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Buyer-supplier negotiations play a central role in supply chain networks regulating the conditions for the exchange of goods. This paper investigates the relationships between influencing factors and their impact on bargaining power. In a multiple case study, we triangulate secondary data from 12 German automotive suppliers. Following a structural equation modelling approach, bargaining power and the effects of those influencing variables are analysed. Four relationships can be found. (1) The availability of internal resources and the existence of strong buyer-supplier relationships have a positive effect on bargaining power. (2) A positive influence of buyer-supplier relationships on gaining access to internal resources can be identified. (3) External market conditions have a small negative effect on bargaining power. (4) No significant effect can be found looking at the impact of external market conditions on internal resources or buyer-supplier relationships. The findings support theory by showing that internal resources and strong buyer-supplier relationships positively influence bargaining power. Based on these results, managers are advised to prioritise strategic resource allocation, implement win-win strategies, and employ benchmarking techniques to enhance competitiveness and strengthen bargaining positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of organizations breaking laws and norms in the pursuit of strategic advantage has received substantial attention in recent years. Such transgressions generally elicit the intervention of social control agents seeking to curb deviant behavior and defend the status quo. In some cases, their efforts result in the deviant behavior being suppressed; in other occasions, however, organizational deviance can persist and even be accepted into the very system of rules that was initially challenged. In this paper, we advance a structured view of this process by formulating a theory of the social control of organizational deviance. Building upon the sociological literature, we classify forms of social control based on their cooperativeness and formality; additionally, we shed light on the outcomes of social control by illustrating the conditions under which they are likely to be more, or less, accommodative of deviant behavior, as well as more, or less, permanent. In so doing, we contribute to scholarly understanding of the role of social control in organizational fields, as well as of the advantageousness of deviant behavior as a strategic option for organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary focus of brand equity research has been on how brand knowledge creates value for firms through customer behavior in product markets. Using archival data and five experiments, this article tests a framework that outlines the unique role brands play in the labor market. The framework distinguishes between vertical and horizontal differentiation and shows that vertical brand differentiation is associated with lower pay, whereas horizontal brand differentiation is associated with higher pay. Employees are also vertically and horizontally differentiated, and firms high in horizontal brand differentiation pay more for employees who match their brands' differentiating characteristics (i.e., brand-relevant complementarities). Results show that these brand–pay relationships have important downstream effects on employee behavior and, consequently, on firm profits. Specifically, leveraging vertical brand differentiation to lower pay represents a false economy because profits are attenuated by negative effects on employee productivity and retention. In contrast, when managers at firms high on horizontal brand differentiation pay more, profits increase via the same mediating employee behaviors. Six firm strategies and investments that influence firm bargaining power in the employee–brand matching process are found to moderate the brand–pay relationship and downstream effects on profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tightening lending standards are motivating companies to adopt supply chain financing, with invoice backed lending to remedy financial stress. These financial objects depend on company-to-company relationships. The accumulation of these dyadic relationships creates complex supply network topologies. Companies within these networks are selfish and have varying degrees of bargaining power. To remain operational, they maximise their liquidity by negotiating longer repayment terms and cheaper financing, thus distributing risk onto weaker companies and propagating financial stress. To study this phenomenon, we created an agent-based supply network simulation model capturing these behaviours. We investigate structural conditions that make supply networks vulnerable to financial stress propagation and the resultant financial ripple effects using survivability analysis. We found firms with higher bargaining power are disproportionately more exposed to network risk. In diamond-shaped networks, firms occupying lower tiers are critical in financial stress propagation, becoming deep-tier nexus suppliers. Our results are relevant to industries with heterogeneous network composition. Practitioners must mitigate the effects of vulnerable network structures with careful supply chain financing design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the relationship between the share of assets held by institutional investors relative to GDP and a synthetic index of union bargaining power in 20 OECD countries from 1980 to 2017. Findings from the use of fixed-effects OLS and instrumental variables regressions show that the share of assets held by institutional investors, especially insurance companies and pension funds, is correlated with a decline in union bargaining power. The authors argue that by contributing to significant changes in corporate strategies and governance through potential effects on jobs and wages, institutional investors in most OECD countries may have weakened the influence of trade unions, thereby leading to a higher decentralization of wage bargaining. Mixed evidence is found, however, when investigating the role of complementarity across institutions to explain cross-country heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identifies factors affecting the workers' bargaining power. • Builds a composite index for the United States using the principal component analysis. • Analyses the relationship between this index and the wage share in the years 1960–2018. • Discusses the link between the workers' bargaining power and inflation. • Estimates the Phillips curve and explains why it has flattened over the last decades. This paper aims to construct a synthetic index of workers' bargaining power and investigate the relationship between it and inflation in the U.S. economy. As a first step, we identify the factors affecting the bargaining power of workers, referring to different groups of variables: