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Research into economies of scale and economies of scope has important reference value, especially when policy makers of tourism companies are trying to avoid blind expansion and improve the efficiency of economic diversification. Based on a sample of thirteen listed tourism companies in China, this paper applies a generalized translog cost function to investigate economies of scale and scope in tourism enterprises. The empirical results show that: 1. economies of scale do exist in most of the listed tourism companies, however this advantage weakens as time passes; 2. some companies experience diseconomies of scale, the condition of which is deteriorating; and 3. the economies of scale of listed companies associated with scenic attractions are better than those of hotel listed companies and comprehensive tourism listed companies. For global economies of scope, the results show that: 1. most listed tourism companies experience global diseconomies of scope, which also has a tendency to produce economic deterioration; and 2. listed companies associated with scenic attractions experience the most obvious economies of scope. Specifically, the paper analyzes the product-specific economies of scope in three tourism businesses. From the empirical results, we can conclude that the business combination of hotel and travel agency, and/or tourist attractions and travel agency can produce economies of scope, however the business combinations of hotel and tourist attractions, and tourism and non-tourism, will produce diseconomies of scope. Based on these conclusions, the paper provides some suggestions on scale expansion and diversification for tourism listed companies. First, as a result of the weakened strength of cost reduction through scale expansion, tourism listed companies should take a more cautious and rational attitude towards growth. This should be adjusted according to the profitability of the industry as well as to the enterprise's size and ability to control costs. Second, to expand the benefits of scale economies, tourism listed companies should attach more importance to improving the market competitiveness and efficiency of resource use, make efforts to accumulate capital, talents, and efficient procurement systems, and invest in information technology. Besides the above actions, tourism companies should also develop featured tourism products according to the changing demands of tourists. For business diversification, tourism listed companies should reduce the scale of their non-tourism activities, especially those that are irrelevant to tourism. Second, tourist attraction companies with better economic performance, and those that will assist in the operation of tourist attractions in the future, should consider developing a travel agency business. Those that are not performing well, but have the intention of transforming their business, should take into consideration developing a combination of a travel agency and their hotel business. Hotel listed companies, as a result of the diseconomies relating to hotel business and non-tourism business, should consider reducing the scale of their non-tourism activities and try to develop a travel agency. Comprehensive tourism listed companies can also take into consideration the development of new tourist attraction-based business. Finally, to improve the efficiency of diversification and expand the benefit of economies of scope, tourism listed companies should strengthen the promotion of their brand image. This can help new businesses enter the market more quickly, accumulate more professional management experience, and provide diverse skills training for employees, while also improving the efficiency of cooperation among firms in this business sector. This research also has some limitations, for example, the empirical results are based on a small sample, and thus may be inadequate to support the conclusions. Second, the research does not analyze the factors that influence economies of scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of related diversification across service offerings and industry domains for professional service firms (PSFs) in emerging economies by integrating the reputational and economies of scope perspectives of diversification. The paper also provides insights into how related diversification impacts small and medium sized firms differently. Design/methodology/approach -- Using unique data from the Indian Information Technology industry, the authors examine the impact of related diversification along service offerings and industry domains on export performance of firms. Findings -- The results show that related diversification across specializations and industry domains impact performance differently across different firm sizes. While the authors find that related diversification across service offerings has an inverted U shape with performance for the medium sized firms, they do not impact performance for small sized firms. Performance of small firms has a U shaped relationship with relatedness in industry domains. The study shows that reputation transfer across industry domains play a significant role in the performance of small size firms whereas the ability to realize economies of scope by cross selling multiple services across clients do matter for performance of medium sized firms. Practical implications -- Managers of small PSFs need to expand along related industry domains whereas managers from medium sized firms can experiment across service offerings to exploit economies of scope. Originality/value -- The study contributes to hitherto unexamined research on related diversification in PSFs. The study is one of the few studies to examine relatedness along more than one dimension in an intra-industry context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates economies of scale and scope for 55 major Australian urban utilities over the period 2005/06 to 2008/09. The models used specify operating and