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This study pilots the collective action model “Small Farmers Large Field (SFLF)” to overcome the disadvantages faced by millions of small and marginal farmers due to diseconomies of scale and lack of bargaining power in the supply chain. This model is participatory and flexible and allows small farmers to benefit from achieving economies of scale by organizing themselves into groups and synchronizing and harmonizing selected operations. It was piloted in two villages of Odisha, an eastern Indian state, with 112 farmers (35 females and 77 males). These farmers organized themselves into groups and synchronized their operations such as nursery bed management, transplanting, and harvesting collectively to achieve economies of scale. The SFLF farmers purchased inputs (seed and fertilizer) and sold paddy as a group to increase their bargaining power in price negotiations. The results from this pilot study showed that the participating farmers almost doubled their profits. Apart from the monetary benefits, these farmers saved time in many joint activities, including input (seed and fertilizer) purchase, paddy sale, and nursery bed management. Other important benefits of the harmonization and synchronization of farming operations were social harmony and sustainability of the farming system.

Based on Iran's sixth development plan, the country's oil and gas industry requires an investment of about $200bn in the next five years to increase production. The Iranian government, to attract and motivate international oil company investment in their oil and gas fields, has presented a new type of risk service contract: the Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC). This paper summarizes the features of the IPC and presents mathematical models of its fiscal regime for the benefit and guidance of both the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the contractors. Next, adopting bargaining game theory provides a mathematical model for reaching a win-win situation between the NIOC and the contractor. Finally, a numerical example is given and a sensitivity analysis performed to illustrate the implementation of the proposed models. The contractor and the NIOC may use these models when preparing their proposal and in the course of actual negotiations to calculate their internal rate of return, remuneration fee, and net present value for developing the fields at different conditions of their bargaining power, and derive a logical bargain to protect their best possible interests.

We can still see that the delivery industry in American is still growing and has not mature. To analyze it, I use the traditional swot and pestle analysis. These two tools are more accurate when we need to judge low-end products like the delivery industry. Also, I use financial analysis to deal with the data. The conclusion for most investors is not to recommend investing in these companies because the delivery industry is unstable now. DoorDash is a great example to prove. For the decision of whether investing DoorDash or not, I think it depends. Because the market in America is always that big, there has to be someone to occupy the market, but just as I mentioned, the first person to figure out the way to save their operating cost can be the winner, because the gross profit seems cannot change so much in the future, in a food-related industry, the consumer's bargaining power is pretty strong. It may not invest in this industry unless investors are angel investors and willing to take the risk.

In this article, we propose an economic storage sharing framework for prosumers and energy storage providers (ESPs) to promote renewable energy utilization cooperatively. The optimal shared capacities of ESPs and the energy sharing profiles of prosumers are first derived via minimizing social energy costs. Then the storage sharing profits of ESPs and the energy sharing payments of prosumers are successively determined by the asymmetric bargaining-based benefits sharing model. Specifically, the prosumer group bargains with the ESPs with the nominal required capacity and the shared capacities as their bargaining power to share the storage sharing benefits. Then prosumers bargain with each other to share the energy sharing benefits with their bargaining power quantified by a nonlinear energy sharing mapping method. Therefore, the benefits sharing model based on the contributions of prosumers and ESPs is fair enough for the participants. Numerical simulation tests verify the efficiency of the proposed framework.

Exploiting changes in the geography of economic integration in Europe, this paper quantifies the effects of Brexit from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity. By isolating the directional treatment effects of EU agreements for the UK, the analysis reveals important heterogeneity across agreements, sectors, and within pairs. We find that these directional effects matter for the size and distribution of the welfare effects of Brexit—the withdrawal of the UK from EU agreements resulting into a return of trade costs to the situation quo ante. We make this point with the help of a modern multi-sector trade model that is able to capture inter- and intranational production networks. In line with other papers, the welfare costs of Brexit are higher in the UK than in most other EU countries. However, heterogeneity tends to attenuate overall costs while giving rise to substantial heterogeneity between EU27 members and sectors. A scenario that could shift bargaining power eliminates asymmetries in the costs of Brexit as soon as the UK fully liberalizes its market.

Employer-paid parking suffers from many weaknesses but is still widespread. This paper seeks to elaborate the line of reasoning accounting for the role of workplace parking and parking policy in the wage negotiation process, the income tax code, regulatory parking standards, and taking into account the adverse effects of parking at the workplace, parking elsewhere or not parking at all. We provide an assessment from two perspectives: firms provide parking spaces, a fringe benefit, if it is profitable to do so (market outcome); a social planner or policymaker endorses workplace parking if it is welfare-enhancing (social optimum). We find that policymakers as well as employers may lack sufficient incentive to reduce parking at the workplace, even in the presence of an employer parking policy program that pursues the goal of making parking opportunity cost visible to employees (parking cash-out). To foster a reduction of employer-paid parking and to exploit the potential welfare gains associated with employee-paid parking, we propose customized local cash-out programs at the firm level rather than uniform fringe benefit taxation enacted by the federal government, provided that cash-out levels account for local particularities (e.g. prevailing traffic conditions, co-existing transport policies), that bargaining power of workers over employers in terms of the incidence of cash-out is limited, and that cash-out as a wage supplement is not subject to income taxation. The (second-best) socially optimal cash-out level need not be identical to the opportunity resource cost of the employer-provided parking space.

The raising rivals’ costs theory predicts that a vertical merger will create an incentive for the vertically integrated firm to increase input prices to downstream rivals. A simple formula exists to estimate the magnitude of this input price increase. This formula has played a central role in the regulatory evaluation of a number of important recent vertical mergers and is likely to continue to play an important role in the regulatory evaluation of future vertical mergers. The formula requires an estimate of the upstream pass-through rate. Calculation of the upstream pass-through rate is complicated by the fact that prices in many upstream markets are determined by bilateral negotiations, where bargaining power is split between both sides of the market. Thus the manner in which the division of bargaining power affects the upstream pass-through rate must be taken into account. This paper shows that the existing formula for estimating the upstream pass-through rate has some deficiencies and suggests two new formulas for estimating it—depending on the timing of the upstream and downstream pricing decisions.

