The Prospectus Directive

The Prospectus Directive, due to come into force on 1st July, 2005 (the Directive), will harmonise the requirements for the content, approval and publication of prospectuses in relation to offers of securities to the public and applications to admit securities to trading on a regulated market in the EU. It provides for maximum rather than minimum harmonisation of rules relating to prospectuses, in that member states cannot in general require compliance with standards going beyond the requirements of the Directive. Its provisions will be implemented by a Commission Regulation (the Regulation) which will also apply from 1st July, 2005 and member states are required to transpose the Directive by that date. This paper describes the mechanics of the new regime. Of particular interest to those in the business of marketing financial services are the new EU-wide rules on publication of prospectuses and advertisements in connection with them, as explained below.     

Demand,challenges, and marketing strategies in the retail promotion of local brand milk

This article addresses the demand and challenges for local brand milk and focuses on the marketing strategies for retail promotion. While federal and state government make efforts to promote local food purchases and consumption at the farm level, local foods face significant distribution challenges in grocers, especially in larger retail stores. Limited shelf space and high pricing by retailers impedes consumers’ purchases and results in weak competitiveness for local brands. Therefore, it is essential for local producers and “buy local” programs to understand what types of promotion and marketing strategies might be more effective in stimulating demand in retail outlets. Using 2010-2011 Nielsen Retail Scanner data in the Northeast region, we estimate a random-coefficient discrete choice model of demand to determine the effects of nutritional characteristics, price, packaging, and distribution strategies on the consumers’ choice to purchase locally branded milk. Results show that local brand milk faces significant demand challenges in addition to high prices and limited outlets in competing with lower-priced products. Marketing strategies, such as price cut, one-gallon package offering, and expanded presence in retail stores, can significantly stimulate the demand for locally branded milk, with one-gallon package offering being the most effective strategy.     

Optimal seismic monitoring for event location with application to On Site Inspection of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Seismic networks are used to monitor seismic activity including explosions and natural events such as earthquakes. Data from a seismic network are used to identify the occurrence of an event and to determine the source location. The precision of the location estimates is highly dependent on the network configuration. In this article we apply the statistical theory of optimal design to derive network configurations that maximize the precision of location estimates. We derive theoretical characterizations of optimal networks and bounds that can be used to benchmark networks when practical constraints are present. We also discuss practical issues that often arise in seismic monitoring. An application of particular importance for our results is On Site Inspection (OSI) of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Suspected violations of the Treaty may lead the Treaty Organization to send an OSI team to investigate. One of the first tasks of the OSI team will be to deploy a mobile seismic network that can help pinpoint the source of the suspected blast from aftershock activity. Rapid deployment of an efficient network will be critical to the success of the mission. Our results provide a theoretical basis and practical guideline for configuring such a network.     

The role of retail market power and state regulations in the heterogeneity of farm‐retail price transmission of private label and branded products

Given the leading role of private label brands in the fluid milk market, it is of special interest to focus on possible differences in farm‐retail price transmission between private label and branded milk as well as the causes of heterogeneity. This article examines the heterogeneous effects of private label and branded products on price transmission in the fluid milk market using a panel threshold asymmetric error correction model. Results indicate that upward retail‐price adjustment is faster than the downward price adjustment for both private label and branded milk. The speed of adjustment of private label products is significantly faster than branded products in three different price regimes. We further investigate the reasons of heterogeneity in farm‐retail price transmission of private label milk. We find that both retailer market power and state pricing regulations contribute to the heterogeneity in asymmetric price transmission. Higher retailer market power causes retail prices of private label milk to rise faster and to fall slower. The existence of a state pricing regulation slows down the adjustment speed of retail prices of private labels back to the long‐run equilibrium, regardless of whether the retail price is low or high.     

An Evaluation of Government and Industry Proposed Restrictions on Television Advertising of Breakfast Cereals to Children

In the United States, both industry and the federal government have worked to establish voluntary guidelines for how firms market food to children and to establish a threshold for the nutritional quality of foods marketed to children. The authors evaluate three US guidelines that deal with television advertising of breakfast cereals, which is both heavily advertised and a common meal item for children. They find that the majority of cereals advertised primarily to children from 2006 to 2008 do not meet any of the current and proposed self-regulatory nutrition guidelines, and that this is generally due to excessive sugar content. Further, children and adolescents are exposed to more advertising for products that do not meet the nutritional guidelines. We evaluate the extent to which each of the guidelines impacts advertising of cereals that are most viewed by children and purchased by households with children. The results provide insight for policy makers concerned with limiting the extent to which children see television advertising and ultimately consume unhealthy breakfast cereals.