labour market indicators; institutional indicators (e.g., collective bargaining coverage, union density); characteristics of the economy (e.g., degree of freedom for capital mobility, share of employment by sector). We then implement Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to assess the adequacy of the indicators and calculate the weights to aggregate the single indicators into a composite index. As a second step, we estimate the impact of our Bargaining Index on inflation by estimating an equation of the determinants of inflation. The composite index thus has a twofold use: it sheds light on the extent to which changes in the labour market in recent decades have weakened workers' bargaining power, and it can be used to test how the evolution of the wage bargaining system affects inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the organizational consequences of corporate ESG and its underlying mechanisms is essential for corporate management to develop sustainable strategies, and it is a topic of growing interest in academia. This study, utilizing a sample of Chinese A‐share listed firms from 2010 to 2019, examines the impact of corporate ESG profiles on customer structure. We demonstrate that superior ESG profiles (primarily the social and governance aspects) contribute to reducing customer concentration. This effect is achieved by enhancing firm reputation and employee efficiency, thereby increasing market competitiveness and market share. This effect is more pronounced in firms that invest heavily in advertising and have employees committed to long‐term goals. Furthermore, we discover that ESG‐driven changes in customer concentration led to additional organizational outcomes, including enhanced bargaining power over customers, improved financial performance, and reduced operational risk. In conclusion, our evidence suggests that ESG significantly shapes a firm's customer structure and, consequently, its operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lewbel and Pendakur (2021) propose a model of consumption inefficiency in collective households, based on "cooperation factors". We simplify that model to make it empirically tractable, and apply it to identify and estimate household member resource shares, and to measure the dollar cost of inefficient levels of cooperation. Using data from Bangladesh, we find that increased cooperation among household members yields the equivalent of a 13% gain in total expenditures, with most of the benefit of this gain going towards men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering a bargaining equilibrium of intergenerational exchange within a family, we study the effects of an increase in the bargaining power of children on the fertility rate, informal long-term care provision, and intergenerational transfers within the family. Most economically developed countries have experienced both fertility rate decline and life longevity extension in the last several decades. Under such circumstances, the bargaining power of each child apparently becomes greater if needs for elderly long-term care do not decrease. We demonstrate that, in a family bargaining equilibrium, a higher bargaining weight of a child results in fewer children and greater intergenerational transfer from the parent, although the family long-term care level remains unchanged for a given wage rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In global agricultural markets, farmers often face profit squeezes due to low bargaining power, which affects the sustainability of agriculture and the livelihoods of farmers. Cooperative intervention is seen as a key solution to improve bargaining power and optimize profit distribution in the agricultural supply chain. In this study, a two-stage dynamic game model is adopted to focus on bargaining power and compare the effects of linear pricing versus a double charging system under cooperative intervention. It is found that the cooperative is better when it has full bargaining power or when it faces downstream sellers with comparable bargaining power, and the dual-charging system is more favorable. When cooperatives bargain with sellers, the degree of differentiation of agricultural products affects the cooperatives' profitability and cooperatives tend to maintain the two-part tariff when the bargaining power is less than a threshold condition containing the degree of differentiation of agricultural products; when discounts exceed the threshold, cooperatives shift to linear pricing to safeguard their profitability. Numerical analysis validates the theory and reveals the changing pattern of cooperative profits under market forces. This study not only provides theoretical support for the study of supply chain pricing strategies under the condition of considering the bargaining power of producers (farmers) but also provides management insights for the stability and sustainable development of agricultural supply chains. Its novel dynamic game framework is cross-culturally applicable to help farmers' cooperatives cope with the challenge of profit distribution in a global context and emphasizes the importance of differentiation strategies to enhance bargaining power and promote fairness and efficiency in global agricultural supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's financial independence has become an important issue in recent decades. As women's participation in the workforce increases, they have greater control over their own finances and can make more independent decisions about their lives. This can have significant implications for power dynamics in the household and relationships between women and men. The aim of this research is to analyze the implications of women's financial independence on power negotiations in the household. This study used qualitative research methods. The data collection technique in this research is literature study. The data that has been collected is then analyzed in three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. The research results show that women's financial independence has complex implications for power negotiations in the household. In some cases, women's financial independence can increase their bargaining power in negotiations with their partners and lead to positive changes in their relationship dynamics. However, in other cases, women's financial independence can cause tension and conflict in the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who beg are almost invisible in public policy debates in India due to their literal absence of bargaining power, in spite of their substantial population in Indian society. Despite being decriminalised by the Delhi High Court in 2018, begging continues to be stigmatised by society. The COVID-19 lockdown endangered the lives of those who beg as evidenced by their lived experiences. Although there were some efforts, governments largely failed to provide social security to people who beg during the lockdown. NGOs and some other associations, an