The influence of project novelty on the new product development process

In this paper we review the range of formal tools and techniques available to support the new product development process, and examine the use and usefulness of these by means of a survey of 50 projects in 25 firms. For each firm, we compare routine and novel development projects, and identify the influence of project novelty on the frequency of use and perceived usefulness of a range of different tools and methods. In terms of usefulness, focus groups, partnering customers and lead users and prototyping are all considered to be more effective for high novelty projects, and segmentation least useful. Cross-functional development teams are commonplace for all types of project, but are significantly more effective for the high novelty cases. In addition, many tools rated as useful are not commonly used, and conversely some tools in common use are considered to be of limited use.     

Automotive supplier parks: An imperative for build-to-order?

Build-to-order (BTO) has been hailed as a production strategy that fits the demands of the 21st century where a considerable challenge for the industry is how to achieve flexibility from extended supply chains that span the globe and retain elements of make-to-forecast. A study of 8 European manufacturers examines whether supplier parks are an imperative for BTO using a conceptual framework developed from the literature. The findings question the idea that simply locating suppliers in close proximity to original equipment manufacturer assembly plants reduces delivery lead time and inventory. Hence, not all types of supplier parks are an imperative for BTO, where the cases reveal a wide variety of types ranging in scale and proximity. The originality of the paper is a unique study which redefines both automotive supplier park terminology and the relationships with BTO. It questions received wisdom and offers practical measures for industry.     

An integrated model of service experience design improvement

Service experience design, addressing an overall experience problem with user-centered design thinking is a critical issue. This study proposes an integrated model of service experience assessment that addresses the relationship between user value and experience based on the importance and satisfaction concept. Refined improvement index of this study was developed for the determination of improvement priority. The paper then presents an empirical study of 3C (computer, communication, consumer-electronics) retail stores in which the proposed model was used to identify the critical servicescape items requiring improvement, and ranked on the strategies of improvement. The model requires a systematic approach to (i) examine the performance of these retail service processes; (ii) determine the items to be improved; and (iii) select appropriate and feasible strategies to improve these items. This integrated model is valuable for practical implementation in service firms to investigate and prioritize service design actions based on user experience data gathered from service sites.     

The Effect of Jay-customer Behaviors on Employee Job Stress and Job Satisfaction

Guest-contact employees are often exposed to stressful situations resulting from jay-customer behaviors. The purpose of this study is to examine how jay-customer behaviors (customer incivility and customer aggression) affect employee job stress and job satisfaction. Surveys of 210 participants working as guest-contact employees in hospitality organizations were analyzed. The results show that customer incivility leads to decreased employee job satisfaction, which is fully mediated by increased job stress. The findings of this study suggest that hospitality managers should acknowledge the negative impact of jay-customer behaviors on employees and make efforts to minimize this effect through training, procedures, and supporting systems.     

Tension between the corporate and collegial cultures of Australian public universities: The current status

Australian public universities have been under the influence of a corporate management culture since the 1980s. Driven by pressures for more accounting and accountability, its characteristics have variously been described as being in tension with the traditional collegial and autonomous management culture, threatening its demise. This study applies a multi-theoretical lens to recognize the interests of academics as important stakeholders and critically analyses the existing literature to determine the current status of both cultures within Australian public universities. A series of interviews with a number of vice chancellors and other senior management staff complement and provide a management perspective to the analysis. The results suggest that amidst a shift toward a corporate culture, aspects of collegial and autonomous practices continue to exist in various degrees among universities due to different levels of influencing forces on its operating environment. A quasi-management approach exists with continued tensions between both cultures, compromising their expected outcomes. Universities are attempting to narrow this tension gap. An analysis of the quasi-management approach further reveals that a right balance between both cultures has potential to serve as an effective management model under a multi-theoretical platform. The findings provide avenues for further research to examine this potential.     

