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Critics of the technology industry are facing unique analytical obstacles to bringing successful antitrust claims against digital platforms, particularly with regard to their multi-layered structure and often free features. Recent congressional investigations into digital platforms have not deterred these companies' efforts to profit from this structure through potentially anticompetitive methods. This Note argues that the theory of antitrust aftermarkets as defined in Eastman Kodak Co. v. Image Technical Services, Inc. is an under-utilized doctrine that could be successfully applied to digital platforms. I consider two industries--mobile app stores and their payment systems, and cloud computing--as case studies for the complex economic questions plaintiffs must prove to successfully argue that these digital platforms possess market power in their respective aftermarkets. While the structure of the particular industry and the controlling law both affect the viability of such a theory, I argue that the aftermarket theory can be applied to digital platforms and should be one arrow in the quiver of enforcement agencies and plaintiffs alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I introduce a stability notion, dynamic stability, for two‐sided dynamic matching markets where (i) matching opportunities arrive over time, (ii) matching is one‐to‐one, and (iii) matching is irreversible. The definition addresses two conceptual issues. First, since not all agents are available to match at the same time, one must establish which agents are allowed to form blocking pairs. Second, dynamic matching markets exhibit a form of externality that is not present in static markets: an agent's payoff from remaining unmatched cannot be defined independently of other contemporaneous agents' outcomes. Dynamically stable matchings always exist. Dynamic stability is a necessary condition to ensure timely participation in the economy by ensuring that agents do not strategically delay the time at which they are available to match. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antitrust and "Big Tech" firms are under renewed scrutiny, in part due to the dispute between Epic Games and Apple. This lawsuit strikes at the heart of the growing phenomenon of "tech-tying," a form of vertical integration in digital aftermarkets where monopolistic tech firms condition the use of their operating systems on the added use of other complimentary software or services. Judicial attitude toward claims of tying has shifted considerably over recent decades, resulting in lax enforcement against vertical integration arrangements. This Comment argues that Apple's conduct constitutes "techtying" and that competitors should be permitted to enter the aftermarkets of both iOS app distribution and iOS in-app payments processing. Antitrust laws must evolve from its industrial-era origins to account for today's hightech industry by expanding to protect competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

False memories of autobiographical events can create enormous problems in forensic settings (e.g., false accusations). While multiple studies succeeded in inducing false memories in interview settings, we present research trying to reverse this effect (and thereby reduce the potential damage) by means of two ecologically valid strategies. We first successfully implanted false memories for two plausible autobiographical events (suggested by the students' parents, alongside two true events). Over three repeated interviews, participants developed false memories (measured by state-of-the-art coding) of the suggested events under minimally suggestive conditions (27%) and even more so using massive suggestion (56%). We then used two techniques to reduce false memory endorsement, source sensitization (alerting interviewees to possible external sources of the memories, e.g., family narratives) and false memory sensitization (raising the possibility of false memories being inadvertently created in memory interviews, delivered by a new interviewer). This reversed the false memory build-up over the first three interviews, returning false memory rates in both suggestion conditions to the baseline levels of the first interview (i.e., to ~15% and ~25%, respectively). By comparison, true event memories were endorsed at a higher level overall and less affected by either the repeated interviews or the sensitization techniques. In a 1-y follow-up (after the original interviews and debriefing), false memory rates further dropped to 5%, and participants overwhelmingly rejected the false events. One strong practical implication is that false memories can be substantially reduced by easy-to-implement techniques without causing collateral damage to true memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I study a mechanism design problem in which a designer allocates a single good to one of several agents, and the mechanism is followed by an aftermarket—a post‐mechanism game played between the agent who acquired the good and third‐party market participants. The designer has preferences over final outcomes, but she cannot design the aftermarket. However, she can influence its information structure by publicly