Opportunities for Innovation in the Delivery of Interactive Retail Services

In today's volatile economy, innovation in providing interactive services to consumers through a variety of channels is critical in retailing. Interactive service innovations offer opportunities for retailers by creating new markets or offering new benefits in existing markets. They also pose threats as existing customers encounter new alternatives offered by competitors. This article explores some of the most promising opportunities in interactive retail services; namely, the increasing power of consumers, channel synergies, pre- and post-transaction service, optimal use of resources, and consumer heterogeneity. In discussing these areas of opportunity we identify knowledge gaps and suggest research questions relevant to these gaps that warrant attention. Collectively, these questions offer a research agenda for the topic of interactive retail service innovation.     

The Last Mile: Managing Driver Helper Dispatching for Package Delivery Services

Hiring seasonal driver helpers is one widely used approach by parcel delivery companies to deal with increased home-delivery volumes during peak seasons. Nonetheless, driver helper-related issues have not received much attention in academic research. This study investigates how driver helpers can be utilized in the most effective way by parcel delivery companies. We show that by separating a parcel delivery route into two sub-routes, namely “no-helper” and “with-helper” routes, the utilization rates of driver helpers can be improved, and the carrier cost be reduced considerably. Three main contributions of this study are as follows. First, based on costtrade-off insights, we develop a new mathematical model for the last-mile distribution problem, which we call the Driver Helper Dispatching Problem. Second, using this mathematical model, we perform a series of numerical experiments to identify the conditions under which the proposed “split-route solution” works most or least effectively. Finally, we perform sensitivity analyses to investigate the impact that changes in model parameters, such as fuel cost, would have on study results.     

Marketing Interior Design Services

No abstract available for this article.     

Learning How to Manage Technology in Services Internationalisation

Learning how to manage technology on foreign markets has become crucial for the competitive advantage of service firms. Not much has been written about how service firm learn to manage technology during internationalisation. This explorative study draws on verbatim accounts of critical incidents frorn key service employees in four Swedish service firms who recently started operations in Poland, Japan, Norway, Austria and Indonesia. Empirical evidence of learning and technical competercies presented in terms of a typology of competencies comprising: sourcing, developing, communicating, contracting and implementing technology.     

Teaching the Concept of Risk: Blended Learning Using a Custom-Built Prediction Market

There has been much research into the role of technology in promoting student engagement and learning activity in third-level education. This article documents an innovative application of technology in a large, undergraduate business class in risk management. The students' learning outcomes are reinforced by activity in a custom-designed prediction market. The content of lectures are closely aligned to the student objectives within the prediction market, thus allowing the application of risk management practice while building knowledge through traditional delivery methods.     

创新出发,安全去哪儿——论“人人快递”风险防范

"人人快递"作为一种新型的快递模式悄然发展,人人快递电子商务平台是由四川创物科技有限公司研发的新型个体物流形式下的快递信息服务平台。"人人快递"旨在通过"自由快递人"随程捎带的方式向人们传递"绿色生活、自由快递"的理念以及"人人互助"的精神。但由于技术尚不成熟、管理尚不规范,其安全问题也接踵而至。"人人快递"应在创新的基础上,加强规范准入许可,设置网点进行验证;及时获得法律认可,确立合法合规性质;定期进行用户培训,建立绩效评价机制;建立完备的"跟踪"体系,全程把控运送过程,以求得创新和安全的双赢。     

箔条/红外弹投放器自动测试系统的设计

为实现信息化的综合保障,满足部队对机载自卫电子对抗系统内外场的检测需求, 完成了对某型箔条/红外弹投放器自动测试系统的设计应用。详细阐述了以工控机和插卡式 模块为核心的系统硬件和软件程序的设计过程,采用开放式设计思想和PCI总线技术,统一 软硬件平台和接口,实现快速准确定位到故障模块。     

An Examination of the Cross-Cultural Transferability of Traditional Training Principles for. Optimizing Individual Learning

A general survey on perceptions of national management style was given to 452 managers representing diverse industries from the three Asian countries of Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. Mean responses on eight of the survey items related to four traditional principles of managing training and adult learning revealed clear differences, suggesting important reservations in the cross-cultural transferability of these wi ely recommended principles.     

