Three Essays on Vertical Product Differentiation: Exclusivity, Non-exclusivity and Advertising

Since Hotelling's (1929) seminal work, economists have tried to understand how product differentiation affects price competition. I study the product location decisions, on a vertical characteristic space, of two sets of horizontal competitors when the inputs supplied by the "upstream" set (the manufacturers) and the input supplied by the "downstream" set (the retailers) are combined one-to-one to form a final good under the assumption that each manufacturer sells through one retailer exclusively. I find that the final product provided by each manufacturer-retailer pair shows maximum differentiation along one dimension and minimum differentiation along the other (MaxMin equilibrium). I conduct the same analysis under the assumption that each manufacturer sells to any retailer and each retailer buys from any manufacturer. I find a Nash Equilibrium in which each firm differentiates its product completely from its horizontal competitor. Finally, I estimate the effect of advertising on consumer brand choice and search behavior. Under imperfect information, advertising can affect consumer behavior by providing economically relevant information in a convenient way. I find that advertising has an increasing effect on consumers' search effort and on the probability of purchase associated with the featured brand

Post-entry operation of foreign firms in a host country: the role of mutual forbearance and organisational learning in their product segment entry choices

International business scholars who are interested in how foreign firms enter and operate in a host market have predominantly focused on the decisions managers make at the time of entry. Consequently, as Hennart and Slangen (2015) have pointed out, we know relatively little about foreign firms’ post-entry operation. Moreover, the few studies that have examined the post-entry operation of foreign subsidiaries in a host market have focused mostly on changes in governance mode (Chang & Rosenzweig 2001; Driffield, Mickiewicz & Tethemouri 2016; Puck, Holtbrügge & Mohr 2009). Changes of product scope in the host country—which is a function of the subsidiary’s choice of which product segments in the host country to enter or stay out of—has received comparatively sparse attention (except for Chang 1995; Mitchell, Shaver & Yeung 1994). In this study, I examined the product segment entry decisions of foreign automobile assemblers in the United States in a bid to better understand their post-entry dynamics in their product scope. First, I took a historical approach and examined Honda Motor and BMW’s initial entry and product scope dynamics in the United States auto market. Next, I conducted a quantitative study to understand the potential drivers of foreign firms’ segment choices during their post-entry into a host market. Specifically, I developed predictions from mutual forbearance and organisational learning perspectives, and tested them using data on product segment entries by foreign automobile assemblers in the United States between 1987 and 2015. Results show that foreign firms take into account both their rivals’ reaction function and their own operating experience in a product segment when they make segment choice decisions. Specifically, a foreign firm’s probability of entering a product segment has a curvilinear relationship with its multi-segment contact level with rivals in that segment and a positive relationship with its own prior experience in that segment. Further, the curvilinear relationship between segment entry likelihood and multi-segment contact is strengthened as a foreign firm’s prior segment experience increases. This study makes three theoretical contributions. First, it adds to international business scholars’ knowledge of foreign firms’ post-entry operation, particularly their segment choice dynamics. Second, it discusses two time orientations, namely, future and past’s role in foreign firms’ segment choice decision-making. Third, my focus on product segment choice aligns the foreign market entry literature with the real business environment. Indeed, after their initial entry into a host market, foreign firms will face competition at the product segment level; yet, to date, overwhelming attention has been given to geographical market choice

REIMAGINING RHODES’ CAPE TO CAIRO DREAM OR COLUMBUS’ NEW WORLDS VOYAGES? THE PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS OF EMERGING MARKET MULTINATIONALS EXECUTIVES\u27 INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION DECISIONS

