The Competitive Impact of Targeted Television Advertisements Using DVR Technology

Digital video recorders (DVRs) are an emerging technology that is fundamentally changing the competitive landscape in industries that advertise on television. Perhaps the most familiar impact of DVR technology is that it enables consumers to avoid advertisements (ads) by fast forwarding through them. However, this “zipping” of ads is only one aspect of the impact of DVR technology. DVRs also collect a wealth of information at the consumer level that can be used by firms to target their ads more effectively. We examine how this targeting capability moderates the impact of ad avoidance in a competitive setting. Insights are provided on how best to manage this emerging technology in terms of the key managerial decisions of product pricing and advertising efforts, as well as its impact on profits in a competitive (duopoly) marketplace.     

Overcoming pandemic challenges through product innovation: The role of digital technologies and servitization

The fast-changing scenario related to the COVID-19 pandemic calls for firms to rapidly redefine and innovate their strategies to sustain their businesses, with research emphasizing the key roles of digital technologies and servitization. We aim to enrich the theoretical debate on this matter by assessing how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve product innovation under time constraints by leveraging two specific technology groups (information and communication technologies [ICT] and Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies) and servitization. The research is based on a mixed-method approach consisting of an original survey completed by 257 Italian SMEs (grounded on a previous qualitative study about such SMEs' behaviors during the first Italian lockdown), followed by in-depth interviews with the owners and/or managers of the eight SMEs that participated in the survey. The results show a positive relationship between the increased use of digital technologies (ICT and Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies) during the pandemic with servitization and, in turn, with product innovation. Specifically, the increased use of ICT during the pandemic had a direct positive effect on product innovation, while Industry 4.0 data-processing technologies affected product innovation only through the full mediation of servitization. The qualitative study allowed us to highlight how the different kinds of digital technologies supported SMEs’ innovation (servitization and product innovation) during the pandemic. The theoretical and practical contributions of this study are discussed.     

中间品进口种类扩张对企业出口复杂度的影响

中间品进口作为国际技术溢出的主要途径,对促进一国生产及出口结构升级有着非常重要的影响。本文利用2000-2011年中国工业企业数据库和海关贸易统计数据库的合并数据,基于进口产品种类变化的利得视角,考察了中间品进口种类扩张对企业出口复杂度提升的影响效应。研究显示:企业从国外进口更多种类的中间品有助于促进其出口复杂度的提升,该结论在经过内生性处理、更换核心指标测度方法等多种检验后,具有较好的稳健性;从影响机理上看,中间品进口种类扩张主要通过“产品创新”的直接途径和“生产率提升”的间接途径来推动企业出口复杂度的提升;此外,受进口来源国类别、企业所有制形式以及行业技术特征等异质性因素的影响,中间品进口种类扩张对出口复杂度提升的影响程度存在不同。本文从经验上证明了“以进口强出口”发展模式的合理性,对评估我国当前正在实施的“扩大进口”政策的经济效益,以及推动“贸易强国”建设有着重要意义。     

技术多样化对企业竞争优势的影响机制探析

从产品创新战略角度探讨了企业技术多样化对其竞争优势构筑的影响及作用机理。研究结果表明,企业内部的技术多样化促进了企业实施产品创新战略,进而对其构筑竞争优势有积极影响。     

统计数据发布标准化体系研究

 本文通过借鉴标准化理论,应用先进的数据管理技术,探索建立一套既符合我国国情,满足统计工作现代化需要,又适应国际官方统计基本原则的统计数据管理和发布模式。建立了统计数据发布标准化体系,构建了由决策服务体系、宏观监测体系、数据共享体系、公共数据发布体系构成的统计数据发布体系,在智能化数据管理技术的支撑下构建了统计数据发布标准化平台,以此强化统计服务,探索提高统计能力、提高统计数据质量、提高政府统计公信力的新途径。     

