A comparison of importance weights and willingness-to-pay measures derived from choice-based conjoint, constant sum scales and best–worst scaling

We review the measurement of product attribute importance, and find little consensus in definition or measurement methods. We compare four measurement methods: 1) two direct methods whereby respondents report the importance of attributes using best–worst scaling or constant sum scales, and 2) two indirect methods derived from discrete choice experiments. Our comparisons rely on previous findings that choice experiments are externally valid to use as the standard. We find high agreement within direct or indirect methods, but less agreement between direct and indirect methods. Our results also demonstrate that inferences derived from indirect measures appear to be susceptible to context effects related to the particular attributes a researcher chooses to investigate. We discuss implications for current and future research.     

Deriving joint space positioning maps from consumer preference ratings

Joint space multidimensional scaling maps are often utilized for positioning analyses and are estimated on survey samples of consumer preferences, choices, considerations, or intentions so as to provide a concise spatial depiction of the competitive landscape including relevant dimensions or attributes, competing brands, and consumers in the same joint space representation. Care has to be given concerning the underlying scale properties of such survey data so as not to distort the resulting joint space positioning map. We present a new joint space multidimensional scaling procedure for positioning analyses for displaying the structure in such survey data when such common ordered successive category measurement scales such as Likert, Edwards, semantic differential, etc., are employed. We present the technical details of this stochastic ordered preference multidimensional scaling vector model as well as the maximum likelihood estimation-based algorithm devised for parameter estimation. Favorable comparisons are made with several existent multidimensional scaling methods in representing the internal structure for such data in marketing positioning studies. An actual commercial positioning application concerning large sports utility vehicles consideration to buy judgments is presented with predictive validation comparisons with other multidimensional scaling joint space procedures.     

Investigating the importance and cognitive satisfaction attributes of service quality in restaurant business - a case study of TASTy steakhouse in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In this research, we proposed an effective approach to investigate the importance and satisfaction attributes of service quality of a restaurant business. For understanding the gaps of service quality cognition between consumers and servers, our work can be used as a reference for helping restaurants improve their service quality and reuse their resources effectively. We applied DINESERV scales and five-point Likert scales as quantitative research tools. The Kano model, customer satisfaction index, regression analysis, improvement effort index, and importance-performance analysis (IPA) were applied as measurement tools to examine the importance of various service attributes. Our approach was implemented in a famous restaurant in Taiwan: TASTy Steakhouse. The relative priority of service quality attributes for improving this chain restaurant and its competitiveness are ranked and discussed.     

Multi-agent interaction processes: From oligopoly theory to decentralized artificial intelligence

This article examines the group processes studied in oligopoly theory and in decentralized artificial intelligence. We develop a unifying perspective for the research on the behavior of autonomous interacting agents. Among the many questions of interest in these disciplines are the ways of creating and reaching cooperation by a group of self-interested independent decentralized agents. In this respect, the models and results of oligopoly theory can also be used both in decentralized artificial intelligence and in many other areas of research, such as group decision making, negotiation support, and organizational theory. In particular, the important idea of reshaping goals with strategic information sharing and transmission—incentive communication—has received little attention outside the field of economics. On the other hand, oligopoly theory and experimental economics can especially benefit from the computational methods and tools of artificial intelligence and modern decision support technology. To demonstrate this we have built a prototype of an experimental market analysis environment. Its potential in the analysis of group processes is illustrated with examples.     

Scaling and dimensionalizing perceived risk from ratings data: Managers' risk perception of business computers

A model for dimensionalizing and scaling perceived risk is presented. The scaling procedure provides risk values at the brand and category level on each of several risk dimensions. The model is illustrated with business managers' risk assessments of microcomputer profiles. The relative importance of various intrinsic and extrinsic cues in determining these perceptions was examined as part of the validation procedure for the several risk scales.     

