Experiments were carried out to evaluate the standard gravity in determining potential kernel size and to determine the effective sampling way by analyzing intra - and inter - plant variations for some source and sink characters using eleven semi-dwarf indica and three japonica cultivars including four semi-dwarf indica nearisogenic lines. Also, additional experiments were conducted to understand yearly variation and variety x year interaction effects for ten characters related to source and sink and to characterize the varietal difference of pre- and post-heading self-competition employing three parental varieties and their F$\sub$5/ progenies in 1982 and 1983. It is desirable to determine the potential kernel size by average kernel wight of rice grains showing above 1.15 specific gravity. There was significant difference in leaf area per tiller, spikelets and sink capacity per panicle among vigorous, intermediate and inferior tillers classified by differentiated order and vigorousness. Although it was difficult to find out any significant difference in grain-fill ratio, ratio of perfectly ripened grain, potential kernel size and sink/source ratio between vigorous and intermediate tillers, there was big difference between them and inferior one. The coefficients of variation within each tiller-group for some characters related to source and sink were larger with the order of vigorous tillers < intermediate one '||'&'||'lt; inferior one, and the average heritability of all characters, evaluated by the ratio of varietal variance (equation omitted) to total variance (equation omitted), were higher with the order of inferior tillers '||'&'||'lt; intemediate one '||'&'||'lt; superior one. Therefore, it is desirable to sample the vigorous tillers to represent the varietal difference of these traits. '82-'83 year variations of three parental cultivars were significant for all traits except for leaf area/tiller, panicles/hill, leaf area index and rough rice yield. The characters showing highly significant variance of variety x year interaction were growth duration from transplanting to heading, leaf area/tiller, sink/source ratio, sink capacity/panicle and grain yield. Generalized yearly response of three parental varieties (Suweon 264, Raegyeong, IR1317-70-l) and their F$\sub$5/ progenies on the 1st and 2nd principal components extracted from ten source and sink characters generally exhibited reduction in both source and sink. However, there were diverse variety x year interactions such as progenies showing similar reaction with their parents and intermediate or recombinational yearly response with little or considerable yearly movement on the four-dimensional planes of the two upper principal components between 1982 and 1983. Sink characters revealing highly significant border effect were grain-fill ratio, spikelets and sink capacity per panicle. Among them the latter two especially showed significant variety x border effect interaction. Self-competition characterized by relative weakness of inside plant's sink characters compared to the border one was more severe during the reproductive stage before heading than maturing stage. Though the larger sink capacity per panicle generally disclosed the severer self-competition, some lines (like Suweon 264) revealed severe self-competition with small sink capacity while a few others showed tender self-competition in spite of big sink capacity per panicle.
Internet commerce has been growing at a rapid pace for the last decade. Many firms try to reach wider consumer markets by adding the Internet channel to the existing traditional channels. Despite the various benefits of the Internet channel, a significant number of firms failed in managing the new type of channel. Previous studies could not cleary explain these conflicting results associated with the Internet channel. One of the major reasons is most of the previous studies conducted analyses under a specific market condition and claimed that as the impact of Internet channel introduction. Therefore, their results are strongly influenced by the specific market settings. However, firms face various market conditions in the real worlddensity and disutility of using the Internet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various market environments on a firm's optimal channel strategy by employing a flexible game theory model. We capture various market conditions with consumer density and disutility of using the Internet.
shows the channel structures analyzed in this study. Before the Internet channel is introduced, a monopoly manufacturer sells its products through an independent physical store. From this structure, the manufacturer could introduce its own Internet channel (MI). The independent physical store could also introduce its own Internet channel and coordinate it with the existing physical store (RI). An independent Internet retailer such as Amazon could enter this market (II). In this case, two types of independent retailers compete with each other. In this model, consumers are uniformly distributed on the two dimensional space. Consumer heterogeneity is captured by a consumer's geographical location (ci) and his disutility of using the Internet channel (${\delta}_{N_i}$).
shows various market conditions captured by the two consumer heterogeneities.
(a) illustrates a market with symmetric consumer distributions. The model captures explicitly the asymmetric distributions of consumer disutility in a market as well. In a market like that is represented in
(c), the average consumer disutility of using an Internet store is relatively smaller than that of using a physical store. For example, this case represents the market in which 1) the product is suitable for Internet transactions (e.g., books) or 2) the level of E-Commerce readiness is high such as in Denmark or Finland. On the other hand, the average consumer disutility when using an Internet store is relatively greater than that of using a physical store in a market like (b). Countries like Ukraine and Bulgaria, or the market for "experience goods" such as shoes, could be examples of this market condition.
summarizes the various scenarios of consumer distributions analyzed in this study. The range for disutility of using the Internet (${\delta}_{N_i}$) is held constant, while the range of consumer distribution (${\chi}_i$) varies from -25 to 25, from -50 to 50, from -100 to 100, from -150 to 150, and from -200 to 200.
summarizes the analysis results. As the average travel cost in a market decreases while the average disutility of Internet use remains the same, average retail price, total quantity sold, physical store profit, monopoly manufacturer profit, and thus, total channel profit increase. On the other hand, the quantity sold through the Internet and the profit of the Internet store decrease with a decreasing average travel cost relative to the average disutility of Internet use. We find that a channel that has an advantage over the other kind of channel serves a larger portion of the market. In a market with a high average travel cost, in which the Internet store has a relative advantage over the physical store, for example, the Internet store becomes a mass-retailer serving a larger portion of the market. This result implies that the Internet becomes a more significant distribution channel in those markets characterized by greater geographical dispersion of buyers, or as consumers become more proficient in Internet usage. The results indicate that the degree of price discrimination also varies depending on the distribution of consumer disutility in a market. The manufacturer in a market in which the average travel cost is higher than the average disutility of using the Internet has a stronger incentive for price discrimination than the manufacturer in a market where the average travel cost is relatively lower. We also find that the manufacturer has a stronger incentive to maintain a high price level when the average travel cost in a market is relatively low. Additionally, the retail competition effect due to Internet channel introduction strengthens as average travel cost in a market decreases. This result indicates that a manufacturer's channel power relative to that of the independent physical retailer becomes stronger with a decreasing average travel cost. This implication is counter-intuitive, because it is widely believed that the negative impact of Internet channel introduction on a competing physical retailer is more significant in a market like Russia, where consumers are more geographically dispersed, than in a market like Hong Kong, that has a condensed geographic distribution of consumers.