China＇s economic growth is heavily influenced by exports, while reconciling environmental regulation and economic growth requires handling the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiven...China＇s economic growth is heavily influenced by exports, while reconciling environmental regulation and economic growth requires handling the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness well. The effects of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness are largely subject to the institutional design of environmental regulation. Despite numerous studies on the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness, a consensus has yet to be reached. Aside from differences in research methodology, these studies failed to give sufficient consideration to the impact of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness. Such effects can be negative or positive depending on the design of environmental regulatory policy. This paper has investigated the relationship between environmental regulation and the competitiveness of China＇s iron and steel industry and discovered that tighter environmental regulation does not diminish the competitiveness of the iron and steel industry since the policy design of environmental regulation accommodates the tolerance of advanced production capacity and includes a reasonable cost sharing mechanism. This discovery is of important reference for China to develop rational policy design to balance the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness.展开更多
Porter identifies high market share with cost leadership strategy which is based on the idea of competing on a price lower than that of the competition. However, in most consumer markets a business should serve the mi...Porter identifies high market share with cost leadership strategy which is based on the idea of competing on a price lower than that of the competition. However, in most consumer markets a business should serve the middle class by competing in the mid-price segment, offering quality better than that of the competition at a somewhat higher price. It is this path that can lead to market share leadership： a strategy that can be both profitable and sustainable. The U.S. men＇s shaving cream market consists of two major product-market segments： gel and foam. We test the hypothesis that the best-selling brand is very likely to be a member of the mid-price segment with a price tag that is higher than that of the nearest competition. This study is based on annual U.S. sales data for 2008 and 2007 from discount retail stores, food stores, and drug stores. We performed two separate analyses for 2008 and 2007, using cluster analysis as the main analytic tool. The results were remarkably consistent between the two years. In the gel segment--by far the most important--the price-quality segmentation analysis supported our hypothesis. An interesting finding is that, for both the gel and foam segments, we found the rank order correlation of brand unit price between 2007 and 2008 as highly significant. This means that in this market management considers the price of a brand as a strategic rather than a tactical variable. Although, technically the results for the foam segment were negative, this does not necessarily contradict our hypothesis. Finally, we discovered six strategic groups in the industry and have tried to articulate what their competitive strategy is.展开更多
The market environment and the competition characteristics between the enterprises is different from the traditional competition, the competition between individual enterprise is displaced by the comprehensive strengt...The market environment and the competition characteristics between the enterprises is different from the traditional competition, the competition between individual enterprise is displaced by the comprehensive strength of alliance supply chain which formed by upstream and downstream suppliers and customers whose main body is core enterprise, whether production enterprise or retail business are inevitably to form as chain so that to obtain the relative cost advantage and quick reaction advantage in the fierce market competition. Combining the theory and practice comparison of enterprise supply chain management at home and abroad, we can find that the theory and practice of Chinese enterprises supply chain management are falling behind developed countries In the new economic background, research and discussion of China＇ s enterprise supply chain management theory and practice, is helpful to promote the enterprise comprehensive competition ability and improve the economic benefit of enterprise.展开更多
The existence of opportunistic behavior by contractors or sub-contractors in the bidding process encouraged by the governance structure of construction companies as well as the kind of relationship that exist between ...The existence of opportunistic behavior by contractors or sub-contractors in the bidding process encouraged by the governance structure of construction companies as well as the kind of relationship that exist between contractors and clients is thought to have some bearing on the rising construction cost observed in some regions of Sweden. Three hypotheses that are intended to test the impact that long run relationship between contractors and developers, vertically integrated firms, and the increase of international competition could have on the construction cost increase levels were tested on a predetermined number of projects from six cities in different regions. The semi-structured survey produces inconclusive results. Long run and collaborative relationship was prevalent in small region though respondents in this region did not draw strong connection between construction cost increase levels and the kind of observed relationship. In Stockholm region, short-term relationship was mostly prevalent. Vertical integration and foreign competition impacts on construction costs were not significant in either region.展开更多
That SOEs are inefficient is still a consensus in most economic literature. However, in recent studies, more and more arguments are made in favor of the efficiency of SOEs, yet existing empirical studies are mostly ba...That SOEs are inefficient is still a consensus in most economic literature. However, in recent studies, more and more arguments are made in favor of the efficiency of SOEs, yet existing empirical studies are mostly based on production industry data as samples. On the basis of adopting distribution samples and conducting a cross-sector comparison between the production industry and the distribution sector, this paper offers a multi-perspective empirical assessment on the efficiency of SOEs. Through the analysis of major JTnancial indicators and adopting the Data Envelopment Analysis-Malmquist index for total factor productivity comparison, we find that SOEs generally do not have any disadvantage in efficiency and their superior efficiency is particularly pronounced in the distribution sector as compared with production industry. Moreover, the high share and high efficiency of state capital in the wholesale sector needs particular attention. This paper employs case studies to reveal the positive correlation between the assets-heavy operation of state-owned wholesale firms and their profitability. The implications are as follows： policymakers must deliberate prudently before deciding to withdraw or increase state capital in various sectors; in the wholesale sector where state capital is more efficient, the functions of state capital can be bolstered by increasing its presence in the sector,＂ the notion that state capital must be withdrawn from competitive sectors cannot be adopted likely, nor should the benefits of asset-light operation be exaggerated.展开更多
文摘China＇s economic growth is heavily influenced by exports, while reconciling environmental regulation and economic growth requires handling the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness well. The effects of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness are largely subject to the institutional design of environmental regulation. Despite numerous studies on the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness, a consensus has yet to be reached. Aside from differences in research methodology, these studies failed to give sufficient consideration to the impact of environmental regulation on industrial competitiveness. Such effects can be negative or positive depending on the design of environmental regulatory policy. This paper has investigated the relationship between environmental regulation and the competitiveness of China＇s iron and steel industry and discovered that tighter environmental regulation does not diminish the competitiveness of the iron and steel industry since the policy design of environmental regulation accommodates the tolerance of advanced production capacity and includes a reasonable cost sharing mechanism. This discovery is of important reference for China to develop rational policy design to balance the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness.