Dual scaling and correspondence analysis of preferences, paired comparisons and ratings

The methods of dual scaling (DS) and correspondence analysis (CA) are used extensively in marketing research for analyzing categorical data. When applied to preferences, paired comparisons and ratings, dual scaling has been contrasted with correspondence analysis, as if the two techniques operated differently on these data. In this note, we show that correspondence analysis provides exactly the same solution as dual scaling once the data have been transformed by a so-called “doubling” with respect to the respondents.     

Preparing for scaling: A study on founder role evolution

One of the major entrepreneurial challenges faced by scaling firms involves changing their internal organization. Our study focuses on a particular aspect of internal organizing—namely, how founder roles evolve in preparation for scaling. By means of an in-depth case study and a combination of data collection methods, we study the evolution of formal and informal founder roles. For both types of roles, we identify a founder-driven and an interaction-driven phase, during which founder and/or joiner role-crafting take place. Through both types of role-crafting, founder roles are (re)shaped. Particularly unique to our study is that we identify three scaling-specific paths through which the role-crafting of joiners shapes founders' roles. Specifically, founders experience a role efficiency increase as they take over some of the joiner-introduced role behaviors, or a role set decrease as joiners take over some of their (formal or informal) roles. We further point to the importance of psychological safety and value fit for successful joiner role-crafting to occur and for founder roles to change following founder-joiner interactions. Our study adds to the literatures on scaling and entrepreneurship as well as to role theory and role-crafting literature.     

Network analyses of brand switching behavior

Networks are extremely important in marketing because so much of marketing is relational, and network methods are important and appropriate tools for studying such structures of interconnections. In this paper, we model data that represent consumer brand switching in the French and British automobile marketplaces. We describe network methods that range from simple to sophisticated. We believe it is novel to consider brand switching patterns as networks, exploring results that arise from network methodologies and philosophies and examining what leverage network methods might have for understanding purchase transition behavior. Our methods include the modeling of multiple networks simultaneously to study such phenomena as dynamic markets and cross-cultural competitive market structure.     

Negotiation Engineering: A Quantitative Problem-Solving Approach to Negotiation

Although they are often complex, negotiations are practical problems that can be solved with the aid of specialized, ad hoc methods. We introduce a problem-solving approach to difficult negotiations inspired by the established solution-oriented discipline of engineering, which we term “Negotiation Engineering”. It is based on the reduction of problems to their most formal structures and the heuristic application of quantitative methods for problem solving. We argue that mathematical language in negotiations helps to increase logical accuracy in negotiation analysis and allows for the use of a variety of existing helpful mathematical tools to achieve a negotiation agreement. We demonstrate the practicability and usefulness of this approach using four case studies in the area of international diplomacy in which Negotiation Engineering was applied to achieve negotiation solutions.     

A Framework for Adopting Collaboration 2.0 Tools for Virtual Group Decision Making

Decision making in virtual teams is gaining momentum due to globalization, mobility of employees, and the need for collective and rapid decision making by members who are in different locations. These factors resulted in a proliferation of virtual team software support tools for decision making, the latest of which is social software (also known as collaboration 2.0), which includes tools such as wikis, blogs, microblogs, discussion forums, and social networking platforms. This paper describes the potential use of collaboration 2.0 software for improving the process and the specific tasks in virtual group decision making. The paper proposes a framework for exploring the fitness between social software and the major activities in the group decision making process and how such tools can be successfully adopted. Specifically, we use a fit-viability model to help assessing whether social software fit a decision task and what organizational factors are important for such tools to be effective. Representative research issues related to the use of such tools are also presented.     

