A model of counterfeiting: A duopoly approach

This paper establishes a duopoly model, which considers consumers’ preference exhibits the horizontal differentiation and vertical differentiation simultaneously, to investigate how counterfeiting affects firms’ market power and consumer's purchasing behavior. The effects of government enforcement on counterfeiting are also concerned. The findings tell that (1) the market power of the firms is higher than the one when consumers with only the characteristic of horizontal differentiation or vertical differentiation; (2) when the production cost of a genuine product increases, the consumers who originally purchased this genuine product may continue to purchase the genuine one, purchase the genuine of the other brand, or, quite interestingly, purchase the counterfeiting product of the other brand; (3) If government imposes a (stricter) enforcement on counterfeiting, the consumers who do not have a strong preference on a particular brand of product but originally purchased the counterfeit of this brand of product may instead purchase the genuine one or purchase nothing; the consumers who originally purchased its genuine may instead purchase the genuine of the other brand or purchase nothing.     

Factors Affecting Third-Generation Mobile Services: Applying the Purchase Intention Model

Based on the theoretical framework of the Purchase Intention Model, this study integrated the constructs of perceived over performance, perceived relative advantage, network effects, perceived enjoyment, and individual optimal stimulation level to investigate the factors affecting third-generation (3G) mobile service adoption behavior in Taiwan. Data was collected from 322 potential services users in Taiwan. The empirical results indicated that perceived need and perceived enjoyment were key factors that determined whether or not an individual would adopt 3G service. Furthermore, this study confirmed the importance of perceived over performance and relative advantage on the perceived need for 3G service. Perceived price was also found to be positively correlated with purchasability, but purchasability and network effect did not significantly impact adoption behavior. At the end of this paper, we discuss several implications for 3G service management practices and future research regarding innovative technology acceptance.     

Effects of Personality on Service Quality in Business Transactions

This study describes the relationships among a salesperson's personality, similarity in terms of personality between salesperson and purchase representative (rep), and service quality perceived by purchase reps. The following findings were obtained: (1) agreeableness of a salesperson was negatively related to the responsiveness perceived by purchase reps; (2) salesperson neuroticism was negatively related to purchase rep perceptions of assurance, empathy, and overall service quality; and (3) the similarity in extraversion between salesperson and purchase reps was negatively correlated with purchase rep perceptions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and overall service quality.     

‘Paradigms of development: The East Asian debate’: A comment

Abstract

Sanjaya Lall's contribution to the debate on the role of industrial policy in economic development (Oxford Development Studies, 24, pp. 111–131,1996) is criticized. Part of the argument concerns the nature of development experience in Hong Kong, where deindustrialization is not regarded as a sign of lack of industrial policy, as argued by Lall. More generally, the article contends that selective intervention is not necessarily the key to capturing the benefits of dynamic comparative advantage, that intervention costs can be large, and that governments can have difficulty in devising and implementing plans for the development of technological capability.     

Group heterogeneity and the economic effect of farmer organisation participation: Empirical evidence from Taiwan

We explore the effects of different farmer organisations on smallholder farmers' economic performance. The average treatment effect of switching between different farmer organisations is examined. In addition, based on the premise that a higher level of social capital is accumulated through participation in multiple farmer organisations, we also investigate how the economic consequences of farmer organisation membership vary with the intensity of participation. Our conceptual model explicitly includes social capital to provide a micro-foundation and a theoretical justification for the linkage between farmer organisation participation and the economic outcome. This indicates that participating in different types of farmer organisations is beneficial for farm households only when the returns from social capital investment outweigh the time cost of participation. Our empirical results suggest that membership of farmer organisations that are more homogeneous in terms of member specialty and similarity in production and marketing activities results in a significant increase in farm sales revenue and net returns. This result supports the view that technological proximity accentuates knowledge spillovers within the farmer organisations, and thus leads to better economic outcomes. In line with the prediction of the theoretical model, the average treatment effect of participation is found to increase with the number of organisations that farmers belong to. Moreover, results from the quantile regression provide empirical evidence supporting increasing returns to social capital accumulated through participation in several farmer organisations.     

Perceived ease of use in prior e‐commerce experiences: A hierarchical model for its motivational antecedents

This study develops and tests a theoretical model to evaluate the motivational factors behind perceived ease of use in prior e‐commerce experiences. This hierarchical model includes need for arousal as the independent variable; general self‐efficacy, technological innovativeness, and consumer self‐determination as the mediating variables; and perceived ease of use in prior e‐commerce experiences as the dependent variable. Tested by data generated from a survey of 290 consumers, the model yields satisfactory fit and contributes to the literature by adding more intrinsically motivational variables to predict perceived ease of use. Practical and academic implications are also discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Modeling Corporate Citizenship and Its Relationship with Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Citizenship, such as corporate citizenship and organizational citizenship, has been an important issue in business management for decades. This study proposes a research model from the perspectives of social identity and resource allocation, by examining the influence of corporate citizenship on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). In the model, OCBs are positively influenced by perceived legal citizenship and perceived ethical citizenship, while negatively influenced by perceived discretionary citizenship. Empirical testing using a survey of personnel from 18 large firms confirms most of our hypothesized effects. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed.     

An Exploratory Study of the Otaku Adolescent Consumer

High accessibility to Internet technology and popularization of focus media has given rise to various emerging subcultures among the younger generation who constantly seek novelty. The otaku is such an adolescent subculture of avid collectors who have a special lifestyle and who are obsessed with anime products. This study explores this specific adolescent segment's traits and purchasing behavior patterns. A focus‐group interview was conducted with some adolescent otaku to allow them to express their opinions and purchasing behaviors. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the interview's findings, and data from a survey of 105 respondents were collected. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to extract the otaku's trait factors, while confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used for the verification of the scale and structural model, respectively. The results show that the adolescent otaku present an obsessive preference for visual perception. The main factor influencing the otaku's purchasing intentions in terms of animation, comics, and games (ACG) is their strong interest in and participation willingness toward ACG. Strategic marketing directions applied to this adolescent group should emphasize information visualization to entice their buying behavior.     

Corporate diversification and CEO turnover in family businesses: self-entrenchment or risk reduction?

Our study investigates differences in CEO turnover between focused and diversified firms to determine whether diversification strategies are necessarily associated with governance efficiency in family businesses. We find that large family CEO firms are more likely to engage in corporate diversification than are small non-family CEO firms and their CEOs are seldom replaced. Large family CEO diversified firms also have lower turnover sensitivity relative to focused firms. The results imply that the CEOs of diversified firms have entrenched themselves, thereby increasing agency costs within family businesses. However, we fail to find diversification discounts in family businesses. It is interesting that CEOs tend to diversify their businesses in order to decrease firm risk. Founding families favor risk-reducing decisions in order to maintain family wealth and prestige; suggesting that family businesses are more interested in survival than growth. Although family businesses may benefit from risk reduction, a negative relationship between diversification level and CEO turnover is still evidence of poor corporate governance. Agency theory may not completely account for the adoption of diversification strategies in family businesses and corporate diversification may weaken the effectiveness of internal monitoring mechanisms.