Store manager performance and satisfaction: effects on store employee performance and satisfaction, store customer satisfaction, and store customer spending growth.

PubMed

Netemeyer, Richard G; Maxham, James G; Lichtenstein, Donald R

2010-05-01

Based on emotional contagion theory and the value-profit chain literatures, the present study posits a number of hypotheses that show how managers in the small store, small number of employees retail context may affect store employees, customers, and potentially store performance. With data from 306 store managers, 1,615 store customer-contact employees, and 57,656 customers of a single retail chain, the authors examined relationships among store manager job satisfaction and job performance, store customer-contact employee job satisfaction and job performance, customer satisfaction with the retailer, and a customer-spending-based store performance metric (customer spending growth over a 2-year period). Via path analysis, several hypothesized direct and interaction relations among these constructs are supported. The results suggest implications for academic researchers and retail managers. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Negative Correlation Learning for Customer Churn Prediction: A Comparison Study

PubMed Central

Faris, Hossam

2015-01-01

Recently, telecommunication companies have been paying more attention toward the problem of identification of customer churn behavior. In business, it is well known for service providers that attracting new customers is much more expensive than retaining existing ones. Therefore, adopting accurate models that are able to predict customer churn can effectively help in customer retention campaigns and maximizing the profit. In this paper we will utilize an ensemble of Multilayer perceptrons (MLP) whose training is obtained using negative correlation learning (NCL) for predicting customer churn in a telecommunication company. Experiments results confirm that NCL based MLP ensemble can achieve better generalization performance (high churn rate) compared with ensemble of MLP without NCL (flat ensemble) and other common data mining techniques used for churn analysis. PMID:25879060

Customer Loyalty and Customer Relationship Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Pengwei; Li, Min; Jiao, Xiaojing; Zhou, Ruijin

The contemporary company attaches great importance to marketing relationship and customer relations is the core of this relationship. Further, customer satisfaction and loyalty is the core of the customer relationship management. Sometimes, high customer satisfaction causes low profit because enterprises do not realize that strengthening the loyalty of the aimed customer is the key of customer relationship management.

Companies and the customers who hate them.

PubMed

McGovern, Gail; Moon, Youngme

2007-06-01

Why do companies bind customers with contracts, bleed them with fees, and baffle them with fine print? Because bewildered customers, who often make bad purchasing decisions, can be highly profitable. Most firms that profit from customers' confusion are on a slippery slope. Over time, their customer-centric strategies for delivering value have evolved into company-centric strategies for extracting it. Not surprisingly, when a rival comes along with a friendlier alternative, customers defect. Adversarial value-extracting strategies are common in such industries as cell phone service, retail banking, and health clubs. Overly complex product and pricing options, for example, may have been designed to serve various segments. But in fact they take advantage of how difficult it is for customers to predict their needs (such as how many cell phone minutes they'll use each month) and make it hard for them to choose the right product. Similarly, penalties and fees, which may have been instituted to offset the costs of undesirable customer behavior, like bouncing checks, turn out to be very profitable. As a result, companies have no incentive to help customers avoid them. Tactics like these generate bad publicity and fuel customer defections, creating opportunities for competitors. Virgin Mobile USA, for example, has lured millions of angry cell phone customers away from the incumbents by offering a straightforward plan with no hidden fees, no time-of-day restrictions, and no contracts. ING Direct, now the fourth-largest thrift bank in the United States, offers accounts with no fees, no tiered interest rates, and no minimums. In industries where squeezing value from customers is commonplace, companies that dismantle these harmful practices and design a transparent, value-creating offer can head off customer retaliation and spur rapid growth.

Improving Customer Satisfaction: A People CMM Perspective

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-11

customers internal service quality Employee satisfaction in turn fuels employee loyalty , which raises employee productivity. Higher productivity means...greater external service value for customers – which enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty . Internal Service Quality Employee Loyalty ...Employee Productivity Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty “A mere 5% jump in customer loyalty can boost profits 25%”…or more.

Approximation Algorithms for the Highway Problem under the Coupon Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamane, Ryoso; Itoh, Toshiya; Tomita, Kouhei

When a store sells items to customers, the store wishes to decide the prices of items to maximize its profit. Intuitively, if the store sells the items with low (resp. high) prices, the customers buy more (resp. less) items, which provides less profit to the store. So it would be hard for the store to decide the prices of items. Assume that the store has a set V of n items and there is a set E of m customers who wish to buy the items, and also assume that each item i ∈ V has the production cost di and each customer ej ∈ E has the valuation vj on the bundle ej ⊆ V of items. When the store sells an item i ∈ V at the price ri, the profit for the item i is pi = ri - di. The goal of the store is to decide the price of each item to maximize its total profit. We refer to this maximization problem as the item pricing problem. In most of the previous works, the item pricing problem was considered under the assumption that pi ≥ 0 for each i ∈ V, however, Balcan, et al. [In Proc. of WINE, LNCS 4858, 2007] introduced the notion of “loss-leader, ” and showed that the seller can get more total profit in the case that pi < 0 is allowed than in the case that pi < 0 is not allowed. In this paper, we consider the line highway problem (in which each customer is interested in an interval on the line of the items) and the cycle highway problem (in which each customer is interested in an interval on the cycle of the items), and show approximation algorithms for the line highway problem and the cycle highway problem in which the smallest valuation is s and the largest valuation is l (this is called an [s, l]-valuation setting) or all valuations are identical (this is called a single valuation setting).

Capital Gains: Surviving in an Increasingly For-Profit World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Catherine R.; Fennell, Marylouise

2001-01-01

Offers lessons for non-profit colleges and universities from for-profit schools: (1) establish a professional cost accounting system; (2) think of foundations as funding partners; (3) increase retention; (4) market to students as customers; and (5) promote the college as a brand. (EV)

LMSS SERVICES FINANCIAL REPORT PROGRAM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberlain, R. G.

1994-01-01

The objective of this Services Finance Report program is to provide a means for comparing alternative designs of LMSS systems or other services systems. This program is actually a Multiplan worksheet. The labels used in the worksheet were chosen for a satellite-based cellular communication service (LMSS - Land Mobile Satellite System) but the analysis is not restricted to such cases. A comprehensive financial model is used to calculate a 'figure of merit' which can be used to compare effects of equipment and operating costs, pricing strategy, and customer demand for different systems. The program also calculates the price that a company would have to charge customers to meet all its expenses and make a specified profit. A price estimate can be obtained for almost any service which is heavily dependent on capital investment and which has operating costs that depend on the amount of service sold. The economic analysis has two main components: supplier finances and customer finances. Supplier finances include amortization, interest, insurance, taxes, and operating and maintenance expenses. Customer finances include usage rate, subscription fees, equipment costs, and estimated traffic. Prices can defined as real or nominal to account for effects of escalation and inflation, and the profits can be regulated or unrestricted This program is written for interactive execution with Multiplan (version 1.2) and has been implemented on an IBM PC series computer operating under DOS (version 2.11). The LMSS worksheet has a space requirement of approximately 38K of 8 bit bytes. This worksheet was developed in 1984.

Approximation Preserving Reductions among Item Pricing Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamane, Ryoso; Itoh, Toshiya; Tomita, Kouhei

When a store sells items to customers, the store wishes to determine the prices of the items to maximize its profit. Intuitively, if the store sells the items with low (resp. high) prices, the customers buy more (resp. less) items, which provides less profit to the store. So it would be hard for the store to decide the prices of items. Assume that the store has a set V of n items and there is a set E of m customers who wish to buy those items, and also assume that each item i ∈ V has the production cost di and each customer ej ∈ E has the valuation vj on the bundle ej ⊆ V of items. When the store sells an item i ∈ V at the price ri, the profit for the item i is pi = ri - di. The goal of the store is to decide the price of each item to maximize its total profit. We refer to this maximization problem as the item pricing problem. In most of the previous works, the item pricing problem was considered under the assumption that pi ≥ 0 for each i ∈ V, however, Balcan, et al. [In Proc. of WINE, LNCS 4858, 2007] introduced the notion of “loss-leader, ” and showed that the seller can get more total profit in the case that pi < 0 is allowed than in the case that pi < 0 is not allowed. In this paper, we derive approximation preserving reductions among several item pricing problems and show that all of them have algorithms with good approximation ratio.

Complementary or competing climates? Examining the interactive effect of service and ethical climates on company-level financial performance.

PubMed

Myer, Adam T; Thoroughgood, Christian N; Mohammed, Susan

2016-08-01

By bending rules to please their customers, companies with high service climates may be less ethical but ultimately more profitable. In this article, we pose the question of whether being ethical comes at a cost to profits in customer-oriented firms. Despite the organizational reality that multiple climates coexist at a given time, research has largely ignored these types of questions, and the simultaneous analysis of multiple climate dimensions has received little empirical attention to date. Given their scientific and practical importance, this study tested complementary and conflicting perspectives regarding interactions between service (outcome-focused) and ethical (process-focused) climates on company-level financial performance. Drawing on a sample of 16,862 medical sales representatives spread across 77 subsidiary companies of a large multinational corporation in the health care product industry, we found support for a complementary view. More precisely, results revealed that profitability was enhanced, not diminished, in service-oriented firms that also stressed the importance of ethics. Results suggest studying the interactive effects of multiple climates is a more fruitful approach than examining main effects alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Factors affecting profitability for craniotomy.

PubMed

Popp, A John; Scrime, Todd; Cohen, Benjamin R; Feustel, Paul J; Petronis, Karen; Habiniak, Sharon; Waldman, John B; Vosburgh, Margaret M

2002-04-15

The authors studied factors influencing hospital profitability after craniotomy in patients who underwent craniotomy coded as diagnosis-related group (DRG) 1 (17 years of age with nontraumatic disease without complication) and who met their hospital's craniotomy pathway criteria and had a hospital length of stay 4 days or less during a 20-month period. Data in all patients meeting these criteria (76 cases) were collected and collated from various hospital databases. Twenty-one cases were profitable and 55 were not. Variables traditionally influencing cost of care, such as surgeon, procedure, length of operation, and pharmacy use had no significant effect on whether a patient was profitable. The most important influence on profitability was the individual payor. Cases in which care was reimbursed under the prospective payment system based on DRGs were nearly always profitable whereas those covered by per diem plans were nearly always nonprofitable. 1) Hospital information systems should be customized to deliver consolidated data for timely analysis of cost of care for individual patients. This information may be useful in negotiating profitable contracts. 2) A clinical pathway was successful in reducing the difference in cost of care between profitable and nonprofitable postcraniotomy cases. 3) In today's health care environment both cost containment and revenue assume importance in determining profitability.

Optimized production planning model for a multi-plant cultivation system under uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ke, Shunkui; Guo, Doudou; Niu, Qingliang; Huang, Danfeng

2015-02-01

An inexact multi-constraint programming model under uncertainty was developed by incorporating a production plan algorithm into the crop production optimization framework under the multi-plant collaborative cultivation system. In the production plan, orders from the customers are assigned to a suitable plant under the constraints of plant capabilities and uncertainty parameters to maximize profit and achieve customer satisfaction. The developed model and solution method were applied to a case study of a multi-plant collaborative cultivation system to verify its applicability. As determined in the case analysis involving different orders from customers, the period of plant production planning and the interval between orders can significantly affect system benefits. Through the analysis of uncertain parameters, reliable and practical decisions can be generated using the suggested model of a multi-plant collaborative cultivation system.

12 CFR 240.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... customers. (a) Monthly statements. Each banking institution must promptly furnish to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement that clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

Professional Educator or Professional Manager? The Contested Role of the For-Profit International School Principal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machin, Denry

2014-01-01

For-profit education is increasingly prevalent within international schooling. The language of client, customer and consumer may not yet be embedded in the classroom, but international school leaders, particularly those operating in for-profit contexts, are having to respond not only to the needs of educational stakeholders but also to the…

Assessment, Knowledge, and Customer Service: Contextualizing Faculty Work at For-Profit Colleges and Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lechuga, Vicente M.

2008-01-01

As the labor market continues to demand more workers with postsecondary credentials, for-profit colleges and universities offer the training, degrees, and credentials that students seek to remain viable in an increasingly competitive job market. This study seeks to provide a new perspective on for-profit institutions by focusing on the roles and…

Colorful Event Lands Off Campus Customers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballard, Richard E.

1978-01-01

To attract suburban, nonstudent customers, the Yale Cooperative Corporation held a Heirloom Discovery Day. Co-op books and materials were sold to customers who came with antique items to be appraised. Donations from the profits were made to the New Haven Symphony and the University Collection of Musical Instruments. (JMD)

Profit-Based Model Selection for Customer Retention Using Individual Customer Lifetime Values.

PubMed

Óskarsdóttir, María; Baesens, Bart; Vanthienen, Jan

2018-03-01

The goal of customer retention campaigns, by design, is to add value and enhance the operational efficiency of businesses. For organizations that strive to retain their customers in saturated, and sometimes fast moving, markets such as the telecommunication and banking industries, implementing customer churn prediction models that perform well and in accordance with the business goals is vital. The expected maximum profit (EMP) measure is tailored toward this problem by taking into account the costs and benefits of a retention campaign and estimating its worth for the organization. Unfortunately, the measure assumes fixed and equal customer lifetime value (CLV) for all customers, which has been shown to not correspond well with reality. In this article, we extend the EMP measure to take into account the variability in the lifetime values of customers, thereby basing it on individual characteristics. We demonstrate how to incorporate the heterogeneity of CLVs when CLVs are known, when their prior distribution is known, and when neither is known. By taking into account individual CLVs, our proposed approach of measuring model performance gives novel insights when deciding on a customer retention campaign. The method is dependent on the characteristics of the customer base as is compliant with modern business analytics and accommodates the data-driven culture that has manifested itself within organizations.

Why Customers Use or Do Not Use Internet Banking: A Case Study of a Community Bank

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beadnell, Stephen Allen

2014-01-01

The banking industry is being challenged by shareholders and consumers to provide its products in the most efficient manner, provide good customer service, and earn a fair profit. Although the infrastructure is in place to serve most customers through Internet banking, the number of customers using this channel is less than expected. The purpose…

Marketing: Today's imperative. Marketing must be seen as the process by which a company creates, satisfies, and keeps customers. at a profit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murray, W.R.

