Industrial Organization

The privatisation of state-owned companies is still on the agenda of many governments worldwide. One often stated goal in the privatisation process is the increase of efficiency of the company. The question is which factors do lead to an increase in efficiency and performance of a privatised company. Where are the fundamental differences between public and private companies in this respect? One goal of this paper is also to determine if other or additional variables influence the efficiency of privatised companies in transitional countries -in contrast to developed economies. Based on the research literature, a model was developed that displays all major forces and effects in the privatisation process. Two case studies of telecommunications companies in Germany and Romania are utilised to verify the model. It is expected that privatisation will lead to an increase of efficiency, but that the main thrust derives from competition. Regulation and organisational change will typically also increase the efficiency of the company. The variables "laws and policies" and "economic condition" are of special importance for privatisations in transition economies.

The privatisation of state-owned companies is still on the agenda of many governments worldwide. One often stated goal in the privatisation process is the increase of efficiency of the company. The question is which factors do lead to an increase in efficiency and performance of a privatised company. Where are the fundamental differences between public and private companies in this respect? One goal of this paper is also to determine if other or additional variables influence the efficiency of privatised companies in transitional countries - in contrast to developed economies. Based on the research literature, a model was developed that displays all major forces and effects in the privatisation process. Two case studies of telecommunications companies in Germany and Romania are utilised to verify the model. It is expected that privatisation will lead to an increase of efficiency, but that the main thrust derives from competition. Regulation and organisational change will typically a...

We study the price adjustment practices and provide quantitative measurement of the managerial and customer costs of price adjustment using data from a large U.S. industrial manufacturer and its customers. We nd that price adjustment costs are a much more complex construct than the existing industrial-organization or macroeconomics literature recognizes. In addition to physical costs (menu costs), we identify and measure three types of managerial costs (information gathering, decision-making, and communication costs) and two types of customer costs (communication and negotiation costs). We nd that the managerial costs are more than 6 times, and customer costs are more than 20 times, the menu costs. In total, the price adjustment costs comprise 1.22% of the company's revenue and 20.03% of the company's net margin. We show that many components of the managerial and customer costs are convex, whereas the menu costs are not. We also document the link between price adjustment costs and price rigidity. Finally, we provide evidence of managers' fear of antagonizing customers. I have no answer to the question of how to measure these menu change costs, but these [menu cost] theories will never be taken seriously until an answer is provided. Edward Prescott (1987, p. 113) Given the large number of theoretical papers that evaluate the implications of [price] adjustment costs, obtaining direct evidence that such costs are present seems crucial. Margaret Slade (1998, p. 104)

For too long, most people who run companies have made a variety of unwarranted but detrimental assumptions about pricing. Changing prices, for example, has been looked upon as an easy, quick and reversible process, and new technologies have only reinforced this way ...

Objective: This study analyzed the stages of the material storage process in an industry that operates in the industrial hub of Manaus. Theoretical Framework: The research was based on the theories of processes and storage to build a theoretical architecture that summarizes the state of the art. Method: The method used was a survey, with data collected using a semistructured interview script and another observation script, analyzed using the client-supplier technique and organized using tables summarizing the stages and their contents and objectives. Results and Discussion: The results showed that a) there are eight stages in the storage process used, including a previous stage of weighing the material; b) the more complex stages are performed with a greater number of sub-stages, which allows for fewer failures in the operations as the labor force and technological instruments are specialized in their execution; and c) the specific objectives of each stage are aligned with the intended objective of the storage process. Implications of the Research: The findings show that the empirically observed stages are in line with the theoretical architecture of the study, with the first and last stages being, respectively, reception and dispatch, and the intermediate stages varying according to the type of material and specificities of the production process. Originality/Value: The main contributions of the study to science were the proposition of a conceptual definition for the materials storage process and the confirmation that this process begins with reception and ends with dispatch, differing in the intermediate stages.

This article is aimed at analyzing the motivations on the part of firms to invest in websites. What are the drivers behind such investments? In order to address this issue, we have considered two alternative theoretical frameworks. The first relies upon resourcebased theory; the approach herein states that firms with greater resources and competencies are expected to invest more heavily in Internet technologies, especially those firms present in rent-yielding markets (concentrated markets with strong entry barriers). The theory of industrial organization constitutes a second framework and leads to the alternative conjecture that firms should have more incentive to invest in a website when they are in highly-competitive markets. A website can indeed serve as a strategic means for creating artificial entry barriers and eliminating rivals. We have tested these two hypotheses using a French database and found the resource-based approach to be more relevant in explaining the drivers of website investment. In particular, firms tend to invest more in websites when markets are highly concentrated and little exposed to international trade.

