Government Failure in Urban Transportation

This paper assesses governmental performance in its investment, provision and regulation of urban transportation. Attention is given to public bus and rail transit and road transportation. Evidence based on urban transport in US cities reveals substantial allocative and technical inefficiencies that have led to large public transit deficits and severe highway congestion. I argue that it is futile to expect public officials to remedy the situation by pursuing more efficient policies such as congestion pricing and weighing costs and benefits when deciding transit service. The problem is that urban transportation policy is largely shaped by entrenched political forces that inhibit constructive change. The only realistic way to improve the system is to shield it from those influences and expose it to market forces by privatising it. This position is supported by empirical evidence based on simulations for the US and the UK's early experience with privatisation.     

China's foreign trade marketing strategy: Problems and prospects 1

It has been seven years since the open door policy was officially instituted by the People's Republic of China. During this time, changes have taken place within Chinese society and China's dealings with the rest of the world. In this paper, the authors evaluate the problems and prospects for China's foreign trade marketing strategy. They make recommendations in five policy areas: (1) export promotion; (2) the mix of exports; (3) a systems approach to trade; (4) joint ventures stressing value‐added labour and (5) the role of assembly technology. Each strategy is identified and discussed in terms of its future prospects in the development of China's trade.     

CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE INTERNET‐ENABLED LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN: WEBSITE DESIGN ANTECEDENTS AND LOYALTY EFFECTS

This article extends the existing research on logistics customer service‐loyalty relationships to the online logistics supply chain environment by examining potential website determinants of logistics customer service quality. A structural equation analysis of 373 online shopping transactions suggests that perceived quality of all logistics customer service activities (perceived cycle time, in‐stock availability, and customer responsiveness) varies inversely with: (1) perceived ease of use, and (2) content vividness of the website; and positively with product information content. However, only retailer customer responsiveness assessment was found to have any significant influence on consumer intended loyalty behavior in Internet‐enabled supplies chains.     

If at First You Don't Succeed…: Profits,Prices, and Market Structure in a Model of Quality with Unknowable Consumer Heterogeneity*

Why are higher quality niches seen as intrinsically more profitable in business circles? Why do high quality products sometimes have a low real price, whereas it is unusual to see low quality products with high real prices? Can markets have quality differentiation as well as quality bunching? How does the rate at which fixed costs change with quality affect market structure? In this article we develop a new model of quality that casts light on such issues.     

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.     

Market competition, social welfare in an entry-constrained differentiated-good oligopoly

This paper studies a differentiated-good oligopoly where the socially optimal number of firms (varieties) may be smaller or greater than under the free-entry equilibrium. We show that, under certain conditions, social welfare may be higher when entry is restricted into the industry.     

An exploratory review of the relationship between enterprise training and technology upgrading: evidence from South African manufacturing firms

The study examines the extent to which disaggregated training variables are related to technological upgrading, in the context of a middle-income developing country trying to manage its integration into the global economy. For a developing country, successful integration into the global economy requires that local manufacturing firms are able to competitively restructure, as a precondition for survival and long-term growth. Consequently, skills and technological upgrading are crucial in raising the international competitive advantage of local firms. Enterprise-provided training is one means that can be used by local firms to continuously upgrade their knowledge bases, increase their international competitiveness, and enhance employment growth over time. This paper uses South Africa as a case study, to demonstrate how economic reform measures can expose skills deficiencies in the manufacturing sector and lead to an increase in capital intensity of the sector. Exposure of skills deficiencies, in turn, raises the importance of skill-upgrading through schooling and training of existing workforce. Despite a couple of studies on the evolution of the labour market in South Africa, no previous research has explicitly examined the relationship between technological upgrading and disaggregated training/learning variables at the firm level. This paper aims to fill that gap by focusing on disaggregated enterprise-based training efforts. The study uses the Human Capital theoretical framework to answer the main research question: Which disaggregated learning variables (i.e., on-the-job or off-the-job training offered to different occupational groups) are significantly associated with technological upgrading? The study raises possible issues of heterogeneity in returns to training offered to different occupational groups in the context of technological-upgrading. On the other hand, technological upgrading may not necessarily always disadvantage all unskilled workers. Possible policy implications of research findings are outlined.