bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and properties of pigments based on XxZnyFe2O4 ferrites with non‐isometric particles
Authors: Kalendová A. , Veselý D.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

To synthesise anticorrosion pigments of a lamellar and core‐shell type based on Zn, Ca and Mg ferrites for metal protecting paints.

Design/methodology/approach

The anticorrosion pigments were synthesised from oxides or carbonates at high temperature. The pigments synthesised had particles with a pronounced lamellar‐tubular shape consisting of MgFe2O4; Mg0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4; Mg0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4; Mg0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4; Mg0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4; ZnFe2O4; Ca0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4; and CaFe2O4. The other type of synthesised ferrite pigments were core‐shell anticorrosion pigments where a layer corresponding to the compositions including MgFe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; Mg0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; Mg0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; Mg0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; Mg0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; ZnFe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; Ca0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4/KAl3Si3O11; and CaFe2O4/KAl3Si3O11 was applied onto the core – white mica – by a chemical reaction. The pigments prepared were characterised by means of X‐ray diffraction analysis, particle size distribution measurement, and scanning electron microscopy. The anticorrosion pigments synthesised were used to formulate alkyd paints that were tested in corrosion atmospheres.

Findings

Lamellar particles were detected in the pigments prepared, whereas quality coverage of the core was identified in the core‐shell ferrites. Good anticorrosion efficiency was detected in all of the pigments synthesised.

Practical implications

The pigments synthesised can be conveniently utilised in paints to protect metal bases from corrosion.

Originality/value

The method of using the ferrites synthesised as metal protecting anticorrosion paints is new. Of great benefit are the application and the method of synthesising the anticorrosion pigments that do not contain any heavy metals and are environmentally friendly.
Quality function deployment (QFD) technology designed for contract manufacturing
Authors: Jiang Jui‐Chin , Shiu Ming‐Li , Tu Mao‐Hsiung
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an overall review of quality function deployment (QFD) in the past nearly 30 years; to clarify widespread misperceptions about QFD; to adapt its use to the product development model of contract manufacturing; and to simplify the complexity of QFD and effectively integrate its contents.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts “action research” (AR) as its research methodology. The action research was conducted using a “research/consultant strategy” in a series of projects of collaboration with contract manufacturing companies.

Findings

The paper corrects widespread misperceptions about QFD, and adapts QFD to a specific product development model.

Research limitations/implications

The paper uses a participatory and interpretive approach to develop and explain the new QFD model, but the authors are restricted by the highly confidential nature of the R&D information, and not authorized to publish actual case study data. The research value lies in the discussion of quality deployment and narrowly defined QFD, and the focus on comprehensive reorganization of the QFD structure on which there have been very few English‐language publications.

Practical implications

The paper makes an adaptation of QFD so that it can be effectively used in contract manufacturing in a suitable form for modern supply chain. The paper also clarifies how QFD can be implemented by a systems approach, rather than a project approach.

Originality/value

The paper simplifies the complexity of QFD and effectively integrates its contents through the proposition of a quality deployment system and a quality assurance system. The distinguishing features of the former reside in five main differences from the original quality deployment system. The latter is subdivided into 17 subsystems, which form the design framework for quality assurance activities.
Recommending a TQM model for Indian organizations
Authors: Kakkar Subhash , Narag A.S.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of TQM implementation in India and its impact on the Indian organizations' overall performance. This study also aims to prescribe a TQM model for Indian organizations in order to maximize the impact of TQM with predefined concentrated efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed questionnaire, based on current practices and unexplored areas identified by a literature survey, was designed and administered. The questionnaire consists of 11 “Contributing Variables” and nine “Contribution Variables”. The scores for these 20 variables were obtained from different organizations and put to factor analysis.

Findings

The result of factor analysis shows the existence of clusters of large correlation coefficients between subsets of these variables. This suggests that these variables could be measuring aspects of the same underlying dimensions. These underlying dimensions, or extracted factors, are four in number and are related to, respectively, efficiency, customer, people, and teambuilding. This shows that all the 20 TQM variables in India can be summarized into these four dimensions, which are taken as the four pillars of the suggested TQM model for Indian organizations. The proposed model is named TQMEF (TQM‐efficiency model).

Research limitations/implications

This study is based on a single respondent from each organization, so it adds individuality to the scores. This can be avoided in future by having cross‐sectional data through more than one respondent from each organization. This will also help in avoiding error due to the tendency of respondents sometime to give over‐ambitious answers.

