A simulation comparison of methods for new product location

Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31)

The Impact of Resource-Strategy Correspondence on Marketing Performance-Financial Performance Tradeoffs:

We suggest that the relationships between strategy and financial performance and between strategy and marketing performance depend on the resource bundle and strategy of a firm. The better the correspondence between strategy and resource bundle, the better the performance. We empirically test and find support for this explanation. By building empirically calibrated models of the marketing and financial performance, we are able to show that, indeed, the optimum strategies for the two are not the same and more importantly that the difference varies depending on the resource bundle of a firm

Resource Configurations, Generic Strategies, and Firm Performance: Exploring the Parallels Between Resource-Based and Competitive Strategy Theories in a New Industry

Purpose – This paper, anchored in the resource-based view of the firm, attempts to develop linkages between firm-level resources, Porter’s competitive strategy space and firm performance and explores them in the context of a new industry – the marketing technology industry. Design/methodology/approach – In the marketing technology industry the authors classify resource configurations (generalists, specialists, innovators) which group firms with distinctive competences on similar resource dimensions. They then map these firm-level resource configurations onto their respective optimal strategies in the industry’s competitive strategy space. Findings – The major findings are: some firms that are close together in strategy space vary in performance; some firms that are close together in strategy space belong to quite different resource configurations; firms that belong to the same resource configuration (i.e. are close together in resource space and distant from others) vary in performance; given the origin (i.e. resource configuration) of a new entrant there exists an optimal strategy that can be theoretically defined; and corresponding to each resource configuration there seems to exist a unique optimal region in strategy space. Originality/value – It is one of few attempts to empirically explore the parallels between firm level resource-based and industry level competitive strategies

Dynamic capabilities to match multiple product generations and market rhythm

Purpose : The purpose of this paper is to provide greater insights to managers seeking to time properly the launches of innovative new products (NPs) across multiple generations. This paper aims to address the rhythm matching problem by developing a typology and a conceptual framework of the interaction between a firm’s technological readiness to launch NPs and a market’s receptivity in influencing a firm’s long-term performance. Design/methodology/approach –:Based on the new product development (NPD) and diffusion of innovation literatures, the paper develops a model explicitly to address the rhythm matching problem by highlighting the interaction between a firm’s technological readiness to launch new products and a market’s receptivity in influencing a firm’s long-term performance. The logic of this model may be described as follows: long-term performance is a function of matching: products to customer needs, marketingmix dynamics to customer segments and buying behavior dynamics, and logistics, supply chain management, and inventory to market dynamics and financial efficiency; uncertainty in: knowledge of needs, market segments and their dynamics, and market dynamics is all a function of time, as is financial efficiency. Therefore, a firm’s long-term performance is a function of these matches over time. Findings : Deriving from the proposed model and typology, it was found that in independent rhythm windows, the management focus is on a single generation and each successive generation can be planned independently. In market- imposed windows, firms aim at adapting their own NP readiness rhythm to the market receptivity rhythm. In firm-imposed windows, firms have the initiative to drive the market receptivity rhythm. In dynamically resultant windows, everything is more complicated because firms’ NP readiness rhythm and market receptivity rhythm influence each other. Originality/value : The model and typology developed in this paper are a breakthrough result of synthesizing various traditions of NPD and diffusion of innovation research. It is believed that the paper provides a rich conceptual framework drawing together extant research on the development and introduction of new products. The framework is intended both to explicitly inform managers of the importance of rhythm matching as well as to the factors that influence such matching. It is also intended to provide a lens with which further research can be directed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of resource utilization in NPD and the long- term success of the firms

Towards an effective negotiation modeling:Investigating transboundary disputes with cases of lower possibilities

Existing literature in group-decision making proposed various rules of aggregating individuals’ opinions to group outcomes.With anonymity maintained, this paper can model round-robin assessments by a group with individuals updating their assessments every round in a Bayesian manner as per Bordley (1983, 1986, 2009). Utilizing the properties of the finite Markov Chain process, the analysis shows (a) the conditions for a group consensus to converge, (b) the maximum number of rounds before such convergence occurs, and (c) the consensus assessment. The resulting dynamic model is tested to show that it also captures the results of several empirical studies. We apply them to the negotiationfor the transboundary dispute and our simulations demonstrate the convergence of three different cases of lower possibilities, which support transboundary cases and resolutions. We also develop algorithms based on Fuzzy Delphi (Murray et al. 1985, Ishikawa et al. 1993) and Grey Delphi Methods (Ma et al., 2011) to predict the probability and likely outcomes of the transboundary dispute between China and India, which is one of the cases with low probability. Upon 1,000 simulations under volatile international relations, the development of theconvergence demonstrates the integrated Delphi Method is more suitable for predicting volatile situations

