Small Market Share Research Articles

Identifying Thailand’s high-potential export opportunities in ASEAN+3 countries

PurposeThis paper aims to identify Thailand’s realistic export opportunities (REOs) in the ASEAN+3 countries (i.e. ASEAN, Greater China, Japan and South Korea), which together constitute an economically dynamic region and a strategic export destination for Thailand. Furthermore, the paper seeks to determine the extent to which Thailand already has a share in ASEAN+3 countries and where new opportunities lie. This allows the formulation of appropriate export promotion strategies for Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used is a decision support model (DSM) which uses an extensive data-filtering system to systematically screen and eliminate less-promising product–country combinations to ultimately reveal high-potential REOs. Product–country combinations are screened on the basis of country risk; macro-economic country performance; market potential in terms of import growth and import market size; and market access conditions, including market concentration and the existence of trade barriers. The thus narrowed-down REOs are categorised according to Thailand’s relative market share in, and the characteristics of, the identified import markets.FindingsThe study reveals that the ASEAN+3 countries account for about 40 per cent of the total potential export value of Thailand’s REOs in the world, with China leading the way (12.45 per cent), followed by Japan (8.56 per cent) and South Korea (6.23 per cent). However, Thailand has a relatively small or intermediately small market share in the majority of these REOs, pointing to the need for more offensive and exploratory export promotion strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe ASEAN+3 countries – given that they are an abundant source of REOs for Thailand and are in Thailand’s “backyard” – should receive more focused attention and resources in government export promotion efforts. The recent launch of the ASEAN Economic Community and the proposed establishment of an East Asia Free Trade Area lend weight to the idea of Thailand adopting a strong regional focus in its export activities.Practical implicationsThe insights derived from the study are valuable for export promotion officials, industry representatives and practising exporters alike, as they constitute an easy-to-digest snapshot of high-potential REOs for Thailand in the ASEAN+3 region. This makes for more efficient planning and prioritising of export development activities, and a more streamlined approach to resource allocation.Originality/valueExport promotion shows diminishing returns and requires sustainable strategies and interventions. The value in this paper lies in its description of an innovative market selection tool, the DSM, which is able to process and filter high volumes of information and arrive at a shortlist of high-potential REOs for Thailand in the ASEAN+3 countries. The paper represents a concise case study of the DSM in practice, which should be of particular interest to export promotion agencies, industry associations and both new and more established exporting countries.

A study of the regulative acts’ leniency clause effect on the behavior of the firms

This paper experimentally investigates the effect of leniency clause on cartel formation and self-reporting by firms in an asymmetric cartel. The notion of asymmetric is used in terms of different market share of the firms, which form a cartel. This setting is used to bring the experimental design closer to reality. We experimentally controlled for ‘Provision of Deal’- when a firm with larger market share can offer some side payments to the firms with smaller market share and induce them not to report. We run three treatments: 1) Leniency without Deal (LWOD), 2) Leniency with Deal (LWD) and 3) Reward with Deal (RWD). In LWOD treatment players can come forward and self-report their communication to the authority. In LWD treatment before self-reporting there is another step where big players can transfer 10 points to the small player and induce them not to report. In RWD treatment players earn 25 points if they report, unlike LWD or LWOD where they paid some amount after reporting as well. The results of the experiment demonstrate that there is no notable difference in the formation of cartels among the three treatments. However, cartel members see the adverse effect of the provision of a deal on the self-reporting of cartels. The incidence of reporting falls significantly from 61.48% in Leniency without Deal treatment to 25.86% in Leniency with Deal treatment. Further, giving positive rewards to the self-reporters counteract the effect of the deal to a large extent. Thus, reporting is remarkably high at 41.44% in Reward with Deal treatment as compared to 25.86% in Leniency with Deal treatment. To sum up, the experiment accentuates the waning effect of leniency clause in an asymmetrical cartel.

The production and exportation of artemisinin-derived drugs in China: current status and existing challenges.

