Post-merger branding strategies and market power in the Brazilian brewing industry

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malú N.P.S. Cerqueira ◽  
Danilo R.D. Aguiar ◽  
Adelson Martins Figueiredo

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate firm strategies and the exertion of market power in the brewing sector in Brazil following a merger between the two largest brewers (Brahma and Antarctica) that created Ambev and given that the existing literature is inconclusive on this subjectDesign/methodology/approachIn this study the authors apply cointegration analysis to price series of beer brands. The authors use the reduced form vector error correction (VEC) model to measure the price responses of beer brands in terms of direction, magnitude and speed. The authors use monthly retail prices for the primary brands of beer in the city of São Paulo, Brazil's largest consumer market. Specifically, the authors use two sets of retail prices, one from bars (the main point of beer sales, with roughly 50% of market share) and another from supermarkets. The series range from 1994 to 2014, depending on the brand.FindingsThis study indicates that Ambev's two major brands (Skol and Brahma) behave as market leaders, while its third brand (Antarctica) has been used to challenge the low-price competitor (Nova Schin). The authors also found evidence that the pricing policies of Brahma and Antarctica have changed toward cooperation following the creation of Ambev.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this article is that the authors only had access to retailer data. As the merger involved brewers, the authors would ideally use manufacturer beer prices in their econometric analysis. However, the consistency of our results suggests that retailers have been passively transmitting brand strategies launched at a manufacturer level.Social implicationsAs the dominant firm created following the merger of the two largest brewers appears to use one of its brand to restrict entry of competitors and the premium brands to enjoy high profits, consumers tend to be harmed by high beer prices and lack of options. Furthermore, small and medium-size companies cannot grow due to entry barriers created by the dominant firm.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to apply cointegration analysis to examine the effect of mergers on pricing strategies. The robustness of this study suggests that this approach could be used for antitrust agencies to monitor post-merger strategies.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Chhiddikur Rahman ◽  
Valerien Pede ◽  
Jean Balie ◽  
Isabelita M. Pabuayon ◽  
Jose M. Yorobe ◽  
...  

PurposeBecause of the increasing differential between farm and retail prices, the study proposes to investigate the extent of market power in the rice value chain of Bangladesh using advanced econometric techniques.Design/methodology/approachUsing a Stochastic Frontier Estimation approach on cross-sectional data, the study examines the price spread along the rice value chain to determine whether millers and wholesalers exercise market power.FindingsEmpirical results reveal that, on average, rice millers and wholesalers charge 33 and 29% above the marginal cost, respectively. This study confirms the non-competitive behavior of the rice market with wholesalers and millers wielding substantial market powerResearch limitations/implicationsA limitation of the study is that it does not include the retailers who also play a major role in the Bangladesh rice value chain. This is left for future study.Originality/valueThis study combines primary and secondary data collected on the Bangladesh rice sector to examine the market power of two major players along the value chain, millers and wholesalers, using an advanced econometrics approach.


2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-275
Author(s):  
Jungho Baek ◽  
Won W. Koo

Perron's test, Johansen cointegration analysis, and a vector error-correction (VEC) model are used to identify structural change, as well as to examine price dynamics in the U. S. and Canadian hard red spring (HRS) and durum wheat markets. It is found that, due to the U. S. Export Enhancement Program (EEP), price instability experienced in June 1986 has resulted in structural changes for Canadian HRS and durum prices. We also find that Canadian prices have significant effects on the determination of the U. S. prices in the North American wheat market.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 434
Author(s):  
Anna M. Klepacka ◽  
Wojciech J. Florkowski ◽  
Cesar Revoredo-Giha

This study examines the integration of regional dairy markets in Poland, which is a major European dairy producing country. The analysis of prices is important, as many dairy farmers are members of dairy processing cooperatives, and their incomes are affected by the prices of two popular products: butter and curd. Moreover, the period of study included significant fluctuations in the world market and the termination of the milk quota system in the European Union (EU). The price records used in this study are from the two main milk-producing regions in the country: Northern and Central. The data were tested for stationarity and Granger causality before estimating a Vector Error Correction (VEC) model. Estimation results show that the removal of the milk quota lowered prices of butter and curd in the two regions. The relationships of the prices in both regions for butter markets were nearly perfect during the period January 2010–November 2017, but curd prices were found unintegrated. Impulse response analysis showed that the effect of shocks was mostly absorbed in a two-week period and prices returned to full equilibrium in about four to five weeks. This fast price adjustment indicates that both markets operate properly and no market participant can obtain gains above those offered at equilibrium.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandan Sharma ◽  
Rajat Setia

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between Indian rupee-US dollar exchange rate and the macroeconomic fundamentals for the post-economic reform period. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have used an empirical model which includes a range of important macroeconomic variables based on the basic monetary theories of exchange rate determination. At the first stage of the analysis, they have tested structural break in the data. Subsequently, they have employed the fully modified ordinary least square, Wald’s coefficient restriction and impulse response functions (IRF) to estimate the monetary model in the long- and short-run horizons. Findings – Results of analyses indicate that the macroeconomic fundamentals determine exchange rate in a significant way, but their effect varies sizably across the periods. The IRF illustrate the importance of interest rate in controlling exchange rate volatility. Practical implications – The analysis of the behavior of inter-relationship among macroeconomic variables will help policymakers in a deep-rooted understanding of this complex and time-varying relationship. Originality/value – Most of the existing studies have tested the impact of a single or a few macroeconomic fundamentals on exchange rate. But in the present study, we have tested the impact of a range of important variables, i.e. money supply, real income or output, price level and trade balance. Further, considering the importance of structural breaks in data, they authors have employed standard tests of structural break and incorporated the issue in the cointegration analysis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 894-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Mittal ◽  
Rajib Lochan Dhar

Purpose – Among the different styles of leadership, transformational leadership has gained most attention from organisational researchers and academics. Although transformational leadership and its work-associated outcomes have been examined in previous literature, only a small number of studies highlighted the role of transformational leadership style in fostering employee creativity, mediated through their creative self-efficacy (CSE) in the context of Indian organisations. The purpose of this paper is to observe the effect of transformational leadership on employee creativity in small and medium sized IT companies, where CSE is proposed as a mediator and knowledge sharing as a moderator through which a transformational leader tends to influence the creativity of the employees. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 348 manager-employee dyads of small and medium size IT companies operating in India. They replied to questions about their leader’s transformational leadership style, employee CSE, knowledge sharing and creativity. Findings – Findings of the present study, derived from a hierarchical regression analysis, using the data of 348 manager-employee dyads from Indian IT SMEs professionals, revealed that CSE mediates the relation between transformational leadership and employee creativity. In addition, knowledge sharing acts as a moderator for CSE and employee creativity. Research limitations/implications – A sample size is one probable limitation of the study. Another limitation of the study is that factors used for the survey were self-reported by the respondents. Self-reporting may not always produce reliable and accurate response. Practical implications – Based on the results, this study presents strong theoretical and managerial implications that can be used by IT organisations to evaluate the consequence of transformational leadership on employee creativity. Through transformational leadership style, leader can develop CSE and employee creativity to do things in a better way and develop knowledge sharing in employees for high performance. Therefore, the IT industry need to understand that creativity is one of the approaches to attaining and sustaining competitive advantage. In addition, it is important for them to find out more about the relation between transformational leadership, CSE and employee creativity. Originality/value – The study adds to the existing literature by illuminating the process through which transformational leadership has a significant effect on fostering CSE and employee creativity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumen Rej ◽  
Barnali Nag

Purpose Both energy and education have been positioned as priority objectives under the itinerary of UN development goals. Hence, it is necessary to address the implicit inter relationship between these two development goals in the context of developing nations such as India who are trying to grow in both per capita income and socio economic factors whilst struggling with the challenges of a severe energy supply constrained economy. Design/methodology/approach In the present study, the causal relationship between energy consumption per capita and education index (EI) as a proxy of educational advancement is investigated for India for 1990–2016 using the Johansen-Juselius cointegration test and vector error correction model. Findings The empirical results infer although energy consumption per capita and EI lack short run causality in either direction, existence of unidirectional long run causality from EI to per capita energy consumption is found for India. Further, it is observed that energy consumption per capita takes around four years to respond to unit shock in EI. Research limitations/implications The findings from this study imply that with the advancement of education, a rise in per capita energy consumption requirement can be foreseen on the demand side, and hence, India’s energy policy needs to emphasize further its sustainable energy supply goals to meet this additional demand coming from a population with better education facilities. Originality/value The authors hereby confirm that this manuscript is entirely their own original study and not submitted elsewhere.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sviatlana Engerstam