disclosing information elicited from the agents by the mechanism. I introduce a class of allocation and disclosure rules, called cutoff rules, that disclose information about the buyer's type only by revealing information about the realization of a random threshold (cutoff) that she had to outbid to win the object. When there is a single agent in the mechanism, I show that the optimal cutoff mechanism offers full privacy to the agent. In contrast, when there are multiple agents, the optimal cutoff mechanism may disclose information about the winner's type; I provide sufficient conditions for optimality of simple designs. I also characterize aftermarkets for which restricting attention to cutoff mechanisms is without loss of generality in a subclass of all feasible mechanisms satisfying additional conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how investor overconfidence and attention affect market efficiency around the 2015 Chinese stock market crash. We find that the price delay before the crash is about twice the price delay after the crash. Investors become more sensitive to market movements after the crash. Price delays are larger on market down‐days than on up‐days before the crash, but the differences are insignificant between up‐ and down‐days after the crash, indicating that negative information travels slowly only when investors are overconfident. Margin traders follow market trends and intensify the pyramiding and de‐pyramiding effects caused by market sentiment change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, the secondary-ticket market for sporting events, concerts, and the like entailed hollering scalpers perched outside of venues. Though this practice has not been entirely extinguished, the internet has largely moved the secondary-ticket market online to websites like StubHub, the largest player in this arena. Instead of yelling loudest or finding the best real estate outside a stadium from which to perch, the modern ticket scalper competes most effectively in the secondary-ticket market by finding ways to access primary tickets online. By using ticket "bots," programs designed to autofill customer information and solve CAPTCHA prompts, modern scalpers can quickly purchase large quantities of tickets from primary-market sites like Ticketmaster. The goal of the modern scalper is the same as the goal of the hollering scalper of the past: to resell these tickets for a marked-up price. States have responded to modern bots-based ticket resales with the whole gamut of legislation, ranging from no regulation, to disallowing online ticket bots, to wholesalers banning ticket resale altogether. Congress upended states' disparate approaches in 2016 with the enactment of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which effectively prohibits the use of bots for online ticket resale and charges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with its enforcement. The problem, however, is that the BOTS Act attacks a nonexistent boogeyman. Neither ticket bots nor the modern scalper creates marked-up ticket prices in the secondary market; consumer demand does. Moreover, consumers have no right to attain underpriced tickets. On the flip side, performers and sports teams have every right to set prices as they see fit. Every day, the FTC prosecutes bad actors who defraud the elderly of their savings, deliberately fool consumers into believing falsehoods about a product (like sham dietary supplements), and trick people into believing celebrities endorse scam-centered products. These are legitimate consumer harms. Purchasing tickets--with full information and disclosures--on the secondary market at prices higher than one wishes to pay is not the sort of fraudulent activity that the FTC should be forced to police as "consumer protection." Accordingly, this Note argues that the BOTS Act should be repealed or, at a minimum, removed from the FTC's consumer-protection apparatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A software system deals with various security implications after its release in the market. Correspondingly, firm releases security patches to counter those flaws discovered in the software system. A vendor releases a patch only if a vulnerability has been discovered in a software. It is an important aspect that encompasses the prediction of potential number of patches to be released to maintain the stability of a software. Vulnerability Discovery Models (VDMs) help a software vendor to acknowledge the security trends, forecast security investments and to plan patches, but very few attempts have been made to model the Vulnerability Patch Modeling (VPM) based on the impact of vulnerabilities discovered over the time period. In this proposal, we deduce a novel approach that addresses trend in the sequential development of patches based on the vendor or reporters fetching out the vulnerabilities in a software. The vulnerability trends in a software significantly affect the discovery process and later trigger a patch deployment to suppress the possible likelihood of a breach. The integrative approach underlines the association of vulnerability patch modeling with the vulnerability discovery phenomenon. To exemplify the proposed systematic structure, a statistical analysis has