title: Distribution loyalty: Towards a conceptual model

authors: McMillan, David G

abstract: Despite the increasing importance of business-to-business loyalty, distributor loyalty (loyalty between a distributor and a supplier) has attracted very limited academic research. This these develops and test the construct of distributor loyalty through a synthesis of the related fields of customer loyalty and commitment. 
The thesis comprises seven chapters that outline three phases of research. Phase one involves the development of a provisional conceptual model through a combination of deductive and inductive approaches. The second phase describes the process and results of developing and testing measures for use in the model. The final phase outlines the empirical testing of the model on a sample of 151 respondents (27% response rate). 
The research uses a positivist ontological paradigm, and adopts a foundationalist epistemological perspective that means the majority of the data analyses are empirically based. Initial tests validated the conceptual model. However, refinement of the model resulted in improved performance, with the explanation of variance rising to 58%. 
The revised model comprises: a) three antecedents (trust, satisfaction and shared values); b) a moderating variable (contractual obligations); and c) a two-part dependent variable, where the behavioural component (repeat purchase behaviour [RPB]) mediates the relationship between the antecedents and the attitudinal component of the dependent variable (absolute attitude). Significant interactions were confirmed between: a) satisfaction and contractual obligations, b) trust and RPB, and c) shared values and RPB. 
The research represents an important start to the development of a robust theory of distributor loyalty in three ways: a) the related fields of customer loyalty and commitment have been synthesised to identify contributions to the conceptualisation of distributor loyalty; b) how distributor loyalty is perceived and conceived from a practical perspective has been determined by interviewing industry suppliers and distributors; and c) a conceptual model of distributor loyalty has been developed and empirically tested. 
The study concludes that further research into distributor loyalty is imperative if we are to build a comprehensive theory about the nature and components of distributor loyalty. Further research is especially important because it will investigate a research field that is in its infancy.

text: Distribution loyalty: Towards a conceptual model Despite the increasing importance of business-to-business loyalty, distributor loyalty (loyalty between a distributor and a supplier) has attracted very limited academic research. This these develops and test the construct of distributor loyalty through a synthesis of the related fields of customer loyalty and commitment. 
The thesis comprises seven chapters that outline three phases of research. Phase one involves the development of a provisional conceptual model through a combination of deductive and inductive approaches. The second phase describes the process and results of developing and testing measures for use in the model. The final phase outlines the empirical testing of the model on a sample of 151 respondents (27% response rate). 
The research uses a positivist ontological paradigm, and adopts a foundationalist epistemological perspective that means the majority of the data analyses are empirically based. Initial tests validated the conceptual model. However, refinement of the model resulted in improved performance, with the explanation of variance rising to 58%. 
The revised model comprises: a) three antecedents (trust, satisfaction and shared values); b) a moderating variable (contractual obligations); and c) a two-part dependent variable, where the behavioural component (repeat purchase behaviour [RPB]) mediates the relationship between the antecedents and the attitudinal component of the dependent variable (absolute attitude). Significant interactions were confirmed between: a) satisfaction and contractual obligations, b) trust and RPB, and c) shared values and RPB. 
The research represents an important start to the development of a robust theory of distributor loyalty in three ways: a) the related fields of customer loyalty and commitment have been synthesised to identify contributions to the conceptualisation of distributor loyalty; b) how distributor loyalty is perceived and conceived from a practical perspective has been determined by interviewing industry suppliers and distributors; and c) a conceptual model of distributor loyalty has been developed and empirically tested. 
The study concludes that further research into distributor loyalty is imperative if we are to build a comprehensive theory about the nature and components of distributor loyalty. Further research is especially important because it will investigate a research field that is in its infancy.

year: 2006

title: Efficient online evaluation of big data stream classifiers

authors: Bifet, Albert

subjects: Data Streams

abstract: The evaluation of classifiers in data streams is fundamental so that poorly-performing models can be identified, and either improved or replaced by better-performing models. This is an increasingly relevant and important task as stream data is generated from more sources, in real-time, in large quantities, and is now considered the largest source of big data. Both researchers and practitioners need to be able to effectively evaluate the performance of the methods they employ. However, there are major challenges for evaluation in a stream. Instances arriving in a data stream are usually time-dependent, and the underlying concept that they represent may evolve over time. Furthermore, the massive quantity of data also tends to exacerbate issues such as class imbalance. Current frameworks for evaluating streaming and online algorithms are able to give predictions in real-time, but as they use a prequential setting, they build only one model, and are thus not able to compute the statistical significance of results in real-time. In this paper we propose a new evaluation methodology for big data streams. This methodology addresses unbalanced data streams, data where change occurs on different time scales, and the question of how to split the data between training and testing, over multiple models.

text: Efficient online evaluation of big data stream classifiers The evaluation of classifiers in data streams is fundamental so that poorly-performing models can be identified, and either improved or replaced by better-performing models. This is an increasingly relevant and important task as stream data is generated from more sources, in real-time, in large quantities, and is now considered the largest source of big data. Both researchers and practitioners need to be able to effectively evaluate the performance of the methods they employ. However, there are major challenges for evaluation in a stream. Instances arriving in a data stream are usually time-dependent, and the underlying concept that they represent may evolve over time. Furthermore, the massive quantity of data also tends to exacerbate issues such as class imbalance. Current frameworks for evaluating streaming and online algorithms are able to give predictions in real-time, but as they use a prequential setting, they build only one model, and are thus not able to compute the statistical significance of results in real-time. In this paper we propose a new evaluation methodology for big data streams. This methodology addresses unbalanced data streams, data where change occurs on different time scales, and the question of how to split the data between training and testing, over multiple models.

year: 2015

title: Book review:  Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy

authors: Hicks, Brendan J.

abstract: This article reviews the book : “Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy”, by RM McDowall.

text: Book review:  Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy This article reviews the book : “Ikawai: freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy”, by RM McDowall.

year: 2012