THE 2001 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

The Supermarket Panel collects data annually from individual supermarkets on store characteristics, operations, and performance. It was established in 1998 by the Food Industry Center as the basis for ongoing study of the supermarket industry. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store and the same stores are tracked over time. This makes it possible to analyze the processes by which new technologies, business practices, and competitive forces are changing the industry. The 2001 Supermarket Panel consists of 563 stores selected at random from the nearly 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. or invited to participate through their affiliation with IGA. These 563 stores are located in forty-seven states and the District of Columbia. They are a representative cross section of the industry, including stores from all formats that belong to ownership groups ranging from single stores to the country's largest chains.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Marketing,

THE 2002 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

The Supermarket Panel collects data annually from individual supermarkets on store characteristics, operations, and performance. It was established in 1998 by the Food Industry Center as the basis for ongoing study of the supermarket industry. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store and the same stores are tracked over time. This makes it possible to analyze the processes by which new technologies, business practices, and competitive forces are changing the industry. The 2002 Supermarket Panel consists of 866 stores selected at random from the nearly 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. or invited to participate through their affiliation with cooperating retail companies or IGA. These 866 stores are located in forty-nine states. They are a representative cross section of the industry, including stores from all formats that belong to ownership groups ranging from single stores to the countrys largest chains.Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Exclusionary Conduct in Antitrust

(Excerpt) American society has a long history of encouraging competition and a long history of abhorring monopoly. Often those two goals are complementary, but not always. What happens if a company competes so aggressively that it wipes out its competitors and gets a monopoly? Is that good or bad? The easy answer is that normal competition is fine, but unfair or predatory competition is not. But that easy answer is not particularly helpful. It is often very hard to distinguish the good from the bad. Low prices are good, right? But what if they are below cost so that rivals cannot compete? Courts and commentators have struggled hard for many decades to develop rules that separate the lawful conduct of a single firm from the unlawful. That struggle continues today. We trace a bit of the history of this struggle, summarize where the courts are today, and then offer a few suggestions for a path going forward

THE 2003 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

Executive Summary The Food Industry Center established the Supermarket Panel in 1998 as the basis for an ongoing study of the supermarket industry. Since 2000 the core of the Panel has been a random sample of stores drawn from the approximately 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. that accept food stamps. The purpose of collecting data on supermarket operations and performance is to: Provide timely, useful information for the industry through benchmark reports and annual summaries, trends on key indices of technology adoption, competitive positions and performance. Be a ready source of data for research on current and emerging issues - to be able to track the changes in operation and its impacts on performance over time. This report presents findings from the 2003 Supermarket Panel, and provides an overview of findings from the past four years. The 2003 Panel includes 391 stores that are a representative cross-section of the supermarket industry. The Panel tries to follow the same stores over time. Of the 391 stores, 268 were in the Panel in 2002. Nine percent of the stores have been in the Panel all four years. At least one store from every state is in the Panel. New in 2003 The Panel was offered over the Internet. Forty-seven percent responded on-line. An index on variety offering was created. Questions about offering irradiated fresh ground beef are included (with a follow up study). Supply Chain Technology Practices The Supply Chain Score measures the extent to which stores have adopted computerized methods of communicating with suppliers, handling inventory management, ordering, invoicing, and analyzing consumer purchases. The average score has almost doubled in four years. Stores in groups (chains) with more than 750 stores and/or supercenter formats have adopted supply chain practices most intensively. Internet/Intranet is used by at least two-thirds of all stores; over ninety percent of stores in groups with more than 50 stores use this technology. Vendor managed inventory has been adopted by only 42 percent of stores in the biggest store groups with much lower rates of adoption in smaller store groups. A higher Supply Chain Score benefited significantly higher sales per labor hour. Service and Variety Scores About eighty percent of stores in all size groups offer bagging and custom meat cutting. Variety pays off in better performance for five out of eight measures. Variety helps to grow annual percentage sales. Supercenters/Top Stores/Unions Supercenters have significantly higher sales per labor hour and per transaction. They have lower sales growth. Fifty-three percent of supermarkets face supercenter competition. They have somewhat higher sales per square foot of selling area and higher annual sales growth than stores that do not face supercenter competition. Eleven percent of stores in the 2003 Panel qualified as "top stores." They had above the median levels for each of three performance measures: weekly sales per square foot, sales per labor hour, and annual percentage sales growth. Top stores are more likely to have a unionized labor force, be a price and variety leader, and be wholesaler supplied. One-third of 2003 Panel stores have unionized labor. These stores have more productive labor with significantly higher sales per labor hour. Statistically Significant Drivers of Performance Over Time The descriptive profile and analysis of the Panel provide useful insights on the structure of the supermarket industry and factors associated with strong performance. However, statistical regression analysis identifies whether a variable is significantly correlated with a performance measure holding all else constant. This section presents findings from a multivariate regression analysis of five key performance measures. These regression analyses are summarized on the table below. If a characteristic is listed on the table it was a significant correlate in at least three out of the past four years. For example, in the last row, the only variable that was consistently significant for increasing annual percentage sales growth is being in an area with higher household incomes. Having a warehouse format decreased sales growth and three other factors were significant in at least three years but alternated with positive and negative effects.Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Connexin36 knockout mice display increased sensitivity to pentylenetetrazol-induced seizure-like behaviors

Large-scale synchronous firing of neurons during seizures is modulated by electrotonic coupling between neurons via gap junctions. To explore roles for connexin36 (Cx36) gap junctions in seizures, we examined the seizure threshold of connexin36 knockout (Cx36KO) mice using a pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) model

Advancement, Fall 2005

Advancement, a supplement to Bostonia magazine, provided updates on BU development activities, including major gifts and projects

Advancement, Fall 2002

Advancement, a supplement to Bostonia magazine, provided updates on BU development activities, including major gifts and projects