been conducted using real life vulnerability and patch datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to examine the changes that have occurred after Poland's integration into the European Union (EU) internal market for services after 2004 considering the legal changes adopted in the EU relating to the free movement of services, namely, the Service Directive. An examination of the Directive's outcome and the development of the market integration process permit the conclusion that the changes in regulatory trade barriers have had a relatively limited impact on the changes that have occurred in EU–Polish ties concerning services trade. These were predominantly shaped by structural and macroeconomic factors. From an analysis of the structure of Poland's services trade, a picture emerges of a deepening asymmetry between the exports and imports sides of Poland's participation in the internal market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to examine the changes that have occurred after Poland's integration into the European Union (EU) internal market for services after 2004 considering the legal changes adopted in the EU relating to the free movement of services, namely, the Service Directive. An examination of the Directive's outcome and the development of the market integration process permit the conclusion that the changes in regulatory trade barriers have had a relatively limited impact on the changes that have occurred in EU–Polish ties concerning services trade. These were predominantly shaped by structural and macroeconomic factors. From an analysis of the structure of Poland's services trade, a picture emerges of a deepening asymmetry between the exports and imports sides of Poland's participation in the internal market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I model strategic interaction among issuers, underwriters, retail investors, and institutional investors when the secondary market has limited price transparency. Search costs for retail investors lead to price dispersion in the secondary market, while the price for institutional investors is infinitely elastic. Because retail distribution capacity is assumed to be limited for each underwriter-dealer, Bertrand competition breaks down in the primary market and new issues are underpriced in equilibrium. Syndicates emerge in which underwriters bid symmetrically, with quantities allocated internally to efficiently utilize retail distribution capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of investor sentiment on IPO pricing. Using a model in which the aftermarket price of IPO shares depends on the information about the intrinsic value of the company and investor sentiment, I show that IPOs can be overpriced and still exhibit positive initial return. A sample of recent French offerings with a fraction of the shares reserved for individual investors supports the predictions of the model. Individual investors' demand is positively related to market conditions. Moreover, large individual investors' demand leads to high IPO prices, large initial returns, and poor long-run performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine syndicates for 1,638 IPOs from January 1997 through June 2002. We find strong evidence of information production by syndicate members. Offer prices are more likely to be revised in response to information when the syndicate has more underwriters and especially more co-managers. More co-managers also result in more analyst coverage and additional market makers following the IPO. Relationships between underwriters are critical in determining the composition of syndicates, perhaps because they mitigate free-riding and moral hazard problems. While there appear to be benefits to larger syndicates, we discuss several factors that may limit syndicate size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the strategic management of product recovery. As take-back regulations have targeted waste packaging, batteries, automobiles, and a variety of electrical and electronic equipment, companies have discovered that materials from end-of-life durable products can often substitute for new parts or used as spares in remanufacturing. Product recovery programs have also been enacted by companies to enhance their brand's environmental image. The author discusses ways for manufactures to protect aftermarkets, defined as the market for parts and accessories used to maintain or improve previous purchases.

The article looks at the various options available to retailers to help firms decide the best way to sell returned or unused products to the secondary market. The author defines several terms related to the secondary sale of products. Stock rebalancing takes place when first-quality products are removed from an area of low demand to another location where the product will sell better. Lifts occur when a retailer agrees to carry a new vendor's product but requires the new vendor to purchase the previous vendor's product already in the channel. Customer returns occur when customers determine that a product they have purchased does not satisfy their needs. The author discusses barter companies, which give companies credit for the full value of the items which can be used towards other items held by the company.