We present a game theoretic model for the availability of product information in Internet markets, where buyers can search for multiple products in parallel. We use a multiple-circle variation of Salop's "unit circle" model of product differentiation where vendors are able to differentiate their products both horizontally (taste) and vertically (quality). We explore the conditions under which vendors make horizontal and vertical product information available to potential customers in equilibrium. We demonstrate that vendors will choose not to provide their full horizontal product information, and will rather leave the buyers with some probabilistic knowledge about their exact horizontal product locations. However, the vendors will release enough horizontal product information for their products to appear distinct from those of competitors. The sellers' incentives to disseminate vertical product information are shown to be fundamentally different: only the worst possible quality vendors will withhold information on vertical product parameters. Our results suggest an answer for the question that is the title of this paper: Is it the case that online vendors release product information primarily to advertise their product's superiority or to make clear that their products do not have close competing substitutes? We find that for high quality products the former is more important while the latter gains significance for lower quality products. We present empirical observations of nearly 2,000 products in the PC game industry that provide evidence in favor of the model's predictions.

. These authors are grateful to Mary W. Sullivan for helpful comments on an earlier draft. costs to manufacturers. Slotting allowances of this sort generally were no longer paid if the product became a part of the wholesaler's regular product line. Manufacturers continue to pay slotting allowances of this kind to wholesalers to gain entry to warehouse inventory. But as the practice expanded, it became common for manufacturers to make these payments to retailers in return for retailers' agreeing to stock and sell the manufacturer's product in its stores. Slotting payments to retailers, which M.A. Lariviere and V. Padmanabhan say were "[h]ardly known before the mid-1980s" (p. 113), began in the retail grocery market and subsequently spread to many other retail markets (P. N. Bloom and G. T. Gundlach). The practice continued to evolve to where manufacturers also offered or paid slotting allowances to retailers just to keep their product in distribution. In the latter instance, a more descriptive name for the payments is a "pay-to-stay allowance." 2 Today manufacturers make payments in a variety of forms to retailers for merchandising services that go far beyond getting and keeping goods in retail distribution. Manufacturers also make payments for the purpose of influencing the display of their goods in stores and promotional decisions made by retailers. These payments entail more complex contracts between manufacturers and downstream vendors than early slotting allowances because they commonly involve, not only the stocking of the manufacturer's product, but the placement of that product (e.g., at eye-level on the retailer's shelves, near the check-out line, or on an end-ofaisle rack), and the display of signage that promotes the product within the store. Payments of this sort are referred to by several names in addition to slotting allowances: merchandising payments, shelf payments, display allowances, or simply trade payments. For the purpose of this paper we will refer to them as slotting allowances. 3 This broader meaning of the term slotting allowance is not unusual. For instance, in testimony before Congress, the Grocery Manufacturers of America use the term "slotting allowance" to describe fees manufacturers pay retailers "to provide the manufacturer access to the retailer's distribution system or to provide 2 Payments to gain or keep retail distribution also are referred to as slotting fees and warehouse changeover allowances.

The countervailing power of large buyers subdues the market power of sellers, but price concessions won by large buyers in upstream markets may or may not translate into lower prices downstream as Galbraith ( , 1954) ) once contended. This paper presents a model that formalizes certain previously neglected elements of Galbraith's argument, and shows that upstream price concessions may lead to lower downstream prices. In this model, a large retail chain store with countervailing power plays one large supplier off against another to win lower prices. An indirect effect of these interactions is that small retailers also pay lower prices, although not as low as the chain. Finally, competition among the retailers drives retail prices lower. The retail-price-restraining effect of the chain is stronger than the effect that is produced by the entry of an additional supplier.

This paper concerns the sale of a vertically differentiated good by a manufacturer to retailers that have market power when reselling to consumers. The contractual relationships between the manufacturer and individual retailers are characterized as "quasi-partnerships," reflecting the ongoing and multi-dimensional nature of such relationships. Contractual terms are predicted by the Nash bargaining solution and are distinguished from those in an ordinary bilateral monopoly because they make allowance for competing, vertically differentiated brands. The model predicts that differences in retailers' ability to promote the manufacturer's brand induce prices that vary systematically with the manufacturer's market share of retailers' sales.

Least‐Cost Planning played a key role in the development of the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries in the USA. It has not been widely used elsewhere, largely due to differences in other nations' regulatory environments and the emergence of competitive markets as the dominant paradigm for electricity planning. Least‐Cost Planning, however, may offer valuable insights for creating regulatory frameworks for competitive electricity markets. This paper examines some lessons which may be extracted from an analysis of the Least‐Cost Planning experience in the USA and suggests how these lessons might prove beneficial in guiding Australia's electricity industry reform. This analysis demonstrates how market‐based reforms may be flawed if they ignore the history of previous reform processes.

