The Flexible Executive Mindset: How Top Management Should Look at Tomorrow’s Markets

The need for management to better anticipate the future is the urgent message currently being advocated by consultants in strategic market planning. Uses a survey of high-level managers from Fortune 1,000 corporations to illustrate the advantages of cultivating a flexible mindset concerning environmental trends and their strategic marketing implications. Reviews projected developments in the economy, technology, ecology and the social/political environments that are expected to occur by 2005. Discusses appropriate marketing responses to these trends

The Business Environment of 1995 as Seen by Wisconsin Business Executives

Like many states, particularly those in the so-called rust bucket of the industrial north, Wisconsin is concerned about its business climate. A number of different steps with the potential to make Wisconsin\u27s business environment more hospitable have been taken. For example, the state income tax has been reduced; the state has partially funded a business development organization, Forward Wisconsin, to attract new companies to the area; and a state-appointed panel, the Wisconsin Strategic Development Commission, has filed its recommendations concerning the actions that should be considered in revitalizing the region\u27s business community. This article provides another perspective. It reports upon the views held by a sample of Wisconsin business executives concerning the nature of the business environment in 1995. Specifically, this paper reports on the perceptions held by 24 executives (mostly vice presidents of planning or marketing) from Wisconsin corporations. Because vice-presidents of planning and marketing are most responsible for translating environmental trends into strategic actions, we believe their vision of the general business climate in 1995 will be of keen interest to those concerned about the future of Wisconsin\u27s economy

Marketing in 1985: A View from the Ivory Tower: How will the business environment of 1985 affect competitive marketing strategy?

Inflation and recession, resource shortages, a web of ecological problems, changing social values, a proliferation of business regulations, and other developments of recent years have taken their toll on American business. Such changes in the external environment of business have stimulated academicians and writers for the general media to address questions such as: Can Capitalism Survive: ; Can Marketing Survive? ; Will Shortages Bankrupt the Marketing Concept? Others are directing their efforts to forecasting the uncertain future and the burgeoning discipline of futures research. This article reports on the application of one futures research technique-the solicitation of expert opinion-to the field of marketing. Its purpose is to examine the major dimensions of the future of marketing as seen by marketing education leaders

Data-driven discovery of coordinates and governing equations

The discovery of governing equations from scientific data has the potential to transform data-rich fields that lack well-characterized quantitative descriptions. Advances in sparse regression are currently enabling the tractable identification of both the structure and parameters of a nonlinear dynamical system from data. The resulting models have the fewest terms necessary to describe the dynamics, balancing model complexity with descriptive ability, and thus promoting interpretability and generalizability. This provides an algorithmic approach to Occam's razor for model discovery. However, this approach fundamentally relies on an effective coordinate system in which the dynamics have a simple representation. In this work, we design a custom autoencoder to discover a coordinate transformation into a reduced space where the dynamics may be sparsely represented. Thus, we simultaneously learn the governing equations and the associated coordinate system. We demonstrate this approach on several example high-dimensional dynamical systems with low-dimensional behavior. The resulting modeling framework combines the strengths of deep neural networks for flexible representation and sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy) for parsimonious models. It is the first method of its kind to place the discovery of coordinates and models on an equal footing.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures; added acknowledgment

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder - A review for the optometrist

Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder is a syndrome involving attentional impairments, impulsivity, and motor overactivity. This disorder has a long history of misunderstanding concerning its origins and areas of involvement. Early researchers believed the condition to be a result of brain damage. More current research points to environmental factors which may contribute to its development. There are various treatment options available, including pharmacotherapy, behavioral therapy, biofeedback, and vision therapy. Optometrists should be aware of the options available for parents as to treatment for their children. They should also be prepared as to what to expect when testing a child with ADHD and what training techniques may be of benefit for these children. A team treatment plan including parents, teachers, and doctors is the most effective way to give the ADHD child his or her best chance at success