bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of Spanish store brand consumers
Authors: Martínez Eva , Montaner Teresa 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to carry out a profile of the current buyer of store brands in Spain.Design/methodology/approachIn the characterization of store brand consumer, the paper analyses socio‐demographic and psychographic variables. The psychographics considered are based on the study developed by Ailawadi, Neslin and Gedenk in the USA. A self‐administrated questionnaire was applied to a sample of 425 grocery shoppers.FindingsThe results of the study show that socio‐demographics are not powerful in identifying store brand consumers. However, psychographic traits are much more related to this behaviour. For example, these consumers are characterized by being market mavens, store loyal and price conscious; but they are not quality conscious.Practical implicationsThe results of the present study have a practical interest and can be useful to both manufacturers and retailers. Manufacturers can develop strategies to retain no store brand prone consumers. Retailers should pay special attention to their brand management, in terms of quality, variety and price.Originality/valueIn view of the increasing relevance of store brands, this paper makes an updated assessment of variables considered in previous studies and contexts but not studied in Spain.
Evaluating the comparative efficiency of Chinese third‐party logistics providers using data envelopment analysis
Authors: Zhou Gengui , Min Hokey , Xu Chao , Cao Zhenyu 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a benchmark of performance standards for Chinese third‐party logistics providers (3PLs) in the emerging market. It also intends to identify various factors that significantly affect the operational efficiency of the Chinese 3PLs and propose ways to improve the competitiveness of 3PLs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the operational efficiency of ten leading 3PLs in China, relative to prior periods and their key competitors. In particular, this paper develops both the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes model and the Banker, Charnes and Cooper model that are designed to derive weights without being fixed in advance. It also uses step‐wise regression analysis to identify factors influencing the performances of Chinese 3PLs.FindingsFirst, the declining efficiency within some Chinese 3PLs coincides with a steep decline in domestic transportation activities due to the SARS outbreak and the slow adaptation of state‐owned enterprise into a more market‐based economy. Second, the sales opportunity and the level of technical expertise are directly correlated with the operational efficiency of 3PLs, whereas the size of 3PLs has no direct bearing on the 3PL's performance. Third, in contrast with the 3PL industry in the USA, the Chinese 3PLs tend to focus on traditional service offerings such as port management, transportation, and warehousing rather than playing the role as the integrator or the lead service provider.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to utilize DEA to develop performance benchmarks for 3PLs in the emerging foreign market. The proposed DEA can be easily modified or extended to similar settings in other Asian countries such as India and East European countries.
The impact of supply chain relationships and automatic data communication and registration on forecast information quality
Authors: Jonsson Patrik , Gustavsson Mattias 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the effects of the customer‐supplier relationship and of automatic forecast data communication and registration on the perceived information quality of forecasts.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model and three hypotheses are derived. The empirical analysis is based on survey data from 219 Swedish manufacturing companies.FindingsFindings show that the customer‐supplier relationship and automatic data communication and registration have significant impact on the perceived quality of forecast information received from a downstream customer in the supply chain. The reliability and timeliness of the forecast information are affected to about the same extent by both the relationship type and the data communication and registration strategy. Credibility is correlated with the relationship type, while the completeness, validity and conciseness of the received forecast are operative issues depending mainly on the communication strategy.Research limitations/implicationsUsing single informants, focal customers and some single‐item constructs in research design.Practical implicationsThe paper explains how various dimensions of forecast information quality are affected by different factors, thus guiding how to differentiate information quality improvement work in diverse situations.Originality/valueDetailed empirical studies of supply chain information exchange, especially focusing on explaining causes of high‐quality information exchange, are lacking in the literature and demanded in industry.
Shopper age and the use of self‐service technologies
Authors: Dean Dwane H. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of shopper age on attitudes toward and use of retail self‐service technology (SST). The age variable has received relatively little attention in the literature.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire responses from three age groups are compared. Also, cluster analysis is used to group subjects based on similarity in attitudes toward and use of SST.FindingsCompared to younger consumers, older consumers had experience with fewer types of SSTs, less confidence in using SST, reported missing human interaction to a greater degree, used self‐checkout less often when the option was available, were less willing to pay a premium for express checkout, and were more likely to attribute a corporate self‐interest for the introduction of SST. For the total sample of 718 subjects, 40 percent reported using store self‐checkout 15 percent of the time or less when the option was available. Only 25 percent of subjects reported using automated store checkout on more than half of their shopping occasions.Research limitations/implicationsOnly eight types of SST were studied and only one technology was investigated in depth.Practical implicationsBased on the findings of this study, four managerial actions are recommended that may potentially increase traffic throughput at automated retail checkout.Originality/valueThis is believed to be the first study to find significant differences among age groups on multiple dependent variables associated with SST. Also, the identification of consumer clusters based on attitudes toward and use of SST may be novel.
