Manufacturer brands versus private brands: Hoch's strategic framework and the Swedish food retail sector

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of how manufacturer brands choose and can choose to defend themselves vis-à-vis introduction of private brands by retailers. The study adopts the same research approach as a Dutch empirical study (Verhoef, P. C., E. J. Nijssen, and L. M. Sloot. 2002. “Strategic Reactions of National Brand Manufacturers Towards Private Labels – An Empirical Study in the Netherlands.” European Journal of Marketing 36 (11/12): 1309–1326) that tested and rejected large parts of the original and well-known conceptual framework by Hoch (Hoch, S. J. 1996. “How Should National Brands Think About Private Labels?” Sloan Management Review 37 (2): 89–102) consisting of six manufacturer strategies to defend against private brands. This study is based on the Swedish market, a more typical market compared with the Dutch market characterized by high innovation level and high penetration of private brands. The study builds on a combination of qualitative and quantitative interviews with brand managers at 100 manufacturers in the Swedish Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market. The results support Hoch's original conceptual framework concerning appropriate defence strategies for manufacturer brands. However, the two differentiation strategies – value for money and new and improved – are seen as one category of the strategies, which creates a simpler and more distinct structure to the framework. The results show that it is the largest and the leading manufacturers that choose this strategy. The lower the penetration of private brands, the larger the share of manufacturers that choose this strategy. The study gives a more nuanced picture concerning the motives behind the strategies and also concerning the differences between how manufacturers act depending on size and market share.     

Energy advice service as perceived by Swedish homeowners

External actors can influence potential adopters to adopt energy efficiency measures. In Sweden municipality energy advisers are one such actor group who provides energy advice and information to the end users. The success of energy advice service for improvement of energy efficiency of detached houses depends on homeowners' perception towards it. In this context, we conducted a national survey of about 3000 owners of detached houses through stratified random sampling method in the summer of 2008. We found that majority of owners of detached houses consider energy advisers as an important source of information. Furthermore, many homeowners who contacted energy advisers for advice had implemented the suggestions. However, only a few homeowners had contacted an energy adviser. Our findings suggest that it is beneficial to continue the energy advice service, but more efforts are needed to increase homeowners' awareness of and satisfaction with such services.     

The spring herring fishing and the industrial revolution in Western Norway in the nineteenth century

Abstract

By the Industrial Revolution is usually meant the technical and econormc development that started in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century and led to the establishment of modem factories which engaged in mass production by means of machinery. But the term also refers to the general economic and social development which occurred in many parts of Europe in the nineteenth century and which was characterised by an increase in population and in production, by the provision of increased facilities of communication and of transport, by a growing money economy and improved credit facilities, by the process of urbanisation, etc. It is in this wider and more general sense that the term 'Industrial Revolution' is used here.     

Scandinavian iron ore mining and the British steel industry 1870–1914

Abstract

Until the year 1856, when Bessemerpatented his new process for the easier and' cheaper manufacture of wrought iron, the production of iron in Great Britain in the form of cast and wrought iron had predominated over its conversion into steel. In the early 1850s only a very small percentage of the annual output of pig iron was converted into steel. Although in Bessemer's patent, only wrought iron was specified as the object of the new process, it was recognized that the real value of the process lay in its applicability to the conversion of pig iron into: steel in a single short operation. There was an inevitable lag in the widespread adoption of the new process for which a number of factors were responsible. Firstly, there were initial disappointments over the effectiveness of Bessemer's process: although Mushet's addition of spiegeleisen to the molten metal in the converter rescued Bessemerfrom failure,¹ several years of technical improvement and improvization were necessary before the generality of manufacturers were' ready to concentrate on Bessemer steel,² A second important cause of the delay in the widespread adoption of the Bessemer process lay in the susceptibility of the British iron and steel industry to severe cyclical fluctuations. By the middle 1860s, when the conservatism of steel manufacturers was beginning to thaw in the face of successful production by the early pioneers of the Bessemer process, a more general development of Bessemer steel seemed likely. These years, however, were years of the depression which reached its nadir in 1867–8. Only when recovery from this depression was well established at the end of the decade did Bessemer steel really come into its own. The real expansion of Bessemer steel production came, therefore, not in the few years after 1856, but in the few years after 1870. Steel rails accounted for a large part of this increase. In 1867, some 2,277 tons of Bessemer steel rails were made in Great Britain: by 1882 this figure had risen to 1,438,155 tons.³     

A new view of the breakthrough in the Finnish sawmilling industry

Abstract

This paper investigates the development of poverty in Sweden using micro data derived from tax files for the city of Göteborg for the years 1925, 1936, 1947 and 1958, as well as more recent (1983, 1994 and 2003) information. We define poverty as living in a household with a disposable income lower than a poverty line that represents a constant purchasing power all years, as well as poverty lines defined as 60% of contemporary median income. Clear reductions of poverty from 1925 to 1947, as well as from 1958 to 1983, are found. We argue that an important poverty-reducing mechanism during both periods was narrowing earnings disparities. Further, we claim that the poverty reduction from the end of the 1950s to the first half of the 1980s was the outcome of improved transfer systems as well as the establishment of pronounced characteristics of present-day Sweden: the dual earner system.     