We present a stylized model to explore the interaction between household debt, functional income distribution, and technological change. We assume that weak labor bargaining power allows firms to set their mark-ups in order to meet a target profit rate. At a low wage share, workers’ households are assumed to have limited flexibility in meeting financial goals, so household indebtedness tends to rise as the wage share falls. Rising indebtedness further lowers labor's bargaining power, a phenomenon that was observed in the wave of financialization that began in the late twentieth century. Thus, rising debt levels allow firms even greater freedom to raise their target profit rate. We find that the dynamics can be either stable or unstable, with the potential for a self-reinforcing pattern of rising household indebtedness and falling wage share, consistent with trends in the US from the 1980s onward. The unstable cycle can be triggered by increased willingness by workers to incur debt and rising influence of household indebtedness on labor's bargaining strength and income distribution. The model can shed some light on widely observed trends over recent decades regarding household indebtedness, inequality, and technological changes in the US, and potentially in other OECD countries.

Objectives: Recent research demonstrates that economic interventions may positively effect HIV risk among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa. Some evidence reveals potential associations between financial decision-making and bargaining power in sexual relationships. However, this evidence is mixed, nuanced, and limited. This paper explores how AGYW in Zambia understand financial agency and its effect on intimate relationships. Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 females aged 15-24 years residing in Kalingalinga, a low income, high-density residential area in Lusaka. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: Participants spoke of the ability to earn and spend money as reality for some and aspirational for many others, intrinsic to cultural and religious caveats influencing perceptions of agency for women. The transfer of financial independence to sexual agency within relationships was viewed as a mechanism for HIV risk reduction; however, male sexual privilege was an obstacle irrespective of financial decision-making. Conclusions: Programmes aiming to enhance financial agency for AGYW have the potential to reduce HIV sexual risk. Yet, to be most effective, integration with gender-transformative programmes is needed to address norms of male dominance that keep AGYW in positions of vulnerability.

Using a sample of 2621 respondents from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study identifies factors associated with who makes complex financial decisions among older couples. Our results show that the bargaining power of wives has a positive association with their decision-making about savings, investments, and health insurance, while the power of husbands is negatively associated with wives being more responsible for decisions about health insurance and tax filing. Moreover, while the husband’s sense of control, risk tolerance, and cognitive ability are associated with decisions for all financial decisions, the wife’s sense of control, risk tolerance, and cognitive ability are related to some financial decisions only. Our results show some moderating roles of the perceived spousal social support, household income, and mother’s education on the association between the four explanatory variables (bargaining power, sense of control, risk tolerance, and cognitive ability) and who makes the financial decisions. The findings provide potential benefits for older couples who consult financial professionals about financial management.

We examine the impact of creditor control rights on corporate acquisitions. Nearly 75$\%$ of loan agreements include restrictions that limit borrower acquisition decisions throughout the life of the contract. Following a financial covenant violation, creditors use their bargaining power to tighten these restrictions and limit acquisition activity, particularly deals expected to earn negative announcement returns. Firms that do announce an acquisition after violating a financial covenant earn 1.8$\%$ higher stock returns, on average, and do not pursue less risky deals. We conclude that creditors use contractual rights and the renegotiation process to limit value-destroying acquisitions driven by managerial agency problems.

Purpose Close relationship with major customers, by curtailing opportunistic behaviors during private placements (PPs) and guaranteeing the production and sales of products after, is expected to facilitate the realization of PP’s strategic goals. However, major customers, on the contrary, may impair PP’s performance because of their strong bargaining power. Based on the transaction cost theory and relational contract theory, this paper aims to investigate the impact of major customers on firms’ strategic development in the context of private placements. The mechanisms of such impact are analyzed from the prospect of economies of scale, supervision and the rip-off effect by major customers. Further, the moderating role of the customer relationship investment (CRI) is considered. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of China’s non-financial A-share listed firms during 2010-2016, this paper empirically investigates the impact of customer relationships on firms’ operating performance following PPs. In the main regressions, the sales growth rate serves as the dependent variable to measure PP’s operating performance, while the customer concentration proxies for the closeness of customer relationship. This study captures the impact of customer relationships on PPs’ performance by looking at the coefficient of the interaction term of post PP dummy and customer concentration. In the additional tests, selling and management expenses along with entertainment and traveling expenditures are used to measure customer relationship investment. Findings Results show that major customers help improve PPs’ strategic performance. The more concentrated the customer portfolio is, the higher operating performance will be after the PPs. Such a relationship is stronger when CRI is at a higher level. However, CRI also incurs costs, which impairs the effect of major customers on net profit. Further research finds that the effect of major customers is more pronounced in situations of extensional PPs, with actively interactive customers and in non-state-owned firms. In addition, state-owned customers with strong bargaining power have impaired the role of customers in promoting PP’s operating performance. Originality/value This paper validates the role of customers in firms’ strategic development. The study not only contributes to the research on the economic consequences of customers but also adds to the evolving literature of factors affecting the performance of PPs. The findings of the study have important practical implications for both customer relationship management and the supervision of PPs.