Practical implications

The paper identifies four pillars on which TQM implementations should yield positive results for Indian organizations, implying that these organizations can gain by concentrating efforts in these areas.

Originality/value

The paper identified the importance of safety and resources conservation as crucial factors. Hitherto, in most models, only the other three aspects of TQM were given importance. Efficiency has emerged as a key issue in the Indian context.
Economic growth: should policy focus on investment or dynamic competition?
Authors: Hunt Shelby D.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

Societies highly value economic growth because economic growth results in increase in societal standards of living. This paper addresses the issue of why economies grow and what public policy makers should favor in order to increase economic growth.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews and contrasts the two major, rival ways to account for economic growth: the neoclassical model, which maintains that growth results from increases in investment, and the dynamic competition model, which maintains that growth results from the innovations that stem from the process of competition.

Findings

The paper finds that the dynamic‐competition model, as represented by resource‐advantage (R‐A) theory, best explains economic growth.

Practical implications

Public policy should focus on promoting R‐A competition in order to foster economic growth.

Originality/value

This issue of which approach best accounts for economic growth is important because the two approaches imply very different decisions in the public policy arena.
Knowledge creation in marketing: the role of predictive analytics
Authors: Hair Joe F.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of predictive analytics, summarize how it is impacting knowledge creation in marketing, and suggest future developments in marketing and predictive analytics for both organizations and researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

Survival in a knowledge‐based economy is derived from the ability to convert information to knowledge. To do so, researchers and managers increasingly are relying on the field of predictive analytics. Data mining identifies and confirms relationships between explanatory and criterion variables. Predictive analytics uses confirmed relationships between variables to predict future outcomes. The predictions are most often values suggesting the likelihood a particular behavior or event will take place in the future.

Findings

Data mining and predictive analytics are increasingly popular because of the substantial contributions they can make in converting information to knowledge. Marketing is among the most frequent applications of the techniques, and whether you think about product development, advertising, distribution and retailing, or marketing research and business intelligence, data mining and predictive analytics increasingly are being applied.

Originality/value

In the future, we can expect predictive analytics to increasingly be applied to databases in all fields and revolutionize the ability to identify, understand and predict future developments, data analysts will increasingly rely on mixed‐data models that examine both structured (numbers)and unstructured (text and images) data, statistical tools will be more powerful and easier to use, future applications will be global and real time, demand for data analysts will increase as will the need for students to learn data analysis methods, and scholarly researchers will need to improve their quantitative skills so the large amounts of information available can be used to create knowledge instead of information overload.
Honoring the life and legacy of Michael J. Driver, 1936‐2004
Authors: de Janasz Suzanne C.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

This special issue honors the life and legacy of Michael J. Driver, a renowned scholar whose contributions to research on careers, decision‐making, and cognitive style made an indelible impact on these fields. His often‐groundbreaking work spanning more than 40 years impacted the lives of those whom he taught, mentored, consulted and collaborated with. Dr Driver's impact continues to be felt, as can be seen in the pages of this special issue, which highlights the Driver‐inspired research of several former students who later became colleagues.

Design/methodology/approach

Over the last four decades, Mike Driver has helped shape the way we think about and research careers and career‐related issues. To illustrate some of this impact, we provide a first broad retrospective of his life and career and then four articles – written by former students and colleagues of his – that build on Mike's work in careers, decision making and cognitive style. Reflecting on this collection allows the reader to take stock of Driver's research that is responsible for shaping some of the careers research that continues now and in the future.

Findings

As it would take several special issues to cover the breadth and depth of Mike's scholarly contributions, this collection of five articles is intended to showcase a sampling of Dr Driver's legacy. The articles – representing such fields as leadership, careers, entrepreneurship, and work‐family conflict – demonstrate the reach of Driver's work while providing new insights and offering new avenues for research and practice.

Originality/value

These articles are authored by individuals ranging from junior faculty to senior faculty, scholar to practitioner, and colleague to wife. Individually, each article contributes to our understanding of the many fields Driver's work influences. Together, this collection of articles provides important insights that it is hoped encourage even further research that informs career scholarship and its impact on the development of individuals and their careers within and beyond national boundaries.
Michael Driver: a career life to remember
Authors: Sundby Dianne , Brooklyn Derr C.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a retrospective of the career life of Michael Driver, from the time of his Princeton graduate studies and early faculty years at Purdue University through the over three decades he spent at USC.