瑞典铁路人才培养保障情况及启示

介绍瑞典铁路的背景,对瑞典铁路人才的来源、培养、保障等情况进行分析,提出促进我国铁路人才培养保障的建议。     

The impact of pharmaceutical innovation on longevity and medical expenditure in Sweden, 1997–2010: evidence from longitudinal,disease-level data

We use longitudinal, disease-level data to analyze the impact of pharmaceutical innovation on longevity and medical expenditure in Sweden, where mean age at death increased by 1.88 years during the period 1997–2010. Pharmaceutical innovation is estimated to have increased mean age at death by 0.60 years during the period. The estimates indicate that longevity depends on the number of drugs to treat a disease, not the number of drug classes. Pharmaceutical innovation also reduced hospital utilization; the estimates indicate that an increase in the number of drugs commercialized for a disease reduces the number of hospital days due to the disease 8 years later, primarily due to its effect on the number of hospital discharges. The cost per life-year gained from the introduction of new drugs is estimated to be a small fraction of leading economists’ estimates of the value of a 1-year increase in life expectancy.     

Long-term cost-effectiveness of insulin detemir versus NPH insulin in type 2 diabetes in Sweden

Abstract

Aim:

To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of insulin detemir vs. NPH insulin once daily, in patients with type 2 diabetes in the Swedish setting based on clinical data from a published randomized controlled trial.

Methods:

Projections of long-term outcomes were made using the IMS CORE Diabetes Model (CDM), based on clinical data from a 26-week randomized controlled trial that compared once daily insulin detemir and NPH insulin, when used to intensify insulin treatment in 271 patients with type 2 diabetes and body mass index (BMI) 25–40?kg/m². Trial results showed that insulin detemir was associated with a significantly lower incidence of hypoglycemic events and significantly less weight gain in comparison with NPH insulin. The analysis was conducted from a third party payer perspective and the base case analysis was performed over a time horizon of 40 years and future costs and clinical outcomes were discounted at a rate of 3% per year.

Results:

Insulin detemir was associated with higher mean (SD) quality-adjusted life expectancy (5.42 [0.10] vs. 5.31 [0.10] quality-adjusted life years [QALYs]) and lower overall costs (SEK 378,539 [10,372] vs. SEK 384,216 [11,230]; EUR 33,794 and EUR 34,300, respectively, where 1 EUR?=?11.2015 SEK) compared with NPH insulin. Sensitivity analysis showed that the principal driver of the benefits associated with insulin detemir was the lower rate of hypoglycemic events (major and minor events) vs. NPH insulin, suggesting that detemir might also be cost-saving over a shorter time horizon. Limitations of the analysis include the use of data from a trial outside Sweden in the Swedish setting.

Conclusions:

Based on clinical input data derived from a previously published randomized controlled trial, it is likely that in the Swedish setting insulin detemir would be cost-saving in comparison with NPH insulin for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes.     

Maintenance practices in Swedish industries: Survey results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the maintenance practices that are used in Swedish industry. The study was performed by conducting a cross-sectional survey within Swedish firms that have at least 100 employees. The main results achieved from the study show that the role of maintenance is not highly recognised. There is a need to spend and invest more in maintenance, which is considered by the majority of Swedish industries as a necessary expense. Although about 13% of the maintenance department time is spent on planning maintenance tasks, nevertheless, about one third of the time is spent on unplanned tasks. There is a need for more adoption of maintenance concepts such as total productive maintenance (TPM) and reliability-centred maintenance (RCM). The lack or ineffectiveness of planning and scheduling can significantly restrict the maintenance department in achieving its objectives and can thus prevent the company from maximising business profits and offering competitive advantages.     

The Evolution and Development of the Swedish Insurance Market

In this paper we provide an overview of the historical development of the insurance market in Sweden from the eighteenth century up to modern times. We consider theoretical perspectives drawn from the economics and political regulation literature that might help to explain important institutional features of the market - in particular, its oligopoly structure, the lack of foreign participation and the significant presence of mutual forms of organisation. We also offer a prognosis as to the current challenges and prospects of the Swedish insurance market in an increasingly competitive and global market.