Supporting collaboration in digital journal production

As digital journals come into use there arise new possibilities for the computer support of the group processes that are involved in developing, editing, reviewing, revising, annotating, and generally using a publication. There are now a number of products and research tools designed to support group‐writing teams that can be extended to support a wider range of interacting roles and activities. Most, however, require use of nonmainstream word‐processing systems, and usually assume that full information is continuously available through a network to mediate and avoid conflicts. In the context of digital journals, it is more realistic to suppose that they will be distributed through both on‐line and off‐line media, and that a requirement for continuous network access would severely limit their use. This article reports research on group‐writing tools that deviate as little as possible from conventional word processors and assume only intermittent network connection for document exchange and conflict resolution. The system developed can be used by some people as a conventional word processor, by others as a versioning and text and sound annotation system, and by others as a full hypertext system, all while working with the same corpus of documents. It offers full typographic and page‐layout facilities and imports typographic text from, and exports to, the mainstream commercial word processors so that users are not locked into a nonstandard technology. It is presented here as an example of the increased functionality that may be made available through a digital journal, supporting many of the current roles and activities involved in journal creation and use while deviating minimally from current journal and word‐processing practice.     

Multi-item models for evaluating managerial and organizational resources in service firms

Services are the primary source of wealth in almost every nation around the world. Domestic competitiveness increasingly depends on the health of its service firms. Then understanding the source of competitive advantage for the case of service industry is a challenge that cannot be deferred. Resource-Based View literature gives sound evidences that intangible assets like managerial and organizational resources are the primary source of competitive advantage, especially in the service industry. However, the development of managerial tools for measuring and managing these resources remains as an open gap. In the last few years, some academic work has been devoted to develop intangible assets measurement devices. Nevertheless, these scales are either oriented towards manufacturing industry or do not take specifically into account the distinctive features of service delivery. This study replies the multi-item model proposed by Camisón (Manag Res 3(1):27–48, 2004) over a sample of 152 medium and large services companies. We have taken different tests to demonstrate validity and reliability of the scales. Results show that these scales may also be suitable for being used in all the types of service companies. However, some partial modifications should be done in order to give more relevance to soft managerial competences and to organizational human capital. This study was carried out as part of research project (reference GV2007-075) which has been subsidized by the “Valencian Government Programme Scientific Research and Technological Development Projects”.     

一种改进的星载聚束SAR子孔径ECS算法

在分析原有ECS算法的基础上，提出了一种适合于星栽聚束SAR成像的子孔径ECS算法。该算法对数据进行子孔径划分，可降低系统对PRF及运算存储量的要求。距离压缩采用斜视等效距离模型，实现精确的距离徙动校正。方位压缩采用方位scaling和频谱分析来实现，并分析推导了合理的方位scaling因子取值。最后，通过仿真验证了算法的有效性。     

JMS-Java-Based Meeting Space

The convergence of business, technology, and market forces have brought about the computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) phenomena. Many CSCW systems adopt an inflexible style of collaboration and coordination. The problem becomes obvious when different application tools are integrated into a single, comprehensive CSCW system and various applications need different degrees of interaction mode. We introduce JMS (Java-based meeting space), an object-oriented framework for developing synchronous collaborative applications. The JMS framework provides a comprehensive collection of services that supports cooperative interaction at system level. The application developers can tailor some of these services to the specific needs of particular collaborative applications and usage situations. These services are grouped into three main categories. First, JMS provides session management service supporting dynamic integration of application tools as well as dynamic membership. Second, group awareness service guarantees allotted communications within a session. Third, JMS offers floor control service accommodating a set of policies as well as underlying mechanisms. The application developer can bind a floor control to an application tool and switch from one floor policy to another during the session. Our implementation is based on a fully, object-oriented replicated architecture in which the application and management services are replicated at each site. To illustrate the feasibility of JMS in a practical organizational environment, an electronic meeting incorporating voting has been built on the JMS framework. We also provide a brief overview of CSCW and its significance in organizational computing-in electronic meeting, in particular-and compare JMS with other related works.     

Enabling the Original Intent: Catalysts for Social Entrepreneurship

As capitalist economies have shifted their primary focus from providing goods and services for all, to concentrating wealth at the top echelons of societies, social entrepreneurs have been one source of re-capturing the original intent of capitalism. Social entrepreneurs have combined the efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations with the social concerns of many non-profit and governmental agencies. As a result, social entrepreneurship is viewed as having significant potential for alleviating many of the social ills we now face. To accomplish this mission, however, will require expansion of social enterprises beyond their current footprints. We explore alternate methods of expansion, scaling and replication, and then examine potential catalysts, which can enable social entrepreneurs to attain their goals of social improvement. The catalysts we identify are effectual logic, enhanced legitimacy through appropriate reporting metrics, and information technology. We conclude with two brief case studies that exemplify how these catalysts are currently working to enhance the effectiveness of social start-ups.     

