Servitization strategies from customers’ perspective: the moderating role of co-creation

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of co-creation in the implementation of servitization strategies in the pharmaceutical industry in a business-to-business (B-to-B) context. More specifically, this investigation explores the impact of different levels of services (base, intermediate and advanced) on servitization and on performance by using co-creation as a moderating factor. Design/methodology/approach: A research framework was developed and empirically tested in the pharmaceutical sector. Data collection was conducted through the online distribution of questionnaires. The final sample included 219 pharmacy stores, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings: Main findings suggest that when the level of co-creation of the design of services is high, there are significant effects of servitization on firm performance. The moderating effect of co-creation is illustrated in regard to intermediate and advanced services, but results referring to the impact of intermediate services on servitization appear non-significant with a low degree of co-creation. No significant effects could be found for the impact of base services on performance and servitization for both high and low degrees of co-creation. Findings show an impact of advanced services on performance through the mediating effect of servitization when the degree of co-creation is high. Originality/value: Most research concerning servitization has been done from the perspective of manufacturers and service providers. This study adds value to the literature because it was designed from a customer’s perspective. Moreover, it contributes towards the conceptualization of the servitization research strategy and business models in a B2B context. This is accomplished through the investigation of the moderating effect of co-creation on the impact of the different levels of services on servitization and on performance

3D-QSAR/CoMFA Models as a Tool for Biocatalysis and Protein Engineering

The x-ray structure of an enzyme is taken into account, when available, as the reference model to explain catalytic activity and selectivity. Unfortunately, in most of the cases the structure is available only as apostructure, i.e. without the substrate bound to the active site, and it is strange to find many different enzyme-substrate complexes of a specific enzyme as crystals. Moreover this structure is not the "real" structure of the protein during catalysis as the crystal is stationary. In this paper we propose the use of CoMFA models to evaluate the differences betweenthe crystal and the real structure of the enzyme under reaction conditions. In addition to the stationary nature of a crystal, the experimental limitations of crystallographic techniques to obtain crystals in a fast and reliable manner, give a chance to the creation of CoMFA models by evaluating the easy to obtain catalytic properties of enzyme variants to provide information about the structural changes produced by the mutations. By means of the evaluation of different structures as substrates CoMFA models will not only provide information about the structure of the enzyme, but also about the flexibility and potential conformational changes of the substrate binding site

Teachers' digital competence to assist students with functional diversity: Identification of factors through logistic regression methods

We are experiencing a serious health crisis due to COVID-19 that has a major impact on the field of education. The educational system therefore needs to be updated and innovated, with the addition of digital resources, to adapt the teaching and learning processes to students with disabilities. To meet the goal of high-quality education, teachers must have adequate digital competence to face the educational demands that are placed on them. Therefore, the purposes of this study are: to know the teachers' knowledge about digital resources to support students with disabilities (O1); at each educational stage (O2), identify the variables that have a significant impact on the acquisition of teacher competence (O3); propose a selection of useful ICT resources for each type of disability (O4). An ex post facto design was used with 1194 teachers from Andalusia (Spain). The results showed the medium-low level of the teaching staff, especially in the higher education stage. In addition, gender, motivation, attitude and having students with special needs are determining factors in the development of teacher knowledge. The results highlight the urgent need for teachers to be trained in digital resources. We hope that the range of resources proposed in this study will help teachers enhance their teaching practice

Anomalous high-pressure Jahn-Teller behavior in CuWO4

High-pressure optical-absorption measurements performed in CuWO4 up to 20 GPa provide experimental evidence of the persistence of the Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion in the whole pressure range both in the low-pressure triclinic and in the high-pressure monoclinic phase. The electron-lattice couplings associated with the eg(E⊗e) and t2g(T⊗e) orbitals of Cu2+ in CuWO4 are obtained from correlations between the JT distortion of the CuO6 octahedron and the associated structure of Cu2+ d-electronic levels. This distortion and its associated JT energy (EJT) decrease upon compression in both phases. However, both the distortion and associated EJT increase sharply at the phase-transition pressure (PPT=9.9  GPa), and we estimate that the JT distortion persists for a wide pressure range not being suppressed up to 37 GPa. These results shed light on the transition mechanism of multiferroic CuWO4, suggesting that the pressure-induced structural phase transition is a way to minimize the distortive effects associated with the toughness of the JT distortion.C.-Y. Tu is acknowledged for providing us the crystals used to perform the experiments. J. R.-F. is indebted to the FPI research grant (BES-2008-002043) and thanks C. Renero-Lecuna for fruitful discussions on the spectroscopic data. The authors thank the financial support from the MICINN of Spain under Grants No. MAT2010- 21270-C04-01, No. MAT2008-06873-C02-01/02, and No. CSD2007-00045

Determination of Arsenic, Mercury and Barium in herbarium mount paper using dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction prior to atomic fluorescence and absorption spectrometry

A dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction method using Atomic Absorption and Atomic Flourescence spectrometers as detectors was developed to analyse mercury, arsenic and barium from herbarium mount paper originating from the herbarium collection of the National Museum of Wales. The variables influencing extraction were optimised by a multivariate approach. The optimal conditions were found to be 1% HNO3 extractant solution used at a flow rate of 1 mL min-1. The duty cycle and amplitude of the ultrasonic probe was found to be 50% in both cases with an ultrasound power of 400 W. The optimal distance between the probe and the top face of the extraction chamber was found to be 0 cm. Under these conditions the time required for complete extraction of the three analytes was 25 min. Cold vapour and hydride generation coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry was utilized to determine mercury and arsenic, respectively. The chemical and instrumental conditions were optimized to provide detection limits of 0.01ng g-1 and 1.25 ng g-1 for mercury and arsenic, respectively. Barium was determined by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, with a detection limit of 25 ng g-1. By using 0.5 g of sample, the concentrations of the target analytes varied for the different types of paper and ranged between 0.4–2.55 µg g-1 for Ba, 0.035–10.47 µg g-1 for As and 0.0046–2.37 µg g-1 for Hg

SICAC: an information system for the Conjunto arqueológico de Carmona (Carmona Archaeological Ensemble) (Seville, Spain)

The Roman necropolis and amphitheater of Carmona (Seville, Spain) were excavated and opened to the public at the end of the Nineteenth century. Because of this long continuity, the Carmona Archaeological Ensemble boasts a special trait: a broad archaeological documentary archive. Efficient management of this store of information that is updated and added to on a daily basis required a computer application that could gather, integrate, conserve and facilitate the use of this volume of data from different sources. At the same time, it was considered necessary for researchers to have online access to the core substance of the information. Our information system for CAC was developed over the course of five years and is called SICAC. All of the graphic and alphanumerical data is organized in the same environment, thereby guaranteeing their integration, availability, quality and accessibility. SICAC has three platforms: desktop, online and mobile