Competitiveness of Family Businesses

The purpose of this study is to systematically examine the advantages and disadvantages of different types of family businesses. We distinguish four different types of family businesses based on their family and business orientation: (1) House of Business, (2) Family Money Machine, (3) Family Life Tradition, and (4) Hobby Salon. In our empirical research among family businesses (n=220), we find that all four different types co-exist. In addition, we find that differences in family and business orientation result in different advantages and disadvantages with respect to performance indicators such as motivation, conflict resolution and continuity. Finally, our results indicate that, if a family firm would move along the dimensions of the orientation landscape, due to internal motivations or external circumstances, it will experience improvements on one or several criteria, but it may also encounter new concerns. These changing profiles in strengths and weaknesses can be viewed as mobility barriers or mobility opportunities when moving from one group to another

Relationship value benefits of membership programs, heterogeneous stakeholders and museum impact beyond fees

In times of decreasing public funding, cultural institutions such as museums increasingly develop new stakeholder management practices to build a different or more diversified support base. Recently, membership programs have especially been gaining popularity. In this paper, we adopt a relationship value approach to study the poorly understood behaviors of members that can benefit museums beyond membership fees. In particular, we focus on the extent to which membership level and the perceived prestige of the museum drive value co-creation through prestige leveraging. We study this by using a sample of 430 members and non-members of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam. We find that membership level is positively related with cross-buying behavior at the museum store and restaurant, and recommending the museum. In addition, these value creating behaviors are mediated by members leveraging the museum's prestige in their social environment. In contrast, we find a negative relationship between membership level and recruiting new members into the program, which could be explained by status dilution effects

An exploratory study looking at the relationship marketing techniques used in the music festival industry

There are current issues and trends in the music festival market, which may affect the success of an event, and market saturation is at the forefront of these issues. Previous literature, maintaining the need for a marketing approach to festivals, identifi es the need for maintaining strong stakeholder relationships in order to succeed in a business environment; attention has been focused to the theory of relationship marketing (RM) because of the recognition that this practice is complementary to the marketing of festivals. The very nature of the music festival as an annual, usually, 4-day event means that effective marketing is needed to keep connections with the consumer throughout the year. This article focuses on the RM techniques utilised within the music festival industry from the viewpoint of the festival organiser in an attempt to establish how festival organisations value and monitor organisational relationships. This article explores the extent to which these relationships are valued and managed; furthermore, the variations between these intricate relationships are considered by focusing on those held with the organisation ’ s consumers and sponsors, the results of which have provided the ability to establish the importance and relevance of RM to the industry and further identify the marketing communication methods employed to establish and maintain such relationships. In-depth, convergent interviews have been conducted with a segment of music festival organisers from a range of events. The results have been integrated with the study of current literature to best exemplify these issues. It has been established that RM has a strong role in today ’ s commercial and independent music festival industry; technological advances are enabling the organiser to support online relationships further and increase consumer loyalty. There is a need to expand the research further because of the complexity of organisational relationships and the varying categories of festivals

Prostate cancer growth patterns beyond the Gleason score: entering a new era of comprehensive tumour grading

The Gleason grading system is one of the most important factors in clinical decision-making for prostate cancer patients, and is entirely based on the classification of tumour growth patterns. In recent years it has become clear that some individual growth patterns themselves have independent prognostic value, and could be used for better personalised risk stratification. In this review we summarise recent literature on the clinicopathological value and molecular characteristics of individual prostate cancer growth patterns, and show how these, most particularly cribriform architecture, could alter treatment decisions for prostate cancer patients

Clinical outcome comparison of Grade Group 1 and Grade Group 2 prostate cancer with and without cribriform architecture at the time of radical prostatectomy

Aims: Invasive cribriform and intraductal carcinoma are associated with aggressive disease in Grade Group 2 (GG2) prostate cancer patients. However, the characteristics and clinical outcome of patients with GG2 prostate cancer without cribriform architecture (GG2−) as compared with those with Grade Group 1 (GG1) prostate cancer are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics of GG1 and GG2− prostate cancer in radical prostatectomy specimens. Methods and results: We reviewed 835 radical prostatectomy specimens for Grade Group, pT stage, surgical margin status, and the presence of cribriform architecture. Biochemical recurrence-free survival and metastasis were used as clinical outcomes. GG1 prostate cancer was seen in 207 patients, and GG2 prostate cancer was seen in 420 patients, of whom 228 (54%) showed cribriform architecture (GG2+) and 192 (46%) did not. GG2− patients had higher prostate-specific antigen levels (9.4 ng/ml versus 7.0 ng/ml; P < 0.001), more often had extraprostatic extension (36% versus 11%; P < 0.001) and had more positive surgical margins (27% versus 17%; P = 0.01) than GG1 patients. GG2− patients ha

GRPR versus PSMA:expression profiles during prostate cancer progression demonstrate the added value of GRPR-targeting theranostic approaches

Introduction: Central to targeted radionuclide imaging and therapy of prostate cancer (PCa) are prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting radiopharmaceuticals. Gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) targeting has been proposed as a potential additional approach for PCa theranostics. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent and at what stage of the disease GRPR-targeting applications can complement PSMA-targeting theranostics in the management of PCa. Methods: Binding of the GRPR- and PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals [177Lu]Lu-NeoB and [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617, respectively, was evaluated and compared on tissue sections of 20 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), 16 primary PCa and 17 progressive castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) fresh frozen tissue specimens. Hematoxylin-eosin and alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase stains were performed to identify regions of prostatic adenocarcinoma and potentially high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. For a subset of primary PCa samples, RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) was used to identify target mRNA expression in defined tumor regions. Results: The highest median [177Lu]Lu-NeoB binding was observed in primary PCa samples, while median and overall [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 binding was highest in CRPC samples. The highest [177Lu]Lu-NeoB binding was observed in 3/17 CRPC samples of which one sample showed no [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 binding. RNA ISH analyses showed a trend between mRNA expression and radiopharmaceutical binding, and confirmed the distinct GRPR and PSMA expression patterns in primary PCa observed with radiopharmaceutical binding. Conclusion: Our study emphasizes that GRPR-targeting approaches can contribute to improved PCa management and complement currently applied PSMA-targeting strategies in both early and late stage PCa.</p

Effect of H-Bonding on Order Amplification in the Growth of a Supramolecular Polymer in Water

While a great deal of knowledge on the roles of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobicity in proteins has resulted in the creation of rationally designed and functional peptidic structures, the roles of these forces on purely synthetic supramolecular architectures in water have proven difficult to ascertain. Focusing on a 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide (BTA)-based supramolecular polymer, we have designed a molecular modeling strategy to dissect the energetic contributions involved in the self-assembly (electrostatic, hydrophobic, etc.) upon growth of both ordered BTA stacks and random BTA aggregates. Utilizing this set of simulations, we have unraveled the cooperative mechanism for polymer growth, where a critical size must be reached in the aggregates before emergence and amplification of order into the experimentally observed fibers. Furthermore, we have found that the formation of ordered fibers is favored over disordered aggregates solely on the basis of electrostatic interactions. Detailed analysis of the simulation data suggests that H-bonding is a major source of this stabilization energy. Experimental and computational comparison with a newly synthesized 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxyester (BTE) derivative, lacking the ability to form the H-bonding network, demonstrated that this BTE variant is also capable of fiber formation, albeit at a reduced persistence length. This work provides unambiguous evidence for the key 1D driving force of hydrogen bonding in enhancing the persistency of monomer stacking and amplifying the level of order into the growing supramolecular polymer in water. Our computational approach provides an important relationship directly linking the structure of the monomer to the structure and properties of the supramolecular polymer