Pricing and competition in the Swedish retail market for electricity

Sweden, together with Norway, Finland and Denmark, have created a multi-national electricity market called NordPool. In this market, producers and retailers of electricity can buy and sell electricity, and the retailers then offers this electricity to end consumers such as households and industries. Previous studies have shown that pricing at the NordPool market is functioning quite well, but no other study has to my knowledge studied if pricing in the retail market to consumers in Sweden is well functioning. If the market is well functioning, with competition and low transaction costs when changing electricity retailer, we would expect that a homogeneous good such as electricity would be sold at the approximately same price, and that price changes would be highly correlated, in this market. Thus, the aim of this study is to test whether the price of Vattenfall, the largest energy firm in the Swedish market, is highly correlated to the price of other firms in the Swedish retail market for electricity. Descriptive statistics indicate that the price offered by Vattenfall is quite similar to the price of other firms in the market. In addition, regression analysis show that the correlation between the price of Vattenfall and other firms is as high as 0.98.

The impact of price changes on volume sales of alcoholic beverages in Sweden, 2006-2013

We evaluate whether price elasticities on registered alcohol have changed in the last ten years in Sweden, in particular with regard to the investigation by Asplund et al (2007). We also investigate the fiscal effects of such changes. According to our estimates, price elasticities have increased, and these increases may have substantial effects on estimated changes in tax revenues when commodity tax rates are changed. In particular, commodity tax rates on spirits may have reached “Laffer territory” where tax increases may actually lower tax revenues.

Standardisation of the Selling Process in Franchising : A Take on Sales Funnel Management

This paper addresses the two opposing extremes of standardisation in franchising and the dynamics of sales in search of a juncture point in order to reduce franchisees’ uncertainties in sales and improve sales performance. A conceptual framework is developed based on both theory and practice in order to investigate the sales process of a specific franchise network. The research is conducted over a period of six weeks in form of a customised sales report considering the sales funnel concept and performance indicators along the sales process. The received quantitative data is analysed through descriptive statistics and logistic regressions in respect to what variations in the sales process can be discovered and what practices yield higher performance. The results indicate an advantage of a prioritisation guideline regarding the activities and choices to make as a salesperson over strict standardisation. Defining the sales funnel plus engaging in the process of monitoring sales in itself has proven to be a way of reducing uncertainty as the franchisor and franchisees alike inherently gain a greater understanding of the process. The extended knowledge gained from this research allowed for both practical as well as theoretical implications and expands the knowledge on standardisation of sales and the appropriateness of the sales funnel and its management for dealing with the dilemma between standardisation and flexibility of sales in franchising contexts.