theoretical and empirical evidence from a business-to-business marketing perspective

Recently, integrating Transaction Cost Economic (TCE) and Resource Based View (RBV) arguments has become one of the most prominent theoretical approaches in research on business relationships. We question this dominance and strengthen an exclusive TCE perspective by recalling two of the core TCE constructs in order to achieve full exploitation of TCE reasoning. We discuss the transaction attributes “asset specificity” and “uncertainty” and identify conceptual gaps that lead to ambiguous results regarding the test of TCE guided hypotheses in prior relationship marketing and management research. To overcome these problems, we redefine both concepts and show that they are interconnected in more complex ways than past empirical research has accounted for. Hypotheses are derived and tested empirically in a cross-sectional online-survey setting by using means of structural equation modelling

Das Hybride Wahlmodell und seine Anwendung im Marketing

Traditional choice models assume that observable behavior results from an unspecified evaluation process of the observed individual. When it comes to the revelation of this process mere choice models rapidly meet their boundaries, as psychological factors (e.g., consumers’ perception or attitudes towards products) are not directly measurable variables and therefore cannot offhand be integrated within the model structure. The causal-analytic approach offers the possibility to specify not directly measurable factors as latent variables, and can thus reasonable supplement choice models. So far, methodological approaches investigating latent variables, and traditional choice models are perceived and applied independently of one another. In this paper the possibilities of an integration of latent variables into traditional choice models is pointed out, and an introduction into the modeling of hybrid choice models is provided. Furthermore, potential areas of application in marketing research are outlined.Hybrid choice model, latent variables, causal model, choice model

Eine Analyse der Dimensionen des Fortune-Reputationsindex

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Dimensionsstruktur sowie der Verwertbarkeit des Fortune-Reputationsrankings in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung und liefert Erkenntnisse über seine Aussagefähigkeit. Nach Erörterung der theoretischen Grundlagen von Unternehmensreputation als Konstrukt und Asset sowie einem kurzen Überblick zu Messansätzen von Unternehmensreputation liegt der Schwerpunkt des Beitrags auf der Untersuchung der Validität des Fortune-Reputationsindex. Auf Basis von Untersuchungen dieses Ansatzes mit konfirmatorischen Faktoranalysen werden Fragen zur wissenschaftlichen Verwertbarkeit des Index diskutiert und empirisch überprüft. Als Ergebnis ist insbesondere festzustellen, dass sich die Dimensionsstruktur des Index über die Zeit verändert hat und eine zunehmende Bedeutung von nicht-finanziellen Faktoren, bei der Beurteilung von Unternehmen zu verzeichnen ist.Reputation, Fortune-Reputationsindex, Halo-Effekt

In vivo characterization of the downfield part of 1 H MR spectra of human brain at 9.4 T: Magnetization exchange with water and relation to conventionally determined metabolite content

PURPOSE: To perform exchange-rate measurements on the in vivo human brain downfield spectrum (5-10 ppm) at 9.4 T and to compare the variation in concentrations of the downfield resonances and of known upfield metabolites to determine potential peak labels. METHODS: Non-water-suppressed metabolite cycling was used in combination with an inversion transfer technique in two brain locations in healthy volunteers to measure the exchange rates and T1 values of exchanging peaks. Spectra were fitted with a heuristic model of a series of 13 or 14 Voigt lines, and a Bloch-McConnell model was used to fit the exchange rate curves. Concentrations from non-water-inverted spectra upfield and downfield were compared. RESULTS: Mean T1 values ranged from 0.40 to 0.77 s, and exchange rates from 0.74 to 13.8 s-1 . There were no significant correlations between downfield and upfield concentrations, except for N-acetylaspartate, with a correlation coefficient of 0.63 and P < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: Using ultrahigh field allowed improved separation of peaks in the 8.2 to 8.5 ppm amide proton region, and the exchange rates of multiple downfield resonances including the 5.8-ppm peak, previously tentatively assigned to urea, were measured in vivo in human brain. Downfield peaks consisted of overlapping components, and largely missing correlations between upfield and downfield resonances-although not conclusive-indicate limited contributions from metabolites present upfield to the downfield spectrum. Magn Reson Med, 2017. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Methodological consensus on clinical proton MRS of the brain: Review and recommendations

© 2019 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Proton MRS (1H MRS) provides noninvasive, quantitative metabolite profiles of tissue and has been shown to aid the clinical management of several brain diseases. Although most modern clinical MR scanners support MRS capabilities, routine use is largely restricted to specialized centers with good access to MR research support. Widespread adoption has been slow for several reasons, and technical challenges toward obtaining reliable good-quality results have been identified as a contributing factor. Considerable progress has been made by the research community to address many of these challenges, and in this paper a consensus is presented on deficiencies in widely available MRS methodology and validated improvements that are currently in routine use at several clinical research institutions. In particular, the localization error for the PRESS localization sequence was found to be unacceptably high at 3 T, and use of the semi-adiabatic localization by adiabatic selective refocusing sequence is a recommended solution. Incorporation of simulated metabolite basis sets into analysis routines is recommended for reliably capturing the full spectral detail available from short TE acquisitions. In addition, the importance of achieving a highly homogenous static magnetic field (B0) in the acquisition region is emphasized, and the limitations of current methods and hardware are discussed. Most recommendations require only software improvements, greatly enhancing the capabilities of clinical MRS on existing hardware. Implementation of these recommendations should strengthen current clinical applications and advance progress toward developing and validating new MRS biomarkers for clinical use

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass