EXPLORING LOCATIONAL EQUILIBRIA IN A COMPETITIVE BROADBAND ACCESS MARKET: THEORETICAL MODELING APPROACH

ABSTRACT Due to strong local competition in the broadband access market, strategic locational planning is very important for service providers. In this paper, we explore locational equilibria in a competitive broadband market under several situations: with and without customer loyalty and under different initial market conditions. To do this, we propose a competitive broadband location model based on probabilistic patronage behavior, explicitly considering the characteristics of the broadband market and competitive structures. Also, we suggest iterative algorithms to identify spatial equilibria. We show that competing location strategies may lead to a stable spatial configuration of market share.     

LOCATIONAL FACTORS IN THE DECLINING INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW YORK URBAN REGION*

This paper investigates the locational factors that contributed to the decline of the New York urban region's industries during 1972-1975. Based on the static concept of a specialization index, a dynamic comparative advantage index is constructed. A model is then formulated to test the hypothesis that regional competitive advantage (vis-à-vis the nation) is a function of relative disparities in the change of these locational factors. Regression results show that the region's competitive advantage is influenced positively by the differential rate of change in market size, by the differential profit rate before tax, and negatively by the differential rate of change in unit labor cost and in unit energy cost. The differential tax rate does not seem to affect the region's competitive advantage. Nevertheless, a progressive corporate income tax structure tends to neutralize the beneficial effects of the economies of agglomeration and the urban attraction of the region.     

EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE: THE COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES OF FOOD‐RELATED ENTREPRENEURS IN RURAL DENMARK

As food production becomes increasingly integrated, globalized and competitive, small‐scale food‐related enterprises in many European countries are struggling to market and monetize their products. Although these struggles have been well documented, few studies have considered the ways in which food‐related entrepreneurs in rural contexts are adapting to and overcoming these challenges. In particular, little is known about how they differentiate and add value to their products. This article focuses on the development and implementation of new and hybrid commercial strategies by food‐related entrepreneurs in three rural communities in Denmark. These strategies add experiential elements to the longstanding practice of commodifying myths associated with rural settings and identities. Although harnessing culture and experiences to sell things is nothing new, we demonstrate that some Danish entrepreneurs are responding to market competition by tweaking and extending these concepts. In particular, it is argued that entrepreneurs use different experiences with varying levels of intensity and consumer engagement for different purposes. Whereas passive experiences such as storytelling are used to educate consumers about the specific qualities of products, more active and participatory experiences are sold as add‐ons and standalone products. The findings contribute to our understanding of food‐related entrepreneurship in rural contexts, consumption, value creation and the experience of economy more broadly.     

对我国世界遗产品牌价值的保护策略研究

我国对遗产旅游以及相关的开发利用都制定了保护措施,然而针对遗产品牌价值的保护问题却一直缺乏相应的规定。加之世界遗产的公共资源属性而使我国许多地区出现企业争抢使用遗产品牌的混乱局面。为此,笔者通过相关网站对我国部分世界遗产品牌的使用状况进行搜索,并通过发放调查问卷等方式,对社会公众的世界遗产品牌认知情况和被企业使用后的态度等问题进行了抽样调查。通过统计软件的分析可以看出世界遗产品牌价值的使用已严重影响了世界遗产文化价值的传播、发展与实现,从而指出保护世界遗产品牌价值的必要性。最后,结合我国世界遗产品牌的使用现状提出了相应的保护策略。     

EXIT AND VOICE: STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE IN BUREAUCRATIC-LEGISLATIVE POLICYMAKING

This paper uses the case of telecommunications deregulation to construct a model of interest group behavior in bureaucratic-legislative policymaking. The model posits three common policymaking arenas: closed, open, and the transformational period between the two. Three features of these policymaking arenas are explored: (1) changes in the numbers of interested actors, leading to (2) changes in the policy-making environment and to (3) the shifting strategic interests of actors. Borrowing the concepts of “voice” and “exit” from Hirschman (1970), alternative interest group strategies are found to occur in different policymaking environments, or arenas, which in turn depend in significant part on the numbers of interested actors involved. Voice works when interests are or appear to be relatively complementary. Exit is used when voice fails, that is, in permeable arenas of many actors with conflicting interests.     

RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR EVALUATING THE ADOPTION POTENTIAL OF ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES*

The completely novel nature of some energy technology innovations sometimes makes prospective economic analysis of adoption potential neither desirable nor feasible. Three noneconomic models evaluating adoption potential are examined for technological innovations whose diffusion potential is not yet known. Applications of the general models are suggested with specific references to development of solar total energy systems.     

构建汽车产业区位竞争优势--以长春市为例

区位建立竞争优势才能主动迎接经济全球化的挑战,由此,本文提出"区位竞争优势"这一概念。中国正处于工业社会向知识经济社会的转型过程中,制造业所需的区位竞争优势内容具有两种社会的交叉特点,极富代表性。本文选取受跨国公司影响巨大的汽车产业为分析对象,将区位竞争优势的内容分析落实到具体的产业;并以长春市为例,对条件并非最好的区位提出构建区位竞争优势的思路。     

区域旅游一体化的理论建构与战略设计——以京津冀为例

本文分析了区域旅游一体化的静态和动态经济效益,运用新经济地理学理论研究了区域旅游一体化效益的产生机制,并总结了区域旅游一体化的五种主要模式。以京津冀区域为典型案例,分析了京津冀旅游一体化的背景条件和主要举措,认为京津冀旅游一体化已进入中级阶段,在扩大旅游企业市场规模、串联旅游线路体系、获取内部规模经济和本地化经济等方面已取得长足进展,未来发展的重点应集中在获取城市化经济、鼓励旅游企业跨行政区合作、建立常设性旅游管理机构等方面。     

Empire and ethnicity†

ABSTRACT. Historians and social scientists have typically assumed a conflictual or exploitative relationship between empire and ethnicity. On the one hand, empire might be seen (as perhaps Ernest Gellner saw it in Nations and Nationalism) as a superstructure of coercion to which a group of ethnic units were subject. On the other (according to an influential view), empire fabricated ethnicities (tribes or castes) to divide and rule. This article suggests that both of these views are too crude. In the British case at least (and in the modern history of empire, no generalisation that excludes the British case has much value), ‘imperial ethnicity’ was a much more subtle phenomenon. It existed ‘at home’ as one element in a more complex identity. It was a powerful force in British settler societies, where an indigenous identity could not be imagined. And, perhaps surprisingly, it was deeply attractive to some colonial elites in Asia and Africa – at least for a time.