Optimal Returns Policy under Demand Uncertainty

Multiple categories of retail products suffer limited shelf life, demand uncertainty, and, in some cases, long lead times. To provide retailers with an incentive to increase the stocking quantity of such products, manufacturers may offer an option to return unsold items at wholesale or less than wholesale prices. This article extends the additive price-dependent demand model in three ways. First, partial returns are optimal for the manufacturer but do not induce higher stocking quantities compared with when the manufacturer offers no returns. Second, in terms of the effect of investment in demand-enhancing activities, when retailers invest, they set higher resale prices, but an optimal partial returns policy still does not induce higher stocking quantity, whereas when manufacturers invest, the optimal returns policy induces higher stocking quantity. Third, when the manufacturer and retailer have different expectations of demand uncertainty, the retailer's estimate influences the expected profits for both, whereas the manufacturer's estimate has a major impact on its profits only.     

Quality management,environmental management maturity,green supply chain practices and green performance of Brazilian companies with ISO 14001 certification: Direct and indirect effects

This study aims to test a new conceptual model based on the relationship between quality management (QM), environmental management maturity (EMM), adoption of external practices of green supply chain management (GSCM) (green purchasing and collaboration with customers) and green performance (GP) with data from 95 Brazilian firms with ISO 14001. To our knowledge, such links and relationships are not simultaneously identified and tested in the literature. The results indicate the validation of all of the research hypotheses. This paper highlights that an improvement in green performance will require attention to quality management, environmental management maturity, and green supply chain.     

Consumer ethnocentrism,product necessity and quality perceptions of Russian consumers

Retail buyers in Russia have indicated that some customers have expressed a desire to purchase domestically produced products over imports. Consumer ethnocentrism has been proposed as a measure to provide retail buyers with the information necessary to market to these consumers. The purpose of this research is to determine if perceived product quality of products differs based on country of origin, product necessity and consumer ethnocentric tendency. A repeated measures ANOVA test indicates that perceived quality differs by necessity, by product, by country. A consumer ethnocentrism effect on the overall model, however, was not significant. We conclude that Russian consumers do perceive differences in product quality based on country of origin and product necessity, but that consumer ethnocentrism does not have an effect on perceived product quality.     

‘The times they are a changin’? transformative organizational innovations in financial services in the UK

Much of the management guru-based literature emphasizes the transformational capacity of organizational innovations (OIs). The excellence, quality and reengineering literature purports to abandon hierarchy, bureaucracy and management control; to eradicate conflict and instil an new team and quality-based ethos. Yet much remains unknown about how these OIs are operationalized. Here we question both theoretically and empirically the validity of such transformational claims by reference to our research within financial services. We argue that despite considerable changes, OIs remain both a condition of, and location for, the exercise of organizational power relations. Bureaucratic and hierarchical structures continue to pervade organizations. Work-related pressures and tensions abound concerning issues such as control over the quality versus the quantity of work output, work intensification and job insecurity. All of which impinge upon the performance of OIs, and belie notions of a ‘transformation’ of organizational cultures, structures or strategies.     

浅谈滨海大道改性沥青SMA路面工程的质量控制

章介绍了滨海大道工程中采用的改性沥青及SMA路面技术，并重点从材料、配合比设计、拌和及施工温度控制、摊铺及碾压等方面介绍了如何进行改性沥青SMA路面工程的质量控制。     

设计质量管理的举措和效益

从质量管理机构设置，质量保证体系的完善，标准宣贯，制度建设，人员配制及培训机制，质量活动形式等方面，详细阐述了江苏设计质量管理的举措，成功经验和收到的成效。     

标准化工作在技术监督工作中的基础地位

从质量监督、质量管理和ＱＣ小组活动入手,论述了标准对质量评定,质量监督、质量执法的影响和对建立完善质量体系、ＱＣ小组活动的全过程的作用,阐明了标准化工作在质量监督、质量管理等技术监督工作中的基础地位。     

环保要求与汽,柴油产品质量标准

经济发展带来的大气污染日趋严重,特别是在城市.大气污染的主要来源是机动车排气.为减少大气污染,仅着眼于机动车尾气处理是不够的,必须从污染源头即机动车所用燃料着手.因此,应该按照环境保护要求制定新的汽油和柴油产品质量标准.新的、环境友好汽油和柴油质量标准会对炼油工业的生产经营和技术开发产生重大影响.     

An Analysis of Assortment Choice in Grocery Retailing

Consumers in grocery retailing commonly buy bundles of products to accommodate current and future consumption. When all products in a particular bundle share common attributes (and are selected from the same product category), the consumer is said to assemble an assortment. This research examines the impact of assortment variety on the assortment choice process. In particular, we test the prediction that consumers demand less variety for higher quality items. To investigate this relationship, we employ a flexible choice model, suitable for the analysis of assortment choice. The model, based upon the assumption that the utility of purchase of one item in an assortment depends upon the set of items already selected, allows for a general utility structure across the assortment items. We apply the model to household assortment choice histories from the yogurt product category. Substantively, we show that yogurt choice is affected by brand quality perceptions (quality-tier competition). Moreover, we show that reaction to reductions in variety (number of yogurt flavors) is mediated by brand quality perceptions. Taken together, these empirical facts paint a picture of a consumer who is willing to trade-off variety against product quality in assortment choice.     

简析高职高专学生的特点及对策

高职高专学生是一个特殊的高等教育群体,其有着不同于其他高等教育群体的独特特点。本文以职业技术学院学生为对象,简单分析了高职高专学生的学习生活特点,以期发现他们在学习和生活中的优缺点,并且提出了相应的对策,从而达到提高学生社会适应性的目的。