Optimal surveillance against foot‐and‐mouth disease: the case of bulk milk testing in Australia

Previous foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks and simulation‐based analyses suggest substantial payoffs from detecting an incursion early. However, no economic measures for early detection have been analysed in an optimising framework. We investigate the use of bulk milk testing (BMT) for active surveillance against an FMD incursion in Australia. We find that BMT can be justified, but only when the FMD entry probability is sufficiently high or the cost of BMT is low. However, BMT is well suited for post‐outbreak surveillance, to shorten the length of time and size of an epidemic and to facilitate an earlier return to market.     

Applied geography in a Third World setting: A research challenge

This paper addresses the particular methodological questions that arise when conducting geographic studies of tourism in the third world. The research environment has both favorable and unfavorable aspects. On the one hand, the scope and opportunity for worthwhile research are almost unlimited. On the other hand, deficiences in background information, in the availability of suitable personnel, and in the economic and social infrastructure can be serious drawbacks to research into human endeavors. The paper draws particular attention to the pitfalls awaiting researchers who are themselves unfamiliar with third world conditions and cultures. A case study is presented, which involves the preparation and undertaking of research into domestic tourism in Nigeria. Together with a local collaborator, the author selected an appropriate topic and methodology, discovering in the process of consultation and questionnaire construction that his perceptions based on foreign experience were sometimes irrelevant to the conditions in Nigeria. The conclusion drawn from this experience is that research techniques imported to the third world from developed countries may need modification before they can be usefully applied.     

Servbrand Framework: A Business-To-Business Services Brand Equity Framework

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The research reported on here set out to develop a tailored branding model for business to business (B-to-B) services by applying the brand resonance pyramid to a selected B-to-B services context.

The brand resonance pyramid was developed based on research that was predominantly consumer product or individual brand oriented, though one of the objectives when the model was developed was that “the model had to be versatile and applicable to all possible kinds of brands and industry settings. As more diverse applications of branding continued to emerge for products, services, organizations, people, places, and so forth, the model needed to have far-ranging relevance”. The brand resonance pyramid therefore had to be applicable to any context, including B-to-B services contexts. However, consumer goods branding strategies are not directly transferable to B-to-B or services markets and there are documented differences between the B-to-B and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets and products and services contexts. There is also doubt regarding the validity of the contention that the brand resonance pyramid should be applicable to the B-to-B sector.

Methodology: Using an interpretivist qualitative research approach and an exploratory research strategy, the Servbrand framework was developed empirically by applying the brand resonance pyramid to a selected B-to-B services context. Fourteen useful in-depth interviews were obtained from appropriate and information rich participants that represented more than 14 of the 89 organization that were included in the selection frame. Some of the participants were responsible for the relevant decisions of more than one organization.

Findings: The results from the study reported on here (summarized as Figure 5) prompted the inclusion of a people dimension and elevated the importance of relationships in an amended B-to-B services brand equity framework. The people brand-building block includes the dimensions of attitude and demeanor, personality and values, personableness, product knowledge and client knowledge. Relationships, as the ultimate aim of the framework, concern both interpersonal relationships and partnerships.

The article presents a conceptual framework to guide effective brand building strategies in a selected B-to-B services context. Researchers can use the framework to test its applicability in other contexts, which will contribute to the amendment of a significant brand equity management framework.

The Servbrand framework can assist marketing practitioners to improve the effectiveness of strategic brand management for B-to-B services.

Contribution: The empirical research contributes to three areas of brand equity research, namely: 1) the offering type – by investigating service offerings rather than product offerings; 2) the brand level – by investigating organization-level brands rather than product-level brands; and 3) context – by investigating a B-to-B context rather than a B2C context. A revised brand resonance pyramid is proposed and called the Servbrand framework.     

Pictures and parts: Delivering an automated automotive parts catalog

The paper describes a classic challenge in business technology—keeping (or expanding) a market in light of changing demands and product technologies. Threatened by other firms in the microfiche publishing business and by new entrants offering catalog data bases, Bell & Howell reevaluated its entire approach to the automotive parts catalog business. In the process the company discovered how a properly concieved system could provide significant efficiency improvements in automobile repair operations. Much of the hardware needed for the system was “off the shelf.” As in many cases of technological development, initial expectations about what the new technology could offer were incorrect. The heart of the story is the company's persistent and iterative efforts to understand its customers' activities and to offer a system that could be tailored to, and justified in, the customers business environment.     

Underwriter Reputation and Initial Public Offers: The Detrimental Effects of Flippers

In this research, we examine the relationship between the reputation of investment banks and the investor clientele to whom they market initial public offers. We hypothesize that the most reputable investment banks have considerable distribution power but confine initial public offer sales to investors with long-term horizons in an effort to maintain prestige. Using the level of relative after-market trading volume to proxy for investor type, we find that as underwriter reputation increases investors with short-term trading horizons (“flippers”) tend to dominate the offerings over the lower prestige levels. For underwriters in the upper reputation tier, however, this dominance begins to decline with increasing reputation. In addition, we find a negative relation between the after-market price performance of the initial public offer firm and the first week's trading volume. The results suggest that flippers can be detrimental to the performance of initial public offer firms. While distributing power may be essential for the maintenance of the reputation of investment banks, the type of investor clientele also appears to be of major importance.     

Criticas factors in the successful development of an area labor-management committee

Despite growth of knowledge concerning labor-management cooperation and employee involvement, much remains to be learned about the process of establishing these organizational arrangements. The development of area labor-management committees is an aspect of the process that needs to be more thoroughly understood. This article reports a study of factors that influenced the development of two West Virginia area committees, one of which was relatively successful and the other unsuccessful. The findings, based on systematic evaluations of both committees, identify factors that account for the differences in the committees' success. Among these factors are the influence of a respected community leader; involvement of unions and management that are cooperating at their own plant sites; the service of a capable executive director; and training of executive board members.