ThIS paper exammes the hypothesIs of optlmlzmg behavIOr of the U S. consumers usmg quarterly and seasonally adjusted senes on real consumer expenditures on eIght commodIty groups. clothIng, durable goods, energy, food, hOUSIng, medIcal care, transportatIon, and other~ for the perIod of 1947 I through 1993 I. FolloWIng the Weak AXIom of Revealed Preference (W ARP), a money-metnc utIlIty functIon is derIved to calculate an effIcIency mdex to determme the percentage dIfference between the obscl ved cost of consumptIon and the optImum cost of consumption m each penod of the sample The empmcal resulb provide eVidence that the allocativc effiCIency 111 the U S ha~ improved only slIghtly due to the wave of deregulatlom m the early 1980s. Our results are COTI5lstent with the predIctIOns of the general theory of second best m showmg that gams In the allocattve effiCiency may be mll1lmal a~ long as many sectors of the economy remam partially or totally regulated

The present study examines the effects of market structure and technology on airline fleet composition in the deregulated airline industry. To capture the effects of market structure and technology on airline fleet acquisition and use, a profit function which allows airline fleet in its specification is applied to derive the fleet composition function of an airline. The results show a

Manufacturing companies are currently opting to various strategies to deal with emerging competitive issues. Through sustainable competitive advantage attained by adoption of the right corporate strategies, companies can enjoy better returns, large market share and attract welltrained employees The objective of the study was to establish contribution of diversification strategy on sustainable competitive advantage in cement manufacturing companies in Kenya. The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population were all the six cement manufacturing companies in Kenya. Census sampling approach was adopted to encompass all the six cement manufacturing companies. A proportionate sample of 108 respondents was chosen as a representative of the whole. From the correlation analysis results, the research variable, Diversification Strategy, had a positive influence on sustainable competitive advantage in cement manufacturing companies in Kenya. From the regression analysis results, a coefficient of correlation of 0.770 was obtained indicating that diversification strategy had a positive effect on sustainable competitive advantage in the cement manufacturing companies. The study recommended that management should assess the strategy's suitability considering company's structure, culture, and policies, as well as the overall targeted goals, before implementing it. The study recommended that adequate strategic planning be done and that regular monitoring be done periodically to guarantee they do not deviate from the plans. The study also recommended that cement manufacturers should adhere strictly to the rules set forth, and the relevant ministries should make sure that all businesses do the same.

Este trabajo ha sido desarrollado de manera independiente por Daniel Monteagut Rosales, investigador autodidacta con formación en ciencias médicas y experiencia en emprendimientos económicos. Su motivación surge de una preocupación genuina por los fundamentos del orden económico y el papel que cumplen los valores, las decisiones individuales y la coordinación en los mercados. El presente artículo propone una reinterpretación contemporánea de la ley de la mano invisible de Adam Smith, incorporando herramientas de teoría de juegos, análisis de utilidad marginal decreciente y una proyección macroeconómica basada en conjuntos de empresas y consumidores. Se trata de una propuesta teórica original, con fundamentación matemática, que busca enriquecer el diálogo entre distintas escuelas económicas desde una perspectiva abierta, crítica y constructiva. Este documento no está afiliado a ninguna institución académica, pero ha sido elaborado con el mayor rigor posible, con el propósito de contribuir al debate científico y promover futuras investigaciones aplicadas. Digitally signed by Daniel Monteagut Rosales DN: OID.

The Ecological Impact Fund (EIF) would promote the development of green technologies for, and their wide and effective use in, lower-income countries by offering green innovators a new deal: the EIF will pay you financial rewards for pollution-caused harm averted by deployments of your technology in lower-income countries (the "EIF-Zone") if you permanently forgo, throughout the EIF-Zone, any monopoly rents you might earn
from patents on your registered innovation. The EIF would assess harm on a single scale that takes account of contributions to global warming and to the global disease burden. Rewards would be paid from fixed annual pools divided among registered innovations according to harm averted in the preceding year.

Tourism destinations have long recognized the importance of competitiveness in fostering growth and development within the travel and tourism sector. This study delves into the concept of tourism destination competitiveness, particularly in the context of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The TTCI serves as a global benchmark, evaluating the factors and policies that contribute to a country's ability to sustainably and resiliently develop its travel and tourism (T&T) sector. Initially introduced in 2007, the index has undergone continuous refinement to capture the evolving dynamics of the T&T industry and its impact on economic progress. This study sheds light on the implications and challenges associated with the TTCI, emphasizing the need for further refinement to enhance its effectiveness. Despite ongoing improvements, the TTCI remains a valuable tool for comparing the competitiveness of different countries, offering insights into their strengths and areas for improvement.

