Trading-up on unmet expectations? Evaluating consumers’ expectations in online premium grocery shopping logistics

Geography and retail store locations are inherently bound together; this study links food retail changes to systemic logistics changes in an emerging market. The later include raising income and education, access to a wide range of technologies, traffic and transport difficulties, lagging retail provision, changing family structure and roles, as well as changing food culture and taste. The study incorporates demand for premium products defined by Kapferer and Bastien [2009b. The Luxury Strategy. London: Kogan Page] as comprising a broad variety of higher quality and unique or distinctive products and brands including in grocery organic ranges, healthy options, allergy free selections, and international and gourmet/specialty products through an online grocery model (n?=?356) that integrates a novel view of home delivery in Istanbul. More importantly from a logistic perspective our model incorporates any products from any online vendors broadening the range beyond listed items found in any traditional online supermarkets. Data collected via phone survey and analysed via structural equation modelling suggest that the offer of online premium products significantly affects consumers’ delivery logistics expectations. We discuss logistics operations and business management implications, identifying the emerging geography of logistic models which respond to consumers’ unmet expectations using multiple sourcing and consolidation points.     

公司价值评估中管理者柔性的价值评估研究

现在公司价值评估方法往往没有考虑到对管理柔性价值定价问题。由于管理柔性价值定价是一种类似期权的定价，因此本运用Black—Scholes期权定价模型和买权卖权平价关系，定价管理柔性价值，来完善公司价值评估中的折现现金流量模型。     

Ross risk vulnerability for introductions and changes in background risk

We present two theorems that provide necessary and sufficient conditions for an expected utility maximizer to become more risk averse in the sense of Ross with respect to bearing a foreground risk after the introduction of any independent fair or unfair additive background risk. We call these decision makers Ross risk vulnerable, and show that Ross decreasing absolute risk aversion and Ross decreasing absolute prudence are jointly sufficient for Ross risk vulnerability. Restrictions on utility necessary and sufficient for Ross risk vulnerability with respect to stochastic dominance deteriorations of an existing background risk are also presented. Our analysis concludes with applications of Ross risk vulnerability.     

基于客户经济价值的PSM模型分析——兼论新产品定价

客户经济价值分析是现代企业价格决策的基础,用价格敏感性来分析客户经济价值可以很好地把握客户的心理尺度,确定客户对相关产品或服务的心理价格承受范围,二维和四维测度方法及模型可以较好地帮助我们解决上述问题。     

History-based price discrimination and entry in markets with switching costs: A welfare analysis

We analyze history-based price discrimination in an asymmetric industry, where an incumbent, protected by switching costs, faces an entrant who does not have access to information about consumers’ purchase histories. We demonstrate that consumer surplus is higher with uniform pricing than with history-based price discrimination. We find that the entry decision is invariant to whether the incumbent implements history-based pricing or uniform pricing. This implies that the potential abuse of market dominance imposed by history-based price discrimination is exploitation, not exclusion. Finally, we establish that the profit gain to the incumbent from history-based pricing exceeds the associated loss to consumers.     

财政分权、政府竞争与土地价格结构性偏离

财政分权背景下地方政府的财政约束和政府竞争是导致土地价格结构性偏离的根本原因。地方政府存在拉升商业用地和居住用地出让价格的倾向,金融宽松环境和投机行为盛行会使这两种土地出让价格存在正向偏离其理论地价的可能;而地方政府对流动性税基的争夺过程会导致工业用地出让价格低于其理论价格。工业用地价格与商业和居住用地价格正是在政府这两种反作用力量的作用下出现结构性偏离。     

Monetary policy and the term premium

The term premium has become increasingly important in discussions of monetary policy formulation. This paper reviews two approaches to embedding a variable term premium into an otherwise standard modern DSGE model. The first approach maintains frictionless asset trade but alters preferences so that agents are more averse to the risk in long bonds. The second approach uses traditional preferences, but segments asset trade between long and short bonds. Policy issues are also discussed.     

The impact of liquidity on inflation-linked bonds: A hypothetical indexed bonds approach

Sovereigns mainly issue inflation-linked bonds (ILB) in order to save money. More than 15 years’ experience with this financial instrument in the United States has led to the conclusion that these bonds are characterized by low liquidity issues. Recently, various papers have started to analyze the impact of liquidity on ILB yields. This paper develops a new strategy for estimating the liquidity premium based on Campbell and Shiller's (1996) hypothetical ILB yields. We find significant effects of ILB-specific liquidity measures for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Based on these findings, we derive the liquidity premium in ILB yields, liquidity-adjusted estimates for the break-even inflation rate and the inflation risk premium. In the United States, for instance, the average of the liquidity premium is 0.56%-points, and the average liquidity-adjusted break-even inflation rate and inflation risk premium amount to 2.67%-points and 0.22%-points, respectively.     

Marketing an upgrade to a system: compatibility choice as a price discrimination device

This paper analyzes the different ways in which an innovator can market an upgrade for a basic system when the market for this system is mature and there are two different technological platforms: the innovator’s and a rival’s. Different compatibility choices result in different product lines and yield varying price discrimination opportunities. The paper studies what are the limits to the enforcement of these opportunities and concludes by showing what is the profit maximizing product line choice when consumers are brand loyal. This choice depends on the initial market share of the innovator and on the enhancement of quality that the upgrade provides.     

REAL OPTIONS AND THE CROSS‐SECTION OF EXPECTED STOCK RETURNS

This paper surveys the theoretical literature investigating the effect of firms’ investment flexibility on the cross‐section of expected stock returns. Real options analysis derives firms’ value‐maximizing investment policies as functions of exogenous fundamental drivers of profitability and calculates firms’ market values as functions of the same variables. These functions yield the relationship between expected stock returns and firm fundamentals. Several plausible explanations for the value premium – the high average stock returns earned by firms with high book‐to‐market ratios – emerge from this literature.