Industrial Organization Commons^™

Why It's Vital To Keep Manufacturing Alive, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

Augustine Tan responds to Singapore Democratic Party candidate Tan Jee Say's online article.

Boeing And Airbus: Duopoly In Jeopardy?, John Olienyk, Robert J. Carbaugh

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Business

For decades, Boeing and Airbus have struggled for dominance in the large commercial aircraft market. In 2010 and 2011, the World Trade Organization ruled that each firm has received illegal subsidies from the governments of the United States and the European Union, which have enhanced their competitive positions. This paper considers the nature of these rulings and the future competitive environment in the global jetliner industry.

Local Technological And Demographic Effects On Electricity Transmission: A Spatially Lagged Local Estimation Of New England Marginal Losses, Jacob P. Hochard

Gettysburg Economic Review

Electricity transmission is subject to distribution losses and congestion costs. Economists have prior theorized that these transmission imperfections could create divided markets with electricity generating spatial oligopolists. This concern has been largely dismissed because of recent technological advances in electricity transmission. The effects of local technological and demographic indicators on electricity transmission costs remains both commonly accepted as negligible and spatially untested. This analysis employs a spatially lagged local estimation of New England’s marginal electricity losses with respect to both technological and demographic indicators. The results of this analysis are consistent with the widely accepted notion that technological advances have …

Estimating The Effects Of Integrated Film Production On Box-Office Performance: Do Inhouse Effects Influence Studio Moguls?, Daniel M. Polyakov

CMC Senior Theses

Each year well over one billion movie tickets are sold to an audience who knows very little about what they are getting themselves into. Why is it that despite the uncertainty, people return to the theaters to see what Hollywood has in store for them? In efforts to provide answers regarding the driving forces behind Hollywood’s blockbuster hits, this study takes into account the integration levels of the studios. Specifically, does a movie produced in-house at a large studio have a better chance of being a blockbuster hit than one which is outsourced to an independent production company? Further, I …

The Stability Of Offshore Outsourcing Relationships: The Role Of Relation Specificity And Client Control, Stephan Manning, Arie Y. Lewin, Marc Schuerch

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Offshore outsourcing of administrative and technical services has become a mainstream business practice. Increasing commoditization of business services and growing client experience with outsourcing have created a range of competitive service delivery options for client firms. Yet, data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN) suggests that, despite increasing market options and growing client quality and cost efficiency expectations, clients typically renew provider contracts and develop longer-term relationships with providers. Based on ORN data, this paper explores drivers of this phenomenon. The findings suggest that providers promote contract renewal by making client specific investments in software, IT infrastructure and training, and …

Take Me Out Of The Ball Game: The Efficacy Of Public Subsidies In The Success Of Professional Sports Stadiums, Jonah Chodosh

CMC Senior Theses

This paper weights the relative advantages of multiple factors that lead to the success of professional sports stadiums in major markets, though a discussion of the arguments for and against public subsidies towards these projects. Using a logit statistical model, the paper determines that the two factors determining the highest likelihood of venue success include multiple tenants and access to mass transit. The analysis demonstrates that public subsidies towards stadiums don’t generate sufficient economic returns, and that successful stadiums can be created without using taxpayer funds.

Winning Off The Field: The Determinants Of Mlb Franchise Value, David F. Ulrich

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the underlying drivers of MLB franchise value. Using panel data for MLB teams from 2000-2010, I find that a team’s ballpark and metro-area market are significant determinants, yet revenues truly drive value. Further, I find that incremental increases in winning percentage by a particular team has an insignificant effect on total revenues and has no marginal impact on the value of the team, particularly if the team recognizes consistent revenue streams every year. Finally, I show that the modern sabermetric approach to player management negatively impacts firm value, suggesting that although small market teams have been successful …

Outsourcing And Offshoring: Problems For Price And Productivity Measurement, Susan N. Houseman

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Use Of Administrative Data To Track Employees And Firms: The Case Of Auto Workers And Their Communities, Randall W. Eberts

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Auto Workers And Their Communities: What We Know, Don't Know, And Would Like To Know, Randall W. Eberts

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Outcomes Of Policies For Displaced Workers: An American Perspective, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Advertising Collusion In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea M. Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We analyze non-price advertising by retail firms, when the firms are privately informed about their respective costs of production. In a static advertising game, an advertising equilibrium exists in which lower-cost firms select higher advertising levels. In this equilibrium, informed consumers rationally employ an advertising search rule in which they buy from the highest-advertising firm since lower-cost firms also select lower prices. In a repeated advertising game, colluding firms face a trade-off: the use of advertising can promote productive efficiency, but only if sufficient current or future advertising expenses are incurred. At one extreme, if firms pool at zero advertising, …