This study investigates the impact of supply chain agility on supply chain performance in Jordan's healthcare settings. The moderation role of human capital in this relationship was also investigated. This study adopted a quantitative approach and utilized an online questionnaire to collect data from 139 managers at different levels in various hospitals in Jordan. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used for data analysis. The results of hypothesis testing using multivariate regression analysis showed that human capital has a positive and statistically significant impact on supply chain performance and supply chain agility. Human capital has been identified as an important organizational resource that can result in favorable performance. Such an organizational resource may also help healthcare institutions obtain a competitive edge by responding to patients' treatment, which is urgently required.

This paper attempted to analyze the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in northern rural areas of Vietnam under the globalization. By using "Resource Cost Ratio" (RCR coefficient), analysis was conducted at enterprise level to identify evidence of competitive advantages. In order to question which has the most influence on the enterprise's competitiveness, the relationship between RCR and each contributed factor were quantified. The results of the study revealed no case of competitive enterprises in 2008. Enterprises from Hanoi were less competitive than those from other provinces. Service enterprises were more competitive than the others according to the business sector. In terms of legal form, the more competitive enterprises were the private, stateowned, and limited liability and the less were foreigninvested and joint-stock enterprises. The positive influence of sales of products, revenue losses, and cost of land rent and the negative influence of raw material and energy cost mostly caused the change of the RCR coefficient. The recommendations to enhance competitiveness were the government should abrogate unnecessary formalities in land hiring procedure and the enterprises should adopt advanced marketing practices and upgrade production facilities.

In the fast-paced world of construction, efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration are critical to successful project delivery. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has revolutionized how projects are designed, built, and maintained, offering numerous benefits for stakeholders across the construction industry. From improved communication to reduced errors, BIM services provide an integrated approach to construction that streamlines the entire lifecycle of a project. At the forefront of this transformation bim coordination services boston is building information modeling services. These services allow teams to create, manage, and visualize data-rich digital representations of buildings before construction begins. This article will explore the significance of BIM services, how they enhance project outcomes, and the value of partnering with a service provider for your next project. Understanding Building Information Modeling (BIM) Building Information Modeling (BIM) is more than just a 3D design tool-it's a powerful approach to construction that integrates various aspects of a building's life cycle. It is a digital representation that includes physical and functional attributes, allowing for better decision-making and collaboration. BIM is used by architects, engineers, contractors, and owners to plan, design, construct, and manage buildings more efficiently. BIM incorporates data from all stages of a building's life cycle, including design, construction, and maintenance. It enables real-time collaboration, reduces errors, improves scheduling, and cuts down on costly changes or delays. As a result, BIM is quickly becoming an essential part of the construction process, particularly for complex projects.

Corporate governance is often regarded as a main driver of firm performance. However, previous studies often discover contradicting findings about the causal effect of corporate governance mechanisms on firm performance. In this paper, corporate governance literature will be reviewed with a focus on technology industry. Our paper shows that contemporary literature may overlook the industry and institutional context of technology firms. We propose that a fine-grained empirical setting is important in future research. In particular, the countervailing effect of high information asymmetries in high ownership concentration context may require more attention. Lastly, future studies of technology industries in emerging economies can be focused on the potential interaction effect between corporate governance mechanisms and firm investment.

The financial and commercial banking sector of the economy across the globe is under intense pressure from competition and market changes as customers demand better service delivery. Kenyan banking sector has had a drastic change where many non-banking financial institutions such as microfinance institutions, building societies and Saccos are converting into fully fledged banks. This has led to a tremendous increase in the number of banks to the current 43 thereby setting in increased competition. For banks to gain new markets and retain existing ones, they need to strategize to gain superiority over their rivals by positioning their services, products and their brands aimed at consumer behavior and perceptions. Positioning is therefore regarded as the development of the image of a product or service in the minds of clients directly against that offered by competitors. Kenyan banking industry is dominated by few large banks of which together account over 60 percent market share. This study aimed to examine the positioning strategies adopted by Tier one banks to gain competitive advantage in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study specifically determined the effect of product differentiation, strategic pricing, agency banking and mergers and acquisition on competitive advantage of Tier one banks in Mombasa County, Kenya. Resource based view theory, Porter's theory of competitive advantage, agency theory and modern portfolio theory guided the study. The study methodology entailed conducting descriptive research of 56 branch managers, operational managers and 9 regional managers. The study conducted census. Content validity of the research instruments was ensured by consulting the university supervisor while reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing data after which it was presented in tables. Descriptive statistics included frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistical tools were correlation and multiple regression analysis. The findings indicate that product differentiation (β1 = 0.

The paper examines technology agreements and the standards process from which they emerge when members supply inputs to the alliance while simultaneously competing with it. Under this overlapping ownership structure, pool members are horizontally related. I show that strategic complementarity between the downstream products owned by a member and those arising from the collaboration is sufficient for a pool to be pro-competitive. Although patent pools are more efficient than uncoordinated pricing, consumers are better off if an outside firm rather than a pool member owns the non-pool competing product. Antitrust rules facilitating efficient IP agreements under overlapping ownership and their implications for the direction of technological change are derived.

