Este estudo aborda a adequação do Marketing de Relacionamento (MR) ao mercado de bens duráveis que, por definição, apresenta baixa taxa de recompra e interação entre cliente e empresa. O tema é relevante dado que o MR é pouco explorado nesse campo ao contrário dos serviços e negócios entre empresas (business to business), mercados com alto grau de recompra e/ou interações entre empresa e cliente. A proposta do estudo é verificar se e como o MR pode ser aplicado ao mercado de bens duráveis, a partir do entendimento do próprio MR, da cadeia produtiva de um mercado de bem durável e da atuação de uma empresa nesse mercado. Para se atingir os objetivos do estudo foi realizado um estudo de caso no mercado imobiliário residencial. A apresentação do caso está dividida em quatro partes principais: a parte introdutória discute a atuação da empresa em relação a diversos tópicos de marketing; a segunda parte descreve a cadeia produtiva da indústria da construção civil residencial; a terceira parte discute a natureza do produto imobiliário; e a quarta parte sumariza os principais pontos do programa de relacionamento com o cliente da empresa estudada no caso. Como resultados, descobriu-se que o mercado estudado é diferente de outros mercados de bens duráveis, principalmente pelo fato dos imóveis serem intangíveis no momento da venda. Além disso, os processos da cadeia produtiva da indústria da construção civil residencial se mostraram propícios para a aplicação do MR, pois os clientes dessa indústria são obrigados a se relacionar com a empresa durante o período de construção. Soma-se a esse fato o interesse do cliente em manter um relacionamento com a empresa, devido ao alto grau de envolvimento verificado na compra de imóveis. Ademais, a venda de um imóvel na planta apresenta características de serviços, campo em que o MR já é consolidado e, de forma complementar, a complexidade do processo de compra, recebimento e utilização do imóvel cria diversos encontros entre os clientes e as partes envolvidas, oportunidades para as empresas do setor criarem e cultivarem os relacionamentos. / The subject of this study concerns the relationship marketing applied to the durable goods market that presents, by definition, a low rate of repurchase and interaction between industry and clients. It becomes a relevant subject due to the fact that relationship marketing it is not well explored in this field unlike the services and business to business markets, that are well known by their high rate of repurchase and/or interactions. The proposition of this study is to verify if and how the relationship marketing can be applied to the durable goods market, from the understanding of the relationship marketing theory, of the production chain of the durable good market, and the operation of an industry of this segment. To accomplish the goals a case study in the residential real estate market was used. It is shown in four parts: the introductory part demonstrates how the company studied manages marketing, the second part shows how the production chain of the residential real estate market works, the third one discuss the nature of the real estate industries product, and finally, the fourth part summarizes the relationship marketing program of one big player of this market. The conclusions showed that the residential real estate market works differently from others durable goods, mainly due to the intangibility of the real estate under construction at the sales moment. And Also that the processes of the production chain of the residential real estate industry provide an extremely favorable environment for the application of the relationship marketing, because the clients of this industry are obligated to keep a relationship with the company during the construction time and the fact that the purchase of a real estate is a high involvement type turns the clients more interested in a relationship than ever. Other factor that contributed to support the findings were the fact that the selling of a residential real estate presents the services characteristics, field where the relationship market is consolidated and finally the complexity of the purchase, receive and use process creates many encounters between the clients and the other parts involved, opportunities for the companies of the sector to start and cultivate a relationships with the customers.

