Luxury Brand Licensing: Competition and Reference Group Effects

Marketing research has traditionally focused on centralized brand-extension strategies where a brand expands its product offerings by controlling the design, production, marketing and sales of new products `in-house'. However, luxury brands frequently use `brand licensing' as a decentralized brand-extension strategy under which a brand licenses its brand name to an `external licensee' that designs, produces and sells the new product. Licensing is a time-efficient and cost-effective brand-extension strategy for luxury brands to reach out to their aspirational, low-end consumers (`followers') who value a brand more when more high-end consumers (`snobs') purchase the brand's primary product (i.e., `positive popularity effect'). On the other hand, over-licensing might dilute the brand for snobs who value brand exclusivity (i.e., `negative popularity effect'). We develop a game-theoretic model to study luxury brand licensing in the presence of these two countervailing forces. First, in the monopoly setting (a benchmark), we find that the monopoly brand should license only when the negative popularity effect is not too high, and it should prefer `royalty licensing' over `fixed-fee licensing' when the negative popularity effect is intermediate. Second, to explicate our analysis, we study the duopoly setting under fixed-fee contracts. In contrast to the monopoly setting, we find that fixed-fee licensing can `soften' price competition between brands so that licensing is `always' profitable for both brands under competition. Interestingly, in equilibrium under fixed-fee contracts, competing brands face a prisoner's dilemma and both brands prefer not to license, even though both would be better off if they could commit to fixed-fee licensing. Finally, we expand our analysis of the duopoly model by incorporating royalty licensing in addition to fixed-fee licensing. We find that, in contrast to fixed-fee licensing, royalty licensing can `intensify' price competition so that both brands have to lower their prices. Consequently, when the positive popularity effect is sufficiently strong, fixed-fee licensing `dominates' royalty licensing. We also show that, under competition, luxury brands should adopt royalty contracts only when the licensing market is large, and positive and negative popularity effects are small enough

Coordinating supply chains via advance-order discounts, minimum order quantities, and delegations

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.To avoid inventory risks, manufacturers often place rush orders with suppliers only after they receive firm orders from their customers (retailers). Rush orders are costly to both parties because the supplier incurs higher production costs. We consider a situation where the supplier's production cost is reduced if the manufacturer can place some of its order in advance. In addition to the rush order contract with a pre-established price, we examine whether the supplier should offer advance-order discounts to encourage the manufacturer to place a portion of its order in advance, even though the manufacturer incurs some inventory risk. While the advance-order discount contract is Pareto-improving, our analysis shows that the discount contract cannot coordinate the supply chain. However, if the supplier imposes a pre-specified minimum order quantity requirement as a qualifier for the manufacturer to receive the advance-order discount, then such a combined contract can coordinate the supply chain. Furthermore, the combined contract enables the supplier to attain the first-best solution. We also explore a delegation contract that either party could propose. Under this contract, the manufacturer delegates the ordering and salvaging activities to the supplier in return for a discounted price on all units procured. We find the delegation contract coordinates the supply chain and is Pareto-improving. We extend our analysis to a setting where the suppliers capacity is limited for advance production but unlimited for rush orders. Our structural results obtained for the one-supplier-one-manufacturer case continue to hold when we have two manufacturers.UCLACardiff University's Executive Boar

Synergistic effects of dual-electrocatalyst FeOOH/NiOOH thin films as effective surface photogenerated hole extractors on a novel hierarchical heterojunction photoanode structure for solar-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting

Herein, we report the rational design of a novel hierarchical V2O5/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode structure with rGO interlayer that functionalises as photogenerated electron collector, and dual electrocatalyst thin films of FeOOH and NiOOH as photogenerated hole extractors for solar-driven PEC water splitting. Results showed that the novel hierarchical FTO/V2O5/rGO/BiVO4/FeOOH/NiOOH photoanode exhibited an unprecedented and stable photocurrent density of 3.06 mA/cm2 at 1.5 V vs Ag/AgCl, and an apparent cathodic onset potential shift down to 0.2 V under AM 1.5 G simulated solar light illumination. The significant enhancement in PEC performance is ascribed to band potentials matching between V2O5 and BiVO4 in forming a Type II staggered heterojunction alignment, and further coupling with rGO interlayer and dual-electrocatalyst thin films as photogenerated electron collector and photogenerated hole extractors, respectively. Three different configurations of the novel hierarchical FTO/V2O5/rGO/BiVO4 photoanodes without electrocatalyst, with mono- and dual-electrocatalyst thin films were systematically examined. It was proven though EIS and IMPS measurements that the dual-electrocatalyst configuration photoanode exhibited the shortest transit time (τ) of 31.8 ms for the diffusion of photogenerated electrons to the counter electrode, and the lowest charge transfer resistance across the interface of electrode/electrolyte as estimated using the Randles-Ershel model. We believe that the proof-of-principle work described here not only provides an in-depth understanding on the roles of electrocatalyst thin films but also provides a design guide over the incorporation of electrocatalyst materials for further improving the photogenerated charge carrier dynamics in photoanodes used in solar-driven PEC water splitting

A robust computational algorithm for inverse photomask synthesis in optical projection lithography

Inverse lithography technology formulates the photomask synthesis as an inverse mathematical problem. To solve this, we propose a variational functional and develop a robust computational algorithm, where the proposed functional takes into account the process variations and incorporates several regularization terms that can control the mask complexity. We establish the existence of the minimizer of the functional, and in order to optimize it effectively, we adopt an alternating minimization procedure with Chambolle's fast duality projection algorithm. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm is effective in synthesizing high quality photomasks as compared with existing methods.published_or_final_versio

Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution from Cobalt-Modified Nanocrystalline BiFeO3 Films Grown via Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition from beta-Diketonate Precursors

BiFeO3 is an interesting multifunctional narrow band gap semiconductor that exhibits simultaneous multiferroic, photovoltaic, and photocatalytic behavior. Hence there is much interest in the growth of thin films of BiFeO3 via chemical vapor deposition (CVD); however, the number of suitable bismuth precursors is severely limited. A series of homoleptic bismuth(III) β-diketonate complexes were synthesized via simple room temperature ligand-exchange reactions from [Bi(N(SiMe3)2)3] and free diketonate ligands, which yielded the crystal structure of [Bi(acac)3] as a 1-D polymer. We attempted to use these complexes for low pressure CVD (LPCVD) growth of BiFeO3 films with [Fe(acac)3]; however, all bismuth complexes exhibited poor volatilities and decomposition characteristics, and as a result film growth was unsuccessful. Subsequently, the volatile alkoxide [Bi(OtBu)3], with [Fe(acac)3], was used to grow dense BiFeO3 films via low pressure CVD. The BiFeO3 films possessed multiferroic properties at room temperature and exhibited activity for visible light-driven water oxidation in the presence of a Ag+ electron scavenger, which improved significantly when modified with a cobalt surface cocatalyst. The increase in activity, probed by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, was attributed to improved charge carrier separation arising from the in-built internal electric field of BiFeO3 in addition to the presence of an efficient cobalt oxygen evolution catalyst

Product Development in Crowdfunding: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Crowdfunding goes beyond raising funds. Entrepreneurs often use crowdfunding to solicit feedback from customers to improve their products, and may therefore prefer to launch crowdfunding campaigns for a basic version of their products with few or no enhancements (i.e., limited features). Yet, customers may not be persuaded by a campaign if a product appears too basic. In view of this trade-off, a key question for an entrepreneur is how far a product should be enhanced before launching a crowdfunding campaign. Analyzing a game-theoretical model and testing its predictions empirically, we study how a product's level of enhancement at campaign launch influences both whether an entrepreneur continues to improve the product during the campaign and whether the campaign is successful. We show that as the product's level of enhancement at campaign launch increases, the likelihood of product improvement during a campaign at first increases (because customers are more likely to provide feedback) and then decreases (because of increased production cost for the entrepreneur). Furthermore, although our theoretical model intuitively predicts that the likelihood of campaign success will always increase when an entrepreneur launches a campaign for a more enhanced product, our empirical analysis shows that the likelihood of campaign success first increases and then decreases. This counterintuitive result may be due to customers being overwhelmed with the complexity of highly enhanced products. Finally, while crowdfunding experts believe that products should be enhanced as much as possible before a campaign, we show that this is not always the best strategy

A Type II n-n staggered orthorhombic V2O5/monoclinic clinobisvanite BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode for photoelectrochemical water oxidation: Fabrication, characterisation and experimental validation

Conventional photoanode using a singular semiconductor material is not technically viable for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation owing to the properties relating to its wide band gap, sluggish charge mobility, as well as poor separation and rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. The main aim of this study was to fabricate an n-n heterojunction photoanode of V2O5/BiVO4 via a facile electrodeposition synthesis method in order to overcome the technical bottlenecks encountered in conventional singular photoanode structures. Additionally, the synergistic effect of band potentials matching and conductivity difference between BiVO4 and V2O5 were studied using LSV, IMPS, EIS, HR-TEM, XRD, XPS, Raman and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopies. This was followed by the performance evaluation of the light-induced water splitting using a standard three-electrode assembly PEC cell under 1.5 AM solar simulator. Results showed that the V2O5/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode achieved a significantly improved photocurrent density of 1.53 mA/cm2 at 1.5 V vs Ag/AgCl, which was a 6.9-fold and a 7.3-fold improvement over the individual pristine BiVO4 (0.22 mA/cm2) and V2O5 (0.21 mA/cm2), respectively. The improvement was attributed to the lower charge resistances at the FTO/semiconductor, semiconductor/FTO and semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces as well as the fast transit time () of 6.4 ms for photo-injected electrons in the V2O5/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode. Finally, the experimental results were used to reconstruct a theoretical band diagram in validating the heterojunction alignment between V2O5 and BiVO4 as well as in elucidating the photogenerated charge carriers transfer mechanism in the V2O5/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode

Visible-light driven water splitting over BiFeO₃ photoanodes grown via the LPCVD reaction of [Bi(OtBu)₃] and [Fe(OtBu)₃]₂ and enhanced with a surface nickel oxygen evolution catalyst

Phase-pure BiFeO3 films were grown directly via dual-source low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) from the ligand-matched precursors [Bi(O(t)Bu)3] and [Fe(O(t)Bu)3]2, without the requirement for oxidising gas or post deposition annealing. Photocatalytic testing for water oxidation revealed extremely high activity for PEC water splitting and photocatalytic water oxidation under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) with a benchmark IPCE for BiFeO3 of 23% at 400 nm. The high activity is ascribed to the ultrafine morphology achieved via the LPCVD process. The performance was enhanced by over four times when the BiFeO3 photoanode is coupled to a Ni-B surface OEC