An examination of the interfaces between operations and advertising strategies

This dissertation is composed of three journals examining the interfaces between the marketing variable of advertising and various aspects of the operations function of the enterprise, namely, (1) production cost [Chapter 2], (2) inventory control [Chapter 3], and (3) service cost learning [Chapter 4]. The first journal identified the optimum advertising allocation policy over time in the presence of a quadratic convex/concave production cost function when the advertising response function is concave using a modified Vidale-Wolfe model. Through analytical proofs and numerical simulations, the results indicated the potential superiority of a pulsation policy in the presence of concavity in the advertising response function only if the production cost function is convex; otherwise, the uniform policy would be optimal. The study is seen as applicable to frequently purchased products in the maturity stage of their life cycles of dominant firms in their industries practicing a zero-inventory policy in a just-in-time environment. The research objective pertaining to the second journal was to study how a firm would adapt optimum ordered quantity/production lot size and optimum advertising expenditure in response to changes in its own parameters, rival\u27s parameters, or parameters that are common to all firms in a symmetric duopoly/oligopoly market. This was accomplished by developing comparative statics (sensitivity analysis) of a symmetric competitive inventory model with advertising-dependent demand based on a market share attraction model. Both optimum advertising expenditure and ordered quantity were found to be sensitive to changes in marketing and operations parameters. The robustness of the symmetric comparative statics was assessed by using data from the brewing industry in the US that represents an asymmetric oligopoly. The empirical analysis indicated that the theoretical results obtained for a symmetric oligopoly remained valid for an oligopoly where each firm had a market share less than 50% and the market shares were further apart from one another. The study is thought to be applicable to low-priced frequently purchased consumer items in competitive mature markets. In the third journal, the original Bass model for new products was modified to incorporate advertising and customers\u27 disadoption to characterize the optimum advertising policy over time for subscriber service innovations where service cost follows a learning curve. After characterizing the optimal policy for a general diffusion model, the results pertaining to a specific diffusion model for which advertising affects the coefficient of innovation were reported. On the empirical side, four alternative diffusion models were estimated and their predictive powers, using a one-step-ahead forecasting procedure, were compared. Empirical research findings suggest that the specific diffusion model considered in this study is not only of theoretical appeal, but also of notable empirical relevance. Taken together, the analytical and empirical findings argue in favor of advertising more heavily during the early stage of the diffusion process of the new subscriber service innovation and including a related message that would predominantly target innovators. Furthermore, it might be inappropriate to model the diffusion of subscriber services as if they were durable goods. The study is thought to be applicable to service innovations that are made available to customers periodically at a subscription fee. Typical examples include, but are not limited to, cable TV, health clubs, pest control, and the internet

Impact of time and order of market entry, advertising, and positioning on the expected market share of a new product : an empirical test

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, 1982.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.Bibliography: leaves 149-150.by Theresa Idella Carter and Zofia Barbara Mucha.M.S

Development of an enterprise innovation strategy (LLC “Rempobuttechnica” plant as a case study)

Jimoh Kehinde Augustus: Development of an enterprise innovation strategy (LLC “Rempobuttechnica” plant as a case study) – Ternopil Ivan Puluj National Technical University: TNTU 2020. The explanatory note to the master's qualification work consists of 79 pages, 4 illustrations, 16 tables. The structure of the work consists of an introduction, four chapters, conclusions to each section, general conclusions, a list of sources used, which consists of 20 items. The work is devoted to the study of the Development of an enterprise innovation strategy (LLC “Rempobuttechnica” plant as a case study) To implement the tasks in the study, the following research methods were used: analysis of scientific sources, comparative analysis, statistical method, method of own observations, method of generalization.INTRODUCTION..... 4 CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES 1.1. Meaning and definitions according to the topic... 7 1.2. The essence and role of forming an innovation strategy for enterprises.....9 1.3. Factors affecting the organization activity....27 CHAPTER 2. ANALYSIS OF THE ENTERPRISE'S ACTIVITY FOR DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION STRATEGY 2.1. Company introduction..... 37 2.2. SWOT-analysis of the industrial and economic activity of the enterprises.....41 2.3. Analysis of the subject.....43 CHAPTER 3. PROJECT AND CALCULATION 3.1. Recommendations concerning the topic, for economic activity improvement and for management of the company....57 CHAPTER 4. LABOR PROTECTION AND SAFETY IN EMERGENCIES 4.1. Occupational health at work...64 4.2. Emergency plan at workplace...74 Conclusions References Appendice