Evaluation of Colour Pre-processing on Patch-Based Classification of H&E-Stained Images

This paper compares the effects of colour pre-processing on the classification performance of H&E-stained images. Variations in the tissue preparation procedures, acquisition systems, stain conditions and reagents are all source of artifacts that can affect negatively computer-based classification. Pre-processing methods such as colour constancy, transfer and deconvolution have been proposed to compensate the artifacts. In this paper we compare quantitatively the combined effect of six colour pre-processing procedures and 12 colour texture descriptors on patch-based classification of H&E-stained images. We found that colour pre-processing had negative effects on accuracy in most cases – particularly when used with colour descriptors. However, some pre-processing procedures proved beneficial when employed in conjunction with classic texture descriptors such as co-occurrence matrices, Gabor filters and Local Binary Patterns

Cross-talk between GABAergic postsynapse and microglia regulate synapse loss after brain ischemia.

Microglia interact with neurons to facilitate synapse plasticity; however, signal(s) contributing to microglia activation for synapse elimination in pathology are not fully understood. Here, using in vitro organotypic hippocampal slice cultures and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in genetically engineered mice in vivo, we report that at 24 hours after ischemia, microglia release brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to downregulate glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses within the peri-infarct area. Analysis of the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) in vitro shows that proBDNF and mBDNF downregulate glutamatergic dendritic spines and gephyrin scaffold stability through p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75 <sup>NTR</sup> ) and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) receptors, respectively. After MCAO, we report that in the peri-infarct area and in the corresponding contralateral hemisphere, similar neuroplasticity occurs through microglia activation and gephyrin phosphorylation at serine-268 and serine-270 in vivo. Targeted deletion of the Bdnf gene in microglia or GphnS268A/S270A (phospho-null) point mutations protects against ischemic brain damage, neuroinflammation, and synapse downregulation after MCAO

No evidence for association between SLC11A1 and visceral leishmaniasis in India.

BACKGROUND: SLC11A1 has pleiotropic effects on macrophage function and remains a strong candidate for infectious disease susceptibility. 5' and/or 3' polymorphisms have been associated with tuberculosis, leprosy, and visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Most studies undertaken to date were under-powered, and none has been replicated within a population. Association with tuberculosis has replicated variably across populations. Here we investigate SLC11A1 and VL in India. METHODS: Nine polymorphisms (rs34448891, rs7573065, rs2276631, rs3731865, rs17221959, rs2279015, rs17235409, rs17235416, rs17229009) that tag linkage disequilibrium blocks across SLC11A1 were genotyped in primary family-based (313 cases; 176 families) and replication (941 cases; 992 controls) samples. Family- and population-based analyses were performed to look for association between SLC11A1 variants and VL. Quantitative RT/PCR was used to compare SLC11A1 expression in mRNA from paired splenic aspirates taken before and after treatment from 24 VL patients carrying different genotypes at the functional promoter GTn polymorphism (rs34448891). RESULTS: No associations were observed between VL and polymorphisms at SLC11A1 that were either robust to correction for multiple testing or replicated across primary and replication samples. No differences in expression of SLC11A1 were observed when comparing pre- and post-treatment samples, or between individuals carrying different genotypes at the GTn repeat. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first well-powered study of SLC11A1 as a candidate for VL, which we conclude does not have a major role in regulating VL susceptibility in India.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Modern MT: A New Open-Source Machine Translation Platform for the Translation Industry

Modern MT (www.modernmt.eu) is a three-year Horizon 2020 innovation action (2015–2017) to develop new open-source machine translation technology for use in translation production environments, both fully automatic and as a back-end in interactive post-editing scenarios. Led by Translated srl, the project consortium also includes the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), the University of Edinburgh, and TAUS B.V. Modern MT has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 645487 (call ICT-17-2014)