essential part of civil society, have had more success in alleviating the undesirable predicament of the people who beg in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the problem of voluntary participation in negotiations regarding the provision of public goods. In contrast to earlier studies, in our model, a negotiation is followed by renegotiations. First, players decide whether to participate in a negotiation, and the participants produce a public good. The participants then renegotiate the level of the public good with nonparticipants in the preceding negotiations. We show that with these renegotiation opportunities, many players may participate in providing the public good in the preceding negotiation. In some cases, all players participate in the preceding negotiation and the public good is produced efficiently. Our findings indicate that more players participate in the provision of public goods if they have strong bargaining power in the renegotiations. Hence, this problem may not be as severe as reported by previous studies. Our results may be consistent with the recent developments in voluntary projects for international river management. • We present a simple model of voluntary negotiation on providing public goods. • Players can choose whether to join a negotiation providing public goods. • There are opportunities to renegotiate the agreement of the initial negotiation. • The opportunities may induce many players to join the public good provision. • The public goods may be supplied efficiently by the participation of all players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a microhistory of Dongfang Arsenal, a Small Third Front project in Beijing, using archival sources, gazetteers, memoirs compiled by former workers, and oral history. It focuses on how the arsenal's former workers engaged with socialist modernity and tangibly experienced the changing relationship between China and the outside world. It examines the military-industrial complex as a physical micro-space for employment, political mobilisation, and later a collective memory site. Built upon existing studies of the Third Front and emerging research on negotiated state power in socialist enterprises, the article demonstrates how the Third Front's internally stratified industrial labour force creatively navigated the physical and institutional urban-rural divide by employing collective bargaining power. It also offers an insight into how an industrial, close-knit community and the society related to it experienced the Cultural Revolution. Additionally, it discusses the Front employees' experience and the arsenal's struggle for survival during the transition between various socio-economic regimes, bringing together the history of Maoist revolutionary modernisation and post-Maoist reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Compared to linear tariffs, two-part tariffs are generally perceived as being more efficient since double marginalization is avoided. We investigate the efficiency of two-part tariffs vs. linear tariffs when a vertically integrated firm sells its input also to an independent downstream firm selling a differentiated substitute product. We find that a linear tariff can generate higher consumer surplus and overall welfare than a two-part tariff when the independent downstream firm is rather powerful in negotiating the contract terms, and downstream competition is in prices (Bertrand competition). In that case, the integrated firm makes more profits under a linear tariff than under a two-part tariff. In contrast, under downstream Cournot competition two-part tariffs are always welfare-superior. Under linear demand, we find that, irrespective of the mode of downstream competition and the distribution of bargaining power, the preferred contract type of the integrated firm is always welfare-superior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early marriage restrains women's agency and bargaining strength in postmarital households, impairing their ability to make meaningful contributions to household decision making. This paper employs a comprehensive measure of women's empowerment in the domestic and productive spheres, and isolates the causal effect of age at marriage, instrumented by age at menarche, on their bargaining strength, using nationally representative data from Bangladesh. Results suggest that delayed marriages result in significantly higher empowerment scores and probability of being empowered for women, because of higher likelihood in achieving adequacy in their autonomy in agricultural production, control over income, ownership of assets and rights in those assets, and ability to speak in public. Favorable impacts of delayed marriage are also found on women's freedom of mobility, fertility choices, and their ability to decide on household expenses and investments, with the impacts likely coming via improvements in education and labor market outcomes when women married later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double marginalization is a robust phenomenon in procurement under asymmetric information when sophisticated contracts can be implemented. In this context, vertical integration causes merger-specific elimination of double marginalization but biases the make-or-buy decision against independent suppliers. If the buyer has full bargaining power over prices and quantities, a vertical merger benefits final consumers even when it results in the exclusion of efficient suppliers. If on the contrary the buyer's bargaining power is reduced after she has committed to deal exclusively with a limited set of suppliers, exclusion of efficient suppliers may harm final consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the challenges of renewable energy consumption and improve the efficiency of energy systems, we propose an intelligent distributed energy dispatch strategy for multi-energy systems based on Nash bargaining by utilizing the power dispatch meta-universe platform. First, the operational framework of the multi-energy system, including wind park (WP), photovoltaic power plant (PVPP), and energy storage (ES), is described. Using the power dispatch meta-universe platform, the models of WP, PVPP, and ES are constructed and analyzed. Then, a Nash bargaining model of the multi-energy system is built and transformed into a coalition profit maximization problem, which is solved using the alternating direction multiplier method (ADMM). