Key drivers of innovation capability in hotels: implications on performance

Innovation capability is critical for the modernization and competitiveness of the hotel industry. This work analyzes the role of hotels' innovative culture, market orientation, and internal marketing as forerunners of innovation capability in hotels, as well as the effect of innovation capability on hotels' performance. The proposed conceptual model is evaluated through structural equation modeling using a sample of 256 Spanish hotels. The results reveal that innovative culture by itself is not a key driver of the hotels' innovation capability. However, internal marketing and market orientation mediate the innovative culture-innovation capability relationship. Innovation capability proves to enhance hotels' market results directly and indirectly through customer equity. Our findings offer hotel managers useful guidance to understand how innovation capability is built within the firm by combining the right organizational culture and practices. Additionally, our study reinforces the financial and non-financial benefits of innovation capability in hotels.     

研发市场界定的适用困境及应对策略

研发市场是经营者在特定产品和技术竞争中形成的市场范围。由于研发活动的不确定性，反垄断执法机关在界定研发市场时难以准确厘定市场边界，更深层次的原因在于维持竞争与激励研发的关系尚不明晰。研发竞争中的垄断行为难以通过相关市场界定的方式判断其违法性，需要结合具体案情和市场条件，动态分析涉案行为是否损害产品或技术研发竞争。     

How do female directors improve board governance? A mechanism based on norm changes

Prior literature documents that corporate boards with female directors produce better governance outcomes than all-male boards. However, female directors constitute the minority on most boards, which precludes majority voting as the mechanism through which they change board decisions. We identify changing the norms of how the board works as this mechanism. Using the market for norms framework, we explain how female directors are effective even without possessing a board majority or other sources of symbolic power, such as hierarchical authority and social gravitas. Empirically, we show that independent female directors, compared to their male counterparts, are more effective at changing board norms (board processes) and improving governance (board outputs).     

Change or perish: Examining the role of human capital and dynamic marketing capabilities in the hospitality sector

Many researchers have endeavored to explain which factors contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. Toward this end, this study contributes to the marketing and hospitality management literature by providing empirical evidence on how human capital, dynamic marketing capabilities, and market dynamism influence competitive advantage in the hotel sector. We collected cross-sectional survey data from marketing and sales managers in 165 hotels, along with in-depth interviews in three hotels, based in four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, namely, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The findings reveal that human capital directly, and indirectly through dynamic marketing capabilities, plays a critical role on developing competitive advantage. To contextualize this role, our research reveals that market dynamism moderates the mediated relationship between human capital and competitive advantage via market sensing capabilities. We discuss how the findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for the development of competitive advantage in the hotel sector.     

On the efficiency of intra-industry information transfers: The dilution of the overreaction anomaly

We revisit the stock market anomaly documented by Thomas and Zhang (2008) and show that the apparent mispricing of information transfers has decayed over time, as the US markets experienced rapid improvements in the efficiency of the underlying price formation processes. Utilizing recent advancements in market microstructure research to estimate firm-specific proxies for market efficiency, we demonstrate that the existence of the overreaction anomaly (where stock prices of late announcers in response to the earnings reported by early announcers in the same industry are negatively related to subsequent price responses of late announcers to their own earnings reports) is specific to an earlier sample period and results from the inefficient incorporation of information into prices, largely attributable to an environment with high barriers to arbitrage. Our results indicate that the pricing efficiency of intra-industry information transfers has increased in the recent years of increased liquidity and markedly higher trading activity.     

The economics and geography of regional airline services in six countries

Do the determinants of service and pricing on “regional” routes – linking towns and smaller cities to main trunk routes and/or to each other – differ from the established results from the literature? We study all flights (about 3000) on all regional routes (about 250) with scheduled airline service from one of about 130 regional towns or cities, in regional airline markets in six countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and a sample of three U.S. states which closely resemble the other regions studied. For each flight we have observations on up to five prices offered at different times before flight date. We also have equipment type and social-economic data. Overall, our results give qualified support to the standard gravity model of the extent of service between city pairs, though with two interesting differences: operators on regional routes have greater flexibility in the size of aircraft they can deploy, which results in a finer-grained variability of service offerings and, the presence of competition on regional routes has a large effect on the total supply of seats. We are able to successfully estimate a well-specified airfare model, which shows strong effects of competition on prices, quite substantial intertemporal price discrimination, and interesting differences between regional and main trunk route pricing.     

Global imbalances and dynamics of international financial markets

We provide an overview of the special issue “Global Imbalances and dynamics of international financial markets”. This special issue, which is associated with the 7th International Finance Conference, features research papers dealing with the impact of global imbalances, market complexity, and the impact of the recent global financial crisis on the conduct of monetary policies, financial market dynamics, financial stability, and risk management models.     

Retail channel price discrimination

This paper examines price differentials of identical items across retail channels. Many consumer packaged goods are sold through both grocery and drug stores. Liquor is unique in that in much of the country there is a third retail channel of distribution, liquor stores. If consumers in each retail channel differ in their willingness to pay for certain items, then sellers can exploit those differences and charge different prices for the same items in each channel. We examine a unique data set of pooled cross sectional retail scanner data on wine to test whether sellers use retail channel to identify heterogeneous consumer market segments and engage in price discrimination. We begin by presenting a model of price discrimination by retail channel along with behavioural assumptions regarding shoppers in each channel. Next we examine sales by retail channel and find persistent price differentials for the same item across retail channel after controlling for sample selection bias and seasonality. Lastly, we estimate the price elasticity of demand correcting for endogeneity and find differences across channel consistent with the price differentials. The extent of price differential, however, differs significantly with respect to price point.     

成功的市场进驻策略是决定市场地位的关键——宝洁公司在中国的市场进驻成功个案

美国宝洁公司在中国改革开放之际,敏锐地察觉到中国市场的巨大潜力,向中国日用品市场进驻。在多元品牌政策和差异性市场策略的总体策略指引下,宝洁公司充分考虑中国经济,政治,文化背景,以中国东西部经济差距,城乡消费者需求差异,中国消费者对传统文化的要求和可持续发展为基础,开发具有中国传统品味的高科技环保产品,建立特殊的分销体系,建立了在中国市场的首席地位。同时,宝洁公司以遵守中国法律,履行社会责任和道德准则为己任,与当地政府配合,协助开展文化和经济辅导活动,保护生态环境与自然资源,在消费者心目中建立了良好的企业形象,为进一步发展提供了有利基础,达到了双赢的目的。