Estimating the grid of time-points for the piecewise exponential model

One of the greatest challenges related to the use of piecewise exponential models (PEMs) is to find an adequate grid of time-points needed in its construction. In general, the number of intervals in such a grid and the position of their endpoints are ad-hoc choices. We extend previous works by introducing a full Bayesian approach for the piecewise exponential model in which the grid of time-points (and, consequently, the endpoints and the number of intervals) is random. We estimate the failure rates using the proposed procedure and compare the results with the non-parametric piecewise exponential estimates. Estimates for the survival function using the most probable partition are compared with the Kaplan-Meier estimators (KMEs). A sensitivity analysis for the proposed model is provided considering different prior specifications for the failure rates and for the grid. We also evaluate the effect of different percentage of censoring observations in the estimates. An application to a real data set is also provided. We notice that the posteriors are strongly influenced by prior specifications, mainly for the failure rates parameters. Thus, the priors must be fairly built, say, really disclosing the expert prior opinion.     

Multiproduct,Multicriteria Model for Supplier Selection with Product Life‐Cycle Considerations

In industrial purchasing contexts firms often procure a set of products from the same suppliers to benefit from economies of scale and scope. These products are often at different stages of their respective product life cycles (PLCs). Firms consider multiple criteria in purchasing such products, and the relative importance of these criteria varies depending on the PLC stage of a given product. Therefore, a firm should select suppliers and choose sourcing arrangements such that product requirements across multiple criteria are satisfied over time. The extant models in sourcing literature for evaluating and selecting suppliers for a portfolio of products have not considered this important and practical issue faced by firms. This article proposes a mathematical model that effectively addresses this issue and contributes to the sourcing literature by demonstrating an approach for optimally selecting suppliers and supplier bids given the relative importance of multiple criteria across multiple products over their PLC. The application of the model on a hypothetical data set illustrates the strategic and tactical significance of such considerations.     

法学难点案例研究与教学：合格产品的产品责任

利用案例研究进行法学难点问题的教学是法学教育的重要形式.本文试图通过对王英诉白酒标识应加警示标志案的个案分析,阐明我国产品责任法理论研究和课堂教学中的难点问题——合格产品的产品责任,即合格产品也可能存在产品缺陷,对造成他人人身财产损害的,也应承担相应的赔偿责任.     

Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization

This paper explores the effects of the standard language ideology on attitudes to language of nonlinguists and of language specialists, and considers how far linguists themselves have been affected by – and have contributed to – this ideology. The primary definition of standardization is taken to be the imposition of uniformity upon a class of objects . Attitudes to language within standard language cultures are then reviewed and contrasted with unstandardized situations, in which the boundaries of languages are indeterminate. It is therefore suggested that determinate languages, such as English, may be defined more by ideologies than by their internal structures. Some effects of standardization on the work of linguists are then reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of the importance of the process of legitimization in contributing to the standard language culture, and of the contribution of language specialists themselves to this process. Finally, certain matters arising are reviewed.     

Bipolar value-driven joint product costing

There exists a joint-cost allocation problem in the public sector, particularly highlighted by the cost-based national pricing of blood products in England, supposedly derived using volume-driven activity-based costing (ABC): an approach criticised by the implementation criteria propounded for ABC within the academic literature. In contrast, we believe that the contributions of quality-associated operations-based drivers, described within ABC, together with the net realisable value method, usually recommended as the optimal joint-cost allocation method, provide the beginnings of a solution. This paper sets out a methodological development from this platform that links allocation decisions with the issue of value. The bipolar nature of the model is based upon the combination of two types of allocation. One allocates joint costs according to the altered value of source material when competing non-joint alternative products exist. The other allocates joint costs according to product outcome values ascertained separately for the physical specification elements that comprise each of the range of joint products. The overall emphases are on academic context, model generalisation, the facilitation of cost-effective choices between joint products and non-joint alternatives, and possible future trends in the application of the method.