Diet Transition and Supermarket Shopping Behaviour: Is There a Link?

Supermarkets are leading the transformation of food markets in Asia, yet few studies have examined the impact of this so-called supermarket revolution on diet transition and the related nutritional and health implications. We use data from a sample of 1,180 urban households in Indonesia to explore the relation between the increased use of modern food-retail outlets and the emergence of unhealthy dietary patterns. The results of our ordinary least-squares and instrumental variables regressions suggest a negative and significant relation between the share of food expenditure at modern food retailers and the healthiness of consumer food purchases, even after we control for other characteristics that may influence foodconsumption decisions.     

Consumer needs and requirements for food and ingredient traceability information

The introduction of improved food traceability systems has aimed to restore consumer confidence in food safety and quality, in part by being able to provide consumers with more information about the origins of foods and food ingredients. However, little is known about consumers' opinions and beliefs associated with traceability, nor their preferences for information provision. In the current paper, consumer information needs and requirements regarding traceability are investigated. Semi‐structured interviews with consumers in four European countries focused on the need for traceability, the preferred means of communication, labelling and bodies held responsible for traceability and dealing with fraud. Results show that there is a clear consumer need for varied information about food and the production processes involved. Rigorous and accountable traceability systems may assist in making such information available to consumers.     

Offshore outsourcing of services: An evolutionary perspective

Offshore outsourcing is gaining increasing importance and attention in both theory and practice. The purpose of this research is to use nine in-depth case studies to analyze the evolution of offshore services outsourcing with regard to how expectations and governance structures change over time. Five testable propositions are presented, building on institutional theory, transaction cost, and resource-based perspectives. The cases demonstrate that offshore outsourcing is initiated because of increasing internal and external pressure to conform and reduce costs. Moreover, companies “chase” efficiency improvements in other geographic locations. But after reducing costs, companies discover more strategic benefits such as the potential to increase quality and market share. Importantly, as buyer–supplier relationships move from tactical to more strategic, expectations and governance structures change.     

The relation between aggressive financial reporting and aggressive tax reporting: Evidence from ex-Arthur Andersen clients

We investigate the economic trade-offs managers face due to conflicting incentives to report high financial statement book income and, at the same time, report low taxable income. Our setting involves Houston clients of Arthur Andersen (AA), who have been shown to exhibit a culture of aggressive financial reporting. Using our sample of AA Houston clients, we test two competing theories: (1) firms which have a culture of aggressive financial reporting are also aggressive in their tax reporting, versus (2) firms which are willing to pay real dollars (taxes) to report higher financial statement earnings. We do not find support for either theory. Instead, our findings suggest a middle-ground: firms may exhibit a culture of aggressive financial reporting without impacting their relative tax reporting. Our findings not only shed light on the intersection of financial and tax reporting, but they also add to the extant literature involving the culture of AA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to investigate the tax ramifications of AA’s culture of aggressive financial reporting.     

Insulin degludec versus insulin glargine U100 for patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in the US: a budget impact analysis with rebate tables

Background and aims: Drug rebates are almost universally negotiated privately between the manufacturer and the payer in the US. The aim of the present study was to illustrate the use of a “rebate table” to improve the transparency and utility of published budget impact analyses in the US by modeling ranges of hypothetical rebates for two comparators. Worked examples were conducted to illustrate the budgetary implications of using insulin degludec (IDeg) relative to insulin glargine (IGlar) U100 in patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes.

Methods: A short-term (1-year) budget impact model was developed to evaluate the costs of switching to IDeg from IGlar in patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes on basal-bolus and basal-only insulin, respectively. The analysis used insulin dose and hypoglycemia data from recent randomized trials, data on the prevalence of diabetes, and estimates of the proportion of patients using each insulin regimen. The model was configured to run multiple rebate scenarios to generate a rebate table in a hypothetical 1 million member commercial plan.

Results: Relative to IGlar, IDeg resulted in reductions in non-severe and severe hypoglycemia incidence and costs both in patients with type 1 and patients with type 2 diabetes. Insulin acquisition costs were higher, and respective rebates of 7.3% and 10.6% were required for IDeg to break-even with IGlar at the full list price. Incremental per member per month IDeg costs without a rebate were USD 0.04 in type 1 diabetes and USD 0.80 in type 2 diabetes.

Conclusions: Using IDeg instead of IGlar at list price could result in a modest increase in costs when considering insulin and hypoglycemia costs alone, but modest incremental rebates with IDeg would result in cost neutrality relative to IGlar. In addition, IDeg would result in reduced incidence of severe and non-severe hypoglycemia.     

The Economics and Politics of Trade Policy: An Empirical Analysis of ITC Decision Making

The paper studies the determinants of trade policy decisions, focusing specifically on antidumping and countervailing duty statutes administered by the International Trade Commission (ITC). Using detailed industry, import, and political pressure data, ITC decision making is modeled, weighing the relative impact of economic and political factors in predicting policy outcomes. It is found that the ITC's decision making is significantly influenced by both economic and political factors. However, because an industry has much greater ability to create political pressure than induce economic injury, the results highlight the strategic importance of oversight representation and PAC contributions in an industry's bid for protection.     

Offshore outsourcing of professional services: A transaction cost economics perspective

This research utilizes the framework of transaction cost economics (TCE) to develop an understanding of how firms manage the costs and risks of offshore outsourcing of professional services. This research examines the perspectives of eight organizations through interviews with 10 high-ranking supply management executives. The paper first explores the rationale for offshore outsourcing among the organizations studied. Using the tenants of TCE, this paper postulates that fixed costs of establishing the relationship dominate the variable costs of day-to-day transactions, and that organizations will not offshore outsource areas where there is high perceived degree of unmanageable risk. The paper expands on themes provided by TCE and offers some lessons learned, and guidelines for managing and controlling offshore outsourced services relationships.