper also considers possible frameworks whereby the necessary co-operation between advertisers, agencies and media owners could be achieved.     

The state of theory in three premier advertising journals: a research note

Despite its importance, little is known about the prevalence of theory in the literature on advertising research. Utilising a content analysis of the three premier advertising journals over an 11-year period, it is found that only 17% of articles have made explicit use of theory. Psychology is the discipline from which the greatest number of articles drew their theoretical frameworks, followed by sociology and economics – indeed, theories from marketing and advertising are in the minority. Limitations are noted and implications of the results are discussed.     

Strategic groups and performance in the Spanish hotel sector

This study uses the strategic group theory to identify business strategies and competitive advantages implemented by Spanish hotels, which are grouped together according to three variables (size, chain affiliation, and category) and the degree of development of the different business strategies. An analysis carried out with the aim of checking the potential existence of significant differences in performance among the strategic groups revealed that the highest performance levels are achieved by larger-sized, chain-affiliated, and higher-category hotels as well as by establishments which base their competitive advantage on category and capacity or size and internal management.     

Japan's International Tourism in the Context of its International Economic Relations

Despite the rapid growth of the Japanese economy, Japan still accounts for a relatively small share of international tourism as a recipient. However, Japan's outward tourism has grown to the point where it is the fourth largest tourism generator. This article analyses the role of tourist flows in Japan's external economic relationships and in the structural adjustments in the Japanese economy needed to correct its perceived external imbalance. Together with the massive and increasing outflows of long-term capital from Japan, increasing outward tourism could become an important factor in achieving external balance. Future policies and forecasts are also analysed.     

Market Model-Based Channel Selection in B2B E-Commerce: Exploring a Buyer's Adoption Decisions

Companies that seek to exploit the cost advantages of business-to-business (B2B) e-Commerce face a variety of strategic options. By analyzing the demand and cost functions for sellers, intermediaries, and buyers, this research develops an economic framework that clarifies the relative advantages of four common B2B e-Commerce channels: private exchange, web-based procurement, public aggregation, and public exchange. This research focuses on addressing two important questions: (1) How does a buyer select a suitable B2B e-Commerce channel (or an e-Marketplace structure) given a variety of market conditions, different levels of product substitution, and a range of purchasing patterns? (2) How does a buyer successfully manage a B2B e-Commerce channel for gaining the highest transaction-level buyer surplus? The analytic and numeric results of our study show that a company's product offerings, the market conditions it faces, and the purchase patterns it implements are all important determinants in the selection of B2B e-Commerce setting. For custom products, private networks (such as the private exchange or web-based procurement models) are more attractive than the public aggregation or exchange models. However, taking market conditions and purchasing behavior into consideration, the web-based procurement model is more suitable for spot purchasing, while the public exchange model is more suitable for systematic purchasing and fragmented markets. On the other hand, the aggregation model is preferable in concentrated markets while the exchange model is more suitable in fragmented markets. These results provide important implications for industrial development of B2B e-Commerce.     

A trade theoretic analysis of outward capital flows: with special reference to Hong Kong

This paper sets up a trade theoretic model to explain the output, price and welfare consequences of the outward investment from Hong Kong to the Pearl River Delta. A four-good trade theoretic model is set up to incorporate some special features of the Hong Kong Economy. We assume that the economy produces four goods: an exportable good, an importable good and two non-traded goods. A special feature of the model is that one of the non-traded goods (locally produced) is also consumed by foreigners and produced under the assumption of non-competitive market framework. As tourist or business-centre trade is of great significance to Hong Kong, this model allows us to capture this phenomenon. First, precise conditions are derived regarding the decline in manufacturing output in Hong Kong. Second, it is shown that, in spite of the supply side determination of the relative price of non-traded goods, income effects in this market are of great significance in both income (welfare) and output movements. These income effects cannot be captured in industrial organization type applied work. Third, it is shown how outflow of capital affects labour productivity. A surprising result obtained for this part of the analysis is that a fall in productivity (outflow of capital and de-industrialization) creates a favourable terms-of-trade effect in the monopolized sector. The welfare effect consists of four terms: (1) a terms-of trade effect via the price of non-traded goods consumed by tourists/foreigners; (2) the loss (gain) in productivity due to an outflow of capital; (3) repatriation payments; and (4) the gains from exporting from the Special Economic Zones as well as other Pearl River Delta cities. Our decomposition has two very important features in contrast to traditional models: a terms-of-trade effect from the consumption of services and productivity gains or losses. The last point is exceedingly important for policy makers specifically if outward flow of capital affects productivity negatively.     

Financial safety nets: reconstructing and modelling a policymaking metaphor

This paper explains that financial safety nets exist because of difficulties in enforcing contracts and shows that elements of deposit-insurance schemes differ substantially across countries. It shows that differences in the design of financial safety nets correlate significantly with differences in the informational and contracting environments of individual countries and that a country's GDP per capita is correlated with proxies for a country's level of: (1) informational transparency, (2) contract enforcement and deterrent rights, and (3) accountability for safety net officials. The analysis portrays deposit insurance as a part of a country's larger safety net and contracting environment. This means that there is no universal method for preventing and resolving banking problems and that the structure of a country's safety net should evolve over time with changes in private and government regulators' capacity for valuing financial institutions, disciplining risk taking and resolving insolvency promptly, and for being held accountable for how well they perform these tasks.