Participation Of Manufacturers Research Articles

The interplay between marketplace channel addition and pricing strategy in an e-commerce supply chain

E-commerce platforms are increasingly adopting a dual-format model. In addition to the reselling channel, these platforms may provide the marketplace channel for manufacturers or resellers. This study investigates the marketplace channel addition and pricing strategy in an e-commerce supply chain (ECSC) comprising one e-commerce platform, one manufacturer, and one reseller. We examine three marketplace channel addition scenarios defined by whether the manufacturer, reseller or both can sell products through the marketplace channel. The ECSC members may choose a differential pricing (DP) or a uniform pricing (UP) strategy in different scenarios. The results show that the platform is always willing to add a marketplace channel for the reseller under the DP strategy, while the manufacturer prefers to enter the marketplace alone. In contrast, under the UP strategy, if the commission rate is low and the channel competition intensity is high, the manufacturer chooses to introduce the marketplace channel separately to achieve a win-win situation with the platform. When considering both marketplace channel addition and pricing strategy, the manufacturer's and the platform's best choices are different. We also find that the manufacturer's participation in the UP strategy or delay in the retail price decision may reduce conflicts with the platform.

Participative pricing and donation programs in a socially concerned supply chain

AbstractThis study analyzes a participative pricing scheme, name‐your‐own‐price, as a practical marketing mechanism for a socially sustainable supply chain. There is an ongoing argument on the profitability of participative pricing. This study introduces a different approach in capturing optimal decisions of a corporate social responsibility practice. In the proposed approach, the manufacturer is willing to donate as long as, (I) business image is improving; thus, the potential market size is expanding and, (II) consumers are also donating through the proposed donation scheme. Results indicate that not only the total earnings are increasing, the market participation is also boosted. Further, operational decisions are coordinated successfully with a revenue‐sharing contract. Findings imply that there is a minimum threshold for manufacturer's participation ratio to ensure the profitability of the proposed scheme, not to mention consumer's donation size. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to prove the applicability of the proposed mechanism in real‐world applications.

Capability Search and Redeem across Digital Ecosystems

Prior research on digital ecosystems focuses on the focal firm (e.g., a platform owner) and its ecosystem governance. However, there is a dearth of literature examining the non-focal actor, that is, an ecosystem participant who is at the periphery of a digital ecosystem. This paper proposes a theoretical perspective of the non-focal firm's participation across digital ecosystems for cultivating its innovation habitat through capability search and redeem. Capability search involves the location of external capability deemed valuable for extending the firm's innovation habitat. Capability redeem refers to the firm's use of external capability to develop, distribute, and/or monetize its products and services. We generate and sensitize the proposed perspective in the context of Sony Ericsson's innovation habitat by interpreting the mobile device manufacturer's participation across four digital ecosystems (Visual Basic, Java, Digital Music, and Android). Our findings suggest that the non-focal actor cannot rely on a single ecosystem for addressing all relevant layers of innovation. It benefits from pursuing a pluralistic strategy, operating across digital ecosystems to avoid investing all efforts in the same ecosystem. The model of ecosystem capability search and redeem, which is a result of ideographic research explanation, extends current perspectives on digital ecosystems and contributes to the emerging literature in the digital age.

Vertical Cooperative Advertising with Substitute Brands

Cooperative (co-op) advertising is attracting more and more attention. This paper analyzes co-op advertising behavior based on a dual-brand model with a single manufacturer and a single retailer, and some interesting conclusions are achieved. Firstly, the firm in the supply chain advertises both brands, and the difference of advertising expenditure is not very large in equilibrium. Secondly, the retailer's advertising and the manufacturer's participation ratios depend on both the retailer's and the manufacturer's marginal profits. Thirdly, the stimulating effect increases the advertising investment while the competition effect decreases it, but they have no effect on the manufacturer's participation ratio. Fourthly, co-op advertising is more sensitive to the manufacturer's marginal profits than those of the retailer. Lastly, total advertising investment and profit are greater under cooperative decision than under Stackelberg decision.

Experiences of a long-term randomized controlled prevention trial in a maiden environment: Estonian Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy trial

BackgroundPreventive drugs require long-term trials to show their effectiveness or harms and often a lot of changes occur during post-marketing studies. The purpose of this article is to describe the research process in a long-term randomized controlled trial and discuss the impact and consequences of changes in the research environment.MethodsThe Estonian Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy trial (EPHT), originally planned to continue for five years, was planned in co-operation with the Women's International Study of Long-Duration Oestrogen after Menopause (WISDOM) in the UK. In addition to health outcomes, EPHT was specifically designed to study the impact of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) on health services utilization.ResultsAfter EPHT recruited in 1999–2001 the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in the USA decided to stop the estrogen-progestin trial after a mean of 5.2 years in July 2002 because of increased risk of breast cancer and later in 2004 the estrogen-only trial because HT increased the risk of stroke, decreased the risk of hip fracture, and did not affect coronary heart disease incidence. WISDOM was halted in autumn 2002. These decisions had a major influence on EPHT.ConclusionChanges in Estonian society challenged EPHT to find a balance between the needs of achieving responses to the trial aims with a limited budget and simultaneously maintaining the safety of trial participants. Flexibility was the main key for success. Rapid changes are not limited only to transiting societies but are true also in developed countries and the risk must be included in planning all long-term trials.The role of ethical and data monitoring committees in situations with emerging new data from other studies needs specification. Longer funding for preventive trials and more flexibility in budgeting are mandatory. Who should prove the effectiveness of an (old) drug for a new preventive indication? In preventive drug trials companies may donate drugs but they take a financial risk, especially with licensed drugs. Public funding is crucial to avoid commercial biases. Legislation to share the costs of large post-marketing trials as well as regulation of manufacturer's participation is needed. [ISRCTN35338757]