BackgroundAs the discoverer and a major manufacturer of artemisinin, China has made valuable contributions to malaria control and the global market of artemisinin-derived drugs. This study aims to explore the production and export status of artemisinin-derived drugs in China during 2011 and 2014 to provide a clear understanding of China’s participation in this field and also to provide guidance for its future role on global malaria control.MethodsProduction and exportation data were obtained from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) database of the People’s Republic China and monthly reports of the General Administration of Customs of China, respectively. The production volume, export volume, export value, and export area of artemisinin and its derivatives (artemether, artesunate, dihydroartemisinin), including both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs), were descripted and analysed by Microsoft Excel.ResultsBetween 2011 and 2013, the total production volume of artemisinin-derived APIs and FPPs reached 543.41 metric tons (MT) and 14.79 MT, respectively. The total export value and volume of artemisinin-derived APIs during 2012 and 2014 was US$ 211.39 million and 338.53 MT; the total export value and volume of FPPs was US$ 227.17 million and 4401.44 MT. Compared with the sharply decreasing trend of API exports each year, the export value of FPPs kept at a more stable level, with 14.66 % increase in 2013 and 5.31 % decrease in 2014. As for exportation areas, India was the largest purchaser of APIs, accounting for nearly a half of the total amount, while FPPs mainly exported to African countries.ConclusionsExports of artemisinin derivatives for China have been transforming from API-dominated to FPP-dominated. However, the exportation of artemisinin-derived drugs in China still face the challenges of small market share in the global FPP market and indirect sale of FPPs through a third country due to the deficiency in obtaining relevant certification into global market.

DETERMINAN PENGUNGKAPAN CSR DAN LEGITIMASI PERBANKAN SYARIAH

The existence of organisation can be determined by its legitimacy. Legitimacy theory stated that the organisation should in line with the values and norms of its stakeholders. Indonesia Islamic banking legitimacy is important since this industry in Indonesia is still have small market share, but Indonesia Financial Authority (OJK) has commitment to enhance the contribution of this industry to the Indonesian development. Conceptually, legitimacy could be hanced by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure, while CSR disclosure is determined by company visibility, profitability, company size, and ownership structure.

Lapsed buyers' durable brand consideration in emerging markets

The acquisition of non-customers in durable categories is costly. A history of positive and negative brand behaviors that include past choice (the positive) ending in defection to another brand (the negative) make lapsed buyers of a brand an intriguing segment of non-customers. This research explores how this mixed brand history affects the re-recruitment of lapsed buyers. Drawing on data from over 3500 cell phone owners of 26 cell phone brands across six emerging markets (China, Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea and Indonesia), the results first reveal that the cohort of lapsed buyers hold more positive attitudes than never-buyers. Further, across 74 brand level regressions, even accounting for attitude affects, lapsed buyers are not less likely to consider the brand in the future than other non-customers, and in 51% of cases, lapsed buyers have significantly higher consideration levels. This result is consistent across the 26 brands, of large and small market share, and local or global brand origin, but stronger for lapsed buyers in more developed cell phone markets such as China, Brazil and South Korea, suggesting that the more experienced the buyer/market, the more past ownership works in favor of the lapsed brand. This research highlights the importance of considering the buyer's full past history with the brand, not just current status, in theoretical models and when modeling brand choice or customer lifetime value for durables in emerging markets. For practitioners, this research suggests value in marketing efforts to reactivate lapsed users in emerging markets, and that brand history creates another barrier for new entrants, with no lapsed buyers, looking to recruit customers.

PAYMENT INNOVATIONS IN POLAND: A NEW APPROACH OF THE BANKING SECTOR TO INTRODUCING PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

The aim of our work is to determine the involvement and plans of banks concerning the introduction of payment innovations in the Polish market. This empirical study was based on the results of two surveys. The first survey allowed us to obtain the official positions of 24 commercial banks. The second survey included the opinions of 70 experts, who were senior managers from banks and other payment market institutions. The paper presents the scope of the implementation of payment innovations and five-year plans outlined by the banks. It proved that commercial banks, including both the largest ones and those with a smaller market share, are extremely interested in payment innovations and are ready to implement many solutions at the same time. This new phenomenon can be described as the “universal innovativeness” of banks. Most of these innovations are intended to improve customer convenience, which helps banks to achieve an important strategic objective. Poland had recent changes in legal regulations which considerably reduced the interchange fee in card schemes. Our results indicated that, in spite of the decrease of the banks’ revenue, the innovation process did not slow down. A new situation is coopetition between banks in Poland, used as a successful model to implement the domestic mobile payment system BLIK. The Polish market of payment services has recently become one of the most innovative in the world. The diversification of innovations implemented by the banks may be read as a strategic response of those institutions to the dynamic technological advancements of FinTech and the related uncertainty of future trends in the payment market. The results have allowed us to formulate a hypothesis that is a new paradigm of a portfolio approach to introducing payment innovations that have appeared in banking.