While utilities are now much more market-oriented than in the past, marketing and sales budgets are still under attack at many gas and electric companies. Moreover, the marketing process is not being organized or managed for optimal effectiveness. To make the changes necessary to improve their competitive position, most utilities still need to address a variety of issues, such as: (1) Taking a more integrated, holistic approach to managing the various elements of the marketing process and achieving a position of competitive advantage; (2) Understanding customer/segment and product/service profitability; (3) Linking marketing plans and budgets with the utility's financial andmore » strategic plans, and using this to drive appropriate resource allocation decisions based on fact rather than guess; (4) Making the Marketing Department accountable for profit, not just sales; (5) Developing information-gathering capabilities and databases on customers, markets, and competitors that can be used to shape marketing strategies and tactics; and (6) Developing the analytical skill needed to understand differences in customer needs, buying economics, and ways a utility can effectively, efficiently, and profitably serve its customers. In the past, changes of this type would have been seen as unnecessary, perhaps even dangerous. However, until these actions are taken it will be difficult, if not impossible, for utilities to implement the new marketing imperative. Companies in other industries that have experienced similar regulatory changes have had to adapt in these ways to compete successfully, In general, the companies that took the lead have fared better than those that found themselves playing catch-up. It will be no different for utilities.« less

The tipping point: A mathematical model for the profit-driven abandonment of restaurant tipping.

PubMed

Clifton, Sara M; Herbers, Eileen; Chen, Jack; Abrams, Daniel M

2018-02-01

The custom of voluntarily tipping for services rendered has gone in and out of fashion in America since its introduction in the 19th century. Restaurant owners that ban tipping in their establishments often claim that social justice drives their decisions, but we show that rational profit-maximization may also justify the decisions. Here, we propose a conceptual model of restaurant competition for staff and customers, and we show that there exists a critical conventional tip rate at which restaurant owners should eliminate tipping to maximize profits. Because the conventional tip rate has been increasing steadily for the last several decades, our model suggests that restaurant owners may abandon tipping en masse when that critical tip rate is reached.

The tipping point: A mathematical model for the profit-driven abandonment of restaurant tipping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clifton, Sara M.; Herbers, Eileen; Chen, Jack; Abrams, Daniel M.

2018-02-01

The custom of voluntarily tipping for services rendered has gone in and out of fashion in America since its introduction in the 19th century. Restaurant owners that ban tipping in their establishments often claim that social justice drives their decisions, but we show that rational profit-maximization may also justify the decisions. Here, we propose a conceptual model of restaurant competition for staff and customers, and we show that there exists a critical conventional tip rate at which restaurant owners should eliminate tipping to maximize profits. Because the conventional tip rate has been increasing steadily for the last several decades, our model suggests that restaurant owners may abandon tipping en masse when that critical tip rate is reached.

12 CFR 48.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... must promptly furnish to each retail forex customer, as of the close of the last business day of each... clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses in all open retail forex transactions marked...

12 CFR 48.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... must promptly furnish to each retail forex customer, as of the close of the last business day of each... clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses in all open retail forex transactions marked...

12 CFR 48.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... must promptly furnish to each retail forex customer, as of the close of the last business day of each... clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses in all open retail forex transactions marked...

Looking into the glass: glassware as an alcohol marketing tool, and the implications for policy.

PubMed

Stead, Martine; Angus, Kathryn; Macdonald, Laura; Bauld, Linda

2014-01-01

To examine how glassware functions as a marketing tool. Content analysis of trade journals. Glassware is used as an integral part of marketing activity to recruit customers, revive brands, build profits and increase consumption. Glassware should be subject to the same control as other forms of marketing. Glasses could be re-engineered to promote safer drinking.

Loyalty Switching from Traditional to e-Learning in Indian Higher Education: A Markov Chain Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajasekhar, Mamilla; Anitha, Cuddapah

2005-01-01

It is high time for Indian universities to transform themselves from sellers to marketers, though they are non-profit organizations, in marketing their degrees to its customers (students). In this direction e-learning could be one of the tools that helps achieve this objective. The authors in this survey-based article studied the consumers'…

An experimental investigation of justice-based service recovery on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth intentions.

PubMed

Shapiro, Terri; Nieman-Gonder, Jennifer M; Andreoli, Nicole A; Trimarco-Beta, Darlene

2006-12-01

Service recovery is related to many important organizational outcomes such as customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. Within the theoretical framework of organizational justice, an experiment using a simulated "live" service failure was used to assess the effects of justice-based service-recovery strategies on customer satisfaction, loyalty, positive word-of-mouth intentions, and negative word-of-mouth intentions. Analysis indicated that strategies including interactional justice, distributive justice, and a combination of these were equally effective in maintaining customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word of mouth, and minimizing negative word of mouth after a service failure. No support for the service recovery paradox, that is, increased satisfaction following service failure and recovery compared to never having a problem, was found. Satisfaction and loyalty for those in the failure conditions were equal to, although not higher than, in the no-failure control condition. Practical implications for organizational practices are discussed.

An exploratory study of organization design configurations in health care delivery organizations.

PubMed

Sheppeck, Mick; Militello, Jack

2014-01-01

Organizations are configurations of variables that support each other to achieve customer satisfaction. Based on Treacy and Wiersema (1995), we predicted the emergence of two configurations, one supporting a product leadership stance and one predicting the customer intimate approach from a set of 73 for profit health care clinics. In addition, we predicted the emergence of a configuration where the scores on most variables were near the mean for each variable. Using cluster analysis and discriminant function analysis, we identified three configurations: one a "master of two" strategy, one "stuck-in-the-middle," and one showing scores well below the mean on most variables. The implications for organization design and manager actions in the health care industry are discussed.

Segment-based Mass Customization: An Exploration of a New Conceptual Marketing Framework.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiang, Pingjun

2000-01-01

Suggests that the concept of mass customization should be seen as an integral part of market segmentation theory which offers the best way to satisfy consumers' unique needs and wants while yielding profits to companies. Proposes a new concept of "segment-based based mass customization," and offers a series of propositions which are…

Data article on disposition towards enhancing SMEs' performance through entrepreneurial orientations: Perspectives from a developing economy.

PubMed

Ibidunni, Ayodotun Stephen; Ibidunni, Oyebisi Mary; Olokundun, Maxwell Ayodele; Falola, Hezekiah Olubusayo; Salau, Odunayo Paul; Borishade, Taiye Tairat

2018-06-01

This article present data on the disposition of SME operators towards enhancing SMEs Performance through entrepreneurial orientations. Copies of structured questionnaire were administered to 102 SME owners/managers. Using descriptive and standard multiple regression statistical analysis, the data described how proactiveness, risk-taking and autonomy orientations significantly influenced SMEs' profitability, sales growth, customer satisfaction and new product success.

17 CFR 1.33 - Monthly and confirmation statements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... customer— (i) The open contracts with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses... transactions received from or disbursed to such customer, premiums charged and received, and realized profits... of the premium, as well as each mark-up thereon, if applicable, and all other commissions, costs...

Marketing new medical devices.

PubMed

LoBuglio, R J

1988-01-01

The marketing concept says that a firm should focus all of its efforts on satisfying its customers, at a profit. This is really a a new philosophy of business, replacing a production-oriented philosophy which focused on organizing a firm's resources to make products and then selling them. The marketing concept calls for reorienting the firm's ways of doing things. Instead of trying to get customers to buy what the firm has produced, a marketing-oriented firm would try to sell what the customers want. The underlying principle of the marketing concept is that a firm should seek to meet the needs of customers, at a profit, rather than place its main emphasis on its own internal activities and utilization of its resources. These latter factors are also important, of course, but those who believe in the marketing concept feel that customers' needs should be the firm's primary focus and that resources should be organized to satisfy those needs. Give the customer what he needs--this may seem so obvious and logical that it is difficult to understand why the marketing concept is considered such a breakthrough. However, people haven't always done the logical and obvious. In a typical company, production men thought mainly about getting the product out. Accountants were only interested in balancing the books. Financial people were absorbed in the company's cash position. And salesmen were mainly concerned with getting orders. No one was particularly concerned with whether the whole system made sense. As long as the company made a profit, each department went merrily on its independent way, "doing its own thing." Unfortunately, they still do in the majority of companies today. Finding out customer's attitudes can avoid prejudices and stereotypes commonly found in the typical organization. The need for market research to avoid stereotypes can be dramatized by the following results from a large-scale survey of European adults: The average Frenchman uses almost twice as many cosmetics and beauty aids as his wife. The Germans and the French eat more spaghetti than the Italians. French and Italian housewives are not as interested in cooking as their counterparts in Luxembourg and Belgium. No firm can conduct its business successfully without trying to measure the actual size of markets, present and future. Quantitative measurements are essential for the analysis of market opportunity, the planning of marketing programs, and the control of marketing effort. The firm may make many measures of demand, varying in the level of product aggregation, the time dimension,a nd the space dimension.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Bottom-feeding for blockbuster businesses.

PubMed

Rosenblum, David; Tomlinson, Doug; Scott, Larry

2003-03-01

Marketing experts tell companies to analyze their customer portfolios and weed out buyer segments that don't generate attractive returns. Loyalty experts stress the need to aim retention programs at "good" customers--profitable ones- and encourage the "bad" ones to buy from competitors. And customer-relationship-management software provides ever more sophisticated ways to identify and eliminate poorly performing customers. On the surface, the movement to banish unprofitable customers seems reasonable. But writing off a customer relationship simply because it is currently unprofitable is at best rash and at worst counterproductive. Executives shouldn't be asking themselves, How can we shun unprofitable customers? They need to ask, How can we make money off the customers that everyone else is shunning? When you look at apparently unattractive segments through this lens, you often see opportunities to serve those segments in ways that fundamentally change customer economics. Consider Paychex, a payroll-processing company that built a nearly billion-dollar business by serving small companies. Established players had ignored these customers on the assumption that small companies couldn't afford the service. When founder Tom Golisano couldn't convince his bosses at Electronic Accounting Systems that they were missing a major opportunity, he started a company that now serves 390,000 U.S. customers, each employing around 14 people. In this article, the authors look closely at bottom-feeders--companies that assessed the needs of supposedly unattractive customers and redesigned their business models to turn a profit by fulfilling those needs. And they offer lessons other executives can use to do the same.

Manage customer-centric innovation--systematically.

PubMed

Selden, Larry; MacMillan, Ian C

2006-04-01

No matter how hard companies try, their approaches to innovation often don't grow the top line in the sustained, profitable way investors expect. For many companies, there's a huge difference between what's in their business plans and the market's expectations for growth (as reflected in firms' share prices, market capitalizations, and P/E ratios). This growth gap springs from the fact that companies are pouring money into their insular R&D labs instead of working to understand what the customer wants and using that understanding to drive innovation. As a result, even companies that spend the most on R&D remain starved for both customer innovation and market-capitalization growth. In this article, the authors spell out a systematic approach to innovation that continuously fuels sustained, profitable growth. They call this approach customer-centric innovation, or CCI. At the heart of CCI is a rigorous customer R&D process that helps companies to continually improve their understanding of who their customers are and what they need. By so doing, they consistently create or improve their customer value proposition. Customer R&D also focuses on better ways of communicating value propositions and delivering the complete experience to real customers. Since so much of the learning about customers and so much of the experimentation with different segmentations, value propositions, and delivery mechanisms involve the people who regularly deal with customers, it is absolutely essential for frontline employees to be at the center of the CCI process. Simply put, customer R&D propels the innovation effort away from headquarters and the traditional R&D lab out to those closest to the customer. Using the example of the luggage manufacturer Tumi, the authors provide a step-by-step approach for achieving true customer-centric innovation.

E-Commerce and Privacy: Conflict and Opportunity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farah, Badie N.; Higby, Mary A.

2001-01-01

Electronic commerce has intensified conflict between businesses' need to collect data and customers' desire to protect privacy. Web-based privacy tools and legislation could add to the costs of e-commerce and reduce profitability. Business models not based on profiling customers may be needed. (SK)

The Customer Metaphor and the Defense Intelligence Agency

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-26

the foregoing statement.) Fair use determination or copyright permission has been obtained for the inclusion of pictures, maps, graphics, and any...agencies to refer to the policymakers and war fighters who use intelligence as their customers. The Defense Intelligence Agency, which was founded in...highly inappropriate for the profession of intelligence. The profit motive inherent in the term customer means that intelligence leaders who use it

12 CFR 349.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... statements. Each FDIC-supervised insured depository institution must promptly furnish to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement that clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

12 CFR 349.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... statements. Each FDIC-supervised insured depository institution must promptly furnish to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement that clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

12 CFR 349.10 - Required reporting to customers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... statements. Each FDIC-supervised insured depository institution must promptly furnish to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement that clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

Aggregating Case Study Data in Customer Service Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrington, Gail V.

An evaluation was conducted to determine the outcomes and impacts of participation in the ALBERTA BEST training program in terms of participant attitudes toward service excellence and business profitability. ALBERTA BEST is a customer service program offered by the Alberta (Canada) government. The evaluation involved a series of case studies…

The Lifetime Value of a Loyal Customer: What Can a Child Care Director Learn from Domino's Pizza and a Cadillac Dealer in Dallas?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Copeland, Margaret Leitch; Gimilaro, Susan

2010-01-01

In "The Service Profit Chain," Harvard Business School professors James Heskett, Earl Sasser, and Leonard Schlesinger (1997) offer two anecdotes--from Domino's Pizza and a Dallas Cadillac dealership--that illuminate the concept of valuing a lifetime customer. Experts estimate that the lifetime value of a loyal Domino's Pizza customer is $4,000 and…

A healthful options food station can improve satisfaction and generate gross profit in a worksite cafeteria.

PubMed

Kimathi, Amber N; Gregoire, Mary B; Dowling, Rebecca A; Stone, Marcelle K

2009-05-01

The objectives of this study were to determine customer satisfaction with a healthful options food station offered in a worksite cafeteria and document the financial contribution of such a station. The healthful options station featured daily entrées with fewer than 500 calories and less than 30% of calories from fat. Questionnaires from 655 (24.5% response) employees and students provided data on satisfaction with and usage of the station. The majority of the respondents who had purchased from the healthful options station were female (77.3%), white (51.6%), aged 30 to 50 years (52.0%), and had annual incomes of $60,000 to $100,000 (29.3%) or $20,000 to $39,999 (22.2%). Sales and gross profit from the healthful options station were compared to those of the comfort station. Customers were satisfied with attributes of the healthful options station (means >3 on a 5-point scale). Results of paired t tests suggested that customers who had purchased from the healthful options station rated the station significantly (P<0.001) higher for healthfulness of entrées, food presentation, food quality, overall quality of the cafeteria, length of line, and food choices available compared to their ratings for the cafeteria in general. The healthful options station generated average daily sales of $458 and gross profit of $306. However, the sales and gross profit were significantly (P<0.05) less than the comparison comfort station.

