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The paper seeks to estimate agricultural commodity supply response at three levels of aggregation namely, all commodities, food commodities and exports commodities.

The study used cointegration and error correction modelling techniques with the aid of annual data. The aggregate price and quantity indices were constructed using the Tornqvist formula, which has been found more superior to the traditional Laspeyres approach of index construction.

The producers were responsive to price incentives in the long‐run for all three commodity aggregates but in the short‐run only producers of export commodities were responsive to price incentives.

Producers respond to price signals as predicted but structural features of the agricultural commodity sector that results in high transaction cost may account for the absence of price response in the short‐run. Interventions in lowering transaction cost in agricultural commodity production has the potential of stimulating a faster and considerable response to price incentives.

Despite the policy relevance of agricultural commodity supply response, the extent of the response in Ghana is largely unknown, and it is this gap that the present paper helps to bridge.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the choice and the amount of cocoa beans sold to public and private licensed buying companies in the Western North of Ghana.

The study was conducted in the Western North of Ghana. Cragg’s Double Hurdle model was used to examine the factors influencing the choice of licensed buying company (LBC) whereas Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was employed in analysis of the marketing challenges.

The results showed that non-price incentives determine the choice and the amount cocoa beans sold to an LBC. Specifically, education, years of experience in cocoa farming and timely payment of sold cocoa beans positively influence the choice of public LBC. However, off farm job participation, provision of credit facilities and extension services affect the choice of private LBC as marketing outlet. Perceived low price of cocoa beans, inadequate credit support, and adjustment of scales used in weighing of cocoa beans were identified as the most important challenges confronting farmers.

The research provides important information on non-price incentives influencing cocoa marketing outlet decision as well as the marketing challenges faced by farmers which can contribute to improving internal marketing efficiency of the cocoa industry in Ghana. Besides, this study also extends the frontiers in terms of methodological approach by adopting Cragg’s Double Hurdle Model in addressing the research question.

The research provides important information on non-price incentives influencing cocoa marketing outlet decision as well as the marketing challenges faced by farmers which can contribute to improving internal marketing efficiency of the cocoa industry in Ghana. Besides, this study also extends the frontiers in terms of methodological approach by adopting Cragg’s Double Hurdle Model in addressing the research question.

The purpose of this paper is, for English acute NHS hospitals, to investigate how they operate their governance systems in the area of secondary care contracting and identify the key determinants of relationship building within the contacting/commissioning of secondary care focusing upon non‐price competitive behaviour.

A survey instrument was designed and mailed to a sample of all acute NHS hospitals in England of whom 35 per cent responded. This survey was then analysed using logit techniques.

The analysis suggests that: those NHS Trusts offering volume discounts, non‐price competitive incentives or having a strong belief in performance being by “payment by results” criteria are significantly more likely to offer augmented services to secondary care purchasers over and above contractual minima; those NHS Trusts strongly believing in the importance of non‐price factors (such as contract augmentation or quality) in the contracting process are more likely to offer customisation of generic services; and those NHS Trusts using cost‐sharing agreements to realign contracts when negotiating contracts or who strongly believe in the importance of service augmentation in strengthening relationships, or that increased hospital efficiency is the most important aspect of recent NHS reform are more likely to utilise default measures to help realign contracts.

This paper fills a gap in the area of non‐price competition in English NHS acute secondary care contracting.

The purpose of the paper is to present an integrated methodology for identifying effective economic incentives to enhance quality performance by mango producers in Costa Rica.

The study analyses the relationship between intrinsic product quality attributes and socio‐economic characteristics of mango producers in the Central Pacific zone of Costa Rica. Data are derived from a representative sample of 35 mango producers. A mango quality index for local and export market outlet is constructed and quality performance is subsequently related to farm‐household characteristics and contractual delivery parameters. Categorical regression methods are used to identify the relationships between farm‐household characteristics, production system features, marketing relationships and quality attributes weighted by consumers' preferences.

Key attributes of the quality index – related to dimensions of ripeness, appearance and variability – appear to be strongly related to farm‐household characteristics like the producers' age and experience, input use intensity and family labour availability. Preferences for certain contractual regimes and marketing arrangements give rise to differentiation in quality performance. Long‐term delivery relationships and non‐price attributes appear as key factors for quality improvement in mango.

Although the study is based on a modest sample, the significant relationships between the constructs in the model are found to be sufficiently robust.

The research approach enables the estimation of a model where quality performance is related to technical and institutional aspects related to the organisation of mango delivery chain.

Property markets are considered efficient when the market price of a transacted property equates with its market worth. If this condition holds then identical properties should sell or let for the same price. However, properties are heterogeneous, and information and operational constraints exist. Consequently, events in the transaction process and factors like time on the market, buyer and seller psychology and agent behaviour influence property prices, whereas in a perfectly efficient market they would have no impact. This gives rise to similar units selling for different prices. This paper examines the relationships between commercial property prices and time on the market for property. Tests fail to find evidence of a direct relationship between time on the market and transacted rents, time on the market and asking rents, and asking rents with transacted rents. The reason for the insignificant results could be because landlords would rather offer potential tenants non‐price incentives such as rent‐free periods, rent break clauses, shorter leases or fitting‐out costs to achieve a faster let than discount the agreed contractual rent. A more detailed examination of the physical, location and market conditions that determine the expected time on the market for a property to let is undertaken. Results suggest that the state of the property market is an important influence on the time it takes to let a property, and concurs with the evidence found in housing studies. With the support of our empirical findings and evidence from the housing market, we conclude that including measures of non‐price incentives, landlords’ motivation, tenants’ characteristics, and search costs in our model may explain the relationship more fully.

