The Role and Determinants of Concession Sales in Movie Theaters: Evidence from the Spanish Exhibition Industry

The importance of concession sales in the movie exhibition industry is widely acknowledged among economists and other social scientists that have studied this industry in the past. Despite this recognition, the lack of appropriate data has constrained existing studies that document the role that concessions play in movie theaters. Using detailed weekly movie theater data on concession sales, box office revenues and transaction characteristics from a major exhibitor in Spain, we shed light on the relation between concession sales and the following factors (i) theater attendance, (ii) non-traditional channels of ticket distribution, (iii) audience composition, and (iv) theater and market specific factors.      

Can technical oscillators outperform the buy and hold strategy?

This study compares returns from the traditional buy and hold (B&H) strategy to well-known technical oscillators applied to diverse indices leading the global market (DJI, FTSE, NK225 and TA100) during the period 2007–2012. Our aim was to establish whether technical tools can consistently achieve returns exceeding those of the B&H strategy across various financial markets. We found the relative strength index (RSI) to be the best oscillator, outperforming the DJIA, the FTSE100 and the NK225 for five of the six years examined. The only index that did better than the RSI was TA100, which outperformed all the examined oscillators. In second place was the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) oscillator, which outperformed the NK225 B&H strategy and came in second for TA100. The results show that during bear markets the RSI and MACD generally produce better gains than the indices, while the opposite occurs during bull markets.     

Effects of policy instruments on farm investments and production decisions in the Spanish COP sector

Our article assesses the impacts regarding on-farm investment and production decisions resulting from the Partially Decoupled (PD) payment scheme implemented during the 1990s and first half of the 2000s within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The Spanish Cereal, Oilseed and Protein (COP) sector is taken as a case study regarding this effect due to its economic and political relevance in Spain. The empirical analysis is applied to farm-level data from 2000 to 2004 using the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). We use a reduced-form application of the dual model of investment under uncertainty and estimate a system of censored and uncensored equations. PD payments are found to increase short-run production and generate a statically significant increase in the investment in farm assets. Results also show the importance of assessing the effects of PD payments in a dynamic framework as applied in this article.     

Travel behavior of immigrants: An analysis of the 2001 National Household Transportation Survey

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between travel behavior and immigrant status. The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) allows us to explore the relationships between travel behavior and characteristics that are usually hard to discern in surveys with smaller samples. The correlation between travel behavior and immigrant characteristics such as place of birth and year of immigration in the US was tested while controlling for spatial and socio-demographic variables. The effects of place of birth and year of arriving to the US were found to be significant for some places of birth and for immigrants who entered the US in recent years. Understanding the differences in travel behavior and the possible explanations for these differences can help in modeling travel demand, finding policies best suited to meeting the travel needs of foreign-born communities, and addressing environmental justice concerns.     

Demand Shifts and Changes in Competition: Evidence from the Movie Theatre Industry

In this paper, I empirically examine how demand shifts affect firm behaviour. In particular, I study how competitive behaviour between firms changes across different demand states. For this purpose, I use price and concentration data from the Spanish movie theatre industry in 1995 and 2000. The evidence suggests that demand shifts change the competitive nature of the industry under study, and that this change differs across different demand shifts. Firms deviate less from tacit collusive behaviour when gains of deviation are smaller.     

Antecedents to complaint behaviour in the context of restaurant goers

Abstract

This article deals with the process by which consumer complaint behaviour is formed. The general aim is to analyse the nature of this type of response to dissatisfaction, describing its development in terms of how it is influenced by a combination of several factors already researched in the literature. The most relevant contributions from the related theoretical work indicate that public and private responses (complaint behaviour) are the most common reactions of consumers when faced with a dissatisfactory experience. A group of determinants which influence these responses in different ways has also been identified. The main objective of this study is to analyse the relationship between the different determinants of complaint behaviour with the aim of identifying the variables which exert the greatest influence.     

The impact of IT and customer orientation on building trust and commitment in the supply chain

The application of information technologies (IT) to logistics activities may have benefits beyond cost savings, as it can create bonds between the supply chain partners. The objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of customer orientation on the application of IT to the supply chain and of these on the development of channel relationships based on trust and commitment. A questionnaire-based personal survey was conducted among manufacturers. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesis contained in the theoretical model. The results indicate that customer orientation affects the application of IT to logistics, and IT has a positive impact on manufacturer and supplier commitment to the relationship.     

Using metaphors in new brand design

This paper addresses an important gap in brand development. While attention has been rightly focused on consumer understanding of brand imagery, insufficient attention has been given to how the firm's managers create, understand and communicate to each other something so intangible as a future brand's vision. We demonstrate how using metaphors in brand design enhances the ability of a cross‐functional team to create a coherent brand vision: facilitating both creativity and its communication. Brand visions are vital given the essential periodic improvements and mutations brands must undergo, without sacrificing the integrity and values which drive their purchase. Management complexity arises because brand development happens in a multi‐disciplinary environment. Moreover these different managers must translate the intangible meanings held by consumers into very tangible product and service specifications. The role and nature of metaphor in this process is examined in detail. We then provide practical examples of how this technique has been used with managers in a variety of branding tasks.     

Can free-shipping hurt online retailers?

Quantitative Marketing and Economics - In this paper, we investigate optimal pricing strategies for an online grocery retailer that derives its profits from delivery fees and grocery sales. We base...