A business and ICT architecture for a logistics city

The city of Melbourne, Australia, stands to benefit from achieving the logistics city status. The planning theme of a logistics city is designed around achieving efficiencies and long term sustainability out of the legacy of dispersed groups of intensive “logistics activity areas”. This is not to re-invent solutions particularly in Melbourne, where the existence of a legacy logistics infrastructure and ad hoc growth has resulted in the business architecture that is constantly in the “catch-up” mode. This is seen as a unique opportunity for developing business models to meet the future challenges of the growth of trade, freight movement and maintaining economic, environmental and urban sustainability. Enterprise architecture will enable attention to be focused on the development of a collaborative business model, which will help to achieve efficiencies in view of the complex set of economic, social and environmental parameters. The logistics city business architecture responds to the shift to a services economy, which is generating different patterns of workforce travel to ensure good access to skilled workers, to other services, to business clients and to national and international markets.     

A cross-section analysis of intra-industry trade in U.S. manufacturing industries

Zusammenfassung Eine Querschnittsanalyse des intraindustriellen Handels für die Verarbeitende Industrie der Vereinigten Staaten. — In dieser Studie werden fünf Hypothesen formuliert und getestet, die das Muster des intraindustriellen Handels erkl?ren sollen. Dabei wird ein Verfahren angewandt, das auf dem Gebiet der industriellen Organisation entwickelt wurde und das das von der Marktstruktur bestimmte Verhalten berücksichtigt. Im statistischen Test werden m?glichst stark disaggregierte Daten für 112 Industriezweige der Vereinigten Staaten benutzt. Die Auswahl erfolgt so, da\ das Ausma\ der statistischen Aggregation minimiert und ein repr?sentativer Querschnitt der amerikanischen Verarbeitenden Industrie gewonnen werden kann. Die fünf Hypothesen werden durch die Daten gestützt. Die empirischen Ergebnisse best?tigen die Hauptthese, da\ der intraindustrielle Handel besser erkl?rt werden kann als eine Folge des Marktverhaltens der internationalen Firmen auf dem Weltmarkt. Deren Marktverhalten wiederum ist durch die Marktstruktur, in der sie agieren, bestimmt. Die Studie zeigt, da\ die folgenden Variablen die haupts?chlichen Determinanten des intraindustriellen Handels der amerikanischen Industrie sind: (1) der Grad der Preisdiversifizierung auf Grund von Produktdifferenzierung und unvollkommener Preis- und Qualit?tsinformation der Konsumenten, (2) die ?hnlichkeit des wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsstandes, (3) die Skalenertr?ge infolge gro\er Produktionsserien, (4) das Ausma\ des oligopolistischen Wettbewerbsverhaltens und (5) die Rate der Einführung von Produktvarianten im Reifestadium des Produktzyklus.

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Résumé Une analyse transversale du commerce intra-industriel pour les industries manufacturières des Etats-Unis. — En appliquant une approche de la conduite de marché déterminée par la structure du marché qui était dévelopée par l’école de l’organisation industrielle, cette étude suggère et teste cinq hypothèses qui doivent expliquer la structure du commerce intra-industriel. Des données les plus désagregées sont utilisées pour le test statistique; il inclut 112 industries manufacturières dans les E.-U. L’échantillon est scrupuleusement choisi pour minimiser la mesure de l’agrégation statistique et pour être représentatif du secteur manufacturier des E.-U. Les cinq hypothèses sont confirmées par les données. Les résultats empiriques supportent la thèse centrale que le commerce intra-industriel peut être mieux expliqué comme conséquence de la conduite de marché des entreprises internationales sur le marché global. Leur conduite de marché est déterminée par la structure du marché sur lequel elles opèrent. L’étude démontre que les variables suivantes sont les déterminants principaux du commerce intra-industriel pour les industries manufacturières des E.-U. : le degré de la diversité des prix due à la différenciation des produits et à l’information imparfaite du consommateur sur le prix et la qualité, la similarité en niveau du développement économique, les économies des séries longues de production, l’étendue de la conduite oligopolistique de rivalité et le taux de l’introduction de la variété des produits dans la phase m?r du cycle de produit.