The competition and regulatory economics literature has developed indicators that detect whether a vertically integrated provider (VIP) is engaging in market exclusion in the form of an anticompetitive price squeeze and non-price discrimination leading to sabotage of downstream competitors. Weisman integrates these indicators by developing a safe-harbor range within which a profit-maximizing VIP engages in neither form of market exclusion. Downstream retail competition that depends on the VIP’s inputs imposes upward pricing pressure on the downstream prices, with the amount of such pressure increasing as the downstream products become more homogeneous (closer substitutes). We analyze the implications of upward pricing pressure for antitrust evaluations of a duty to deal, regulatory policies mandating wholesale inputs for entrants, and vertical mergers. We find, for example, no basis to oppose a merger in which the VIP was previously required to supply inputs to rivals at unregulated prices.

This chapter integrates two separate branches of the law and economics literature to demonstrate the two-sided risk of market exclusion by a vertically integrated firm (VIF) with upstream and downstream market power. The ratio of downstream (retail) to upstream (wholesale) price-cost margins is key. A margin ratio that is “too low” can result in a vertical price squeeze, whereas one that is “too high” can create incentives for the VIF to engage in non-price discrimination or sabotage. A price squeeze occurs when a rival is inefficiently foreclosed because the upstream (input) price is too high relative to the downstream (output) price. Sabotage arises when the VIF raises its rivals' costs which, in turn, raises their prices and diverts demand from the rivals to the VIF. Displacement ratios delineate the range of safe harbor margin ratios within which neither form of market exclusion arises. The admissible range of these margin ratios is decreasing in the degree of product substitutability and reduces to a single ratio in the limit as the competing products approach perfect substitutes. The policy challenge is to apply these pricing constraints judiciously to prevent market exclusion in accordance with a consumer-welfare standard, while recognizing the risk that these protections can be appropriated and used strategically in the errant pursuit of a competitor-welfare standard. These issues may take on greater prominence in light of the recent release of the DOJ/FTC draft vertical merger guidelines.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between flexible pay systems (FPS) and labor productivity, also looking at which factors drive firms to adopt such wage schemes.

The analysis is conducted on an original sample extracted from a firm-level survey on manufacturing firms with at least 20 employees in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. A two-stage model is adopted to mitigate potential self-selection into FPS adoption.

The results show that the adoption of a FPS is linked to the unions’ involvement and organizational changes within firms, supporting the idea that a FPS is not simply a risk-sharing mechanism, but part of a more complex strategy to increase workers’ flexibility and autonomy. The relationship between FPS and labor productivity concerns a traditional form of premiums intended for individual employees and linked simply to “effort improvement and control” motives and to the firm’s “ability to pay.” Productivity also increases after adopting ex-ante payment systems that focus on developing employees’ participation and competences.

The main findings have two important implications. In the personnel economics literature, the authors stress the complementarity among different organizational practices and their role in making firms more competitive. The authors also attribute an additional role to flexible payment systems, which can be seen not just as a way to make employees work harder, but also as the means by which the effect of organizational changes on labor productivity materializes.

From the policy perspective, the results show that non-price incentives are as important as price incentives for achieving higher productivity targets. Firms’ competitiveness is the outcome not only of a higher worker effort and lower labor costs, but also of the adoption of managerial and organizational innovations to promote skill development, learning, and union involvement.

The analysis has two elements of novelty: first, the distinction between a broad array of human resource management practices in both production and labor management; and second, the analysis of different types of flexible payment systems: ex post, ex ante, individual, team-based, and mixed.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of eight selected marketing activities in creating brand equity in the Chinese clothing market.

A shopping centre intercept survey is conducted to collect data in the two largest Chinese cities, Beijing and Shanghai. The empirical tests, using a structural equation model (SEM), support the research hypotheses.

The results indicate the positive effects of store image, celebrity endorsement, event sponsorship, web advertising, and non‐price promotions on brand equity in China as well as the detrimental impact of frequent price promotions.

The study is limited to consumers in Beijing and Shanghai.

The findings answer the following questions: how do foreign clothing brand suppliers develop effective brand strategies for the China market? Should marketing activities designed to build brand equity be modified to accommodate different attitudes or behaviors in China?

Few studies have investigated how to build brand equity in China. A structural model was used to examine the relationship between eight widely used marketing activities and the dimensions of brand equity for imported clothing brands in China. The study also examines the directional relationships between brand equity dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the degree to which auctioning the right to provide universal service is a viable option in developed countries with high teledensity and near ubiquitous fixed line and mobile networks. The paper also aims to provide signposts on the types of issues regulators need to consider and resolve when designing auctioning mechanisms for the competitive provision of universal service.

The paper examines the nature and scope of universal service, the approaches that have been used to identify the costs of universal service provision and the difficulties in using an auction process to allocate the right to provide universal service in countries with near ubiquitous network infrastructure. Australia is used as a case study on the difficulties of using auctions to encourage new entry in universal service areas served by a powerful incumbent. The paper also examines the types of issues regulators need to resolve when designing auction mechanisms for universal service provision.

The paper concludes that for developed countries, it is unclear whether the use of auctions for the provision of universal service will have the desired effect of ensuring a market‐based approach to service provision. This is because the risks associated with becoming an alternative universal service provider are likely to outweigh the benefits of doing so. Further, the risks faced by an alternative universal service provider are not borne by the incumbent operator thus further increasing the disincentive to bid for the right to provide universal service. The paper also concludes that the practical design of the universal service rights and obligations which will be attached to a winning bidder's license conditions is an extremely important mechanism by which some of the risks to potential universal service providers can be overcome.

The paper stimulates thinking about whether universal service auctions are a viable means of providing universal service in developed countries. In presenting empirical evidence of the difficulties in using auctions to introduce competition in universal service provision, the paper may provide valuable input to the regulatory proceedings associated with introducing universal service contestability arrangements that are currently being conducted in various countries.