Toward a “theoretical toolbox” for sustainability research in marketing

This paper provides a foundation for future marketing research on sustainability through the application of nine prominent organizational theories. Specifically, we consider the implications for sustainability offered by transaction cost economics, agency theory, institutional theory, population ecology, resource dependence theory, the resource-based view of the firm, upper echelons theory, social network theory, and signaling theory. We consider how each theory can help researchers to better understand the ways that firms engage in sustainable marketing and business practices, and we develop insights that emerge from simultaneous examination of complementary or competing theoretical perspectives.     

Self-Selection and Discrimination in Credit Markets

In this article we make two contributions toward a better understanding of the causes and consequences of discrimination in credit markets. First, we develop an explicit theoretical model of loan underwriting in which lenders use a simple Bayesian updating process to evaluate applicant creditworthiness. Using a signal correlated with an applicant's true creditworthiness and their prior beliefs about the distribution of credit risk in the applicant pool, lenders are able to evaluate an applicant's expected or "inferred" creditworthiness to determine which loans to approve and which to deny. Second, we explicitly model the self-selection behavior of individuals. Because these decisions shape lenders' prior beliefs about the distribution of credit risk, they also affect the Bayesian posterior from which lenders compute an applicant's inferred creditworthiness, implying that statistical discrimination can arise endogenously. As an example, we show that in a market in which only some lenders have Beckerian tastes for discrimination there are conditions under which lenders without racial animus will also discriminate. Our model's flexibility makes it ideal for analyzing a wide variety of empirical and policy questions.     

此恨绵绵无绝期

若干年前,我参与了我公司与另一家公司的合并工作,尽管在我看来世上根本没有合并这一说.其实过程只有一个,那就是一家公司吞并其竞争对手.有时是大鱼吃小鱼.还有些时候,一只拥有巨大优势的小鱼也可以吞掉十倍于它的大家伙,如蛇吞野猪.     

Hate Springs Eternal

Some years ago I worked on a merger between my company and another-although, in my opinion, there is no such thing as a merger. There is only a process by which one company gobbles up a competitor. Sometimes it's a big fish downing a little one. On other occasions, a tiny fish with big leverage swallows an entity ten times its size, like a snake eating a boar.     

Knowledge flow and boundary crossing at the periphery of a MNC

In this paper, we develop a model of four modes of knowledge flow, two involving knowledge acquisition and sharing, and two involving the localizing, embedding and investment of knowing in practice. We illustrate the model with data from an embedded case study involving a focal China-based subsidiary of a Japanese MNC, its headquarters, and two of its local suppliers. While power asymmetries appeared to have substantial impact on the terms upon which syntactic, semantic and pragmatic boundaries were crossed, successful knowledge transfer and boundary crossing appeared to depend on the willingness and ability of the various parties to engage in joint development of knowledge for mutual benefit.     

PUBLIC CHOICE AND URBAN ECONOMICS: THE UNNOTICED LINK BETWEEN LIQUOR LICENSING AND URBAN SPRAWL

The paper's hypothesis is that strict liquor licensing laws, as in Britain and the US, which ban street cafés (ostensibly to protect children) effectively transfer property rights in the streets to the commuting car users. Road pricing, either explicit or implicit via congested streets, loses its constituency. The result is road widening, neglect of city amenities and consequent urban sprawl. In line with the hypothesis, we find that continental European countries permitting street cafés and restaurants have less urban sprawl. They also attract more tourists, and their citizens are less obese. Therefore, the forthcoming Licensing Act, by (hopefully) assisting street cafés, marks an important step forward for British cities.     

The Role of Information and Opportunism in the Choice of Buyer-Supplier Relationships

An important characteristic of any buyer-supplier relationship is the amount and type of information that is exchanged between the contracting parties. Buyer-supplier networks are characterized by greater information exchange than arm's-length transactions. This enhanced information exchange allows for greater production efficiency but increases the potential for information misappropriation. In this paper we characterize the set of innovations for which each of these forms of exchange relationships is efficient. We then explore the effect of an initial information linkage between the buyer and supplier. Such linkages increase the set of innovations for which networks are efficient. However, such linkages have a negative effect on the buyer's incentive to innovate and an ambiguous effect on the supplier's incentive to invest in flexible production techniques. Finally, we identify settings in which the buyer-supplier surplus is greater with such linkages.     

Is Price in Hong Kong That Flexible? Evidence from the Export Sector

Using the Johansen procedure, this paper estimates and compares the adjustment speeds of Hong Kong's export volume and export price. Result of this will have profound implications on the debate of the appropriateness of Hong Kong's current exchange-rate system.
Two cointegrating vectors were found in our system, with one postulating the export volume equation and another postulating the export price equation. It was found that export volume will adjust relatively fast to shocks in the export volume equation, and that export price will adjust relatively slow to shocks in the export volume equation. On the other hand, export volume will be insensitive, and export price will adjust at moderate speed, to disequilibrium in the export price equation. Based on the estimated model, we also conducted simulation exercises to highlight the impacts of the appreciation of the US Dollar and the reduction in world demand on Hong Kong's export volume during the crisis and post-crisis periods.