Prior research has assumed that underwriters post a stabilizing bid in the after-market. We find instead that aftermarket activities are less transparent and include stimulating demand through short covering and restricting supply by penalizing the flipping of shares. In more than half of IPOs, a short position of an average 10.75 percent of shares offered is covered in 22 transactions over 16.6 days in the aftermarket, resulting in a loss of 3.61 percent of underwriting fees. Underwriters manage price support activities by using a combination of aftermarket short covering, penalty bids, and the selective use of the overallotment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines aftermarket trading of underwriters and unaffiliated market makers in the three-month period after an IPO. We find that the lead underwriter is always the dominant market maker; he takes substantial inventory positions in the aftermarket trading, and co-managers play a negligible role in aftermarket trading. The lead underwriter engages in stabilization activity for less successful IPOs, and uses the overallotment option to reduce his inventory risk. Compensation to the underwriter arises primarily from fees, but aftermarket trading does generate positive profits, which are positively related to the degree of underpricing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the "going global" policy and the "the belt and road initiative" initiative, Chinese electrical enterprises have launched overseas markets one after another. However, due to political, economic, cultural and other reasons, Chinese electrical enterprises face a series of risks such as management, politics, law, finance and so on in the international market. This paper provides reference for Chinese electrical enterprises to "Going Global" by analyzing relevant risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies the quality and integrity of residential environment [RE] in Slovenia that changed according to socio-economic circumstances when the new socialist society in the Yugoslav era (1945-1990) was formed and was substantially changed in the post-independence era of the liberal market society. The research of RE from different periods was conducted in the city of Maribor. The results indicate differences in quality in the period of the Scandinavian influence, engineering economy parameters after the housing reform, and of the market economy after independency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: They are ordered within the cluster considering first two contributions relying on static optimization methods, the first of which by Torri et al. with a relevant methodological content and the second by Giuzio and Paterlini addressing directly the implications of high market correlations for portfolio managers, and then the article by Barro et al. employing a dynamic optimization approach again in the presence of alternative volatility regimes. The article on Sparse Precision Matrices for Minimum Variance Portfolios by Torri, Giacometti and Paterlini focuses on regularization methods used in the estimation of the precision matrix, an essential input in mean-variance optimization and here considered for minimum variance portfolios. Giuzio and Paterlini show that constraining the sparse lq-norm of portfolio weights automatically controls diversification and selects portfolios with a small number of active weights and low risk, in presence of high correlation and volatility.

This paper examines whether luxury products can support a circular economy. This is done through a literature review of luxury products and the links to circular economy, as well as a case study of Bang & Olufsen (B&O). The literature review revealed links between some of the core characteristics of luxury products and the circular economy. This included aspects such as the high quality, durability, service schemes, extended warranties, and large aftermarkets. The case study supports the links between the inner circles in the circular economy (maintenance, repair, and reuse) and some of the core characteristics of luxury products. B&O produces products with a long lifespan, has extended warranties, repair and service schemes, spare part availability for 8 years, an aftermarket, and leasing schemes. B&O also does reconditioning of components for its repair loop, conducts dismantling tests, marks plastic parts, and has a negative list that excludes certain hazardous components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Little is known about the employment prospects of formerly deployed soldiers (FDS) after returning from military deployment. The few studies that exist reported mixed results, and even fewer undertook comparisons with a civilian control population. This study compared labor market transitions of FDS within five years of returning from their first international deployment with those of a closely matched general-population control group. Methods Danish FDS (N=6653) returning from their first ever peacekeeping in Kosovo or Iraq, or more intense combat in Afghanistan (period 2002-2012), were matched with non-deployed controls from the general population (N=62 281). We modelled time-to-event using Cox models, for transitioning from employed to unemployed and back, and from work to long-term sickness absence and back. Each analysis adjusted for age and level of education and was stratified for the region of residence and the underlying period. Results Independent of deployment country, FDS had a lower risk of becoming unemployed [hazard ratio (HR) 0.55-0.73] and a higher chance of obtaining employment (HR 1.19-1.31) than matched controls. FDS returning from Afghanistan had a higher risk of long-term sickness absence (HR 1.66), while those returning from Kosovo had a higher chance of returning to work (HR 1.24). Conclusion Independent of deployment country, FDS fared better in the labor market within five years of returning home compared to non-deployed controls. However, deployment to Afghanistan was related to a higher risk of long-term sickness absence, suggesting that some soldiers have worse outcomes than the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The National Automotive Policy was introduced in Malaysia in 2006, which includes end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recovery policies. However, there is limited information on the