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified. The results show that the strategy greatly improves the consumption of renewable energy sources and the profit of the overall system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A monopolist platform uses data to match heterogeneous consumers with multiproduct sellers. The consumers can purchase the products on the platform or search off the platform. The platform sells targeted ads to sellers that recommend their products to consumers and reveals information to consumers about their match values. The revenue-optimal mechanism is a managed advertising campaign that matches products and preferences efficiently. In equilibrium, sellers offer higher qualities at lower unit prices on than off platform. The platform exploits its information advantage to increase its bargaining power vis-à-vis the sellers. Finally, privacy-respecting data-governance rules can lead to welfare gains for consumers. (JEL D11, D42, D44, D82, D83, M37) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption practices represent a central mode of social integration. Yet, due to the lack of material resources poor households cannot meet the expectations of dominant consumer culture, thus facing limited choices and feelings of shame. Based on a qualitative long-term study of the welfare production of 40 poor Swiss households, this article sheds light on consumption patterns and experiences in different distribution systems, namely the primary market, the charity system, and redistribution systems for used goods. It shows that feelings of shame and processes of exclusion differ between distribution systems according to institutional features conducive to the (in)visibility of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared energy storage offers substantial savings on construction costs and improves energy efficiency for users, yet its business model as an independent economic entity remains unclear. An optimal scheduling method for cooperative operation of shared energy storage among multiple user types is proposed in this paper, which relied on asymmetric Nash bargaining to define operational schedules and pricing strategies effectively. Initially, a cost-benefit model for shared energy storage operators, along with power generation users, demand-side consumers, and microgrid prosumers is developed. Then, a cooperative game framework is established using asymmetric Nash bargaining principles which decomposes the problem into two parts: minimizing social total cost through cooperative operation scheduling and determining service fee pricing for equitable benefit distribution. For benefit distribution, the bargaining power of users is adjusted based on their alliance contribution, ensuring revenue distribution is aligned with individual contributions and improving fairness in pricing. Subsequently, the adaptive penalty factor alternating direction multiplier method (ADMM) algorithm is employed for distributed equilibrium solving, enhancing the convergence speed and safeguarding user privacy. Finally, the economics and feasibility of the proposed cooperation framework for shared energy storage are validated through a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greater women's bargaining power and decision‐making within a household have been shown to increase investments in human capital. This study links women's participation in decision‐making in dairy production with household investment in girls and boys in health, nutrition, and education. We survey households in the urbanizing region of Bangalore, India. We utilize a multinomial treatment effects model to analyze the individual and household factors that are associated with women's participation in sole or joint decision‐making. We then assess how the type of decision‐making influences a household's investments. The results first show that female decision‐making households are more disadvantaged on average than other types of decision‐making households. Second, we observe that female decision‐makers for dairy production are more likely to have more children and earn a higher income than their husbands. Third, the main findings show that households in which women engage in joint decision‐making have higher levels of investment across all categories for girls. Conversely, investments decrease in education and nutrition for both girls and boys when the wife is the sole decision‐maker. Lastly, investments are enhanced further for girls when households can sell milk at a higher price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adults with difficulties finding affordable housing have increasingly been choosing to rent in the private sector and share housing with unknown individuals. Shared living arrangements allow these young single tenants to reduce their housing expenses while enjoying a shared lifestyle that encourages social interaction with a diverse group of housemates. However, physical proximity does not guarantee social proximity, as people may encounter undesirable housemates. Using a rich dataset of shared housing tenancies in Shanghai, China, this study examines how the characteristics of housemates influences tenants’ decision to terminate their shared housing tenancy before its expiration. Our results show that the similarity of housemates in age, gender, occupation, and birthplace reduces the probability of an early termination of the shared tenancy. The impact of housemate similarity measured in the four dimensions is further augmented by tenants’ bargaining power and individual characteristics. Since early tenancy termination increases the vacancy rate in shared housing, sharing with undesirable housemates incurs significant social costs. This study sheds light on how residents living in proximity can share urban space effectively to facilitate sustained shared housing tenancies and suggests the need for policy solutions that are tailored to the needs of shared housing renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Promoting enterprises' digital transformation is fundamental to implementing the digital China strategy and realizing high-quality development. Methods: Taking China's A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2021 as a research sample, this study examines the impact of sharing auditors with customers on the digital transformation of suppliers. Results: The results show that sharing auditors with customers can promote suppliers' digital transformation, and this promotion effect is stronger among suppliers with weaker bargaining power, lower media attention, and higher auditor industry expertise. In terms of the mechanism of action, sharing auditors with customers can help strengthen the supplier's supervision, alleviate suppliers' financing constraints, and thus facilitate their digital transformation. Further research finds that when suppliers share auditors with their customers, suppliers' digital transformation helps promote innovation. Discussion: The research conclusion provides effective empirical evidence for alleviating the dilemma of digital transformation of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe question of why some regions reject energy cooperation initiatives that aim to improve their overall security of supply puzzles scholars and policymakers advocating for deeper regional integration through energy trade. This was the case in Northeast Asia, where efforts to create a joint oil import mechanism to improve China, South Korea and Japan’s collective bargaining power against Middle East