The Effective Delivery of Franchisor Services: A Comparison of U.S. and German Support Practices for Franchisees

ABSTRACT

Conventional wisdom suggests that more services offered by franchisors should lead to fewer complaints from franchisees, and that franchisees ought to be better off with additional support provided. We set out to differentiate those services that are truly effective and are perceived as beneficial by franchisees from those that may have little effect or may even be perceived as counterproductive. Our survey targeted franchisors in the U.S. and in Germany, comparing the most mature franchise market globally to one that is relatively young. System disruption was found to be dependent on the maturity of the market, as little differentiation is provided in the very mature U.S. market, but considerable differentiation exists in the younger German market. Also, the size of the system matters, as bigger systems typically provide more services. Finally, different types of services have varying levels of effectiveness in the less mature franchise market of Germany.     

一种无乘法高性能9/7离散小波变换滤波器的硬件设计

提出了一种基于提升格式，高效、实时实现JPEG2000中9／7双正交离散小波变换虑波器的VLSI结构设计方法。该方法所设计的结构，在保证同样的精度下，大大减少了运算量，整体运算速度高，硬件花费少，存储需求低，硬件利用率达到100％。用Verilog HDL对系统进行了硬件描述，并选用Xilinx公司的xcv50e-cs144-8器件在ISE4．1环境下实现了综合。     

农村公共医疗卫生资源供给效能研究设计

农村医疗卫生发展重点是推进医疗保障、医疗服务、监管体制综合改革,为群众提供安全有效的公共卫生和基本医疗服务。当前,我国农村工作的重心是统筹城乡经济和社会发展,全面建设小康社会,而农村基本医疗服务体系的构建则是城乡一体化建设的核心议题,是建设社会主义新农村的重要内容,在这个过程中,政府应肩负起主导责任。医疗卫生资源供给效能提升路径依靠的不再是单方政府的权威,而是政府、市场、社会组织等多元主体通过制度安排,对医疗卫生资源供给效能实施"共同治理",通过合作网络的互动和协调,在多方主体之间建立一种"多向交叉的网络合作关系",从而保证人民获得期望的医疗卫生资源供给,实现政府对医疗卫生资源供给的治理与善治。     

Cognitive Style and Learning Strategies: Some Implications for Training Design

In designing learning materials there is often the assumption that all trainees will learn in a similar manner. This approach ignorees the important issue of individual differences in cognitive style. Cognitive style may be defined as an individual’s consistent approach to organising and processing information during thinking. Style does not appear to be related to intelligence and reflects qualitative rather than quantitative differences between individuals in their thinking processes. Here the authors argue that conventional training design methodologies (whilst acknowledging learning style) appear to lack the theoretical and empirical bases to acknowledge the important role played by cognitive style in determining learning performance. The aim of the article is to consider the relationship between learning performance, learning strategies and cognitive style and to suggest ways in which human resource development practitioners may accommodate individual differences in style in order that the effectiveness of training and development interventions may be improved.     

Collaborative Economy: Market Design and Basic Regulatory Principles

The rise of the collaborative economy platforms reveals that policymakers need to start thinking about how to introduce flexibility in the provision of services in these formal relationships with adequate protection for all of the involved parties.     

Public-Private Partnerships for Service Delivery

This article reports on the performance of services contracted out by the public sector to private sector organisations. The conclusions are based on probably the biggest-ever questionnaire survey on this topic to-date: it covered 7,500 public-private partnerships, and was replicated annually over three years. The private sector organisations providing the services included multinationals like IBM and Andersen Consulting as well as local firms. The public sector clients were all from three Australian states or the Australian federal government. The study not only shows that these partnerships are set to go on expanding fast, but also explores the ways in which they have been successful and the pitfalls which the partners need to avoid.     