current state of ELV recovery in Malaysia, which hinders the fulfillment of these new requirements. For manufacturers, the lack of information will lead to difficulties in making strategic decisions in order to fulfill the ELV policies. In order to support design strategies for ELV recovery, it is crucial to identify the issues and factors of ELV recovery, which forms the objective of this study. A survey was carried out among the key stakeholders in the aftermarket chain and the results revealed that special tooling is needed to handle ELV components as well as design that will facilitate the separation of parts according to materials. These are among the main factors that contribute toward the effectiveness of ELV recovery. The following 5 factors (pre-production, health and environment, policy and worker, manufacturing process, and end-of-life value) are the factors that will enhance ELV recovery in Malaysia and it is believed that these factors are subject to dynamic changes in the aftermarket chain. It is believed that the results presented in this paper will be useful to academics and researchers in order to establish design strategies for ELV recovery in Malaysia. Moreover, stochastic techniques are required to cater the dynamic and complex behavior of the actual ELV recovery system in Malaysia. Highlights • ELV recovery issues and factors in the automotive industry are investigated. • Special tooling is a critical issues faced by aftermarket stakeholders. • Pre-production, manufacturing process, and EOL value are among the important factors. • Fragility of components is the most important sub-factor. • The proposed factors serve as a guideline to create a dynamic ELV recovery model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small number of companies offer cryonics services to people intending to preserve their bodies after their death, until a moment in the future when medical progress allows the corpses to return to life by treating the condition that caused their life to end. While cryopreservation has long and successfully been used to store organs and tissues, including for reproductive purposes, cryonics has not succeeded yet in reviving dead humans. This study analysed the language used by cryonics providers a) to disseminate the (pseudo)scientific knowledge and technology behind cryonics and b) to market cryonics services through their websites. It found that cryonics discourse is disseminated as scientific discourse, and marketed like other, non-bioethically relevant services and products, in ways potentially misleading for the lay public. Cryonics is furthermore disseminated and advertised based on a negotiable notion of death that does not correspond to recognised ideas of clinical or legal death. Again, this entails a potential risk where stronger social actors may mislead weaker actors into making uninformed life-or-death choices; for this reason, a critical discourse approach can prove suitable to interpret the discourse of cryonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the changes in the co-movement dynamics in the stock market returns of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) with that of US during pre and post-global financial crisis (GFC). The stock returns of BRICS and the US markets over the period of 1999-2016 are analysed using wavelet transformation, with equal time phase of eight years on both sides of GFC. We find the existence of co-movement at both high and low frequencies. In addition, the contagion effect is also noted around the GFC year 2008. Further we also report that despite the high correlation of BRICS portfolio, it facilitates asset diversification benefits in the medium run. Finally, there is significant changes in correlation dynamics for Russia and China during post-GFC period, whereas the multiple correlations dynamics amongst BRICS markets remain unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field operational test (FOT) is a technique used within traffic safety to evaluate the overall value of in-vehicle information systems (IVISs) under normal operating conditions. In this study, a pan-European FOT was used to evaluate Navigation, Speed Information/Alert, Traffic Information, and Green Driving Support functions together with participants' perceptions of safety' before, during, and after using the functions. Through utilization and adherence to the FOT methodology, data were collected over a period ranging from 8 to 16 months in five European countries in order to assess the driver pre-conceived ideas and subsequent subjective and objective experiences with the IVIS functions. Several analyses of data were conducted, and this paper describes the results relating to the 'user-experience' as evaluated through subjective responses. The study showed that before the FOTs started, overall participants expected a higher safety benefit through using Speed Alert compared to the other functions. This function was also perceived to offer the highest safety benefit after the FOT had been completed. Perceptions of safety were found to be lowest for the green-driving function. The results offer insights into public expectations of IVIS functions and how these change with experience and overall; they suggest that, in some cases, the perception to safety benefits could be somewhat misplaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the initial-day and aftermarket price performance of corporate straight debt IPOs. We find that IPOs of speculative grade debt are underpriced like equity IPOs, while those rated investment grade are overpriced. IPOs of investment grade debt are typically issued by firms listed on the major exchanges and under-written by prestigious underwriters. In contrast, junk bond IPOs are more likely to be handled by less prestigious underwriters and are typically issued by OTC firms. Our analysis also reveals that bond rating, market listing of the firm, and investment banker quality are significant determinants of bond IPO returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts for articles related to the field of marketing management. They include "Growth, Conflict, and Government in the booming $202 Billion Automotive Aftermarket Reaches All North Americans," "Export! Why Or Why Not? Managerial Attitude for Smaller Sized Business Firms," and "Accountants, Not Merchants, Hold Retail Reins, Sahloff Complains."

