Automobile brand loyalty

A new measure of brand loyalty was constructed which reflected the amount of brand deliberation as well as whether the old brand was repurchased. The new measure was found to be superior to brand repurchase information alone in multivariate analyses of brand loyalty for automobiles. The findings emphasized that brand loyalty is a matter of degree and that the majority of car buyers are open to inducements to change brands. Brand loyalty was found to vary with occupation, optimism about future business conditions, the number of cars bought in the last 10 years, education and satisfaction with the old car.     

über die Wirkung der Optionsbündelung auf die Ablaufplanung einer Variantenflie?fertigung

Zusammenfassung Bei der Optionsbündelung werden einzelne Ausstattungsmerkmale (Optionen) zu Paketen (Bündeln) zusammengefasst, so dass der Kunde, von einem Grundmodell ausgehend, durch die Auswahl unterschiedlicher Optionsbündel eine bestimmte Produktvariante konfigurieren kann. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags steht die Beantwortung der Frage, ob eine solche Optionsbündelung den Produktionsablauf positiv beeinflusst. Dabei richtet sich das Augenmerk auf die Produktionsform der Variantenflie?fertigung, die in der Endmontage variantenreicher Endprodukte (etwa in der Automobilindustrie) eine dominierende Stellung einnimmt. Eine umfangreiche computergestützte Evaluierung verdeutlicht einerseits den generell positiven Einfluss der Optionsbündelung und identifiziert andererseits im Rahmen der Betrachtung unterschiedlicher Bündelungsarten die kumulative Bündelung als besonders geeignet.      

The Impact of Investment Constraints on Portfolio Performance Measurement: The Power Utility Function Case

This paper examines the effect of investment constraints on performance measurement of institutionally managed funds. Assuming that these funds have a power utility function and using an optimal portfolio choice model, one can show that the Security Market Line remains a valid benchmark for these constrained funds under the perfect market assumption. Relaxing the perfect market assumption, one can prove that a non-stationary constrained investment policy will bias traditional measures of timing ability differently across managers types. Finally, the magnitude of this bias is illustrated with a numerical example.     

The grain trade in northern Europe before 1350

A network of interregional grain routes extended across northern Europe in the century before 1350. With an interlude from c . 1310 to 1330 English grain was shipped to western Norway and the last decades before 1350 witnessed increasing English deliveries to the Netherlands. The most important of these commercial links were the grain routes from Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia to Norway, England, and the Netherlands established on a regular basis c . 1300. In western Europe the Baltic grain deliveries were an alternative source of supply which affected prices, urbanization, and the profitability of arable farming.     

Methodological Issues in Measuring Crowding-Related Norms in Outdoor Recreation

Based on theoretical and methodological similarities between research on recreationrelated norms and contingent valuation, three methodological issues--question format, starting point bias, and information bias--are explored as they apply to measuring crowding-related norms of visitors to two national parks. Few statistically or substantively significant differences in crowding-related norms were found to be associated with these methodological issues. Study findings suggest that measures of crowding-related norms may be relatively "robust,"and this may add weight to the "validity" of the theory and methods associated with crowding-related norms in outdoor recreation.     

A systems-based approach to address unintended consequences of demand-driven transportation planning in national parks and public lands

In most cases, transportation planning in national parks and public lands might most appropriately be termed “demand-driven.” In this approach, rigorous analyses of park visitation, traffic, and parking data are used as a basis for transportation planning to accommodate current and projected future visitor demand, within financial constraints. Performance measures used to assess the quality of transportation systems in national parks are generally related to “moving people” efficiently. This approach is based on well-established principles for transportation planning in urban and rural communities. However, a demand-driven approach to transportation planning may not be suitable in national parks and public lands because it may enable levels of visitation that cause visitor crowding, resource impacts, and other unintended consequences. This paper introduces a more sustainable, systems-based transportation planning approach developed in the Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO) to help the park operate its shuttle bus system efficiently and conveniently, and according to thresholds for visitor crowding and resource impacts at sites serviced by the shuttle system. The transportation planning approach developed in this study for ROMO is more suitable and sustainable for national parks and public lands than a demand-driven approach, and is readily adaptable to other locations. Correspondingly, the approach is now being applied in several other national parks and public lands recreation areas.