A Quantitative Model for Decomposing & Assessing the Value for the Customer

The research presented in this paper proposes a novel quantitative model for decomposing and assessing the Value for the Customer. The proposed approach builds on the different dimensions of the Value Network analysis proposed by Verna Allee having as background the concept of Value for the Customer proposed by Woodall. In this context, the Value for the Customer is modelled as a relationship established between the exchanged deliverables and a combination of tangible and intangible assets projected into their endogenous or exogenous dimensions. The Value Network Analysis of the deliverables exchange enables an in-depth understanding of this frontier and the implicit modelling of co-creation scenarios. The proposed Conceptual Model for Decomposing Value for the Customer combines several concepts: from the marketing area we have the concept of Value for the Customer; from the area of intellectual capital the concept of Value Network Analysis; from the collaborative networks area we have the perspective of the enterprise life cycle and the endogenous and exogenous perspectives; at last, the proposed model is supported by a mathematical formal description that stems from the area of Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The whole concept is illustrated in the context of a case study of an enterprise in the footwear industry (Pontechem). The merits of this approach seem evident from the contact with Pontechem as it provides a structured approach for the enterprises to assess the adequacy of their value proposition to the client/customer needs and how these relate to their endogenous and/or exogenous tangible or intangible assets. The proposed model, as a tool, may therefore be a useful instrument in supporting the commercialisation of new products and/or services

Supply Chain

Traditionally supply chain management has meant factories, assembly lines, warehouses, transportation vehicles, and time sheets. Modern supply chain management is a highly complex, multidimensional problem set with virtually endless number of variables for optimization. An Internet enabled supply chain may have just-in-time delivery, precise inventory visibility, and up-to-the-minute distribution-tracking capabilities. Technology advances have enabled supply chains to become strategic weapons that can help avoid disasters, lower costs, and make money. From internal enterprise processes to external business transactions with suppliers, transporters, channels and end-users marks the wide range of challenges researchers have to handle. The aim of this book is at revealing and illustrating this diversity in terms of scientific and theoretical fundamentals, prevailing concepts as well as current practical applications

INTERVAL TYPE-2 FUZZY MODEL FOR CUSTOMER COMPLAINT HANDLING

Complaint management system (CMS) has become increasingly important for organizations, businesses, and government in Malaysia. The interaction between customers and business provider based on complaints which referring to perceptions and wording involves uncertainties and not an easy task in complaint handling process to rank the complaint

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research

ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [There is ever more research on smart cities and new interdisciplinary approaches proposed on the study of smart cities. At the same time, problems pertinent to communities inhabiting rural areas are being addressed, as part of discussions in contigious fields of research, be it environmental studies, sociology, or agriculture. Even if rural areas and countryside communities have previously been a subject of concern for robust policy frameworks, such as the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Arguably, the concept of ‘the village’ has been largely absent in the debate. As a result, when advances in sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) led to the emergence of a rich body of research on smart cities, the application and usability of ICT in the context of a village has remained underdiscussed in the literature. Against this backdrop, this volume delivers on four objectives. It delineates the conceptual boundaries of the concept of ‘smart village’. It highlights in which ways ‘smart village’ is distinct from ‘smart city’. It examines in which ways smart cities research can enrich smart villages research. It sheds light on the smart village research agenda as it unfolds in European and global contexts.

Mastering Uncertainty in Mechanical Engineering

This open access book reports on innovative methods, technologies and strategies for mastering uncertainty in technical systems. Despite the fact that current research on uncertainty is mainly focusing on uncertainty quantification and analysis, this book gives emphasis to innovative ways to master uncertainty in engineering design, production and product usage alike. It gathers authoritative contributions by more than 30 scientists reporting on years of research in the areas of engineering, applied mathematics and law, thus offering a timely, comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of theories and methods for quantifying data, model and structural uncertainty, and of fundamental strategies for mastering uncertainty. It covers key concepts such as robustness, flexibility and resilience in detail. All the described methods, technologies and strategies have been validated with the help of three technical systems, i.e. the Modular Active Spring-Damper System, the Active Air Spring and the 3D Servo Press, which have been in turn developed and tested during more than ten years of cooperative research. Overall, this book offers a timely, practice-oriented reference guide to graduate students, researchers and professionals dealing with uncertainty in the broad field of mechanical engineering