Autonomous and Connected Cars: HCM Estimates for Freeways with Various Market Penetration Rates

Major IT companies and vehicle manufacturers have announced their plans for autonomous driving technology. Autonomous light duty vehicles are often referred to as “driverless cars” (DLC). These technologies intend to partly or fully replace driving by combining navigation systems, artificial intelligence, in-vehicle sensors, roadside ITS and traffic monitoring data, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. The absence of perception errors and the minimal perception and reaction time of DLC enable them to maintain shorter headways, to apply consistent acceleration and deceleration rates, and to optimize the use of gaps. In theory, freeway operations and level of service (LOS) can be impacted to a substantial but yet unknown degree by the DLC. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM).is a static and macroscopic methodology for assessing various traffic flow facilities. Its 2010 edition is not adjusted for the presence of DLC on highways, however, several of its parameters are sensitive to differences in perception and reaction times, headways, etc. An investigation was conducted to assess the likely changes to traffic flow characteristics that may result from the introduction of DLC. The focus of this paper is on expressways, that is, on HCM analyses of basic freeway segment and freeway weaving segment. DLC is able to increase capacity (c), the maximum service flow rate (MSFi), the adjustment factor for unfamiliar driver population (fP), passenger-car equivalent (PCE), and the proportion of heavy vehicles (PT). The combined benefits improve LOS. The results from the case studies show that the impacts of DLC on HCM parameters are tiny if the DLC have a very small market share. Two types of DLC are considered in this paper: Autonomous DLC, and Connected DLC with V2V and V2I. On a basic freeway segment the Autonomous DLC improves LOS from D to C when its share in traffic reaches 7%. The same case study shows that the Connected DLC improves LOS from D to C when its share in traffic reaches 3%.

To What Extent do Community Characteristics Explain Differences in Closure among Financially Distressed Rural Hospitals?

From January 2005 through December 2015, 105 rural hospitals closed. This study examined associations between community characteristics and rural hospital closure. Compared with other rural hospitals that were at high risk of financial distress but remained open over the same time period, closed rural hospitals had a smaller market share (p < .0001) despite being in areas with higher population density (p < .05), were located nearer to another hospital (p < .0001), and were located in markets that had a higher rate of unemployment (p < .05) and a higher percentage of Black (p < .05) and Hispanic (p < .01) residents. These results have three implications for rural health policy: rural hospital closures may disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities, community characteristics in combination with other factors make it likely that rural hospital closures will continue, and rural hospital closures illuminate the need for new models of reimbursement and health care delivery to meet the needs of rural communities.

Genetically Engineering Entomopathogenic Fungi.

Entomopathogenic fungi have been developed as environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical insecticides in biocontrol programs for agricultural pests and vectors of disease. However, mycoinsecticides currently have a small market share due to low virulence and inconsistencies in their performance. Genetic engineering has made it possible to significantly improve the virulence of fungi and their tolerance to adverse conditions. Virulence enhancement has been achieved by engineering fungi to express insect proteins and insecticidal proteins/peptides from insect predators and other insect pathogens, or by overexpressing the pathogen's own genes. Importantly, protein engineering can be used to mix and match functional domains from diverse genes sourced from entomopathogenic fungi and other organisms, producing insecticidal proteins with novel characteristics. Fungal tolerance to abiotic stresses, especially UV radiation, has been greatly improved by introducing into entomopathogens a photoreactivation system from an archaean and pigment synthesis pathways from nonentomopathogenic fungi. Conversely, gene knockout strategies have produced strains with reduced ecological fitness as recipients for genetic engineering to improve virulence; the resulting strains are hypervirulent, but will not persist in the environment. Coupled with their natural insect specificity, safety concerns can also be mitigated by using safe effector proteins with selection marker genes removed after transformation. With the increasing public concern over the continued use of synthetic chemical insecticides and growing public acceptance of genetically modified organisms, new types of biological insecticides produced by genetic engineering offer a range of environmentally friendly options for cost-effective control of insect pests.

Price leadership and unequal market sharing: Collusion in experimental markets

We consider experimental markets of repeated homogeneous price-setting duopolies. We investigate the effect on collusion of sequential versus simultaneous price setting. We also examine the effect on collusion of changes in the size of each subject's market share in case both subjects set the same price. Our results show that sequential price setting compared with simultaneous price setting facilitates collusion, if subjects have equal market shares or if the follower has the larger market share. With sequential price setting, we find more collusion if subjects have equal market shares rather than unequal market shares. We observe more collusion if the follower has the larger market share than if the follower has the smaller market share.