The recent controversy on the intersection of competition law with the protection of privacy, following the emergence of big data and social media is a major challenge for competition authorities worldwide. Recent technological progress in data analytics may greatly facilitate the prediction of personality traits and attributes from even a few digital records of human behaviour. There are different perspectives globally as to the level of personal data protection and the role competition law may play in that context, hence the discussion of integrating such concerns in competition law enforcement may be premature for some jurisdictions. However, a market failure approach may provide common intellectual foundations for the assessment of harms associated with the exploitation of personal data, even when the specific legal system does not formally recognize a fundamental right to privacy. The paper presents a model of market failure based on a requirement provision in the acquisition of personal information from users of other products/services. We establish the economic harm from the market failure and the requirement using the traditional competition law toolbox and focusing more on situations in which the restriction on privacy may be analysed as a form of exploitation.

The right strategy is an absolute necessity for a company. This study aims toformulate the right marketing strategy with the Porter's Five Force approach,namely rivalry among competing firms, Bargaining power of customers,Bargaining power of suppliers, Potential development of substitutes orsubstitution products, and potential entry of new competitors. The researchuses qualitative methods based on interviews to gather information. Interviewswere conducted with the general manager, national sales manager, logisticmanager, and marketing manager to ensure that the information complete.Results show that currently, PT M-150 Indonesia has a weak positioningcompared to competitors' products. PT M-150 Indonesia has not been able todistribute its products to all layers of the market and M-150 products get anegative perception in society that these products will harm health. With theseresults, it is concluded that the right strategy to use is a strategy to create newvalue so that product positioning is stronger, strengthen distribution channelsso that products are available in the market, besides that, socialization must becarried out by PT M-150 Indonesia to eliminate negative perceptions of theproduct.

This study investigates the role of exclusive content provision in two-sided markets where both sides are allowed to join multiple platforms. We consider a model of duopolistic two-sided platform market with a monopolistic multi-product (content) firm on one side, and consumers on the other. The model demonstrates that the monopolistic content provider uses exclusivity as strategic commitment to balance the two opposite effects on its bargaining power: the positive effect caused by increase in multi-homing consumers and the negative effect caused by restriction of distribution channels.

This paper uses multi-country, firm-level data covering 109 countries for the period 2005 to 2017, to examine the effects of bribery on export decisions for firms facing institutional constraints. Bribery consists of “greasing” and rent-seeking behavior. Firms’ self-evaluations of the extent of obstacles affecting their business operations, including corruption, political instability, tax administration, and business license regulations, were used to capture the institutional constraints. Our empirical results provide evidence to support the “greasing-the-wheels-of-trade” hypothesis. The positive effect of greasing bribery is particularly sizable for large-sized firms or those facing no institutional constraints. In other words, firms with strong bargaining power proxied by firm size obtain more benefits from paying bribes if there are no institutional constraints; thus, they are more likely to export. These results hold when we specify almost all types of institutional constraints except for political instability. Lastly, when the endogeneity problem is controlled, the effect of greasing bribery becomes pronounced.

The cultural practice of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan may alter the returns to education for young women in an ambiguous direction due to two competing effects. On the one hand, women facing a risk of kidnapping may reduce education investment due to uncertain returns. Alternatively, since kidnapping is less likely to occur while a woman is in school, women may increase education investment to lower their personal risk of being kidnapped into marriage. Understanding how education is affected by kidnapping risk allows us to better anticipate changes in education when the laws are enforced and the risk declines. We develop a two-period utility model to highlight the effects of kidnapping risk on education and to help identify those girls who are most likely to increase their education when faced with positive regional kidnapping risk and thus most likely to reduce education if the risk is eliminated. We test the implications of the theory empirically using the Life in Kyrgyzstan data. Difference-in-difference regression results point to a negative relationship between regional kidnapping rates and education, suggesting that the elimination of kidnapping is likely to induce higher education rates of women in Kyrgyzstan. The results are informative to the literature at the intersection of marriage traditions, women's bargaining power and education attainment.

Bundling strategies have been widely adopted by online retail platforms that use agency selling, where suppliers pay a commission fee to the platform to gain access and sell directly to consumers. We study the optimal bundling strategy for a retail platform through which two independent suppliers distribute their products. The suppliers first set their product prices, and, subsequently, the platform decides whether to offer the two products as a bundle and, if so, the price of the bundled product. By analyzing a two‐stage Stackelberg game, we find that the platform adopts the bundling strategy only when the commission rate and the product prices are sufficiently high. The existence of the bundling option does not affect the suppliers’ optimal pricing decisions if the product costs are either above a high threshold or below a low threshold. However, the suppliers may strategically raise the retail prices to induce the platform to offer bundled products when the marginal costs are in the medium range. The strategic interaction between the platform and suppliers leads to interesting insights into the bundling problem. For example, the retail platform may not prefer a high commission rate (i.e., a greater bargaining power) if the platform has the option to provide the bundled product. Additionally, the platform having even the possibility of bundling may hurt the platform's profit, but it always benefits the suppliers.

This paper uses a search model with Nash bargaining to identify various channels through which agent gender affects selling price and selling time in the resale market for houses. The theory is used in conjunction with the empirical model to infer agent bargaining power when dealing with the same or opposite sex agents on the other side of the transaction. The results reveal that sellers set higher listing prices when working with male agents, a pattern consistent with sellers’ ex ante beliefs that male agents enjoy greater expected bargaining power. Ex post agent bargaining power varies by sex and their role in the transaction. Female agents assisting buyers have stronger bargaining power when facing male listing agents than when facing female agents in rising or falling markets. The ex post bargaining power of male selling agents assisting buyers appears to be generally weaker than that of female listing agents.

We present new empirical evidence that higher customer concentration leads to lower corporate real estate holdings at the supplier firm level. Further evidence shows that this effect is causal and more pronounced when the likelihood/impact of losing primary customers is higher or when suppliers have less bargaining power. Finally, we show that firms with a concentrated customer base tend to choose capitalized leasing in lieu of holding real estate.

