We explore the joint determination of product differentiation strategy and corporate leverage in a setting where (i) product differentiation is valued by customers; (ii) debt is necessary to discipline managers; and (iii) liquidation is costly for customers, in particular, when products are...

This paper uses a case study approach to explore the effects of NAFTA and GATT membership on innovation and trade in the Mexican soaps, detergents and surfactants (SDS) industry. Several basic findings emerge. First, the most fundamental effect of NAFTA and the GATT on the SDS industry was to...

Car prices in Europe are characterized by large and persistent differences across countries. The purpose of this paper is to document and explain this price dispersion. Using a panel data set extending from 1980 to 1993, two main facts concerning car prices in Europe are demonstrated: (1) the...

A recent literature has emerged providing compelling evidence that a major shift in the organization of the developed economies has been taking place: away from what has been characterized as the <I>managed economy</I> towards the <I>entrepreneurial economy</I>. In particular, the empirical evidence provides...</i></i>

The international expansion of hotel chains is the subject of various sciences and approaches which sits the process and the role of strategic alliances in its performance, but insufficient treatment and considerations from the context in which operate from underdeveloped economies, the main...

Employment growth is strongly predicted by smaller average establishment size, both across cities and across industries within cities, but there is little consensus on why this relationship exists. Traditional economic explanations emphasize factors that reduce entry costs or raise...

Over many millennia, mankind has laboured to consume and satisfy three very necessary material wants or needs: food (including drink), shelter, and clothing. Each of these, however, has also been a major object of luxury consumption in most European societies. Textiles were necessities in...

This paper shows that an incumbent monopolist's incentive confronting a new entrant depends on the degree of product differentiation and the strength of network externality. If products are homogeneous, the incumbent never wants to invite entry regardless of the degree of network externality. On...

In this essay I assess the role that is played by the two characteristics of high-tech firms in shaping their corporate strategies: short product cycles and the involvement of intangible assets in production. Short product cycles impose high-tech firms to seek complementary assets for entering...

According to the survey of Current Business (Sauers and Argersinger, 2006), the licensing revenue of the United States from abroad has significantly increased from 1975 to 2005 year, showing that international technology licensing is a very important business action. However, the literature...