The perils of selling online: Manufacturer competition, channel conflict, and consumer preferences

Internet channels have grown rapidly in recent years due to advances in information technology. However, many leading manufacturers opt not to sell online. In this paper, we construct a theoretical model with competing manufacturers and an active retailer to explain this market phenomenon. We document the possibility of asymmetric channel structure despite the ex ante symmetry between the manufacturers. Moreover, the increasing prominence of online shopping behaviors does not necessarily lead to the increased adoption of Internet channels. The prevalence of dual-channel strategies can be regarded as a form of prisoners’ dilemma, and the manufacturers may intentionally intensify the product or channel substitution to escape from this undesirable outcome. We explain how demand expansion and competition mitigation drive these unintended consequences and provide some general guidelines for the managerial choice of channel structures.     

Motivated or empowering antecedents to drive service innovation?

Which type of antecedents, motivated or empowering, can stimulate service innovation? We choose the empowering (team and worker empowerment) and motivated variables (creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation) as the four antecedents to investigate how they influence service innovation. Positive psychological capital (PPC) was chosen as a key mediator to examine whether the four antecedents have impacts on service innovation through PPC. Hierarchical linear modeling was adopted for analyses. This study provided the following findings: (a) the empowering factors have no positive effects on service innovation. (b) The motivated factors have significantly positive effects on service innovation. (c) PPC completely mediated the relationship between the empowering factors and service innovation and partially mediated the relationship between the motivated factors and service innovation. Our findings suggest that motivated factors have significantly positive influences on service innovation compared with empowering factors. We also confirm PPC as the mediating mechanism to stimulate service innovation.     

Private labels and new product development

This paper provides a positive theory of private labels in new product development when a non-integrated distribution channel is faced with demand uncertainty. We consider a regular marketing environment in which a manufacturer endowed with a branded product seeks to design a new product to resolve its retailer’s mis-targeting problem and to optimally screen consumers. Assuming that only linear pricing schemes are available and that the retailer learns the state of demand earlier than the manufacturer does, we show that the presence of a private label always improves channel efficiency. Moreover, a private label is more likely to prevail when the existing branded product is a premium item.

The effects of product scarcity and consumers' need for uniqueness on purchase intention

Scarcity strategies are employed by marketers to influence consumer decision making. Many famous brands have been designed and produced for the purpose of as being marketed as limited‐edition products to intensify consumer desire and intention to purchase them. However, very few studies have simultaneously integrated relevant constructs to explain the phenomenon of scarcity purchasing. To fill this void, this study develops a comprehensive research model in order to fully understand how scarcity affects consumer value perception and purchase intention. Simultaneously, two competing models are developed to compare the explanation power of Lynn's Scarcity–Expensiveness–Desirability (S‐E‐D) model and Synde and Fromkin's desire for uniqueness model. The results suggest that the effects of scarcity on purchase intention through perceived uniqueness, perceived sacrifice and perceived value are stronger than the scarcity effects through assumed expensiveness, perceived quality, perceived sacrifice and perceived value.     

Missing data and maximum likelihood estimation

The proper use of the maximum likelihood principle in the context of missing data is explored. The relationship between the false procedure of treating the predicted values as if they were observable and the E–M procedure suggested by Dempster, Laird, and Rubin (1977) is also discussed.     

Creating Shared Value Through Implementing Green Practices for Star Hotels

This study expands the concept of shared value through the value chain to include green practice innovation in star hotels in Taiwan. By employing the Delphi method, 44 green innovation indicators were established for star hotels to create an instrument to help address green practices’ implementation. Through creating shared value by using the top 18 indicators among eight dimensions, this study explores the preliminary green innovation framework to configure the value chain and to propose a conceptual model based on a shared value perspective. The findings contribute to the current literature by including green innovation processes into the shared value concept to complement the existing value chain design, and by addressing whether the green innovation indicators examined pertain to a value chain or process analysis. The results provide substantial contributions on how star hotels can efficiently implement green practices to simultaneously approach economic profits and environmental protection.     

A study of the effects of co-branding between low-carbon islands and recreational activities

The development of sustainable tourism on islands is increasingly based on the concept of “low carbon” practices. From a co-branding perspective, this study discusses how to combine recreational activities to create a differentiated tourism landscape, and thus positively influence post-visit tourist reactions when the focal islands emphasize their low-carbon practices. This study used a questionnaire survey to study Taiwan's Penghu and Republic of Palau, two islands that have adopted low-carbon policies, and a total of 341 and 298 valid samples were collected, respectively. The findings are the following. (1) Regardless of the island, tourists recognized the low-carbon strategies of both islands, with those of Palau receiving greater attention. (2) The tourists were most familiar with motorized water activities, and the degree of participation in such activities was the highest. However, there were significant differences in degrees of familiarity with and participation in other recreational activities. (3) On both Penghu and Palau, islands and motorized water activities represent the optimal match, and the optimal match percentage of Penghu for all types of recreational activity is 67%. (4) Compared with tourists on Palau, those on Penghu are more willing to recommend a visit to others or revisit the island.     

Experimental Evidence on Portfolio Size and Diversification: Human Biases in Naïve Security Selection and Portfolio Construction

We conduct an experiment in which individuals select securities to reproduce the well‐known relationship between portfolio risk and the number of securities. The standard result occurs on average but not for most individuals, many of whom effectively de‐diversify as they add seemingly random securities. Moreover, only slightly better results are achieved using a random number generator. This finding challenges the belief that only a small number of securities are required for diversification and shows that it is applicable only to a large sample. The implications are important given that many individual investors hold very few stocks in their portfolios.     

Transcendent Experience,Flow and Happiness for Mountain Climbers

Mountaineering has become a popular form of adventure tourism. However, previous research has never explored the construct of transcendent experience and its effects on mountaineering. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among transcendent experience, flow and happiness. Survey data from 339 mountain climbers in Taiwan indicate that transcendent experience positively affects flow and happiness. In addition, flow mediates the effect of transcendent experience on happiness. However, the relationship between flow and hedonic enjoyment is insignificant for novices. Implications of these findings as well as future research are subsequently discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exchange Rate Volatility and Intra‐Asia Trade: Evidence by Type of Goods

This paper examines the impact of intra‐Asia exchange rate volatility on intra‐Asia trade in primary goods, intermediate goods, equipment goods and consumption goods from 1980 to 2009. For Asia, the evidence shows that as intraregional exchange rate volatility increases, intraregional exports in these goods fall. This adverse impact is even more pronounced in the subregion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+5 comprising ASEAN member countries plus the People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Taipei, China; and especially among intermediate and equipment exports. Again, the impact magnifies in an even smaller subgroup excluding the smaller ASEAN economies. These results underline the significant impact of exchange rate volatility on the region's production networks. For South Asia, however, exchange rate volatility appears to have a positive impact on exports. Still, caution is warranted given that South Asian economies trade relatively little with each other.