capital costs as a function of chemical and microbiological compliance, water losses, water quality and service, water main breaks, total connected properties, and urban water supplied. The input variables used to help determine water utility costs include the density of properties served and the sourcing of water from bulk suppliers, groundwater, recycling and surface water. In terms of economies of scale, the evidence suggests strong economies of scale at relatively low levels of output (50–75% of current mean output). In terms of product-specific economies of scale (increasing the scale of a specific output in isolation), there is substantially stronger evidence that the operating costs of urban water utilities would benefit from increasing scale with regard to chemical compliance, water quality and service complaints, and the number of connected properties. In contrast, capital costs would benefit from scale increases with regard to the management of water losses and water main breaks. For economies of scope, it is clear that there are substantial cost benefits from the joint production of treated quality water delivered across a network with minimal water losses and main breaks. The main cost advantage at all levels of output is decreasing water losses, and this would benefit both operating and capital costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tinbergen Rule has been used to criticise multi-target policy instruments for being inefficient. The aim of this paper is to clarify the role of multi-target policy instruments using the case of agri-environmental policy. Employing an analytical linear optimisation model, this paper demonstrates that there is no general contradiction between multi-target policy instruments and the Tinbergen Rule, if multi-target policy instruments are embedded in a policy-mix with a sufficient number of targeted instruments. We show that the relation between cost-effectiveness of the instruments, related to all policy targets, is the key determinant for an economically sound choice of policy instruments. If economies of scope with respect to achieving policy targets are realised, a higher cost-effectiveness of multi-target policy instruments can be achieved. Using the example of organic farming support policy, we discuss several reasons why economies of scope could be realised by multi-target agri-environmental policy instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a two-stage Cournot game with economies of scope, we examine the effects of monetary policy on the optimal bank behavior. Emphasis is on the way the interest rate spread is influenced by the minimum reserve requirements. It is demonstrated that the sign of this effect depends on the kind of economies of scope. Moreover, monetary policy implications for both the depositor's and borrower's behaviors are presented. Assuming an overlapping generation context, we prove that minimum reserve requirements affect the optimal levels of bank-client consumption through the corresponding equilibrium interest rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a simple model to explain buyer–supplier relationships and identify factors that determine the chosen number of trading partners. We show that the optimal number of partners for a supplier is small, if it has low bargaining power, moderate economies of scope in variable costs, and large sunk investment. We extend the model by incorporating the supplier's quality investment and show that the investment level can be higher when the number of trading partners is small. The results may be consistent with the formation of Japanese buyer–supplier relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In production practice, firms usually produce multi-products rather than single products to obtain cost-saving advantages, cater for the diversity of consumer tastes and provide a barrier to entry. Based on nonlinear and economics theories, this paper establishes a discrete triopoly dynamical model which considers multi-product firms with heterogeneous expectations: naïve, adaptive and bounded rationality expectations. The discrete model is described by a 6-dimensional dynamical system. Thesis explores the path of the complexity of evolution and its intrinsic regularity, studies the influence of parameter change on the sensitivity level. The stable conditions of Cournot Nash equilibrium point are analyzed. The route to complex dynamics is investigated using 2-D and creative 3-D bifurcation diagrams by numerical experiment. The results show: the adaptive parameters can modify the stability of the market, but cannot lead to chaos independently; the bounded rationality parameters can arouse chaos for the whole market; larger differentiated degree of multi-product can suppress instability which is caused by adaptive and bounded rationality adjustment parameters. These results have significant theoretical and practical value to multi-product triopoly game with heterogeneous expectations in related markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local health departments (LHDs) across the United States deliver a range of essential public health services, yet little is known about the costs that LHDs incur in providing these services and the factors that may cause costs to vary both within and across health departments. This report first describes the variations in the costs of one core public health activity commonly provided by LHDs: food hygiene services. It then analyzes the factors that drive LHDs' cost of service provision focusing on the role of economies of scale and economies of scope. Using data for all LHDs in Florida for 2008 and 2010, the study found that the costs of providing food hygiene services varied substantially across LHDs. Economies of scale are demonstrated in multivariate analysis findings as providing greater volumes of services was associated with lower per unit costs. Providing a greater scope of public health services, on the other hand, does not appear to affect