The health business is adjusting to a new reality where bargaining power has shifted to consumers. Consumers are now playing a key role in the commercialization process, making them important stakeholders to fulfill their needs. Health business reforms have convinced consumers to give protection a greater priority than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated around the world. Health care businesses in Indonesia are no exception, should increase their brand trust, because of the huge responsibility to protect consumers from the prevention of COVID-19, and brand trust also gives added value to the hospital's own brand. A brand with the right value proposition can "prove" the true value of its product or service to patients in the minds of consumers, one of which is from medical waste management. Hospital waste is usually a contagious and toxic chemical that can affect human health and environmental impacts if not treated properly. Medical waste including sharp objects, infectious waste, pharmaceutical waste, and other waste is mostly generated in health facilities such as health centers and hospitals. such as intravenous lines, syringes, gloves, which after use must be handled and destroyed in such a way that they do not fall into the hands of the public or even injure medical personnel. The Smart Waste concept is here to answer the challenges of trust in hospital brands in Indonesia, especially in the city of Bandung, increasing the sense of security of consumers is the main goal of this concept where hospital safety boxes work together with sensors and microcontrollers, disposal of syringes can be done more intelligently. , safe and the risk of medical personnel punctured by infected needle waste can be reduced.

Paraguay's power system is based entirely on hydropower. It serves as the largest net electricity exporter in Latin America. Nonetheless, the country´s electricity consumption per capita is one of the lowest in the world and the transmission and distribution network has one of the highest losses in Latin America. This paper presents an electricity expansion investment outlook (2018–2040) for Paraguay using OSeMOSYS, analyzing three electricity demand scenarios under different electricity export prices to Brazil. The study identifies the least-cost power generation mix, future investments and the financial requirements to meet the needs of different demand scenarios. We find that Paraguay will need to invest in hydropower plants, by mainly expanding the capacity of Yacyreta to cover its electricity needs and sustain national electricity exports levels. In the High demand scenario, where the electricity demand could approximately double by 2040, the country's overall electricity exports decrease by 50% compared to the Reference scenario. Based on the different scenarios examined, the government spends approximately 18.3–31.2 billion USD on power plant investments for the period 2018–2040 to cover future electricity demand. The findings could be useful in supporting decision-making concerning socio-economic development pathways in the country. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12667-020-00420-w.

La presente investigación surge como respuesta a la presencia de problemas como la poca disponibilidad para establecer asociaciones entre los transformadores de la uva, así como la incapacidad del gobierno local y regional para gestionar programas de desarrollo. El objetivo general formulado fue el determinar los factores de la cadena productiva que están limitando la oferta del producto macerado de uva (Vitis labrusca l.) en la Región San Martín (2018). En cuanto a lo metodológico, se diseñó una investigación no experimental con un nivel exploratorio - descriptivo y correlacional. Se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística de 15 transformadores de macerado de uva. El resultado principal alcanzado fue que: el proceso de abastecimiento desde la óptica del transformador muestra serias limitantes en cuanto a su componente de control de calidad de la materia prima, tanto para la uva y el aguardiente, además, no se viene realizando el análisis fisicoquímico proximal de aguardiente de caña. La conclusión principal muestra un entorno desfavorable para los proveedores de materia prima, debido a la inexistencia de capacidades para garantizar un producto de calidad; no hay presencia de desarrollo tecnológico debido a que la agricultura se desarrolla de manera empírica; del mismo modo no poseen poder de negociación y muestra un bajo aprovechamiento de sus áreas de cultivo y poco acceso a créditos. Además, por la falta de asociatividad, se ven limitados a acceder a programas de apoyo público.

Manipuri handloom industry, a primary ethnic handcrafted apparel sector in Bangladesh, has an illustrious history, problematic present, and blurred prospects. This study aims to address the problems and prospects associated with this industry. Using Geographical Information Systems, this piece identifies handloom products’ outlet locations based on tourist visits, business opportunities, and raw materials availability. The findings show that the competitive market, shortage of capital, and low-profit income are the key factors for the decline of handloom weaving ventures. As part of the prospects, this industry helps Manipuri communities form social capital, enhance community building, and empower its women entrepreneurs. Using Porter’s Five Forces framework, the study reveals that substitute products and suppliers’ bargaining power are two significant challenges in Manipuri industries. This paper recommends the government’s supports and incentives to protect this traditional handloom clothing industry.

Education is the most essential prerequisite for any person and a constitutional right. It helps the person minimize inequality and plays a central role in human development that influences the overall growth of the social economy. The empowerment of women is the key mechanism for achieving gender equality, which is apprehended as meaning that individual' obligations, freedoms and opportunities do not depend on whether they are born female or male. All relevant and accessible documents discussed in relation to the role of women empowerment in education have been listed and record analysis has been conducted. Books, papers and articles on policy and tactics were the key sources used in the search for the text. Education is one of the most effective ways of encouraging women to engage fully in the growth process with the awareness, skills and self-confidence available. Training also allows women to manage their lives, have greater bargaining power and be happier mothers with stronger spousal relationships. Education helps the exercise of women's rights and responsibilities as members of their society. It gives them the chance to make more meaningful decisions in terms of political engagement and making choices about life. Thus, education can benefit from building self-confidence, self-efficacy, decision-making power and increase gender parity in organizations and institutions.