Design/methodology/approach

The history and development of his theoretical and research interests are presented, as well as the many contributions he made to both management consulting and the education of MBA students. His 1970s role in the founding and development of the Careers Division of the Academy of Management and his contributions to career research are highlighted and illuminate one of the critical periods in the renewal of the field. His orientation towards complexity and integration stand out as characteristics that positively impact theory building and research.

Findings

Michael Driver's career life was one of depth, scope, growth, and continuity. As a humanist, he would want us to not only continue our pursuits to better understand the complexities of human behavior, but to integrate them into something more meaningful.

Originality/value

This retrospective provides insight into the history and development of Mike Driver's theoretical and research interests and underscores his many contributions. The essay also highlights the history of career studies during the renewal period of the 1970s and 1980s. Hopefully, Mike Driver's legacy will inspire younger scholars to extend the field and carry it forward.
Building motivational capital through career concept and culture fit
Authors: Larsson Rikard , Brousseau Kenneth R. , Kling Katarina , Sweet Patrick L.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of the present paper is to offer a career concept and culture framework for measuring and managing the alignment between people, strategy and culture and especially the motivational capital as the fit between people's motives and the organization's reward and appraisal systems.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of 312 respondents in a multinational manufacturing firm using two questionnaires about their individual career concepts, motives, and their views about the organizational strategy and culture.

Findings

The results suggest that the career‐ and culture‐based motivational capital is positively associated with how effective the people view the strategy, how well‐functioning the structure is experienced, how relevant the performance appraisal is considered, how satisfied the people feel, and how long they stay in the organization.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should add more multi‐item‐dependent variables, use more translated questionnaires into the respondents' own languages, and study more organizations in different industries to make further use of the career concept and culture model's ability to capture the fit between different persons and their organizations and the importance of this alignment.

Practical implications

Career and organizational development can improve the fit between individual career concepts and motives as well as organizational career culture and thereby contribute in several ways to higher performance, such as greater motivation, more positive views of the organization, and higher retention.

Originality/value

The paper provides a unique approach to understand and manage the alignment of different persons, HR systems, and organizational culture with greater precision.
Tax reforms and implications for international banks: The case of Cyprus
Authors: Roussakis Emmanuel N. , Bisha Ibrahim F.
Published: June 2007

The article reviews the development of the international (offshore) banking sector in Cyprus and focuses on the effects of the transitional corporate tax regime, introduced for this sector, since the country’s admission into the European Union. The consolidated performance of international banks and data collected through semi‐structured questionnaires are examined to provide important insights into how management perceives of the new tax regime and of its impact upon the country’s attractiveness as an international banking center.
An e‐CRM application in the telecommunications sector: A case study from Greece
Authors: Blery Evangelia K. , Michalakopoulos Michalis G.
Published: June 2007

CRM (Customer Relationship Management), is a strategy that can help companies to build long lasting relationships with their customers and increase profits through the correct management system and the application of customer focused strategies. Nowadays, the penetration of the Internet has dramatically changed the situation because the Internet is suitable for the incorporation of CRM applications. Thus, it has changed into electronic‐CRM or e‐CRM. In this study the implementation of e‐CRM in the Greek Telecommunications Organization is examined and the benefits and problems as well as the success and failure factors are analyzed and presented. This study was based on the case study approach, since its fundamental characteristic is the “focus on a particular setting or event”. The results showed that the Organization had gained a lot of benefits from e‐CRM implementation, since it significantly helped the information flow in the Organization as well as relationships with customers.
Policy drivers of international entrepreneurship in Europe
Authors: Ratten Vanessa
Published: June 2007

The diversity of countries and cultures in Europe necessitates an international outlook for most businesses. This paper examines the internationalisation of business in Europe through a literature review on international entrepreneurship theory. The role of the individual business owner and of business and interorganisational activity in facilitating the internationalisation of businesses in Europe is discussed by utilising the theoretical framework of international entrepreneurship and by putting forward three main propositions. The main aim and intent of this paper is to understand
how the policies of individual governments and institutions such as the European Union help businesses in Europe to internationalise, with particular emphasis on businesses in the Baltic region. The paper discusses policy implications and suggestions for future research, which highlight the importance for firms in Europe of focussing on international markets.
Exploring intertextuality: Young people reading alcohol advertising
Authors: Kenyon Alexandra J.
Published: June 2007