Life Sciences Roundtable: Strategy and Financing

In light of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry, a distinguished group of pharma executives and strategic and financial advisers discusses the following corporate decisions:

• Strategy: What business model is most likely to maximize long‐term shareholder value? For example, is diversification by big pharma into areas like consumer healthcare and generics a reliable way to create sustainable value?
• Capital allocation: What are the best methods for evaluating investments in pharma R&D, and for deciding which programs should be terminated and which assets divested? If conventional DCF isn't much help in a world where R&D outcomes are so uncertain, what about proposed models like real options?
• Corporate governance and incentive systems: Should big pharma continue to outsource ever more of its R&D functions to biotech and venture capital? Or can it overcome the problems associated with size by creating more decentralized business units and trying to replicate the accountability and incentives of smaller biotech firms?
• Capital structure and payout policy: Are the large cash and equity positions and minimal payouts of big pharma, typically justified as cushioning the uncertainties associated with pharma R&D, likely to be the value‐maximizing capital structure in the future? With many biotechs struggling and venture capital scarce, where are the new sources of capital for the industry? And can future deals be structured in ways that help bring about higher returns for big pharma as well as the R&D providers?
• Disclosure: What should management tell investors to help ensure that their companies' policies and promising investments are reflected in their stock prices?

     

A New Premium Principle for Equity‐Indexed Annuities

In this article, we introduce a premium principle for equity‐indexed annuities (EIAs). Traditional actuarial loadings that protect insurance companies against risks cannot be extended to the valuation of EIAs since these products are embedded with various financial guarantees. We proposed a loaded premium that protects the issuers against the financial and mortality risks. We first obtain the fair premium based on a fair value of the equity‐linked contract using arbitrage‐free theory. Assuming a specific risk level for hedging errors, we obtain a new participation rate based on a security loading. A detailed numerical analysis is performed for a point‐to‐point EIA.     

International trade with endogenous mode of competition in general equilibrium

This paper endogenizes the extent of intra-sectoral competition in a multi-sectoral general-equilibrium model of oligopoly and trade. Firms choose capacity followed by prices. If the benefits of capacity investment in a given sector are below a threshold level, the sector exhibits Bertrand behavior, otherwise it exhibits Cournot behavior. By endogenizing the threshold parameter in general equilibrium, we show how exogenous shocks such as globalization and technological change alter the mix of sectors between “more” and “less” competitive, or Bertrand and Cournot, and affect the relative wages of skilled and unskilled workers, even in a “North–North” model with identical countries.     

Linking Technological,Market & Financial Indicators Of Innovation

This paper describes the results of a feasibility study to develop a national Innovation Scoreboard to measure and track the innovative performance of companies in the UK. It begins with a review of potential technological, market and financial indicators of innovation, and using data in the public domain, develops a trial Innovation Scoreboard based on 40 firms from five different sectors. The preliminary findings suggest that product announcements made in the specialist press may be a viable indicator of innovation at the level of the firm. Specifically, the evidence suggests that product announcements represent a useful measure of innovative output, which combined with expenditure on research and development provide a measure of research efficiency. This measure of research efficiency is shown to be associated with higher market to book values.     

How is suicide different in Japan?

This study investigates suicide rates among OECD countries, with particular effort made to gain insight into how suicide in Japan is different from suicides in other OECD countries. Several findings emerged from fixed-effect panel regressions with country-specific time-trends. First, the impacts of socioeconomic variables vary across different gender–age groups. Second, in general, better economic conditions such as high levels of income and higher economic growth were found to reduce the suicide rate, while income inequality increases the suicide rate. Third, the suicide rate is more sensitive to economic factors captured by real GDP per capita, growth rate of real GDP per capita, and the Gini index than to social factors represented by divorce rate, birth rate, female labor force participation rate, and alcohol consumption. Fourth, female and elderly suicides are more difficult to be accounted for. Finally, in accordance with general beliefs, Japan's suicide problem is very different from those of other OECD countries. The impact of the socioeconomic variables on suicide is greater in Japan than in other OECD countries.