Word of mouth and marketing : influencing and learning from consumer conversations

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2002.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis contains three separate essays that deal with word of mouth. In the first essay, "Promotional Chat on the Internet," we analyze the firms' incentives to anonymously supply positive reviews of products in chat rooms and other recommendation sites. This, in turn, lowers the credibility of word of mouth transmitted online. We develop a game theoretic model where an incumbent and an entrant that are differentiated in quality compete for the same online market segment. The consumers are uncertain about the entrant's quality, whereas the firms know the value of their products. The consumers hear messages online that make them aware of the existence of the entrant as well as help them decide which product is superior. We find a unique equilibrium where online word of mouth is informative despite the promotional chat activity by competing firms. In this equilibrium, we find that firms spend more resources chatting up inferior products. We also find that promotional chat may be actually more beneficial to consumers than a system with no promotional chat. In the second essay, "Using Online Conversations to Measure Word of Mouth Communication," we test a long-held belief that word of mouth recommendations have a tremendous influence on the sales of new products. So far, there has been little empirical evidence to support this belief since, before the advent of the Internet, word of mouth recommendations were exchanged in private conversations that left no documentary evidence. The Internet provides a window into some of these private conversations and thus a means of measuring word of mouth activity.(cont.) We pose the following pragmatic question: can we use these data to measure word-of-mouth and predict future product sales? We develop and test a model that predicts which metrics of online discussion activity should be correlated with long-run performance. Our empirical findings demonstrate that certain measures of online word-of-mouth are predictive of sales though their predictive power varies significantly over the show's lifetime. Finally, in the third essay, "The Influence of Social Networks on the Effectiveness of Promotional Strategies," we examine the role of social network in word of mouth. The defining characteristic of "buzz" strategies is that the sellers approach the consumers directly, either in online chat rooms or in physical locations such as cafes or nightclubs. The goals of such strategies are twofold: to turn the approached consumer into a buyer and a missionary. The basic characteristic of buzz is that its diffusion is dependent on one's neighbors in the network in contrast to advertising, which allows the firm to communicate with consumers independently of their neighbors. We examine the network's moderating effect on the payoff from firm's investment to promote buzz. In addition, we compare the effectiveness of buzz promotion versus mass advertising as stand-alone marketing instruments and also analyze an advertising campaign that consists of both instruments.by Dina Mayzlin.Ph.D

A Study of Technological Innovation in New Zealand

This thesis addresses the research problem of "what are the key underpinning assets or drivers of technological innovation, and how can they be harnessed to create competitive advantage?" Technological change is an evolutionary process. Research and technological innovation creates knowledge and technology that is irreversible in the sense that inventions can be superseded but not "uninvented". Technological innovation creates knowledge and technology that is cumulative because it lays a platform for further knowledge creation, or sets in place another rung in an ascending ladder of new performance characteristics or properties which are demonstrably superior to their antecedents. In turn, the asset specificity and irreversibility of technology and its cumulativeness create barriers to competitive entry. This allows a firm to earn the premiums that create market power and allow further innovation to be financed. The model of technological innovation advanced in this thesis has at its core the strategic governance framework of a firm, within which the dynamics of significant new technology, human capital and social processes are catalysed and made productive by differentiated technological learning processes. No one type of technological learning applies universally, but rather learning is differentiated by variables such as firm size and structure, the past experience and core competencies of the firm, its human capital stocks, social processes, interactions with the external environment, and a host of market, institutional and technological factors. It is argued that the dynamics of significant new technology, human capital and social processes are fundamental and necessary conditions of technological innovation. Technological learning processes underly and provide a connecting thread that integrates these necessary conditions into a model of technological innovation that can be applied by managers to create and sustain competitive advantage. Technological learning both shapes and is shaped by the human capital stocks and social processes of a firm. Learning processes give rise to significant new technology, and the dynamics of that technology in turn helps catalyse and gives rise to further learning. The rate and direction of learning and of technological innovation is also driven by the firm's interaction with external sources of ideas and technology. To create competitive advantage through technological innovation business managers must address a firm's strategy, human capital-related assets, social processes and technological learning abilities. Policy managers must ensure that the public technostructure is in place to foster human capital creation within an economy and to facilitate access to new ideas and sources of stimulus

Flow of funds modeling for localized financial markets: an application of spatial price and allocation activity analysis models