This paper explores the use of intertextuality in advertising texts. It identifies that there are two distinctive methods of researching meanings found in and around advertisements. The two methods are textual strategy and interpretive practice. The results of a phenomenological study of the interpretive practices are shown. The empirical study was completed with young people from the United Kingdom who used interpretive practices to form meaning from an
alcohol advertisement. The study reveals that young audiences draw on intertexts, from a very wide variety of sources, both in and around themselves. There are, however, common intertextual themes. The intertextual themes will be categorised into taxonomies for analysis, which extends the current process for analysing advertisements.
Leadership transmission: a muddled metaphor?
Authors: Buchanan David , Caldwell Raymond , Meyer Julienne , Storey John , Wainwright Charles
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the concept of “leadership transmission”, considering what theoretical and practical value this metaphor brings to the healthcare modernization agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops understanding of the transmission metaphor, whilst theoretical perspectives on leadership are reviewed, including debates, which shed light on the concept by focusing on the phenomenon of distributed or dispersed leadership.

Findings

The transmission metaphor is perhaps misleading, by implying that “leadership can be caught” like a disease. However, defining leadership in terms of influence, a novel typology of transmission processes is introduced; top down (one‐way), inter‐organizational (bi‐lateral), and dispersed (multi‐directional). Recent research suggests that organizational changes are often led by the spontaneous concertive action of staff at all levels, not just by senior élite groups. The way in which dispersed influence processes arise, unfold, and are transmitted into organizational outcomes can be understood through theoretical narratives, which capture event sequences and combinations of factors unfolding over time in a given context. Given the scale and pace of the change agenda, healthcare modernization may indeed depend on widely dispersed leadership.

Practical implications

It is therefore necessary to establish the conditions in which leadership transmission is encouraged, to recognize, support, and develop the “unsung heroes” who assume change leadership positions, and to widen the agenda and coverage of NHS leadership development programmes.

Originality/value

There is currently no other commentary, empirical or theoretical, academic or professional, which examines critically the concept of leadership transmission, while exploring the nature of this perspective, and its theoretical and practical value.
Disentangling false assumptions about talent management: the need to recognize difference
Authors: Cunningham Ian
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to explore ways in which organizations can take a more balanced stance on talent management, especially on the issue of the nature of talent itself.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on experience in organizations and on the case of Michael Faraday as an exemplar of a talented person.

Findings

The paper finds that talent management/development is more complex than just identifying supposedly talented young people and developing them.

Practical implications

The paper has real practical implications for leaders/managers and learning and development professionals in identifying a better basis on which to develop talent.

Originality/value

The paper will be of value to managers and learning specialists who are involved in talent management strategy.
Lifelong learning: reflections of a junior doctor
Authors: Williams Michael A.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper is investigate the importance of lifelong learning in the area of medicine.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines changes in methods of learning and challenges to educators today.

Findings

The paper finds that today there is a pressure for the formalized accounting of education with a few high profile cases of negligent medical care which have perhaps created the belief that recording learning for all may catch errant doctors in the future. It is suggested that learning risks becoming an exercise in meeting demands, but inspiring the desire to learn is also crucial.

Originality/value

The paper provides a useful opinion on lifelong learning for the medical profession.
The changing construction labour market: a case of Hong Kong
Authors: Wong James M.W. , Chan Albert P.C. , Chiangn Y.H.
Published: June 2007

Manpower is the most valuable asset in the construction industry. Based on an examination of literature, selected key data sources, and views from 29 key informants, this paper addresses the important labour resource context related to the construction industry in the case of Hong Kong. These include the trends of the critical indicators of the labour market in construction and the implications of the changing markets and technology on the future pattern of skill requirements, and the government policies on construction personnel. The findings are of immense importance to anyone involved in the construction industry, particularly training organizations and policy makers in their mission to maintain a skilled, competitive and adequate workforce able to meet the future demands of the industry. The changing labour market trends and skill requirements pose challenges for construction personnel in terms of upgrading their skills. Further research is recommended to construct robust models predicting the occupational trends in labour resources for effective manpower planning and to establish a labour market information system which could lead to capturing periodic labour market signals with a view to assisting the process of policy making on various human resource development aspects of construction workforce in Hong Kong.
Women, construction and health and safety (H&S): South African and Tanzanian perspectives
Authors: English J. , Haupt T.C. , Smallwood J.J.
Published: June 2007