Este trabalho desenvolve um modelo para explicar a expansão de consumo que freqüentemente sucede planos de estabilização baseados em congelamento de preços ou câmbio. A perspectiva adotada centra no consumo de bens duráveis e na dificuldade dos domicílios de proteger seus ativos da inflação. Uma redução repentina da inflação leva a uma queda do preço efetivo do bem de consumo durável, o que gera a expansão de consumo. O modelo é calibrado para o Brasil do período do plano Cruzado e são realizadas simulações supondo uma estabilização de preços permanente, uma com duração de 10 meses e outra de 3 meses. As duas primeiras apresentam uma expansão próxima, mas superior ao observado nos dados. A terceira simulação, porém, mostra uma expansão em torno de um quarto do observado. Também são discutidas variações no tempo médio de poupança para aquisição do bem durável e no consumo de bens não-duráveis. / This thesis presents a model to explain consumption booms after inflation stabilization plans centered on price and exchange rate controls. The focus is directed to durable goods and the difficulty for households to protect themselves from inflation. A sudden decrease in the inflation rate reduces durable goods effective price of consumption, leading to a boom. The model is then calibrated for mid-80s Brazil and three simulations are presented: one for a permanent stabilization of inflation and two temporary stabilizations, with a length of 10 and 3 months each. The first two present an expansion in the ownership of consumer durables that is slightly higher than what is shown in the data. The third simulation, on the other hand, presents a growth in ownership that is a quarter of the total seen in the data. Changes in the average savings period and in non-durables consumption are also discussed.

Thesis advisor: Peter Ireland / Thesis advisor: Matteo Iacoviello / The dissertation is composed by two chapters. In the first one, I study the role of credit constraints and incomplete markets in the short run transmission of monetary shocks, using the superneutrality result that would obtain from preference separability in the Sidrauski model under complete markets as a benchmark. I find that money demand heterogeneity stemming from binding credit constraints invalidates the superneutrality result. I show this result under two alternative settings. In a simple two agents model, with heterogeneity in the rates of time preference, whether positive shocks to the growth rate of money are expansionary or contractionary crucially depends on the transfer scheme adopted by the monetary authority to rebate seigniorage transfers: redistributional effects implied by symmetric lump-sum transfers are contractionary, while wealth-neutral transfers are expansionary. In a model with uninsurable idiosyncratic risk, the approximate aggregation property fails to hold due to the high degree of heterogeneity of money demand and to the properties of the cross-sectional distribution of money holdings, suggesting the inadequacy of the representative agent assumption and the need for a more elaborate approximation of the wealth distribution to predict prices. In the second chapter, we propose a real business cycle model with labor and credit market frictions in which borrowing is conditional on employment status. Relative to a conventional set up, and as long as credit is valued positively, our model generates a non-standard labor/leisure trade off that induces job applicants to accept lower wages and firms to post more vacancies, ultimately increasing employment. A shock to the demand of durable goods, by increasing the collateral value, reduce the opportunity cost of working, and generates an increase in employment and output. The transmission of a financial shock that increases the loan to value ratio, is dampened by the costs, in terms of leisure, incurred by the borrowers. We show that this mechanism is able to generate the positive comovement between outstanding household debt and employment observed in the data, whereas a conventional model, in which employment status is irrelevant for obtaining credit, predicts a counterfactual negative comovement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

<p>This thesis consists of a summary and four papers. The first two papers are theoretical contributions within the area of optimal taxation and public expenditures under asymmetric information between the government and the private sector, and the last two are empirical contributions to the literature on local public expenditures.</p><p>Paper [I] concerns the optimal use of publicly provided private goods in an economy with equilibrium unemployment. The paper points out that imperfect competition in the labor market gives rise to additional policy incentives associated with the self-selection constraint, which motivates adjustments in the public provision of private goods. It also addresses employment related motives behind publicly provided private goods.</p><p>Paper [II] addresses optimal income and commodity taxation in a dynamic economy, where used durable goods are subject to second-hand trade. In our framework, the government is unable to directly control second-hand transactions via commodity taxation. We show how the appearance of a second-hand market affects the use of commodity taxation on the new durable goods as well as the use of income taxation.</p><p>Paper [III] relates the existence and size of the flypaper effect to observable municipal characteristics. The analysis is based on a political economy model, which implies that the effect of a change in the tax base on the majority voter's tax share will be crucial for finding a flypaper effect. The empirical part is based on Swedish data on municipal expenditures and revenues for the period 1996-2004. The results show that the size of the flypaper effect varies among municipalities depending on the relative composition of grant and tax base.</p><p>In Paper [IV], the composition of municipal expenditures in Sweden is analyzed by estimating a demand system for local public services, in which tax revenue collection is treated as endogenous. The estimation is based on the QAIDS specification and uses panel data for the period 1998-2005 and for six local public services. The results show that the point estimates of the income elasticities are positive (with one exception), whereas the point estimates of the own-price elasticities are negative and less than one.</p>

