Hans H. Stamer and Hermann Diller
This paper sets out to explore the degree to which consumer price segments can be generalized across product categories.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to explore the degree to which consumer price segments can be generalized across product categories.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive segmentation framework of price‐related activating and cognitive inner processes and preferences is proposed to account for heterogeneity in consumer response to price. Large‐scale consumer survey data on price‐related attitudes in eight consumer goods categories (paper tissue, soap bar, chocolate bar, detergent, facial moisturizer, television set, washing machine, jeans) are used for cluster analysis.
Findings
On the aggregate level, five stable price segments across consumer goods categories are identified and described. On the individual level, it is found that price behavioural consistency is a function of the category context in terms of price uncertainty and quality uncertainty.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that price management should be concerned with price segment structures and their specific price needs. Price segmentation could particularly benefit retailers in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of consumer targeting.
Originality/value
The contribution of the study is to show that identical price segments can be identified across categories, whereas the individual segment membership depends on the nature and level of perceived risk in the category.
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Beat Hans Wafler and Yuosre F. Badir
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how two multinational companies (MNCs) faced the challenge of market uncertainty and political instability in a newly emerging market, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how two multinational companies (MNCs) faced the challenge of market uncertainty and political instability in a newly emerging market, and how it affected the impact of their product marketing strategy (PMS) and product (brand) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative longitudinal paired case study of a market entry by two global MNCs. Twelve global brands (products) were studied, which were locally manufactured and launched by the two MNCs during their first ten years of operation in Vietnam.
Findings
The authors approached the investigation from a conventional point of view: standardization versus adaptation. The results showed that in addition to these two traditional processes, a third one was also operating, which the authors labeled semi-adaptation, or the midway PMS. Semi-adaptation refers to a product that has been introduced to Vietnam from a neighboring country.
Research limitations/implications
This research is based on two European MNCs active in the food and consumer-household goods industry in a newly emerging market: Vietnam.
Practical implications
This primary data indicate that the product standardization, semi-adaptation and adaptation process in practice is a technique applied to fit a product to a newly emerging market more by degree of change than by product category.
Originality/value
This paper supports a recent stream of research, which views Standardization or Adaptation as the two ends of the same continuum, where the degree of the firm’s PMS can range between them.
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Alexander Richter, Alexander Stocker, Sebastian Müller and Gabriela Avram
The purpose of this paper is to provide both practice‐oriented researchers and practitioners with detailed insights into the social software goals and implementation strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide both practice‐oriented researchers and practitioners with detailed insights into the social software goals and implementation strategies for corporate environments. Also, to illustrate the novelty and specificity of corporate social software (CSS) compared to other groupware or knowledge management systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is grounded in the ongoing discussion on differences and commonalities of knowledge management and Enterprise 2.0 applications and motivated by the lack of scientific studies on this topic. The authors have therefore made a comprehensive study of social software adoption in corporate environments, performing a cross‐case analysis of 23 enterprises. The study was meant to enable researchers and practitioners to acquire a better understanding and appropriate related explanations of the relatively new phenomenon of CSS appropriation and use.
Findings
From the cross‐case analysis, six main goals of CSS adoption were derived and compared with the goals of knowledge management projects and initiatives. While some of the goals set for the introduction of CSS seem to coincide with those resulting from knowledge management studies (e.g. establishing networks of experts), others appear to be novel and specific for CSS (e.g. improving employee‐to‐employee communication).
Originality/value
By investigating 23 different cases (most of these case studies being documented by the authors), this paper presents one of the most comprehensive cross‐case analyses systematically exploring pursued goals and implementation approaches adopted for CSS. The contribution of the study is relevant for both research and practice and it is aimed to contribute to the ongoing scientific debate on social software in knowledge management and information systems research.
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Ying Yang and Christopher Cooke
This study aims to explore the barriers to upscaling the production capacity of the edible insect sector in the UK and to identify the impact of current regulation on the sector's…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the barriers to upscaling the production capacity of the edible insect sector in the UK and to identify the impact of current regulation on the sector's development.