Testing the role of service quality on the development of brand associations and brand loyalty
Authors: Alexandris K. , Douka S. , Papadopoulos P. , Kaltsatou A. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe study aims to: measure brand associations in the context of a fitness club, test the influence of brand associations on the development of brand loyalty, and investigate the role of service quality on the development of brand associations.Design/methodology/approachA total of 165 members of a managed‐owned fitness club, located in North Greece, participated in the study. They completed a 25‐item questionnaire to measure brand associations, and a 25‐item questionnaire to measure service quality.FindingsThe exploratory factor analysis revealed eight brand association factors: popularity, management, logo, escape, vicarious achievement, nostalgia, pride and affect. In terms of the relationships among brand associations, loyalty and service quality, the regression analyses revealed that: five of the eight brand associations (escape, nostalgia, pride, logo, and affect) significantly contributed to the prediction of loyalty, the service quality dimensions predicted significant amount of variances in all the eight brand associations.Practical implicationsThe study provides support for the value of measuring brand associations in the fitness industry. Furthermore, various suggestions related to how fitness club managers can measure brand associations and design marketing strategies in order to develop them, are discussed.Originality/valueThe study provides empirical verification of the links among brand associations, brand loyalty and service quality, which have been theoretically proposed, but not empirically tested in the literature.
Verification of a numerical model of macrosegregation in direct chill casting
Authors: Založnik Miha , Xin Shihe , Šarler Božidar 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to point out the critical problems in numerical verification of solidification simulation codes and the complexity of the verification and to propose and apply a procedure of generalized verification for macrosegregation simulation.Design/methodology/approachA partial verification of a finite‐volume computational model of macrosegregation in direct chill (DC) casting of binary aluminum alloys, including the coupled transport phenomena of heat transfer, fluid flow and species transport, is performed. The verification procedure is conducted on numerical test problems, defined as subproblems with respect to the complexity of the physical model, geometry, and boundary conditions. The studied cases are thermal convection with solidification in DC casting, thermal natural convection of a low‐Prandtl‐number liquid metal in a rectangular cavity and 1D directional solidification of a binary Al‐Cu alloy. Grid‐convergence studies, code comparison with an alternative Chebyshev‐collocation method, and comparison with a reference similarity solution are used for verification.FindingsAn excellent ability of the model to accurately resolve the thermal convection in the pertinent range of Prandtl and Rayleigh numbers is shown. Concerns regarding the solution of species transport in the mushy zone remain.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed verification procedure is not completed in its entirety. Further verification of the solutal and thermosolutal convection problems is required.Originality/valueThis paper proposes verification techniques for complex coupled solidification problems involving significant convection in the melt.
Numerical analysis and experimental validation of the free surface flow and heat transfer in electrical transformers moulding processes
Authors: Buliński Zbigniew , Nowak Andrzej J. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a numerical and mathematical model of a moulding process of a dry electrical transformer. Moreover, the calculated results are reported and compared with experimental measurements.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental rig, for carrying out and monitoring a moulding process, has been designed and built. Two experiments were preformed. First was an isothermal experiment in which an analog liquid was used. The second experiment was a non‐isothermal one in which an epoxy resin was used. For the rig geometry, the numerical mesh, with the use of the commercial code Gambit, was built. All necessary physical properties, including viscosity, surface tension and contact angle of fluids used in the experiments were measured.FindingsThe Euler approach for modelling multiphase flow with a free surface is addressed in the presented work. Comparison of the computational results with measurements on the designed experimental rig revealed good agreement. Comparison was carried out through measurements of free surface characteristic features captured with a digital camera and through temperature measurements for the nonisothermal case. Richardson extrapolation method was successfully applied to estimate the numerical discretisation error, proving that a grid independent solution was obtained.Originality/valueThis paper is useful for researchers and industrialists involved in the modelling of moulding processes, giving guidance on the available mathematical models appropriate for this kind of problem. Moreover, it provides valuable information as to how to perform validation and verification procedures for such real‐life processes.
