BACKGROUND Attracted by their high economic growth rates, young and growing populations, and increasingly open markets, transnational food and beverage corporations (TFBCs) are targeting Asian markets with vigour. Simultaneously the consumption of ultra-processed foods high in fat, salt and glycaemic load is increasing in the region. Evidence demonstrates that TFBCs can leverage their market po...

In the new deregulated market of the electricity industry the communication and e-Business infrastructure plays a main role for the efficiency of all the entities present in the electricity sector. From generation to the final client there are two markets, the wholesale and the retail market. Specific characteristics of the electricity industry make the communication support a fundamental tool ...

Previous experimental and game-theoretic analyses of deregulated electricity markets suggest that communities having four or less effective suppliers, either because of transmission constraints or load characteristics, or retail customers facing suppliers or marketing agents having more than seventy percent of the region’s market, are likely to experience prices well above competitive levels. W...

The market fails to incorporate the adverse information conveyed by the going-concern (GC) opinion in a timely manner. This paper seeks to explain this market-pricing paradox. In particular, we argue that the lottery-like features of GC stocks attract a predominantly retail clientele who use such stocks to gamble in the market. Such trading behavior leads to underreaction to the GC event itself...

This paper investigates the nature of competition in the retail gasoline market using a two year panel data of weekly prices for gas stations in San Diego county. The primary dimension of product differentiation in the retail gasoline market is spatial in the sense that a gas station’s market power depends on the locations of all other gas stations. In contrast to previous empirical studies, I ...

Pull factors provide a measure of retail trade capture. Pull factors for total and twelve subcategories of retail sales for all West Virginia Counties are analyzed based on 1997 Census of Retail Trade data. A method for estimating missing data points and the use of Rand-McNally trade regions both facilitate estimation of the pull factors. Results indicate that hypothesizes concerning pull facto...

This paper investigates the spatial organization and dynamics of retail markets using establishment level data on entry, exit, and location choice in the retail alcoholic beverage industry. Establishments are classi ̄ed into two groups based on ̄rm a±liation: chain vs. stand-alone stores. Stand-alone stores are further broken down into two categories according to product lines o®ered: diversi ̄ed...

A large variety of markets, such as retail markets for gasoline or mortgage markets, are characterized by a small number of firms offering a fairly homogenous product at virtually the same cost, while consumers, being uninformed about this cost, sequentially search for low prices. The present paper provides a theoretical examination of this type of market, and confronts the theory with data on ...

Nine markets in the Southern Region of Malawi were studied. The prices of 79 separate purchases were compared for market type, species, form of preservation, total length, distance of retail market from the capture fishery of origin, and distance of retail market from the main commercial center of Blantyre. Interviews with retailers and consumers were conducted to help interpret price data and ...

In this paper, we develop an agent-based model of a market game in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the U.K. government’s 2008–2010 policy on promoting smart metering in the U.K. retail electricity market. We break down the policy into four possible policy options. With the model, we study the impact of the four policy options on the dynamics of smart metering diffusion and suggest policy...