The Microsoft Antitrust Case: Rejoinder

In this rejoinder, I discuss the inappropriateness of the theory of predation proposed by Prof. Frank Fisher as well as comments by Dr. O’Brien and Prof. O’Toole. I show that Dr. Fisher’s theory of predation is likely to characterize aggressive procompetitive actions as anti-competitive. If adopted, courts will discourage firms from taking socially beneficial aggressive pro-competitive actions.     

Exclusivity in licensing alliances: using hostages to support technology commercialization

We examine why exclusivity provisions are used in licensing alliances, and when restrictions in licensing scope (e.g., by product or geography) accompany these exclusivity provisions. We find broad support for the proposition that these features are associated with the contractual challenges of allying with licensees when they contribute valuable complementary capabilities toward the commercialization of licensed technologies. Evidence from our data suggests that exclusivity is used as a contractual hostage to safeguard licensee investments in complementary assets and to enable contracting over early stage technologies. Scope restrictions are employed to balance the tradeoffs between the value creation made possible by licensee complementary capabilities and the transactional hazards entailed in working exclusively with licensees. Our results also suggest that scope restrictions and other formal safeguards may be substitute mechanisms for managing similar transactional concerns in licensing alliances. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ERM Effect,Conflict and Inflation in the European Union

This paper investigates price inflation expectations and wage determination in the ERM member countries with the aim of assessing the importance of the ERM effect and distributional conflict. We have found strong evidence of an ERM effect in the inflationary process of participating countries, but this effect manifests itself primarily through structural changes in labour markets rather than through importing Bundesbank's reputation. This evidence questions the tendency to model the ERM as a credibility-reputation game. Inflation expectations for all ERM countries are strongly influenced by movements in unit labour costs and demand, and secondarily by world commodity and oil prices. The empirical results provide strong support for the conflict approach to wage inflation.     

How process improvement efforts can drive organisational innovativeness

In this study, we draw upon literature in technology and innovation management to theorise about how process improvement efforts in organisations can drive the exploratory activity that is generally associated with more radical forms of innovation. We develop a set of propositions on how process improvement efforts might directly and indirectly drive exploration and more radical forms of organisational innovation. These propositions are organised into four categories: (1) ‘Direct’ – how exploratory forms of process improvement can directly drive innovativeness; (2) ‘Resource Capacity’ – how process improvement can increase the resource capacity that drives innovativeness; (3) ‘Knowledge’ – how process improvement efforts can strengthen knowledge resources that drive innovativeness; and (4) ‘Management Vision’ – how process improvement efforts can influence the managerial vision that moderates the effect of process improvement efforts on innovativeness.     

Learning to Export and the Timing of Entry to Export Markets

Exporters normally enter their first foreign markets some time after beginning to sell locally, then enter subsequent markets progressively. Standard trade models are essentially static and do not explain these elementary facts about exporting, which can bias the estimation of trade patterns. This paper proposes a model that endogenously generates the timing of entry to new export markets. The timing results from a learning mechanism. More productive firms are less sensitive to the learning effect and therefore (1) enter markets more quickly and (2) enter larger markets earlier and smaller markets later. These predictions are confirmed using Swedish firm‐level data.     

International Productivity Differences,Trade and the Distributions of Factor Endowments

This paper presents a model of task assignment and worker matching to explore how the distributions of labor endowments within countries influence aggregate productivity and international trade patterns. Higher moments of the skill distribution have complex relationships with the organization of the labor force. First, labor endowments skewed toward high abilities exhibit positive assortment of workers across tasks, while countries with distributions of ability skewed towards low abilities exhibit underemployment. Second, greater dispersion improves aggregate productivity in countries that experience underemployment, but worsens productivity where there is assortative assignment. Furthermore, the shape and size of factor endowments are shown to jointly determine a global pattern of comparative advantage. Countries are more likely to export their abundant factors when labor markets organize heterogenous workers effectively. These predictions receive empirical support from Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries using measures of diversity constructed from educational attainment.