Thermocapillary convection and phase change in welding
Authors: Amberg Gustav , Do‐Quang Minh 
Published: May 2008

PurposeIn welding there is an intricate coupling between the composition of the material and the shape and depth of the weld pool. In certain materials, the weld pool may not penetrate the material easily, so that it is difficult or impossible to weld, while other seemingly quite similar materials may be well suited for welding. This is due to the convective heat transfer in the melt, where the flow is driven primarily by surface tension gradients. This paper aims to study how surface active agents affect the flow and thus the welding properties by surveying some recent 3D simulations of weld pools.Design/methodology/approachSome basic concepts in the modelling of flow in a weld pool are reviewed. The mathematical models for a convecting melt, with a detailed model for the surface tension and the Marangoni stress in the presence of surfactants, are presented. The effect of the sign of the Marangoni coefficient on the flow pattern, and thus, via melting and freezing, on the shape of the weld pool, is discussed.FindingsIt is seen that it is beneficial to have surfactants present at the pool surface, in order to have good penetration. Results from a refined surface tension model that accounts for non‐equilibrium redistribution of surfactants are presented. It is seen that the surfactant concentration is significantly modified by the fluid flow. Thereby, the effective surface tension and the Marangoni stresses are altered, and the redistribution of surfactants will affect the penetration depth of the weld pool.Originality/valueThe importance of surfactants for weld pool shapes, and in particular the convective redistribution of surfactants, is clarified.
Optical tomography with the equation of radiative transfer
Authors: Klose Alexander D. , Hielscher Andreas H. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThis paper sets out to give an overview about state‐of‐the‐art optical tomographic image reconstruction algorithms that are based on the equation of radiative transfer (ERT).Design/methodology/approachAn objective function, which describes the discrepancy between measured and numerically predicted light intensity data on the tissue surface, is iteratively minimized to find the unknown spatial distribution of the optical parameters or sources. At each iteration step, the predicted partial current is calculated by a forward model for light propagation based on the ERT. The equation of radiative is solved with either finite difference or finite volume methods.FindingsTomographic reconstruction algorithms based on the ERT accurately recover the spatial distribution of optical tissue properties and light sources in biological tissue. These tissues either can have small geometries/large absorption coefficients, or can contain void‐like inclusions.Originality/valueThese image reconstruction methods can be employed in small animal imaging for monitoring blood oxygenation, in imaging of tumor growth, in molecular imaging of fluorescent and bioluminescent probes, in imaging of human finger joints for early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, and in functional brain imaging.
Analysis of macroscopic momentum equation in a columnar mushy zone
Authors: Furmański Piotr , Banaszek Jerzy 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to tackle the problem of some ambiguity of the momentum equation formulation in the commonly used macroscopic models of two‐phase solid/liquid region, developing during alloy solidification. These different appearances of the momentum equation are compared and the issue is addressed of how the choice of the particular form affects velocity and temperature fields.Design/methodology/approachAttention is focused on the ensemble averaging method, which, owing to its stochastic nature, is a new promising tool for setting up the macroscopic transport equations in highly inhomogeneous multiphase micro‐ and macro‐structures, with morphology continuously changing in time when the solidification proceeds. The basic assumptions of the two other continuum models, i.e. based on the classical mixture theory and on the volume‐averaging technique, are also unveiled. These three different forms of the momentum equation are then compared analytically and their impact on calculated velocity and temperature distribution in the mushy zone is studied for the selected test problem of binary alloy solidification driven by diffusion and thermal natural convection in a square mould.FindingsIt is found that a chosen appearance of the momentum equation mildly affects temporal velocity/temperature, and shapes of the phase interface at longer times of the solidification.Research limitations/implicationsThis mainly results from small variations of the liquid fraction across the mushy zone and from a low solidification rate, and it may change drastically when anisotropic properties of the mushy zone, solutal convection, different phase densities and cooling conditions are considered. Therefore, further comprehensive study is needed.Originality/valueThe paper addresses how the different focus of the momentum equation for liquid flow is compared.