The extant literature has viewed internationalization through the lens of the expansion of developed markets multinational enterprises (DMMs) and newly industrialized markets’ multinational enterprises (NIMMs), largely overlooking emerging markets’ multinational enterprises (EMMs). The central argument of this study is that the internationalization of EMMs follows a different trajectory from that of DMMs. It addresses the question of how EMMs internationalize in terms of the countries to which they expand, the decision-making processes involved, and the impact of home country factors on the chosen internationalization processes. Methodological triangulation was used to collect data from interviews with senior executives of five large South African EMM firms, document analysis, and quantitative analysis based on a sample of over 800 firms traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The findings from the case studies and document analyses show that the internationalization paths of the sample EMMs from South Africa were, indeed, different from those pursued by DMMs, with each of the case study firms following different trajectories. Moreover, in the target countries, the performance of EMMs was influenced by psychic distance. The findings of the study also suggest that a U-shaped relationship exists between psychic distance and performance of EMMs in the target market. The study finds support for the first hypothesis that an increase in the levels of uncertainty will have a more negative effect on the performance of foreign firms compared to domestic firms. Furthermore, the findings contradict Hypothesis 2 that a reduction in institutional barriers will have a more positive effect on foreign firms than on local firms. The analysis of the internationalization process of EMMs in the study was used to generate a model of the stages of their internationalization. The model highlights how the historical developments of the home country were a major factor in determining firms’ trajectories. Government ties, political stability, information availability and home country uncertainty played major roles in the internationalization decisions. Future studies will need to rigorously test the findings that the internationalization paths of EMMs differ from DMMs as more accurate information becomes available from emerging markets to match similar information from developed markets

Ready to Roll! Southeastern Pennsylvania's Regional Electric Vehicle Action Plan. Volume II: Technology Overview, Detailed Analysis, and Appendices

Ready to Roll! Southeastern Pennsylvania's Regional Electric Vehicle Action Plan is a comprehensive, regionally coordinated approach to introducing electric vehicles (EVs) and electric vehicle supply equipment (charging facilities) into the five counties of southeastern Pennsylvania. This plan is the product of a partnership between DVRPC, the City of Philadelphia, PECO Energy Company (the region's electricity provider), and Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities. ICF International provided assistance to DVRPC with the preparation of this plan. The plan incorporates feedback from key regional stakeholders, national best practices, and research to assess the southeastern Pennsylvania EV market, identify current market barriers, and develop strategies to facilitate vehicle and infrastructure deployment. Ready to Roll! is presented in two volumes, and is accompanied by an online information clearinghouse, containing links to additional resources. The first volume (publication number 12055A) includes the regional readiness plan. The second volume (this document) provides an in-depth analysis of a variety of EV and EVSE issues

ESSAYS ON RETAIL ENTRY AND EXIT

The landscape of the retail industry has witnessed dramatic changes over the past decades. Both manufacturers and retailers are increasingly challenged to find innovative ways to reach and delight not only their existing customers, but also potential new customers. In this dissertation, I aim to pin down the entry effects of an innovative channel -- online marketplaces in Essay 1 and Essay 2, and the exit effects of a traditional channel – Walmart supercenter in Essay 3. In Essay 1 “The Value of Online Marketplaces to Brand Manufacturers in Emerging Markets”, I apply an event-study methodology to examine whether manufacturers’ decisions are justified by studying the net impact of adopting marketplaces on a firm’s stock market return. To further gain insight into to whom gains may arise, I use a contingency framework and relate manufacturers’ short-term abnormal returns to manufacturers’ market knowledge and marketing strengths. The findings provide comprehensive guidance for manufacturers, global or local, to assess whether and to what extent they can take advantage of online marketplaces to thrive in emerging economies. In Essay 2 “For Better or for Worse: The Halo Effects of Online Marketplaces on Entrenched Brick-and-Mortar Stores”, I evaluate the impact of online marketplaces on entrenched brick-and-mortar stores -- whether and to what extent retailers and all brands within the category stand to lose or win. To address this question, I use a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model to quantify the impact of online marketplaces. The study not only contributes theoretically to the scant literature on the interaction between online marketplaces and offline channels but also offers manufacturers insightful instructions on multichannel decisions. In Essay 3 “When Stores Leave: The Impact of Walmart Supercenter Closure on Retail Price”, I seek to understand how retail prices change following the exit of a local retailer by using Walmart supercenter closures in local U.S. markets as a working example. By using a difference-in-difference estimator with correction for selection bias, I find that, on average, consumers have to pay a higher price (+1.6%) after a Walmart supercenter’ exit. The study provides valuable insights into the potential impact of retail exit on price and consumer welfare.Doctor of Philosoph

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

ABSTRACT This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the real world of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its corporate legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as corporative. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is embedded, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to save capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the “real world” of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its “corporate” legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as “corporative”. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is “embedded”, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to “save” capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance