Uncertainty avoidance and the exploration-exploitation trade-off

Purpose - This study aims to investigate how a firm's uncertainty avoidance - as indicated by the headquarters' national culture - impacts firm performance by affecting exploratory (product innovation) and exploitative (brand trademark protection) activities. It aims to show that firms characterized by high levels of uncertainty avoidance may be less competitive in the exploratory product development stage, but may be more competitive in the exploitative commercialization stage by producing more durable brands. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses data from US Software Security Industry (SSI) trademarks, registered by firms from 11 countries during 1993-2000, that provide 2,911 trademarks and a panel of 18,213 observations. It uses the SSI database to identify the number of product innovations introduced by firms. Findings - Results show that uncertainty avoidance lowers the rate of product innovation, but helps firms to appropriate more value by greater protection of their brands. Uncertainty avoidance thus creates an exploration-exploitation trade-off. Practical implications - This study provides useful insights for managers regarding where to locate a firm's front-end development (product innovation) activities and commercialization (brand trademarking protection) activities. Originality/value - This is the first study to demonstrate the influence of a cultural trait on both explorative and exploitative stages simultaneously. As a methodological contribution, it shows how objective, longitudinal brand trademark data can be used to analyze the long-term impact of marketing activities on firm performance

Living lab methodology as an assessment tool for mass customization

Mass customization has been regularly used as a growth strategy during the last decades. The strength of this approach stems from offering products adjusted to customers' individual needs, resulting in added value. The latter resides in the word 'custom,' implying unique and utilitarian products allowing for self-expression of the consumer. Researchers and practitioners however predominantly focused on the company's internal processes to optimize mass customization, often resulting in market failure. As a response, a framework with five factors determining the success of mass customization was developed. Additionally, Living Lab methodologies have been used to improve innovation contexts that were too closed. This paper will fill a gap in the literature by demonstrating that the integration of the five-factor framework in the Living Lab methodology is well suited to determine the possible success or failure of a mass-customized product in the market by means of a single case study

Hazen in Nederland

Long-term fluctuations in European hare populations are common, but the synchronous declining tendency in the size of shooting bags during the last decades in several mid- and western European countries, including The Netherlands, is striking. In general this phenomenon is suggested to be connected with aspects of modern agriculture, but quantitative evidence is scarce. Furthermore, it is unknown to what extent the decline is the result of a decreasing reproduction rate and/or increasing mortality rate.Information about these parameters from The Netherlands was not available. Therefore, data were collected on litter size, production of young per adult female and the proportion of recruitment in shooting bags. Observations of nursing behaviour revealed that all members of a litter gather daily, the time of which is strictly related to sunset. This knowledge enabled us to collect information about the survival of young up to the end of the normal one month nursing period, which was 52% in the observed litters. The calculated number of 5.7 young weaned per adult female per year, compared with the average number of 3.4 young per adult female found in shooting bags, indicates a higher mortality rate in young than in adults during the time from weaning up to the shooting season. Unfortunately it was not possible to collect enough data to determine trends in these parameters.The percentage of young found in bags in three different areas during a period varying from 5 to 10 years, was in one area positively correlated with the total number of hares shot. In the other two areas this percentage was negatively correlated with the number of adults shot. It is hypothesized that the relative importance of density dependent and density independent factors affecting the recruitment determines which kind of correlation will be found.A density dependent mortality factor which is supposed to cause the negative correlation between the percentage of young and the density of adults in the winterpopulation is coccidiosis. Mechanised agriculture will be a density independent mortality factor of increasing importance in young. Little is known about the influence of modern agriculture on the physical condition of hares and consequently on the reproduction rate, through decreasing the diversity of herbs, and quantitative data regarding this are desirable.</p