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Resumen Un análisis seccional del comercio intraindustrial entre empresas manufactureras de los Estados Unidos. — Este estudio propone y comprueba empfricamente cinco hip?tesis destinadas a explicar el comercio intraindustrial. Con este fin, se utiliza un enfoque de conducta estructural de mercado. Para los tests empíricos, se utiliza informaci?n estadística desagregada sobre 112 compa?ías manufactureras de los Estados Unidos. La muestra ha sido elegida cuidadosamente con el objeto de minimizar el alcance de la agregación estadística y de que sea representativa del sector manufacturero en este país. Los datos estadistícos corraboran los cinco hipótesis. Los resultados empíricos confirman la tesis central de que el comercio intraindustrial se puede explicar mejor como el resultado de la conducta de mercado de las compa?ías internacionales en el mercado global. Esta conducta está a su vez determinada por la estructura del mercado en la que las empresas operan. El estudio demuestra que las siguientes variables son factores claves en el comercio intraindustrial de las empresas manufactureras estadounidenses : El grado de diversificatión de precios atribuido a la diferenciación de productos y a la informatión imperfecta del consumidor sobre precios y calidad, la similitud en el nivel de desarrollo económico, las economías de production continua, el alcance de la rivalidad oligopolística, y la tasa de introducción de variedad en el producto en el último estadio del ciclo productivo.

     

Impact of the level of aggregation on response accuracy in surveys of behavioral frequency

Through observations of AT&T data and the results of two of our own studies, we discovered interesting asymmetrical effects of the level of aggregation of the question on the response accuracy in surveys of behavioral frequency. We find that disaggregating a question to a lower, less comfortable level of aggregation creates greater uncertainty, leading to larger absolute errors in survey responses. However, if a question is asked at a higher less comfortable level, the majority of respondents escape by splitting questions down to the natural level, thereby avoiding greater uncertainty and thus responding more accurately. We argue that for greater accuracy in surveys, one should identify the natural level of aggregation at which a question should be posed. But when in doubt, it is better to ask a question at a higher level of aggregation because of possible escapability downward.     

An experimental study of marketing information utilization: The manager-researcher dichotomy

This study uses an experimental design for the presentation of a case, demographic information, product test survey results, and test market results to marketing managers and to market researchers. We attempt to determine the interrelationships among changes in decision outcomes, sales estimates, and confidence. We also show that the two-community dichotomy between marketing managers and market researchers exists.     

‘Keep out’ signs: the role of deterrence in the competition for resources

To explain resource heterogeneity, past research focuses on how rivals' resources are hidden from firms and firms accordingly have difficulties accessing them. We argue that resource heterogeneity may also arise when firms are deterred from a technological space upon being shown what resources rivals already possess within that space. To illustrate this deterrence effect, we use patent reexamination certificates, which indicate strategic stakes within a technological space without materially disclosing additional details of the underlying technologies and hence avoid the confounding effect of attracting competition through disclosure. We demonstrate how rivals' reexamination certificates within a technological space induce a firm to subsequently allocate less inventive effort in that space, based on two mechanisms—indications of rivals' developmental speed and exclusionary ability. We further develop these two mechanisms by arguing that the deterrence effect is stronger when rivals' speed is enhanced by their downstream capabilities, or when rivals' exclusion is enhanced by their litigation experiences. Findings suggest that a firm's path of resource accumulation evolves through avoidance of rivals' paths, and deterrence may constitute a viable alternative theory of resource heterogeneity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of mobile handsets in advanced network service evolution: Evidence from Japan

This paper aims at a better understanding of the mechanisms of mobile network service evolution through a closer examination of the context of mobile handsets. It aims first to establish quantitatively that mobile handsets are a determinant of mobile network service evolution patterns, and second, to develop a consistent perspective capable of explaining the evolution of various mobile network services. Despite the fact that mobile handsets are indispensable to users of mobile network services, surprisingly little is known about the role of these handsets in mobile network service evolution. This paper provides quantitative evidence of a positive relationship between intra-network-carrier penetration rates for mobile network service subscribers and mobile handsets designed for these services. The relationship is such that if one network service is diffused more than another, the mobile handsets related to the more diffused service are similarly more widely diffused in the market, and vice versa. The evidence is derived from an analysis of two mobile network services in Japan, mobile Internet and third generation mobile, initiated by NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. There are no existing studies that consistently explain the mechanisms of different mobile network service evolution patterns. Since the positive relationship that emerges from the analysis is consistent for both cases, by examining the mechanisms underlying this relationship, the paper develops an adequate and consistent perspective based on a constituent model reflecting the technological and competition structure of mobile network services. From this perspective, this positive relationship can be explained as the similarity or dissimilarity in essential technology ownership distribution across constituents. This perspective describes mobile network evolution in terms of changes in the distribution of essential technology ownership and, therefore, could be generalised more widely.