An analysis of efficiency in the delivery of financial services: The case of life insurance agencies

Scale and scope economies are examined for life insurance agencies that distribute multiple financial products. The results of this study suggest that there are significant administrative returns to scale for firms that sell a mix of financial products. The findings for scope estimates are inconsistent, suggesting that there are positive and negative cost complementaries for pairs of products. Subadditivity can be rejected, suggesting that joint distribution of financial products is not necessarily more efficient than specialization and that different-sized agencies are not necessarily at a cost disadvantage.     

Offshoring and the Elasticity of Labour Demand

This paper examines the impact of offshoring on labour demand and labour demand elasticities for a sample of 40 countries over the period 1995–2009 using the World Input–output Database (WIOD). Estimating the conditional labour demand model we find that offshoring impacts negatively labour demand, and in particular the demand for low- and medium-educated labour, with some evidence indicating that offshoring has tended to increase labour demand elasticities. Of particular interest are results for the subsamples of developed and developing countries. Most notably, we find that the negative effects of offshoring in developed countries are largest for high-educated labour, an outcome which we show is due to the offshoring of developed countries with other developed countries.     

An Investigation of Moral Values and the Ethical Content of the Corporate Culture: Taiwanese Versus U.S. Sales People

An empirical study using two ethics-related and three sales force outcome variables was conducted in Taiwan and compared to an existing U.S. sample. Across the two national cultures, individual perceptions of corporate ethics appears to be a more direct determinant of organizational commitment than individual moral values. Differences between the two national cultures were found in ethics perception as it relates to moral values, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Explanations for the differences are discussed.     

Heterogeneous effects of bilateral investment treaties

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are an increasingly used policy instrument to encourage FDI inflows, particularly inflows into developing countries. In this paper we estimate a gravity model of FDI flows from a sample of OECD countries to a broader sample of developing economies, examining the impact of BITs on these flows. BITs are signed between highly heterogeneous country-pairs, with important differences found in terms of the institutional and economic distance between BIT signatories. These differences may help explain the mixed results on the effects of BITs on FDI flows in the existing literature, with our exploration of non-linearities in this relationship suggesting that the effects of BITs are increasing in the difference in GDP and GDP per capita between source and host. BITs appear to have no impact upon FDI flows for country-pairs that are too dissimilar in terms of the strength of their political institutions.     

Inquiry and Review of Dependence in Marketing Channels: An Economics of Exchange Approach

This article extends the economics of exchange for bilateral monopolists to more general situations in marketing channels, that is, exchange between two members with alternatives, by incorporating insights drawn from power-dependence theory, interdependence theory, and the concept of switching cost. It proposes a framework of three factors of channel dependence and reviews the literature on the operationalizations of channel dependence based on the framework. This study concludes that the approaches used by channels researchers, explicitly or implicitly, more or less, capture the three factors of channel dependence. It also notices weaknesses in some approaches, including missing important aspects of a factor, possibilities of inflating or deflating channel dependence, and falling short of being a one-dimensional construct. The article finally draws conclusions and reports implications from the findings of this inquiry and literature review.     

Deterrence or Conflict Spiral Effect? Exercise of Coercive Power in Marketing Channels: Evidence from China

Purpose: The article aims to test the appropriateness of deterrence and conflict spiral models in marketing channels. Both models have been alternatively used as bases to explain firms’ power-related behaviors in marketing channels. However, the issue of the appropriateness of such an application in various contexts has not yet been addressed.

Methodology/approach: The authors develop the hypotheses based on deterrence theory and their alternatives based on conflict spiral theory. They gather data from 204 sales representatives of suppliers in China and use linear regression analysis to test their hypotheses versus alternatives.

Empirical findings: The data analysis offers supportive evidence for the deterrence logic but with unexpected results. By elaborating on the empirical results, the original assumption of deterrence theory, and the nature of interfirm relationship in marketing channels, the authors modify the deterrence model for research on power related-behaviors in the given context. The analysis implies a possible explanation for inconsistent findings in the literature regarding exercises of coercive power.

Originality/value/contribution: This article proposes a revised deterrence model that can interpret the empirical results with a consistent logic and better predict power-related behaviors in marketing channels.

Research limitations/implications: The research results may lack generalizability with respect to channel type and culture. It does not directly test the cognitive mechanisms that mediate the impact of power on its exercise. Researchers are encouraged to directly test the mediating constructs in other channels or countries.

Practical implications: The article includes some insights and implications for managers in understanding power structure and implementing influence strategies in business-to-business marketing.     

“Greening” the marketing mix: do firms do it and does it pay off?

Growing concern about the sustainability of the natural environment is rapidly transforming the competitive landscape and forcing companies to explore the costs and benefits of “greening” their marketing mix. We develop and test a theoretical model that predicts (1) the role of green marketing programs in influencing firm performance, (2) the impact of slack resources and top management risk aversion on the deployment of such programs, and (3) the conditioning effects that underpin these relationships. Our analyses show that green marketing programs are being implemented by firms, and we find evidence of significant performance payoffs. Specifically the results indicate that green product and distribution programs positively affect firms’ product-market performance, while green pricing and promotion practices are directly positively related to firms’ return on assets. In addition, industry-level environmental reputation moderates the links between green marketing program components and firms’ product-market and financial performance. Finally, we find that slack resources and top management risk aversion are independently conducive to the adoption of green marketing programs—but operate as substitutes for each other.     

Partial Industrialisation in Tourism: A New Model

Certain forms of human activity, such as sport, education and tourism, can be described as being partly industrialised; they are supported partly by organisations with industrial relationships to the particular activity (e.g. tourism industries, sports industries, and so on), and partly by other factors. The latter includes business organisations whose relationship to the activity might be direct and commercial but is non-strategic, non-industrial. Partial industrialisation in tourism (PIIT) has been explored by a handful of researchers interested in its nature, causes and implications. However, the diagrammatic model used in the exploratory studies is awkward, a defect that probably helps explain why PIIT has not become widely recognised in the community of tourism researchers. A new model enables clearer insight and should facilitate understanding and greater recognition. Using the new model, an empirical research project in a mass destination provided substantial evidence for PIIT. Implications arise for many issues, including how tourism is conceptualised, strategic business management, destination competitiveness, destination development and promotion, seasonality, environmental activism, employment numbers, vocational training, planning and government policy.