To Justify or Not to Justify: The Role of Anticipated Regret on Consumers’ Decisions to Upgrade Technological Innovations

Prior research suggests that adoption decisions are primarily based on product features and experiential opportunities, like trial and observation. Our research follows inquiries that identify anticipated regret (AR) as an emotion integral to consumer decision making. Prior research and current retailing practice assume that AR can be alleviated by compelling product attribute-based rationales for immediate purchase. These rationales often take the form of direct attribute comparisons between the current best and the future technologies. Counter-intuitively, we find that giving consumers attribute-based justifications for immediate purchase produces a uniform level of AR and purchase delay regardless of the perceived rate of innovation (PRI). However, under conditions of low PRI and no justification, AR decreases significantly. A clear implication of our findings is that firms marketing current technology should not rush to provide consumers with justifications for immediate upgrade since such communications will remind consumers of what they might miss if they adopt now, resulting in increased AR and purchase delays. Instead, we suggest that retailers focus promotional efforts on highlighting the hedonic benefits consumers experience by adopting today.     

国外寿险领域银行保险的发展及对中国的启示

银行保险是目前国际上盛行的保险销售渠道,尤其是在寿险领域中成效显著。通过分析银行保险在寿险领域中的发展状况,研究了银行保险寿险产品的特征与趋势,以及影响银行保险在寿险领域中发展的相关因素。本文认为,我国保险公司在开展银行保险方面,应首先保证银行保险的低成本优势,同时依据现阶段的政策环境,顺应银行与客户的需求,开发新型的银保寿险产品。     

商业银行理财产品绩效评价研究

本文针对理财产品市场的复杂现状,建立商业银行理财产品的评价指标体系,以23家国内商业银行发行的人民币银行理财产品为样本,从风险和收益两个维度对理财产品进行综合绩效评价,并在此基础上为理财产品市场进一步的发展提出了相关的建议。     

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.     

Regulatory effects on the market penetration and capacity of reliability differentiated service

This paper investigates the effects of alternative forms of regulation on the market penetration and capacity that are determined by a profit-maximizing monopolist providing reliability differentiated service to consumers. Both price cap and rate of return regulation lead to larger capacity and market penetration than in the absence of regulation. These forms of regulation also lead to larger consumer surplus than in the absence of regulation. A minimum reliability standard reduces market penetration, and this reduction may lead to a decrease in consumer surplus.      

The Relationship Between Firm Size and Innovation Activity: A Double Decision Approach†

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between firm size and innovation activity using Spanish data at firm level corresponding to the manufacturing sector for the period 1990-93. This exercise is different to previous applications because we allow for different size effects in the decision to innovate and the innovation count equation, in the context of a double-hurdle approach. Several tests confirm the hurdle negbin model. We find that firm size is a relevant factor, although size effects are different in both decisions. A robust result from the different specifications estimated is the rejection of the Gilbert and Newbery hypotheses. We find out that the behaviour of firm size is neither linear in the decision nor in thc count equation. We also provide additional, and sometimes different, evidence to previous Spanish studies on R&D.