E-commerce sellers' ratings: Is user feedback adequate?

The literature on the theory of public procurement points out two well-known informational problems arising out of information asymmetry: (i) adverse selection and (ii) moral hazard. To reduce these issues and foster credibility and trust in the procurement process while maintaining quality and efficiency in public procurement, e-procurement platforms have turned to reputation or rating systems. Therefore, the research and design of such rating systems are crucial. In this study, we discuss the theoretical underpinnings of procurement and employ the information-theoretic, regression analysis, artificial neural network and principal component analysis (PCA) approaches to estimate the weights of the variables entering the rating system. Using real data from Government e-Marketplace, a business-to-business public e-commerce portal, we empirically determine the weights of the rating variables derived from the transaction-level and user feedback data for sellers. The weights obtained from the PCA are the most applicable compared with the other three methods. We compare the old rating system with the newly proposed design using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. This results in a statistically significant difference between the two ratings. The canonical correlation and Wilks' trial reveal that the ratings derived from transaction-level data and user feedback are uncorrelated to a great extent. Hence, considering only transaction-level data or user feedback is unlikely to divulge sellers' intrinsic worth. E-commerce platforms can use this approach to quickly implement methods to obtain rating scores on a real-time basis for sellers on online platforms.     

Beyond radical affordability in the base of the pyramid: The role of consumer self-confidence in product acceptance

When developing products and services for base of the economic pyramid (BoP) consumers, it has been widely assumed that organizations must set extremely low prices that are dependent on substantial product acceptance and economies of scale. However, such pricing is often not feasible. Growing evidence suggests that more moderate price levels are needed for organizations to viably serve the needs of low-income consumers. However, price sensitivity is less understood in low-income contexts. To promote the success of social enterprises through fresh insight, we reexamine the extremely low-price BoP assumption by investigating product acceptance among low-income consumers using two experiments in Latin America. Results reveal that a belief in one's capabilities to make effective consumption decisions, consumer self-confidence, helps explain the acceptance of moderately-priced products. Discussion highlights directions for stimulating acceptance of socially beneficial products in low-income contexts.     

TESTING FOR INTEGRATION IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKETS

The degree of spatial market integration in European Community agricultural product markets is investigated. The methodology is based on co-integration analysis. A two-step testing procedure is applied to test the existence of the ‘Law of One Price’ which should be in force if these markets are truly integrated. The results show that market integration has not been achieved in a number of cases even when MCAs are subtracted from the price series used.     

Success in social marketing

In a series of articles, Philip Kotler, first with Sidney Levy [11], then with Gerald Zaltman [12], and then singularly [8], has significantly broadened the scope of marketing management. Marketing strategy, according to Kotler, is pertinent in numerous areas in addition to its business application. This article is concerned with one particular area for the expanding application of the marketing concept— social marketing.The use of marketing strategy to achieve social objectives produces both similarities and differences to business applications. Comparing these similarities and differences should produce some insight about the potential success of social marketing.     

THE TIME‐SERIES PROPERTIES OF UK INFLATION: EVIDENCE FROM AGGREGATE AND DISAGGREGATE DATA

This paper contrasts the time‐series properties of aggregate and disaggregate UK inflation. While aggregate inflation is found to be non‐stationary, unit root rejection frequencies are increasing when we use more disaggregate data. Structural break analysis suggests that structural shifts in monetary policy could alter inflation persistence. Additionally, panel evidence indicates that the unit root hypothesis can be rejected for sectoral inflation rates. Finally, we compare the persistence properties of UK inflation, finding statistically significant differences between aggregate and disaggregate series. Our analysis suggests that aggregation matters, which has important implications for econometric analysis and the conduct of monetary policy.