suppliers repeatedly failed and turned instead into competing bilateral contracts at higher prices for all three countries. This article offers two explanations for this puzzle. First, the unique technical challenges and costly logistics of establishing reliable oil and gas supply routes make bilateral agreements more credible than multilateral guarantees in regions characterised by geographical remoteness and high differential vulnerability to disruptions among its members. Second, the tendency of policymakers to securitise their country’s energy supply pushes them to overemphasise their relative vulnerabilities and fear any loss of autonomy over their supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper underscores the need to reconsider the ontological separation between processes of production and reproduction in the context of agrarian‐urban interlinkages. It synthesizes 'value theory of inclusion' with a notion of 'unfair bargaining power' to offer a new understanding of processes of agrarian change in the context of Pakistan. Expansion of the agrarian–urban frontier, one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary agrarian change in Pakistan, constitutes a crucial yet undertheorized site of value extraction. The paper shows that contemporary processes of capital accumulation rely on the swift conversion of agricultural land into commercial real estate, manifested in the form of gated housing enclaves. This process, on the one hand, accelerates the devalourization of small‐farm‐based production, and on the other hand, it allows affluent residents of gated housing enclaves to extract gendered surplus labour in the form of domestic workers from the growing pool of 'classes of labour'. In short, the expansion of agrarian–urban frontier is predicated on devalourization of agrarian livelihoods and exploitation of women's labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a dearth of research examining the couple characteristics in determining contractive utilization behavior in developing countries. This study fills the gap by analyzing the roles of women's intra-household bargaining power and spousal age differentials in predicting contraceptive utilization behavior in Pakistani women. Methods: A sample of 13,331, excluding pregnant and sexually inactive married women aged 15–49, was extracted from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18. The dataset is cross-sectional. Exploratory analysis was used to examine the pattern of contraceptive knowledge, types of contraceptive utilization, and intention to use contraceptives among women. Furthermore, binary regressions were employed to examine the association of women's intrahousehold bargaining power and spousal age difference with contraceptive utilization without and after accounting for all potential covariates. Results: Only 33% of women use contraceptives, while 30% express an intention to use contraceptives in the future. Almost all women (98%) knew about modern contraceptives. Compared to same-age couples, higher odds of current contraceptive use are observed among women whose husbands are at least 20 years older than them or whose husbands are young to them. The odds of the intention to use contraceptives tend to increase with the increase in spousal age difference. Women's intra-household bargaining is a significant predictor of current contraceptive utilization and intention to use contraceptives. Conclusion: Findings underscore the importance of considering the couple's characteristics in reproductive healthcare programming and policies. Recommendation: Greater women's intra-household bargaining power and smaller spousal age differences are associated with higher contraceptive usage. Empowering women and promoting their decision-making authority within households can enhance reproductive health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using arguments from the behavioral theory of the firm, agency theory, and the literature on internal capital markets, this article investigates the relationship between financial slack and firms' profitability in standalone versus business group-affiliated firms. Using a large sample of French privately held firms, we show that there is a quadratic, inverse U-shape relationship between financial slack and profitability for privately held firms. We observe that the relation is steeper for business group affiliated firms than for standalone firms, which is consistent with the idea that firms in business groups are in competition for the business groups resources. Moreover, we explore whether business groups characteristics and position and weight of a given affiliated firm in the business group organization influence the impact of financial slack on profitability. Our results show that for firms that are closest to the business group head firm and that have a higher weight in the business groups, the quadratic, inverse U-shaped relationship is steeper. These findings suggest that the bargaining power that firms have in business groups plays an important role in explaining the relation between financial slack and profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how digital platforms have changed working conditions and labor relations in domestic and care work in recent years. The study focuses on Hogarú, a digital platform in Colombia. Through a qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups, we analyze Hogarú's business model, along with the changes in working conditions for domestic workers compared to traditional employment methods. The study highlights two main findings. First, digital platforms can enhance domestic workers' bargaining power by raising awareness of their rights, professionalizing their work, promoting physical meeting spaces with other workers, providing ongoing training, and ensuring fundamental rights. Second, while digital platforms can shift the traditional labor relationship from one where the domestic worker directly offers care services to one managed by the company, power imbalances and low recognition of this work persist. This article offers insights into digital labor platforms from the perspective of the workers involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on crisis have brought to fore the necessity of studying the gendered impact of such events. Covid‐19 too has shown how gender relations play a role in the political economy of crisis, relief and response as well as recovery. This article focusses on the experiences of paid domestic workers in India who are among the most invisible and marginalized of India's informal workers and largely excluded from labor discourse and employment legislation. With Covid‐19, the precariousness characterizing the sector has also been further exposed and exacerbated, with vast numbers of workers now facing significant challenges to livelihood, as well as several new/additional pressures and risks, both at work and at home. In this article, we examine these Covid‐related challenges, drawing