The Competitive Effects of Advertising in the US Automobile Industry, 1970‐94

Is advertising anticompetitive? One school of thought in industrial economics holds that advertising increases profits and reduces consumer welfare by creating spurious product differentiation and barriers to entry. Another school focuses on the informative character of advertising, claiming that advertising makes markets more competitive and reduces profits by supplying consumers with information about price and quality. We distinguish these views by examining the effect of advertising on competition in the US automobile industry. Our data include advertising, sales, profit, and market-share figures for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler over a 25-year period from 1970 to 1994.We ask if advertising increases or decreases profitability, controlling for market structure and other factors affecting demand.Wefind that these firms cannot increase their profits above normal levels by increasing their advertising expenditures. This evidence supports the view that advertising serves primarily to transmit information, not to create entry barriers.     

城市历史地段旅游开发中吸引力—承载力矩阵的应用——以南京内秦淮河历史地段为例

城市历史地段既是城市旅游的一部分,又是城市文化遗产的重要构成.协调城市历史地段的遗产保护与旅游开发是困扰城市发展的一个难题.本文以吸引力-承载力矩阵为研究工具,结合实地调查,剖析南京内秦淮河历史地段的市场吸引力和遗产承载力,为城市历史地段的遗产旅游开发提供建议和指导.     

对大陆传媒“市场化”发展问题的反思

在纪念改革开放三十年的今天，大陆新闻媒介应该如何发展仍然是一个富有争议的问题。本文通过对过去二十多年大陆新闻媒介“市场化”研究的评析；通过重新认识最早“市场化”经营的媒体广告在媒体发展中的地位与作用；通过对所谓媒介“市场化”问题的批判的评析，澄清人们对新闻媒介“市场化”发展认识上的一些谬误和误解。     

The Advertising–price Relationship: Theory and Evidence

The relationship between advertising and price is important because the welfare effect of advertising depends upon the price effect of advertising. We attempt to provide a better understanding of the theoretical relationship between advertising and price. We establish theoretical conditions sufficient for advertising to raise prices. This will occur, for example, when firms play a supermodular game – a structure that considers the type of advertising (i.e., persuasive, image creating, or informative) and the effect that advertising has on a firm’s demand and costs. We also compare results from two simple duopoly models, one with horizontal and the other with vertical differentiation, and find that only the model with horizontal differentiation is supermodular for the forms of advertising that are thought to raise price (e.g., persuasive advertising). In consideration of these theoretical issues, we then develop an empirical model to determine whether advertising raises prices in the US brewing and cigarette industries.     

论承认差异的平等正义

社会结构的差异性、利益主体的多元化、文化的多样性与生活方式的差异化是当下平等正义的时代背景。由于人与人、群体与群体之间的差异事实上存在,且会对到底什么是平等正义产生影响,因此主张对人与人、群体与群体之间的差异进行承认的差异平等才是当下的理性诉求。为了做到差异平等,应减少文化霸权、破除经济垄断、消灭政治歧视。     

Empathetic responses to advertising: Testing a network of antecedents and consequences

It has been proposed conceptually that viewers respond to certain advertisements via Empathetic Responses; that is, by feeling with depicted characters. Such deep viewer engagement is especially valued in today’s media environment and is central to dramatic advertising strategies. Nevertheless, Empathetic Responses remain relatively understudied. We situate Empathetic Responses within a model comprising high-level personality domains (within the “Big Five”), lower-level personality facets (multidimensional Trait Empathy), and Perceived Ad Vividness, all as antecedents, as well as consequent Ad-Evoked Feelings. Our findings clarify the composition and function of Empathetic Responses, adding to both basic and applied understandings.

Partial carryover of advertising

A model that combines advertising carryover with purchase reinforcement is presented. It accommodates the possibility that certain members of the consumer population rely only on their experience with the product, while others are also affected by past advertising. Empirical results with two product categories indicate that for bimonthly data advertising retention does not exist at all.     

Goodwill and dynamic advertising strategies

In this paper, we empirically analyze weekly advertising policies of manufacturing firms in consumer goods markets. We assume firms engage in persuasive advertising, thus policies of firms affect the goodwill of a brand. We introduce a demand and a goodwill production function. A simple transformation of the demand function allows us to identify not only the demand parameters but also the parameters of the goodwill production function. We reconstruct the unobserved goodwill levels using these parameters and past advertising levels. We restrict our attention to Markov Perfect Equilibrium (MPE) strategies which are functions of payoff relevant state variables. Without imposing further restrictions on the dynamic competitive environment, we investigate the relationship between observed advertising strategies—which are assumed to be MPE—and payoff relevant state variables by means of several reduced form specifications. The most important determinant of advertising intensity turns out to be goodwill. We demonstrate that controlling for an advertising campaign significantly improves the explanatory power of the model. JEL Classification L13 . C73 . M30 . M37 I would like to thank Volkswagen Stiftung for the generous financial support which made this research possible.     

Vertical Product Differentiation and Advertising

A duopoly model is developed in which firms' strategic variables include brand quality, the number of distinct market segments to enter and price. Informative advertising is used to overcome consumer ignorance about brands. In contrast to many existing models in which firms engage in price competition, the subgame perfect equilibria of the game are not characterised by the production of vertically differentiated products. Further, whilst the firms typically produce identical high quality products, in some circumstances the production of homogeneous low quality brands can be an equilibrium strategy.     

Adapted or standardized copy: Is non-cultural English the answer?

International advertisers often wonder whether to adapt their copy to each country they operate in or to globally standardize their message, especially in non-Anglophone markets. While the current business lingua franca is English, how easily can it be introduced into advertising without alienating consumers, and would a simpler English message work better? Does the culture of a brand also influence the impact of English use in non-Anglophone markets? This research examines the interaction between language choice and brand culture in a non-Anglophone market. Specifically, the studies review the value of Globish, a non-cultural form of English. The results suggest that using standardized English copy has relevance in non-Anglophone countries for global brands, but that Globish can also be useful for local brands seeking to upgrade their value in a local market. Globish is shown to be an interesting alternative option in adapting or standardizing advertising strategies. Managerial implications close the paper.