In Portugal, the energy sector apparently shows lack of efficiency as the amount of energy used to generate a unit of GDP, also called energy intensity of the economy (TPES/GDP), an indicator of energy efficiency, which decreased in Portugal in a couple of decades less than in the EU 27 overall. The TPES/GDP indicator stills high in most Portuguese economic sectors in comparison with the EU27 average. To determine the reasons of such lack of energetic efficiency this work aims to analyze the Portuguese electricity market based on the model of the five competitive forces of Michael Porter that was chosen due to the idiosyncrasies of electricity sector, of strategies highly anchored on its external competitive setting and of little innovation around a non-differentiated electricity product of extended life cycle. Firstly, the theoretical aspects of the model are explained; secondly, it is made a critical review, including the reasons for choosing it; thirdly, the model is applied to the electricity market in Portugal and finally the main findings are revealed. The main methodology used is literature review of secondary sources and data. Authors mainly relied on sources of high-quality material. The input data has been collected from national institutes and from the information offered by the main players on their web sites. These sources are certified, and the input information is supported by their credibility and by the supervision departments. Portugal, due to the Country dimension and the barriers, the players are still few, and the electricity market is concentrated. The competition is high among 3 - 4 major players; the barriers are high; the electricity of traditional national suppliers is high although mitigated by the entry of other European Union distributors; the bargaining power of consumers is low and the substitutes are inexistent. Moreover, the equipment in consumption is aggregated to electricity, which is not easy to change. As electricity cannot be differentiated, energy distribution companies need to set strategies to engage consumers. The present paper reflects and analyses on these assumptions and concludes that to augment energetic efficiency, companies in energy markets as Portugal must prioritize diversity, complementary services and non-related products. Also, the low degree of competition has no conditions to be surpassed in the near years due to the inefficient features of the energy market and subsequent barriers.

EU plays a dominant role in international maritime governance, and it has comprehensive maritime policies and strategies that have implications for third States. On the other hand, developing landlocked States (LLS) have the lowest bargaining power in the international maritime arena owing to their economic and geographic position. This article examines the implications of the EU maritime policy for developing LLS. After analysis of primary and secondary data as well as empirical evidence from Ethiopia, it is argued that the EU maritime governance such as its port State control regime and maritime market access regulations could possibly make international maritime trade through the EU waters as well as global maritime trade unaffordable for developing LLS. In view of the inherent challenges encountered by developing LLS and the economic interest of these States, it is submitted that there is a need to accord differential treatment schemes in the maritime field to these States at global as well as at the EU level.

The development of modern trade is strongly influenced by advances and conveniences in information systems. Business and marketing services are supportive of accessing the digital world, which we usually know as e-shop or e-commerce. E-commerce is virtual in the sense that it exists on the Internet, and physical existence outside the Internet is limited (Azam 2012)[1]. PD. Indrasari is a home-based business or IKM whose scope of business is still conventional, meaning that business and business applications are still manual without the interference of information technology . Research in PD. Indrasari is only in its external business environment, so researchers use the method described by Ward and Peppard to obtain a business strategy. The methods are PEST analysis, PEST analysis (political, economic, social and technological) [2] and Five Porter Forces analysis The Porter’s Five Forces Model includes Bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes [3]. With this PEST analysis to determine the condition of governance / regulation, economy, social and technology in the area of research object and the Five Porter Forces analysis to determine competition in terms of production and marketing needs. By knowing some of the results of the analysis, it will be formulated as a component in the planning of an information system strategy, in order to obtain recommendations for information systems and applications that will be implemented based on the planned time .

Section 301 of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) implicitly assumes that audit committees can independently determine audit fees. Critics of section 301 have questioned this assumption in particular, and the efficacy of section 301 more generally. In response, the SEC issued a concept release in 2015 calling for public disclosure of the process that audit committees follow for determining auditor compensation. Motivated by these calls and the widespread use of stocks and options to compensate firms' independent directors, we examine the relation between equity compensation granted to audit committee members and audit fees. Using a sample of 3,685 firm‐year observations during 2007–2015, we find a negative relation between audit committee equity compensation and audit fees, consistent with larger equity pay inducing audit committee members to compromise independence by paying lower audit fees. These findings are robust to controlling for endogeneity, firm size, alternative measures of equity compensation, alternative samples, and an alternative treatment of extreme values. We further show that larger equity compensation is associated with lower earnings quality. We also find that the negative effect of equity compensation on audit fees is stronger when city‐level audit market competition is high. However, this negative relation disappears when (i) firms face high litigation risk, (ii) auditors have stronger bargaining power, (iii) the audit committee includes a high proportion of accounting experts, and (iv) auditors are industry experts. Our results are relevant for regulators and investors. Y a‐t‐il une relation entre la remuneration en actions des membres d'un comite d'audit et les frais d'audit? L'article 301 de la loi Sarbanes‐Oxley (SOX) suppose implicitement que les comites d'audit peuvent determiner les frais d'audit de facon independante. Les critiques relatives a l'article 301 ont remis en question cette supposition et, de facon plus generale, l'efficacite de l'article 301. En reponse a ces critiques, la SEC a fait paraitre en 2015 un document de consultation demandant que soit rendu public le processus mis en œuvre par les comites d'audit pour determiner la remuneration des auditeurs. Dans la foulee de ces demandes et de l'utilisation repandue des actions et options pour remunerer les administrateurs independants des societes, nous examinons la relation entre la remuneration en actions accordee aux membres des comites d'audit et les frais d'audit. A partir d'un echantillon de 3 685 observations annee‐entreprises portant sur la periode 2007 a 2015, nous constatons une relation negative entre la remuneration en actions des comites d'audit et les frais d'audit, ce qui cadre avec l'hypothese voulant qu'une remuneration en actions plus elevee incite les membres des comites a compromettre leur independance en payant des tarifs d'audit plus faibles. Ces resultats sont robustes pour la prise en compte de l'endogeneite, de la taille des societes, d'autres mesures de remuneration par actions, d'autres echantillons et d'une autre methode de traitement des valeurs extremes. Nous etablissons egalement qu'une remuneration en actions plus importante est associee a des resultats de plus faible qualite. Nous constatons enfin que l'effet negatif de la remuneration en actions sur les frais d'audit est plus marque lorsque la concurrence sur le marche de l'audit a l'echelle de la ville est forte. Toutefois, cette relation negative disparait lorsque i) les societes font face a des risques de litige eleves, ii) les auditeurs disposent d'un plus grand pouvoir de negociation, iii) le comite d'audit comprend une forte proportion d'experts comptables et iv) les auditeurs sont des experts du secteur d'activites. Nos resultats sont pertinents pour les organismes de reglementation et les investisseurs.