Dissipative Competition: Evidence from a Quasi‐Natural Experiment

AbstractWe document that contrary to the conventional view, the costs of domestic firms in terms of selling, general and administrative expenses and cost of goods sold increase significantly following exogenous shocks that increase competition, namely material import tariff cuts affecting US manufacturing industries over the period 1974–2005. Incompatible with an agency explanation, the cost increase is more pronounced among firms with higher CEO/insider/board ownership. We further find that the cost increase is more evident among firms with smaller market share and among focused firms. Generally, our results are consistent with the notion of ‘dissipative competition’ discussed in the seminal papers by Tullock.

Attacking the system: Next-generation auto-immune therapies target pathways rather than symptoms.

Auto‐immune diseases are a major health problem in both developed and developing countries: They cause as many deaths as the leading infectious diseases and exact an even greater toll on patients’ quality of life given their chronic nature (Box 1). Reliable data for all auto‐immune diseases are hard to collect, but a 2011 study by the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) reported that the total annual cost of just seven leading auto‐immune diseases (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, and scleroderma) was somewhere between US$51.8 billion and US$70.6 billion in the USA alone (http://www.diabetesed.net/page/_ files/autoimmune-diseases.pdf). The AARDA report also drew attention to the indirect societal toll with one example being sufferers from RA in the USA, who experienced a decline in average earnings from US$18,409 to US$13,900 per year, and the number of jobs they were able to perform dropped from 11.5 to 2.6 million. It was also found that approximately 50 percent of RA patients were unable to work at all within ten years after disease onset. ### Box 1: Some common auto‐immune diseases #### Graves’ Disease The most common auto‐immune disease in which the body produces antibodies to the receptor for thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH). It usually attacks the thyroid, frequently causing it to enlarge to twice its size or more (goiter) and become overactive, with related hyperthyroid symptoms such as increased heartbeat, muscle weakness, disturbed sleep, and irritability. No ideal cure but it can be controlled, with last resort surgical excision of the gland. Other treatments include anti‐thyroid drugs, which reduce the production of thyroid hormone, and radioiodine to shrink the gland and reduce its activity. #### Hashimoto's thyroiditis Another auto‐immune disease of the thyroid gland that involves a variety of cell‐ and antibody‐mediated immune processes. It was the first disease to be recognized as auto‐immune in 1912. In this case, the …

The Often-Ignored Regional Banking Sector

With the focus of financial reform placed on reducing the risks associated with being "too big to fail,"; it is the nation's largest banks that have been subject to the most scrutiny. Regional banks—midsize banks with a small market share—have not warranted comparable attention. Regional banks have not been plagued by too-big-to-fail issues, but they are not without vulnerabilities. As regulation of the financial industry evolves to tailor regulatory and reporting requirements to the risks posed by different types of financial institutions, more needs to be learned about any potential risks posed by regional banks.

Cash Flow and Product Market Competition: An Empirical Analysis

Using a tax-induced negative shock to expected cash flows in the tobacco industry as a natural experiment, I find significant positive returns to rivals who compete with non-tobacco segments in tobacco firms and a significant change in output behavior of those non-tobacco segments after the shock. This suggests that a firm's cash flow has an important effect on its competitive outcomes in the product market. The effects are robust to a number of estimation issues and identification choices. Since the shock is exogenous to the investment opportunities of non-tobacco industries, my evidence supports the hypothesis that there is a causal relation between a firm's cash flow and its product market behavior. Moreover, I find that the connection between cash flow and competitive performance is magnified in competitive industries and when cash-constrained firms only have a small market share.

The art of using ethnography

In January 2014, approximately 60 Indian academics and business people gathered in Delhi for a one-day seminar on the art of using ethnography . I coconducted the seminar with Guliz Ger, a Turkish colleague with whom I have worked on a number of research projects over the past 20 years . I describe my portion of the workshop here and Guliz is doing the same for her portion . We began with an ethnographic case study by Procter & Gamble’s Gillette in seeking to broaden its initially small market share among India’s poor and rural men . Through a combination of in-home visits, observations, shop-alongs, depth interviews and test shaves, the company learned that – unlike North Americans, who shave daily in front of a wall mirror and wash basin with hot and cold running water – most rural and poor Indian men shave every few days in poor light with a hand-held mirror and a cup of cold water using the 100-yearold technology of a safety razor in which the handle screws to hold a double-edged blade . The result was lots of nicks and cuts . Gillette’s engineers designed an inexpensive razor with three moving parts and a large comb to prevent nicks . The result was a phenomenal 50% market share within six months of introduction in 2010 . It is also Indian-made and sold in India’s hundreds of thousands of small shops CONFERENCE NOTES

Design of incentive programs for accelerating penetration of energy-efficient appliances

