1 Background The Japanese government is conducting electricity system reform in stages and plans to complete this reform by 2020. Historically, all electricity related services in Japan have been overseen by regional monopolistic entities. After the reform is completed, both the wholesale and retail electricity markets will be perfectly competitive, as in most countries in the EU, and many stat...

This essay explores the nature and implications of a type of inequality that is widespread, but largely ignored. Promises deliver important ethical value, and commercial promises, because they are our most common experience of promise with strangers, are of special value; but not all commercial promises generate that value equally. This paper makes the following claims: (1) while some retail pr...

The goal of this economics project is to see if various retail formats actually show a difference in their pricing. To execute this project I selected a product category that the many different retail formats carried, and compared the prices of identical products sold in this category between the different retail formats. The product category I chose to research was women’s fragrances. Identica...

In the early euphoria associated with the launching of new internet-based businesses, most established traditional businesses felt compelled to respond by launching web-based retail outlets of their own. Stock market response to announcements of transactional web-site launches by business-to-consumer retail outlets are examined. Results provide support for theoretical predictions of the effect ...

BACKGROUND Lebanon has alarmingly high rates of tobacco use. The objective of this study is to examine the density of tobacco retail outlets and distance to schools as well as to survey retail pricing in a large district of Beirut, Lebanon. FINDINGS We observed 100 tobacco retail outlets and collected data using iPad® technology. Store locations were recorded with Global Positioning System co...

The retail industry collects huge amounts of data on sales, customer buying history, goods transportation, consumption, and service. With increased availability and ease of use of modern computing technology and e-commerce, the availability and popularity of such businesses has grown rapidly. Many retail stores have websites where customers can make online purchases. These factors have resulted...

The objective of this study is to analyze whether a discount or premium exists for coordination strategies in food processing, wholesale grocery, retail supermarkets, and restaurants. Significant premiums are found for food processor and restaurant vertical integration or diversification strategies. Significant discounts are found for food wholesaler and retail supermarket integration or divers...