Is there more to international Diffusion than Culture? An investigation on the Role of Marketing and Industry Variables

Companies employ international diffusion models to assess the local market potential and local diffusion speed to support their decision making on market entry. After their entry into a country, they use the model forecasts for their performance controlling. To this end, empirical applications of international diffusion models aim to link differential diffusion patterns across countries to various exogenous drivers. In the literature, macro- and socioeconomic variables like population characteristics, culture, economic development, etc. have been linked to differential penetration developments across countries. But as companies cannot influence these drivers, their marketing decisions that shape national diffusion patterns are ignored. Is this reasonable? What then, is the role of marketing instruments in an international diffusion context? We address this issue and compare the influence of these prominent exogenous drivers of international diffusion with that of industry and marketing-mix variables. To account for all of these factors and simultaneously accommodate the influence of varying cross-country interactions, we develop a more flexible yet parsimonious model of international diffusion. Finally, to avoid technical issues in implementing spatially dependent error terms we introduce the test concept of Moran's I to international diffusion model. We demonstrate that the lead-lag effect in conjunction with spatial neighborhood effects controls most of the spatial autocorrelation. Using this combined approach we find that --- for cellulars --- industry and marketing-mix variables explain international diffusion patterns better than macro- and socioeconomic drivers. --

Heterogeneous Response Functions in Advertising

De Fleur (1956) provides the earliest evidence of diminishing returns. He finds a common logarithmic pattern for leaflets dropped and message recalled in field experiment. Since then, many researchers have applied logarithmic or square root patterns to capture the effect of diminishing returns with their advertising response modeling across different media. But discussions with managers support the notion that the diminishing returns to incremental dollars spent on one medium (say, television) are not likely to be the same as those for equivalent dollars spent on other media (e.g., Print). But if diminishing returns indeed vary across media, how does that change the resulting allocation recommendation? To address this issue, we derive a dynamic model that captures the notion of differential diminishing returns and disentangles it from closely related notions of differential carryovers and differential ad effectiveness. Second, we develop a systematic method to estimate the model's parameters using market data and illustrate empirically that all three effects, diminishing returns, carryover and ad effectiveness vary across the four media employed. Finally, we investigate the normative implications for managerial decision-making. Here, we additionally account for varying media buying efficiencies across media. Taken together, the approach and its illustration should provide managers with a better toolkit to allocate their multimedia budgets. --

Die Wertschöpfungskette des Handels im Zeitalter des Electronic Commerce - Was eingetreten ist und was dem Handel noch bevorsteht

Vor zehn Jahren untersuchten Albers/Peters (1997) die Einflüsse des eCommerce auf die Wertschöpfungskette im Handel. Seit dieser Zeit ist die Entwicklung weiter vorangeschritten. Neben der erwarteten Entbündelung von Handelsaktivitäten wurde seitdem vor allem die Unterstützung des Kaufprozesses der Konsumenten von branchenfremden Infomediären übernommen. Neue Technologien, Anwendungen und ein geändertes Konsumentenverhalten werden die Effekte noch verstärken und stellen alle heutigen Marktteilnehmer, sowohl Infomediäre als auch Stationär-, Online- und Multichannel-Händler, zukünftig vor noch größere Herausforderungen. -- Ten years ago Albers/Peters (1997) analyzed the impact of eCommerce on the retail value chain. Since then major change has taken place. Apart from the expected unbundling of several retail activities along the value chain, especially the consumer buying process has been taken online and increasingly supported by new infomediaries. Those new infomediaries have taken the retailer's traditional ground. New technologies, applications and a changing consumer behavior will confront today's market players, infomediaries as well as offline-, online- and multichannelretailers, with even bigger challenges.eCommerce,Handel,Strategie,Multichannel,Wertschöpfungskette,Konsumentenverhalten

Essays zu Innovation und Kommunikation

The dissertation has been written within the post graduate program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on “Business Aspects of Loosely Coupled Systems and Electronic Business”. This program focuses on research related to the diffusion of innovations in the digital age. Accordingly, the six research papers collectively represent three connected areas of this program: the diffusion of innovations, eCommerce and Digital Media, and Communication. As ever more innovations are introduced in an increasingly global economy, insights on the influence of marketing policies on the international diffusion of innovations may help to improve their launch (Papers A1 and A2). Simultaneously, the diffusion of the internet and mobile devices are changing the way firms and consumers conduct their business. The papers B1 and B2 investigate how the advent of eCommerce may change the retailing landscape. The new media also expand the range of media through which firms and consumers communicate with each other. Accordingly, paper C1 shows how managers may analyze differential diminishing returns in a dynamic multimedia context. The last paper C2 shows how managers can analyze and optimize the design of direct mailings to improve their effectiveness.Die kumulative Dissertation entstand im Rahmen des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs “Betriebswirtschaftliche Aspekte lose gekoppelter Systeme und Electronic Business”. Dieses Programm untersucht im Schwerpunkt die Diffusion von Innovationen im digitalen Zeitalter. Die sechs Arbeitspapiere und Veröffentlichungen beschäftigen sich mit drei verbundenen Aspekten dieses Programms: der Diffusion von Innovationen, dem eCommerce und digitalen Medien sowie Aspekten der Kommunikation. In einer global vernetzten Wirtschaft werden heute immer mehr Innovationen in die internationalen Märkte eingeführt. Es ist daher von großem Interesse, den Einfluss von Marketing-Mix-Instrumenten auf den Erfolg internationaler Produkteinführungen besser zu verstehen. Die Beiträge A1 und A2 widmen sich dieser Fragestellung. Zugleich führt die Diffusion des Internets sowie der Mobilfunkgeräte zu tiefgreifenden strukturellen Änderungen im Verhalten von Unternehmen und Konsumenten. Die Beiträge B1 und B2 betrachten die potentiellen Auswirkungen dieser Veränderungen auf den Handel. Diese beiden neuen Medien verändern darüber hinaus die Medienlandschaft nachhaltig. Entsprechend beschäftigt sich der Beitrag C1 mit der Frage, wie sich unterschiedliche Grenzerträge von Medien in einem dynamischen multimedialen Kontext ermitteln lassen. Der Beitrag C2 geht hingegen der Frage nach, auf welche Weise der Einsatz von Direct-Mailings über ein besseres Design effektiver gestaltet werden kann