Construction by its very nature constitutes a challenge in terms of health and safety (H&S) and ergonomics as it exposes workers to a range of health, safety, and ergonomic hazards, manual handling included. Internationally, women constitute a minor percentage of the construction workforce. Furthermore, perceptions exist that women are not suited to construction, that construction work is too physical for women, and that the image of the industry discourages participation by women. Whether or not perceptions are just, they are important as people act on them. A study was initiated to determine perceptions relative to: participation of women in general; their role; their capacity; their impact; their potential contribution; barriers to their participation; and general and gender specific issues. The paper reports on studies conducted in South Africa and Tanzania, the salient findings being: women have a role in construction; increased participation by women will contribute to improving the image of construction; women have requirements related to their gender and roles; some construction materials constitute a manual materials handling problem to women, and current welfare facilities for women (such as medical support or child care) are inadequate. The paper concludes that endeavours are necessary to change attitudes, promote participation by women, accommodate women, and improve conditions, particularly H&S.
A web‐based information management system for predicting the breakdown of off‐highway plant
Authors: Oloke David , Edwards David J. , Wright Bruce , Love Peter E.D.
Published: June 2007

Effective management and utilisation of plant history data can considerably improve plant and equipment performance. This rationale underpins statistical and mathematical models for exploiting plant management data more efficiently, but industry has been slow to adopt these models. Reasons proffered for this include: a perception of models being too complex and time consuming; and an inability of their being able to account for dynamism inherent within data sets. To help address this situation, this research developed and tested a web‐based data capture and information management system. Specifically, the system represents integration of a web‐enabled relational database management system (RDBMS) with a model base management system (MBMS). The RDBMS captures historical data from geographically dispersed plant sites, while the MBMS hosts a set of (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average – ARIMA) time series models to predict plant breakdown. Using a sample of plant history file data, the system and ARIMA predictive capacity were tested. As a measure of model error, the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) ranged between 5.34 and 11.07 per cent for the plant items used in the test. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values also showed similar trends, with the prediction model yielding the highest value of 29.79 per cent. The paper concludes with direction for future work, which includes refining the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and developing a Knowledge Based Management System (KBMS) to interface with the RDBMS.
A critical and phenomenological genealogy of the question of the real in Western economics and management
Authors: Faÿ Eric
Published: June 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to answer the following question: where does our capacity for epoche, for decentration, for suspending representations come from? This question is an important one if we accept, as phenomenology does, that this is how we can find the meaning of our life and our actions.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to answer this question the paper undertakes a critical genealogy of what those in the Western world consider to be the real, stressing how much Western thought overestimates the reality of what can be seen, measured, and calculated, and underestimates the experience of interiority by silencing the real dynamic of development of each person's lives.

Findings

Following on from Michel Henry's phenomenology the paper shows how epoche, decentring is precisely about paying attention to this very real dynamic of development of life with others. Suspending for a while the representations and calculations and allowing people to be guided by such dynamic is therefore totally justified. Moreover, because it is fully embodied, this dynamic gives us the power and strength to engage in reasonable and responsible action. Two experiences recounted by managers illustrate this point.

Originality/value

The paper shows that phenomenological epoche is not about speculation, it is not idealism, but a totally realistic, practicable choice.
Value‐driven consumer e‐health information search behavior
Authors: Goetzinger Lynn , Park Jungkun , Jung Lee Yun , Widdows Rick
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The search for online health‐related information has become increasingly popular. This study examines online health information quality (relevance and clarity) and the perceived value of online health information search (social, utilitarian and epistemic) and how they relate to consumers' satisfaction with their online health information search experience. The resulting intention to repeat a health information search over the internet is also included in a conceptual model to illustrate what drives the process.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling was utilized to simultaneously assess the proposed relationships among the constructs. Data from 263 online respondents were used to test the measurement and structural model.

Findings

Results show that information relevance is strongly related to the utilitarian value consumers receive from information seeking, whereas information clarity is strongly related to epistemic value. Moreover, it is the utilitarian value of the information search that drives satisfaction with and intention to repeat online health information search.

