Entry and pricing in a differentiated products industry: evidence from the ATM market

We estimate a structural equilibrium model of the automatic teller machine market (ATM) to evaluate the implications of regulating ATM surcharges. We use data on bank characteristics, potential and actual ATM locations, and consumer locations; identify the model parameters with a regression discontinuity design; and develop methods to estimate the model without computing equilibria. A surcharge ban reduces ATM entry 12% and consumer welfare 24% but increases firm profits 27%. Total welfare under either regime is 4% lower than the surplus maximizing level. The article can help shed light on the implications of unregulated entry for differentiated products industries.     

How source cues impact consumer evaluations of direct and indirect persuasion attempts

This research demonstrates how the directness of a persuasion attempt by a sales agent, in this case flattery, changes how source cues influence consumers’ evaluation of the shopping experience. When the persuasion attempt is direct, source cues do not influence consumer evaluations. However, when an indirect persuasion attempt is used, it is only effective when positive source cues are present. In particular, when the persuasion attempt is indirect, evaluations are more effective when the sales agent is attractive to or shares similar opinions with the consumer. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring Brand Personality–Celebrity Endorser Personality Congruence in Celebrity Endorsements in the Indian Context

The objective of the research reported in this paper was to develop and test a model of brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence and its impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. In particular, the study drew on social adaptation and attribution theories to develop hypotheses related to the impact of this congruence on consumers’ perceptions of endorser credibility and suitability, and the subsequent impact of these perceptions on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. The study was motivated by recent attention being paid to the importance of personality in choosing celebrities for product endorsements and the fact that the brand personality–celebrity endorser personality congruence has not been explored before. The model was tested based on data obtained from a sample of participants in India. Results from path analyses indicated a positive and significant impact of personality‐based congruence on endorser credibility and suitability, which, in turn, positively and significantly impacted ad believability. Ad believability in turn significantly impacted attitude toward the ad, which had a significant impact on brand attitude and purchase intentions. Research and managerial implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.     

Access to credit, plot size and cost inefficiency among smallholder tobacco cultivators in Malawi

Using data from the Malawi Financial Markets and Household Food Security Survey, this paper examines the effect of access to credit from formal sources, and tobacco plot size, on cost inefficiency among Malawian smallholder tobacco cultivators. Farm‐specific cost inefficiency is estimated within the framework of stochastic frontier analysis. Access to credit is measured as the sum of household members' self‐reported credit limits at credit organisations, arguably a truer measure of an exogenous credit constraint than credit program participation or actual loan uptake. It is found that tobacco cultivation is significantly less cost inefficient per acre on larger plots. While access to credit by itself has no statistically discernible effect on cost inefficiency, it reduces the gain in cost efficiency from a larger plot size.     

Bargaining Economies with Patient and Impatient Agents: Equilibria and Intermediation

This paper investigates the characteristics of steady-state equilibria in a bargaining economy in which there are both patient and impatient agents and the possibility of intermediation arising in such an economy. The equilibrium in the unmediated economy is inefficient if the proportion of impatient agents is sufficiently high. There is a simple fee mechanism, which induces patient and impatient agents to trade in separate groups, under which there is always an efficient equilibrium. Such separation is also induced by the option to trade at fixed prices, and profit-seeking intermediaries have an incentive to facilitate such trade.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: C78.     

Service Quality Perceptions of Customers About Mobile Telecommunication Services: A Case of India

ABSTRACT

 Because of the intangible nature of services, there is always a challenge in front of service providers to find out which dimensions of service quality are more important for customers. The author presents the results of a study in India that assesses the service quality perceptions of customers about mobile telecommunication services. EFA explained 69.694% of variance and extracted eight service quality dimensions. The results of a multiple regression analysis show that customers attributed the highest importance to employee performance followed by transmission quality, competitiveness, support attributes, reliability, credibility, operational efficiency, and convenience. The sample consisted of 411 respondents.     

Agritourism and off‐farm work: survival strategies for small farms

This study considers agritourism and off‐farm work as income diversification choices simultaneously and analyzes factors influencing such choices. Further, the study assesses the impact of agritourism, off‐farm work, and both on gross cash farm income and total farm household income. We utilized large set of nationwide farm survey data and selectivity‐based multinomial choice model. An important finding of our study is that small farms have higher household income if they choose both income diversification strategies rather than a single strategy. Results suggest that education, age of the operator, financial condition, and location of the farm are important factors driving income diversification alternatives. Finally, our study indicates that accounting for selectivity is essential to ensure unbiased and consistent estimates.     

Competition Law and Competition Policy in India: How the Competition Commission has Dealt with Anticompetitive Restraints by Government Entities

Review of Industrial Organization - Can adoption of an antitrust/competition law substitute for a formal competition policy that lays down principles for reforming other government policies that...     

An Assessment of the Performance of Indian State-Owned Enterprises

We examine the determinants of performance of 68 Indian state-owned enterprises in the manufacturing sector for a five-year period: 1987 to 1991. Relative performance is determined using data envelopment analysis, with variations in performance patterns subsequently explained using regression analysis. We note that the performance of firms in the Indian state-owned sector is characterized by both, low performance, as well as significant and systematic variations in the performance parameters. Size is positively associated and age negatively associated with efficiency. Further, economic liberalization and reforms aimed at improving the performance of state-owned firms induces efficiency gains over time. This heterogeneity within the state-owned sector has policy implications, which we discuss. In countries which have privatized large numbers of their state-owned firms, it is often the larger establishments which have been sold to the public. The state-owned firms in the manufacturing sector that can be candidates for privatization are the smaller and older manufacturing firms. These firms may also be easier to dispose of to private investors. This finding reinforces our central thesis that firm-level analysis within the state-owned sector is useful and important for generating pragmatic policy guidelines.