Brand Location 品牌定位的九大策略

对品牌进行定位是为了使潜在的消费者能够对品牌产生有益的认知，从而形成对品牌的偏好和持续的购买行为。美国的著名营销学者杰克·屈特认为：定位的基本原则并不是去塑造新而独特的东西，而是去操作原已在人们心目中的想法，打开联想之门，目的是在顾客心目中占据有利的位置。所以，掌握品牌定位的策略方法就十分必要。     

UK Brand Asset Recognition Beyond “Transactions or Events”

Companies' financial statements no longer reflect the true value of the corporation. This is because of a widening gap between accounting book values and market values due to intangible assets such as brands not being disclosed. This paper argues that the definitional requirement for “transactions or events” appears to restrict their recognition, and therefore disclosure on balance sheets. It therefore proposes a rethink of the situation with the impetus coming from within the accounting profession.     

When is a physician network a group?

Developing a network of physicians into a high-performing group requires a cultural transformation. The hallmarks, as well as the obstacles, to achieving this are reviewed by two experienced consultants. The requirements of highly successful physician organizations range from sharing a common mission, vision, and values to developing an effective infrastructure to having visionary leadership. Barriers to successful physician groups include a lack of clarity of purpose and goals, lack of quality standards, and an absence of shared learning. A blueprint on how to become a successful physician group is provided.     

Is health care a right or a privilege?

In this overview of the American health system, the author make arguments for declaring health care a right in the U.S. Constitution. Learn why he believes this is necessary.     

Corporate planning for a town—a case history

Corporate planning is relatively new in U.K. local government. This article suggests the reasons behind this late development, and outlines the particular problems in local government and the approach adopted in one authority. The author's philosophy is that there is no blueprint for introducing corporate planning and that any approach must be evolutionary, reflecting local circumstances. The article covers the period from 1971 outlining the four main stages of development and includes the effects of local government reorganization in 1974. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the borough.     

Planning a cost-effective cellular manufacturing process—a case study

The drive key is one of the most important high-precision components of aircraft braking systems. In this paper, a cost-effective drive key manufacturing process is developed. This proposed manufacturing process makes use of near net shape manufacturing, CNC machining, and cellular manufacturing methods. To make the proposed process a reality, proper engineering changes of the parts along with group technology are applied to the product design, in conjunction with the pro posed manufacturing methods. In addition, a general spread sheet program is developed for each style of fixture module to assist in part program coding. Moreover, statistical process control (SPC) is implemented to verify product quality and accept the product at the point of manufacture. It is observed that the implementation of the proposed drive key cellular manufacturing process results in a tremendous improvement in quality, throughput and productivity as well as a drastic reduction in manufacturing operations, workholding fixtures, cutting tools, and inspection media.     

Rivalry and strategic groups: what makes a company a rival?

Strategic group literature has generated a significant amount of research over recent decades. However, the rivalry implications of strategic group have remained unclear. This paper analyses rivalry and strategic groups in the house building industry in a small town from a cognitive approach. We consider rivalry as a subjective and directional phenomenon. Estimating rivalry as the direct identification of competitors we try to explain whether similarity affects rivalry and what factors make a company a “rival”. Results show that perceived rivalry is strongly related to size, past performance, subjective similarity and strategic group structure.

Market research with the aid of a smartphone application – a case study

We discuss using the presumed ‘wisdom of the crowd’ to reduce the bullwhip effect in supply chains by enhancing the accuracy of demand forecast. Our case study describes a joint project of a leading European technology company (We chose RAGD as a pseudonym for the company throughout the study.) and the University of Kassel on a smartphone application for end customers to gather early information for this producer’s forecast. Our results confirm the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ hypothesis: A group of experts, in our case technicians who install and maintain RAGD-products, is capable of anticipating market fluctuations six weeks in advance. This only holds true if the ‘crowd’ of technicians is large enough. Our business climate index outperforms the company forecast in the first six months, when on average 22 technicians took part per week. We discuss successes and limitations of the cooperation and provide recommendations for similar projects.     

Am I a leader or a friend? How leaders deal with pre-existing friendships

We studied employees who were promoted into a leadership role from within their workgroup and explored how they dealt, psychologically, with being both a leader and a friend of their subordinates. In an inductive, qualitative study of 33 individuals from across three organizations (two mining companies and one childcare organization) we found that these people experienced psychological conflict that resulted in them feeling vulnerable to being exploited or being afraid to use their power over subordinate-friends. We identified five strategies that were used, namely abdicating responsibility, ending the friendship, establishing the divide, overlapping the roles, and using friendship to lead. We developed a model whereby the type of psychological conflict and the person's leader identity (either “the boss”, just a role, or a weak or non-existent leader identity) leads to the choice of resolution strategy. This exploration into understanding pre-existing friendships demonstrates the ongoing need to consider those in a leadership role as “people” and not just “leaders”.     

The how and why of a firm’s approach to CSR and sustainability: a case study of a large European company

This paper aims to analyse “how” and “why” a company engages in CSR and sustainability. The “how” concerns the features of the firm’s CSR and sustainability approach, defined in terms of a firm’s strategy (implemented issues, initiatives and activities) and organization (organizational structures and roles and managerial systems adopted). The “why” refers to the key determinants, both internal and external, of CSR and sustainability. Finally, how the firm’s CSR and sustainability approach evolves over time and the relation between CSR determinants in various stages of the CSR evolutionary path are also investigated. The research method is based on the longitudinal analysis of a case study concerning a large multinational company operating in the telecommunications industry in Europe. The analysis of the case study shows that sub-cultural differences in the approach to CSR and sustainability may occur across hierarchical levels and functional units. Moreover, embedding CSR and sustainability principles doesn’t follow a linear and continuous process, made by sequential stages. Indeed, it can be characterized by an up and down evolutionary path, based on different stages with a changing emphasis given to CSR and sustainability issues. Finally, we find that the firm CSR and sustainability approach is not an autonomous choice, but it is a consequence of the contingent role played by both the external and the internal drivers and by their relative importance during the company’s CSR history.     

