Price Discrimination with Private and Imperfect Information

In this paper, I investigate the competitive and welfare effects of the improvements in information accuracy in markets where firms can price discriminate after observing a private and noisy signal about a consumer's brand preference. I show that when firms believe that consumers have a brand preference for them, then they charge more to these consumers, and this price has an inverse U‐shaped relationship with the signal's accuracy. In contrast, the price charged after a disloyal signal has been observed falls as the signal's accuracy rises. While industry profit and overall welfare fall monotonically when price discrimination is based on increasingly more accurate information, the reverse happens to consumer surplus.     

广西中期工业化纵深发展的战略思考

2011年,广西经济总量突破万亿,进入中期工业化阶段。接下来广西应该走怎样的工业化道路,是需要认真思考的问题。文章通过构建TCI指数,指出广西目前的重型化工业道路是一条不能实现经济可持续发展的道路。广西的工业发展需要走一条最优工业化道路,即按照广西的要素禀赋结构,选择最优工业技术水平,使企业具有自生能力,以最快的速度实现资本积累、技术进步和产业升级。     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPORT STATUS AND PRODUCTIVITY IN SERVICES: A FIRM‐LEVEL ANALYSIS FOR SPAIN

This paper analyses the relationship between export status and productivity in a major service exporter, Spain, during 2001–07. I find that exporters in the services sector are 45 percent more productive than non‐exporters. This productivity premium is larger for firms that supply non‐internet‐related services than for firms that supply internet‐related services. The results show that exporters were more productive than non‐exporters before beginning to export, and also that exporting increases productivity growth; however, this positive shock vanishes quickly.     

基于遗传算法的锅炉水位控制器设计

文章分析了锅炉水位控制系统的基本原理及结构,针对传统PID控制器的不足之处设计了基于遗传算法的新型锅炉水位控制器,在此基础上搭建了锅炉水位控制系统。最后,通过仿真验证了该水位控制器在改善水位系统稳态误差及动态超调方面均具有较好的作用。     

Product price and performance level in one market or two separated markets under various cost structures and functions

Market characteristics, including intrinsic demand and customer sensitivity on price and product performance level, are distinct at different markets. Comparisons of various product development strategies in one market or two geographically separated markets are conducted for three classes of products: development intensive products (DIPs) with constant unit cost, marginal cost-intensive products (MIPs) with constant fixed cost, and marginal and development intensive products (MDIPs) with non-constant unit cost and fixed cost. Results show that larger demand size, less customer sensitivity on price and/or more sensitivity on performance level lead to more profit, a higher sale price and a not-lower product performance. The customer reservation or the saturation performance level should be generally adopted though the optimal performance level does exist occasionally. Unit cost and/or fixed cost must increase in performance at an increasing rate for the existence of one optimal performance level. Due to the impact of demand size, one high-end (low-end) MDIP or DIP could be introduced into one low-end (high-end) market at a different price if the demand size is significantly large in the low-end market. For DIPs, offering one niche high-end product is not worse than offering the low-end product into two markets. For MIPs with negligible fixed cost, the product line strategy is not worse than the standard product development strategy. Additionally, the product cost reduction approach adopted in one product line has significant effects on the best product development strategy and sequence.     

Empowering the new traveller: storytelling as a co-creative behaviour in tourism

The work proposes a theoretical and empirical model that investigates how storytelling is a powerful co-creative behaviour in tourism. The contribution takes a step forward from the classical theories on co-creation and develops the case where consumers act almost independently from traditional brands. The empirical study adopts an interpretive approach to analyse online travel reviews. Data are interpreted through Yi and Gong's model on consumer value co-creation behaviour [(2013). Customer value co-creation behavior: Scale development and validation. Journal of Business Research, 66, 127], the Phase dynamics theory of travel epiphany behaviour [Woodside, A. G., & Megehee, C. M. (2010). Advancing consumer behaviour theory in tourism via visual narrative art. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(5), 418–431], and the Archetype theory [Woodside, A. G., Sood, S., & Miller, K. E. (2008). When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research. Psychology & Marketing, 25(2), 97–145]. The study indicates that storytelling behaviours in value co-creation activate a ‘customer delight' response, which is an affect-based construct.     

Contrasting the Drivers of Switching Intent and Switching Behavior in Contractual Service Settings

We examine consumer switching decisions in contractual service settings and contrast the drivers of actual switching with those of switching intent. We surveyed a panel of subscribers to all cell phone service providers in a market and recorded key marketing mix data. At four months intervals, we asked panel members about their switching intentions and then subsequently observed actual switching behavior. Consistent with construal level theory, our findings show that switching intent is explained by only a handful of desirability- or outcome-related variables (i.e., overall satisfaction, performance perceptions of important attributes, and monetary switching costs). In contrast, the results show that many more variable categories contributed to explain actual switching behavior. These findings confirm that switching intent is driven by a qualitatively different set of variables than switching behavior. Implications for theory, research and practice are discussed.     

基于性能化的工业建筑抗震设计分析

本文提出来在重要的不规则的工业结构设计过程中采用性能化抗震设计的方法及实现。主要阐述了结构抗震性能目标的确定方法,文章结合设计实例分析建筑结构的是否满足选定的抗震性能设计,旨在为其他建筑的抗震设计提供参考和借鉴作用。     

On the measurement of investment types: Heterogeneity in corporate tax elasticities

This paper contributes to debates about the appropriate characterisation of heterogeneous investment types and to what extent different investment motives affect the responsiveness to corporate taxation. In particular, we employ and refine a methodology to better evaluate the tax elasticity of investment types. Using a combination of both firm‐specific information and sector‐specific information from input–output tables, we discuss how to classify investment as non‐related, horizontal, vertical and complex types. First, we point out to what extent the resulting classification depends on assumptions made by the researcher. Second, we employ an ample set of classifications and find that non‐related investment reacts stronger to corporate taxation, whereas horizontal investment is less responsive, though, significant negative tax semi‐elasticities turn out for the subset of manufacturing industries. To address inherent characteristics of vertical and complex investment, we extend the methodology and find that, by and large, stronger business motives reduce the tax responsiveness of investment to a larger extent. Given the current debates about substantial corporate tax reforms, it is all the more important to recognise that corporate tax effects can vary fundamentally between countries, driven by country‐specific differences in their composition of industries and investment types.     

Exploring effects of source similarity,message valence,and receiver regulatory focus on yelp review persuasiveness and purchase intentions

This study is among the first to investigate the impact of message, source, and receiver characteristics on user attitudes toward Yelp reviews, with the subsequent impact of these attitudinal evaluations on review persuasiveness. Specifically, it examines the roles of review valence (positive/negative) and sidedness (one-sided/two-sided), as well as perceived similarity with the reviewer, on user perceptions of helpfulness, trustworthiness, and credibility of the review. The study also tests moderating effects of perceived source similarity and user regulatory focus on the relationships among message characteristics, attitudinal variables, and purchase intentions. Our results disconfirm the negativity bias reported in previous studies and indicate that positive reviews are perceived as more trustworthy, credible, and helpful than negative or two-sided reviews. Review helpfulness and credibility, in turn, positively impacts its persuasiveness, with regulatory focus playing a complex nuanced role in the persuasiveness – behavioral intentions relationship. Based on the findings, future research avenues and managerial implications are proposed.