Rethinking the risk matrix

So far risk has been mostly defined as the expected value of a loss, mathematically PL (being P the probability of an adverse event and L the loss incurred as a consequence of the adverse event). The so called risk matrix follows from such definition. This definition of risk is justified in a long term “managerial” perspective, in which it is conceivable to distribute the effects of an adverse event on a large number of subjects or a large number of recurrences. In other words, this definition is mostly justified on frequentist terms. Moreover, according to this definition, in two extreme situations (high-probability/low-consequence and low-probability/high-consequence), the estimated risk is low. This logic is against the principles of sustainability and continuous improvement, which should impose instead both a continuous search for lower probabilities of adverse events (higher and higher reliability) and a continuous search for lower impact of adverse events (in accordance with the fail-safe principle). In this work a different definition of risk is proposed, which stems from the idea of safeguard: (1Risk)=(1P)(1L). According to this definition, the risk levels can be considered low only when both the probability of the adverse event and the loss are small. Such perspective, in which the calculation of safeguard is privileged to the calculation of risk, would possibly avoid exposing the Society to catastrophic consequences, sometimes due to wrong or oversimplified use of probabilistic models. Therefore, it can be seen as the citizen’s perspective to the definition of risk

The nuts and bolts of the UK kit car movement, 1949-2009: an ecological analysis

The one qualitative and two empirical chapters of this thesis addresses the following theory fragments of organizational ecology: (1) the theoretical construction and empirical evidence in support of a frequency code, (2) organizational vital rates with respect to multiple category membership (3) measuring population dynamics: diversity and the engagement niche. (1) the theoretical construction and empirical evidence in support of a frequency code. The theory of the code (Polos et al, 2002; Hannan et al., 2007) is a relatively novel theoretical construction in ecology, with little - if any - explicit empirical/qualitative research conducted in this area. This chapter highlights how the present construction of a code is unsuited in its application to a specific sub - set of the audience: critics. General audience members are unable to dedicate time and effort in understanding all aspects of an offering or organization; they look at only a small set of feature values. Should an object satisfy this schema, the object takes on a taken for granted character. The fewer the feature values assessed by an audience member, the higher the taken for grantedness of the object. By devising a frequency code, the role of the critic - reducing uncertainty to audience members by assessing all aspects of an object - can be fully appreciated. Although all aspects of the objects are scrutinized, some feature values might come under more scrutiny than others. It is this aspect of the frequency code that determines an object’s taken for granted character. Should all of the features be subjected to low scrutiny, the taken for granted character of the object is high; should the feature values be subjected to higher scrutiny, the taken for granted character of the object is lower. Restating aspects of the theory leads to insights that can be qualitatively assessed with respect to critical reviews of kit cars. By using content analysis to support the theory development, it is hoped the issue of defining and measuring codes is progressed further by researchers, and the insight garnered from qualitative data analysis can be applied more often to studies assessing codes. (2) organizational vital rates with respect to multiple category membership. Category generalism (those which claim membership of more than one labeled category) and category specialism (those which claim membership of a single labeled category) have focussed on audience appeal, whether it be via critical attention of securities (Zuckerman, 1999; 2000), film reviews (Zuckerman and Kim, 2003; Zuckerman, Kim, Ukanwa, and von Rittman, 2003; Hsu, 2006) or wine reviews (Negro et al, 2010). Category specialists have higher audience appeal and fitness at a given position than category generalists. Such appeal might manifest itself in the form of greater coverage by critics (Hsu, 2006) and more favorable reviews (Hsu, 2006; Negro et al., 2010), to a higher probability of selling a product at online auction (Hsu et al., 2009). One of the limitations of these studies is that they do not have sufficient temporal length to investigate core ecological and evolutionary dynamics of entry and exit rates. By having the complete history of the UK kit car movement from its inception in 1949 to 2009, attempts can be made at applying multiple category membership to a long term evolutionary perspective. Empirical evidence supports the hypotheses that the interaction of density of category generalists (those organizations which produce both type authentic and craft authentic product offerings) inhibits the legitimation of the category specialist identities (type authentic category specialists and craft authentic category specialists). This interaction between density of category generalists and category specialists lowers the founding rate and increases the failure rate of category specialists. Although the lower appeal of category generalists has been documented, the deleterious effect of increasing category generalist density on the vital rates (and legitimation) of category specialist identities has not been assessed. (3) measuring population dynamics: diversity and the engagement niche. Measuring the engagement niche (Hannan et al., 2007) of an organization is a complex task, with different ways in which a variable can be constructed (Hannan et al., 2007; Hsu et al., 2009). This chapter examines the effect of constructing variables that capture the engagement niche of an organizationin a competitive environment. It starts with a relatively basic construction, then builds up to one that considers competition within a product category, and then one within the population. The merits or otherwise of each variable and their implications to researchers are discussed in detail. It concludes with comparing the Simpson Index of diversity against the Shannon entropy measure with the intention of analyzing the particular strengths of each diversity measure. The differing variables capturing the engagement niche illustrate the attention required by the analyst when deciding on how to conceptualize the engagement niche.