In this dissertation we use Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium DSGE) models to explain empirical regularities and policy implications related to (1) durable goods, interest rates and small open economy business cycles, (2) Terms-of-Trade (ToT) and economic fluctuations in small open economies and (3) Budget Stabilization Funds (BSFs) and States’ business cycles. In the first essay, we document that durable spending in developed small open economies constitutes a large share of their total income. Their spending is highly procyclical, sensitive to interest rates, and leads the business cycle. We address these regularities with a RBC model with durable goods. The model successfully replicates the observed business cycle regularities and explains many anomalies not explained in the existing literature. It also emphasizes the role of interest rates uncertainty in explaining the dynamics of the small open economies. The second essay addresses the impacts of the ToT fluctuation on the business cycles of various small open economies. We argue that differences in the degree of durability in domestic production and imports may make these economies more or less sensitive to an identical ToT shock. We found that economies with higher durability usually enjoy more stable business cycle comparing with economies with lower degree of durability. Differences in the persistence of the ToT do affect the dynamic of the external accounts but it cannot explain the observed differences business cycles across small open economies. In the last essay, we evaluate the economic impacts of the Budget Stabilization Funds (BSF) on State-level business cycles. We lay out a State economy RBC model in which a State’s government applies a designated saving rule consistent with households’ optimization. Given the suggested rule we find that the BDFs become a significant automatic stabilizer. It is not only mitigates the procyclicality of the government spending but it also smooth the State’s business cycle.

This thesis consists of a summary and four papers. The first two papers are theoretical contributions within the area of optimal taxation and public expenditures under asymmetric information between the government and the private sector, and the last two are empirical contributions to the literature on local public expenditures. Paper [I] concerns the optimal use of publicly provided private goods in an economy with equilibrium unemployment. The paper points out that imperfect competition in the labor market gives rise to additional policy incentives associated with the self-selection constraint, which motivates adjustments in the public provision of private goods. It also addresses employment related motives behind publicly provided private goods. Paper [II] addresses optimal income and commodity taxation in a dynamic economy, where used durable goods are subject to second-hand trade. In our framework, the government is unable to directly control second-hand transactions via commodity taxation. We show how the appearance of a second-hand market affects the use of commodity taxation on the new durable goods as well as the use of income taxation. Paper [III] relates the existence and size of the flypaper effect to observable municipal characteristics. The analysis is based on a political economy model, which implies that the effect of a change in the tax base on the majority voter's tax share will be crucial for finding a flypaper effect. The empirical part is based on Swedish data on municipal expenditures and revenues for the period 1996-2004. The results show that the size of the flypaper effect varies among municipalities depending on the relative composition of grant and tax base. In Paper [IV], the composition of municipal expenditures in Sweden is analyzed by estimating a demand system for local public services, in which tax revenue collection is treated as endogenous. The estimation is based on the QAIDS specification and uses panel data for the period 1998-2005 and for six local public services. The results show that the point estimates of the income elasticities are positive (with one exception), whereas the point estimates of the own-price elasticities are negative and less than one.

