Supplier relationship-specific investments and the role of safeguards for supplier innovation sharing

The vast majority of the supplier innovation literature has focused on how buying firms can effectively “pull” innovations from their suppliers. Yet, we know remarkably little about the factors that contribute to a supplier voluntarily “pushing” innovations to its customers. The present study addresses this research gap in the context of industrial buyer–supplier relationships and with a specific focus on relationship-specific investments. Drawing on theory from the relationship-marketing literature and on transaction cost theory, we devise and test a proposed theoretical model that links the level of a supplier's relationship-specific investments to its sharing of innovative ideas regarding products and processes with customers. The model also considers the role of contract length, relationship age, and buyer–supplier cooperation as possible safeguards. The empirical results suggest that a supplier's relationship-specific investments encourage a supplier to suggest ideas of process innovations but to refrain from suggestions about product innovations. The latter effect, however, can be attenuated by appropriate formal and informal safeguards.     

我国商品住宅交易费用测量研究——以2008年北京市商品住宅交易费用为例

房地产业作为第三产业,是交易服务部门,其中存在大量的交易活动,交易就会产生摩擦成本。由于房地产的特性及其行业市场交易的特征,房地产市场中的交易主要表现为权益交易,交易过程要受到制度的严格约束,所以其摩擦成本也是相对稳定的,可以通过定量分析测算。本文以房地产业为研究对象,按照房地产行业的交易部门特性及其所有费用来测算2003年至2008年我国房地产业的宏观交易费用;并选取商品性住宅为样本,根据诺思在人类行为理论基础上对交易费用和转换费用的划分,只测量通过市场的各种交易费用的启示,把商品性住宅开发分为生产阶段和交易阶段,生产阶段的交易费用部分和交易阶段的所有费用定义为交易费用,通过分析其价格构成,列出可测量的交易费用和转换费用单项,然后运用正向相加法和逆向剔除法,测量2008年北京市商品性住宅微观交易费用,为优化该行业效益提供实证分析基础。     

Blockchain technology for creative industries: Current state and research opportunities

Blockchain based NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and smart contracts provide creative industries with exciting opportunities. While they have created a great deal of frenzy in markets, in the frenzy there emerges real value for the industries. Traditionally, creators in the creative industries often need to rely on powerful intermediaries to distribute and profit from their creations. NFT and smart contracts provide creators much closer access to content consumers/buyers. Along this line of thought, this article provides marketing researchers with an overview of the unfolding adoption of NFTs and smart contracts in creative industries. We start by pointing out the market frictions and consequent “transaction costs” that creators face traditionally when distributing their creative content to consumers/buyers. Then, we present the basic ideas of smart contracts and NFTs, discussing how they can transform the market by reducing these transaction costs. Meanwhile, we point out limitations and challenges that creators, buyers, and marketplaces might face in the adoption of NFTs and smart contracts. Finally, we raise an abundance of unexplored research questions interesting to both marketing researchers and practitioners.