Research limitations/implications

Suggestions for web site designers in the healthcare industry and health care professionals are addressed. Web site designers should stress practical and functional features of web sites, while health care professionals should direct patients toward web sites that will provide users with the most utilitarian value. Although the study is limited by its online data collection, results provide an initial attempt to develop a conceptual model that explains what may be happening within the world of online health information search behavior. Future research should address the exclusion of potentially important variables including internet skill level and specific types of searches.

Originality/value

This study is unique in that it provides web site designers and health care professionals with clear insight into specific dimensions of online health information and value.
Evaluation of downstream integration in the US pharmaceutical industry
Authors: Simonet Daniel
Published: June 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to review the vertical or quasi‐vertical integration that characterized the pharmaceutical industry in the mid‐1990s. The acquisitions and vertical partnerships that linked pharmacy benefits managers and drug manufacturers modified the structure of the market at that time. What were the motivations of those agreements? Did they induce any distortion on competition in the drug market? And why did they fail to achieve their desired strategic advantages?

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses established theoretical perspectives, such as the resource‐based view and the theory of contestable markets, as the basis for a descriptive analysis, documenting strategic decisions of vertical integration using supporting literature in marketing and strategy.

Findings

Vertical integration did not obtain the intended results (e.g. acquisition of competitive advantages). This perspective provides a framework to examine vertical integration strategies, applicable to other industries.

Originality/value

The paper reviews the objectives of vertical integration strategies of US drug firms in the 1990s and their hidden agendas.
Pharmaceutical marketing return‐on‐investment: a European perspective
Authors: Rod Michel , Ashill Nicholas J. , Carruthers Janet
Published: June 2007

Purpose

A key objective of the 5th Annual Pharmaceutical Congress “Marketing ROI for Pharma” conference was to illustrate how in the midst of a very turbulent environment, and with higher demand for pharmaceutical marketers to deliver bigger profits from increasingly smaller promotional budgets, there are a few critical decision areas that, if addressed appropriately, can help to deliver better return on investment (ROI). This commentary paper aims to provide a summary of what was discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

Given access to the conference presenters' original materials, the authors condensed the presentations into a summary article with reference to some recent academic work in the area.

Findings

The article summarises the presentations of a number of European pharmaceutical industry practitioners, healthcare professionals and government policy personnel in their assessments of the turbulent European pharmaceutical industry environment and the challenges associated with optimising ROI from promotional spending.

Practical implications

The entire paper summarises recent industry practice in Europe regarding how to optimise pharmaceutical ROI with respect to marketing activities and provides actual examples of how to do this.

Originality/value

Primarily targeting pharmaceutical industry practitioners, this paper provides a timely and thorough resource for those industry personnel charged with the mission of maximizing pharmaceutical marketing ROI.
Women customers in pubs: still a business opportunity
Authors: Pratten J.D. , Lovatt C.J.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper was to outline the changes in the 20th century public house, where the simultaneous development of pub products and facilities and a changing environment have encouraged a growth of the female customer.

Design/methodology/approach

There has been a heavy use of secondary sources drawn from the whole of the period studied. This has been augmented by discussions with licensees, retired licensees and older pub customers, to collect their reflections on the industry.

Findings

The public house of 60 years ago had a largely male, working class beer drinking clientele. Over the years, it has become accessible to women and children, the hungry and those seeking entertainment. These changes have been effected by the owners, introducing new products and altering the premises, licensees seeking to attract trade, government legislation and external factors. This paper attempts to identify the changes and their causes, with particular reference to the female customer.

Research limitations/implications

The work reports the changes in the industry and examines some of the causes. Further work could examine such causes more carefully, and could include regional studies for comparison purposes.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates the extent of change, and suggests that further women‐friendly moves could be welcomed; it further suggests some strategies to develop the female customer base.

Originality/value

The topic could be of interest to the general reader as well as practitioners and students of the hospitality industry. It suggests that pubs can become even more women‐friendly, which could represent a business opportunity to some practitioners.
Revealed preference analysis of red wine attributes using polarisation
Authors: Jarvis Wade , Rungie Cam , Lockshin Larry
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The usual method of analysis of product attributes in marketing is to fit a multinomial logit model within a stated choice experiment, to determine the impact of attributes on the choice probability, which is equivalent to market share. The market share is intuitive and is based on each single choice in the study. However, revealed preference allows for a study into repeat purchase and loyalty, which can also be rich constructs for determining consumer preference.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors introduce a loyalty measure, polarisation, and show results based on a wine data set of revealed preference. Polarisation is a function of the beta binomial distribution (BBD) and can also be a function of the Dirichlet multinomial distribution (DMD). The DMD provides a standardised or average loyalty effect for each attribute (such as wine variety), and the BBD an individual effect for each attribute level (such as cabernet) within the attribute. While the DMD results provide a rich “first‐pass” of the data, it is the individual results which can classify levels as reinforcing, niche, or change‐of‐pace in nature, with subsequent different marketing implications. These implications are drawn out in this study.

