Retail competition in the fast-moving consumer goods industry: The case of France and the UK

UK retailers in the fast-moving consumer goods industry focus their strategy on building loyalty through quality ‘own’ labels. By contrast, French retailers compete aggressively on price. Judy and Marcel Corstjens, and Rajiv Lal argue that either a ‘two-tier’ or parallel system will evolve in the future or a national industry will tend to oscillate from one strategy to another. Retailers must decide which of the two strategies they will consistently adopt.     

Design and analysis of mixture experiments with process variable

A mixture experiment is an experiment in which the response is assumed to depend on the relative proportions of the ingredients present in the mixture and not on the total amount of the mixture. In such experiment process, variables do not form any portion of the mixture but the levels changed could affect the blending properties of the ingredients. Sometimes, the mixture experiments are costly and the experiments are to be conducted in less number of runs. Here, a general method for construction of efficient mixture experiments in a minimum number of runs by the method for projection of efficient response surface design onto the constrained region is obtained. The efficient designs with a less number of runs have been constructed for 3rd, 4th, and 5th component of mixture experiments with one process variable.     

Whither MDG 5 in Bangladesh and its regions?

This paper analyses the trends and regional variations in the target achievement of MDG 5 of improving maternal health in Bangladesh. Based on the analysis of secondary data a comparison is made between the rate of progress required for each indicator of the goal to achieve its target by 2015 from 2000, the current rate of progress (between 2000 and 2011) and the rate of progress required between 2011 and 2015 to achieve the targets. The findings suggest a substantial difference among the regions with respect to the adopted indicators of improving maternal health. For example, consistent with the highest and lowest levels of maternal mortality ratio (MMR), the divisions (administrative regions) of Khulna and Sylhet respectively also have the highest and lowest percentages of births delivered in health facilities and assisted by skilled health personnel. However, the second highest percentage of births delivered in a health facility in Chittagong does not accord with its high MMR. This kind of variation reveals that overall improvement in MMR may not necessarily result in complete achievement of the goal of improved maternal health. Rather, there are some gaps and challenges in each region, which need to be addressed and acted upon accordingly. The findings of this paper contribute to knowledge about the persistence of regional inequalities in MDG 5 in Bangladesh, even if the goals are met at the national level. The findings will also be useful in preparing a road map for ensuring the health and wellbeing of all mothers in Bangladesh under the new Sustainable Development Goals.     

Relationship among differentiation of self, relationship satisfaction, partner support, and depression in patients with chronic lung disease and their partners

The purpose of the present study is to test the relationships among differentiation of self, relationship satisfaction, perceived partner support, and depression in a sample of patients with chronic lung disease (CLD) and their partners. The sample consisted of 52 patients with CLD and their partners. Hierarchical multiple regression was used for data analysis. The results indicate that (a) patients' differentiation of self is significantly lower than partners' differentiation of self, (b) patients' relationship satisfaction is positively correlated with partners' relationship satisfaction, (c) patients' relationship satisfaction predicts perceived partner supportive behavior, (d) perceived partner unsupportive behavior predicts patients' depression, (e) partners' differentiation of self predicts partners' relationship satisfaction, (f) partners' relationship satisfaction predicts partner supportive behavior, and (g) partners' differentiation of self and relationship satisfaction predicts partners' depression. The study serves to highlight the fact that the patient is part of a system, and that taking the system into account is relevant to the well-being of both the patient and the partner, in particular for patients with CLD, a heretofore unstudied population. The results of such studies have significant implications for couple and family therapists.     

20世纪初俄国在西藏的阴谋

本文引用了丰富的档案和报刊资料,考述了20世纪初英国远征军入侵西藏前后而发生的种种诡秘事件,其中主要涉及两位俄属布里亚特蒙古人,一位是十三世达赖喇嘛的＂洗礼大师＂阿旺·德尔智,另一位是受雇于俄国外交部曾在俄国参谋部中亚探险与情报工作印度小组受过训的泽仁布,他们的神秘使命在于利用其民族和宗教外衣的掩护,达到如何影响达赖喇嘛与英国抗衡目的,从而使俄国能在西藏问题上保持或扩大自己的影响。     

Evaluating new product decision processes

The development of a new product is often a sequential-decision process with many available stages at which the product may take any one of a number of alternate courses of action. This paper identifies an efficient algorithm for solving this sequential-decision process. A computer program, involving the algorithm, has been written to solve problems containing up to one thousand stages. Input into the program includes the subjective probabilities of success for each decision branch, the cost associated with each decision stage and level, the rate for discounting all monetary values to the present plus an indicator for each decision stage and level of the desired decision criterion. The algorithm utilizes the dynamic-programming solution approach. The output of the algorithm contains the minimum, or maximum, expected discounted decision values for each stage and level of the network. The algorithm and computer program have been primarily utilized in the pharmaceutical industry. An illustrative, exemplary use of the algorithm in this industry is presented.