On Consensus of Group Decision Making with Interval Utility Values and Interval Preference Orderings

Uncertainty is a common phenomenon in our real world. Interval utility values and interval preference orderings are two of the simplest and most convenient tools to describe uncertain preferences in decision making. In this paper, we investigate consensus problems in group decision making with interval utility values and interval preference orderings. We first establish their transformation relations, and give a formula for calculating the association coefficients of individual uncertain preferences and group ones. We then develop a consensus procedure for group decision making with interval utility values and interval preference orderings, which takes interval utility values as the uniform preference representation. This procedure can be reduced to a series of processes for dealing with some special group decision making situations, such as: group decision making with utility values and preference orderings, group decision making with interval utility values, group decision making with interval preference orderings, etc. Finally, we illustrate the applications of the developed procedures with two practical examples.     

Facilitation Methods for Collaborative Modeling Tools

This paper presents results of an ongoing research effort to support effective user involvement during modeling and analysis meetings. Productivity and user participation of traditional group meetings have been limitations imposed by chauffeured facilitation and single-user tools. These tools have been designed for analysts rather than for direct use by non-analyst users. Recently, electronic meeting systems (EMS) modeling tools that allow users to work in parallel to contribute directly during meetings have been developed. Such tools allow more domain experts to participate directly and productively during model development meetings than is possible using the traditional approach. Although previous research has demonstrated that EMS modeling tools may be used to develop some model content, little research had been done on collaborative facilitation methods that employ these tools. This paper presents a comparison of modeling approaches for use with EMS modeling tools and proposes an approach that overcomes significant problems inherent in other approaches. It leverages the productivity enhancement afforded by direct group access and still results in production of complete, integrated, high quality models. This approach allows models to be developed two to four times faster than with traditional modeling support and yet avoids model ambiguities and inconsistencies.     

Scale-ups and scaling in an international business context

Scaling, the persistent rapid growth to deliver a viable business model, often incorporates an explicit international business dimension. However, research on the cross-border management and organization of scaling and scale-ups in international business has been limited. We therefore build on prior scholarly understanding to differentiate scaling in three settings – initiative, organization and ecosystem – and elaborate on their respective international business aspects. We are sensitive to different organizational purposes and their associated scaling for commercial and/or social impact. Our arguments advance the conceptual understanding of scaling in international business and offer an agenda for future research.     

Seven key steps for rapidly scaling up multi-unit operations

While there are many organizations that seek to quickly grow into multi-unit operations, the academic literature is surprisingly limited in what advice it provides to those confronting the managerial capacity limitations scaling up to multiple units presents. In this Executive Digest, we detail one co-author’s experience in rapidly developing the east coast market for Starbucks and outline the knowledge he brought to the process that came from prior rapid growth experiences with Burger King, Blockbuster, and Wendy’s. We present seven key steps for rapidly scaling that can guide any manager seeking to build a multi-unit operation quickly.     

Strategic planning using service roadmaps

Although useful service planning tools exist, few focus on how to integrate service planning into business and technology planning from a longer perspective, which is essential for a firm to survive and grow in the current and future service environment. We suggest that technology roadmaps, initially developed as a long-term strategic planning tool in the manufacturing sector, can be a good solution for the service sector – and indeed are in use in the service sector under the label ‘service roadmaps'. To help more firms enjoy the benefits of the service roadmap concept, this research aims to develop a taxonomy of service roadmap forms. We investigate 93 service roadmaps and identify five dominant types. Then, we analyze the characteristics of each type to understand their current and possible future uses. Our research findings are expected to facilitate the wider use of service roadmaps as a complement to existing service planning tools.