the costs of food hygiene services. An in-depth understanding of their cost structure presents an opportunity for LHDs to communicate to policymakers information about the resources needed to provide core public health services. Moreover, it allows public health practitioners to engage in activities aimed at increasing the efficiency of service provision. This study is a first step in the search for evidence of economies of scale that may help to lower costs and increase efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To evaluate technical efficiency and potential presence of scale and scope economies in Mexican private medical units (PMU) that will improve management decisions. Materials and methods. We used data envelopment analysis methods with inputs and outputs for 2 105 Mexican PMU published in 20l0 by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía from the "Estadística de Unidades Médicas Privadas con Servicio de Hospitalización (PEC-6-20-A)" questionnaire. Results. The application of the models used in the paper found that there is a marginal presence of economies of scale and scope in Mexican PMU. Conclusions. PMU in Mexico must focus to deliver their services on a diversified structure to achieve technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the market structure of the water sector in Portugal through the application of distinct methods usually used in the literature (parametric and nonparametric methods). A sample of Portuguese water utilities was used to search for economies of scale and economies of scope in the period 2002-2008. High economies of vertical integration, economies of scale and economies of scope (both in the provision of water supply and wastewater services) were found. Therefore, there are advantages in water utilities merging by joining the retail and wholesale components and the water and wastewater services. The results show that amalgamation in the Portuguese water sector should be encouraged, creating vertically integrated water and wastewater utilities to supply more than 16 mm3/year of drinking water, corresponding to about 120,000 customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction professional service (CPS) firms sell expertise and provide innovative solutions for projects founded on their knowledge, experience, and technical competences. Large CPS firms seeking to grow will often seek new opportunities in their domestic market and overseas by organic or inorganic growth through mergers, alliances, and acquisitions. Growth can also come from increasing market penetration through vertical, horizontal, and lateral diversification. Such growth, hopefully, leads to economies of scope and scale in the long term, but it can also lead to diseconomies, when the added cost of integration and the increased complexity of diversification no longer create tangible and intangible benefits. The aim of this research is to investigate the key influences impacting on the growth in scope and scale for large CPS firms. Qualitative data from the interviews were underpinned by secondary data from CPS firms’ annual reports and analysts’ findings. The findings showed five key influences on the scope and scale of a CPS firm: the importance of growth as a driver; the influence of the ownership of the firm on the decision for growth in scope and scale; the optimization of resources and capabilities; the need to serve changing clients’ needs; and the importance of localization. The research provides valuable insights into the growth strategies of international CPS firms. A major finding of the research is the influence of ownership on CPS firms’ growth strategies which has not been highlighted in previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using information on 98 internationally active banks headquartered in 27 countries over the period 1994–2012, we analyse the nonlinear link between income diversification (defined as noninterest income to total income) and bank return on assets (ROA). The main result is that income diversification is positively correlated with bank profitability only up to a certain degree (30% of the diversification ratio). Diversification benefits for global systemically important banks (GSIBs) are less sizable and significant, especially when we use volatility-adjusted return as a measure of bank profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the scale and scope economies of higher education institutions in Japan assuming the presence of productive inefficiency. The standard approach to testing the scope economies is to apply the cost function. However, the cost function approach often entails the difficulty of obtaining reliable data on input prices, especially the input prices of capital for higher education institutions. This paper proposes a duality approach based on the input distance function. The scope economies are tested under a necessary and sufficient condition by retrieving the costs of joint and separate production from the input distance function. We apply the testing procedure to data pertaining to 218 Japanese private universities in 1999 and 2004. The results indicate the scale economies and the scope diseconomies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of information technologies, distance education has become “another form of product differentiation in the output mix produced by the multi-product university or college” (Cohn & Cooper, 2004, p. 607). This article aims at analyzing the economies of scope of distance education (as an educational output) in Chinese research universities. The empirical results show that a) product-specific economies of scope do exist in distance education programs offered by Chinese research universities; b) there are economies of scale in distance education; and c) there are weak cost complementarities between distance education and research output, meaning that distance education and academic research can promote each other to reduce the costs in Chinese research universities.