on interviews conducted with domestic workers, NGO practitioners, and labor rights' activists in Delhi and Kolkata between April and August 2020. We show how, during the national lockdown, many domestic workers in these cities experienced increased insecurity related to jobs and housing, as well as an increased control and surveillance at home. Furthermore, with the partial easing of lockdown and the associated 'return' to work, many experienced reduced bargaining power at work, increasingly blurred roles, and heavier workloads. Workers also experienced more overt forms of avoidance behavior, linked to ideas of caste/class and more recent notions of 'hygiene'/'distancing'. In detailing these experiences and contextualizing them within a much longer history of invisibilization and marginalization facing workers engaged in social reproduction, we draw attention to what we call the 'precarious continuities' in paid domestic work. We argue that the crisis allows for a lens to widen the theoretical understanding around social reproduction as a form of underpaid and devalued labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why have most Latin American countries – traditionally pro‐Atlantic and staunch defenders of non‐intervention – remained conspicuously neutral during the Ukraine War? We argue that in an increasingly bipolar context, fence‐sitting produces clear strategic gains through partner‐diversification and bargaining power. However, this strategy becomes riskier with polarisation and, at a certain point, these risks may upset benefits. We formalise this argument and examine the foreign policy trajectories of several Latin American countries in the context of the Ukraine War to illustrate how their room for diplomatic flexibility has shrunk with polarisation. As a corollary, we think of scenarios where the costs of fence‐sitting can outweigh its advantages, forcing the region to align. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explains a Javanese cultural practice called ngenger--when girls volunteer to be domestic servants in exchange for educational benefits--as a form of exploitation of labor. The purpose of this study is to understand this Javanese tradition from the perspective of Gender Anthropology. This research is a descriptive study using a qualitative method. The location of the study was in Surabaya and the city of Malang, East Java, and was conducted by collecting data in the form of observations and in-depth interviews. The informants for this study were girls who are domestic workers, parents of the child domestic workers, and the recipient parents of these child domestic workers. This study shows that ngenger girls employed as domestic workers are exploited since they lose almost all of their rights. The ways in which ngenger girls are exploited include having low wages, lacking bargaining power, being forced to be obedient, lacking the courage to claim their rights, not daring to complain to anyone, and continuing to serve the recipients. The condition where the ngenger girls do not have bargaining position over the recipients of their labor is precisely what makes this practice a form of exploitation. The relationship between girls and the recipient families is a patron-client relationship. The patron-client relation should be a reciprocal relationship that is mutually beneficial. A recipient patron of a ngenger girl has the responsibility to fulfill the needs of the girl as a client, and, in return, the client must give her loyalty to her patron. Patron-client relations are economic relations where profits must be achieved, which makes exploitation possible. In fact, ngenger girls do not get the fulfillment of basic needs, protection, and good education, but they still continue to be loyal to the recipient parents. This circumstance is what makes the relationship in ngenger culture an unfair and exploitative relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bargaining between husband and wife is reflective of the power dynamics in marriage. Women's access to resources and power through bargaining is integral to their empowerment, particularly in the Global South, where more traditional patriarchal family cultures prevail. This review summarizes the key theories concerning marital bargaining and evaluates the recent developments in research on marital bargaining by exploring patterns, determinants, and consequences of bargaining over power and resources among couples in the Global South. Several future research directions are proposed: examining the long‐term implications of the Covid‐19 pandemic on women's agency, employing a more comparative approach, and navigating marital bargaining from a broader family context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examines how the presence of labor unions affects a firm's pay disparity between executives and employees and its financial statement comparability. Design/methodology/approach: It uses firm-level labor union data in Korea and applies regression analyses to a sample of 1,776 firm-year observations from 2004 to 2008. Findings: The authors find that unionized firms have a smaller pay disparity between executives and employees than non-unionized firms, suggesting that labor unions place pressure on the pay structure. Unionization also lowers financial statement comparability, which helps managers of unionized firms maintain information asymmetry. Further, this negative relationship between unionization and financial statement comparability is stronger in non-chaebol firms, implying that they are more motivated than chaebol firms to reduce their financial statement comparability in response to the presence of labor unions. In addition, the negative relationship between unionization and financial statement comparability is pronounced in profit-making firms, firms with less analyst following, firms with fewer foreign investors and firms in more competitive product markets. Research limitations/implications: The finding that firms adjust comparability in response to labor unions interests regulators and policymakers, who emphasize the role of comparability in providing usefulness to information users. Originality/value: The findings add to the existing literature on the effect of labor unions on firms' pay structures and accounting choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercial bill, as a regulated commercial credit mode, offers better creditor protection, more financing channels, and stronger bargaining power in financing. This paper creatively constructs bills receivable index in the micro level of enterprises and examines the potential impact of billing of accounts receivable on the financing constraints faced by enterprises. This paper also explores the mechanism that causes the impact and check whether the establishment of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange Corporation (SHCPE) has had positive effects. The results show that billing can alleviate the financing constraints of enterprises