Marketing research for new product ideas arising from R&D departments

R&D departments often develop products, processes or ideas which they consider might have potential as new products. Such products may have arisen as a result of fundamental research or as a by-product of research into specific problems rather than as solutions to needs already identified in the market place. This paper discusses the problems involved in identifying and assessing the needs for product ideas originating within R&D. It indicates the need for understanding and co-operation between R&D and marketing departments in this particular form of new product development.     

On-Line Portfolio Selection Using Multiplicative Updates

We present an on-line investment algorithm that achieves almost the same wealth as the best constant-rebalanced portfolio determined in hindsight from the actual market outcomes. The algorithm employs a multiplicative update rule derived using a framework introduced by Kivinen and Warmuth. Our algorithm is very simple to implement and requires only constant storage and computing time per stock in each trading period. We tested the performance of our algorithm on real stock data from the New York Stock Exchange accumulated during a 22-year period. On these data, our algorithm clearly outperforms the best single stock as well as Cover's universal portfolio selection algorithm. We also present results for the situation in which the investor has access to additional "side information."     

Growth of Investor Owned and Cooperative Firms in Greek Dairy Industry

This paper examines the factors that affect the annual growth of cooperatives and investor owned firms (IOF) in Greek diary industry over the period 1990–94. A comparison based on both cooperative principals and property rights theory is made between IOFs and cooperatives to study their characteristics. However an empirical work is required to explain differences, if any, in the growth of the two types of firms within the same market. The work examines the determinants of the annual growth and it tests whether significant differences between IOFs and cooperatives exist. Ordinary least squares results show that both diversification and advertising strategies are important determinants for IOF growth, while the cooperative growth depends on capital structure and intensity and these organizations do not effectively apply competitive strategies.     

A Unified Model of Corporate Acquisitions and Divestitures: An Incentive Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to unify corporate acquisitions and divestitures (e.g., spin-offs, equity carve-outs and sell-offs) into a simple but comprehensive agency model where risk and managerial incentives interact to determine an optimal corporate governance and an incentive compensation scheme. Emphasizing human and nonhuman aspect of corporate assets, the model not only explains existing empirical evidence regarding contractual and organizational changes, but also suggests new perspective regarding firms' behavior around corporate acquisitions and divestitures. Thus, it attempts to reconcile between synergistic and agency viewpoints in the takeover literature and provides determining factors in choosing between spinoffs and equity carve-outs.     

Advertising,concentration and profitability in Greek food manufacturing industries

The conventional framework for cross-sectional studies of industrial organisation focuses on the hypothesised relations among structure, conduct and performance (SCP). This paper investigates these relationships for the food and beverage manufacturing industries in a European country, i.e., Greece. 3SLS method is used to estimate the parameters of the profitability, concentration and advertising model for a sample of 38 four-digit industries in 1994. The main results, which are in line with the relevant empirical work, show that profitability is determined by advertising, which, in turn, is affected by both profitability and concentration, while the latter is determined by economies of scale.     

Effects of Product Origin and Selected Demographics on Consumer Choice of Red Meats

A multinomial nonlinear nested logit model is used to test data from a stated preference questionnaire to examine the potential effect of identified product and consumer characteristics on the probability of afresh meat product being purchased. The target market of the study is western Canada, and the questionnaire is directed to randomly selected households in major cities in this region. Fresh beef products from Alberta are generally preferred by these consumers over fresh beef products from other parts of Canada. For pork, consumers are indifferent between products of Alberta and those of other Canadian origin. However, fresh beef and pork products from Canada are preferred to products from the United States. The results support origin branding of Alberta beef, but not Alberta pork. Consumer age, household income and family size all have an effect on meat choices.     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Erich Allina, Wien.Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Erich Allina, Wien