When Tony met Bobby

In June 1999, Wal-Mart intervened spectacularly in an agreed merger between Asda and Kingfisher by paying £6.7bn to takeover Asda outright. Reactions ranged dramatically; this was the death-knell of British retailing or the redemption of British consumers. Whatever the view, Wal-Mart buying a major retailer such as Asda, and in such a significant European market, was a landmark in the globalisation of retailing. One issue around this takeover attracted considerable speculation at the time and has been the focus of discussion specifically and generally. Some months previous to the takeover, a meeting apparently took place in Downing Street between the Prime Minister and Wal-Mart. The very fact this meeting occurred, and at that time, is intriguing. Secrecy surrounding the meeting increased speculation over the contents of any discussion. It was raised in Parliament and during investigations on retailing by the Select Committee on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs. Over time however the meeting has faded from public attention and consideration. Yet, it still remains potentially significant. The introduction from January 2005 of the Freedom of Information Act potentially opened a window on this previously ‘secret’ meeting. This commentary concerns the meeting itself and the use of the Freedom of Information Act to obtain information about it. It raises questions about lobbying, secrecy and retail change

Targeting scams: report of the ACCC on scam activity 2014

Explains key trends in scam activity and highlights the impact of scams on the community. Snapshot of 2014 Overall contacts levels and financial losses  In 2014 the ACCC continued to observe a high level of scams activity in Australia, with 91 637 scam- related contacts received from consumers and businesses compared with 91 927 in 2013. Scam losses reported to the ACCC totalled $81 832 793, continuing a slight downward trend with an 8 per cent decrease from 2013 ($89 136 975). This is a continuation of a reversal in the trend from 2010 through to 2012 where large annual increases in reported losses were observed. However, actual losses are likely to be higher as many scams go unreported and the ACCC is only one of several agencies that receive scam reports Most significant scams Similar to previous years, the majority of people contacting the ACCC about scam-related activities in 2014 (almost 88 per cent) reported no financial loss. Over one third of people who lost money reported losing between $100 and$499, which indicates scammers continue to prefer ‘high volume low value scams’—that is, scams that are delivered to large numbers of recipients but cause smaller amounts of loss per victim At the same time, the ACCC continued to receive reports of individuals suffering significant losses. Over 10 per cent of scam contacts reported losing above $10 000 and there were 14 instances where losses exceeded$500 000. There were no losses above $1 million reported in 2014 The most damaging scams in terms of monetary loss continue to be those scams previously categorised as advance fee fraud and dating and romance scams which often evolve into advance fee fraud. In 2014 dating and romance scams remained in the number one position in terms of financial losses, with$27 904 562 reported lost which accounts for 34 per cent of all reported losses. For the fourth consecutive year the ACCC has observed a decrease in the conversion rate of people who responded to an approach by a scam admirer and subsequently lost money—from 48 per cent in 2011 to 41 per cent in 2014. However, financial losses continue to remain substantially disproportionate to contacts, with dating and romance scams making up only 3 per cent of all scam-related contacts in 2014. &nbsp

Research into the Australian debt collection industry

This report examines the debt collection industry in Australia on behalf of the ACCC and its Consumer Consultative Committee. It aims to provide greater understanding of the industry and to identify structural issues or operational practices that may lead to problematic behaviours within the sector. This information will enable the ACCC to better address industry issues and respond to emerging trends in an effective way. &nbsp

Competition in Mobile Telephony in France and Germany

This paper provides an insight into the antitrust investigation initiated by the French competition authority, which found that mobile operators exchanged strategic information and agreed to fix market shares in years the 2000-2002. The empirical analysis is based on the comparison of mobile markets in France and Germany and uses aggregate industry-level data on subscriptions and prices. The penetration of mobile phones at the end of 1999 was higher in France than in Germany, but this situation was reversed by the end of 2002. In the same time period, minimum prices of mobile services in France, computed for a defined low-usage basket, were on average by about 58% lower than the corresponding prices in Germany. The results of binomial logit demand estimation suggest two explanations for this situation. First, there is a significant difference between price elasticities of demand in these two countries. Second, consumers seem to perceive mobile telephony as a substitute to fixed-line connection in France and as a complement in Germany. However, in a separate reduced-form estimation we do not find a significant effect of prices for fixed-line services on mobile prices in either country. Furthermore, the estimation results suggest that the share-fixing agreement in France could have slowed down subscriptions, but we fail to find that it had an adverse effect on prices