Limitations of the Theories of Nonprofits and Benchmarking Services Delivery Dimensions of Poverty-Reduction Programs in Rural Bangladesh

Even though both contract failure and consumer control theories of nonprofits stress the need for monitoring the performance of the firms, these models fail to offer any guidelines on how to do so. In general, the performance of poverty-reduction projects are assessed on amounts of loan disbursement, repayment rates, area of coverage, and financial sustainability. However, performance assessment based on the efficiency of service delivery has in the past been ignored even though the importance of efficient service delivery in poverty-reduction programs is well recognized in the literature and in the theories of nonprofits. Due to this specific lacuna, benchmarking in the aspects of efficient service delivery has never been applied. Based on primary data collected from 78 villages in Bangladesh from September to December 2009, this article develops a two-dimensional multi-item service delivery index to compare the efficiency of participating organizations in the stated programs in order to set industry benchmark values for each item of the index.     

The Role of the Internet in the Delivery of Export Promotion Services: A Web Site Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of the Internet in the delivery of export promotion services. Based on a content analysis of the Web sites of 250 export promotion organizations (EPOs) representing over 130 countries, it is concluded that the majority of these organizations have not fully exploited the potentials of this technology in the delivery of support services to national exporters. Use of the Internet is primarily limited to dissemination of basic information with little effort made to utilize the interactive and customization features of the technology. The managerial and policy implications of this failure in terms of increased cost of market entry, lost export revenues, and exporter attrition are discussed.     

Teaching International Business Across Multiple Modes of Delivery: How to Maintain Equivalence in Learning Outcomes

The drivers of globalization are changing how, where, and when international business (IB) is being taught, and increasing student diversity. Concomitantly, education is becoming an important contributor to GDP in developed economies. Today, the same course may be taught at home to domestic and in-bound international students, in host countries, online, and through blended learning techniques. The increasing variety of modes of delivery raises an important question, however—how to deliver the same material in different contexts and achieve the same learning outcomes. This article examines the changing face of IB education and presents a case study on how this question has been answered at one Australian university.     

How Small Business Advisory Program Delivery Methods (Collective Learning,Tailored, and Practice‐Based Approaches) Affect Learning and Innovation

Past studies relate small business advisory program effectiveness to advisory characteristics such as advisory intensity and scope. We contribute to existing literature by seeking to identify the impact of different advisory program methods of delivery on learning and subsequent firm innovation behavior. Our research is based on a survey of 257 Australian firms completing small business advisory programs in the three years preceding the research. We explore the range of small business advisory program delivery methods in which our surveyed firms participated and, with reference to the literature on organizational learning and innovation, we analyze predictors of firms' learning ability and innovativeness based on the identified delivery methods. First, we found that business advisory programs that involved high levels of collective learning and tailored approaches enhanced firms' perceptions of their learning of critical skills or capabilities. We also found that small business advisory programs that were delivered by using practice‐based approaches enhanced firms' subsequent organizational innovation. We verified this finding by testing whether firms that have participated in small business advisory services subsequently demonstrate improved behavior in terms of organizational innovativeness, when compared with matched firms that have not participated in an advisory program.     

Financial Services for Post-Quake Reconstruction

The May 12 earthquake in Sichuan caught Chinese people by surprise and took the nation＇s heart. While mourning the dead and searching for the missing, many services must be provided for the survivors in the wake of the earthquake. Available post-quake financial services have become an important part of the reconstruction effort in the disasterstricken areas of Sichuan province.     

Communicating Value for Business-to-Business Services

This article presents the resulls of an empirical study designed to assess the importance of various information aspects of communication in promoting business-to-business services. A total of 345 telecommunications managers assessed the importance of promoting service value in terms of both the value of the service to the customer and the value of the service relative to competitive offerings. Borh aspects of communicating value were deemed impor- tant to managers considering adoption of a new service. The relative imporlance of promoting these communication aspects was assessed for consideration of products versus services. Despite continued debate regarding the differences between promoting services versus products, more similarities than differences were found in terms of communication importance.