The Spread of Neoliberalism in US Community Colleges: TQM Accreditation, "Consumers," and Corporate Sponsored Non-Profits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd, Scott H.

2011-01-01

This article examines the extent of neoliberalism's influence within US community colleges during the last decade. It argues that such influence is changing non-profit, publicly funded community colleges into consumer colleges, serving the needs of corporations and "customers" at the expense of civic responsibility. Educating 46% of all…

Analysis of the single-vehicle cyclic inventory routing problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghezzaf, El-Houssaine; Zhong, Yiqing; Raa, Birger; Mateo, Manel

2012-11-01

The single-vehicle cyclic inventory routing problem (SV-CIRP) consists of a repetitive distribution of a product from a single depot to a selected subset of customers. For each customer, selected for replenishments, the supplier collects a corresponding fixed reward. The objective is to determine the subset of customers to replenish, the quantity of the product to be delivered to each and to design the vehicle route so that the resulting profit (difference between the total reward and the total logistical cost) is maximised while preventing stockouts at each of the selected customers. This problem appears often as a sub-problem in many logistical problems. In this article, the SV-CIRP is formulated as a mixed-integer program with a nonlinear objective function. After a thorough analysis of the structure of the problem and its features, an exact algorithm for its solution is proposed. This exact algorithm requires only solutions of linear mixed-integer programs. Values of a savings-based heuristic for this problem are compared to the optimal values obtained for a set of some test problems. In general, the gap may get as large as 25%, which justifies the effort to continue exploring and developing exact and approximation algorithms for the SV-CIRP.

Analysis of credit linked demand in an inventory model with varying ordering cost.

PubMed

Banu, Ateka; Mondal, Shyamal Kumar

2016-01-01

In this paper, we have considered an economic order quantity model for deteriorating items with two-level trade credit policy in which a delay in payment is offered by a supplier to a retailer and also an another delay in payment is offered by the retailer to his/her all customers. Here, it is proposed that the demand function is dependent on the length of the customer's credit period and also the duration of offering the credit period. In this article, it is considered that the retailer's ordering cost per order depends on the number of replenishment cycles. The objective of this model is to establish a deterministic EOQ model of deteriorating items for the retailer to decide the position of customers credit period and the number of replenishment cycles in finite time horizon such that the retailer gets the maximum profit. Also, the model is explained with the help of some numerical examples.

Improved Approximation Algorithms for Item Pricing with Bounded Degree and Valuation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamane, Ryoso; Itoh, Toshiya

When a store sells items to customers, the store wishes to decide the prices of the items to maximize its profit. If the store sells the items with low (resp. high) prices, the customers buy more (resp. less) items, which provides less profit to the store. It would be hard for the store to decide the prices of items. Assume that a store has a set V of n items and there is a set C of m customers who wish to buy those items. The goal of the store is to decide the price of each item to maximize its profit. We refer to this maximization problem as an item pricing problem. We classify the item pricing problems according to how many items the store can sell or how the customers valuate the items. If the store can sell every item i with unlimited (resp. limited) amount, we refer to this as unlimited supply (resp. limited supply). We say that the item pricing problem is single-minded if each customer j∈C wishes to buy a set ej⊆V of items and assigns valuation w(ej)≥0. For the single-minded item pricing problems (in unlimited supply), Balcan and Blum regarded them as weighted k-hypergraphs and gave several approximation algorithms. In this paper, we focus on the (pseudo) degree of k-hypergraphs and the valuation ratio, i. e., the ratio between the smallest and the largest valuations. Then for the single-minded item pricing problems (in unlimited supply), we show improved approximation algorithms (for k-hypergraphs, general graphs, bipartite graphs, etc.) with respect to the maximum (pseudo) degree and the valuation ratio.

How to sell services more profitably.

PubMed

Reinartz, Werner; Ulaga, Wolfgang

2008-05-01

When products become commodities, manufacturing companies may seek to differentiate themselves with value-added services--a potentially profitable strategy. Unfortunately, companies often stumble in the effort. Reinartz and Ulaga conducted in-depth studies of 18 leading companies in a broad variety of product markets to learn what distinguished the successes from the rest. They discovered four steps to developing a profitable services capability. RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE A SERVICE COMPANY: You can identify and charge for simple services--as Merck did when it stopped quietly absorbing shipping costs. Switching services from free to fee clarifies their value for managers as well as for customers. INDUSTRIALIZE THE BACK OFFICE: To prevent delivery costs from eating up service-offering margins, build flexible service platforms, closely monitor process costs, and exploit new technologies that enable process innovations. The Swedish bearings manufacturer SKF provided off-site access to an online monitoring tool that could warn of potential failure in customers' machines. CREATE A SERVICE-SAVVY SALES FORCE: Services require longer sales cycles and, often, decisions from high up in a customer's hierarchy; what's more, product salespeople may be inimical to change. Schneider-Electric did a major overhaul of its sales organization and trained its people to switch from cost-plus pricing to value-based pricing. FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS' PROCESSES AND THE OPPORTUNITIES THEY AFFORD FOR NEW SERVICE OFFERINGS: You may need to acquire new capabilities to take advantage of those opportunities: The industrial coatings specialist PPG had to learn how painting robots function after it offered to take over Fiat's Torino paint shop. Services can both lock in customers and help acquire new accounts. They should be developed with care and attention.

Stop hurting the ones you love--applying customer-driven strategies.

PubMed

Beecy, R E

1999-11-01

"We love our customers" is a mantra expressed by all companies today, and yet the actions of these same companies often indicate the very opposite. Truth be told, this statement represents more of a euphemism than a statement of truth. Why is this, and why do many of us continue to rebuke our customers' loyalty when the most profitable and rewarding business relationships are the ones we have already established?

Continuous Improvement in Business Education: Insights from the For-Profit Sector and Business School Deans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Allan R.; Chow, Chee W.; Hadad, Kamal M.

1999-01-01

The balanced scorecard, a customer-based continuous improvement system, can be applied to business schools. Business deans (n=38) suggested goals and measures for a customer perspective, including such factors as stakeholders, program and service quality, public image, teaching/learning excellence, curriculum excellence, fund raising, and human…

Using a Service Audit Project for Improving Student Learning in a Service-Marketing Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Padron, Tracy; Ferguson, Jeffery M.

2015-01-01

Service-marketing education provides students customer service skills sought by employers who recognize the relationship between service and profit. Students in service marketing benefit from active-learning activities with actual organizations to apply customer service frameworks taught in the course. The purpose of this paper is to describe an…

Getting the balance right-tackling the obesogenic environment by reducing unhealthy options in a hospital shop without affecting profit.

PubMed

Simpson, Nandi; Bartley, Angela; Davies, Alisha; Perman, Sarah; Rodger, Alison J

2018-04-07

UK hospitals have been criticized for fuelling obesity by allowing contracts with food retailers selling high fat and high-sugar products on hospital premises. We assessed the impact for a major retailer of increasing healthy food choices at their Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust outlet. To assess the impact on sales, profit and acceptability to customers, a multi-component intervention based on behavioural insights theory was enacted over 2 months (November-December 2014) at the Royal Free site WHSmith. Sales data on all food and drink were assessed over three time periods: (i) 2 months immediately prior to, and (ii) immediately after the intervention, and (iii) the equivalent period 10 months later. Acceptability to customers was assessed via questionnaires, and profit assessed as a proxy for retailer satisfaction. Compared to the pre-intervention period, total sales increased immediately after the intervention, and again 10 months after the intervention. Sales of healthier options increased as a proportion of total sales following the intervention, sales of sweets and chocolates decreased, while the relative sales of other items remained similar. We demonstrated that healthier alternatives could be provided in a hospital retail premises without negatively affecting total sales, retailer or customer satisfaction.

The role of public policy in emerging green power markets: An analysis of marketer preferences

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiser, R.

1999-08-01

Green power marketing has been heralded by some as a means to create a private market for renewable energy that is driven by customer demand for green products. This report challenges the premise--sometimes proffered in debates over green markets--that profitable, sizable, credible markets for green products will evolve naturally without supportive public policies. Relying primarily on surveys and interviews of US green power marketers, the article examines the role of specific regulatory and legislative policies in enabling the green market, and searches for those policies that are believed by marketers to be the most conducive or detrimental to the expansionmore » of the green market. The authors find that marketers: (1) believe that profitable green power markets will only develop if a solid foundation of supportive policies exists; (2) believe that establishing overall price competition and encouraging customer switching are the top priorities; (3) are somewhat leery of government-sponsored or mandated public information programs; and (4) oppose three specific renewable energy policies that are frequently advocated by renewable energy enthusiasts, but that may have negative impacts on the green marketers' profitability. The stated preferences of green marketers shed light on ways to foster renewables by means of the green market. Because the interests of marketers do not coincide perfectly with those of society, however, the study also recognizes other normative perspectives and highlights policy tensions at the heart of current debates related to green markets. By examining these conflicts, they identify three key policy questions that should direct future research: (1) to what extent should price competition and customer switching be encouraged at the expense of cost shifting; (2) what requirements should be imposed to ensure credibility in green products and marketing; and (3) how should the green power market and broader renewable energy policies interact?« less

An analysis of the field service function of selected electronics firms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hull, Dennis Lee

For the purposes of this study, field service was defined as the function concerned with the servicing and maintaining, by the manufacturer or supplier, of products (usually owned by customers) used away from the manufacturer's or supplier's site. Field service is an important component of the service sector and of customer service. Field service availability and quality of this service are increasingly being used by customers as a means of product selection. Many companies have recognized this trend and have identified field service as a competitive edge. A review of the field service literature and discussions with field service consultants and professionals indicated a lack of field service research--more specifically, a systems analysis of the area was lacking. The purpose of this research was to examine, utilizing a systems perspective, the field service practices of leading electronics firms in order to develop field service management propositions (empirical generalizations) and a prescriptive model of best practice. The electronics industry was selected due to the critical relation of service-based competition to company profitability.

Knowledge Management and Information Technology in Customer Support: A Quantitative Assessment of the U.S. Navy's Distance Support Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Malley, Kevin Dermit

2010-01-01

Centralized customer support is an established industry method used to improve revenue and profitability. What remains unknown is whether this cost-saving commercial business practice is similarly applicable to the unique, often isolated military environment. This research study statistically tested a theoretical framework for knowledge management…

17 CFR 5.13 - Reporting to customers of retail foreign exchange dealers and futures commission merchants...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... exchange dealer or futures commission merchant must promptly furnish in writing to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement which clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

17 CFR 5.13 - Reporting to customers of retail foreign exchange dealers and futures commission merchants...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... exchange dealer or futures commission merchant must promptly furnish in writing to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement which clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

17 CFR 5.13 - Reporting to customers of retail foreign exchange dealers and futures commission merchants...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... exchange dealer or futures commission merchant must promptly furnish in writing to each retail forex... once every three months, a statement which clearly shows: (1) For each retail forex customer: (i) The open retail forex transactions with prices at which acquired; (ii) The net unrealized profits or losses...

Brand trust and image: effects on customer satisfaction.

PubMed

Khodadad Hosseini, Sayed Hamid; Behboudi, Leila

2017-08-14

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate brand trust and brand image effects on healthcare service users. Nowadays, managers and health activists are showing increased tendency to marketing and branding to attract and satisfy customers. Design/methodology/approach The current study's design is based on a conceptual model examining brand trust and brand image effects on customer satisfaction. Data obtained from 240 questionnaires (310 respondents) were analyzed using path analysis. Findings Results revealed that the most effective items bearing the highest influence on customer satisfaction and on benefiting from healthcare services include brand image, staff sincerity to its patients, interactions with physicians and rapport. Research limitations/implications This study needs to be conducted in different hospitals and with different patients, which would lead to the model's expansion and its influence on the patient satisfaction. Originality/value Being the first study that simultaneously addresses brand trust and brand image effects on customer satisfaction, this research provides in-depth insights into healthcare marketing. Moreover, identifying significant components associated with healthcare branding helps managers and healthcare activists to create and protect their brands and, consequently, leading to an increased profitability resulting from the enhanced consumer satisfaction. Additionally, it would probably facilitate purchasing processes during the service selection.

76 FR 16650 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc.; Order Approving Proposed Rule Change To Amend...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-24

... investors and the public interest; and are not designed to permit unfair discrimination among customers... proposed rule's impact on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. 15 U.S.C. 78c(f). \\9\\ 15 U.S.C... between customers based on the nature and profitability of their business. Currently under BOX's rules, an...

32 CFR 37.630 - Must I require a for-profit firm to use Federally approved indirect cost rates?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... practices that it uses for other customers (e.g., its commercial customers). Also, you must document the... OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DoD GRANT AND AGREEMENT REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS... programmatic or business reasons to do otherwise (e.g., the participant offers you a lower rate). If you grant...

Costs and prevention of patient defection.

PubMed

Clarke, R N

2001-01-01

Although other industries have recognized that increased customer loyalty brings increased revenues and profitability, few medical practices have sought even to measure patient retention or loyalty. When patients leave a practice, new patients must be attracted to replace lost ones at significant cost, often invisible to and underestimated by physicians. Understanding the lifetime value of a patient may be one route that leads to better patient loyalty practices and enhanced profitability.

Spectacle dispensing in Timor-Leste: tiered-pricing, cross-subsidization and financial viability.