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the challenges of lean manufacturing implementation in the remanufacturing industry. The research was undertaken in three types of remanufacturing company, torque converter, gearbox, and jet engine remanufacturers. This paper describes the characteristics of remanufacturing companies and compares them with the best practice company adopting lean manufacturing best practice: Toyota Motor Company. Through a comparison of the characteristics of the manufacturing environment, macro, and external condition, the challenges of adopting lean manufacturing are identified. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilised a case study method to analyse qualitative data collected from interviews, observations, and focus group discussions. Although case studies are typically used in inductive research, this study followed a deductive approach. Findings: The analysis demonstrated that remanufacturing companies experience challenges due to contextual differences to the benchmark company. The research found that there are some practices that are embedded in remanufacturing companies, but that the companies do not realise that these are lean manufacturing practices. On the other hand, there are a number of external factors that are beyond the remanufacturers' control that hinder the adoption of lean manufacturing. In addition, the aftermarket business of remanufacturers has resulted in a number of distinctive macro condition characteristics that make the adoption of lean manufacturing more complex. Practical implications: Successfully addressing barriers to lean manufacturing adoption might enhance the performance of remanufacturing process. This is because the business of remanufacturing is not value creation, but capturing value from used products. Originality/value: This paper contributes to existing literature examining lean production in remanufacturing companies. It is novel in the sense that it is the first study examining lean production in the remanufacturing industry from organisational and managerial perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the interaction between a monopolistic seller and a continuum of identical customers of a single product when some of them can form a buyer group and the seller can implement a key account management (KAM) program to deal with these customers, leaving those that purchase on an independent basis to be served through posted prices. We find that the creation of the coalition of buyers and the seller’s response of utilizing a KAM program are related decisions that explain each other. Selling through a KAM program eliminates the inherent instability that would otherwise plague the formation of any buyer group. At the same time, a KAM program allows the seller to charge higher prices to customers that purchase on an individual basis and to build a more efficient relationship with grouped customers; thus, its profits increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relationship between firms' tendencies to smooth earnings and the perception that firms may face of extracting private control benefits. Using a direct estimate of private control benefits that is routinely priced by noncontrolling parties, this study documents that such firms face high capital market costs, which induces them to disclose more private information through earnings smoothing. Furthermore, these results are observed primarily in less developed stock markets where disclosure costs due to information uncertainty are low and therefore the disclosure is more likely to be valued and correctly understood by market participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now widely recognized that collaboration across the supply chain is a must to be improved to achieve competitive advantage in global markets. Despite the fact that there is a unique well-known concept for supply chain collaboration suggested by the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce and Standards Committee (VICS), it is far from being enough as a solo source for a successful implementation because of being industry-dependent (particular for retail industry), abstract, qualitative, and inflexible. This research fills the gaps in VICS's method by addressing a holistic and structured Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) roadmap, which provides a complete source for practitioners and academicians for effective supply chain collaboration to be implemented widespread across any industry. A real case study was also carried out between an automotive supplier company and its aftermarket customer to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed CPFR roadmap in terms of specified key performance indicators as well as a discussion about how the suggested roadmap behaved in the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunding provides innovation in enabling entrepreneurs to contract with consumers before investment. Under aggregate demand uncertainty, this improves screening for valuable projects. Entrepreneurial moral hazard and private cost information threatens this benefit. Crowdfunding's after-markets enable consumers to actively implement deferred payments and thereby manage moral hazard. Popular crowdfunding platforms offer schemes that allow consumers to do so through conditional pledging behavior. Efficiency is sustainable only if expected returns exceed an agency cost associated with the entrepreneurial incentive problems. By reducing demand uncertainty, crowdfunding promotes welfare and complements traditional entrepreneurial financing, which focuses on controlling moral hazard. (JEL D21, D81, D82, D86, G32, L26) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how wind farms attract wind turbine manufacturers to get involved in wind turbines’ maintenance service with revenue sharing contract of bundled service under which the background of operation and maintenance (O&M) aftermarket of wind turbine exists. The authors also try to extend the results to the application of product plus service business