In this paper we investigate how the knowledge production function is at work in different industrial sectors comparing mature and young companies in Italy. We estimate a two-step model using community innovation survey data. We provide evidence that young firms are particularly effective in translating R&D into product innovation in 'entrepreneurial sectors' (especially in services where it is likely that capital requirements and experience are negligible), while mature companies turn out to be more effective in translating technological acquisitions (TAs) into process innovation in 'routinized sectors' (especially in low-tech manufacturing industries where the main strategy is cost reduction).

This paper investigates the determinants of different types of innovative inputs (R&D and technological acquisitions) and their relationship with different innovative outputs (product and process innovation) by distinguish among firms of different age (mature vs young). In doing so we apply a nonlinear structural model estimated on the third and fourth waves of the Italian Community Innovation Survey (CIS). We find that firm and market characteristics play a distinct role in boosting different types of innovation activities for firms of different age. In particular, while the methods of appropriability, and the international market exposure are relevant for both innovative inputs, the cooperation in innovation activities appears to be important to increase the level of investment in R&D but not in technological acquisition. Moreover, young firms show a higher level of sensitivity than their mature counterparts to the sources of information to innovation when looking at the magnitude of their innovative effort. On the contrary, factors like methods of appropriability and support to innovation appear to be more important in enhancing the level of investment in both R&D and technological acquisitions, for the mature firms only. Finally, the two innovative inputs appear to be equally important in determining both innovative outputs for the two sub-samples of firms.

The restrictions on labor mobility imposed in the COVID-19 pandemic heighten the need to review in detail the role of mobility in improving productivity and fostering economic growth. In this study, we carry out a comprehensive analysis of business visits (BVs) understood as a productivity-enhancing intrapreneurial strategy, using the most extensive set of data available, covering 33 sectors and 14 countries during the period 1998–2013. Our database merges unique information on expenditures on BVs by sector, country, and year, sourced from the US National Business Travel Association, with OECD and World Bank productivity data. We find that BVs raise labor productivity in a significant way, but short-term labor mobility exhibits decreasing returns, being more crucial in those firms, sectors, and countries characterized by less mobility and by lower productivity performances.

Using data on the US and EU top R&D spenders from 2004 until 2012, this paper investigates the sources of the US/EU productivity gap. We find robust evidence that US firms have a higher capacity to translate R&D into productivity gains (especially in the high-tech industries), and this contributes to explaining the higher productivity of US firms. Conversely, EU firms are more likely to achieve productivity gains through capital-embodied technological change at least in medium and low-tech sectors. Our results also show that the US/EU productivity gap has worsened during the crisis period, as the EU companies have been more affected by the economic crisis in their capacity to translate R&D investments into productivity. Based on these findings, we make a case for a learning-based and selective R&D funding, which - instead of purely aiming at stimulating higher R&D expenditures - works on improving the firms' capabilities to transform R&D into productivity gains.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the productivity impact of business visits, relative to traditional drivers of productivity enhancement, namely capital formation and R&D. To carry out the analysis, we combine unique and novel data on business visits sourced from the U.S. National Business Travel Association with OECD data on R&D and capital formation. The resulting unbalanced panel covers on average 16 sectors per year in 10 countries during the period 1998-2011 (2,262 observations). Our results suggest that mobility through business visits is an effective mechanism to improve productivity. The estimated effect is about half as large as investing in R&D, supporting viewing business visits as a form of long-term investment rather than pure consumption expenditure. In a nutshell, our outcomes support the need to recognize the private and social value of business mobility.

This research aims at examining the Islamic banking and finance responses to the emerging financial needs of MSMEs in country cases studies (Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Senegal and Russia). Considering that emergence of the Islamic economics movement focused on constituting Islamic development process (Chapra, 1993, 2000; Ahmad, 1979, 1994; Naqvi, 1981, 1994, among others), MSMEs financing should be an essential part of Islamic banking and finance, which is the main institutional emergence of Islamic economics discourse. Within the
normative base of Islamic economics, developing real economy embedded and profit and loss sharing (PLS) and risk-sharing financing proposition is articulated as an existential operational principle for Islamic finance and banking. MSMEs are such a sphere that directly correspond to
the real economy, PLS and risk-sharing tenets, and therefore, it is expected that Islamic banks and financial institutions develop structures to meet the financing demands of MSMEs whereby they could contribute to economic development. Thus, Islamic logic is expected to prevail over
market logic on transforming the societies and demonstrate that Islamic finance is not only a transaction-based proportion. While there are credible criticisms raised against Islamic banks and financial institutions for giving up such morally constructed propositions and operations and surrendering to the market logic, this research has taken the task to test the performance of Islamic banking concerning their inclusiveness of MSMEs.

