No abstract

We study return shipping insurance (RSI) policies prevalent on platforms such as JD.com and Taobao.com. Retailers on those platforms can purchase and provide RSI for consumers (RRSI) or offer an option for consumers to buy RSI themselves (CRSI). With either RSI, consumers will be partially compensated by an insurer for their shipping fees associated with product returns. As the consumers' uncertainty about product fit is realized only after purchase, their decisions whether to purchase CRSI may lead to postpurchase regret. Considering these anticipated regret behaviors, we investigate the optimal RSI policy for a monopolistic online retailer and an insurer. We show that the retailer offers RRSI only if the retailer's return handling cost is relatively low and consumers' return shipping cost is in an intermediate range; otherwise, the consumers' strong propensity for uninsured regret may stimulate them to purchase CRSI. Under the optimal RRSI policy, the retailer always charges a higher product price than under no RSI, and surprisingly the consumer demand could expand. In contrast, under the optimal CRSI policy, the retailer always sets a lower product price, but resulting in consumer demand shrinkage. Counterintuitively, CRSI may become a “win‐win‐win” policy for the retailer, insurer, and consumers.

PurposeFrom the dedication–constraint perspective, this study aims to complement ongoing discussions on the effects of switching costs on performance and explain the role of customer involvement and relationship quality in the relationship between switching costs and performance.Design/methodology/approachAfter collecting data from Chinese manufacturing firms, the authors employed structural equation modeling to test their theoretical model incorporating switching costs, new product development performance, relationship quality and customer involvement.FindingsThe findings show that switching costs negatively affect three dimensions of new product development performance covering new product development market performance, new product development speed, new product development cost. More importantly, relationship quality positively moderates the relationship between switching costs and new product development performance, while customer involvement takes positive moderation effects.Originality/valueThese conclusions contribute to the knowledge of switching costs and supplier–customer relationship, and provide theoretical contributions and managerial insights for both academics and practitioners.

The paper analyzed the industrial characteristics of process cost in coal companies, and give some advice for coal companies dividing the targets of cost management by means of forward pass based on the reference o f historical data, and the method o f process cost control. The result indicates that the control of production cost should focus on prediction control, venue control, and afterward analysis, so that achieve the optimization of production cost control for coal companies.