Findings

Specifically, the DMD results show higher loyalty towards price and variety rather than to region and brand. The BBD results show that segmented preferences in the wine market are influenced more by the price attribute levels and that the two key single varietals in the red wine category tend to behave as reinforcing attribute levels with important marketing implications for small and large wine brands.

Originality/value

The authors extend the work of stated choice experiments into the realm of actual consumer purchase behaviour for wine. They also find that consumers’ repeat purchasing is based on attributes other than brand. This provides a useful platform for both researchers to further investigate loyalty/repurchasing using attributes as well as for marketing practitioners to better position their products to consumers.
The wine consumer's behaviour in selected stores of Italian major retailing chains
Authors: Seghieri Chiara , Casini Leonardo , Torrisi Francesco
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The principal aim of this article is to examine attitudes of Italian consumers in relation to wine, identifying specific types of wine buyers.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 442 Italian wine consumers has been surveyed and three measurement instruments have been developed for grouping the observations by means of multivariate statistical analysis. The study then investigates both the consumer and product characteristics that significantly differentiate between the derived clusters of buyers and finally provides an external validity check.

Findings

Although the study is exploratory in nature, there is evidence that four wine‐related consumer segments exist in our sample. These segments are habitual wine buyers, rational buyers, interested consumers, and professionals of promotions.

Originality/value

For wine marketers, the results of this research clearly support the need for a targeted approach to their consumer market. The study identifies the principal consequences of the results in order to provide both retailers and producers some useful marketing suggestions.
Significance of mutations on the structural perturbation of thymidylate synthase: Implications for their involvement in subunit exchange
Authors: Saxl Ruth L. , Maley Gladys F. , Hauer Charles R. , Maccoll Robert , Changchien Liming , Maley Frank
Published: June 2007

Wild‐type thymidylate synthase (WT‐TS) from Escherichia coli and several of its mutants showed varying degrees of susceptibility to trypsin. While WT‐TS was resistant to trypsin as were the mutants C146S, K48E, and R126K, others such as Y94A, Y94F, C146W, and R126E were digested but at different rates from one another. The peptides released from the mutants were identified by mass spectrometry and Edman sequence analysis. The known crystal structures for WT‐TS, Y94F, and R126E, surprisingly, showed no structural differences that could explain the difference in their susceptibility to trypsin. One explanation is that the mutations could perturb the dynamic equilibrium of the dimeric state of the mutants as to increase their dissociation to monomers, which being less structured than the dimer, would be hydrolyzed more readily by trypsin. Earlier studies appear to support this proposal since conditions that promote subunit dissociation in solutions of R126E with other inactive mutants, such as dilution, low concentrations of urea, and elevated pH, greatly enhance the rate of restoration of TS activity. Analytic ultracentrifuge studies with various TSs in urea, or at pH 9.0, or that have been highly diluted are, for the most part, in agreement with this thesis, since these conditions are associated with an increase in dissociation to monomers, particularly with the mutant TSs. However, these studies do not rule out the possibility that conformation differences among the various TS dimers are responsible for the differences in susceptibility to trypsin, particularly at high concentrations of protein where the WT‐TS and mutants are mainly dimers.
Configurational entropy elucidates the role of salt‐bridge networks in protein thermostability
Authors: Missimer John H. , Steinmetz Michel O. , Baron Riccardo , Winkler Fritz K. , Kammerer Richard A. , Daura Xavier , van Gunsteren Wilfred F.
Published: June 2007