PubMed

Ramke, Jacqueline; Brian, Garry; Palagyi, Anna

2012-08-01

To examine the financial viability of the Timor-Leste National Spectacle Program as it increases spectacle availability, affordability and uptake, particularly for Timor's poor. In rural areas, three models of ready-made spectacles were dispensed according to a tiered pricing structure of US$3.00, 1.00, 0.10 and 0.00. In addition, custom-made spectacles were available in the capital, Dili. Spectacle costs, dispensing data and income for the National Spectacle Program for 18 months from March 2007 were analyzed. Rural services dispensed 3415 readymade spectacles: 47.1% to women, and 51.4% at subsidized prices, being 39.8% at US$0.10 and 11.6% free. A profit of US$1,529 was generated, mainly from the sale of US$3.00 spectacles. Women (odds ratio, OR, 1.3, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.1-1.4) and consumers aged ≥65 years (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.7-2.6) were more likely to receive subsidized spectacles. Urban services dispensed 2768 spectacles; mostly US$3.00 readymade (52.8%) and custom-made single vision (29.6%) units. Custom-made spectacles accounted for 36.7% of dispensing, but 73.1% of the US$12,264 urban profit. The combined rural and urban profit covered all rural costs, leaving US$2,200 to meet administration and other urban expenses. It is instructive and encouraging that a national spectacle dispensing program in one of the ten poorest countries of the world can use tiered-pricing based on willingness-to-pay information to cover spectacle stock replacement costs and produce profit, while using cross-subsidization to provide spectacles to the poor.

Research on intelligent recommendation algorithm of e-commerce based on association rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Jiajie; Cheng, Xianyi

2017-09-01

As the commodities of e-commerce are more and more rich, more and more consumers are willing to choose online shopping, because of these rich varieties of commodity information, customers will often appear aesthetic fatigue. Therefore, we need a recommendation algorithm according to the recent behavior of customers including browsing and consuming to predicate and intelligently recommend goods which the customers need, thus to improve the satisfaction of customers and to increase the profit of e-commerce. This paper first discusses recommendation algorithm, then improves Apriori. Finally, using R language realizes a recommendation algorithm of commodities. The result shows that this algorithm provides a certain decision-making role for customers to buy commodities.

7 CFR 4284.902 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GRANTS Value-Added Producer Grants § 4284.902 Policy. It is the... agricultural producers' customer base and share of the food and agricultural system profit. ...

Optimum profit model considering production, quality and sale problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chung-Ho; Lu, Chih-Lun

2011-12-01

Chen and Liu ['Procurement Strategies in the Presence of the Spot Market-an Analytical Framework', Production Planning and Control, 18, 297-309] presented the optimum profit model between the producers and the purchasers for the supply chain system with a pure procurement policy. However, their model with a simple manufacturing cost did not consider the used cost of the customer. In this study, the modified Chen and Liu's model will be addressed for determining the optimum product and process parameters. The authors propose a modified Chen and Liu's model under the two-stage screening procedure. The surrogate variable having a high correlation with the measurable quality characteristic will be directly measured in the first stage. The measurable quality characteristic will be directly measured in the second stage when the product decision cannot be determined in the first stage. The used cost of the customer will be measured by adopting Taguchi's quadratic quality loss function. The optimum purchaser's order quantity, the producer's product price and the process quality level will be jointly determined by maximising the expected profit between them.

Smoke-free restaurants in Shanghai: should it be mandatory and is it acceptable?

PubMed

Zheng, Pinpin; Fu, Hua; Li, Guangyao

2009-02-01

This study aims to describe secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in restaurants in Shanghai and to explore the impact on the health of restaurant workers. Attitude to smoke-free restaurants among restaurant workers and customers was also determined in this study. A random sample of 242 workers, 284 customers, and 46 restaurant owners participated in face-to-face questionnaire interviews. A total of 219 (90.7%) restaurant workers surveyed were found to be exposed to SHS during working hours with 24.2+/-18.6h of exposure on average per week. Exposure time each week was significantly associated with the symptoms of dyspnea and irritated eyes. Among the customers surveyed 73.9% supported the concept of a 100% smoke-free law in restaurants and 49.6% expressed that they would be more likely to eat in restaurants if smoking was banned in restaurants. And 58.6% of the restaurant owners surveyed regarded smoke-free laws banning smoking in restaurant as feasible and 56.5% estimated such bans would decrease the profit. Both restaurant workers and customers are substantially exposed to SHS. Although some restaurant owners are concerned about a decrease in profits, the fear of losing business is not supported by the response among customers. Therefore, introducing a law-banning smoking in restaurants appears to be feasible and acceptable in Shanghai.

Knowing healthcare customer needs key to profitable niche marketing.

PubMed

Weller, S C

1992-06-01

A potential $177 million-a-year market has been opened to textile rental operators, thanks to OSHA's recent ruling on bloodborne pathogens. Healthcare providers nationwide are now searching for solutions to their protective apparel needs. Such customer needs are what drive niche markets. Whether you've been serving the healthcare market for years or are just now targeting it, here are the marketing strategies you need.

The impact of customer focus on program participation rates in the Virginia WIC Program (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children).

PubMed

Chance, K G; Green, C G

2001-01-01

It has been shown in the for-profit sector (business, service, and manufacturing) that the success of an organization depends on its ability to satisfy customer requirements while eliminating waste and reducing costs. The purpose of this article was to examine the impact of current practices in customer focus on program participation rates in the Virginia WIC Program. The results of this study showed that the use of customer-focused strategies was correlated to program participation rates in the WIC Program. The mean data showed that teamwork and accessibility were at unsatisfactory levels in Virginia.

Improving Internal Customer Service

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-09-01

organizations, profit and non- profit, are becoming interested in the concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM). Businesses in the United States ’have...to business strategy" (39:45). The United States Air Force (USAF) is one of the American organizations adopting the ideals of Total Quality...more than a buzz word in today’s business environment; it has become the key to excellence (36:52). With today’s economic climate, quality service means

Southwest Airlines: lessons in loyalty.

PubMed

D'Aurizio, Patricia

2008-01-01

Southwest Airlines continues to garner accolades in the areas of customer service, workforce management, and profitability. Since both the health care and airlines industries deal with a service rather than a product, the customer experience depends on the people who deliver that experience. Employees' commitment or "loyalty" to their customers, their employer, and their work translates into millions of dollars of revenue. What employee wants to work for "the worst employer in town?" Nine loyalty lessons from Southwest can be carried over to the health care setting for the benefit of employees and patients.

How you slice it: smarter segmentation for your sales force.

PubMed

Waaser, Ernest; Dahneke, Marshall; Pekkarinen, Michael; Weissel, Michael

2004-03-01

Three years ago, 70-year-old Hill-Rom Incorporated was in a position familiar to many mature businesses: The company was strong but needed to be stronger. It was a top producer of hospital beds and specialty mattresses, its core product lines. It also had competitive complementary lines of stretchers, furniture, and architectural equipment. It had an extensive customer base, a respected sales force, and solid profit margins. But by the time Ernest Waaser took over as chief executive in early 2001, revenue growth had been slowing, and competition was on the rise. To secure Hill-Rom's place in the market, Waaser decided to focus first on the sales organization--partly because the cost of sales had risen gradually over the past five years and partly because acquisitions and other initiatives had made the sales organization more complex. The CEO took several steps to restructure the sales force. First, the company changed its customer segments to better reflect customers' demands and financial status, ultimately targeting two main groups: key and prime customers. It then changed the overall structure of the sales organization so it could tailor its approach to these two segments; key customers received more specialized service than prime customers. Finally, Hill-Rom adjusted the sales force after the company took an in-depth look at historical data on products and services and sales completed. Reasons for staffing changes were carefully communicated to the sales force. Because of Hill-Rom's initiatives, the cost of sales is down, short-term revenue growth is up, the outlook for long-term revenue growth looks bright, sales and profit margins are up, and customer satisfaction has increased. Best practice, indeed.

Social strategies that work.

PubMed

Piskorski, Mikołaj Jan

2011-11-01

Although most companies have collected lots of friends and followers on social platforms such as Facebook, few have succeeded in generating profits there. That's because they merely port their digital strategies into social environments by broadcasting their commercial messages or seeking customer feedback. To succeed on social platforms, says Harvard Business School's Piskorski, businesses need to devise social strategies that are consistent with users' expectations and behavior in these venues--namely, people want to connect with other people, not with companies. The author defines successful social strategies as those that reduce costs or increase customers' willingness to pay by helping people establish or strengthen relationships through doing free work on a company's behalf. Citing successes at Zynga, eBay, American Express, and Yelp, Piskorski shows that social strategies can generate profits by helping people connect in exchange for tasks that benefit the company such as customer acquisition, marketing, and content creation. He lays out a systematic way to build a social strategy and shows how a major credit card company he advised used the method to roll out its own strategy.

On Profit-Maximizing Pricing for the Highway and Tollbooth Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elbassioni, Khaled; Raman, Rajiv; Ray, Saurabh; Sitters, René

In the tollbooth problem on trees, we are given a tree T= (V,E) with n edges, and a set of m customers, each of whom is interested in purchasing a path on the graph. Each customer has a fixed budget, and the objective is to price the edges of T such that the total revenue made by selling the paths to the customers that can afford them is maximized. An important special case of this problem, known as the highway problem, is when T is restricted to be a line. For the tollbooth problem, we present an O(logn)-approximation, improving on the current best O(logm)-approximation. We also study a special case of the tollbooth problem, when all the paths that customers are interested in purchasing go towards a fixed root of T. In this case, we present an algorithm that returns a (1 - ɛ)-approximation, for any ɛ> 0, and runs in quasi-polynomial time. On the other hand, we rule out the existence of an FPTAS by showing that even for the line case, the problem is strongly NP-hard. Finally, we show that in the discount model, when we allow some items to be priced below zero to improve the overall profit, the problem becomes even APX-hard.

The service-driven service company.

PubMed

Schlesinger, L A; Heskett, J L

1991-01-01

For more than 40 years, service companies like McDonald's prospered with organizations designed according to the principles of traditional mass-production manufacturing. Today that model is obsolete. It inevitably degrades the quality of service a company can provide by setting in motion a cycle of failure that produces dissatisfied customers, unhappy employees, high turnover among both--and so lower profits and lower productivity overall. The cycle starts with human resource policies that minimize the contributions frontline workers can make: jobs are designed to be idiot-proof. Technology is used largely for monitoring and control. Pay is poor. Training is minimal. Performance expectations are abysmally low. Today companies like Taco Bell, Dayton Hudson, and ServiceMaster are reversing the cycle of failure by putting workers with customer contact first and designing the business system around them. As a result, they are developing a model that replaces the logic of industrialization with a new service-driven logic. This logic: Values investments in people as much as investments in technology--and sometimes more. Uses technology to support the efforts of workers on the front lines, not just to monitor or replace them. Makes recruitment and training crucial for everyone. Links compensation to performance for employees at every level. To justify these investments, the new logic draws on innovative data such as the incremental profits of loyal customers and the total costs of lost employees. Its benefits are becoming clear in higher profits and higher pay--results that competitors bound to the old industrial model will not be able to match.

Supply chain management for small business--how to avoid being part of the food chain.

PubMed

Knechtges, J P; Watts, C A

2000-08-01

A supply chain is a series of customer and supplier relationships that extend throughout and beyond the company. It is an interwoven set of links that together form a chain supplying our customers in a seamless and integrated fashion delivering a high level of customer satisfaction. Supply chain management (SCM) integrates all activities so they are focused on customer satisfaction (both internally and externally). One of the things this article will attempt to accomplish is to provide a clear understanding of SCM's positive impact on customer service as well as on improving profitability, cash flow, product cycle times, and communication. Whether we go forward in the supply chain to the final end-user or backward in the supply chain to our supplier's suppliers, SCM will significantly improve our ability to serve our customers.

Profit pools: a fresh look at strategy.

PubMed

Gadiesh, O; Gilbert, J L

1998-01-01

In charting strategy, many managers focus on revenue growth, assuming that profits will follow. But that approach is dangerous: today's deep revenue pool may become tomorrow's dry hole. To create strategies that result in profitable growth, managers need to look beyond revenues to see the shape of their industry's profit pool. The authors define an industry's profit pool as the total profits earned at all points along the industry's value chain. Although the concept is simple, the structure of a profit pool is usually quite complex. The pool will be deeper in some segments of the value chain than in others, and depths will vary within an individual segment as well. Segment profitability may, for example, vary widely by customer group, product category, geographic market, and distribution channel. Moreover, the pattern of profit concentration in an industry will often be very different from the pattern of revenue concentration. The authors describe how successful companies have gained competitive advantage by developing sophisticated profit-pool strategies. They explain how U-Haul identified new sources of profit in the consumer-truck-rental industry; how Merck reached beyond its traditional value-chain role to protect its profits in the pharmaceuticals industry; how Dell rebounded from a misguided channel decision by refocusing on its traditional source of profit; and how Anheuser-Busch made a series of astute product, pricing, and operating decisions to dominate the beer industry's profit pool. The companies with the best understanding of their industry's profit pool, the authors argue, will be in the best position to thrive over the long term.

Warranty Policies: Consumer Value Versus Manufacturer Costs.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-04-28

manufacturer’s point of view, the one quantity which stands out when comparing warranty policies is the profit per customer. Profit per item sold does not work...types of warranties but most seem to fall into one of two categories as defined by the Federal Trade Commission. These two categories are the "full...managerial decision of choosing the type and length of warranty to offer. This advance in "consumerism" will require increasing attention on the part of

Optimal production lot size and reorder point of a two-stage supply chain while random demand is sensitive with sales teams' initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sankar Sana, Shib

2016-01-01

The paper develops a production-inventory model of a two-stage supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer to study production lot size/order quantity, reorder point sales teams' initiatives where demand of the end customers is dependent on random variable and sales teams' initiatives simultaneously. The manufacturer produces the order quantity of the retailer at one lot in which the procurement cost per unit quantity follows a realistic convex function of production lot size. In the chain, the cost of sales team's initiatives/promotion efforts and wholesale price of the manufacturer are negotiated at the points such that their optimum profits reached nearer to their target profits. This study suggests to the management of firms to determine the optimal order quantity/production quantity, reorder point and sales teams' initiatives/promotional effort in order to achieve their maximum profits. An analytical method is applied to determine the optimal values of the decision variables. Finally, numerical examples with its graphical presentation and sensitivity analysis of the key parameters are presented to illustrate more insights of the model.

Supply chain model with price- and trade credit-sensitive demand under two-level permissible delay in payments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giri, B. C.; Maiti, T.