The Effects of the Diet Suggested in the United States Dietary Goals on Serum Cholesterol Levels

The effects of the diet suggested in the United States Dietary Goals on serum cholesterol levels was studied by using male Holtzman rats. There were twelve experimental diets. All of the diets contained 28% of total calories as fat. The type of fat was either saturated, unsaturated, or half saturated and half unsaturated. Two sources of carbohydrate, sucrose and cornstarch, and tw6 levels of each, 52% and 62%, were examined. The source of protein was the same in all diets, but varied in amount, 10% or 20% of total calories. The type of fat did not yield a significant difference in total cholesterol, but HDL cholesterol levels were significantly higher in diets with unsaturated fat. Diets containing sucrose yielded significantly higher total cholesterol levels than cornstarch based diets, especially when the fat was half saturated and half unsaturated. Percent HDL cholesterol levels were significantly higher in the starch diets than in the sucrose diets. Level of protein in the diets produced no significant effects except that total cholesterol and percent HDL cholesterol were highest when the lowest level of protein was combined with saturated fat. As the level 6f sucrose increased and levels of protein decreased, total cholesterol increased and percent HDL cholesterol decreased. The effects were just the opposite with starch, total cholesterol decreased and percent HDL increased. From these results, it appears that the source and level of carbohydrate in the diet had the most effect on serum cholesterol levels

Binding prediction of multi-domain cellulases with a dual-CNN

Cellulases hold great promise for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. However, they are modular enzymes acting on a complex heterogeneous substrate. Because of this complexity, the computational prediction of their catalytic properties remains scarce, which restricts both enzyme discovery and enzyme design. Here, we present a dual-input convolutional neural network to predict the binding of multi-domain enzymes. This regression model outperformed previous molecular dynamics-based methods for binding prediction for cellulases in a fraction of the time. Also, we show that when changed to a classification problem, the same network can be back-propagated to suggest mutations to improve enzyme binding. A similar approach could increase our understanding of the structure-activity relationship of enzymes, and suggest new promising mutations for enzyme design using explainable artificial intelligence

Visual Tactile Sensor Based Force Estimation for Position-Force Teleoperation

Vision-based tactile sensors have gained extensive attention in the robotics community. The sensors are highly expected to be capable of extracting contact information i.e. haptic information during in-hand manipulation. This nature of tactile sensors makes them a perfect match for haptic feedback applications. In this paper, we propose a contact force estimation method using the vision-based tactile sensor DIGIT, and apply it to a position-force teleoperation architecture for force feedback. The force estimation is done by building a depth map for DIGIT gel surface deformation measurement and applying a regression algorithm on estimated depth data and ground truth force data to get the depth-force relationship. The experiment is performed by constructing a grasping force feedback system with a haptic device as a leader robot and a parallel robot gripper as a follower robot, where the DIGIT sensor is attached to the tip of the robot gripper to estimate the contact force. The preliminary results show the capability of using the low-cost vision-based sensor for force feedback applications.Comment: IEEE CBS 202

Ideal cardiovascular health and risk of cardiovascular events in the EPIC-Norfolk prospective population study.

BACKGROUND: The American Heart Association has prioritised seven cardiovascular health metrics to reduce the cardiovascular burden, including: body mass index, healthy diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin A1c and total cholesterol. The aim of the current study was to assess the association between the American Heart Association-defined health metrics and the risk of cardiovascular events in the EPIC-Norfolk prospective study. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: An overall cardiovascular health score was calculated based on the number of health metrics including ideal, intermediate or poor. Cox proportional hazards models were used to describe the association of the seven metrics separately and the overall health score with risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and cardiovascular disease. A total of 10,043 participants was included in the analysis (follow-up 1993-2008). For all individual health metrics a more ideal status was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: As for the overall cardiovascular health score, those in the highest (i.e. healthiest) category (score 12-14) had an adjusted hazard ratio for coronary heart disease of 0.07 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.02-0.29, P < 0.001), for stroke of 0.16 (95% CI 0.02-1.37, P = 0.09) and for cardiovascular disease of 0.07 (95% CI 0.02-0.23, P < 0.001), compared to people in the lowest (i.e. unhealthiest) category (score 0-2). The overall cardiovascular health score was strongly and inversely associated with risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and cardiovascular disease. Our data suggest that even small improvements in modifiable risk factors may lead to substantial reductions in the risks of cardiovascular events.The EPIC-Norfolk Study is funded by Cancer Research UK grant number 14136 and the Medical Research Council grant number G1000143, SL is supported by a studentship from Unilever Corporate Research, UK.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/204748731560201