Do Auction Parameters Affect Buyer Surplus in E‐Auctions for Procurement?

Although the initial euphoria about Internet‐enabled reverse auctions has given way to a cautious but widespread use of reverse auctions in business‐to‐business (B2B) procurement, there is a limited understanding of the effect of auction design parameters on buyer surplus. In this paper, we study the effect of bidding competition, information asymmetry, reserve price, bid decrement, auction duration, and bidder type on buyer surplus. We collected field data on more than 700 online procurement auctions conducted by a leading auctioneer and involving procurement items worth millions of dollars. Consistent with the predictions of auction theory, the results indicate that bidding competition, reserve price, and information sharing affect buyer surplus. Unlike previous findings in the consumer‐to‐consumer context, we find that bid decrement and auction duration have no effect in B2B procurement auctions. Our results suggest that use of the rank‐bidding format increases buyer surplus when incumbent suppliers participate in the auction. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for future research and for optimal design of online procurement auctions.     

Analysis of exacerbation rates in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: example from the TRISTAN study

Recurrent events in clinical trials have typically been analysed using either a multiple time-to-event method or a direct approach based on the distribution of the number of events. An area of application for these methods is exacerbation data from respiratory clinical trials. The different approaches to the analysis and the issues involved are illustrated for a large trial (n = 1465) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For exacerbation rates, clinical interest centres on a direct comparison of rates for each treatment which favours the distribution-based analysis, rather than a time-to-event approach. Poisson regression has often been employed and has recently been recommended as the appropriate method of analysis for COPD exacerbations but the key assumptions often appear unreasonable for this analysis. By contrast use of a negative binomial model which corresponds to assuming a separate Poisson parameter for each subject offers a more appealing approach. Non-parametric methods avoid some of the assumptions required by these models, but do not provide appropriate estimates of treatment effects because of the discrete and bounded nature of the data.     

Service(s) Marketing Research: Developments and Directions

This paper outlines the development of research in the domain of service(s) marketing from its birth as an area of academic study in the 1960s/1970s to the current time. It identifies four phases of development. Phases 1–3 relate to the period before 2004, which focuses on the development of service(s) marketing. In Phase 4, a greater focus on the concept of service (singular) – defined as the application of knowledge and skills – has resulted in developments and directions in service research that offer a different perspective through which to view more general marketing. This different perspective has explicit implications also for wider business and management research. The paper summarizes current research in this domain, which coalesces around three broad perspectives, namely, the service‐dominant logic of marketing, technology and service, and transformative service research. It concludes by outlining likely trends for service research into the future. Three interrelated directions are suggested: research on service in a changing context; research responding to academic schools of thought; and research responding to consumer trends.     

Policy options when population growth slows: The case of Thailand

Thailand reached replacement-level fertility almost a decade ago, although there has been a lag in measuring and recognising the implications of this benchmark event. Fertility could well sink still lower. The momentum of population growth will ensure substantial further increase before the population levels off, but this is not true in all regions. For example, earlier and faster fertility decline in the North, and net outmigration, have led to a situation where some geographical and age segments of the North's population are decreasing. Population policy in Thailand since 1970 has had two major planks: to reduce fertility through an active family planning program, and to distribute population away from the large primate city of Bangkok. The paper discusses whether these policies may need to be modified as a result of the major demographic and socio economic changes that have been taking place. It also discusses the limits to population policy in terms of the likely efficacy of various measures that could be adopted, based on both an assessment of the Thailand situation and the experience of other low-fertility countries.     

Expansion of Secondary AND Tertiary Education in South East Asia: Some Implications for Australia

The number of secondary and tertiary graduates in South East Asia is growing very rapidly. Many interrelated issues arise. One is the need to improve equity of access to these levels of education. Another is the need to broaden the employment base for the better-educated beyond the professional and clerical jobs (largely in the public service) which have hitherto been available to most secondary and tertiary graduates. Yet another relates to the appropriate content of education at these levels, the appropriate rate of expansion and the ultimate target for the proportion of young people receiving tertiary education. There are many parallel issues for Australia, particularly as Australian educational policy, increasingly favouring the supply of places in Australian educational institutions on a full-fee basis, requires a greater “meshing” of educational systems with those in the region. Australia should also be aware that rapidly rising numbers of educated youth in an uncertain job market could lead to increased political instability in some South East Asian countries and an increase in applications for migration to Australia. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Australian Population Association Conference, Brisbane, 31 August-2 September 1988. The author would like to thank participants in that Conference, as well as Anthony Reid and Jamie Mackie, for valuable comments, though they are in no way responsible for remaining shortcomings in the paper.     

The end of “Catholic” fertility

Catholic and non-Catholic fertility during the post-World War II period are compared in this paper. Evidence accumulated across five sample surveys of fertility in the United States, which were conducted at five-year intervals from 1955 through 1975, forms the basis for the analysis; both cohort and period measures are employed. Starting from a situation where Catholic fertility was very little higher than that of non-Catholics, it is shown that the differential increased markedly during the baby boom and then declined to a point where the two trends nearly come together in the mid-1970s. Interpretation of the recent convergence in the light of various theories that have been put forward to explain the differential suggests that it will be an enduring phenomenon.     

The decline and recovery of the Murut tribe of Sabah

Abstract The Murut tribe of Sabah (formerly North Borneo) numbered 30,300 in 1921, decreased to 18,700 in 1951, and increased again to 22,100 in 1960. In 1951, the tribe was a small diminishing section of a slowly growing population; in 1960 it was increasing itself, and the growth rate of the whole population had shot up. Marked variations in the age structures of the Murut and other indigenous tribes accompanied these changes. Between 1920 and 1960 several investigators attempted to explain the decline, but could not show why only one tribe was failing to hold its own among many others which were increasing. Their findings are summarized, and unpublished data from the 1960 census are given which suggest that increasing contacts with the rest of the population, earlier thought to be an important contributor to the decline, were probably the means of saving the Murut from extinction.     

Comparing gay identity development theory to cognitive development: an empirical study

The relationship between gay identity development and cognitive development, as outlined by Ivey's Developmental Counseling Therapy Model, was explored. The Gay Identity Questionnaire and the Standard Developmental Counseling Interview were administered to 78 gay men. Results suggested that there is a relationship between gay identity development and cognitive development. In addition, the findings provide evidence that gay identity development can be categorized by concrete and abstract frames of reference.