Copyright of Portuguese Journal of Public Health / Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública is the property of Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública - Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article draws from a major research project examining the impact of various forms of municipal consolidation in Australia and New Zealand. Its wide-ranging research involved studies of 15 cases of different forms of consolidation, including amalgamation, together with a series of interviews with senior practitioners from the local government sector. Data revealed little evidence of consistent economies of scale from consolidation, however both case studies and interviews indicated that consolidation generated economies of scope and what may be termed ‘strategic capacity’. While it was not possible to disaggregate the data for particular sizes of local authority, enhancement of strategic capacity was more obvious through processes of consolidation in larger ones and less so in smaller, more remote ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the scope of CP-negation with regards to quantified noun phrases (QPs) in its clause. It mentions the Scope Economy which derives the unexpected clause-boundedness of Quantifier Raising (QR). It states that the inability of a QP to take scope over CP-negation suggests that CP is not a possible target adjunction site for QR.

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Modern cost accounting posits that manufacturing overhead costs vary with production unit volume, batches of production, and with the variety of products produced. However, many studies fail to find an association between manufacturing overhead costs and activities associated with production batches and product variety; rather, the traditional fixed and (unit) variable cost structure is validated. One explanation is that flexible manufacturing methods and optimized production scheduling restore the relevance of the traditional cost model. Another explanation is that the relation holds, but is not detectable because of limitations of the data used in these studies. We explore the separate and joint impacts of these data limitations using data from a modern float glass manufacturing plant and a new time-driven activity-based costing model suggested by Kaplan and Anderson (2004, 2007). We find that: (1) batch and product-variety-related activities are significantly associated with resource consumption, (2) crude measures of activity promote incorrect conclusions about the strength of the relation between activities and resource consumption, and (3) monthly aggregation of data obscures important aspects of the relation between daily production activities and resource consumption. In sum, even in a highly automated setting that is biased against finding evidence of the cost hierarchy because production scheduling is optimized to minimize batch and product-variety-related resource consumption, the cost hierarchy is an apt description of the association between resource consumption and production activity. However, improved measurement and cost model specification are necessary to reveal this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospital productivity has been a research topic for over two decades. Whereas much has been learned regarding cost, technical, scale, and allocative efficiency as well as the impact that weakly disposable inputs/outputs have on hospital behavior, we expand on this research by examining size and service offering, or focus, efficiency at the metropolitan area level for US hospitals. By using an extension of the Free Coordination Hull (FCH), we are able to determine whether hospitals in our sample could become more efficient if they provided more services (reduce inefficiency due to too narrow a focus) or fewer services (reduce inefficiency due to too broad a focus). Our results suggest that findings vary among the hospital markets. This approach could be used by policy makers and managers in order to reduce costs by sharing services, reducing services in hospitals, or expanding services in hospitals. Findings from a study such as this should aid reform programs by providing more information on the sources of hospital inefficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how intra-industry product diversity affects firm performance by analyzing the implications of expanding a firm's product line within its core business. We conjecture that increases in product diversity initially undermine performance because of negative transfer effects but then improve it due to economies of scope. We further theorize that this U-shaped effect of product diversity becomes more pronounced as the firm increases the intensity of its technology investment, yet is likely to be attenuated by the firm's accumulated experience with intra-industry diversification. Data on 156 U. S.