Functional Demand Satiation and Industrial Dynamcis - The Emergence of the Global Value Chain for the U.S. Footwear Industry

Around 1940 Schumpeter draws on an analysis of the U.S. footwear industry as an exemplar case to formulate his famous hypothesis about the positive relation between market concentration and innovative activity. Starting in the 1970s the value chain of U.S. footwear producers disintegrates, eventually separating the process of product innovation from manufacturing in this industry. Studies testing Schumpeter’s hypothesis commonly do not account for the modularity and globalization of an industry’s value chain. Schumpeter having neglected the demand side in his theorizing, we argue that the separation of product innovation and manufacturing in the U.S. footwear industry is influenced by functional satiation effects on demand. If the functional requirements of consumers are met, their willingness to pay for ever more product varieties decreases. Since the early 1970s the ‘oversupply’ of new product varieties and the simultaneously decreasing price level drive market growth beyond functional satiation (Frenzel Baudisch, 2006b). In this paper we argue that this simultaneous price and innovation competition separates the product innovation process from manufacturing to gain economies in both of these processes simultaneously. Discussing the consumers’ motivations to buy products beyond their functional requirements offers a deeper qualitative understanding of the business practices revealed in the historical case of the U.S. footwear industry.Industrial organization, Schumpeter hypothesis, Modular Value Chain, Consumer Behavior, Footwear Industry

Logistics outsourcing and 3PL selection: A Case study in an automotive supply chain

Outsourcing logistics functions to third-party logistics (3PL) providers has been a source of competitive advantage for most companies. Companies cite greater flexibility, operational efficiency, improved customer service levels, and a better focus on their core businesses as part of the advantages of engaging the services of 3PL providers. There are few complete and structured methodologies for selecting a 3PL provider. This paper discusses how one such methodology, namely the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), is used in an automotive supply chain for export parts to redesign the logistics operations and to select a global logistics service provider

Network industries in the new economy

In this paper we discuss two propositions: the supply and demand of knowledge, and network externalities. We outline the characteristics that distinguish knowledge- intensive industries from the general run of manufacturing and service businesses. Knowledge intensity and knowledge specialisation has developed as markets and globalisation have grown, leading to progressive incentives to outsource and for industries to deconstruct. The outcome has been more intensive competition. The paper looks at what is potentially the most powerful economic mechanism: positive feedback, alternatively known as demand-side increasing returns, network effects, or network externalities. We present alternative demand curves that incorporate positive feedback and discuss their potential economic and strategic consequences. We argue that knowledge supply and demand, and the dynamics of network externalities create new situations for our traditional industrial economy such that new types of economies of scale are emerging and "winner takes all" strategies are having more influence. This is the first of a pair of papers. A second paper will take the argument further and look at the nature of firms' strategies in the new world, arguing that technology standards, technical platforms, consumer networks, and supply chain strategies are making a significant contribution to relevant strategies within the new economy

Meter Scoping Study

This report presents a summary of metering technology and cost information from past studies in an attempt to identify key barriers to more widespread implementation

Foreign R&D Centres in India: An Analysis of their Size, Structure and Implications

The study measures the contribution of MNCs to the generation of innovations from India. The focus is on innovations that are carried out in foreign R&D Centres. After having mapped out the size of this sector, the study develops a way of classifying them into two categories on the basis of their actual record with respect to performance of innovations. Further we survey the policies that are available in India to promote FDI in R&D services. The study also identify the characteristics of these foreign R&D centres in terms of a number of indicators like their, size, domain expertise, physical location and then it distils out the interaction of these centres with India’s National System of Innovation. The latter is carried out through a primary survey. The contribution of this study is an identification of the size of foreign R&D Centres in India from official sources of data and its actual working. The study has thus a number of pointers for public policy for promoting this activity so that it is beneficial to the host economy of India.

Commodities and Linkages: Meeting the Policy Challenge

The results of detailed empirical enquiry into the nature and determinants of the breadth and depth of linkages in and out of the commodities sector in eight SSA countries (Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa Tanzania, and Zambia) and six sectors (copper, diamonds, gold, oil and gas, mining services and timber) has shown extensive scope for industrial development (MMCP DP 13, 2011). A primary conclusion of this research was that policy in both the private and public realm was a prime factor holding back the development of linkages. Addressing this problem requires the closing of three sets of misalignments between policy and practice – within the corporate sector, within the public sector, and between the public sector and other stakeholders involved in linkage development. In addition, specific policies need to be developed, monitored and implemented in relation to the three contextual drivers of linkages from the commodity sector – skills and capabilities, infrastructure and policies towards ownership

Differences Awareness Model to Fundament Long Term Strategy Extension in a New Emerging Market

The globalization opened the opportunity for multinational companies to increase their businesses in emerging markets and also to local giants from developing countries to step in the western markets. The objective of this paper is to propose a model for analyzing the differences between operating businesses in emerging markets and developed markets. The model purpose is to be applied in the strategic process by mainly the multinationals or local giants intending to develop long term businesses outside their traditional geographies. The studies on emerging markets identified two main axes to be considered when appreciating the attractiveness of the markets: the business dynamics both inside and outside the company and the institutional environment, as facilitator of efficient encounter between sellers and buyers.business dynamics, developed markets, strategy, emerging markets, institutional environment.

A new approach to automating services

Companies are achieving productivity gains by using software robots to perform routine, rules-based service processes. If implemented well, such automation can result in high-performing human-robot teams, in which software robots and human employees complement one another