Multi-tiered private labels portfolio strategies: Effects on consumer behavior

Abstract

Retailers wish to expand their standard private label (PL) adopting a multi-tiered portfolio. We study the effects produced by the introduction of two new PLs quality-tiers (economy and premium) on the market share of various national brands (NB; premium-quality and second-tier) and the standard PL. This study proposes a model that accommodates three effects (similarity, attraction, and compromise) for understanding how the introduction of economy and premium PL may affect market incumbents. This study also analyzes the effects of introducing new PL quality-tiers for customer segments. Our results indicate that when economy and premium PL are introduced in the market, the choice probability of standard PL decreases, especially for high purchase quantity customers and PL loyal customers. In addition, introduction of a premium PL decreases the choice probability of second-tier NB and premium-quality NB, especially for PL loyal customers and high purchase quantity customers.     

Finding delay-resistant line concepts using a game-theoretic approach

We present a game-theoretic model for the line planning problem in public transportation, in which each line acts as player. Each player aims to minimize its own delay, which is dependent on the traffic load along its edges. We show that there exists a line plan at equilibrium, which minimizes the probability of delays of the transportation system. This result is achieved by showing that a potential function exists. Numerical results using close-to-real world data in the LinTim framework clearly show that our method indeed produces delay-resistant line concepts.     

Metropolregionen: Impulsgeber für Strukturwandel und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung

Urban centres and their surroundings often act as highly dynamic economic areas. Due to continuing urban migration, population growth as well as their heightened potential for employment, they have significant impact on Germany’s overall economic performance. Cities benefit from their neighbouring regions via a division of labour based on functional and spatial comparative advantages. Jobs in the service sector are concentrated in the city, while surrounding regions show a relatively high specialisation in the industrial sector. The economic development of metropolitan regions can be fostered particularly by improving supra-regional metropolitan functions related to education and to research and development. Moreover, the improvement of the intra-regional infrastructure also contributes to the economic strength of the whole metropolitan area.     

Physicians' appraisal of mobile health monitoring

This study addresses what factors influence and moderate Japanese physicians' mobile health monitoring (MHM) adoption for diabetic patients. In light of the multilevel sequential check theory, the study tests whether novelty seeking, self-efficacy, and compatibility moderate the effects of overall quality, net benefits, and perceived value of MHM on physicians' usage intention. Self-efficacy serves as an evaluation of resources for coping with an event, while compatibility involves the judgment of an event's congruence with a motive or goal. The study results support four out of nine moderation hypotheses. Our findings clearly indicate that the impact of overall quality and net benefits on physicians' intention to use MHM would be significantly strengthened by self-efficacy and compatibility, but not by novelty seeking.     

Crescive entrepreneurship in complex social problems: Institutional conditions for entrepreneurial engagement

This paper explores entrepreneurship in the context of complex social problems (often referred to as ‘social’ entrepreneurship). Most management research in this area studies the entrepreneurs; we explore the institutional conditions which frame the likelihood of entrepreneurial engagement. We name these conditions ‘crescive’ and, following A.O. Hirschman's studies on institutional conditions for development we identify two analytically different sets of conditions: those that can stir up actors' motivations to engage and those that can alter their decision making logic. Our exploration of crescive conditions yields a novel conceptual model for entrepreneurial engagement in the context of complex social problems, which we label ‘crescive entrepreneurship’ and place in a space between functionalist and institutional action.     

Linking multi-channel customer behavior with shopping motives: An empirical investigation of a German retailer

Operating multiple channels, in store as well as non-store, allows a retailer to cater to the different shopping motives of its customers. This research into the buying behavior of 525 customers of a multi-channel retailer that operates five channels in Germany shows that most customers use only one channel within a buying process, selecting the channel that best satisfies their shopping motives in each situation. Based on exploratory qualitative and quantitative research, this study identifies five shopping motives: “recreational orientation”, “convenience orientation”, “independence orientation”, “delivery-related risk aversion” and “product- and payment-related risk aversion”. In the majority of the store channels examined in this study (chain stores and bakeries), single-channel users primarily look to satisfy emotional and social needs. Single-channel users of non-store channels (catalogue and online-shop) look for convenience and strive for independence. Multi-channel users, who obtain their information from the online-shop and then make their purchase in the chain store, are combining the independence of online-shop information with the reduction of risks associated with buying products in the chain store. These findings can be used to develop recommendations for managing the individual channels.     

Loading optimization of palletized products on trucks

In this paper we analyze the application of an optimization model to solve problems of arranging products (packed in boxes) on pallets, and arranging loaded pallets on trucks. Initially the model is applied to solve thousands of randomly generated experiments. Then, in order to assess the effectiveness of the solutions in practice, the model is applied to two Brazilian case studies: a food company distribution center and a large wholesale distribution center. We also discuss the use of this approach for optimizing the sizes of packages, pallets and trucks. In particular, we analyze the performance of the Brazilian standard pallet (PBR), adopted by the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS) and recommended by the Brazilian Logistics Association (ASLOG), in comparison with other standard pallets. By examining not only the loading of products on pallets, but also the loading of pallets on trucks, we can obtain global utilization indices which are useful to evaluate the economical performance of unit load systems in the logistics chain of a company.     

Corporate Default Prediction Model Averaging: A Normative Linear Pooling Approach

Focusing on credit risk modelling, this paper introduces a novel approach for ensemble modelling based on a normative linear pooling. Models are first classified as dominant and competitive, and the pooling is run using the competitive models only. Numerical experiments based on parametric (logit, Bayesian model averaging) and nonparametric (classification tree, random forest, bagging, boosting) model comparison shows that the proposed ensemble performs better than alternative approaches, in particular when different modelling cultures are mixed together (logit and classification tree). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.