Cheng-Hsiung Weng and Tony Cheng-Kui Huang
Customer lifetime value (CLV) scoring is highly effective when applied to marketing databases. Some researchers have extended the traditional association rule problem by…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer lifetime value (CLV) scoring is highly effective when applied to marketing databases. Some researchers have extended the traditional association rule problem by associating a weight with each item in a transaction. However, studies of association rule mining have considered the relative benefits or significance of “items” rather than “transactions” belonging to different customers. Because not all customers are financially attractive to firms, it is crucial that their profitability be determined and that transactions be weighted according to CLV. This study aims to discover association rules from the CLV perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This study extended the traditional association rule problem by allowing the association of CLV weight with a transaction to reflect the interest and intensity of customer values. Furthermore, the authors proposed a new algorithm, frequent itemsets of CLV weight (FICLV), to discover frequent itemsets from CLV-weighted transactions.
Findings
Experimental results from the survey data indicate that the proposed FICLV algorithm can discover valuable frequent itemsets. Moreover, the frequent itemsets identified using the FICLV algorithm outperform those discovered through conventional approaches for predicting customer purchasing itemsets in the coming period.
Originality/value
This study is the first to introduce the optimum approach for discovering frequent itemsets from transactions through considering CLV.
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Md Ashaduzzaman, Charles Jebarajakirthy, Scott K. Weaven, Haroon Iqbal Maseeh, Manish Das and Robin Pentecost
Collaborative consumption (CC), a unique business model, provides several monetary and non-monetary benefits to customers. Several adapted theory of planned behaviour (TPB)-based…
Abstract
Purpose
Collaborative consumption (CC), a unique business model, provides several monetary and non-monetary benefits to customers. Several adapted theory of planned behaviour (TPB)-based models were developed and tested to understand this consumption behaviour with the findings inconsistent and fragmented. Thus, this study aims to develop a general and consistent TPB model using a meta-analytic path analysis to better understand customers’ CC adoption behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
Using 37 studies, a meta-analysis was performed adopting several analytical methods; bivariate analysis, moderation analysis and path analysis.
Findings
The universal TPB model shows that factors, that is, trust, attitude, perceived environmental responsibility and communication facilities, drive both perceived usefulness and CC. However, subjective norms, such as perceived behavioural control and emotional value, drive only perceived usefulness. Moderation analysis shows that the relationships between variables used in the proposed TPB model tends to vary depending on five moderators, that is, countries’ economic development level, type of CC, sample size, sample type and survey administration method.
Research limitations/implications
The consideration of only quantitative papers and papers written in English language in this meta-analysis may bias the study’s findings.
Practical implications
Based on the findings regarding important factors that consumers consider when adopting CC, this study provides insightful recommendations to companies facilitating CC.
Originality/value
By developing the universal TPB model, this study theoretically contributes to the TPB model, and by conducting the moderation test, the study contextually contributes to the TPB literature in the CC context.
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Tony Huang and Joe Chu
A study was conducted to examine the sensitivity of solder joint integrity for PBGA assembly and post rework process yields to the change of the solder ball coplanarity…
Abstract
A study was conducted to examine the sensitivity of solder joint integrity for PBGA assembly and post rework process yields to the change of the solder ball coplanarity specification from 0.15mm to 0.20mm as well as to increase the level of confidence with respect to the specification change. The study considered the following experimental variables: solder ball coplanarity; stencil thickness and aperture design; whether the assembly also experiences a wave soldering process; the rework method, i.e. whether there is dispensing of solder paste or just a flux. Electrical continuity tests were performed after PBGA assembly and rework. Accelerated thermal cycling and thermal shock tests were then used to evaluate the solder joint reliability. Additionally, standoff heights of PBGA solder joints were measured through cross sectioning samples. Statistical comparisons of the mean standoff height between different PBGA coplanarity groups, where different experiment variables were applied, allowed for determination of the variation of BGA solder joint integrity.
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With its worldwide fame for making action films, Hong Kong cinema has been defined as masculine. Action films, including the costumed martial arts films and the modern gangster…
Abstract
With its worldwide fame for making action films, Hong Kong cinema has been defined as masculine. Action films, including the costumed martial arts films and the modern gangster films, have been a major genre in Hong Kong cinema from the 1960s on. Despite the dominant masculinity, women still play significant roles in some of these films. In fact, fighting women leave footprints in the history of Hong Kong cinema, which precede their counterparts in the West and even provide models for Hollywood after 2000.
This chapter focuses on the female characters portrayed by the acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, whose works have an ambiguous connection to mainstream genres. He modifies Hong Kong action films and creates unconventional female characters such as the drug dealer in Chungking Express (1994), the killer dispatcher in Fallen Angels (1995), the swordswoman in Ashes of Time (1994), and the kung fu master in The Grandmaster (2013). Wong's films have been mush discussed in academia, but the gender images therein are quite ignored. With high intertextuality, these characters are used to question mainstream action films and redefine women's roles in male's cinematic space. In addition, via the writing of these women, Wong constructs an open and ambivalent post-colonial Hong Kong identity. This paper contextualises the figures of sword-wielding and gun-shooting women and examines how Wong Kar-wai deploys these images to articulate the cultural identity of a post-colonial city.
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Chitra Singla, Shridhar Sethuram and Sanjay Kumar Jena
The case on Moodcafe captures the journey of the start-up and its entrepreneurs from the beginning till the fund-raising stage. The case brings forth critical decisions that each…
Abstract
The case on Moodcafe captures the journey of the start-up and its entrepreneurs from the beginning till the fund-raising stage. The case brings forth critical decisions that each entrepreneur or the team of co-founders have to address during their start-up journey. This short case gives opportunity to delve into two aspects mainly a) As a founder, which investor should one choose for seeking funds and what should be the terms and conditions of investment? and b) How can one review and assess the business model of a start-up?