We apply widely accepted arguments regarding the inferential properties of scientific experiments to analyse markets and consumer decision-making. Market competition is depicted as a means of generating counterfactual data regarding product characteristics resembling experiments' use of treatment and control conditions to facilitate causal inference. Much like scientific experimentation, competition creates counterfactual data that allows consumers to make causal inferences regarding rival products' treatment effects upon their welfare. Absent the multiplicity of differentiated goods that competitive markets produce, consumers cannot engage in causal inference and demand curves may become inaccurate specifications of marginal social benefit. This application of the potential outcomes framework to microeconomics offers an account of market competition that has implications for understanding welfare problems created by uncompetitive and monopolistic markets, industrial organisation, and the underlying justifications for antitrust policy.

Sở hữu kỳ nghỉ" đã trở thành một ngành công nghiệp du lịch liên quốc gia và mang lại nhiều lợi nhuận đáng kể. Mô hình này đã xuất hiện ở Việt Nam trong những năm gần đây nhưng lại có sự phân cực sâu sắc giữa những khách hàng. Điều này gây nên những bất ổn về kinh tế-xã hội, nhất về thất thoát tài chính lẫn hành vi cư xử trở nên tiêu cực. Bài viết này nhằm tìm hiểu những vấn đề liên quan đến nguyên nhân cuộc tranh luận về mô hình kinh doanh này từ đó đưa ra những khuyến nghị và giải pháp hữu hiệu. Để đạt mục tiêu trên, nhóm tác giả sử dụng phương pháp nghiên cứu hỗn hợp, khảo sát và phân loại, phỏng vấn sâu các nhóm khách hàng của Tập đoàn Alma, sở hữu khu nghỉ dưỡng cao cấp tại Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa dựa trên các trang facebook của cộng đồng người mua. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy, ở Việt Nam khách hàng Sở hữu kỳ nghỉ của công ty Alma chia làm hai nhóm, nhóm mua để có kỳ nghỉ thực thụ (2,3%) tỏ ra rất hài lòng với mô hình Alma và nhóm mua hàng với mục đích kinh doanh (97,3%) không chỉ không hài lòng mà còn tỏ ra tức giận và thất vọng. Nguyên nhân là do mô hình kinh doanh này khai thác sâu về cách bán hàng tinh vi trong khi khách hàng còn "ngây thơ" về những lợi ích và giá trị khi mua hàng. Kết quả này làm tiền đề cho những nghiên cứu tiếp theo về nâng cao nhận thức về văn hóa kinh doanh chân chính trong thời kỳ hội nhập để giảm thiểu rủi ro và hướng đến phát triển kinh tế du lịch bền vững.

The timeshare industry has blossomed into a lucrative international travel sector and has gained popularity in Vietnam in recent years. However, it has sparked significant polarization among con-sumers. While some individuals staunchly support it, others vehemently oppose it, particularly within the same company, known as Alma, which operates luxurious resorts in Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa Vietnam. This paper endeavors to delve into the root causes of these issues, propose potential solutions for in recommendation toward sustainable development.
A mixed-method approach was employed to achieve the research objectives, combining surveys with in-depth interviews conducted with client groups sourced from Facebook community sites of customers. The findings reveal that Alma's Timeshare customers in Vietnam can be categorized into two distinct groups: those who purchase for genuine vacation purposes (2.3%) express high satisfaction with Alma's model, while those who purchase for work-related reasons (97.3%) not only express dissatisfaction but also harbor feelings of disappointment and anger. The utilization of manipulative sales techniques, particularly when consumers are still unaware of the true value and benefits of their purchases, emerges as a significant contributing factor. This discovery lays the groundwork for further exploration into the authentic corporate culture in the age of globalization, with the aim of mitigating risks and fostering sustainable economic development in tourism.
Keywords: Timeshare; Business Culture; Globalization Era; Sustainable Development

The Spanish electricity market has two particularities: 1) the high concentration in the hands of two firms that hold around 80% of the market; 2) the high degree of vertical integration. The same firms buy from and sell electricity into a pool. We model the behavior of firms as competition in supply functions (a la Green and Newberry, 1991) taking into account both the vertical integration and the dynamic features involved in hydroelectrical generation. The different strategic effects we obtain from this model allow us to test the degree of market power of the two main firms through exogenous variations in their downstream demands that have different impact on the pool price. Our results suggest that the two largest firms in the Spanish market exercise market power.