2013-05-01

This article develops a single-manufacturer and single-retailer supply chain model under two-level permissible delay in payments when the manufacturer follows a lot-for-lot policy in response to the retailer's demand. The manufacturer offers a trade credit period to the retailer with the contract that the retailer must share a fraction of the profit earned during the trade credit period. On the other hand, the retailer provides his customer a partial trade credit which is less than that of the manufacturer. The demand at the retailer is assumed to be dependent on the selling price and the trade credit period offered to the customers. The average net profit of the supply chain is derived and an algorithm for finding the optimal solution is developed. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the coordination policy of the supply chain and examine the sensitivity of key model-parameters.

CRM as a General Practice of Every Business Organization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, TS Ezaz; Prabhakar, D.

2012-11-01

Every business unit emphasizes on spurting a long term relationship with customers to nurture its stability in todayís blooming market. Customerís expectations are now not only limited to get best products and services, they also need a face-to-face business in which they want to receive exactly what they demand and in a quick time. Customer Relationship Management is an upright concept or strategy to solidify relations with customers and at the same time reducing cost and enhancing productivity and profitability in business. An ideal CRM system is a centralized collection all data sources under an organization and provides an atomistic real time vision of customer information. A CRM system is vast and significant, but it be can implemented for small business, as well as large enterprises also as the main goal is to assist the customers efficiently.

Integrated model for pricing, delivery time setting, and scheduling in make-to-order environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garmdare, Hamid Sattari; Lotfi, M. M.; Honarvar, Mahboobeh

2018-03-01

Usually, in make-to-order environments which work only in response to the customer's orders, manufacturers for maximizing the profits should offer the best price and delivery time for an order considering the existing capacity and the customer's sensitivity to both the factors. In this paper, an integrated approach for pricing, delivery time setting and scheduling of new arrival orders are proposed based on the existing capacity and accepted orders in system. In the problem, the acquired market demands dependent on the price and delivery time of both the manufacturer and its competitors. A mixed-integer non-linear programming model is presented for the problem. After converting to a pure non-linear model, it is validated through a case study. The efficiency of proposed model is confirmed by comparing it to both the literature and the current practice. Finally, sensitivity analysis for the key parameters is carried out.

Concurrent airline fleet allocation and aircraft design with profit modeling for multiple airlines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Govindaraju, Parithi

A "System of Systems" (SoS) approach is particularly beneficial in analyzing complex large scale systems comprised of numerous independent systems -- each capable of independent operations in their own right -- that when brought in conjunction offer capabilities and performance beyond the constituents of the individual systems. The variable resource allocation problem is a type of SoS problem, which includes the allocation of "yet-to-be-designed" systems in addition to existing resources and systems. The methodology presented here expands upon earlier work that demonstrated a decomposition approach that sought to simultaneously design a new aircraft and allocate this new aircraft along with existing aircraft in an effort to meet passenger demand at minimum fleet level operating cost for a single airline. The result of this describes important characteristics of the new aircraft. The ticket price model developed and implemented here enables analysis of the system using profit maximization studies instead of cost minimization. A multiobjective problem formulation has been implemented to determine characteristics of a new aircraft that maximizes the profit of multiple airlines to recognize the fact that aircraft manufacturers sell their aircraft to multiple customers and seldom design aircraft customized to a single airline's operations. The route network characteristics of two simple airlines serve as the example problem for the initial studies. The resulting problem formulation is a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem, which is typically difficult to solve. A sequential decomposition strategy is applied as a solution methodology by segregating the allocation (integer programming) and aircraft design (non-linear programming) subspaces. After solving a simple problem considering two airlines, the decomposition approach is then applied to two larger airline route networks representing actual airline operations in the year 2005. The decomposition strategy serves as a promising technique for future detailed analyses. Results from the profit maximization studies favor a smaller aircraft in terms of passenger capacity due to its higher yield generation capability on shorter routes while results from the cost minimization studies favor a larger aircraft due to its lower direct operating cost per seat mile.

Effect of information, uncertainty and parameter variability on profits in a queue with various pricing strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Wei; Li, Shiyong

2014-08-01

This paper presents an unobservable single-server queueing system with three types of uncertainty, where the service rate, or waiting cost or service quality is random variable that may obtain n(n > 2) values. The information about the realised values of parameters is only known to the server. We are concerned about the server's behaviour: revealing or concealing the information to customers. The n-value assumption and the server's behaviour enable us to consider various pricing strategies. In this paper, we analyse the effect of information and uncertainty on profits and make comparisons between the profits under different pricing strategies. Moreover, as for parameter variability reflected by the number of each parameter's possible choices n, we observe the effect of variable n on all types of profits and find that revealing the parameter information can much more benefit the server with the increase of n.

Pricing strategy in a dual-channel and remanufacturing supply chain system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Chengzhi; Xu, Feng; Sheng, Zhaohan

2010-07-01

This article addresses the pricing strategy problems in a supply chain system where the manufacturer sells original products and remanufactured products via indirect retailer channels and direct Internet channels. Due to the complexity of that system, agent technologies that provide a new way for analysing complex systems are used for modelling. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the computational load of searching procedure for optimal prices and profits, a learning search algorithm is designed and implemented within the multi-agent supply chain model. The simulation results show that the proposed model can find out optimal prices of original products and remanufactured products in both channels, which lead to optimal profits of the manufacturer and the retailer. It is also found that the optimal profits are increased by introducing direct channel and remanufacturing. Furthermore, the effect of customer preference, direct channel cost and remanufactured unit cost on optimal prices and profits are examined.

Lead for loyalty.

PubMed

Reichheld, F F

2001-01-01

The greater the loyalty a company engenders among its customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders, the greater the profits it reaps. Frederick Reichheld, a director emeritus of Bain & Company, offers advice on improving loyalty that is based on more than a decade of research. Primarily, he says, outstanding loyalty is the direct result of the decisions and practices of committed top executives with personal integrity. The "loyalty leader" companies--those with the most impressive loyalty credentials--are a diverse group, ranging from Vanguard and Northwestern Mutual to Chick-fil-A, Harley-Davidson, Intuit, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. But beneath their surface variations lie six strikingly similar relationship strategies: 1. Preach what you practice. Executives must preach the importance of loyalty in clear, precise, powerful terms. 2. Play to win-win. It's not enough that your competitors lose; your partners must win. There's a clear connection, for instance, between a company's treatment of its employees and its attitude toward customers. 3. Be picky. A truly humble company knows it can satisfy only certain customers, and it goes all out to keep them happy. Careful selection of employees also plays an important role. 4. Keep it simple. Great leaders understand that they must simplify rules for decision making. 5. Reward the right results. Many companies reward employees who grab short-term profits and short-change those who build long-term value and customer loyalty. 6. Listen hard, talk straight. Long-term relationships require honest, two-way communication and learning. Exemplary leaders break through the cynicism of the times by showing they believe that an organization thrives when its partners and customers do.

An unhealthy public-private tension: pharmacy ownership, prescribing, and spending in the Philippines.

PubMed

James, Chris D; Peabody, John; Solon, Orville; Quimbo, Stella; Hanson, Kara

2009-01-01

Physicians' links with pharmacies may create perverse financial incentives to overprescribe, prescribe products with higher profit margins, and direct patients to their pharmacy. Interviews with pharmacy customers in the Philippines show that those who use pharmacies linked to public-sector physicians had 5.4 greater odds of having a prescription from such physicians and spent 49.3 percent more than customers using other pharmacies. For customers purchasing brand-name medicines, switching to generics would reduce drug spending by 58 percent. Controlling out-of-pocket spending on drugs requires policies to control financial links between doctors and pharmacies, as well as tighter regulation of nongeneric prescribing.

Mining Marketing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

MarketMiner(R) Products, a line of automated marketing analysis tools manufactured by MarketMiner, Inc., can benefit organizations that perform significant amounts of direct marketing. MarketMiner received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from NASA's Johnson Space Center to develop the software as a data modeling tool for space mission applications. The technology was then built into the company current products to provide decision support for business and marketing applications. With the tool, users gain valuable information about customers and prospects from existing data in order to increase sales and profitability. MarketMiner(R) is a registered trademark of MarketMiner, Inc.

7 CFR 4284.902 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Policy. 4284.902 Section 4284.902 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE AND RURAL... agricultural producers' customer base and share of the food and agricultural system profit. ...

Service first puts hospital in touch. Interview by Donald E.L. Johnson.

PubMed

Weseli, R W

1990-07-01

Good Samaritan Hospital, an 82-bed institution in Cincinnati, Ohio, won the 1989 Award of Excellence of the International Customer Service Association (ICSA), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing customer service. In the following interview with Health Care Strategic Management's publisher, Donald E.L. Johnson, Roger W. Weseli, Good Samaritan's CEO discusses the guest relations and service first programs that have changed his institution and earned it recognition as the first hospital to win the ICSA non-manufacturing group award.

Shared social responsibility: a field experiment in pay-what-you-want pricing and charitable giving.

PubMed

Gneezy, Ayelet; Gneezy, Uri; Nelson, Leif D; Brown, Amber

2010-07-16

A field experiment (N = 113,047 participants) manipulated two factors in the sale of souvenir photos. First, some customers saw a traditional fixed price, whereas others could pay what they wanted (including $0). Second, approximately half of the customers saw a variation in which half of the revenue went to charity. At a standard fixed price, the charitable component only slightly increased demand, as similar studies have also found. However, when participants could pay what they wanted, the same charitable component created a treatment that was substantially more profitable. Switching from corporate social responsibility to what we term shared social responsibility works in part because customized contributions allow customers to directly express social welfare concerns through the purchasing of material goods.

Small Retailers' Tobacco Sales and Profit Margins in Two Disadvantaged Areas of England

PubMed Central

Hitchman, Sara C.; Calder, Robert; Rooke, Catriona; McNeill, Ann

2016-01-01

Aim To explore tobacco profit margins and sales among small retailers in England. Methods Interviews with managers/owners of 62 small retail shops that sold tobacco in disadvantaged areas of Newcastle and London, England. The interviews included questions about tobacco sales and profit margins, and interest in reducing reliance on tobacco sales. Results The majority of retailers (89%) reported low overall profit margins on tobacco sales (< 6%). The most common response was a profit margin of 4–6%,with some reporting lower margins for price-marked packs of cigarettes (1–6%) and higher margins for non-price marked or premium brands (7% to over 10%). A few mentioned higher profit margins for e-cigarettes. Despite this, most thought tobacco sales were important (90%), and attributed this reliance to footfall (81%), i.e., customers purchasing tobacco also purchasing other products. 42% of retailers expressed interest in reducing their reliance on tobacco sales. Conclusions Small retailers report low tobacco profit margins, but high reliance on tobacco sales because of footfall. Retailer interest in reducing reliance on tobacco sales warrants further research into opportunities for disinvestment. Additionally, retailers' belief that they are reliant on tobacco sales because of footfall should be further investigated. PMID:29546150

25 CFR 700.251 - Fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... gifts; (iii) Furnishing records to individuals or private non-profit organizations having an official... established business custom (e.g., furnishing personal reference data to prospective employers of former.... Payment of fees shall be made by check or money order payable to the Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation...

A Multi-Period Optimization Model for Service Providers Using Online Reservation Systems: An Application to Hotels.

PubMed

Xu, Ming; Jiao, Yan; Li, Xiaoming; Cao, Qingfeng; Wang, Xiaoyang

2015-01-01

This paper presents a multi-period optimization model for high margin and zero salvage products in online distribution channels with classifying customers based on number of products required. Taking hotel customers as an example, one is regular customers who reserve rooms for one day, and the other is long term stay (LTS) customers who reserve rooms for a number of days. LTS may guarantee a specific amount of demand and generate opportunity income for a certain number of periods, meanwhile with risk of punishment incurred by overselling. By developing an operational optimization model and exploring the effects of parameters on optimal decisions, we suggest that service providers should make decisions based on the types of customers, number of products required, and duration of multi-period to reduce the loss of reputation and obtain more profit; at the same time, multi-period buying customers should buy products early. Finally, the paper conducts a numerical experiment, and the results are consistent with prevailing situations.

A Multi-Period Optimization Model for Service Providers Using Online Reservation Systems: An Application to Hotels

PubMed Central

Xu, Ming; Jiao, Yan; Li, Xiaoming; Cao, Qingfeng; Wang, Xiaoyang

2015-01-01

This paper presents a multi-period optimization model for high margin and zero salvage products in online distribution channels with classifying customers based on number of products required. Taking hotel customers as an example, one is regular customers who reserve rooms for one day, and the other is long term stay (LTS) customers who reserve rooms for a number of days. LTS may guarantee a specific amount of demand and generate opportunity income for a certain number of periods, meanwhile with risk of punishment incurred by overselling. By developing an operational optimization model and exploring the effects of parameters on optimal decisions, we suggest that service providers should make decisions based on the types of customers, number of products required, and duration of multi-period to reduce the loss of reputation and obtain more profit; at the same time, multi-period buying customers should buy products early. Finally, the paper conducts a numerical experiment, and the results are consistent with prevailing situations. PMID:26147663

The five competitive forces that shape strategy.

PubMed

Porter, Michael E

2008-01-01

In 1979, a young associate professor at Harvard Business School published his first article for HBR, "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy." In the years that followed, Michael Porter's explication of the five forces that determine the long-run profitability of any industry has shaped a generation of academic research and business practice. In this article, Porter undertakes a thorough reaffirmation and extension of his classic work of strategy formulation, which includes substantial new sections showing how to put the five forces analysis into practice. The five forces govern the profit structure of an industry by determining how the economic value it creates is apportioned. That value may be drained away through the rivalry among existing competitors, of course, but it can also be bargained away through the power of suppliers or the power of customers or be constrained by the threat of new entrants or the threat of substitutes. Strategy can be viewed as building defenses against the competitive forces or as finding a position in an industry where the forces are weaker. Changes in the strength of the forces signal changes in the competitive landscape critical to ongoing strategy formulation. In exploring the implications of the five forces framework, Porter explains why a fast-growing industry is not always a profitable one, how eliminating today's competitors through mergers and acquisitions can reduce an industry's profit potential, how government policies play a role by changing the relative strength of the forces, and how to use the forces to understand complements. He then shows how a company can influence the key forces in its industry to create a more favorable structure for itself or to expand the pie altogether. The five forces reveal why industry profitability is what it is. Only by understanding them can a company incorporate industry conditions into strategy.