due to its benefits offered by the commercial bill. Furthermore, the establishment of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange Corporation (SHCPE) can lead to the development of a standardized and transparent bill market, further alleviating the financing constraints. The study also reveals that billing of accounts receivable affects financing constraints mainly by enhancing the quality of debt-like assets and reducing information asymmetry between enterprises and the outside world. For enterprises with longer maturity structure, the effect of billing on the alleviation of financing constraints is more significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the implications of different ways in which downstream firms can exercise buyer power over their upstream suppliers. We derive several variations of a model in which two upstream firms supply a differentiated product under exclusive contracts to two downstream firms which compete in prices in the retail market. We begin with a benchmark model (upstream first-mover pricing), and then compare its outcomes with those of models that feature different modes of exercising buyer power: downstream first-mover pricing; Nash Bargaining with linear and two-part tariffs; and vertical integration. We rank these five regimes in terms of wholesale and retail prices, social welfare, the pass-through rates of changes in upstream costs, and downstream firms' profits. We show under what conditions more powerful downstream firms benefit consumers by exercising 'countervailing power' against upstream suppliers. We also show that the lump-sum component of the two-part tariff can go in either direction (a slotting allowance or a franchise fee), depending in a very precise way only on parameters representing bargaining power and the degree of product differentiation. Exactly the same configuration of these parameters is shown to determine the ranking of wholesale and retail prices, pass-through rates, and downstream profits, as between the Nash Bargaining regimes with linear and two-part tariffs. Finally, we show that downstream firms which possess buyer power always prefer vertical arrangements that are socially sub-optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With one‐fifth of the UK labour force employed in the public sector, public sector pay and its interaction with private sector pay is an important driver of the macroeconomy. Using new data on sector‐level earnings and sector–industry‐level pay settlements, this paper addresses the fundamental question of which sector leads and which follows in terms of earnings determination. We find that in the long run, public sector wages adjust to wages set in the private sector, maintaining a consistent relationship. We further find that there can be significant wage spillovers from the public sector to the private sector in the short run. These tend to be more pronounced for private sector industries that are domestically facing, characterized by low worker bargaining power, or reliant on public sector inputs. This paper's findings have important implications for macroeconomic policy that aims to balance inflationary forces and fiscal funding pressures. This paper is part of the Economica 100 Series. Economica, the LSE "house journal" is now 100 years old. To commemorate this achievement, we are publishing 100 papers by former students, as well as current and former faculty. Peter Dolton is a senior Fellow at the CEP, LSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of product recalls on audit production. Product recalls are events that increase engagement risk associated with greater audit effort, and by extension, greater audit quality. Consistent with this conclusion, we find firm-years with a product recall have a lower likelihood of being subsequently restated and lower levels of accrual error. While a positive association generally exists between audit effort and audit fees, prior literature shows firms experiencing economic stress negotiate lower audit fees and auditors accept lower fees to earn future returns. We expect that to increase the likelihood of retaining a client, auditors will agree to lower fees when the short-term economic stress associated with a recall injects downward pressure into fee negotiations. Supporting this conclusion, we find product recalls are associated with lower audit fees – a relation attributable to differing magnitudes of temporal fee increase. We also show the effects are transitory, the higher levels of audit quality are attributable to specialist audit offices, and the lower levels of fees are attributable to engagements where the client has greater bargaining power. While a positive association typically exists between audit effort and audit fees, our paper identifies a firm-specific event that weakens this relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chang et al. (Rev Financ Stud 30:835–865, 2017) attribute the underpricing of IPOs with little information asymmetry to agency costs resulting from the bargaining power of underwriters. In this study, we determine that a pre-IPO audit committee and auction method can reduce underwriter bargaining power, thereby improving IPO pricing efficiency. Auction method refrains underwriter discretion on IPO allocation. A pre-IPO audit committee or auction method does not raise IPO prices directly because there is little information asymmetry in Taiwan but does so indirectly by mitigating underwriter bargaining power. We determine that underwriters can save distribution efforts by lowering IPO offer price with their bargaining power before issuance to reduce costs. However, an effective audit committee can attenuate the negative effect of underwriter bargaining power on IPO prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although theoretical studies suggest that customers may have an impact on a supplier firm's accounting practices, empirical evidence remains limited and inconclusive. We posit that geographic clustering increases the likelihood of communication between customers and that managers who perceive this likelihood will make more disciplined revenue reporting decisions. Using major customer data from China, we find that firms with more geographically clustered customers report less absolute discretionary revenue. This result is more pronounced when the supplier's customers are more likely to communicate with each other, when their demand for information is stronger, when supplier-customer information asymmetry is more severe, and when the supplier has less bargaining power. The main results survive after addressing endogeneity concerns and a serial of other robustness tests. Our findings offer insight into how the relationship between customers relates to earnings quality and we extend the literature on corporate geographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In regional trade agreements (RTAs), member countries choose a common rule of origin (RoO) for each product. This study examines the