Development time and new product sales: A contingency analysis of product innovativeness and price

Opposing theories and conflicting empirical results with regard to the effect of development time on new product sales suggest the need for a contingency analysis into factors affecting this relationship. This study uses a unique combination of accounting and perceptual data from 129 product development projects to test the combined contingency effect of product innovativeness and new product price on the relationship between development time and new product sales. The results show that for radically new products with short development times, price has no effect on new product sales. When the development time is long, price has a negative effect on the sales of radical new products. The findings additionally show that price has no effect on sales for incremental new products with short development times and a negative effect for incremental new products with long development times. Together, these findings shed new light on the relationship between development time and new product sales.     

Sectoral co-movements of employment growth at regional level

This paper presents a comprehensive study of sectoral co-movements of employment growth in the entire Dutch economy. We construct different macro typologies according to manufacturing versus services, innovativeness, labour skills and position in the value chain, thus expanding the list of potential logics of sectoral interrelations. Using a vector autoregression model, we assess whether and how growth in a macro-sector, and in a given region, can predict growth in the same or other macro-sectors, in the same or in other regions. Our findings bring to light the inter-regional nature of intersectoral linkages, as well as the existence of complementarities between sectors. Supporting the growth of innovative firms could have positive externality effects, especially in the Knowledge-Intensive Business Services sector which is associated with the growth of the entire economy.     

Trade‐Induced Unemployment: The Case of Post‐Apartheid South Africa

This paper analyses the link between changes in trade flows and labour demand in post‐apartheid South Africa (1994–2006). Although this is not the first research with regard to this topic, it is one of the few that uses a consistent trade framework. Based on a three‐dimensional Heckscher–Ohlin trade model, a theoretical framework is constructed to analyse this link. Whereas it is impossible to test the theoretical link directly because of data limitations, an indirect econometric test supports the findings of the model. This implies that the combination of increased trade and labour market rigidities was unfavourable for labour opportunities.     

Multinational firms, market integration, and trade structure: What remains of the standard-goods hypothesis?

Multinational Firms, Market Integration, and Trade Structure: What Remains of the Standard-Goods Hypothesis? — In extending traditional empirical trade models to multinational firms, this paper shows the effect of the transfer of firm-specific technology and intangible assets by these firms on the structure of host countries. For Belgium, a small open economy with a large presence of foreign multinationals, this effect is of crucial importance and previous studies appeared to have produced biased results by neglecting it. The econometric results show how the large multinational presence induced by the European integration has shifted Belgium’s trade structure towards differentiated products, thereby challenging the standard-goods hypothesis which states that small countries tend to specialize in nondifferentiated products. Spain and Ireland have witnessed an increase in foreign direct investment and a shift in trade structure similar to Belgium after joining the EC.     

IMF‐Supported Programmes: Stimulating Capital to Non‐defaulting Countries

International Monetary Fund (IMF)‐supported programmes catalyse private capital to non‐defaulting countries. We find the IMF to be effective in stimulating private capital flows to middle‐income countries that participate in a Fund programme, but do not restructure their debt. IMF‐supported programmes help non‐defaulting countries to signal their willingness to reform and repay debts, thereby catalysing private capital. This signalling role appears to be more important for Fund catalysis, than the size of IMF lending.     

Elementary multivariate rearrangements and stochastic dominance on a Fréchet class

A Fréchet class collects all multivariate joint distribution functions that have the same marginals. Members of a Fréchet class only differ with respect to the interdependence between their marginals. In this paper, I study orders of interdependence on a Fréchet class using two multivariate generalizations of the bivariate rearrangement proposed by Epstein and Tanny (1980) [4] and Tchen (1980) [16]. I show how these multivariate rearrangements are underlying multivariate first order stochastic dominance in terms of the joint distribution function and the survival function. A combination of both rearrangements is shown to be equivalent to the concordance order proposed by Joe (1990) [9].     

How retailer and competitor decisions drive the long-term effectiveness of manufacturer promotions for fast moving consumer goods

While both retailer and competitor decisions contribute to long-term promotional effectiveness, their separate impact has yet to be evaluated. For 75 brands in 25 categories, the author finds that the long-term retailer pass-through of promotions is 65 percent, yielding a long-run wholesale promotional elasticity of 1.78 before competitive response. However, competitors partially match the wholesale price reduction by 15 percent, which decreases promotional elasticity by 10 percent. The range of retailer and competitor response across the analyzed cases is very wide, and is affected by category and brand characteristics. As to the former, large categories yield stronger retailer response, while concentrated categories yield stronger competitor response. As to the latter, smaller brands face a fourfold disadvantage compared to leading brands: they obtain lower retail pass-through, lower retail support, and lower benefits from competing brand's promotions, while their promotions generate higher benefits to competitors. Interestingly, the mid-1990s move from off-invoice allowances towards scan-back deals only partially improves their promotional effectiveness compared to that of leading brands.