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on Marketing |
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Issue of 2010‒07‒31
six papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Cohen, Monique |
| Abstract: | The global financial crisis has intensified the problems of over-indebtedness, especially for the poor. In this context, the microfinance industry is giving more attention to building their customers’ financial capabilities, designing products that respond to their needs and preferences, and ensuring their protection as consumers. In a world where financial products and institutions are expanding rapidly, deciding which services to choose and how to use them is an increasing challenge. That challenge is especially great for customers who are poor and have limited experience in the formal financial sector. While money-management strategies can be innovative, the financial choices they make are defined by environments where informal financial practices are dominant and the consumer is often uncertain about commercial products and services. In increasingly complex and competitive financial markets, consumers with low levels of financial literacy lack the information and tools necessary to make informed decisions. Building financial capabilities can help people move from being overwhelmed by their financial options to being empowered by them. |
| Keywords: | Education, Financial literacy, global financial crisis, Microfinance, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:2020br:18(2)&r=mkt |
| By: | Tanattha Kittisopee; Puree Anantachoti; Viroj Tangcharoensathien |
| Abstract: | Drug consumption in Thailand is high in comparison with other countries. A key factor influencing this over consumption is advertising. Radio is the media that can easily reach a lot of people, in both urban and rural areas. Thai people typically practice self-care by purchasing drugs from a local pharmacy. They are often stimulated by drug advertisements. Past data have shown that there were many illegal drug advertisements. Consumer protection of this aspect seems to be poor. Better regulation or regulatory mechanisms are needed; therefore, this study reviews the current regulations and practices of drug advertising via radio in Thailand. [HEFP working paper 02/05] |
| Keywords: | Drug consumption, Radio, urban, rural areas, purchasing drugs, local pharmacy, advertising, radio, Thailand |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2697&r=mkt |
| By: | Purohit Basant Kumar |
| Abstract: | Indian pharmaceutical sector is currently witnessing faster introduction of new drugs, with shorter life cycles, given the intense competition. Often, pharma companies fail to strategically align their sales force with brands to gain the competitive edge. Personal selling literature too is silent on this front. This study for the first time, suggests a new conceptual framework to align sales career cycle (SCC) stages with brand life cycle (BLC) stages of the drugs for more effective selling to physicians. Through a series of propositions, the study highlights the relevance of sales career cycle stage in influencing physicians for increasing prescriptions and the alignment of sales efforts at various SCC stages with the brand life cycle. Pharmaceutical companies would stand to gain from this study by profiling the medical representatives based on SCC stages and allotting them the drug in the appropriate BLC stage. |
| Date: | 2010–07–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:wp2010-07-01&r=mkt |
| By: | Peter Cramton (Economics Department, University of Maryland); Samuel Dinkin; Robert Wilson |
| Abstract: | We describe a new approach for selling rough diamonds through competitive auctions. The classical approach of De Beers—giving each customer a bag of stones and a take-it-or-leave-it price—worked well in near monopoly circumstances, but is ill-suited for competitive producers. Competitive producers, like BHP Billiton, benefit from getting the diamonds to those who value them the most. Beginning in 2008, BHP Billiton introduced a simple auction process to assign its Ekati diamonds to the highest bidders at competitive market prices. A Spot auction, ten times per year, is used to establish prices for each of nineteen deals of diamonds grouped by size, color, and quality. A Term auction allows customers to lock in a long-term supply commitment at prices indexed to future Spot auctions. A Specials auction, two or three times per year, prices large stones. The auctions use an ascending-clock format in which prices increase for each product until there is no excess demand. This approach allows customers to discover market prices, while managing portfolio and budget constraints. The approach has proven remarkably successful in pricing and allocating the mine’s output even in the face of the global financial crisis. |
| Keywords: | diamond auctions, market design |
| JEL: | D44 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pcc:pccumd:10ard&r=mkt |
| By: | Sandra Cavaco (LEM - Laboratoire d'Economie Moderne - Université Panthéon-Assas - Paris II); Patricia Crifo (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X, University Paris X - (-), Catholic University of Louvain - (-)) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance by proposing a theoretical model and by testing empirically its main predictions on a matched panel database for the biggest European listed firms over the 2002-2007 period. Our dataset gathers two sources of information: environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings from the Vigeo database, and economic and financial performance data from the Orbis database. Using the System GMM estimator for dynamic panel data model, we test the complementarity and substitutability, that is the super- and sub- modularity between various corporate social responsibility practices, along with its impact on firm performance. We do observe that a complementarity premium on specific CSR dimensions (human resources and business behavior towards customers and suppliers) exists but also that some practices are relative substitutes (environment and business behaviors). |
| Keywords: | Corporate social responsibility ; supermodularity ; panel data |
| Date: | 2010–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00504747_v1&r=mkt |
| By: | Massimo Filippini (Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE), Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich and Department of Economics, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical analysis on the residential demand for electricity by time-of-day. This analysis has been performed using aggregate data at the city level for 22 Swiss cities for the period 2000 to 2006. For this purpose, we estimated two log-log demand equations for peak and off-peak electricity consumption using a static and a dynamic partial adjustment approach. These demand functions were estimated using several econometric approaches for panel data, for example LSDV, RE for static models and corrected LSDV, and GMM estimators for dynamic models. The attempt of this empirical analysis has been to highlight some of the characteristics of the Swiss residential electricity demand. The estimated short-run own price elasticities are lower than 1, whereas in the long-run these values, as expected, are higher than 1. The estimated short run as well as long run cross-price elasticities are positive. This result shows that peak and off-peak electricity are substitutes. In this context, time differentiated prices should provide an economic incentive to customers so that they can modify consumption patterns by reducing peak demand and shifting electricity consumption from peak to off-peak periods. |
| Keywords: | residential electricity demand by time-of-use, time-of-use rates, panel data, partial adjustment model |
| JEL: | D D2 Q Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cee:wpcepe:10-76&r=mkt |