文摘Porter identifies high market share with cost leadership strategy which is based on the idea of competing on a price lower than that of the competition. However, in most consumer markets a business should serve the middle class by competing in the mid-price segment, offering quality better than that of the competition at a somewhat higher price. It is this path that can lead to market share leadership： a strategy that can be both profitable and sustainable. The U.S. men＇s shaving cream market consists of two major product-market segments： gel and foam. We test the hypothesis that the best-selling brand is very likely to be a member of the mid-price segment with a price tag that is higher than that of the nearest competition. This study is based on annual U.S. sales data for 2008 and 2007 from discount retail stores, food stores, and drug stores. We performed two separate analyses for 2008 and 2007, using cluster analysis as the main analytic tool. The results were remarkably consistent between the two years. In the gel segment--by far the most important--the price-quality segmentation analysis supported our hypothesis. An interesting finding is that, for both the gel and foam segments, we found the rank order correlation of brand unit price between 2007 and 2008 as highly significant. This means that in this market management considers the price of a brand as a strategic rather than a tactical variable. Although, technically the results for the foam segment were negative, this does not necessarily contradict our hypothesis. Finally, we discovered six strategic groups in the industry and have tried to articulate what their competitive strategy is.
文摘The market environment and the competition characteristics between the enterprises is different from the traditional competition, the competition between individual enterprise is displaced by the comprehensive strength of alliance supply chain which formed by upstream and downstream suppliers and customers whose main body is core enterprise, whether production enterprise or retail business are inevitably to form as chain so that to obtain the relative cost advantage and quick reaction advantage in the fierce market competition. Combining the theory and practice comparison of enterprise supply chain management at home and abroad, we can find that the theory and practice of Chinese enterprises supply chain management are falling behind developed countries In the new economic background, research and discussion of China＇ s enterprise supply chain management theory and practice, is helpful to promote the enterprise comprehensive competition ability and improve the economic benefit of enterprise.
文摘The existence of opportunistic behavior by contractors or sub-contractors in the bidding process encouraged by the governance structure of construction companies as well as the kind of relationship that exist between contractors and clients is thought to have some bearing on the rising construction cost observed in some regions of Sweden. Three hypotheses that are intended to test the impact that long run relationship between contractors and developers, vertically integrated firms, and the increase of international competition could have on the construction cost increase levels were tested on a predetermined number of projects from six cities in different regions. The semi-structured survey produces inconclusive results. Long run and collaborative relationship was prevalent in small region though respondents in this region did not draw strong connection between construction cost increase levels and the kind of observed relationship. In Stockholm region, short-term relationship was mostly prevalent. Vertical integration and foreign competition impacts on construction costs were not significant in either region.
文摘That SOEs are inefficient is still a consensus in most economic literature. However, in recent studies, more and more arguments are made in favor of the efficiency of SOEs, yet existing empirical studies are mostly based on production industry data as samples. On the basis of adopting distribution samples and conducting a cross-sector comparison between the production industry and the distribution sector, this paper offers a multi-perspective empirical assessment on the efficiency of SOEs. Through the analysis of major JTnancial indicators and adopting the Data Envelopment Analysis-Malmquist index for total factor productivity comparison, we find that SOEs generally do not have any disadvantage in efficiency and their superior efficiency is particularly pronounced in the distribution sector as compared with production industry. Moreover, the high share and high efficiency of state capital in the wholesale sector needs particular attention. This paper employs case studies to reveal the positive correlation between the assets-heavy operation of state-owned wholesale firms and their profitability. The implications are as follows： policymakers must deliberate prudently before deciding to withdraw or increase state capital in various sectors; in the wholesale sector where state capital is more efficient, the functions of state capital can be bolstered by increasing its presence in the sector,＂ the notion that state capital must be withdrawn from competitive sectors cannot be adopted likely, nor should the benefits of asset-light operation be exaggerated.