A comprehensive examination of recent and proposed institutional and regulatory changes impacting local financial markets and a summary of the most important applications of mathematical programming to individual financial intermediaries and financial markets are presented. While U.S. financial markets face myriad regulatory and structural changes, there has been no systematic examination of the effects of these changes on local financial markets. Mathematical programming models have been widely used to reflect the operational activity of individual financial intermediaries. However, a methodological and applications void exists in modeling local financial markets;Building on the concepts of self-dual quadratic programming models and mathematical models of individual intermediaries, a generalized perfect competition spatial price and allocation activity analysis model for localized financial markets is developed. The model provides an improved capability to reflect the topology of localized financial markets. There are two key structural aspects of the model: (1) activity analysis formulation of individual intermediary operations, and (2) simultaneous endogenous determination of pricing and flow of funds patterns in spatially separate source and use of funds markets. These aspects allow significant detail in modeling the financial intermediation process and considerable flexibility for policy analyses;The perfect competition model is modified to account for the unique competitive characteristics of financial markets. The modifications allow alternatives to perfect competition in both asset and liability markets. The structure accommodates modeling perfect competition in some asset and liability markets and collusion in others. Parameterization of model coefficients can be used to imitate other conditions of imperfect competition;A series of prototypes for commercial banking markets is used to extend the competitive concepts to include differentiated products; advertising; and modeling specific noncompetitive environments--monopolistic competition and the collusion, leading firm and market-share solution to the oligopoly problem;Since response functions for the supply of deposits and demand for credit at intermediaries represent the most important data input to the models, an econometric analysis of the demand for credit and deposit supply at commercial banks in Iowa is completed. The focus is on estimating the demand and supply of nonreal estate agricultural loans. Two stage least squares is used to estimate the structural equations. An hypothesis of markets in disequilibrium is tested. Finally, the structural equations are reestimated after correcting for heteroskedasticity

Diffusion of Technologies and Social Behavior

The diffusion of innovations is at the core of the dynamic processes that underlie social, economic, and technological change. Diffusion phenomena are not limited to the spread of new process technologies and the market penetration of new products but extend also to changes in the forms of social organization and transformations in the social fabric and cultural traits. This book is the outcome of the diffusion of the concept of diffusion as a fundamental process in society. Originating from biology, diffusion research is now carried out in many disciplines including economics, geography, history, technological change, sociology, and management science. The book illustrates the progress that has been made in understanding the nature of diffusion processes and their underlying driving forces. The contributions by leading scholars provide a novel interdisciplinary perspective and span a wide range of modeling and empirical research backgrounds

Learning to innovate collaboratively with technology: exploring strategic workplace skill webs in a telecom services firm in Tehran

This thesis explores innovation and learning within the context of an entrepreneurial new technology based firm (NTBF), operating in the creative sector of telecommunications valueadded services located in Tehran, Iran, along with a partner in London, UK. Whilst backgrounding the socioeconomic and geopolitical characteristics of the operating environment, and historical antecedents of independence and self-sufficiency, plus chronic sanctions within the economy, the argument focuses on the interplay between intermediated learning via strategic ‘skill webs’ leading to innovation. Drawing on innovation and workplace learning corpus, collaborative innovation with technologies is organised as a competitive action in an unstable and unpredictable market: learning and skill enhancement in firms provides the stabilisers to remain and compete in the market. It is the juxtaposition of learning and innovation in service-innovation/-delivery design, while utilising pervasive and emerging telecoms technologies that provides the empirical base for this research. Conceptually, an emergent type of distributed learning, entitled as ‘DEAL’ (Design, Execute, Adjust and Learn) model, by enabling knowledge brokerage facilitated by ‘skill webs’, is identified and explored. This then acts as an analytical tool to examine the empirical elements which are in the form of longitudinal organisational ethnography on site visit waves, spanning 2004 to 2013, focusing on project learning breakthroughs and cul-de-sacs as observed by learning episodes, often utilising informal networks and skill webs in technical and non-technical tasks. The case study findings within a conceptual model has implications for learning and education policy, and upskilling in firms located where regional clustering is not apparent. Furthermore, extrapolating on the theoretical and empirical inquiry and exploring policy vistas, emphasising the hybridised and socio-cultural nature of the innovation processes in transitional economies, the thesis highlights the paramount nature of NTBFs’ inquiry-based learning capabilities, and distributed interprofessional judgement formation evolving in an incremental and contextdependent manner, duly shaping the sustainability of learning to innovate