We endogenize the contract‐type choice in a vertically related market. We relate that choice to the distribution of bargaining power between the upstream and downstream partner in contract‐terms negotiation. For two wide classes of demand functions, the upstream (downstream) firm prefers a two‐part tariff (linear) contract, and thus, we model the contract‐type choice as a noncooperative game. When a firm has strong bargaining power over the contract terms, risk dominance selects its least‐preferred contract type: the strong firm has more to lose in case of disagreement over the contract type. Under relative symmetry in bargaining power, risk dominance selects the efficient two‐part tariff.

Products often bundle together many functions, e.g., smartphones. The firm develops the big idea (which functions to bundle) and then chooses one supplier per function. We assume there is a holdup problem and prove that the firm’s bargaining power (Shapley value) is declining in the number of suppliers. Greater scope as measured by the number of suppliers exacerbates holdup, but this can be partially offset by the appropriate choice of vertical integration or outsourcing. Our main result flows from the empirical observation that the number of functions varies across products within an industry (firm heterogeneity). We introduce the notion of an ‘ideas-oriented’ industry as one in which more productive firms have higher marginal returns to introducing a new function. This leads to two testable hypotheses. More productive firms will (1) have more suppliers and (2) be more likely to integrate those suppliers. We take this to the data by training a multilayer perceptron to predict whether or not each of 29 million PATSTAT patent applications involves new/improved functions. We merge these patents with S&P Capital IQ data on 55,000 companies and their supplier networks. We show that in industries where patents are skewed towards new or improved functions, more productive firms have more suppliers and are more likely to integrate these suppliers.

RESUMO:O presente estudo analisa estratégica e empiricamente se o amicus curiae tem efetivamente desempenhado as funções propagadas pelo discurso doutrinário e jurisprudencial de legitimação democrática e ampliação da cognição do juízo, ou se essa figura tem servido a outros interesses. Os resultados da análise empírica – a partir de dados de ações de controle concentrado de constitucionalidade com participação de ao menos um amicus curiae julgadas pelo STF entre 1990 e 2017 – confirmam os padrões identificados na análise estratégica e revelam que a Suprema Corte faz o uso estratégico da figura do amicus curiae, tratando distintamente os diferentes tipos de participantes, ao citar mais aqueles tipos que tragam maior apoio difuso para a corte perante a opinião pública (amicus curiae representantes da sociedade civil) e ao se deixar influenciar mais por participantes com maior poder de barganha institucional e credibilidade argumentativa e informacional (amicus curiae governamentais). Conclui-se, assim, que a Corte é “mais amiga” de alguns tipos de amicus curiae do que de outros.

We investigate the impact of IFRS adoption on audit fee components, namely audit hours and unit audit price. We find that IFRS adoption increases audit hours but decreases unit audit price, which indicates audit firms cannot charge extra audit fees for their additional effort in a competitive audit market. Further, the IFRS‐related audit fee increase depends on the client’s bargaining power and audit risk. We thus suggest that the economic burden caused by IFRS adoption cannot be generalised for audit clients, because a competitive audit market imposes an informal limit on audit pricing.

We analyze the effect of game modes and investment cost locations on firms’ profits and their incentives to adopt Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. We consider a supply chain, where one manufacturer places an RFID tag on each item and sells through one retailer. The two firms can play the Stackelberg game or the Bargaining game. Specifically, under the Stackelberg game, the manufacturer dictates the wholesale price first (M) or the retailer moves first to announce the retail markup (R); under the Bargaining game, firms can bargain over the wholesale price only (O) or over both the wholesale price and quantity (B). Adopting RFID incurs both a variable cost and a fixed cost, which can be borne by the manufacturer or the retailer, respectively. Our results show that under B, whether the retailer or the manufacturer bears the fixed cost does not affect both firms’ profits. Surprisingly, under O, we observe that the retailer earns more when he bears the fixed cost than when he does not if his bargaining power is strong. Although the chain under B is perfectly coordinated, the retailer gains more under B than under O only when his bargaining power is strong. Furthermore, the retailer's incentive to adopt RFID is stronger under R than under M, and his highest affordable variable cost is higher than the manufacturer's when the fixed cost is ignored under R. Finally, both firms’ highest affordable fixed costs under R are higher than the centralized level when the variable cost is high.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) has been advocated as a promising technology to mitigate the uncertainty in variable renewables generation due to its thermal storage capability. In deregulated markets, however, it remains an open question as to how to identify different CSP plants’ contributions to uncertainty mitigation, and incentivize their participation in joint offering with variable renewable generation. In this article, we propose a profit-sharing mechanism to incentivize the joint offering of CSP and wind power aggregation. The joint offering strategy is formulated as a two-stage stochastic optimization model, aimed at maximizing the day-ahead market revenues, considering real-time imbalance settlement. A Nash bargaining (NB)-based market mechanism is designed to allocate the surplus from the joint offering. In contrast to symmetric NB with equal bargaining power (BP), we develop a novel BP evaluation method by precisely quantifying the market contributions of different producers in the joint offering. To preserve the autonomy of each producer, a decentralized solution framework is presented. Case studies show that the joint offering of wind power and CSP aggregation can effectively mitigate real-time imbalance. The proposed profit-sharing mechanism can identify market participants’ contributions in both the day-ahead and balancing markets.

