How business customers judge solutions: solution quality and value in use

Many manufacturers look to business solutions to provide growth, but success is far from guaranteed, and how solutions can create superior perceived value is not clear. This article explores what constitutes value for customers from solutions over time, conceptualized as value-in-use, and how this arises from quality perceptions of the solution’s components. A framework for solution quality and value-in-use is developed through 36 interviews combining repertory grid technique and means-end chains. Significantly extending the extant view of quality as a function of the supplier’s products and services, findings show that customers also assess the quality of their own resources and processes, and of the joint resource integration process. Contrasting strongly with prior research, value-in-use corresponds not just to collective, organizational goals but also to individuals’ goals. Four moderators of the quality-value relationship demonstrate customer heterogeneity across both firms and roles within what the authors term the usage center. When shifting towards solutions, manufacturers require very different approaches to market research, account management, solution design and quality control, including the need for a value auditing process

Métodos de educción en ingeniería de sistemas inteligentes

Enmarcado dentro del procesamiento de la información y la minería de datos se encuentra el problema del reconocimiento de patrones. Un patrón es un conjunto de características comunes que pueden ser localizadas en una región, admitiéndose un cierto error o tolerancia. Estas regiones pueden ser cadenas de texto, de ADN o imágenes entre otras cosas. El desarrollo de algoritmos computacionales que permiten buscar sobre estas regiones representa un área en crecimiento. Pese a esto, la incorporación de sistemas inteligentes a la misma todavía requiere mucho desarrollo. Esta línea de investigación pretende incorporar estas técnicas a algoritmos de este tipo; definir y enmarcar los problemas existentes y buscar soluciones a los mismos dentro de este campo.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Purposive preferences for multi-attributed alternatives: A study of choice behaviour using personal construct theory in conjunction with decision theory

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The thesis is based on the notion that a person's behaviour is largely a result of the interplay between his beliefs and values. A model is described which ccmbines Personal Construct Theo~J (as a means of describing beliefs) and Multi-Attributed Utility Theory (as a means of describing values) in order to predict purposive choice behaviour. The model is applied to choice of records, books, clothes and role behaviours and is found to predict choices with a high degree of accuracy. Prediction using personal constructs is shown to be superior to that using supplied dimensions. Furthermore, construct weights elicited by a lottery tech~que are shown generally to be purposespecific and to give better predictions of behaviour than UIUt weights. The model is then used to investigate the sentencing of offenders by magistrates and is again found to predict behaviour with a high degree of accuracy. The data also indicate the problems inherent in using verbal measures of construct similarity since the same words may be used differently and different words may be used similarly. Claims for the model's broad applicability are illustrated by using the model to reformulate the concepts of 'attention' and 'role' and a means of operationally defining role conflict is suggested

Climate risk perceptions in the Ontario (Canada) electricity sector

This thesis examines management cognition of climate risks in the electricity sector in Ontario (Canada). Risk perception literature is combined with corporate adaptation and risk management literature to offer a broad conceptual framework of climate risk readiness among power producers and utilities. This research aims to move management cognition of climate change past prior contributions which considered climate risk as being solely physical in nature. In this work, eight exogenous and endogenous factors relating to climate risk are examined for their influence on how management may view a wider spectrum of climate change impacts. Using an inductive research approach, 20 in depth case studies explore how electricity executives/senior managers perceive those risks using construct elicitation (repertory grid technique). Findings are triangulated with a narrative analysis of their corporate reportage of climate risks, to gain deeper insight into the complex phenomena of climate risks for the sector. Findings show some similarities and some appreciable differences in both groups’ view of climate risks despite their legitimately contending positions in industry. Overall both power producers and utilities are predominantly concerned with risk analysis and assessment of climate related risks, and less with risk response, suggesting at present the sector remains in an analytical state. The potential benefits of this research approach will provide useful insights to multiple groups including managers and policy makers