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on Industrial Organization |
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Issue of 2007‒12‒01
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Czellar, Sandor; Kocher, Bruno |
| Abstract: | This paper is an investigation into whether and under which conditions consistency between brand name and logo may positively influence consumer attitudes toward brands through three studies. |
| Keywords: | brand name; logo; consumer attitude; communication |
| JEL: | D11 M31 M37 |
| Date: | 2007–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:0875&r=ind |
| By: | Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira (St. Francis Xavier University); Maria A. García-Valiñas (University of Oviedo); Francisco González-Gómez (University of Granada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we try to explain differences in the average price of domestic water supply services in Spain, paying special attention to the effects of privatisation of the service on price levels. We base our empirical analysis on the application of a `treatment effects' model on a sample of 53 major urban municipalities. This model accounts for the fact that municipalities do not randomly assign themselves between a group using strictly public ownership and management and a group where all or part of the service has been delegated to a private firm. We find that, once this endogeneity is taken into account, there seems to be a positive and significant effect of privatisation on water price levels. |
| Keywords: | Urban water services, privatization, water prices |
| JEL: | C21 L33 L95 |
| Date: | 2007–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:fegper:05/07&r=ind |
| By: | Haufler, Andreas; Schulte, Christian |
| Abstract: | In many situations governments have sector-specific tax and regulation policies at their disposal to influence the market outcome after a national or an international merger has taken place. In this paper we study the implications for merger policy when countries non-cooperatively deploy production-based taxes. We find that whether national or international mergers are more likely to be enacted in the presence of nationally optimal tax policies depends crucially on the ownership structure of firms. When all firms are owned domestically in the pre-merger situation, non-cooperative tax policies are more efficient in the national merger case and smaller synergy effects are needed for this type of merger to be proposed and cleared. These results are reversed when there is a high degree of foreign firm ownership prior to the merger. |
| Keywords: | merger regulation; tax competition |
| JEL: | H21 H77 L13 L50 |
| Date: | 2007–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:2074&r=ind |
| By: | Timothy S. Simcoe; Stuart J.H. Graham; Maryann Feldman |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the intellectual property strategy of firms that participate in the formal standards process. Specifically, we examine litigation rates in a sample of patents disclosed to thirteen voluntary Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs). We find that SSO patents have a relatively high litigation rate, and that SSO patents assigned to small firms are litigated more often than those of large publicly-traded firms. We also estimate a series of difference-in-differences models and find that small-firm litigation rates increase following a patent's disclosure to an SSO while those of large firms remain unchanged or decline. We interpret this result as evidence of a "platform paradox" -- while small entrepreneurial firms rely on open standards to lower the fixed cost of innovation, these firms are also more likely to pursue an aggressive IP strategy that may undermine the openness of a new standard. |
| JEL: | L0 L17 L26 O34 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13632&r=ind |
| By: | Rousseva, Rossitza (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | Software development activities have been identified as a 'window of opportunity' for latecomer companies. Notwithstanding the growth of software development activities in the latecomers, there are single exceptional cases of companies that have successfully launched their own products in global software markets. This suggests that most of the latecomer software companies possess limited technological capabilities. This point has not been explored systematically in the literature so far, as the critical literature review reveals. This paper develops an approach for analysing technological capabilities in latecomer software industries. It outlines the specifics in analysing technological capability in latecomer software companies and makes an account of the array of technical and organisational capabilities associated with development of software technological capability. The research also looks at the diverse learning paths pursued by the latecomer companies in developing software activities. The study improves our understanding about the complexity in developing software industries in latecomer context, and the challenges the latecomer companies face in entering and competing in international markets. |
| Keywords: | technological capabilities, software industry, latecomers |
| JEL: | O32 O33 O57 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2007035&r=ind |
| By: | Ashish Arora; Anand Nandkumar |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how the existence of a functioning market for technology differentially conditions the entry strategy and survival of different types of entrants, and the role of scale, marketing ability and technical assets. Markets for technology facilitate entry of firms that lack proprietary technology and increase vertical specialization. However, they also increase the relative advantage of downstream capabilities, which is reflected in the relatively improved performance of incumbent Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) firms compared to startups. We find that diversifying entrants perform better relative to startups. Contrary to earlier studies, we find that spin-offs do not perform any better than other startups. Moreover, firms founded by serious hobbyists and tinkerers, whom we call hackers, perform markedly better than other startups. These findings reflect the non-manufacturing setting of this study, as well as the distinctive nature of software technology. |
| JEL: | L24 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13634&r=ind |