-based software firms operating from 1990 to 2001 furnish support for these conjectures. Our study advances emerging research on intra-industry diversification by underscoring some of its contingent performance effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban waste services in Portugal have historically been provided together with other services, such as the water services. Despite the lack of discussion on this subject in the literature, some questions have been raised about the gains, in terms of efficiency, of this policy. Following a recent and robust partial nonparametric frontier model, based on order-α, we intend to evaluate the presence of economies of scope in the Portuguese waste sector. Furthermore, we also estimate the economies of scale using the traditional data envelopment analysis. The results show the absence of economies of scope between waste and water (and wastewater) services. In addition, we identify the presence of economies of scale in smaller municipalities. These outcomes might be useful for policy and decision makers in further reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the Fisher effect, for a sample of emerging countries from the CEE region, namely the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania. The results are mixed, according with the methodology, being found weak empirical support to the full Fisher effect. More evidence is found for Romania and Poland. In the Romanian case the ex-post real interest rate has a mean-reverting behavior, and the Engle-Granger methodology detect a cointegration relationship between interest rate and inflation. The Johansen cointegration methodology finds support for a cointegration equation for Poland. The Granger causality test indicates a short-run causality from inflation to interest rate for the Czech Republic, and bidirectional Granger causality for Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement of economies of scale and scope is particularly important for predicting growth and product diversification. However, estimates are useful only to the extent the underlying production technology is modelled accurately. This study measures economies of scale and scope in the rapidly changing US dairy industry with a Fourier flexible cost function, which provides a global approximation of the unknown function. We use the high quality national Agricultural and Resource Management Survey (ARMS) survey data. We find economies of scale at most firm sizes and persistent economies of scope across firm sizes in this industry, which is counter to estimates from two Diewert-flexible functional forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examined the complementary relationship between the direct effects of local brand farm products, such as through increases in income and employment in the local community, and indirect effects, such as through the development of tourism, by examining data collected by a survey of agricultural cooperatives in Japan. Estimation of a determinant model of direct and indirect economic effects that assumed an endogenous relationship revealed that those cooperatives producing brand products that have a relatively long history of branding of products, systems for quality control, preservation of the local heritage, and a local partnership between agricultural and accommodation/restaurant sectors are much more likely to achieve the two primary economic goals of income and employment generation. It is concluded that a wider and longstanding perspective of local resource management is necessary to enhance the complementary relationship between economic gain of local brand farm products and tourism development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Standard measures of economies of scale and scope show that size does matter for German investment management companies. The average investment management company faces an increase in costs of 0.71% for a 1% increase in assets under management. Small to mid-sized companies in our example exhibit statistically significant scale economies. These economies of scale show a size trend. Furthermore, there is empirical evidence of economies of scope between retail and institutional funds, but the cost savings are greater for large investment management companies. Economies of scope also exhibit a size trend, i.e. larger companies show fewer scope economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the provision of auxiliary clinical services that are typically carried out within the hospital. We estimate a flexible cost function for three of the most important (cost-wise) diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals: Clinical Pathology, Medical Imaging, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Our objective in carrying out this estimation is the evaluation of economies of scale and scope in the provision of these services. For all services, we find evidence of economies of scale and some evidence of economies of scope. We also find evidence of diminishing returns to management, whereby larger hospitals appear to have surpassed their optimal size. These results have important policy implications and can be related to the ongoing discussion of where and how should hospitals provide these services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper develops a model where the incumbent may expand to a related market to signal economies of scope and deter entry in the former market. We show that the incumbent only expands when scope economies are large enough. Thus expansion is a signal of larger economies of scope and, for certain parameter values, leads to entry deterrence. Although our game is two-period, the expansion strategy creates a long-term advantage. We further investigate the implications of prohibiting an entry-deterrent expansion. A major finding is that, in our model, this prohibition always decreases consumer surplus. In terms of global welfare, the impact is ambiguous but negative for many parameter values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]