Incentives are policy tools that sway purchase, retail stocking, and production decisions toward energy-efficient products. Incentives complement mandatory standards and labeling policies by accelerating market penetration of products that are more energy efficient than required by existing standards and by preparing the market for more stringent future mandatory requirements. Incentives can be directed at different points in the appliance׳s supply chain; one point may be more effective than another depending on the technology׳s maturity and market penetration. This paper seeks to inform future policy and program design by categorizing the main elements of incentive programs from around the world. We identify advantages and disadvantages of program designs through a qualitative overview of incentive programs worldwide. We find that financial incentive programs have greater impact when they target highly efficient technologies with a small market share, and that program designs depend on the market barriers addressed, the target equipment, and the local market context. No program design is inherently superior to another. The key to successful program design and implementation is a thorough understanding of the market and identification of the most important local obstacles to the penetration of energy-efficient technologies.

Health information exchange among U.S. hospitals: who's in, who's out, and why?

BackgroundA key goal of the 2009 HITECH Act is to ensure broad electronic exchange of clinical data among providers. We sought to assess whether current policy efforts, many of which are being developed by states, appear to be tackling key barriers to hospital participation in health information exchange (HIE). MethodsWe used the most recent national data from the American Hospital Association's IT Supplement to assess U.S. hospital participation in HIE and how participation varies by state. We then examined whether HIE is being pursued by all types of hospitals, or whether specific types of hospitals are not yet engaged. We focused on for-profit hospitals, those with smaller market share, and those in more competitive markets. ResultsWe found that 30% of U.S. hospitals engaged in health information exchange with unaffiliated providers. There was large variation in state-level participation, with some states achieving more than 70% participation (Rhode Island, Delaware and Vermont) and others with minimal participation. In markets where exchange occurred, for-profit hospitals were far less likely to engage in HIE than non-profit hospitals (OR=0.17; p<0.001). Hospitals with a larger market share were more likely to engage in exchange (OR=2.05 for hospitals in the highest relative to the lowest quartile of market share; p<0.001), as were hospitals in less competitive markets (OR=2.15 for hospitals in the most relative to least concentrated market quartile; p=0.04). ConclusionsDespite an uptick in hospital HIE participation since the start of HITECH, the majority of hospitals still do not engage in HIE and there is large state-to-state variation. Specific types of hospitals appear to feel that they are better off not engaging in HIE. ImplicationsStronger policies and incentives may be needed to convince organizations to share their data electronically. Pursuing these is critical to ensuring that the highly anticipated quality and efficiency gains from our large national investment in health information technology are realized.

THE GROWTH OF ISLAMIC BANKING IN INDONESIA

This article describes the growth of Islamic banking industry in Indonesia. Islamic banking to perform progressive and strong performance from the banking indicators. Bank Indonesia estimates that the Islamic banking industry will achieve a growth higher than the national banking system in general. In the development of Islamic banking there are still some challenges to be solved especially for a small market share, lack ofhuman resources, and the lack of product development

Exploring sport brand double jeopardy: The link between team market share and attitudinal loyalty

Marketers are charged with the responsibility of attracting consumers and encouraging loyalty for their brands. Double jeopardy, a marketing law observed across numerous product and service settings, contends that loyalty is largely influenced by a brand's market share. There have been suggestions that sport may be one of the few areas immune to such effects, providing researchers with an opportunity to test how sport brand loyalty may be impacted by market share. The current research capitalises on this opportunity by assessing the effects of market share on attitudinal loyalty reported by a sample of 794 Australian sport fans. ANOVA tests revealed that fans of high market share brands displayed higher levels of attitudinal loyalty towards their favourite teams in comparison to small market share team fans. Further tests revealed that differences existed in terms of the brand association perceptions held by high and small market share team fans, and how these contributed to predicting attitudinal loyalty. Consequently, sport marketers should be cognisant of double jeopardy effects when evaluating sport brands and formulating marketing strategies, though future research is needed to determine the full applicability of double jeopardy within the sport context.

Hospital Compliance with a State Unfunded Mandate: The Case of California's Earthquake Safety Law

In recent years, community hospitals have experienced heightened regulation with many unfunded mandates. The authors assessed the market, organizational, operational, and financial characteristics of general acute care hospitals in California that have a main acute care hospital building that is noncompliant with state requirements and at risk of major structural collapse from earthquakes. Using California hospital data from 2007 to 2009, and employing logistic regression analysis, the authors found that hospitals having buildings that are at the highest risk of collapse are located in larger population markets, possess smaller market share, have a higher percentage of Medicaid patients, and have less liquidity.