Are diamonds a safe haven?

The diamond market has recently experienced important structural changes moving from a monopolistic market to a more liberalised and competitive one. As a result, diamonds are being discussed as a new investment asset class, with possible valuable portfolio contributions. The aim of this paper is to analyse their potential role within an investment framework, using previously unpublished data. We use the GemShares and NASDAQ OMX patented license and Polished Prices proprietary Price Reporting Agency (PRA) database to build our own standardized financial polished diamond basket indices (DBIs), using actual reported data of traded prices, adjusted for liquidity by traded volume. The impact of adjusting for traded volume of investment grade (only) diamonds is sufficient to develop a unique subset different to that captured and reported by the PRA. We first construct an index for High-Quality (HQ) and a second one for Medium-Quality (MQ) diamonds so we can study both of their dynamics and investment features. We further analyse the relationship the two indices have with major macroeconomic and financial variables, as well as other precious commodities to investigate their role as safe haven or hedge. We find that the DBI_HQ Index returns are, on average, positively correlated with major macroeconomic variables—in particular with the Euro and Chinese Interest rates. The DBI_MQ Index returns are largely uncorrelated with the same macroeconomic variables—with the exception of Euro Interest rates and the Israeli Exchange rate. When we compare our Diamond Indices returns with major financial variables and other precious commodities, we find a broad lack of correlation between their returns, and significant difference between the DBI_HQ and DBI_MQ Indices. We may conclude that diamonds are broadly a poor hedge for any of the portfolios we considered, with a few important exceptions—especially gold. Using Bauer and Lucey’s (Financ Rev 45(2):217–229. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.952289, 2010) approach we further tested the “safe haven value” and “hedging usefulness” of the two Indices. In contrast with previous studies we believe the unique data we accessed allowed us to demonstrate that diamonds represent a strong hedge for gold investors, and in addition exhibit features of a safe haven for stock markets during periods of financial stress.     

A polynomial time approximation scheme for?embedding a directed hypergraph on a weighted ring

Given a directed hypergraph H=(V,E _H ), we consider the problem of embedding all directed hyperedges on a weighted ring. The objective is to minimize the maximum congestion which is equal to the maximum product of the weight of a link and the number of times that the link is passed by the embedding. In this paper, we design a polynomial time approximation scheme for this problem.     

A short proof of a result on a Vizing-like problem for integer total domination

In this note, we provide a short proof of a recent result on a Vizing-like problem for integer total domination in graphs given by Li and Hou (J. Comb. Optim., 2008).     

A Manager is a Manager is a Manager? Race and Managerial Impact on Organizational Performance

Contemporary scientific analyses of public organizations underscore the salience of management for understanding how governmental bureaucracies perform. Yet little is known of administrators from minority social groups, and whether their organizations perform better or worse than other bureaucracies. Emphasizing the impact of network engagement on organizational performance, this exploratory study addresses this important research deficiency. A critical component of the analysis presented is the differential impact of administrative engagement with internal and external networks on minority and status quo clientele outcomes. The findings have important implications for studies of managerial networking, equity, and representation in public organizations.     

Risk assessment based on a STPA–FMEA method: A case study of a sweeping robot

Despite rapid developments in the quality and safety of consumer products, the rise of intelligent household appliances, such as sweeping robots, has introduced new safety concerns. Considering “person–product–environment” elements and the complex systems of emerging consumer products, this study presents a new method of risk assessment for consumer products: systems theoretic process analysis (STPA)–failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). As a case study, this method is applied to the safety control of a sweeping robot. The results suggest that this method can identify all the possible failure modes and injury scenarios among the product components, and the safety constraints in the hierarchical control structure of the interactive system. Moreover, the STPA–FMEA method combines user and environmental factors with the value of product risk events, based on the risk priority number (RPN). This provides an accurate and orderly system to reduce or eliminate the root causes of accidents and injuries. Finally, analysis of unsafe control behavior and its causes can be used to suggest improved safety constraints, which can effectively reduce the risk of some injury scenarios. This paper presents a new method of risk assessment for consumer products and a general five-level complex index system.     

闽东近44a寒潮气候特征分析

利用闽东9个气象观测站1971~2014年的逐日最低气温资料,分析近44a闽东寒潮频次的空间分布、寒潮气候特征及环流特征。结果表明,闽东寒潮活动时空差异较大,西北部开始早、结束晚,东南部开始晚、结束早;寒潮频次在冬季最多,秋季次之,春季再次;秋季寒潮略呈减少趋势,春季寒潮略呈增加趋势;M-K检验表明,寒潮频次未发生明显突变;在11月、12月、1月、3月寒潮活动偏强年和无寒潮过程年,环流特征存在显著的差异;前期菲律宾附近海区、日本以东洋面、澳大利亚东部海区、鄂霍茨克海、渤海和东海、澳大利亚西北部海区海温异常的变化,对预报闽东不同季节寒潮频次异常有一定的前兆意义。