Managerial decision making and competitiveness: the case of Hungary
Authors: Zoltay Paprika Zita , Wimmer Agnes , Szanto Richard 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore three key aspects of managerial decision making, namely managerial skills and attitudes, information and performance measurement supporting decision making, and companies' approaches to the management of relationship with their stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachAfter giving a broad view of the management practice of the sample, the paper analyzes the differences (by company size, dominant ownership, and performance) of companies according to the routines and attitudes of decision making.FindingsThe findings of the research paper suggest that managerial capabilities and skills, and attitudes toward decision making, the information and performance measurement supporting decision making, and companies' approaches to the management of relationship with their stakeholders have a significant impact on the effectiveness of managerial decision making. All these factors play an important role in the competitiveness of the Hungarian companies.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was based on a questionnaire. Further investigations would be necessary to check the results by interviews and case studies.Practical implicationsBeyond summarizing the main experiences, the paper draws up some recommendations for the business community reflecting on the successful companies' practice.Originality/valueThe three factors presented by the paper can constitute a possible framework of managerial decision making in further researches.
Questioning academic standards in the age of innovation
Authors: Abeles Tom P. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how standards drive what is taught in education. International standards, for example in the areas of science and math, and US standards such as the Scholastic Aptitude Tests become ends in themselves and drive the content of education at all levels. The question asked here is whether or not the current system of education, in an internet age, has outlived its usefulness. Are there other options and other measures better suited?Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides an overview of the education system and how consideration is made to progress in a changing environment.FindingsThe paper points out that, as with addicts, fear of changing puts education in a spiral which could lead to a collapse unless the courage is found to make a transition from the present, age‐cohort‐driven model to one which acknowledges the differing rates of change inherent in individuals as they grow through life.Originality/valueThe paper challenges current paradigmatic thinking at a time when we have a window for change. It questions whether a return to the successes of science and technology in maintaining country economic/political hegemony may need to be rethought in light of the current world situation.
Toward a higher standard: the changing organizational context of accountability for educational results
Authors: Shupe David A. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the full range of choices that academic institutions presently have for attending to educational results.Design/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of a systematic comparison of the eight models currently available to colleges and universities for attending to educational results, relative to four necessary organizational purposes: individual student improvement, individual student accountability, organizational improvement, and organizational accountability.FindingsThis is a time of innovation, not of standardization. As new choices become available, the standard for accountability for educational results continues to rise.Originality/valueThe choices, ranging from established practices to expected alternatives to unexpected innovations, differ significantly in their capacities.
How to discuss accountability with educators or the external stakeholders' guide to the accountability galaxy
Authors: Manning Monica M. 
Published: May 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to directly assist external stakeholders in their conversations with educators.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's design is a practical review of the varied interests of external stakeholders, essential terms, the most prominent recent organizational initiatives for accountability, and the most effective kinds of questions.FindingsConversations about accountability are most productive when they are practical and focused.Originality/valueThe paper presents a valuable primer for external stakeholders.
Sun Ray's struggle to overcome innovation trauma
Authors: Moldenhauer‐Salazar Jay , Välikangas Liisa 
Published: May 2008

PurposeUntil now there has been little attention paid to the emotional costs of innovation failures, and in particular, how prior innovation failures hinder subsequent new, related innovation. The saga of Sun Microsystems' Sun Ray computer illustrates the devastating impact of institutional innovation failure trauma. This paper aims to investigate its development.Design/methodology/approachThe authors trace the development of Sun Microsystem's Sun Ray offering, which replaced its failed JavaStation product. As it was launched, the Sun Ray endeavor encountered the classic “innovator's dilemma” problems that are well known to those who attempt to champion disruptive innovations.FindingsBut despite its many strong competitive advantages, the Sun Ray computer has unsuccessfully struggled to catch hold with customers. To a large degree the causes are Sun Microsystems' inability to learn from its earlier innovative JavaStation failure and to recover from the trauma of that failure.Research limitations/implicationsTo understand Sun Ray's story, the authors interviewed nearly 40 key people and compiled nearly 300 documents, from internal memos to market analyses to press releases to meeting minutes.Practical implicationsCompanies can develop proactive management practices to prevent major trauma and consequent innovation paralysis. Six ways to do so are offered.Originality/valueThis is a study of a radical innovation that could have changed computing history. But Sun Ray, Sun's computing innovation was too closely associated with an earlier, highly traumatic and publicized failure of JavaStation and never really got a chance to prove its mettle. Overcoming such innovation trauma is a critical but underappreciated aspect of innovation management in companies such as Sun Microsystems that depend on continuous innovation for their competitiveness.