Logistics – A Pathway Towards ‘Sustainable’ Competitive Advantage for the Multinational Enterprise

The Internet is significantly changing the strategic behaviour of many businesses that operate in the global arena. Today, many multinational enterprises (MNEs) work closely with their logistics providers to enhance their competitive positions. They increasingly outsource their non-strategic business functions, with logistics providers picking up this new source of business. The MNE is moving more towards a ‘front-end’ or customer focused operation, with their key logistics providers aligning themselves as supply chain integrators. Logistics providers may be classified as 1st to 4th party logistics providers. A 4th party logistics provider provides complete supply side solutions for the MNE, plus a degree of demand side service. It becomes an integral part of the MNEs competitive solution set. This paper proposes that integrated, fully activated, demand-supply (FADS) chains provide a mechanism to move beyond 4th party logistics provider (4PLP) solutions. It elucidates the key clusters of skills levels that must be activated by the logistics provider to operate at the 5th party logistics provider (5PLP) FADS level of outsourcing and service. The 5PLP FADS logistics provider brings a vast array of ‘added-value skills’ to the MNE, and a key innovative, flexible and highly agile partnership results, whereby pathways towards ‘sustainable’ competitive advantage may be developed. The 5PLP FADS logistics model is the next step in the progression to total logistics integration

Stock market investors' use of stop losses and the disposition effect

The disposition effect is an investment bias where investors hold stocks at a loss longer than stocks at a gain. This bias is associated with poorer investment performance and exhibited to a greater extent by investors with less experience and less sophistication. A method of managing susceptibility to the bias is through use of stop losses. Using the trading records of UK stock market individual investors from 2006 to 2009, this paper shows that stop losses used as part of investment decisions are an effective tool for inoculating against the disposition effect. We also show that investors who use stop losses have less experience and that, when not using stop losses, these investors are more reluctant to realise losses than other investors

Stabilisation of Recombinant Human Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2) against Stressors Encountered in Medicinal Product Processing and Evaluation

Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is a highly labile protein with strong potential for tissue engineering. The aim of this study was to develop FGF-2 formulations that are stable against physical stressors encountered in pharmaceutical processing and evaluation. Pharmaceutical excipients, alone or in combination, were added to aqueous FGF-2 (770 ng/mL) solution and the stability of the resulting solutions on storage at 4–37 °C was evaluated. Stability of the solutions to repeated freeze-thaw cycles and lyophilisation was also evaluated, as well as the stability of the lyophilised stabilised protein to storage at −4, 4 and 18 °C for up to 12 months. In all of these experiments FGF-2 was quantified by ELISA assay. The as-received FGF-2, when dissolved in water, was highly unstable, retaining only 50% of baseline protein content after 30 min at 37 °C or 1 h at 25 °C. By contrast, FGF-2 solutions prepared with 0.5% w/v methylcellulose (MC) and 20 mM alanine (formulation F5) or with 0.5% w/v MC and 1 mg/mL human serum albumin (HSA) (formulation F6) were highly stable, having residual FGF-2 content comparable to baseline levels even after 2 h at 37 °C and 5 h at 25 °C. F5 and F6 were also highly stable to repeated freeze-thaw cycles, with >99% of FGF-2 load remaining after the third cycle. In addition, F5 and F6 were stable to lyophilisation, and the lyophilised products could be stored at −4, 4 or 18 °C for at least 12 months, with less than 1% loss in mean FGF-2 content. Thus, FGF-2 solution is effectively stabilised against both thermal and processing stressors in the presence of MC and alanine (F5), or MC and HSA (F6). The resultant FGF-2 solutions may be applied as medicinal products or further processed into more advanced medicinal products, e.g., scaffolds, for wound healing and tissue regeneration

Definition of phenotypic characteristics of childhood-onset inflammatory bowel disease

Childhood-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) might be etiologically different from adult-onset IBD. We analyzed disease phenotypes and progression of childhood-onset disease and compared them with characteristics of adult-onset disease in patients in Scotland. Methods: Anatomic locations and behaviors were assessed in 416 patients with childhood-onset (276 Crohn's disease [CD], 99 ulcerative colitis [UC], 41 IBD type unclassified [IBDU] diagnosed before seventeenth birthday) and 1297 patients with adult-onset (596 CD, 701 UC) IBD using the Montreal classification. Results: At the time of diagnosis in children, CD involved small bowel and colon (L3) in 51% (138/273), colon (L2) in 36%, and ileum (L1) in 6%; the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract (L4) was also affected in 51%. In 39%, the anatomic extent increased within 2 years. Behavioral characteristics progressed; 24% of children developed stricturing or penetrating complications within 4 years (vs 9% at diagnosis; P < .0001; odds ratio [OR], 3.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.86–5.92). Compared with adults, childhood-onset disease was characterized by a “panenteric” phenotype (ileocolonic plus upper GI [L3+L4]; 43% vs 3%; P < .0001; OR, 23.36; 95% CI, 13.45–40.59) with less isolated ileal (L1; 2% vs 31%; P < .0001; OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.03–0.12) or colonic disease (L2; 15% vs 36%; P < .0001; OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.21–0.46). UC was extensive in 82% of the children at diagnosis, versus 48% of adults (P < .0001; OR, 5.08; 95% CI, 2.73–9.45); 46% of the children progressed to develop extensive colitis during follow-up. Forty-six percent of children with CD and 35% with UC required immunomodulatory therapy within 12 months of diagnosis. The median time to first surgery was longer in childhood-onset than adult-onset patients with CD (13.7 vs 7.8 years; P < .001); the reverse was true for UC. Conclusions: Childhood-onset IBD is characterized by extensive intestinal involvement and rapid early progression

Benchmarking on-line services industries

The Web Quality Analyser (WQA) is a new benchmarking tool for industry. It has been extensively tested across services industries. Forty five critical success features are presented as measures that capture the user’s perception of services industry websites. This tool differs to previous tools, in that it captures the information technology (IT) related driver sectors of website performance, along with the marketing-services related driver sectors. These driver sectors capture relevant structure, function and performance components.\ud An ‘on-off’ switch measurement approach determines each component. Relevant component measures scale into a relative presence of the applicable feature, with a feature block delivering one of the sector drivers. Although it houses both measurable and a few subjective components, the WQA offers a proven and useful means to compare relevant websites. The WQA defines website strengths and weaknesses, thereby allowing for corrections to the website structure of the specific business. WQA benchmarking against services related business competitors delivers a position on the WQA index, facilitates specific website driver rating comparisons, and demonstrates where key competitive advantage may reside. This paper reports on the marketing-services driver sectors of this new benchmarking WQA tool.\u