Seasonality Effects on Consumers Preferences Over Quality Attributes of Different Beef Products

Using discrete choice modelling, the study investigates 946 American consumers willingness-to-pay and preferences for diverse beef products. A novel experiment was used to elicit the number of beef products that each consumer would purchase. The range of products explored in this study included ground, diced, roast, and six cuts of steaks (sirloin, tenderloin, flank, flap, New York and cowboy or rib-eye). The outcome of the study suggests that US consumers vary in their preferences for beef products by season. The presence of a USDA certification logo is by far the most important factor affecting consumers willingness to pay for all beef cuts, which is also heavily dependent on season. In relation to packaging, US consumers have mixed preference for different beef products by season. The results from a scaled adjusted ordered logit model showed that after price, safety-related attributes such as certification logos, types of packaging, and antibiotic free and organic products are a stronger influence on American consumers choice. Furthermore, US consumers on average purchase diced and roast products more often in winter slow cooking season, than in summer, whereas New York strip and flank steak are more popular in the summer grilling season. This study provides valuable insights for businesses as well as policymakers to make inform decisions while considering how consumers relatively value among different labelling and product attributes by season and better address any ethical, safety and aesthetic concerns that consumers might have

From the classical concept of Services to Service Systems

The “service” concept, which is very comprehensive and diversified, has changed over time and according to the knowledge area where it is used. The integration of technology in personal and professional routines of everyday life has changed its importance, number, variety and, consequently, its defining characteristics. In order to address the new emerging reality, it was necessary to evolve the concept incorporating new “services” and changing paradigms. From the observation of the services, to the abstraction that enables its systematization, there is a set of steps that can be taken and that will contribute to a better understanding of the term. According to Service Science, a Service System definition could be a starting point, which seems to be the actual research trend. This article presents an exploration of these and other related concepts, aiming to establish a set of characteristics/properties capable of clarifying the differences and similarities between the classical concept of Services and Service Systems

Service triads:a research agenda for buyer–supplier–customer triads in business services

Service triads, in which a buyer contracts with a supplier to deliver services directly to the buyer's customer, represent an emerging business model. This special issue is dedicated to this theme. To set the context, in this lead article, we first define service triads, both as a phenomenon and a research topic. We then provide a review of different strands of existing research and various theoretical frameworks that can inform our study of service triads. This culminates in an outline of a research agenda that can guide future study. As such, this paper not only introduces the articles in the special issue, but is also intended as a point of reference and motivation for further work on service triads, and on triads in general

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Structural choice modelling of discrete choice experiments: evaluating accuracy and predictive validity

This thesis assesses the robustness of structural choice modelling's accuracy and predictive validity under different sampling and experimental design conditions for discrete choice experiments. Structural choice models are a generalised form of mixed logit for choice data. Structural choice models allow the researcher to test hypotheses regarding the structure of preference heterogeneity by introducing latent factors into the functional form. Structural choice models are predominantly applied to stated preference experiment data, such as discrete choice experiments. Discrete choice experiments present respondents with sets of choice alternatives that are described by their attributes. Respondents are asked to choose the alternative that maximises their personal utility from each set of competing alternatives. In designing these choice sets and alternatives, the analyst must make a variety of decisions, including the sample size, the number of alternatives in each set, how many sets to give each respondent, how the alternatives should be matched to create sets, and so on. These design decisions have been shown to affect model accuracy and predictive validity in other model forms. The question therefore is, how robust is the accuracy and predictive validity of structural choice models to these design conditions? The thesis addresses this question through four main chapters. The first chapter presents a systematic review of discrete choice experiments in marketing. The review establishes best practice for sampling and experimental design by reviewing the advancements made to the method in the field of marketing over the past thirty-two years. The second chapter assesses the accuracy of the estimation process, maximum simulated likelihood, which is used in structural choice modelling. The third chapter assesses the effect of the experimental design's choice probabilities on the in-sample predictive validity of the models, while the fourth chapter extends these tests to out-of-sample predictive validity. The thesis makes a contribution to the choice modelling literature by establishing the properties of a relatively new and untested modelling framework. Having an understanding of the performance of a model under varying, and realistic design conditions for discrete choice experiments is necessary for researchers wishing to use structural choice models. In particular, it is suggested that there are larger gains to estimation accuracy when researchers give more choice sets to fewer respondents (than vice versa). Further, experimental designs that minimise D-error will also result in higher in-sample predictive validity. No consistent benefits to out-of-sample predictive validity were observed from any one design or modelling approach. Overall, the results suggest that researchers can be confident in applying structural choice models using existing design and sampling procedures. Structural choice models based on prior theory always improve in-sample predictive validity, but do not necessarily improve out-of-sample predictive validity. The usefulness of structural choice modelling therefore lies in theory testing, rather than predicting consumer behaviour

Service Supply Chains: Introducing the Special Topic Forum

This article introduces the Special Topic Forum (STF) on Service Supply Chains (SSC). A fundamental purpose of the STF is to more clearly define the field of SSC research and to provide conceptual foundations, as well as empirical observations. A review of SSC literature shows three perspectives of SSC research that correspond to the source-make-deliver processes from the well-known supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model. The STF contains articles that assume each of the three SSC perspectives: sourcing of services, making services, and services involved in product delivery. A fourth paper introduces a newer perspective in which the customer is the center of a network of interrelated service providers. This STF can serve as a springboard for future SSC research