Advertising Competition In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea Myoung Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider non-price advertising by retail firms that are privately informed as to their respective production costs. We construct an advertising equilibrium, in which informed consumers use an advertising search rule whereby they buy from the highest-advertising firm. Consumers are rational in using the advertising search rule, since the lowest-cost firm advertises the most and also selects the lowest price. Even though the advertising equilibrium facilitates productive efficiency, we establish conditions under which firms enjoy higher expected profit when advertising is banned. Consumer welfare falls in this case, however. Under free entry, social surplus is higher when advertising is allowed. …

Corporate Philanthropic Giving, Advertising Intensity, And Industry Competition Level, Ran Zhang, Jigao Zhu, Heng Yue, Chunyan Zhu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This article examines whether the likelihoodand amount of firm charitable giving in response tocatastrophic events are related to firm advertising intensity,and whether industry competition level moderatesthis relationship. Using data on Chinese firms’ philanthropicresponse to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, we findthat firm advertising intensity is positively associated withboth the probability and the amount of corporate giving.The results also indicate that this positive advertisingintensity-philanthropic giving relationship is stronger incompetitive industries, and firms in competitive industriesare more likely to donate. This study thus provides evidencesuggesting that even in the wake of catastrophicevents, corporate philanthropic giving is strategic.

The Political Mobilization Of Corporate Directors: Socio-Economic Correlates Of Affiliation To European Pressure Groups, Matthew Bond, Siana Glouharova, Nicholas Harrigan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Business has played a central role in the debate over Britain's place in the European Union. This paper examines the socio-economic characteristics of directors of Britain's largest corporations who affiliated either to Business for Sterling or Britain in Europe. It reports associations between directors' social backgrounds and their probabilities of affiliation. Elite university education, club membership, wealth and multiple directorships were all associated with higher propensities to affiliate. The associations are consistent with the idea that directors' social resources allow them to overcome collective action problems as well as supplying them with the motivations to affiliate. They also indicated that …

Essays On Export Destination Decisions And Spillovers From Inward Fdi: Evidence From Chilean Manufacturing Plants, Ivan A. Duran Diaz

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between destination country characteristics and Chilean firm characteristics on the export destination decisions of Chilean firms. Additionally, it explores the impact generated by inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on Chilean firms' export decisions, wages, and productivity.

For the first study, a random coefficients logit approach is employed to model export likelihood to a particular destination country. From this, estimates of export substitution elasticities among destination countries are obtained, given changes in some of their macroeconomic variables such as GDP. Both destination country and the Chilean firms' characteristics are shown to be relevant in the export …

Advertising Competition In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea M. Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider non-price advertising by retail firms that are privately informed as to their respective production costs. We construct an advertising equilibrium, in which informed consumers use an advertising search rule whereby they buy from the highest-advertising firm. Consumers are rational in using the advertising search rule, since the lowest-cost firm advertises the most and also selects the lowest price. Even though the advertising equilibrium facilitates productive effi ciency, we establish conditions under which firms enjoy higher expected profit when advertising is banned. Consumer welfare falls in this case, however. Under free entry, social surplus is higher when advertising is …

Advertising Collusion In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea M. Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We analyze non-price advertising by retail firms, when the firms are privately informed about their respective costs of production. In a static advertising game, an advertising equilibrium exists in which lower-cost firms select higher advertising levels. In this equilibrium, informed consumers rationally employ an advertising search rule in which they buy from the highest- advertising firm, since lower-cost firms also select lower prices. In a repeated advertising game, colluding firms face a tradeoff: the use of advertising can promote productive efficiency but only if sufficient current or future advertising expenses are incurred. At one extreme, if firms pool at zero …

Monopoly, Regulation, And Innovation, Matt Bogard

Economics Faculty Publications

Recently the Justice department has started investigations into alleged anti-trust violations by Monsanto. This has helped fuel a lot of already hyped discontent with one of the world’s leaders in innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture. This article discusses how the regulatory environment could possibly have contributed to more concentration and power in the biotech industry. Increasing regulation would likely have the opposite effect of creating a level playing field in the agriculture industry. From AgWeb, March 27,2010 http://www.agweb.com/blog/Economic_Sense_190/Monopoly_Regulation__and_Innovation_10771/

Between Apprehension And Support: Social Dialogue, Democracy, And Industrial Restructuring In Central And Eastern Europe, Aleksandra Sznajder Lee

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article explores the attitudes of trade union organizations to restructuring and privatization of their enterprises to strategic foreign investors in Central and Eastern Europe's biggest steel producers: Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia. Contrary to advocates of insulating technocratic decision-makers from social partners, this article argues that higher quality of democracy and concomitant social dialogue carried out at the level of the sector with union organizations that are autonomous of the government in power (as was the case in the Czech Republic and Poland), are associated with greater restructuring and with support for privatization to strategic foreign investors. In …