Entanglement Between Demand and Supply in Markets with Bandwagon Goods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Mirta B.; Nadal, Jean-Pierre; Phan, Denis; Semeshenko, Viktoriya

2013-05-01

Whenever customers' choices (e.g. to buy or not a given good) depend on others choices (cases coined `positive externalities' or `bandwagon effect' in the economic literature), the demand may be multiply valued: for a same posted price, there is either a small number of buyers, or a large one—in which case one says that the customers coordinate. This leads to a dilemma for the seller: should he sell at a high price, targeting a small number of buyers, or at low price targeting a large number of buyers? In this paper we show that the interaction between demand and supply is even more complex than expected, leading to what we call the curse of coordination: the pricing strategy for the seller which aimed at maximizing his profit corresponds to posting a price which, not only assumes that the customers will coordinate, but also lies very near the critical price value at which such high demand no more exists. This is obtained by the detailed mathematical analysis of a particular model formally related to the Random Field Ising Model and to a model introduced in social sciences by T.C. Schelling in the 70's.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

The report is an overview of electric energy efficiency programs. It takes a concise look at what states are doing to encourage energy efficiency and how it impacts electric utilities. Energy efficiency programs began to be offered by utilities as a response to the energy crises of the 1970s. These regulatory-driven programs peaked in the early-1990s and then tapered off as deregulation took hold. Today, rising electricity prices, environmental concerns, and national security issues have renewed interest in increasing energy efficiency as an alternative to additional supply. In response, new methods for administering, managing, and delivering energy efficiency programs aremore » being implemented. Topics covered in the report include: Analysis of the benefits of energy efficiency and key methods for achieving energy efficiency; evaluation of the business drivers spurring increased energy efficiency; Discussion of the major barriers to expanding energy efficiency programs; evaluation of the economic impacts of energy efficiency; discussion of the history of electric utility energy efficiency efforts; analysis of the impact of energy efficiency on utility profits and methods for protecting profitability; Discussion of non-utility management of energy efficiency programs; evaluation of major methods to spur energy efficiency - systems benefit charges, resource planning, and resource standards; and, analysis of the alternatives for encouraging customer participation in energy efficiency programs.« less

13 CFR 113.3 - Discrimination prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... chapter, recipients of financial assistance may not: (a) Discriminate with regard to goods, services, or accommodations offered or provided by the aided business or other enterprise, whether or not operated for profit... accept a person on a nonsegregated basis as a patient, student, visitor, guest, customer, passenger, or...

Mathematical model of the loan portfolio dynamics in the form of Markov chain considering the process of new customers attraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozhalkina, Yana

2017-12-01

Mathematical model of the loan portfolio structure change in the form of Markov chain is explored. This model considers in one scheme both the process of customers attraction, their selection based on the credit score, and loans repayment. The model describes the structure and volume of the loan portfolio dynamics, which allows to make medium-term forecasts of profitability and risk. Within the model corrective actions of bank management in order to increase lending volumes or to reduce the risk are formalized.

Your loyalty program is betraying you.

PubMed

Nunes, Joseph C; Drèze, Xavier

2006-04-01

Even as loyalty programs are launched left and right, many are being scuttled. How can that be? These days, everyone knows that an old customer retained is worth more than a new customer won. What is so hard about making a simple loyalty program work? Quite a lot, the authors say. The biggest challenges include clarifying business goals, engineering the reward structure, and creating incentives powerful enough to change buying behavior but not so generous that they erode margins. Additionally, companies have to sort out the puzzles of consumer psychology, which can result, for example, in two rewards of equal economic value inspiring very different levels of purchasing. In their research, the authors have discovered patterns in what the successful loyalty programs get right and in how the others fail. Together, their findings constitute a tool kit for designing something rare indeed: a program that won't do you wrong. To begin with, it's important to know exactly what a loyalty program can do. It can keep customers from defecting, induce them to consolidate certain purchases with one seller (in other words, win a greater share of wallet), prompt customers to make additional purchases, yield insight into their behavior and preferences, and turn a profit. A program can meet these objectives in several ways--for instance, by offering rewards (points, say, or frequent-flier miles) divisible enough to provide many redemption opportunities but not so divisible that they fail to lock in customers. Companies striving to generate customer loyalty should avoid five common mistakes: Don't create a new commodity, which can result in price wars and other tit-for-tat competitive moves; don't cater to the disloyal by making rewards easy for just anyone to reap; don't reward purchasing volume over profitability; don't give away the store; and, finally, don't promise what can't be delivered.

Rule-based statistical data mining agents for an e-commerce application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Yi; Zhang, Yan-Qing; King, K. N.; Sunderraman, Rajshekhar

2003-03-01

Intelligent data mining techniques have useful e-Business applications. Because an e-Commerce application is related to multiple domains such as statistical analysis, market competition, price comparison, profit improvement and personal preferences, this paper presents a hybrid knowledge-based e-Commerce system fusing intelligent techniques, statistical data mining, and personal information to enhance QoS (Quality of Service) of e-Commerce. A Web-based e-Commerce application software system, eDVD Web Shopping Center, is successfully implemented uisng Java servlets and an Oracle81 database server. Simulation results have shown that the hybrid intelligent e-Commerce system is able to make smart decisions for different customers.

Building brand equity and customer loyalty

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pokorny, G.

Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are two different concepts, not merely two different phrases measuring a single consumer attitude. Utilities having identical customer satisfaction ratings based on performance in areas like power reliability, pricing, and quality of service differ dramatically in their levels of customer loyalty. As competitive markets establish themselves, discrepancies in customer loyalty will have profound impacts on each utility`s prospects for market retention, profitability, and ultimately, shareholder value. Meeting pre-existing consumer needs, wants and preferences is the foundation of any utility strategy for building customer loyalty and market retention. Utilities meet their underlying customer expectations by performingmore » well in three discrete areas: product, customer service programs, and customer service transactions. Brand equity is an intervening variable standing between performance and the loyalty a utility desires. It is the totality of customer perceptions about the unique extra value the utility provides above and beyond its basic product, customer service programs and customer service transactions; it is the tangible, palpable reality of a branded utility that exists in the minds of consumers. By learning to manage their brand equity as well as they manage their brand performance, utilities gain control over all the major elements in the value-creation process that creates customer loyalty. By integrating brand performance and brand equity, electric utility companies can truly become in their customers` eyes a brand - a unique, very special, value-added energy services provider that can ask for and deserve a premium price in the marketplace.« less

75 FR 13205 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

... decision making by existing and potential customers and investors, but also to improve public understanding... Comptroller of the Currency, Public Information Room, Mailstop 2-3, Attention: 1557-0182, 250 E Street, SW... information. Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit. Burden Estimates: Estimated Number of...

A Business Marketing Strategy Applied to Student Retention: A Higher Education Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ackerman, Robert; Schibrowsky, John

2008-01-01

Relationship marketing, a concept that focuses on attracting, maintaining, and building business relationships, has enhanced the profitability of businesses. The core of the relationship marketing approach in business is that resources are directed toward strengthening ties to existing customers on the proven premise that maintaining existing…

Virtual Education and the Race to the Bottom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Versluis, Arthur

2004-01-01

The president of a vastly profitable virtual education corporation asserted that customers flock to him, not for an education, but for the material comforts that an education provides. Compelled by technology and supported by the World Trade Organization, such huge credentialing agencies employ lowpaid contractors to dish out homogenized info…

17 CFR 210.9-04 - Income statements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

..., PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1935, INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940, INVESTMENT ADVISERS ACT OF 1940, AND ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT OF 1975 Bank Holding Companies § 210.9-04 Income... activities. (c) Insurance commissions, fees and premiums. (d) Fees for other customer services. (e) Profit or...

17 CFR 210.9-04 - Income statements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1935, INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940, INVESTMENT ADVISERS ACT OF 1940, AND ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT OF 1975 Bank Holding Companies § 210.9-04 Income... activities. (c) Insurance commissions, fees and premiums. (d) Fees for other customer services. (e) Profit or...

Book Soup: Electronic Commerce and the Future of Publishing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chuck, Lysbeth B.

1998-01-01

Examines electronic book selling and publishing, with a detailed look at Amazon.com, National Association of Science Writers, and *bylines* sites. Discusses costs/profits; differences between traditional and electronic book selling; customer feedback; ordering procedures; membership; out-of-print titles; the Direct-to-Web model of electronic…

A Study of the Relationship between Personality Types and the Acceptance of Technical Knowledge Management Systems (TKMS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Maureen S.

2012-01-01

Technical knowledge management systems (TKMSs) are not achieving the usage (acceptance) and the benefits that have been forecasted and are therefore, not enhancing competitive advantage and profits in organizations (Comb, 2004, "Assessing customer relationship management strategies for creating competitive advantage in electronic…

Iterated local search algorithm for solving the orienteering problem with soft time windows.

PubMed

Aghezzaf, Brahim; Fahim, Hassan El

2016-01-01

In this paper we study the orienteering problem with time windows (OPTW) and the impact of relaxing the time windows on the profit collected by the vehicle. The way of relaxing time windows adopted in the orienteering problem with soft time windows (OPSTW) that we study in this research is a late service relaxation that allows linearly penalized late services to customers. We solve this problem heuristically by considering a hybrid iterated local search. The results of the computational study show that the proposed approach is able to achieve promising solutions on the OPTW test instances available in the literature, one new best solution is found. On the newly generated test instances of the OPSTW, the results show that the profit collected by the OPSTW is better than the profit collected by the OPTW.

Quality of internet-based decision aids for shoulder arthritis: what are patients reading?

PubMed

Somerson, Jeremy S; Bois, Aaron J; Jeng, Jeffrey; Bohsali, Kamal I; Hinchey, John W; Wirth, Michael A

2018-04-11

The objective of this study was to assess the source, quality, accuracy, and completeness of Internet-based information for shoulder arthritis. A web search was performed using three common Internet search engines and the top 50 sites from each search were analyzed. Information sources were categorized into academic, commercial, non-profit, and physician sites. Information quality was measured using the Health On the Net (HON) Foundation principles, content accuracy by counting factual errors and completeness using a custom template. After removal of duplicates and sites that did not provide an overview of shoulder arthritis, 49 websites remained for analysis. The majority of sites were from commercial (n = 16, 33%) and physician (n = 16, 33%) sources. An additional 12 sites (24%) were from an academic institution and five sites (10%) were from a non-profit organization. Commercial sites had the highest number of errors, with a five-fold likelihood of containing an error compared to an academic site. Non-profit sites had the highest HON scores, with an average of 9.6 points on a 16-point scale. The completeness score was highest for academic sites, with an average score of 19.2 ± 6.7 (maximum score of 49 points); other information sources had lower scores (commercial, 15.2 ± 2.9; non-profit, 18.7 ± 6.8; physician, 16.6 ± 6.3). Patient information on the Internet regarding shoulder arthritis is of mixed accuracy, quality, and completeness. Surgeons should actively direct patients to higher-quality Internet sources.

Construct the stable vendor managed inventory partnership through a profit-sharing approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, S.; Yu, Z.; Dong, M.

2015-01-01

In real life, the vendor managed inventory (VMI) model is not always a stable supply chain partnership. This paper proposes a cooperative game based profit-sharing method to stabilize the VMI partnership. Specifically, in a B2C setting, we consider a VMI program including a manufacturer and multiple online retailers. The manufacturer provides the finished product at the equal wholesale price to multiple online retailers. The online retailers face the same customer demand information. We offer the model to compute the increased profits generated by information sharing for total possible VMI coalitions. Using the solution concept of Shapley value, the profit-sharing scheme is produced to fairly divide the total increased profits among the VMI members. We find that under a fair allocation scheme, the higher inventory cost of one VMI member increases the surplus of the other members. Furthermore, the manufacturer is glad to increase the size of VMI coalition, whereas, the retailers are delighted to limit the size of the alliance. Finally, the manufacturer can select the appropriate retailer to boost its surplus, which has no effect on the surplus of the other retailers. The numerical examples indicate that the grand coalition is stable under the proposed allocation scheme.

Mining Rare Events Data for Assessing Customer Attrition Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Au, Tom; Chin, Meei-Ling Ivy; Ma, Guangqin

Customer attrition refers to the phenomenon whereby a customer leaves a service provider. As competition intensifies, preventing customers from leaving is a major challenge to many businesses such as telecom service providers. Research has shown that retaining existing customers is more profitable than acquiring new customers due primarily to savings on acquisition costs, the higher volume of service consumption, and customer referrals. For a large enterprise, its customer base consists of tens of millions service subscribers, more often the events, such as switching to competitors or canceling services are large in absolute number, but rare in percentage, far less than 5%. Based on a simple random sample, popular statistical procedures, such as logistic regression, tree-based method and neural network, can sharply underestimate the probability of rare events, and often result a null model (no significant predictors). To improve efficiency and accuracy for event probability estimation, a case-based data collection technique is then considered. A case-based sample is formed by taking all available events and a small, but representative fraction of nonevents from a dataset of interest. In this article we showed a consistent prior correction method for events probability estimation and demonstrated the performance of the above data collection techniques in predicting customer attrition with actual telecommunications data.

Exporting coal through technology and countertrade

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borissoff, E.

1985-08-01

Straightforward coal exporting on a simple price-and-delivery basis is becoming increasingly difficult for US suppliers. Technology and countertrade are two tools which could help coal suppliers' exports and, at the same time, satisfy the needs of their overseas customers. Neither would complicate the established process of coal exporting, but both would offer the prospect of increased sales and higher profits. Technical selling involves demonstrating to a customer that US steam coal is more competitive when burned in boiler designed specifically to burn that coal efficiently. To do this, the exporter must know the chemical characteristic of his coal and establishmore » a working relationship with his customers' purchasing agents and boiler chiefs. Technical selling to new users offers even more opportunities. Countertrade occurs when the customer pays for coal or a coal/boiler package with something other than US dollars.« less

A Demand-Driven Approach for a Multi-Agent System in Supply Chain Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovalchuk, Yevgeniya; Fasli, Maria

This paper presents the architecture of a multi-agent decision support system for Supply Chain Management (SCM) which has been designed to compete in the TAC SCM game. The behaviour of the system is demand-driven and the agents plan, predict, and react dynamically to changes in the market. The main strength of the system lies in the ability of the Demand agent to predict customer winning bid prices - the highest prices the agent can offer customers and still obtain their orders. This paper investigates the effect of the ability to predict customer order prices on the overall performance of the system. Four strategies are proposed and compared for predicting such prices. The experimental results reveal which strategies are better and show that there is a correlation between the accuracy of the models' predictions and the overall system performance: the more accurate the prediction of customer order prices, the higher the profit.