factors that influence RoOs in four ASEAN‐plus‐one RTAs, which are agreements between ASEAN and four individual countries. One unique feature is that ASEAN as a whole negotiates with a plus‐one country, which may dilute the interests of individual ASEAN countries at large. Our findings are summarised as follows. First, the more restrictive RoOs are set in the products where plus‐one countries are less competitive against most ASEAN countries. Second, the more restrictive RoOs are likely to be imposed in products that plus‐one countries protect with higher most favoured nation tariffs. These two results reflect the bargaining power among a plus‐on country and ASEAN countries and indicate that plus‐one's preference influences RoOs more strongly. Third, we find contrasting results between intermediate and final products. RoOs are likely to be less restrictive in intermediate products and more restrictive in final products when plus‐one countries have higher export competitiveness or when the majority of ASEAN countries have higher MFN tariffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of affiliation with a large business group on a firm's trade credit policy while controlling for the effects of its financial health and bargaining power in the Korean setting. Group affiliation may influence trade credit finance through the internal capital market mechanism and/or the extra bargaining power mechanism. In our empirical analyses, we focus on identifying the more dominant mechanism for determining trade credit demand (TCD) and supply (TCS). First, we provide a set of empirical findings showing that a firm's affiliation with a large business group increases the firm's TCD but decreases its TCS. These findings support the extra bargaining power mechanism argument. Second, we provide another set of empirical findings that group‐wise financial distress has weak positive impacts on a group affiliate's TCD and TCS. These findings support the internal capital market mechanism argument. Overall, we provide evidence that large business groups in Korea function uniquely in that the extra bargaining power mechanism greatly dominates the internal capital market mechanism when determining a group affiliate's trade credit transactions. We also provide evidence of the internal capital market mechanism functioning when an entire business group faces severe financial difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generalist chief executive officers (CEOs) have accumulated transferrable general skills by working in multiple firms or industries. Recent decades have witnessed an increasing demand for generalist CEOs, which has resulted in a favorable job market for them. Favorable outside job opportunities reduce generalist CEOs' career concerns and increase their agency problems and risk‐taking incentives. We examine the relation between generalist CEOs and conditional conservatism. On the one hand, conditional conservatism could be positively associated with generalist CEOs because debtholders and shareholders often demand conservatism to alleviate heightened agency problems. On the other hand, a negative association could obtain because generalist CEOs can (1) create better information environments for firms, reduce information asymmetry and lessen stakeholders' demand for conservatism and (2) have greater bargaining power and reduce the supply of conservatism. We document a positive association between generalist CEOs and conditional conservatism and show that the relationship is more pronounced in firms with a higher demand for conservatism. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background There is a dearth of research examining the couple characteristics in determining contractive utilization behavior in developing countries. This study fills the gap by analyzing the roles of women’s intra-household bargaining power and spousal age differentials in predicting contraceptive utilization behavior in Pakistani women. Methods A sample of 13,331, excluding pregnant and sexually inactive married women aged 15–49, was extracted from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18. The dataset is cross-sectional. Exploratory analysis was used to examine the pattern of contraceptive knowledge, types of contraceptive utilization, and intention to use contraceptives among women. Furthermore, binary regressions were employed to examine the association of women's intrahousehold bargaining power and spousal age difference with contraceptive utilization without and after accounting for all potential covariates. Results Only 33% of women use contraceptives, while 30% express an intention to use contraceptives in the future. Almost all women (98%) knew about modern contraceptives. Compared to same-age couples, higher odds of current contraceptive use are observed among women whose husbands are at least 20 years older than them or whose husbands are young to them. The odds of the intention to use contraceptives tend to increase with the increase in spousal age difference. Women’s intra-household bargaining is a significant predictor of current contraceptive utilization and intention to use contraceptives. Conclusion Findings underscore the importance of considering the couple’s characteristics in reproductive healthcare programming and policies. Recommendation Greater women's intra-household bargaining power and smaller spousal age differences are associated with higher contraceptive usage. Empowering women and promoting their decision-making authority within households can enhance reproductive health outcomes.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) are integrating and expanding into other emerging market host countries, focusing on Chinese mining companies in Peru. Design/methodology/approach: Adopting a qualitative approach, an in-depth analysis of two Chinese state-owned enterprises' strategies was conducted, building on stakeholder theory and the business ecosystem perspective. Findings: This study reveals a reliance on high-level political lobbying rather than localized engagement strategies. However, findings point to increasing grassroots resistance among local stakeholders, undermining EMNEs' bargaining power. Originality/value: This paper argues for a paradigm shift toward inclusive, cooperative "translocal governance" approaches as empowered communities gain voice. Key contributions include advancing theoretical understanding of changing stakeholder relationships and power configurations in emerging countries, underscoring the rising significance of microlevel sociocultural embeddedness for MNE success and highlighting practical imperatives for EMNEs to embark on rapid localization strategies in Latin America. By elucidating multilayered integration realities in Peru, this interdisciplinary study yields contextualized insights and enriches perspective on the conditions and pathways for EMNEs to build sustainability in Global South emerging market environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]