The global apparel industry operates within a highly volatile and competitive environment marked by rapidly shifting consumer preferences, abbreviated product life cycles, and increasingly fragmented global supply chains. In response to these complexities, apparel companies are progressively adopting advanced predictive analytics techniques integrated with Management Information Systems (MIS) to enhance supply chain visibility, responsiveness, and decision-making accuracy. This systematic review explores the current state and strategic applications of MIS-enabled predictive analytics, with a focused examination of two pivotal domains: demand forecasting and supplier risk management. Drawing from a wide spectrum of peerreviewed literature and empirical studies, the paper synthesizes the evolution of datadriven forecasting models, particularly those powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, to illustrate how predictive analytics contributes to anticipating customer demand with higher precision and aligning production accordingly. Moreover, it examines the growing utilization of predictive tools in identifying, assessing, and mitigating supplier-related risks through real-time monitoring, risk scoring, and scenario analysis frameworks. The review underscores the critical role of integrated MIS platforms in consolidating internal and external data, supporting the operationalization of predictive insights, and fostering agile, data-informed supply chain strategies. It further identifies persistent challenges hindering the optimal deployment of predictive analytics, including issues related to data quality, system interoperability, lack of standardized protocols, organizational resistance to technological adoption, and ethical concerns surrounding data privacy and algorithmic bias. The review concludes by highlighting significant gaps in existing research, particularly the underrepresentation of empirical studies in small and medium-sized apparel enterprises, limited cross-functional integration frameworks, and insufficient attention to regulatory and ethical implications in global predictive ecosystems. Accordingly, the paper proposes directions for future studies, advocating for the development of sectorspecific, ethically grounded, and contextually adaptive predictive frameworks that align with the digital transformation trajectory of apparel supply chains.

In developing countries, the main mechanism for acquisition of new technologies, is the purchase of ready-made solutions in the form of investments in machines and technical devices, computer software or investment in new buildings connected with the initiation of the production of innovation products. This is a passive transfer of technologies, in which the company acquires the technology from external sources and does not lead own research and developmental works. The model of logistic regression presented in the article allowed the as sessment of the tendency of the sectors of companies for the purchase of innovation fi xed assets. Taking into account in the modelling the effect of interaction of the company’s size and the type of its property allowed to indicate the directions of implementation of the passive technological progress in the leading provinces in Poland. For the reason that the parameters of the logit model with interactions do not intuitively have the clear interpr...

Systemy przemysłowe w państwach o znacznej luce technologicznej charakteryzują się często niską konkurencyjnością objawiającą się niskim odsetkiem sprzedaży produktów wysokiej techniki na rynku międzynarodowym. Celem artykułu jest określenie kierunków i siły oddziaływania różnych faz cyklu koniunkturalnego na aktywność innowacyjną przedsiębiorstw przemysłowych. Osiągnięte rezultaty analiz potwierdziły występowanie cyklicznej działalności innowacyjnej w regionie wielkopolskim. Na podstawie analizy wykonanej na grupie 918 przedsiębiorstw przemysłowych przy wykorzystaniu regresji probitowej można stwierdzić, że w okresie ożywienia aktywność innowacyjna występuje znacznie częściej niż w pozostałych fazach cyklu koniunkturalnego -recesji i stagnacji. Koniunktura gospodarcza jest zatem istotnym i zmiennym w czasie czynnikiem wpływającym na decyzje innowacyjne przedsiębiorstw. Na tej podstawie zachodzi potrzeba odniesienia aktualnych warunków rynkowych do programowania oddziaływania na zjawisko procesu innowacyjnego w naszym kraju.

The role of law in global value chains: a research manifesto The IGLP Law and Global Production Working Group* Most scholars attribute the development and ubiquity of global value chains to economic forces, treating law as an exogenous factor, if at all. By contrast, we assert the centrality of legal regimes and private ordering mechanisms to the creation, structure, geography, distributive effects and governance of Global Value Chains (GVCs), and thereby seek to establish the study of law and GVCs as rich and important terrain for research in its own right. Across a growing number of sectors and industries, value production is not just transnational in scope; it is organised and coordinated via global networks that link activities across as well as within firms and nations. These networks are increasingly referred to as 'Global Value Chains', or GVCs. The asserted causes of this phenomenon are multiple, and scholars debate which deserves designation as primary. 1 We * In alphabetical order: Grietje Baars,

