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Product Diversity (product + diversity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

TASTE FOR VARIETY AND OPTIMUM PRODUCT DIVERSITY IN AN OPEN ECONOMY

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009
Javier Coto-Martínez
D43; F12 ABSTRACT We extend the Benassy,taste for variety' model to an open economy setting. With the Benassy effect, the market equilibrium is inefficient, openness reduces the varieties provided in the unconstrained optimum and there are potential gains from international coordination. [source]

The evolution of secondary metabolism , a unifying model

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2000
Richard D. Firn
Why do microbes make secondary products? That question has been the subject of intense debate for many decades. There are two extreme opinions. Some argue that most secondary metabolites play no role in increasing the fitness of an organism. The opposite view, now widely held, is that every secondary metabolite is made because it possesses (or did possess at some stage in evolution) a biological activity that endows the producer with increased fitness. These opposing views can be reconciled by recognizing that, because of the principles governing molecular interactions, potent biological activity is a rare property for any molecule to possess. Consequently, in order for an organism to evolve the rare potent, biologically active molecule, a great many chemical structures have to be generated, most of which will possess no useful biological activity. Thus, the two sides of the debate about the role and evolution of secondary metabolism can be accommodated within the view that the possession of secondary metabolism can enhance fitness, but that many products of secondary metabolism will not enhance the fitness of the producer. It is proposed that secondary metabolism will have evolved such that traits that optimize the production and retention of chemical diversity at minimum cost will have been selected. Evidence exists for some of these predicted traits. Opportunities now exist to exploit these unique properties of secondary metabolism to enhance secondary product diversity and to devise new strategies for biotransformation and bioremediation. [source]

THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE ON DELIVERY PERFORMANCE

PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2001
SOHEL AHMAD
After several years of use of electronic data interchange (EDI) in various industries, the literature is still inconclusive regarding the benefits gained from its usage. We investigated contextual factors of two types: non-managerial (product diversity, product customization, production instability, and organizational size) and managerial (just-in-time and quality management), that might have confounded past results. Our results indicate that the extent of EDI use is significantly related to delivery performance after controlling for the above-mentioned factors. Furthermore, the data set supported the moderating effect of production instability on the relationship between the extent of EDI use and delivery performance achieved, but failed to support the moderating effect of organizational size. [source]

CAPITAL,LABOUR SUBSTITUTION AND ENDOGENOUS FLUCTUATIONS: A MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION APPROACH WITH VARIABLE MARKUP,

THE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 3 2009
THOMAS SEEGMULLER
This paper analyses an overlapping generations model with endogenous product diversity where strategic interactions between producers are introduced; it examines how they affect the stability properties of the steady state. Because of free entry, strategic interactions between producers imply a new dynamic feature, markup variability, promoting indeterminacy and endogenous cycles. Indeed, in contrast to the model without strategic interaction, endogenous fluctuations can occur when the substitution between the production factors, capital and labour, is not too weak, but in accordance with empirical estimates. [source]