A CBR-Based and MAHP-Based Customer Value Prediction Model for New Product Development

PubMed Central

Zhao, Yu-Jie; Luo, Xin-xing; Deng, Li

2014-01-01

In the fierce market environment, the enterprise which wants to meet customer needs and boost its market profit and share must focus on the new product development. To overcome the limitations of previous research, Chan et al. proposed a dynamic decision support system to predict the customer lifetime value (CLV) for new product development. However, to better meet the customer needs, there are still some deficiencies in their model, so this study proposes a CBR-based and MAHP-based customer value prediction model for a new product (C&M-CVPM). CBR (case based reasoning) can reduce experts' workload and evaluation time, while MAHP (multiplicative analytic hierarchy process) can use actual but average influencing factor's effectiveness in stimulation, and at same time C&M-CVPM uses dynamic customers' transition probability which is more close to reality. This study not only introduces the realization of CBR and MAHP, but also elaborates C&M-CVPM's three main modules. The application of the proposed model is illustrated and confirmed to be sensible and convincing through a stimulation experiment. PMID:25162050

A CBR-based and MAHP-based customer value prediction model for new product development.

PubMed

Zhao, Yu-Jie; Luo, Xin-xing; Deng, Li

2014-01-01

In the fierce market environment, the enterprise which wants to meet customer needs and boost its market profit and share must focus on the new product development. To overcome the limitations of previous research, Chan et al. proposed a dynamic decision support system to predict the customer lifetime value (CLV) for new product development. However, to better meet the customer needs, there are still some deficiencies in their model, so this study proposes a CBR-based and MAHP-based customer value prediction model for a new product (C&M-CVPM). CBR (case based reasoning) can reduce experts' workload and evaluation time, while MAHP (multiplicative analytic hierarchy process) can use actual but average influencing factor's effectiveness in stimulation, and at same time C&M-CVPM uses dynamic customers' transition probability which is more close to reality. This study not only introduces the realization of CBR and MAHP, but also elaborates C&M-CVPM's three main modules. The application of the proposed model is illustrated and confirmed to be sensible and convincing through a stimulation experiment.

Blue ocean strategy.

PubMed

Kim, W Chan; Mauborgne, Renée

2004-10-01

Despite a long-term decline in the circus industry, Cirque du Soleil profitably increased revenue 22-fold over the last ten years by reinventing the circus. Rather than competing within the confines of the existing industry or trying to steal customers from rivals, Cirque developed uncontested market space that made the competition irrelevant. Cirque created what the authors call a blue ocean, a previously unknown market space. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In red oceans--that is, in all the industries already existing--companies compete by grabbing for a greater share of limited demand. As the market space gets more crowded, prospects for profits and growth decline. Products turn into commodities, and increasing competition turns the water bloody. There are two ways to create blue oceans. One is to launch completely new industries, as eBay did with online auctions. But it's much more common for a blue ocean to be created from within a red ocean when a company expands the boundaries of an existing industry. In studying more than 150 blue ocean creations in over 30 industries, the authors observed that the traditional units of strategic analysis--company and industry--are of limited use in explaining how and why blue oceans are created. The most appropriate unit of analysis is the strategic move, the set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market-creating business offering. Creating blue oceans builds brands. So powerful is blue ocean strategy, in fact, that a blue ocean strategic move can create brand equity that lasts for decades.

The network of corporate clients: customer attrition at commercial banks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lublóy, Á.; Szenes, M.

2008-12-01

Commercial banks might profit from the adoption of methods widely used in network theory. A decision making process might become biased if one disregards network effects within the corporate client portfolio. This paper models the phenomenon of customer attrition by generating a weighted and directed network of corporate clients linked by financial transactions. During the numerical study of the agent-based toy model we demonstrate that multiple steady states may exist. The statistical properties of the distinct steady states show similarities. We show that most companies of the same community choose the same bank in the steady state. In contrast to the case for the steady state of the Barabási-Albert network, market shares in this model equalize by network size. When modeling customer attrition in the network of 3 × 105 corporate clients, none of the companies followed the behavior of the initial switcher in three quarters of the simulations. The number of switchers exceeded 20 in 1% of the cases. In the worst-case scenario a total of 688 companies chose a competitor bank. Significant network effects have been discovered; high correlation prevailed between the degree of the initial switcher and the severity of the avalanche effect. This suggests that the position of the corporate client in the network might be much more important than the underlying properties (industry, size, profitability, etc) of the company.

Improvement of inventory control and forecast according to activity-based classifications: T company as an example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jui-Chan; Wu, Tzu-Jung; Chiu, Yen-Chun; Lu, Chunwei

2017-06-01

Inventory management is a major issue for all the industries. The supply of products to customers requires the readiness of the inventory. This allows rapid delivery and reduces waiting time for customers so that companies can profit from it. Any stock out or insufficiency will lead to loss of customers because their needs cannot be met. This will hurt firm profitability and market competitiveness. Inventory control is critical to retain liquidity and avoid overstocking. This is also the key to firm's survival and sustainability. To ensure an appropriate level of inventory, it is necessary to manage the inventory levels with sales forecast on an on-going basis. This paper seeks to assist Company T to improve its inventory control. Firstly, the products offered by Company T are classified into groups. The R programming language is used to stimulate and forecast future sales of different products. Different techniques are applied to manage the inventory levels according to the results of categorizations and forecasts that are consolidation of all the product items and grouping them into activity-based classifications, simulation and forecasting of future sales according to the categorization results, and formulation of different control techniques based on the simulations and forecasts. The results and the inventory management can be used to enhance the inventory control as well.

Implementation of aggregation in the North American power industry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feldman, R.; Williams, G.

1998-07-01

One key to the impact of deregulation being transmitted to residential customers is the successful formation of aggregation groups and their expansion to include different classes of customers with convergent usage interests. This activity currently is being sponsored not only by for-profit brokerage entities, but also by associations of not-for-profit corporations such as hospitals and universities and by countries. The issues presented fall into several categories. (1) Technical rate taking--feasibility of making appropriate arrangements for alternative supply to consumers on a basis which appropriately reflects customer characteristics and also confers benefit on them all; (2) Legal--Compatibility of proposed arrangements withmore » FERC wholesale regulation under Order No. 888 and emerging state regulation under the different restructuring regimes which their state utility commissions are implementing; (3) Marketing/Sociopolitical--Utilization of modern marketing techniques to effect the political consensus which is a precursor of alternative aggregation arrangements; (4) Financing--identification of capital costs; techniques for financing such costs, including monetization of the savings to be realized. The presentation will extrapolate the potential future significance of aggregation as a force in both restructuring and the development of merchant power projects. It will also assess the extent to which institutional, legal, technical or financial factors may modify the ultimate significance of aggression in the North American Power Industry.« less

78 FR 13400 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Information Collection Renewal; Comment Request...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-27

... decision making by existing and potential customers and investors, but also to improve public understanding... Currency, Attention: 1557-0182, 400 7th Street SW., Suite 3E-218, Mail Stop 9W- 11, Washington, DC 20219... information. Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit. Burden Estimates: Estimated Number of...

Working Smart: The Los Angeles Workplace Literacy Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. Div. of Adult and Occupational Education.

The Working Smart workplace literacy project was sponsored by a public school district and several profit and nonprofit companies and conducted for the hotel and food industry in the Los Angeles area. Literacy instruction was merged with job requirements of the customer service job classifications. Videodisc courseware was developed, as were…

Strategic Human Resource Development Impact on Organizational Performance: Does SHRD Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Rebecca

2016-01-01

In the United States today organizational leaders are concerned with skills gaps, or the limited availability of qualified workers to fill open positions. The reason for their concern is the impact of skills gaps on organizational performance in a number of areas including productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability, and the ability to…

Going to Scale with TQM. The Pinellas County Schools' Journey toward Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shipley, Jim; Collins, Chris

Quality improvement, or Total Quality Management (TQM), has been used for years in the corporate world to help companies achieve better customer satisfaction, increase market share, and improve profitability. More recently, TQM has emerged as a promising strategy for school improvement and educational reform. In 1991, the school district of…

Maryland | Midmarket Solar Policies in the United States | Solar Research |

Science.gov Websites

(RECs). Meter aggregation: Virtual net metering is allowed for agricultural customers, non-profits, and solar PV technology. Mathias Agricultural Energy Efficiency Grant Program Maryland Energy Administration Farms and agricultural businesses are eligible for grants of up to 50% of the system cost, capped at

Market policy as an innovative element of marketing in the Romanian healthcare services - an approach focused on the patient.

PubMed

Coculescu, B I; Coculescu, E C; Radu, A; Petrescu, L; Purcărea, V L

2015-01-01

The orientation towards one of the marketing policies with a major impact in organizations providing healthcare services, requires a careful analysis of the needs and aspirations of customers, targeting those patients whose needs the service organization can achieve through the existing resources at the respective health facility, finding the most effective way of achieving benefits associated with reduced costs to maximizing profits, placing the offers for medical services required by the patients on the market, as well as promptly reacting and acting to the changes of health services market which is constantly evolving through a flexible organizing and functioning structure, connected to the financial needs of the patients.

Loyalty-based management.

PubMed

Reichheld, F F

1993-01-01

Despite a flurry of activities aimed at serving customers better, few companies have systematically revamped their operations with customer loyalty in mind. Instead, most have adopted improvement programs ad hoc, and paybacks haven't materialized. Building a highly loyal customer base must be integral to a company's basic business strategy. Loyalty leaders like MBNA credit cards are successful because they have designed their entire business systems around customer loyalty--a self-reinforcing system in which the company delivers superior value consistently and reinvents cash flows to find and keep high-quality customers and employees. The economic benefits of high customer loyalty are measurable. When a company consistently delivers superior value and wins customer loyalty, market share and revenues go up, and the cost of acquiring new customers goes down. The better economics mean the company can pay workers better, which sets off a whole chain of events. Increased pay boosts employee moral and commitment; as employees stay longer, their productivity goes up and training costs fall; employees' overall job satisfaction, combined with their experience, helps them serve customers better; and customers are then more inclined to stay loyal to the company. Finally, as the best customers and employees become part of the loyalty-based system, competitors are left to survive with less desirable customers and less talented employees. To compete on loyalty, a company must understand the relationships between customer retention and the other parts of the business--and be able to quantify the linkages between loyalty and profits. It involves rethinking and aligning four important aspects of the business: customers, product/service offering, employees, and measurement systems.

Profitability analysis of KINGLONG nearly 5 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Mei; Wen, Jinghua

2017-08-01

Profitability analysis for measuring business performance and forecast its prospects play an important role. In this paper, the research instance King Long Motor in understanding the basic theory on the basis of financial management, to take a combination of theory and data analysis methods, combined with a measure of profitability related indicators of King Long Motor company’s profitability do a specific analysis to identify factors constraining the profitability of Kinglong company exists and the motivation to improve profitability, which made recommendations to improve the profitability of Kinglong car company to promote the company’s future can be better and faster development.)

Breaking the trade-off between efficiency and service.

PubMed

Frei, Frances X

2006-11-01

For manufacturers, customers are the open wallets at the end of the supply chain. But for most service businesses, they are key inputs to the production process. Customers introduce tremendous variability to that process, but they also complain about any lack of consistency and don't care about the company's profit agenda. Managing customer-introduced variability, the author argues, is a central challenge for service companies. The first step is to diagnose which type of variability is causing mischief: Customers may arrive at different times, request different kinds of service, possess different capabilities, make varying degrees of effort, and have different personal preferences. Should companies accommodate variability or reduce it? Accommodation often involves asking employees to compensate for the variations among customers--a potentially costly solution. Reduction often means offering a limited menu of options, which may drive customers away. Some companies have learned to deal with customer-introduced variability without damaging either their operating environments or customers' service experiences. Starbucks, for example, handles capability variability among its customers by teaching them the correct ordering protocol. Dell deals with arrival and request variability in its high-end server business by outsourcing customer service while staying in close touch with customers to discuss their needs and assess their experiences with third-party providers. The effective management of variability often requires a company to influence customers' behavior. Managers attempting that kind of intervention can follow a three-step process: diagnosing the behavioral problem, designing an operating role for customers that creates new value for both parties, and testing and refining approaches for influencing behavior.

Understanding the relationship between Kano model's customer satisfaction scores and self-stated requirements importance.

PubMed

Mkpojiogu, Emmanuel O C; Hashim, Nor Laily

2016-01-01

Customer satisfaction is the result of product quality and viability. The place of the perceived satisfaction of users/customers for a software product cannot be neglected especially in today competitive market environment as it drives the loyalty of customers and promotes high profitability and return on investment. Therefore understanding the importance of requirements as it is associated with the satisfaction of users/customers when their requirements are met is worth the pain considering. It is necessary to know the relationship between customer satisfactions when their requirements are met (or their dissatisfaction when their requirements are unmet) and the importance of such requirement. So many works have been carried out on customer satisfaction in connection with the importance of requirements but the relationship between customer satisfaction scores (coefficients) of the Kano model and users/customers self-stated requirements importance have not been sufficiently explored. In this study, an attempt is made to unravel the underlying relationship existing between Kano model's customer satisfaction indexes and users/customers self reported requirements importance. The results of the study indicate some interesting associations between these considered variables. These bivariate associations reveal that customer satisfaction index (SI), and average satisfaction coefficient (ASC) and customer dissatisfaction index (DI) and average satisfaction coefficient (ASC) are highly correlated (r = 96 %) and thus ASC can be used in place of either SI or DI in representing customer satisfaction scores. Also, these Kano model's customer satisfaction variables (SI, DI, and ASC) are each associated with self-stated requirements importance (IMP). Further analysis indicates that the value customers or users place on requirements that are met or on features that are incorporated into a product influences the level of satisfaction such customers derive from the product. The worth of a product feature is indicated by the perceived satisfaction customers get from the inclusion of such feature in the product design and development. The satisfaction users/customers derive when a requirement is fulfilled or when a feature is placed in the product (SI or ASC) is strongly influenced by the value the users/customers place on such requirements/features when met (IMP). However, the dissatisfaction users/customers received when a requirement is not met or when a feature is not incorporated into the product (DI), even though related to self-stated requirements importance (IMP), does not have a strong effect on the importance/worth (IMP) of that given requirement/feature as perceived by the users or customers. Therefore, since customer satisfaction is proportionally related to the perceived requirements importance (worth), it is then necessary to give adequate attention to user/customer satisfying requirements (features) from elicitation to design and to the final implementation of the design. Incorporating user or customer satisfying requirements in product design is of great worth or value to the future users or customers of the product.