Detailed knowledge of how networks of surface salt bridges contribute to protein thermal stability is essential not only to understand protein structure and function but also to design thermostable proteins for industrial applications. Experimental studies investigating thermodynamic stability through measurements of free energy associated with mutational alterations in proteins provide only macroscopic evidence regarding the structure of salt‐bridge networks and assessment of their contribution to protein stability. Using explicit‐solvent molecular dynamics simulations to provide insight on the atomic scale, we investigate here the structural stability, defined in terms of root‐mean‐square fluctuations, of a short polypeptide designed to fold into a stable trimeric coiled coil with a well‐packed hydrophobic core and an optimal number of intra‐ and interhelical surface salt bridges. We find that the increase of configurational entropy of the backbone and side‐chain atoms and decreased pair correlations of these with increased temperature are consistent with nearly constant atom‐positional root‐mean‐square fluctuations, increased salt‐bridge occupancies, and stronger electrostatic interactions in the coiled coil. Thus, our study of the coiled coil suggests a mechanism in which well‐designed salt‐bridge networks could accommodate stochastically the disorder of increased thermal motion to produce thermostability.
The 2.2 Å resolution crystal structure of Bacillus cereus Nif3‐family protein YqfO reveals a conserved dimetal‐binding motif and a regulatory domain
Authors: Godsey Michael H. , Minasov George , Shuvalova Ludmilla , Brunzelle Joseph S. , Vorontsov Ivan I. , Collart Frank R. , Anderson Wayne F.
Published: June 2007

YqfO of Bacillus cereus is a member of the widespread Nif3 family of proteins, which has been highlighted as an important target for structural genomics. The N‐ and C‐terminal domains are conserved across the family and contain a dimetal‐binding motif in a putative active site. YqfO contains an insert in the middle of the protein, present in a minority of bacterial family members. The structure of YqfO was determined at a resolution of 2.2 Å and reveals conservation of the putative active site. It also reveals the previously unknown structure of the insert, which despite extremely limited sequence conservation, bears great similarity to PII, CutA, and a number of other trimeric regulatory proteins. Our results suggest that this domain acts as a signal sensor to regulate the still‐unknown catalytic activity of the more‐conserved domains.
Using surface envelopes to constrain molecular modeling
Authors: Dugan Jonathan M. , Altman Russ B.
Published: June 2007

Molecular density information (as measured by electron microscopic reconstructions or crystallographic density maps) can be a powerful source of information for molecular modeling. Molecular density constrains models by specifying where atoms should and should not be. Low‐resolution density information can often be obtained relatively quickly, and there is a need for methods that use it effectively. We have previously described a method for scoring molecular models with surface envelopes to discriminate between plausible and implausible fits. We showed that we could successfully filter out models with the wrong shape based on this discrimination power. Ideally, however, surface information should be used during the modeling process to constrain the conformations that are sampled. In this paper, we describe an extension of our method for using shape information during computational modeling. We use the envelope scoring metric as part of an objective function in a global optimization that also optimizes distances and angles while avoiding collisions. We systematically tested surface representations of proteins (using all nonhydrogen heavy atoms) with different abundance of distance information and showed that the root mean square deviation (RMSD) of models built with envelope information is consistently improved, particularly in data sets with relatively small sets of short‐range distances.
Nonbonded terms extrapolated from nonlocal knowledge‐based energy functions improve error detection in near‐native protein structure models
Authors: Ferrada Evandro , Melo Francisco
Published: June 2007

The accurate assessment of structural errors plays a key role in protein structure prediction, constitutes the first step of protein structure refinement, and has a major impact on subsequent functional inference from structural data. In this study, we assess and compare the ability of different full atom knowledge‐based potentials to detect small and localized errors in comparative protein structure models of known accuracy. We have evaluated the effect of incorporating close nonbonded pairwise atom terms on the task of classifying residue modeling accuracy. Since the direct and unbiased derivation of close nonbonded terms from current experimental data is not possible, we extrapolated those terms from the corresponding pseudo‐energy functions of a nonlocal knowledge‐based potential. It is shown that this methodology clearly improves the detection of errors in protein models, suggesting that a proper description of close nonbonded terms is important to achieve a more complete and accurate description of native protein conformations. The use of close nonbonded terms directly derived from experimental data exhibited a poor performance, demonstrating that these terms cannot be accurately obtained by using the current data and methodology. Some external knowledge‐based energy functions that are widely used in model assessment also performed poorly, which suggests that the benchmark of models and the specific error detection task tested in this study constituted a difficult challenge. The methodology presented here could be useful to detect localized structural errors not only in high‐quality protein models, but also in experimental protein structures.