Design/methodology/approach
A significant proportion of edible insect-producing companies within the UK were identified through an online market research database and contacted via email to invite them to participate in this study. Phone interviews were conducted with ten companies. Thematic analysis was adopted for data analysis.
Findings
There were five themes identified as barriers to the upscaling of the production for the edible insect sector in the UK: insect feeding materials, production capacity, expertise and knowledge, new product development and regulatory uncertainty.
Research limitations/implications
This research was based on a qualitative study. Further quantitative research is needed to test the extent of the impact of these five themes on upscaling production capacity. In addition to production capacity, marketing and consumers' acceptance, culture and behaviour can also be considered in future studies.
Originality/value
This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing insight on the barriers to upscaling production capacity in the edible insect sector.
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Xiujie Wang, Jian Liu and Can Ma
The purpose of this study is that on the basis of the competitive edge theory, source mechanism and evaluation approaches of industrial cluster competitiveness, combined with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is that on the basis of the competitive edge theory, source mechanism and evaluation approaches of industrial cluster competitiveness, combined with international trends in the automobile industry and the features of Chinese automobile industrial cluster development, an evaluation index system about cluster competitiveness of auto industry is built with comprehensive consideration of factors such as cluster development environment, external scale effect and internal competitiveness from the perspective of value chain of automobile industry.
Design/methodology/approach
An evaluation index system for automobile industrial cluster competitiveness was realized by integrating current strengths and future growth capacities with multidimensional, dynamic and comprehensive characteristics, which included 3 second-level, 10 third-level and 16 fourth-level indices. In the light of evaluation methods, a group intelligence optimization algorithm – (cuckoo search) – and traditional methods of complex decision-making system – analytic hierarchy process (AHP) – were combined to propose the cuckoo-AHP evaluation method. It was applied for the calculation and optimization of weight values in an automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluation index for the purpose of obtaining better scientific and more reliable results.
Findings
The research might further enrich the evaluation theory of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness and also can be useful for showing how traditional evaluation methods can be combined with intelligent algorithms to carry out better automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluations. In addition, studies of channels for kick-starting Chinese auto industrial cluster competitiveness are expected to provide references for how to enhance the cluster competitiveness of the Chinese automobile industry.
Practical implications
Changsha and Liuzhou, the Guangxi automobile industrial clusters as the two empirical analysis objects selected for this paper, are geographically adjacent to each other. The automobile industries of the two cities are local pillar industries with the strong support of the local government. Both clusters have their own advantages and weak points with different characteristics of cluster development, and they enjoy a representative significance amongst China’s numerous auto industrial clusters that are taking shape. Comparative analysis of both clusters serves as a good reference for the objective evaluation of the competitiveness of Chinese automobile clusters in terms of their real and practical developments and in respect of the success of reasonable scientific and industrial cluster policies.
Originality/value
Multidimensional, dynamic, integrated evaluation index systems are constructed around automobile industrial cluster competitiveness, which has taken into account developments in current strengths and future growth capacity. The cuckoo-AHP evaluation method has been formed by combining the traditional decision-making method known as AHP with a new meta-heuristic optimization algorithm called “cuckoo search”. Both have been used in evaluations of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness in Liuzhou and Changsha, which will be beneficial for enriching automobile industrial cluster competitiveness evaluation theory and new evaluation methods that will enable better evaluations of automobile industrial cluster competitiveness.
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Smita Abhijit Ganjare, Sunil M. Satao and Vaibhav Narwane
In today's fast developing era, the volume of data is increasing day by day. The traditional methods are lagging for efficiently managing the huge amount of data. The adoption of…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's fast developing era, the volume of data is increasing day by day. The traditional methods are lagging for efficiently managing the huge amount of data. The adoption of machine learning techniques helps in efficient management of data and draws relevant patterns from that data. The main aim of this research paper is to provide brief information about the proposed adoption of machine learning techniques in different sectors of manufacturing supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
This research paper has done rigorous systematic literature review of adoption of machine learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain from year 2015 to 2023. Out of 511 papers, 74 papers are shortlisted for detailed analysis.