This thesis consists of three papers. Industries that motivated this analysis range are exclusive clubs (Chapter 1) and pharmaceuticals (Chapters 2 and 3). A common thread is the study of the strategic behavior of monopoly or monopoly-like firms and the implications of such behavior. Chapter 1 studies an “invitation only” strategy for a durable goods monopolist. “Invitation only” functions as a commitment device, enabling the extraction of more profit than the conventional durable goods setting. In addition, the effectiveness of commitment devices in profit-extraction can be compared: each commitment device is modeled as an extra condition in the profit maximization of the general durable goods monopolist, enabling straightforward comparisons across commitment devices. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the effect of patent protection on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular competition to produce drugs that follow-on from pioneer drug discovery, and any feedback effects on pioneer innovation. Despite the conventional notion, I show that longer patent protection may reduce or distort the incentives of innovation: with longer patents, the increased need of pioneer inventors in deterring the production of follow-on drugs may translate to less profitability for the pioneer inventor. Chapter 2 serves as a background and a literature review for Chapter 3. It explains the multi-stage drug discovery process and the phenomenon of follow-on drugs; it reviews strategic entry deterrence theories and summarizes the behavior of brand-name drug firms in deterring generic entry studied in the literature; it also reviews the optimal patent length and breadth literature. Chapter 3 presents several observed puzzles in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a unified explanation for these puzzles within a strategic entry deterrence model. The central conclusion is that under some general conditions, longer patent life distorts incentives for innovation and lowers research productivity: pioneer research is discouraged relative to follow-on research; inexpensive R&D projects are discouraged, and ceteris paribus expensive projects are favored instead, especially those with large clinical trial costs. Other predictions from the model accord with industry observations, including mid-development cancellations of potential drugs for non-medical reasons and early development of follow-on drugs in large markets.

This thesis consists of three papers. Industries that motivated this analysis range are exclusive clubs (Chapter 1) and pharmaceuticals (Chapters 2 and 3). A common thread is the study of the strategic behavior of monopoly or monopoly-like firms and the implications of such behavior. Chapter 1 studies an “invitation only” strategy for a durable goods monopolist. “Invitation only” functions as a commitment device, enabling the extraction of more profit than the conventional durable goods setting. In addition, the effectiveness of commitment devices in profit-extraction can be compared: each commitment device is modeled as an extra condition in the profit maximization of the general durable goods monopolist, enabling straightforward comparisons across commitment devices. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the effect of patent protection on innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular competition to produce drugs that follow-on from pioneer drug discovery, and any feedback effects on pioneer innovation. Despite the conventional notion, I show that longer patent protection may reduce or distort the incentives of innovation: with longer patents, the increased need of pioneer inventors in deterring the production of follow-on drugs may translate to less profitability for the pioneer inventor. Chapter 2 serves as a background and a literature review for Chapter 3. It explains the multi-stage drug discovery process and the phenomenon of follow-on drugs; it reviews strategic entry deterrence theories and summarizes the behavior of brand-name drug firms in deterring generic entry studied in the literature; it also reviews the optimal patent length and breadth literature. Chapter 3 presents several observed puzzles in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a unified explanation for these puzzles within a strategic entry deterrence model. The central conclusion is that under some general conditions, longer patent life distorts incentives for innovation and lowers research productivity: pioneer research is discouraged relative to follow-on research; inexpensive R&D projects are discouraged, and ceteris paribus expensive projects are favored instead, especially those with large clinical trial costs. Other predictions from the model accord with industry observations, including mid-development cancellations of potential drugs for non-medical reasons and early development of follow-on drugs in large markets.

Product quality is regarded as one of the most important factors that consumers consider while purchasing products. However, contrary to objective quality, perceived product quality includes consumer&#039 / s judgment about the overall superiority or excellence of a product. This study mainly concentrates on the relationship between product appearance and perceived product quality especially for durable goods. The definitions of product quality and perceived product quality are reviewed to explain different dimensions of perceived product quality. Product appearance and the importance of product appearance are explained to reveal the relationship between the consumer and the appearance of the product. Four types of information communicated through the appearance are revealed: aesthetic information, symbolic information, functional information and ergonomic information. In the field study, how these four types of information communicated by the product appearance influence the consumers&rsquo / quality perception is questioned through a quantitative study. Conducted with 100 participants, the results of the questionnaire shows that the appearance influences quality perception in various stages of consumer/product context for durable goods. At the end of the study, it is observed that aesthetic, functional and ergonomic information directly influence consumer&rsquo / s quality perception / wheras, the influence of symbolic information on the perceived quality is found to be limited and indirect.

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