nep-mkt New Economics Papers
on Marketing
Issue of 2014‒11‒22
four papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Consumer Policy Guidance on Intangible Digital Content Products By OECD
  2. Trademarks Squatters: Evidence from Chile By Carsten Fink; Christian Helmers; Carlos Ponce
  3. Expanding the Horizon: An Empirical Study of Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Firm Performance By Xichen Sun; Michiyuki Yagi; Katsuhiko Kokubu
  4. Supply-side barriers to cross-border e-commerce in the EU Digital Single Market By Melisande Cardona; Bertin Martens

  1. By: OECD
    Abstract: Digital content, such as e-books and apps that are available through streaming, downloads or cloud computing platforms, has become the fastest growing e-commerce product category. To support further growth, it is important that consumers, including children, understand what their rights and obligations are when acquiring and using such products. In particular, consumers need to know about the conditions under which they may copy and share products, and on which devices the products may be used. They also need to be informed about how their personal data may be collected and used, with whom it may be shared and why, and the type of redress that may be obtained when problems arise.
    Date: 2014–10–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:241-en&r=mkt
  2. By: Carsten Fink (Economics and Statistics Division, World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.); Christian Helmers (Santa Clara University, United States of America); Carlos Ponce (ILADES-Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago de Chile, Chile)
    Abstract: This paper explores the phenomenon of “trademark squatting” – a situation in which someone other than the original brand owner obtains a trademark on a brand. We develop a model that shows how squatting results from market uncertainty that leads brand owners to rationally forgo registering trademarks, creating opportunities for squatting. We create an algorithm to identify squatters in the Chilean trademark register and show empirically that squatting is a persistent and systematic phenomenon. Using data on trademark oppositions, we find that squatting leads brand owners that have been exposed to squatting to “over-protect” their brands by registering disproportionately many trademarks and covering classes other than those directly related to their products and services. Trademark squatting, therefore, creates a strategic, albeit excessive, response by brand owners which inflates trademark filings.
    Keywords: trademark, squatter, strategic behavior, Chile.
    JEL: D22 M30 K11 O34
    Date: 2014–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:22&r=mkt
  3. By: Xichen Sun (Student of Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University); Michiyuki Yagi (Interfaculty Initiative in the Social Science, Kobe University); Katsuhiko Kokubu (Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University)
    Abstract: As global competition is getting more and more intense, there is an increasing trend manifesting the increasing interest in sustainable supply chain management. This study introduces four sustainable supply chain indicators from the upstream (supplier), middle stream (focal firm) and downstream (customer) of a supply chain to empirically examine the relationship between sustainable supply chain performance and firm performance (ROA), as well as the relationship between environmental efficiency and other three indicators. It focuses on the Energy and Utilities industries. In this study we use global firm dataset from Bloomberg professional service, and the number of observation is 86 during 2005 to 2013. We find an inversely U-shaped curve relationship between environmental efficiency in supply chain and firm' s profitability (ROA); and a U-shaped relationship between investments in operational sustainability and firm' s profitability. Also a negative relationship is found between having a new product and ROA. We provide implications obtained from our analysis of regression results for managers. We contribute to the literature by responding to the call for more empirical research in this filed, providing the evidence that sustainable supply chain performance can bring actual benefits for the firm, as long as firms identify their own position accurately and take the right action.
    Keywords: sustainable supply chain, environmental efficiency, new product, firm performance
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kbb:dpaper:2014-30&r=mkt
  4. By: Melisande Cardona (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Bertin Martens (European Commission – JRC - IPTS)
    Abstract: Between 2009 and 2012 the percentage of online consumers in the EU who made online purchases in another EU Member State increased from 8 to 11 per cent, below the target of 20 per cent put forward in the EU Digital Agenda. Both, subjective perceptions on the consumer side or objective barriers on the supply side can play a role. This study uses a mystery shopping survey to measure the relative importance of supply side barriers. While 97 per cent of domestic orders lead to a successful shipment, we find that suppliers accepted to ship only 48 per cent of all cross-border online orders. This high failure rate may overstate the ordinary consumer experience because of the artificiality of the mystery shopping trade patterns. We therefore focus on the factors that drive success and failure. A shared language between buyer and supplier countries increased and size of the goods decreased the chances of success. Goods that are subject to geographical sales restrictions (vertical agreements) between producers, wholesalers and retailers are the least likely to be available for online cross-border orders. This may indicate that restrictions in competition in offline markets are spilling over to online markets and prevent the realization of some of the benefits of e-commerce. We conclude that regional integration in digital markets is constrained by the lack of integration in traditional bricks & mortar markets.
    Keywords: online trade, e-commerce, cross-border trade, barriers to trade, vertical constraints in online markets
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:decwpa:2014-13&r=mkt

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