To some persons, private gardens, public parks, and farms appear to offer a safe way to preserve all of the plants and animals the environment needs. To people who ignore the need…
Abstract
To some persons, private gardens, public parks, and farms appear to offer a safe way to preserve all of the plants and animals the environment needs. To people who ignore the need for conservation, the idea of paving and pruning and artificially laying out our land from coast to coast seems welcome. Wiser persons perceive that the destruction so imposed on nature would ultimately endanger our existence. The wilderness, with its wealth of animals and plants, holds a treasure from which we already extract the chemicals and genes we need for agricultural breeding, for industrial products, and for healing drugs. What to the layman may look like a disorderly swamp, or a dark forest, or an uninteresting prairie, actually encompasses complicated communities of vegetation and animals of all classes, communities that are held together in a stable balance by their interdependent components. Ecologists are identifying the key principles at work in these ecosystems of wetlands and drylands, forests and prairies. In their search for understanding of how life on our planet functions, they have called attention to the overriding need to preserve and protect the biological diversity that characterizes ecosystems. They have found instances in which short‐sighted human tampering has played havoc with subtle ecological balances. Too frequently entire species have vanished under man's onslaught. Sometimes such a disappearance is an indication that an entire ecosystem is out of balance.
Rudolf van Broekhuizen, Bart Soldaat, Henk Oostindie and Jan Douwe van der Ploeg
Comparing rural development with agricultural modernisation, there are fundamental differences. Industrial development of agriculture more and more segregates agriculture from…
Abstract
Comparing rural development with agricultural modernisation, there are fundamental differences. Industrial development of agriculture more and more segregates agriculture from other functions and is based on an ‘individualised transaction model’ in which the world consists of loose particles that are linked by markets (atomistic world view). Conversely rural development can be perceived as a form of re-socialisation of agriculture and is based on a ‘relational cooperation model’ in which new relations characterise business development.
This chapter is a second level type of analysis of many research findings of these common traits or features and gives a picture of the distinctiveness of rural development practices. Nine different features that characterize rural development practices are described and discussed: (1) novelty production, (2) relative autonomy, (3) synergy, (4) clashes and competing claims, (5) coalitions and new relations; the construction of rural webs, (6) common pool resources, (7) new division of labour, (8) the distinctive different impact and (9) resilience. The more these features are present and intertwined, the better the specific practice can face and withstand adverse conditions. These features and the associated practices have to be understood as part of a wider transitional process that might co-evolve with or run counter to competing transitional processes.
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Phyllis G. Holland, Arthur R. DeThomas and Howard N. Ray
Microcomputer technology and spreadsheet software are widely available to small businesses and offer the small firm owner a means of planning more effectively and efficiently. A…
Abstract
Microcomputer technology and spreadsheet software are widely available to small businesses and offer the small firm owner a means of planning more effectively and efficiently. A survey of the planning practices of electronic spreadsheet owners reveals a gap between ownership of the planning tools and their effective use. The study shows the importance of preplanning the purchase of software, of motivation to plan, and of tailoring planning systems to the goal orientation of the firm in order to effectively use the electronic spreadsheet as a small business planning tool.
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Marcus Abbott, John P. Shackleton and Ray Holland
This paper aims to explore the cognitive processing mechanisms of concepts and categories by examining the methodologies behind how branded‐product concepts behave in the second…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the cognitive processing mechanisms of concepts and categories by examining the methodologies behind how branded‐product concepts behave in the second of two co‐incident alternative constructs – as a member of a product category, and in some cases, as a category by itself. General proposals for such mechanisms present language as a facilitator in the process. Therefore, linguistic concept assessment models are proposed to confirm the “brand as category” hypothesis evident in an example brand.
Design/methodology/approach
The study extended conventional semantic differentiation (SD) methodologies; sets of bi‐polar measures of concept properties describing the concept “semantic space”, to the brand category. Through iteration, the SD tool is refined and the effects of weighted scales understood.
Findings
The results provide evidence that some brands do act as categories, with clearly identifiable exemplar positions within the brand‐category “semantic space”.
Practical implications
This paper offers interesting alternatives to established brand and product development activities concerned with the provision of product features and consumer benefits. Specifically, for many emotive, non‐utilitarian products, brand attributes highly influence purchase decision, and therefore brand accuracy and differentiation, measured in the product's properties, are key – characteristics that can be most saliently depicted in the “brand as category” alternative.
Originality/value
This paper applies SD to the brand category for the first time. It provides a new methodology with advantages for brand and product managers concerned with the development of products that are not only “good” but also “right” for the brand.
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Yuanyuan Yin, Shengfeng Qin and Ray Holland
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to measure collaborative design performance and, in turn, improve the final design output during a design process, with a clear…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to measure collaborative design performance and, in turn, improve the final design output during a design process, with a clear objective to develop a design performance measurement (DPM) matrix to measure design project team members' design collaboration performances.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology adopted in this research uses critical literature reviews, in‐depth focus group interviews and a questionnaire survey.
