Real options and demographic decisions:empirical evidence from East and West Germany

Iyer and Velu (2006) have convincingly argued that contemporary analyses of fertility behaviour fail to explain why a woman (or a couple) will choose to postpone childbirth, and in particular to consider the role of uncertainty in this regard. They have addressed this lacuna in the literature by using a real options approach to model fertility decisions by relating uncertainty experienced by individuals to the likelihood of childbirth. However, they did not present empirical evidence. Since the theory implies the existence of two offsetting effects of uncertainty on fertility decisions, a positive insurance effect and a negative option value effect, it is not easy to reject the theory on the basis of empirical analysis, when one of these effects offsets the other. We construct such a test for East (and also West) Germany during that country's reunification, which takes advantage of the fact that because of the country's strong welfare system, the insurance effect should be dominated by the option value effect, thereby suggesting that the net relationship should be negative. The results provide rather strong support for the real options link, especially for Eastern Germany.

Chain-store pricing and the structure of retail markets

This paper investigates competition between chain-stores and independents in the UK opticians' industry, using the relationship between the number of outlets present in a local market and the market size. Chain-stores are shown to have a significant effect on local market competition. In addition, the empirical approach is extended to allow inferences on the nature and extent of product differentiation. The results are broadly consistent with a model of vertical product differentiation in which chain-stores adopt national pricing strategies. The evidence suggests that the nature of competition between independent retailers depends on whether a chain-store is present.

Moving towards premium e-grocery management:multi-products sourcing capacity logistic and geodemographic marketing in emerging markets

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The impact of transactional and relational strategies in business markets:an agenda for inquiry

The impetus for the special issue of Industrial Marketing Management is the importance of understanding the implications of transactional and relational strategies in business-to-business contexts. The objective of the special issue is to integrate conceptual and empirical research in this area. We highlight research that extends current thinking in the area to ensure that this special issue serves an impetus for future research on this important topic.

Chain-store pricing and the structure of retail markets

This paper examines competition between chain-stores and independent retailers in the UK retail opticians' market. We demonstrate that the pricing policy adopted by chain-stores can determine the impact their entry has on independent retailers. Crucially, in this market the chain-store retailers set an identical national price across all local markets. Our results suggest that this pricing strategy lessens the detrimental effect competition from chain-stores has on independent retailers. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Changing career models and capacity for innovation in professional services

A number of professional sectors have recently moved away from their longstanding career model of up-or-out promotion and embraced innovative alternatives. Professional labor is a critical resource in professional service firms. Therefore, changes to these internal labor markets are likely to trigger other innovations, for example in knowledge management, incentive schemes and team composition. In this chapter we look at how new career models affect the core organizing model of professional firms and, in turn, their capacity for and processes of innovation. We consider how professional firms link the development of human capital and the division of professional labor to distinctive demands for innovation and how novel career systems help them respond to these demands.