New Product Design under Channel Acceptance: Brick‐and‐Mortar,Online‐Exclusive,or Brick‐and‐Click

In recent years, an increasing number of brick‐and‐mortar retailers have entered into the new brick‐and‐click era. Within this context, when a manufacturer presents a new product offering to a retailer, the ultimate decision is often made by the retailer regarding (1) whether to carry the new product, and (2) the channel outlet the product will be carried in (i.e., in‐store only, online‐exclusive, or brick‐and‐click). In response to this trend, we examine how a manufacturer may use product design to influence a dual‐channel retailer's outlet designation decision. This is the first study to investigate a manufacturer's optimal product design strategy when a brick‐and‐mortar retailer expands online. We demonstrate that, to induce the retailer to carry a new product both offline and online, it may not always be optimal for the manufacturer to enhance product quality (compared with when the retailer only operates offline). With the online store addition, the retailer may also be incentivized to adjust his participation criterion to a level less than what is determined by his outside option.     

How Excessive Stage Time Reduction in NPD Negatively Impacts Market Value

We empirically investigate how time reductions in particular product development stages impact market value. Using longitudinal project data from 107 firms, we compare stage times prior to and following investments in new product development process changes. Our analysis reveals a predominance of focus on time reduction in the late stages of product development. We also find support for the existence of an inverted‐U relationship between market performance and time reductions for some of these stages: beta testing and technical implementation. Therefore, while time reductions can improve time to market, we observe a clear limit to the benefits associated with stage time reductions at particular stages. We also investigate the role of strategic contextual factors such as the extent to which a firm's patented innovations rely upon a variety, as opposed to a limited range, of diverse technology classes. The extent of this technology‐span impacts optimal stage time reductions. We perform an in‐depth post hoc analysis with a small set of firms to uncover how they should invest in stage time reduction given our empirical results. The post hoc analysis highlights that some firms are likely overinvesting in stage time reductions and destroying market value.     

Product Design Awards and The Market Value of The Firm

Product design has increasingly been recognized as an important source of competitive advantage. This study empirically estimates the impact of effective design on the market value of the firm. We use a firm's receipt of a product design award as a proxy for its design effectiveness. Based on data from 264 announcements of design awards given to commercialized products between 1998 and 2011, we find that award announcements are associated with statistically significant positive stock market reactions. Depending on the benchmark model used to estimate the stock market reaction, the market reaction over a two‐day period (the day of announcement and the preceding day) ranges from 0.95% to 1.02%. The market reaction is more positive for smaller firms and for firms whose award winning products are consumer goods. However, a firm's growth potential, industry competitiveness, and whether a firm is a first time or repeated award winner do not significantly affect the market reaction.     

Workplace flexibility and new product development performance: The role of telework and flexible work schedules

This paper investigates the effects of telework and flexible work schedules on the performance of teams in new product development projects. Organizations increasingly introduce workplace flexibility practices that provide flexibility with regard to where or when the employee works. The findings of NPD teams in five cases, situated in two telecommunication firms, show that telework has a positive effect on NPD performance through enabling knowledge sharing, cross-functional cooperation and inter-organizational involvement. This improves the speed and quality of product development, provided that face-to-face contact is not completely replaced by virtual contact. A basic level of face-to face contact is necessary to offset the negative effects of telework on the quality of the shared knowledge, which are larger when the knowledge is sticky. Flexible work schedules and unexpectedly hot-desking were found to increase telework usage. This implies for managers that workplace flexibility needs enablers and cannot do without a sufficient level of face-to-face contact.     

论农民养老中的政府职能

在现行农民养老体系中,政府尽管做了大量工作,但总体支持力度不够,影响了农村老年保障制度的正常发展。政府应明确和确立其主体地位,充分发挥自身职能,以促进农民养老问题的解决和农村老年保障制度的健康发展。     

对第五次人口普查年龄结构数据的评估与调整

根据 1 982年、 1 990年人口普查资料和中国统计年鉴数据 ,运用人口存活分析方法、人口目标分析方法对我国第五次人口普查年龄结构数据进行分析、评估和调整 ,以期对深入研究“五普”数据提供参考。     

“Replacement Migration” from the Perspective of Equilibrium Stationary Populations

An equilibrium stationary population results whenever a population is projected assuming (constant) below-replacement fertility and annual flow of net migrants whose age-sex composition is also fixed. This framework is useful in interpreting the results in the U.N.'s report on Replacement Migration. It is especially helpful in seeing why the annual volume of immigration must accelerate if the policy goal is to maintain today's relatively youthful age structures. Replacement Migration is largely demographic in nature and ignores a number of potential connections to economics and other social sciences. Had those connections been strengthened, readers might have been more convinced that population aging and population decline are important problems that require immigration as a solution.     

Movement patterns of threeAthalia sawflies in relation to the spatio-temporal distributions of their habitats

Summary I compared the differences in the movement intensity of three species of sympatricAthalia sawflies,A. japonica, A. rosae andA. infumata feeding on cruciferous plants. Mark-release-recapture census was conducted to estimate movement distance, sex ratio and age composition of adult sawflies. In addition, the sex ratio of newlyemerged adults was examined by rearing field-collected larvae until adult emergence. Age composition and longevity of adults were estimated experimentally. The movement intensity was evaluated mostly with the indirect information thus obtained. Females moved more actively than males in all three sawflies.A. japonica females of all age classes moved actively in spring and autumn, but in summer they disappeared. Also,A. rosae females of all age classes moved actively in spring and autumn. In summer, in contrast withA. japonica, A. rosae females moved most actively among the three species in all seasons.A. infumata females, in particular the young females, moved most actively among the three species, exceptA rosae in summer. The movement patterns of the three sawflies were deduced in relation to the spatio-temporal distributions of their habitats. In spring and autumn, when host plants were abundant,A. japonica andA. rosae females were dispersed among the host patches within the census are. In summer, however, when host plants were scarce,A. japonica entered diapause, whereasA. rosae migrated to neighboring areas. On the other hand,A. infumata, in particular young famale, innately dispersed to seek for temporary host plants throughout the census seasons.     

我国退休年龄是否应该调整？——国内相关研究综述

随着我国经济的发展、社会的进步、科学医疗技术水平和生活水平的不断提高,人口的预期寿命不断延长,导致人口老龄化程度的不断加深,这给我国的经济发展、社会保障带来沉重的压力。我国现行的退休制度是19世纪50年代制定的,退休制度的一个重要内容是退休年龄,因而是否应该调整退休年龄也成为目前学术界讨论的热点话题之一。目前学术界的主流观点是我国应该提高退休年龄;但是,推延退休也面临一些矛盾,因此有学者提出目前应维持现行退休年龄。本文对正反两方面观点分别进行归纳梳理并介绍了退休年龄的调整方案。     

中国老年人口状况的国际比较分析

随中国人口老龄化进程加快,老年人口问题日益引起重视。本文仅从人口学角度对老年人口的规模、速度、构成进行实证分析。