Findings
The main finding of this study is a DPM matrix that addresses five DPM indicators: efficiency, effectiveness, collaboration, management skill, and innovation, and 25 detailed DPM criteria. It was found that decision‐making efficiency is the most important DPM criterion for collaborative design efficiency; plus delivering to the brief for effectiveness; clear team goal/objectives for collaboration; decision‐making ability for management skill; and competitive advantage for innovation.
Research limitations/implications
As the present study was focused on exploring DPM during a design process, some key DPM criteria which are not measurable during a design development process were not included in this study. The proposed multi‐feedback approach for DPM matrix implementation needs to be validated in future research.
Practical implications
The DPM matrix can be applied to support a design manager in measuring and improving collaborative design performance during a design process, by reviewing and modifying collaborative design development, identifying the design team strengths and weaknesses, improving team communication, and suggesting suitable responsive actions.
Originality/value
The major contribution of this study is the investigation and development of a DPM matrix to measure collaborative design performance during a design process.
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Marcus Abbott, Ray Holland, Joseph Giacomin and John Shackleton
This paper aims to explore whether consumers' cognitive reactions to a branded product remain stable over time. In many created concepts, entity attributes are such that cognitive…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore whether consumers' cognitive reactions to a branded product remain stable over time. In many created concepts, entity attributes are such that cognitive reactions to them change in a predictable manner by attraction to elements of novelty and typicality in the genre. By analysing products from a luxury vehicle brand, under the framework of a theoretical model of changing “affective content”, this paper seeks to explore whether brands behave similarly.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on research previously published into the changing nature of art, poetry, architecture and other artistic genres. Text from motoring press articles written contemporarily to the production of products of the brand, over the past 80 years, are analysed for constructs of affective content and the overall values expressed.
Findings
The results provide evidence that the attributes of some branded products produce cognitive conditions that cycle in a manner that is predictable, with change points corresponding to new product introductions.
Practical implications
Through understanding cognitive reactions to the branded product that may be discreetly deconstructable and anticipated, advantageous product attribute development can progress with some certainty. Further, new product launches can be timed to coincide with receptive consumer conditions supported by appropriate attribute emphasis.
Originality/value
This paper applies a theory, which has been proven to exist in a number of artistic genres, to the brand for the first time. Its contribution is twofold; firstly, to expand developing knowledge into the cognitive processing of the branded product; and secondly, to introduce an informative process to product and brand development activities.
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The objective of the research is to develop implementation strategies for producers at the fashion apparel supply chain upstream, in order to move towards a more coordinated…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the research is to develop implementation strategies for producers at the fashion apparel supply chain upstream, in order to move towards a more coordinated, streamlined and responsive process.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative action research was conducted using non‐participatory observations on sampled producers, following a literature review on the design process and mass customization.
Findings
Main activities with contributing factors that funnel in and out of this crucial junction are mapped and broken down into a series of processes that involve producers' selection and customers' choice, where decisions are currently made based on informal correlation of supply push and demand pull, months ahead of end‐users' (“customers” hereon) real demand. Key “integrated decision points” where customers' input is identified and can be introduced into the outbound supply chain.
Research limitations/implications
This conceptual model offers the possibilities for implementing collaborative mass customization with reduced risk for producers and increased satisfaction for customers. However, producers' resistance to change from existing work methods may present potential obstacles. Further work is to be done on collecting, utilizing, and transforming customers' data in order to inform the total design process effectively and comprehensively.
Originality/value
The results of the “integrated decision pulse point map” proposed by this paper provide a threshold to the benefits of mass customization at the heart of the fashion system.
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Anish Babu Zacharia and Nicolas Hamelin
This research used a Phenomenography approach of Eye Tracking to study the Biometric changes when participants were subjected to eight static subliminal images hidden in seven…
Abstract
This research used a Phenomenography approach of Eye Tracking to study the Biometric changes when participants were subjected to eight static subliminal images hidden in seven differently designed packages. Embeds or static subliminal stimulus in the form of pictures and words were hidden in seven different perfume packages and were used to study the changes experienced between the two groups, one of which was subjected to subliminal stimulus. This study was conducted in the Neuro Lab located in the SP Jain Sydney campus. A total of 46 healthy participants were separated into two groups, with one group shown image packages with static subliminal stimulus while the other group was shown image packages without any subliminal stimulus. Eye Tracking data was collected using iMotions. A detailed analysis of the Area of Interest (AOI), Fixation and Heat Map revealed that only a percentage of the participants visited the AOI with the hidden subliminal stimulus, but the participants who noticed the AOIs with the subliminal stimulus especially the male participants spent more time in the AOI indicating that they could be consciously processing the subliminal static stimulus. A statistical analysis of the time to first fixations (TIFF) revealed that the subliminal stimulus was not the first point of attraction.