PurposeThis study examines the long term effects of macroeconomic fundamentals on apartment price dynamics in major metropolitan areas in Sweden and Germany.Design/methodology/approachThe main approach is panel cointegration analysis that allows to overcome certain data restrictions such as spatial heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and non-stationary, but cointegrated data. The Swedish dataset includes three cities over a period of 23 years, while the German dataset includes seven cities for 29 years. Analysis of apartment price dynamics include population, disposable income, mortgage interest rate, and apartment stock as underlying macroeconomic variables in the model.FindingsThe empirical results indicate that apartment prices react more strongly on changes in fundamental factors in major Swedish cities than in German ones despite quite similar development of these macroeconomic variables in the long run in both countries. On one hand, overreactions in apartment price dynamics might be considered as the evidence of the price bubble building in Sweden. On the other hand, these two countries differ in institutional arrangements of the housing markets, and these differences might contribute to the size of apartment price elasticities from changes in fundamentals. These arrangements include various banking sector policies, such as mortgage financing and valuation approaches, as well as different government regulations of the housing market as, for example, rent control.Originality/valueIn distinction to the previous studies carried out on Swedish and German data for single-family houses, this study focuses on the apartment segment of the market and examines apartment price elasticities from a long term perspective. In addition, the results from this study highlight the differences between the two countries at the city level in an integrated long run equilibrium framework.


Author(s):  
Parul Singh ◽  
Areej Aftab Siddiqui

Purpose The development in information communication and technology (ICT) has led to many changes such as reorganization of economics, globalization and trade. With more innovation processes being organized and adopted across technologies, trade, etc., these are getting more closely related and needs fresh research perspective. This study aims to empirically investigate the interrelationship between ICT penetration, innovation, trade and economic growth in 20 developed and developing nations from 1995 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach The present paper examines both long-run and short-run relationships between the four variables, namely, innovation, ICT penetration, trade and economic growth, by applying panel estimation techniques of regression and vector error correction model. ICT penetration and innovation indices are constructed using principle component analysis technique. Findings The findings of the study highlight that for developed nations, growth, trade and innovation are significantly interlinked with no significant role of ICT penetration While for developing nations, significant relationship is present between growth and trade, ICT penetration and innovation. With respect to trade, in case of developed nations, significant relationship is present with ICT penetration. While for developing nations there is no significant result for trade promotion. On further employing the vector error correction model, the presence of short run causality between growth, trade and innovation in case of developed nations is established but no such causality between variables for developing nations is seen. Originality/value The present paper adds to the existing strand of literature examining interlinkage between innovation and growth by introducing new variables of ICT penetration and innovation.


Headline CHINA: Market power will help silence criticism


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Liang ◽  
Jingqi Dang ◽  
Shuai Chen

PurposeThis study aims to establish the linkage among export tax rebate (ETR), firm innovation and product quality of Chinese agricultural product processing industry (APPI), so that more targeted policy implications can be discussed.Design/methodology/approachUsing highly disaggregated firm-product-destination-level data through 2001 to 2013 of Chinese APPI, this study employs a two-way fixed effects specification to establish the linkage between ETR and product quality, while the mediational model is adopted to examine potential mechanisms.FindingsBaseline estimates show that a 1% increase in ETR rate leads to a significant increase in the product quality of APPI by 0.12% on the whole. However, there is a nonlinear, inverse-U shaped relationship between ETR and product quality, and the optimal inflection point occurs when ERT rate equals 0.15. Mechanism analyses show that firm innovation is an important impact channel, which explains 9.8% of quality improvement induced by raising ETR. Further heterogeneous analyses reveal both the total effects of ETR on product quality and the mediation effects of innovation are dominated by young SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises).Practical implicationsAuthorities can promote the innovation and then product quality improvement of young SMEs by moderately increasing ETR rate. To ensure ETR more effective in improving quality, it is necessary for the government to encourage innovation. Authorities can reduce the risk of innovation failure for low-tech firms by increasing R&D subsidies, while ensuring innovation returns for high-tech firms in combination with stronger intellectual property protection.Originality/valueFirst, this is one of the earlier studies to explore the relationship between ETR and product quality specifically for Chinese APPI. Second, we show firm innovation as an important mediator so that policies aim at raising ETR rates are eventually beneficial to product quality. Third, using the highly disaggregated data, we allow ETR rate to vary across different products, which is an improvement in the accuracy of previous literature. Finally, our research provides additional empirical evidence for revealing the micro-mechanism of ETR affecting firm behaviors.


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