Joint product assortment,inventory and price optimization to attract loyal and non-loyal customers

In this paper, we analyze the emerging retail practice of carrying a combined product assortment consisting of both regular “standard” products and more fashionable and short-lived “special” products. The purpose of this practice is to increase store traffic by attracting heterogeneous classes of customers, which drives up sales of standard products due to the potential cross-selling effect. Customers who are primarily attracted by special products will also buy some standard products. In this context, we analyze three decisions that are crucial for a retailer׳s commercial success: the product assortment, the inventory levels and the pricing. We propose an optimization model and an iterative heuristic to analyze the trade-offs between the combined product assortment, the inventory level and the price per product when there is limited shelf space. Using numerical experiments, we show that our heuristic can be trusted and that its accuracy improves when the number of products increases. Our findings indicate that to attract more customers for standard products, a retailer may benefit from carrying low priced special products which, if considered in isolation, would be non-profitable. As the cross-selling effect decreases, a retailer should focus more on the standard assortment by increasing its size and decreasing the prices. However, introducing special products and ignoring the cross-selling effect may decrease a retailer׳s profitability. We show that the introduction of special products involves more than just choosing the right specials for non-loyal customers but impacts the global assortment planning, the standard products and the products pricing.     

历史不一定是发展史———中国古代都城形态史的解构

以往的研究认为中国古代都城城市形态的历史是一种前后相继的发展史，使用的主要研究方法就是对城市形态进行相似性比较，但这种方法在逻辑上存在根本性的问题，因此其结论是值得质疑的。基于对这一问题的研究，我们可以进一步认为，历史并不一定就是事物、事件之间有着密切联系、存在发展阶段以及变化规律可循的“发展史”，而可能只是由一些不存在密切联系，只是在时间上具有先后顺序的同类对象构成的历史。     

近代城市空间改造的时空进程

近代城市人口的增长、城市职能的变化、市政机构的出现带来了城市空间的转变。２０世纪初，中国开始了大范围的城市基础设施改造与新建。其中最有代表性的是拆城、填濠、修筑环城马路的工程，此后全国大部分的城市改造都遵循了相似的模式。本文通过对近１２００座治所城市城墙变动信息的研究发现，２０世纪大规模的城市空间改造最初主要从东南沿海省份开始，３０年代末至４０年代的战争打破了这一过程，但随着新中国成立后城市建设的恢复，空间改造的进程继续向西部省份推进，总体上呈现由东向西，由中心向边缘发展的特点。     

建构一个新的城乡一体化分析框架：机会平等视角

对城乡一体化的现有研究或采用经济学视角,或采用制度学视角,而很少采用机会平等视角。研究认为:不论是经济资源配置还是制度和政策制定,都要视对城乡机会平等的影响如何,来判断其是否促进城乡一体化进程。机会平等是城乡一体化的本质属性。当然,机会是复杂、多样的,可以划分为基本生存机会、中层机会和高层机会,与此同时,平等也可以划分为形式平等和实质平等。在推进不同类型机会平等上,城乡一体化表现出不同的进度。该分析框架可以更好地分析我国城乡一体化进程(包括地区城乡一体化进程)。     

Need,well‐being and outcomes: the development of policy‐thinking for children's services 1989–2004

This paper describes how government policy thinking about the well‐being of children and young people developed between the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. These two Acts are milestone statements about how services to children in England and Wales should be delivered. It is an account informed by the author's own experience as a government adviser on children's social care over much of this period and supporting documentation. It traces the strands of government policy thinking about how to deliver services for children from children in need to the articulation of the five Every Child Matters outcomes. It argues that attempts to achieve coordinated service planning for children and young people played a significant role in the formulation of shared objectives and the articulation of child outcomes. However, it argues that looking at real outcomes exposes how children in the UK do relatively badly compared with other rich nations. It questions whether we can realistically expect our services to deliver significantly improved outcomes given the impact of enduring inequality in our society. This paper is dedicated to the memory of David Lambert CBE, former Assistant Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate in London, who died suddenly on 7 October 2010. He lent me articles to assist me in writing this paper.     

重庆市农民工市民化的教育培训资源统筹对策

城乡统筹的实质是资源的统筹.在重庆市“千万农民变市民”的社会大试验中,教育与培训将发挥重要作用.目前,重庆市农民工的教育与培训存在较多问题,直接影响了农民工市民化的进程,根源在于资源统筹乏力.应当根据科学发展观的要求,加强重庆市农民工的教育培训资源统筹.文章对重庆市实施制度、机构、经费、师资、信息资源这“五大统筹”和统筹模式变革提出了对策建议.     

基于模糊理论的城市快速路交通状态检测算法

通过分析流量、速度、占有率与城市快速路交通状态的关系,提出了一种基于模糊理论的城市快速路交通状态检测算法。通过在深圳市某快速路上的实际验证表明,该算法在能保证一定的检测率情况下,具有较低的误报率和较少的检测时间,表明此方法在实际应用中是切实可行的。     

关于建立城乡统一的社会保障体系的浅见

建立城乡统一的社会保障体系不仅是学术界争论的焦点，也是实践部门讨论的热点。各种主张众说纷纭。然而，建立统一的社会保障体系不能凭空设想，应立足于实际，坚持具体问题具体分析。当务之急是根据农村的情况，分地方、分人群、分层次建立安全有效的农村社会保障体系。     

Black men teaching: toward a theory of social isolation in organizations

ABSTRACT

While there continues to be increasing research about Black male teachers’ school-based experiences, there is less empirical evidence on the variation in these experiences for this subgroup. Drawing on Kanter’s Theory of Numbers and Group Composition, the researcher used the qualitative method to compare the perceptions of Black male teachers in schools that employ just one Black male teacher versus schools with larger numbers of Black male teachers. A theory of social isolation in organizations is proposed to explain differences in the variation of school-based experiences for Black male teachers. When compared to Black men in schools with larger percentages of Black male teachers on the faculty, those Black men who were the only Black male teachers on their faculty were more likely to describe feeling socially isolated and disconnected from their colleagues.