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical historical analysis of the business (mis)behaviors and influencing factors that discourage enduring cooperation between…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical historical analysis of the business (mis)behaviors and influencing factors that discourage enduring cooperation between principals and agents, to introduce strategies that embrace the social values, economic motivation and institutional designs historically adopted to curtail dishonest acts in international business and to inform an improved principal–agent theory that reflects principal–agent reciprocity as shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, strategic and ideological forces
Design/methodology/approach
The critical historical research method is used to analyze Chinese compradors and the foreign companies they served in pre-1949 China.
Findings
Business practitioners can extend orthodox principal–agent theory by scrutinizing the complex interactions between local agents and foreign companies. Instead of agents pursuing their economic interests exclusively, as posited by principal–agent theory, they also may pursue principal-shared interests (as suggested by stewardship theory) because of social norms and cultural values that can affect business-related choices and the social bonds built between principals and agents.
Research limitations/implications
The behaviors of compradors and foreign companies in pre-1949 China suggest international business practices for shaping social bonds between principals and agents and foreign principals’ creative efforts to enhance shared interests with local agents.
Practical implications
Understanding principal–agent theory’s limitations can help international management scholars and practitioners mitigate transaction partners’ dishonest acts.
Originality/value
A critical historical analysis of intermediary businesspeople’s (mis)behavior in pre-1949 (1840–1949) China can inform the generalizability of principal–agent theory and contemporary business strategies for minimizing agents’ dishonest acts.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the means for enhancing the image and business legitimacy of a socially discredited industry – pawnbroking in pre-1949 China – are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the means for enhancing the image and business legitimacy of a socially discredited industry – pawnbroking in pre-1949 China – are explored. Previous studies suggest companies operating within such industries cannot solely rely on hard marketing strategies “to maximize sales and profits as they do with soaps and shoes” (Davidson, 2003, p. 7). Instead, they must find soft strategies for improving company and industry image and legitimacy.
Design/methodology/approach
This research relies on qualitative analysis of historical data and documents.
Findings
Soft strategies deployed by Chinese pawnbrokers – such as interpretations, moral value advocacies and institutionalized arrangements – contributed substantially to improving pawnbroking’s image and business legitimacy.
Research limitations/implications
Interconnections among ethical values, image, business legitimacy and select marketing strategies are clarified. The efficacy of historically analyzing previously implemented business strategies and their embedding contexts is discussed.
Practical implications
Strategies Chinese pawnbrokers used to mitigate their previously negative image and boost their business legitimacy suggest strategies current socially disapproved companies can use to improve their image and business legitimacy.
Originality/value
A historical analysis of pre-1949 Chinese pawnbroking can suggest soft marketing strategies for overcoming consumers’ negative company and industry impressions.
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Andreia de Bem Machado, Maria José Sousa and Gertrudes Aparecida Dandolini
Blockchain is an innovative and emerging technology that allows the structuring of open data in a secure and decentralized manner. This technology, coupled with artificial…
Abstract
Blockchain is an innovative and emerging technology that allows the structuring of open data in a secure and decentralized manner. This technology, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), is a driver of digital transformation that permeates all sectors of the economy. In this context, it becomes relevant to understand the applicability of AI and blockchain in education, more specifically their use in higher education. Thus, the following problem arises: how can blockchain technology and AI be applied to higher education? To answer this problem, the following objective was set: to map by means of a scoping review how AI and blockchain can be applied in education as a technology for higher education. To this end, a bibliometric search was conducted in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases, adopting the PRiSM methodology for scoping review. The results showed that blockchain and AI can be used in higher education through a smart contract that serves to motivate teamwork and student involvement in activities performed in the school context and also to increase machine reliability by establishing a chain of information. It is also concluded that these technologies will help form a generation ready to work in a more collaborative way, adopting attitudes of sustainability in its local and global context for solving complex problems of everyday life in the 21st century.
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The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore potential applications of cyborgian technologies within service contexts and how service providers may leverage the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore potential applications of cyborgian technologies within service contexts and how service providers may leverage the integration of cyborgian service actors into their service proposition. In doing so, the paper proposes a new category of “melded” frontline employees (FLEs), where advanced technologies become embodied within human actors. The paper presents potential opportunities and challenges that may arise through cyborg technological advancements and proposes a future research agenda related to these.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on literature in the fields of services management, artificial intelligence, robotics, intelligence augmentation (IA) and human intelligence to conceptualise potential cyborgian applications.
Findings
The paper examines how cyborg bio- and psychophysical characteristics may significantly differentiate the nature of service interactions from traditional “unenhanced” service interactions. In doing so, the authors propose “melding” as a conceptual category of technological impact on FLEs. This category reflects the embodiment of emergent technologies not previously captured within existing literature on cyborgs. The authors examine how traditional roles of FLEs will be potentially impacted by the integration of emergent cyborg technologies, such as neural interfaces and implants, into service contexts before outlining future research directions related to these, specifically highlighting the range of ethical considerations.
Originality/value
Service interactions with cyborg FLEs represent a new context for examining the potential impact of cyborgs. This paper explores how technological advancements will alter the individual capacities of humans to enable such employees to intuitively and empathetically create solutions to complex service challenges. In doing so, the authors augment the extant literature on cyborgs, such as the body hacking movement. The paper also outlines a research agenda to address the potential consequences of cyborgian integration.