THE literature of public utility regulation is rich in commentary on valuation theories and other problems focusing on the regulation of profits; it is surprisingly deficient in discussion of methods by which regulation can foster efficiency and progressiveness in the management of regulated enterprises.' This hiatus in the literature reflects the fact that regulatory agencies have been so preoccupied with problems of profit limitation that they have devoted relatively little attention to tile task of improving utility operations. An explanation of the lack of concern of regulatory agencies with problems of efficiency and progressiveness in management reades out in a number of directions. In part, it is explained by inadequate personnel, meagre appropriations, lack of authority and absence of initiative on the part of the regulatory agency. In part, it is inherent in the traditional conception of the regulatory function as one of restraint rather than guidance. Regulation in its very nature is a cumbersome method of controlling economic activity. 2 It superimposes one set of persons acting on behalf of the public on another set of persons acting on behalf of a privately-owned industry, and it divides responsibility between them. As a result, the very difficult problem of the precise line of demarcation between the authority of private management and the authority of the government agency is presented. According to standard theory -generally accepted by the regulatory agenciesthe commissions operate negatively rather than affirmatively. They may approve, modify, or veto policies when the law vests them with the requisite authority, but they ordinarily abstain from taking the responsibility of determining policy in the first instance. The initiative for the day-to-day conduct of the utility's business and the responsibility for efficient organization lie with private management. 3

This paper tries to assess the possible existence of excess of capacity for the Spanish port infrastructures. In order to do this, we estimate a cost function system considering the existence of demand uncertainty of cargo and passengers for port authorities. We find that, in order to fulfil the regularity conditions of the cost function system, we have to specify both demands as uncertain. The results show the importance of passenger variability in terms of demand of variable inputs and the use of quasi-fixed input. We also demonstrate the excess of capacity from the calculation of the shadow price of the quasi-fixed input after controlling demand uncertainty. Finally, some factors as the size of the port authorities' hinterland, the relative specialization in containerised general cargo or passengers, the size of ports, the profitability rate or port regulation are considered as determinants of this excess of capacity.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of generic strategy on R&D spending and the impact of R&D spending on firms’ performance conditional on their strategic position. This empirical study uses accounting data of 597 listed Taiwanese firms in the manufacturing industry from 2013 to 2017. The data was obtained from Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) database. The results indicate that firms that adopt a differentiation strategy have more R&D spending than companies with a cost leadership strategy. Furthermore, the authors find that R&D spending positively affects firms’ performance if they pursue a differentiation strategy. Meanwhile, the relationship between R&D spending and firm performance forms an inverted U-shape for those who adopt a cost leadership strategy. First, for firms adopting the differentiation strategy, the investment in R&D is critical because the more investment on R&D these firms spend, the better performance they will gain. Second, for firms with a cost-leadership...

The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, innovation and financial performance, through the mediating role of absorptive capacity and technological innovation capability. The study used a quantitative research method to collect data via questionnaire from the executive officers of 156 startup organizations in Thailand. Respondents were selected using a simple random sampling method and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results demonstrate that entrepreneurship orientation is a variable directly and significantly correlated with innovation and financial performance. However, it was found that entrepreneurship orientation does not correlate indirectly with innovation or financial performance via the mediation of absorptive capacity and technological innovation capacity. The results of the study can enable startup businesses in Thailand to create and pay attention to the behavior of entrepreneurship orientation to improve the ...

This paper analyses the impact of different knowledge sources of product innovation in Vietnam using firm-level data. We analyze the separate impacts of internal knowledge, collaborative knowledge, and regional knowledge. The analysis reveals that internal knowledge sources from internal R&D have a positive influence on product innovation. However, not all kinds of collaborative knowledge sources have significant effects on innovation. Only collaborative knowledge gained from inside the supply chain affects product innovation positively. Apparently, the capacity to benefit from working with knowledge institutes and absorbing knowledge from the environment do not materialize in new products.

This empirical study aims to identify the importance of Digital Technologies (DT) as an enabler in the Circular Economy (C.E.) based business model, especially during Covid-19. The concept of 'circular economy' has now been advocated as a methodology to stimulate economic growth in line with the environmental sustainability. Hence, the practices of recycling, reduction, reuse/re-manufacture, and repairing (4R's) are deemed to be the core of a circular economy. Recently, the advent of the pandemic Covid-19 has forced the nations of the world to resort to alternate resource use in their manufacturing and trading of goods and services as the supply chains have almost remained disrupted since Covid-19 appeared. We investigate the impacts of Covid-19 upon the use of technological innovation (T.I.), circular economy practices (CEP), and organizational performance (ORP) incorporating the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Our results show that Covid-19 significantly impacted the adoption of technological innovation, circular economy, which leads toward organizational performance. Moreover, the practices and operations under the circular economy framework also appear to influence organizational performance significantly. Our study findings bring forward meaningful insights into improving CEF-cum-technology based practices in developing and emerging markets in Asia, and convey significant implications for the business community, policymakers, and researchers.

This paper describes the development and initial use (beta test) of a simulation in the field of Organizational Behavior. The authors believe that this is the first simulation to be developed specifically for use in an undergraduate course on Organizational Behavior. The paper discusses the purpose of the simulation, how the simulation was developed, how the simulation works and the response to the simulation, thus far, by two undergraduate classes of an OB course.