Multiple-Product Firms And Product Switching, Andrew B. Bernard, Stephen J. Redding, Peter K. Schott

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper examines the frequency, pervasiveness, and determinants of product switching by US manufacturing firms. We find that one-half of firms alter their mix of five-digit SIC products every five years, that product switching is correlated with both firm- and firm-product attributes, and that product adding and dropping induce large changes in firm scope. The behavior we observe is consistent with a natural generalization of existing theories of industry dynamics that incorporates endogenous product selection within firms. Our findings suggest that product switching contributes to a reallocation of resources within firms toward their most efficient use. (JEL L11, L21, L25, …

The Gettysburg Economic Review, Volume 4, Spring 2010

Gettysburg Economic Review

No abstract provided.

Developing A Convention And Event Management Curriculum In Asia: Using Blue Ocean Strategy And Co-Creation With Industry, David L. Jones

Hospitality Management

In this article the author discusses the development of a convention and event management curriculum in Asia through blue ocean strategy and co-creation with the industry. He emphasizes the necessity to differentiate the product from the competition, which is a concept that applies to an academic degree programs in order to create a niche in the market. The author also discusses the approach being used and the development of the curriculum.

Licensing And Patent Protection, Aniruddha Bagchi, Arijit Mukherjee

Faculty Articles

We show the impact of technology licensing on optimal patent policy. Strong patent protection that eliminates imitation may not be the equilibrium outcome in the presence of licensing. Depending on the cost of innovation, licensing may either increase or reduce the strength of the patent protection.

Chapter Four, Production And Costs, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. — August 20, 2009 (with internal draft date January 16, 2009). Production and costs [Unpublished manuscript]. The main chapter text, comprising an introduction and four numbered sections on production in economic theory, production relations versus production functions, cost prices and profits, and empirical evidence on labor conditions and costs, followed by a reference list.
• Shaikh, A. — undated (annotated November 27, 2010). Appendix 4.1: Classical versus conventional national accounts [Unpublished manuscript]. A supplementary appendix mapping classical and conventional national-accounting frameworks, with accompanying footnotes and a reference list.
• Shaikh, A. — undated. Appendix 4.2: Numerical example …

Brokerage Industry Self-Regulation: The Case Of Analysts’ Background Disclosures, Lawrence Brown, Artur Hugon, Hai Lu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We evaluate an industry disclosure initiative designed to inform investors, the practice of providing information regarding investment professionals’ backgrounds. Implicit in the motivation for this initiative is the presumed relevance of background information to investors seeking investment professionals’ guidance. We find that analysts with disclosure incidents forecast less accurately than a matched sample of analysts without such disclosures, and that the market views disclosed analysts’ earnings forecasts as less credible than those of the matched sample. Our evidence is consistent with disclosures signaling a persistent analyst characteristic. We conclude that analyst backgrounds are informative regarding both the accuracy and credibility …

Where Have All The Michigan Auto Jobs Gone?, Randall W. Eberts, George A. Erickcek

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Describing The Economic Impact Of The Oil And Gas Industry In Arkansas, Katherine A. Deck, Viktoria Riiman

Publications and Presentations

The Arkansas oil and natural gas industries are increasingly important to the state’s economic vitality. As global demand for energy increases, domestic production is put into the spotlight. This study describes the economic impact of the oil and gas industries in Arkansas, focusing on the sector’s economic output, employment, and tax revenues.

Are Credit Unions In Ecuador Achieving Economies Of Scale?, Nick A. Marchio

Economics Honors Projects

This study tests the assertion that membership growth in credit unions is constrained by their unique structural features, such as their non-profit mission and member-based ownership. Although these features enhance inclusiveness, existing theory suggest that they work against efficiency when membership grows too diffuse. To address this issue, this study uses a model that takes into account existing theory on constrained-optimization in credit unions and theory on the adverse effects of diffuse ownership. Using data on 36 public credit unions in Ecuador, the empirical analysis finds evidence that credit unions can achieve economies of scale despite their problematic structural features. …

Exploring The Impact Of Economic Downturn And Method To Increase Hotel Sales Department Revenues, Amy Forss

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how hotel sales are affected by the weak economy and determine a business plan for hotel sales departments to survive through the current economic downturn. The goal is to suggest ways that the sales department can increase revenues and survive through the downturn to come out ahead of the competition. Suggestions will be provided to, in particular, the sales departments of hotels to continue to increase revenues despite travel being down in the United States and internationally. In doing so, it will be important to discuss how down economies have an impact …