Attachment and crying in patients with medically unexplained somatic symptoms

Mentalization deficits and disturbances in emotional functioning may contribute to somatization in patients with medically unexplained somatic symptoms (MUSS). The present study aimed to increase understanding the psychological factors that contribute to somatization by examining associations between attachment, crying attitudes and behavior, and somatic symptoms in these patients. Attachment security was measured with the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire in sixty-eight outpatients diagnosed with MUSS. Somatic symptom severity was measured with the RAND-36, crying frequency, and attitudes with the Adult Crying Inventory. Patients were asked to evaluate photographs of crying individuals in order to assess the perception of crying and empathic responses to crying. Attachment anxiety was significantly related to somatic symptom severity and negative attitudes toward crying. In addition, somatic symptom severity was related to a more negative attitude toward crying and less awareness of the interpersonal impact of crying on others. The association between attachment anxiety and somatic symptoms was, however, not mediated by crying or negative attitude toward crying. Neither were there significant associations between attachment, somatic symptoms, and empathic responses to crying. Altered attitudes to crying may stem from a history of insecure attachment experiences and may reflect maladaptive emotion strategies in MUSS patients

An interferometric study of the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422: small scale organic chemistry

Aims: To investigate the chemical relations between complex organics based on their spatial distributions and excitation conditions in the low-mass young stellar objects IRAS 16293-2422 A and B. Methods: Interferometric observations with the Submillimeter Array have been performed at 5''x3'' resolution revealing emission lines of HNCO, CH3CN, CH2CO, CH3CHO and C2H5OH. Rotational temperatures are determined from rotational diagrams when a sufficient number of lines are detected. Results: Compact emission is detected for all species studied here. For HNCO and CH3CN it mostly arises from source A, CH2CO and C2H5OH have comparable strength for both sources and CH3CHO arises exclusively from source B. HNCO, CH3CN and CH3CHO have rotational temperatures >200 K. The (u,v)-visibility data reveal that HNCO also has extended cold emission. Conclusions: The abundances of the molecules studied here are very similar within factors of a few to those found in high-mass YSOs. Thus the chemistry between high- and low-mass objects appears to be independent of luminosity and cloud mass. Bigger abundance differences are seen between the A and B source. The HNCO abundance relative to CH3OH is ~4 times higher toward A, which may be due to a higher initial OCN- ice abundances in source A compared to B. Furthermore, not all oxygen-bearing species are co-existent. The different spatial behavior of CH2CO and C2H5OH compared with CH3CHO suggests that hydrogenation reactions on grain-surfaces are not sufficient to explain the observed gas phase abundances. Selective destruction of CH3CHO may result in the anti-coincidence of these species in source A. These results illustrate the power of interferometric compared with single dish data in terms of testing chemical models.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepeted by A&

Cold gas as an ice diagnostic toward low mass protostars

Up to 90% of the chemical reactions during star formation occurs on ice surfaces, probably including the formation of complex organics. Only the most abundant ice species are however observed directly by infrared spectroscopy. This study aims to develop an indirect observational method of ices based on non-thermal ice desorption in the colder part of protostellar envelopes. For that purpose the IRAM 30m telescope was employed to observe two molecules that can be detected both in the gas and the ice, CH3 OH and HNCO, toward 4 low mass embedded protostars. Their respective gas-phase column densities are determined using rotational diagrams. The relationship between ice and gas phase abundances is subsequently determined. The observed gas and ice abundances span several orders of magnitude. Most of the CH3OH and HNCO gas along the lines of sight is inferred to be quiescent from the measured line widths and the derived excitation temperatures, and hence not affected by thermal desorption close to the protostar or in outflow shocks. The measured gas to ice ratio of ~10-4 agrees well with model predictions for non-thermal desorption under cold envelope conditions and there is a tentative correlation between ice and gas phase abundances. This indicates that non-thermal desorption products can serve as a signature of the ice composition. A larger sample is however necessary to provide a conclusive proof of concept.Comment: accepted by A&A letters, 10 pages including 5 figure

Natuurbeheer en jacht

1: Inleidingen op het RIN-colloquium van 23 september 1977. 2: Discussie naar aanleiding van de inleidingen op het RIN-colloquium van 23 september 1977