This paper identifies and analyzes contextual factors in the audit environment at the business group level, and finds that the structural complexity of business groups and business group owners’ controlling power are significant factors that may influence auditor behavior during the audit negotiation process. Using data for the pre-audit earnings that is uniquely available in South Korea, we find that business group affiliation and the existence of circular control links within business groups are significantly and positively associated with auditors’ agreement regarding earnings initially proposed by the management of client firms. We also find that both owners’ excessive voting rights over cash-flow rights and related party transactions are significantly positively associated with auditors’ agreement regarding the earnings initially proposed by the management of client firms. Our findings will help elucidate the contextual factors that can impact clients’ bargaining powers in audit negotiation processes.

Motivated by the revolution brought by the internet and communication technology in daily life, this paper examines how the online travel agencies (OTA) can use these technologies to improve customer value. We consider the design of a fixed number of package tours offered to customers in the digital travel industry. This can be formulated as a Team Orienteering Problem (TOP) with restrictions on budget and time. Different from the classical TOP, our work is the first one to introduce controlled diversity between tours. This enables the OTA to offer tourists a diversified portfolio of tour packages for a given period of time, each potential customer choosing a single tour in the selected set, rather than multiple independent tours over several periods as in the classical TOP. Tuning the similarity parameter between tours enables to manage the trade-off between individual preferences in consumers’ choices and economies of scale in agencies’ bargaining power. We propose compact and extended formulations and solve the master problem by a branch-and-price method, and an alternative branch-cut-and-price method. The latter uses a delayed dominance rule in the shortest path pricing problem solved by dynamic programming. Our methods are tested over benchmark TOP instances of the literature, and a real dataset collected from a Chinese OTA. We explore the impact of tours diversity on all stakeholders, and assess the computational performance of various approaches.

This article argues that the degradation of consumer data privacy in the digital environment causes objective detriment to consumers and undermines the competitive process, and should therefore be of critical concern to competition authorities. It is notorious that consumers are frequently unaware of the extent to which their personal data is collected, the purposes for which it is used, and the extent to which it is disclosed to others, particularly in digital markets. Researchers and regulators have observed that this is not simply a matter of consumer apathy, but that firms often understate and obscure their actual data practices, preventing consumers from making informed choices. This article defines, and provides examples of, a set of “concealed data practices”. These concealed data practices are not purely a concern for those with subjective preferences for greater privacy: they create objective costs and detriments for consumers, making them more susceptible to criminal activity, discrimination, exclusion, manipulation and humiliation. This article argues that these practices and their consequences are not only problematic in terms of consumer protection and privacy regulation. Concealed data practices should also be of concern to competition policy due to their role in chilling competition on privacy; preserving substantial market power by means other than superior efficiency; and deepening information asymmetries and imbalances in bargaining power. The article concludes by outlining five ways in which these factors should be taken into account by competition authorities.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of supply chain management (SCM) on the competitiveness of the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe. Key objectives of the study were to figure out the extent to which SCM contributes to organisational competitive advantage in the telecommunications industry in Zimbabwe, to determine the level of bargaining power when making local and off shore purchases, the extent of risk exposure due to global transactions and finally, to ascertain the strategies used on supplier ratings. Interviews and questionnaires were used as the main instruments for data collection. Questionnaires were distributed to 50 respondents with 36 responding, representing a 72 percent response rate. Data were analysed using SPSS and the resulted presented in graphs and tables. Interviews were carried out using a structured interview guide for uniformity of questions being asked. Three interviews were carried out with procurement managers from all the organisations represented namely, Econet, TelOne and NetOne. The results showed that SCM is a strong contributor to organisational competitiveness. If organisations in the telecommunications sector prudently apply SCM policies, strategies and practices, the performance in terms of profitability realised and competitive advantage will increase. Recommendations are that quality of products; better supplier management and competitive pricing may be realised if firms can adopt SCM principles and practices.

We find the optimal time for exercising a jointly held investment option. When the input market is competitive, the investment can take place earlier, later, or exactly when the optimal investment threshold is reached depending on how the option holders interact and on the bargaining power distribution. When instead the input supplier has market power, the game-theoretic framework downstream is shown to be of secondary importance. The timing effect that is attributed to the vertical relationship is always prevailing, which dictates the inefficient postponement of the investment.

Perspectives on degree of economic openness have been discussed by different paradigms resulting in concluding remarks which differ widely from each other. However, the existing literature has passed over the importance of the relationship between economic openness and income distribution in relation to the bargaining framework and thus its effect on social solidarity. In this paper, the rationale is based on the argument that an increase in the degree of economic openness has a significant impact on the distribution of income through the channels of trade and financial account. The empirical results show that a more open economic environment leads to an unequal distribution of income, both reducing labor's share and increasing income inequality, through the collapse of bargaining power of labor in favor of capital across advanced economies over the 1996–2014 period. However, the results also suggest that the trade channel is a more effective influence on income distribution than the finance channel. Additionally, other globalization measures, including economic, social and political factors, also have negative effects on income distribution by way of reducing the bargaining power of labor, which results in the collapse of social solidarity and cohesion over time.

Purpose Despite existence of a constitutional demarcation of functions and finances between the centre and the states, it is alleged that the centre-state funds transfer systems in India have a political bargaining aspect that goes beyond the normative considerations. This paper makes an attempt to investigate if the political system allows to evolve a simple, equitable, objective and rule-based system of transfers. The aim of this paper is to explore the political economic determinants of discretionary fiscal transfers in India. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a panel data set of 28 Indian states for the period 2001–2014. After diagnostic checking for fixed effects/random effects, the authors prefer to use fixed effects regression with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors and Arellano–Bover/Blundel and Bond system estimation model that uses moment conditions in which lagged first differences of the dependent variable are instruments for the level equation. Findings The findings of this study reveal that fiscal performance, economic capacity and political alliance are significant but some other political determinants such as bargaining power and election years are not significant in influencing discretionary transfers. Originality/value Considering the limited availability of literature on federal finance, the present paper is an addition to the existing research, especially on a crucial issue concerning extra-constitutional fiscal transfers in India. Analysing a balanced panel comprising all the Indian states and examining the role of various political-economic determinants makes this paper topical.