mode on large-scale equipment O&M service. At present, Chinese wind power industry is suffering from production capacity redundancy. The profit levels for both wind farm and wind turbine manufacturers are relatively low. It is significant for Chinese wind power industry development to coordinate the supply chain of wind power in order to reduce O&M costs and increase revenues.Design/methodology/approach The present paper discusses product plus aftermarket service contract design on the background of closed-loop product service chain and uncertain equipment demand using revenue sharing contract model.Findings If centralized decision making is assumed, the authors find that the wind turbine order increases as the aftermarket service effort level and aftermarket service profit increase; aftermarket service effort level is positively correlative to the service efficiency. On the other hand, if decentralized decision making is assumed, the wind turbine order increases as share of the aftermarket service chain by manufacturer to wind farm increases and share of product supply chain by wind farm to manufacturer decreases. The optimal effort level of wind farm increases as the share of aftermarket service chain increases while the optimal effort level of the manufacturer is a concave function of share of aftermarket service chain if service quality linear correlates with effort level. Meanwhile, the authors find that the revenues of the product supply chain and aftermarket service chain have a concave relationship. This relationship is not affected by the format of relationship between service quality and effort level (linear or exponential).Practical implications The results could potentially be used to provide the wind turbine manufacturer with a greater profit space and satisfy wind farm’s equipment maintenance demand at the same time. It can also guide the practice of revenue sharing in the aftermarket service and manufacturing servitization.Originality/value In this model, the authors assumed that both the forward revenue sharing of power generation by wind farm to manufacturer and the backward revenue sharing of maintenance service by the manufacturer to wind farm exist in closed-loop product service chain. Then the authors discussed channel coordination of such cross-revenue sharing contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the provision of repair services (aftermarket services that are required for a certain fraction of durable units after sales) through an international duopoly model in which a domestic firm and a foreign firm compete in the domestic market. Trade liberalization in goods, if not accompanied by the liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI) in services, induces the domestic firm to establish service facilities for repairing the foreign firm's products. This weakens the firms' competition in the product market, and the resulting anti-competitive effect hurts consumers and reduces world welfare. Despite the anti-competitive effect, trade liberalization may also hurt the foreign firm because the repairs reduce the sales of the imported good in the product market. Liberalization of service FDI helps resolve the problem because it induces the foreign firm to establish service facilities for its own products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high initial trading volume following an IPO listing is an anomaly in the aftermarket and this activity is mainly caused by the flipping activity of flippers. Therefore, this study argues that investors’ interest could be one of the factors that trigger flipping activity. This study uses the signalling theory argument, whereby the proportion of shareholder retention sends a credible signal to investors and sways flipping activity. Using cross section and quantile regression in high and median quintiles, this study found a significant positive relationship between shareholder retention and flipping activity. The finding suggests that to increase the liquidity of the IPOs in the immediate aftermarket, the shareholders have to retain a higher proportion of shares in order to signal the quality and prospects of the IPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four years after the end of its uprising against the Gaddafi regime, Libya remains in chaos. It is worth noting that for the third time since their independence in 1951, the Libyans' attempts to create a modern and powerful state seem to be ‘wishful thinking'. The first two failed attempts - in 1951 and 1969 - were essentially local affairs without significant consequences beyond the country's borders. The ongoing turmoil which followed in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 is leading to serious regional and international destabilization. This paper discusses the main factors of the instability in post‑Gaddafi Libya. According to the authors' analysis, there are the following main obstacles in the process of transition toward democracy and peace: two competing governments, multiplicity of militias and combat groups operating in Libya, jihadism rising in power as well as the regional and ethnic claims for recognition and autonomy. The last part of this paper is devoted to potential scenarios for the future of Libya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orientation towards one of the marketing policies with a major impact in organizations providing healthcare services, requires a careful analysis of the needs and aspirations of customers, targeting those patients whose needs the service organization can achieve through the existing resources at the respective health facility, finding the most effective way of achieving benefits associated with reduced costs to maximizing profits, placing the offers for medical services required by the patients on the market, as well as promptly reacting and acting to the changes of health services market which is constantly evolving through a flexible organizing and functioning structure, connected to the financial needs of the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]