Findings
The papers are subcategorised into 8 sections which helps in scrutinizing the work done in manufacturing supply chain. This paper helps in finding out the contribution of application of machine learning techniques in manufacturing field mostly in automotive sector.
Practical implications
The research is limited to papers published from year 2015 to year 2023. The limitation of the current research that book chapters, unpublished work, white papers and conference papers are not considered for study. Only English language articles and review papers are studied in brief. This study helps in adoption of machine learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few studies which investigate machine learning techniques in manufacturing sector and supply chain through systematic literature survey.
Highlights
A comprehensive understanding of Machine Learning techniques is presented.
The state of art of adoption of Machine Learning techniques are investigated.
The methodology of (SLR) is proposed.
An innovative study of Machine Learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.
A comprehensive understanding of Machine Learning techniques is presented.
The state of art of adoption of Machine Learning techniques are investigated.
The methodology of (SLR) is proposed.
An innovative study of Machine Learning techniques in manufacturing supply chain.
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Christopher Heywood and Russell Kenley
The paper aims to establish empirical connections between corporate real estate management (CREM) practices and organisations' sources of sustainable competitive advantage (SSCA)…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to establish empirical connections between corporate real estate management (CREM) practices and organisations' sources of sustainable competitive advantage (SSCA). The alignment of CREM practices with modes of achieving competitiveness provides greater competitive advantage from CREM.
Design/methodology/approach
The model for sustainable competitive advantage for corporate real estate (CRE) theorising the connections between CREM practices and SSCAs was implemented in a survey of Australian CRE managers. Practices' competitive benefits are reported at the aggregated level of practice categories and illustrated with a selected category of individual practices.
Findings
The model was supported by the study's results by providing connections suggested in the model but not previously corroborated in the literature. The cost source of sustainable competitive advantage was a dominant empirical competitive mode for CREM, as it was in the model. Categories of technical CREM practices providing competitive advantage were shown to be practices for “location/site selection”, “workplace styles” and “corporate finance for CRE”.
Research limitations/implications
The research's relatively small sample of organisations meant that not all practices were evident. However, the study does establish the model's usefulness for evaluating CREM's alignment with organisations' modes of competition.
Practical implications
For CRE and its management to fully support a competitive organisation it is essential that CREM practices align with that organisation's competitive positioning. This research evaluated a framework for CRE managers to do this.
Originality/value
CRE, its management, and their connections to competitiveness have seldom been studied but are important as CRE is an organisations' second largest resource. This paper's model is a significant advance in frameworks linking CREM practices to organisational competitiveness for both practitioners and also further theoretical work in the area.
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Paolo Taticchi, Luca Cagnazzo, Roger Beach and Kevin Barber
The purpose of this paper is to draw on the experiences of a real company to develop a framework of management processes for an organizational network model that has enabled a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw on the experiences of a real company to develop a framework of management processes for an organizational network model that has enabled a network of enterprises to develop new levels of organizational flexibility, particularly with regards to improving the network's capacity to innovate.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal case study of an Italian enterprise network forms the basis of the analysis described in this paper.
Findings
The key operational and organizational activities of the principal agent in a novel organizational network model known as the Virtual Development Office (VDO) are identified and discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The (VDO) concept is identified as a realistic and practical means of leveraging the competences of an enterprise network to achieve competitive advantage. However, more empirical data are required before the concepts described herein can be generalised more widely.
Practical implications
The small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) is a major contributor to the European economy. However, the constraints that these organizations operate under mean that they are often at a competitive disadvantage. The organizational network model outlined in this paper can assist in leveraging their capacity to innovate.
Originality/value
Research in collaborative networks has become increasingly important given the significant impact it can have on competitiveness. This paper demonstrates a framework of management processes for a novel organizational network model that facilitates collaboration amongst networks of SMEs.