The study focused on the structure, conduct and performance of timber market in Ife-east Local Governments of Oyo state. The major objective of this study is to assess the marketing pattern of timber in the study areas. The research method used for achieving the general objectives involved Descriptive Statistics and Gini Coefficient. Variations were observed in the price of the timber of the same species but different size because price determination is based on bargaining power. The result showed majority of respondents (58.8%) had secondary education, Muslim was dominant (54.6%) in the timber marketing and majority of marketers had regular supply of their product. . Government policy, high cost of transportation, inadequate credit facilities and high cost of energy and power were some of the constraints faced by timber marketers in the study area. The use of modern equipment and machines are needed to replace the outdated equipment in order to increase the output and profit. The level of access to credit facilities should be improved upon by encouraging the respondent to form cooperative societies so that they can mobilize enough working capital for their business. Keywords: Structure, conduct, Performance, Timber, ife, market

It is commonly asserted that unfair trading practices (UTPs) emerge largely as a result of contract incompleteness. In line with this view it is claimed that making contracts more complete will represent an antidote to UTPs. In this paper we argue that this does not need to be the case. This is because contracts, except for their potential to increase the surplus generated in the transaction, determine how this surplus will be divided. This, in turn, makes it possible for both trading partners to use contractual terms to turn the distributional conflict to their advantage. In the presence of unequal distribution of bargaining power this may lead to a situation in which the stronger party may succeed in tilting the contract in its favour by including UTPs in the contract content. Drawing insights from data collected in 2017 through a field survey among dairy farmers in France, Germany, Poland and Spain, we find support for this argument. Our estimation results show that contract completeness increases the likelihood of farmers reporting that their contracts with processors include the practices that may be considered as UTPs. Further, and also in line with this argument, contract completeness does not seem to affect UTPs during the contract execution or its termination.

This article analyzes programs to convert agricultural activities to barley in Zacatecas, where the world's largest brewery is located, owned by Anheuser Busch Inbev through its subsidiary Grupo Modelo. What are the results of these programs in productive, environmental, social and political terms? Based on a review of documents and on field research that includes visits to sites of interest and interviews with farmers, public officials and representatives of Grupo Modelo, it is observed that the production of barley has a low yield and it is concluded that, although the environmental impact of this production is less severe on water resources compared to the industrial production of the brewer, this is the main beneficiary of the government subsidies, while small agricultural producers have to assume all the risks, without bargaining power over the conditions of production and the sale of barley. In addition, through these programs Grupo Modelo projects an image of corporate social responsibility.

This article explores intra‐household decision‐making in smallholder farmers' innovation uptake and use of outputs within a bargaining framework. Research was conducted in selected locations representing contrasting economic, social and agroclimatic environments in Uganda using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods (including a survey of 531 farmers). Decision‐making in innovation processes was highly gendered and shaped by intra‐household allocation of production assets as well as social norms. The findings highlight the male capture of decision‐making regarding innovation uptake and use of outputs, especially for income‐generating crops, and that this can both reflect and reinforce gender inequalities in asset ownership.

Why does the European Union (EU) law allow for special treatment of the agricultural sector? Which exceptions exist in applying the EU competition rules in this sphere, and how has their interpretation evolved? How do these derogations address the fragmented nature of the agricultural sector and strengthen farmers’ bargaining powers, and what are the justifications for doing so? These are the questions that the current article seeks to answer, by analyzing the specific constitutional constellation of the EU’s agricultural policy alongside its competition rules. This article critically analyzes how derogations in the field of agriculture have developed in a market-oriented way, yet an unresolved tension remains with the objectives of the Treaty’s competition rules. This article revisits this tension and its underlying legal framework by taking account of the risk of political capture as well as of relevant socioenvironmental externalities, most notably environmental and social sustainability, which could shape its transformation in the future.

Some applications of Nash bargaining in the antitrust analysis of reverse payment settlements estimate the bargaining power parameter as the split of the surplus in the actual settlement with alleged reverse payments. This estimated parameter is then used as the bargaining power parameter in the but-for world where reverse payments are prohibited. We demonstrate that this approach is incorrect. Indeed, in the but-for world there could theoretically be an alternative “no payment” settlement where reverse payments are prohibited. However, the prohibition on reverse payments disproportionately affects the shape of the bargaining set in favor of the patent holder. With this asymmetry in the bargaining set, the estimated “bargaining power” in the actual world (with a settlement) no longer accurately reflects the split of the surplus that would have been agreed during the but-for negotiation with no payments. Moreover, we find that keeping the split of the surplus constant between the actual and but-for worlds is not innocuous because it overestimates the extent of alleged generic delay.

We study the bargaining power of investors and the contagion effects of investor-owned single family homes on nearby property values. By controlling for the characteristics of both buyers and sellers, we find that investors tend to have more bargaining power than owner-occupiers — they purchase at lower prices and sell at higher prices, all else equal. We identify two types of investors: Professional Investors (e.g., corporations and partnerships) and Individual Investors. We find differences in the behavior of these two types of investors. For example, Individual Investors tend to invest in homes similar in terms of unobserved quality to those purchased by owner-occupiers. The tendency to buy lower quality homes is primarily attributable to Professional Investors. We also find that Professional Investors have more bargaining power than Individual Investors. For the contagion analysis, we use a repeat sales methodology and find that increasing ownership by investors in a neighborhood is associated with a small positive effect on nearby property values.