Difficulties in the use of equivalence scales for normative purpsoses

Can we make welfare comparisons of households of different characteristics on the basis of their observed behavior in relation to cornmodity demands? This paper reviews sorne of the fundamental difficulties encountered in the attempt to use the concept oí an equivalence scale as a vehic1e for introducing demographics and other characteristics into empirical demand analysis and, at the same time, for establishing interpersonal comparisons oí wel1-being

An Examination of a Multidimensional Model of Customer Satisfaction with Internet Purchasing

The World Wide Web and Internet have transformed the competitive business environment and altered the customer-firm relationship by creating a new retailing format and service enterprise. It is rapidly growing as a competitive distribution medium in which customer satisfaction will be a major success factor in the development and maintenance of this new retailing format. Despite its growing importance as a new shopping medium, little empirical research has been conducted that examines the relationship between Internet shopping, customer satisfaction, company image, and future online purchasing. Research is needed to develop theoretical models that will systematically explain and predict behavior related to Internet shopping. The purpose of this dissertation research was to examine how consumers become satisfied with an Internet purchasing experience, how company image is impacted by the shopping experience, and how satisfaction and company image affect future purchase behavior. Specifically, the constructs of information quality, ease of use, value, and expectation congruency were examined to determine their influence on satisfaction and company image in the context of shopping over the Internet. In order to assess the various relationships that exist in the proposed model of customer satisfaction with Internet purchasing, a structural modeling approach was employed. In addition, analysis of variance test of significance was conducted to determine if there were any differences in the mean ratings of satisfaction with an Internet purchase among different groups of consumers. Overall, the results of testing the model in this study support the assertion that a positive and direct relationship exists between customer satisfaction and the intention to continue shopping at a firm\u27s Web site. The results also provide evidence for the factors that significantly influence satisfaction with online shopping. Economic value and ease of use were found to have a positive and direct effect on consumer satisfaction with an Internet purchasing experience. These findings may be important for marketing managers because they can provide guidelines for planning Internet strategies to develop customer satisfaction and maintain customer loyalty. A positive and direct effect between company image and consumers\u27 desires to continue shopping on the firm\u27s Web site was also statistically supported by the data. The factors found to influence a positive company image after shopping at a firm\u27s Web site are ease of use and economic value. The results of the study also revealed that expectations and frequency of Internet shopping affected consumer\u27s ratings of satisfaction. The findings from this study may provide future researchers with evidence to expand their understanding of how the electronic retail medium of the Internet impacts the customer-firm relationship. In summary, this study provides empirical support for the factors that influence satisfaction with an Internet shopping experience, company image, and future purchasing behavior from a firm\u27s Web site

Managing A Paradox–Design Principles for Executives’ IT Support

How are companies managed today and what part does state-of-the-art IT play? Executive information systems (EIS) should support top managers in managing their companies. But many executives complain that EIS bear little relevance to their management task (functional requirements) and fail even more to accommodate their working style (design requirements). This article focuses on the latter and contributes to new-generation EIS by identifying twelve principles for their design. The first step in doing so is to systematically develop requirements criteria for EIS design. On this point, our research revealed a twofold gap: as the rigor of scientific models (e.g. structural models of IS user satisfaction and technology acceptance) increases, they become less relevant for direct use in practice. At the same time, practitioner journals demonstrate relevance, but do not evidence strong rigor. Linking the requirements criteria with rigor and relevance, this article applies the principle of economic efficiency. In a second step, using that schema, design principles for new-generation EIS are derived. They are based on gaps identified in an empirical study and the findings of four instantiations within the chemicals, logistics, high-tech, and automotive supplier industries

The Component Packaging Problem: A Vehicle for the Development of Multidisciplinary Design and Analysis Methodologies

This report summarizes academic research which has resulted in an increased appreciation for multidisciplinary efforts among our students, colleagues and administrators. It has also generated a number of research ideas that emerged from the interaction between disciplines. Overall, 17 undergraduate students and 16 graduate students benefited directly from the NASA grant: an additional 11 graduate students were impacted and participated without financial support from NASA. The work resulted in 16 theses (with 7 to be completed in the near future), 67 papers or reports mostly published in 8 journals and/or presented at various conferences (a total of 83 papers, presentations and reports published based on NASA inspired or supported work). In addition, the faculty and students presented related work at many meetings, and continuing work has been proposed to NSF, the Army, Industry and other state and federal institutions to continue efforts in the direction of multidisciplinary and recently multi-objective design and analysis. The specific problem addressed is component packing which was solved as a multi-objective problem using iterative genetic algorithms and decomposition. Further testing and refinement of the methodology developed is presently under investigation. Teaming issues research and classes resulted in the publication of a web site, (http://design.eng.clemson.edu/psych4991) which provides pointers and techniques to interested parties. Specific advantages of using iterative genetic algorithms, hurdles faced and resolved, and institutional difficulties associated with multi-discipline teaming are described in some detail

Global guidance for local generalization in model checking

SMT-based model checkers, especially IC3-style ones, are currently the most effective techniques for verification of infinite state systems. They infer global inductive invariants via local reasoning about a single step of the transition relation of a system, while employing SMT-based procedures, such as interpolation, to mitigate the limitations of local reasoning and allow for better generalization. Unfortunately, these mitigations intertwine model checking with heuristics of the underlying SMT-solver, negatively affecting stability of model checking. In this paper, we propose to tackle the limitations of locality in a systematic manner. We introduce explicit global guidance into the local reasoning performed by IC3-style algorithms. To this end, we extend the SMT-IC3 paradigm with three novel rules, designed to mitigate fundamental sources of failure that stem from locality. We instantiate these rules for Linear Integer Arithmetic and Linear Rational Aritmetic and implement them on top of Spacer solver in Z3. Our empirical results show that GSpacer, Spacer extended with global guidance, is significantly more effective than both Spacer and sole global reasoning, and, furthermore, is insensitive to interpolation

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volum

Elicitation and management of user requirements in market-driven software development

Market-driven software development companies experience challenges in requirements management that many traditional requirements engineering methods and techniques do not acknowledge. Large markets, limited contact with end users, and strong competition forces the market-driven software development company to constantly invent new, selling requirements, frequently release new versions with an accompanying pressure of short time-to-market, and take both the technical and financial risks of development. This thesis presents empirical results from case studies in requirements elicitation and management at a software development company. The results include techniques to explore, understand, and handle bottlenecks in the requirements process where requirements continuously arrive at a high rate from many different stakeholders. Through simulation of the requirements process, potential bottlenecks are identified at an early stage, and fruitless improvement attempts may be avoided. Several techniques are evaluated and recommended to support the market-driven organisation in order to increase software quality and avoid process overload situations. It is shown that a quick and uncomplicated in-house usability evaluation technique, an improved heuristic evaluation, may be adequate to get closer to customer satisfaction. Since needs and opportunities differ between markets, a distributed prioritisation technique is suggested that will help the organisation to pick the most cost-beneficial and customer satisfying requirements for development. Finally, a technique based on automated natural language analysis is investigated with the aim to help resolve congestion in the requirements engineering process, yet retaining ideas that may bring a competitive advantage