Making of a Corporate University Model: Transition from Traditional Training to Learning Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ilyas, Mohammed

2017-01-01

Today organizations have adopted a corporate university model to meet their training requirements, a model that adds value to the business in terms of revenue and profit, improvement in customer retention, improved employee productivity, cost reduction and retention of talented employees. This paper highlights the radical change and an evolution…

Sociocultural Aspects of Computers in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeaman, Andrew R. J.

The data reported in this paper gives depth to the picture of computers in society, in work, and in schools. The prices have dropped but computer corporations sell to schools, as they do to any other customer, to increase profits for themselves. Computerizing is a vehicle for social stratification. Computers are not easy to use and are hard to…

12 CFR 220.117 - Exception to 90-day rule in special cash account.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... profit. On Day 8 customer delivered his check for the cost of the purchase to the creditor (member firm... any check or draft drawn on a bank which in the ordinary course of business is payable on presentation...(f), if controlling, would permit the exception to undermine, to some extent, the effectiveness of...

75 FR 29805 - CSX Transportation, Inc. and Delaware and Hudson Railway Company, Inc.-Joint Use Agreement

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-27

... offer shippers rail service 5 to 7 days per week, up from the twice-weekly train service currently... from customer facilities handled by CSXT local trains. D&H, a Class II railroad, is a wholly owned... that such traffic volume is not sufficient to support more frequent, profitable train service. The...

Competition in the German pharmacy market: an empirical analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Pharmaceutical products are an important component of expenditure on public health insurance in the Federal Republic of Germany. For years, German policy makers have regulated public pharmacies in order to limit the increase in costs. One reform has followed another, main objective being to increase competition in the pharmacy market. It is generally assumed that an increase in competition would reduce healthcare costs. However, there is a lack of empirical proof of a stronger orientation of German public pharmacies towards competition thus far. Methods This paper analyses the self-perceptions of owners of German public pharmacies and their orientation towards competition in the pharmacy markets. It is based on a cross-sectional survey (N = 289) and distinguishes between successful and less successful pharmacies, the location of the pharmacies (e.g. West German States and East German States) and the gender of the pharmacy owner. The data are analysed descriptively by survey items and employing bivariate and structural equation modelling. Results The analysis reveals that the majority of owners of public pharmacies in Germany do not currently perceive very strong competitive pressure in the market. However, the innovativeness of the pharmacist is confirmed as most relevant for net revenue development and the profit margin. Some differences occur between regions, e.g. public pharmacies in West Germany have a significantly higher profit margin. Conclusions This study provides evidence that the German healthcare reforms aimed at increasing the competition between public pharmacies in Germany have not been completely successful. Many owners of public pharmacies disregard instruments of active customer-orientated management (such as customer loyalty or an offensive position and economies of scale), which could give them a competitive advantage. However, it is clear that those pharmacists who strive for systematic and innovative management and adopt an offensive and competitive stance are quite successful. Thus, pharmacists should change their attitude and develop a more professional business model. PMID:24112461

Competition in the German pharmacy market: an empirical analysis.

PubMed

Heinsohn, Jörg G; Flessa, Steffen

2013-10-10

Pharmaceutical products are an important component of expenditure on public health insurance in the Federal Republic of Germany. For years, German policy makers have regulated public pharmacies in order to limit the increase in costs. One reform has followed another, main objective being to increase competition in the pharmacy market. It is generally assumed that an increase in competition would reduce healthcare costs. However, there is a lack of empirical proof of a stronger orientation of German public pharmacies towards competition thus far. This paper analyses the self-perceptions of owners of German public pharmacies and their orientation towards competition in the pharmacy markets. It is based on a cross-sectional survey (N = 289) and distinguishes between successful and less successful pharmacies, the location of the pharmacies (e.g. West German States and East German States) and the gender of the pharmacy owner. The data are analysed descriptively by survey items and employing bivariate and structural equation modelling. The analysis reveals that the majority of owners of public pharmacies in Germany do not currently perceive very strong competitive pressure in the market. However, the innovativeness of the pharmacist is confirmed as most relevant for net revenue development and the profit margin. Some differences occur between regions, e.g. public pharmacies in West Germany have a significantly higher profit margin. This study provides evidence that the German healthcare reforms aimed at increasing the competition between public pharmacies in Germany have not been completely successful. Many owners of public pharmacies disregard instruments of active customer-orientated management (such as customer loyalty or an offensive position and economies of scale), which could give them a competitive advantage. However, it is clear that those pharmacists who strive for systematic and innovative management and adopt an offensive and competitive stance are quite successful. Thus, pharmacists should change their attitude and develop a more professional business model.

Patient experience and hospital profitability: Is there a link?

PubMed

Richter, Jason P; Muhlestein, David B

Patient experience has had a direct financial impact on hospitals since value-based purchasing was instituted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2013 as a method to reward or punish hospitals based on performance on various measures, including patient experience. Although other industries have shown an indirect impact of customer experience on overall profitability, that link has not been well established in the health care industry. Return-to-provider rate and perceptions of health quality have been associated with profitability in the health care industry. Our aims were to assess whether, independent of a direct financial impact, a more positive patient experience is associated with increased profitability and whether a more negative patient experience is associated with decreased profitability. We used a sample of 19,792 observations from 3767 hospitals over the 6-year period 2007-2012. The data were sourced from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. Using generalized estimating equations to account for repeated measures, we fit four separate models for three dependent variables: net patient revenue, net income, and operating margin. Each model included one of the following independent variables of interest: percentage of patients who definitely recommend the hospital, percentage of patients who definitely would not recommend the hospital, percentage of patients who rated the hospital 9 or 10, and percentage of patients who rated the hospital 6 or lower. We identified that a positive patient experience is associated with increased profitability and a negative patient experience is even more strongly associated with decreased profitability. Management should have greater justification for incurring costs associated with bolstering patient experience programs. Improvements in training, technology, and staffing can be justified as a way to improve not only quality but now profitability as well.

One-to-one modeling and simulation: a new approach in customer relationship management for grocery retail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baydar, Cem M.

2002-03-01

The ever-increasing competition in retail industry puts pressure on retailers to deal with their customers more efficiently. Currently most companies use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to maximize the customer satisfaction level by trying to understand more about their behaviors. However, one disadvantage of the current approaches is that they focus on the segmentation of customers into homogenous groups and they disregard examining the one-to-one relationship of each individual's behavior toward each product. Therefore, individual behavior cannot be captured in detail. Modeling individual behavior for each product enables several strategies of pricing by keeping the customer satisfaction at the maximum level. One example is offering a personal discount on a particular item to a customer who is price sensitive to that particular product. Therefore, you can still sell other products at the non-discounted level to this customer by keeping him satisfied. In this paper, individual pricing approach is discussed. The aim of this study is to develop a conceptual framework to analyze the feasibility of individual pricing. Customer behaviors can be modeled individually with respect to each product for a grocery store. Several factors can be used to determine these behaviors such as customer's need, brand loyalty and price sensitivity. Each customer can be modeled as an adaptive agent using qualitative descriptions of behaviors (i.e., highly price sensitive). Then, the overall shopping behavior can be simulated using a multi-agent Monte-Carlo simulation. It is expected that with this approach, retailers will be able to determine better strategies to obtain more profits, better sales and better customer satisfaction.

Build loyalty in business markets.

PubMed

Narayandas, Das

2005-09-01

Companies often apply consumer marketing solutions in business markets without realizing that such strategies only hamper the acquisition and retention of profitable customers. Unlike consumers, business customers inevitably need customized products, quantities, or prices. A company in a business market must therefore manage customers individually, showing how its products or services can help solve each buyer's problems. And it must learn to reap the enormous benefits of loyalty by developing individual relationships with customers. To achieve these ends, the firm's marketers must become aware of the different types of benefits the company offers and convey their value to the appropriate executives in the customer company. It's especially important to inform customers about what the author calls nontangible nonfinancial benefits-above-and-beyond efforts, such as delivering supplies on holidays to keep customers' production lines going. The author has developed a simple set of devices-the benefit stack and the decision-maker stack-to help marketers communicate their firm's myriad benefits. The vendor lists the benefits it offers, then lists the customer's decision makers, specifying their concerns, motivations, and power bases. By linking the two stacks, the vendor can systematically communicate how it will meet each decision-maker's needs. The author has also developed a tool called a loyalty ladder, which helps a company determine how much time and money to spend on relationships with various customers. As customers become increasingly loyal, they display behaviors in a predictable sequence, from growing the relationship and providing word-of-mouth endorsements to investing in the vendor company. The author has found that customers follow the same sequence of loyalty behaviors in all business markets.

The impact of the distance-dependent promotional effect on the promotion cost sharing decision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheen, Gwo-Ji; Wang, Shih-Yen; Yeh, Yingchieh

2016-02-01

This paper considers the promotion cost sharing decision between a supplier and a retailer. The customer demand is affected by both national and local promotional effects while the local promotional effect on a customer is dependent on the distance between the retailer and this customer. We propose a continuous approximation approach to modelling the sum of the customer demand in the whole market area served by the retailer. A model is provided to help managers decide on the retail price, the local advertising expenditure, the national advertising expenditure, and the supplier participation rate, with consideration of the influence of distance on the promotional effect. We also find that the supplier's promotion cost sharing rate increases as the market size increases or the influence of distance on the promotional effect decreases. A numerical example is given to show that the nature of distance-dependent promotional effect has a significant impact on the decisions and profits.

Knowing a winning business idea when you see one.

PubMed

Kim, W C; Mauborgne, R

2000-01-01

Identifying which business ideas have real commercial potential is fraught with uncertainty, and even the most admired companies have stumbled. It's not as if they don't know what the challenges of innovation are. A new product has to offer customers exceptional utility at an attractive price, and the company must be able to deliver it at a tidy profit. But the uncertainties surrounding innovation are so great that even the most insightful managers have a hard time evaluating the commercial readiness of new business ideas. In this article, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne introduce three tools that managers can use to help strip away some of that uncertainty. The first tool, "the buyer utility map," indicates how likely it is that customers will be attracted to a new business idea. The second, "the price corridor of the mass," identifies what price will unlock the greatest number of customers. And the third tool, "the business model guide," offers a framework for figuring out whether and how a company can profitably deliver the new idea at the targeted price. Applying the tools, though, is not the end of the story. Many innovations have to overcome adoption hurdles--strong resistance from stakeholders inside and outside the company. Often overlooked in the planning process, adoption hurdles can make or break the commercial viability of even the most powerful new ideas. The authors conclude by discussing how managers can head off negative reactions from stakeholders.

A qualitative study of independent fast food vendors near secondary schools in disadvantaged Scottish neighbourhoods.

PubMed

Estrade, Michelle; Dick, Smita; Crawford, Fiona; Jepson, Ruth; Ellaway, Anne; McNeill, Geraldine

2014-08-04

Preventing and reducing childhood and adolescent obesity is a growing priority in many countries. Recent UK data suggest that children in more deprived areas have higher rates of obesity and poorer diet quality than those in less deprived areas. As adolescents spend a large proportion of time in school, interventions to improve the food environment in and around schools are being considered. Nutrient standards for school meals are mandatory in the UK, but many secondary pupils purchase foods outside schools at break or lunchtime that may not meet these standards. Qualitative interviews were conducted with fast food shop managers to explore barriers to offering healthier menu options. Recruitment targeted independently-owned shops near secondary schools (pupils aged c.12-17) in low-income areas of three Scottish cities. Ten interviews were completed, recorded, and transcribed for analysis. An inductive qualitative approach was used to analyse the data in NVivo 10. Five themes emerged from the data: pride in what is sold; individual autonomy and responsibility; customer demand; profit margin; and neighbourhood context. Interviewees consistently expressed pride in the foods they sold, most of which were homemade. They felt that healthy eating and general wellbeing are the responsibility of the individual and that offering what customers want to eat, not necessarily what they should eat, was the only way to stay in business. Most vendors felt they were struggling to maintain a profit, and that many aspects of the low-income neighbourhood context would make change difficult or impossible. Independent food shops in low-income areas face barriers to offering healthy food choices, and interventions and policies that target the food environment around schools should take the neighbourhood context into consideration.

You catch more flies with sugar...marketing RIM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

KEENEN,MARTHA JANE

There is a difference between marketing and selling. Marketing is finding out what the customer wants and/or needs and showing that customer how a product meets those needs. Modifying or repackaging the product may be required to make its utility clear to the customer. When it is, they'll buy because they, on their own, want it. Selling is pushing a product on the customer for reasons of profit, compliance, the way things have always been done here, or any others. When one markets, a relationship is built. This isn't about a one-time sale, it's about getting those records into safekeepingmore » and customers trusting us to give them back, retrieve them, the way that customer needs them, when and how that customer needs them. This is a trust building exercise that has long-term as well as short-term actions and reactions all aligned toward that interdependent relationship between customers and us, the recorded information managers. Marketing works better than selling because human beings don't like to be pushed...think door-to-door sales people and evaluate emotions. Are they positive? Go a step further. No one likes to be told to do what's good for you? Which brings us to the fundamental marketing, as opposed to sales, principle: What's In It For Me? Commonly called the WIIFM of Wiff-em principle in marketing and entrepreneurship texts and classes.« less

A cross-lagged test of the association between customer satisfaction and employee job satisfaction in a relational context.

PubMed

Zablah, Alex R; Carlson, Brad D; Donavan, D Todd; Maxham, James G; Brown, Tom J

2016-05-01

Due to its practical importance, the relationship between customer satisfaction and frontline employee (FLE) job satisfaction has received significant attention in the literature. Numerous studies to date confirm that the constructs are related and rely on this empirical finding to infer support for the "inside-out" effect of FLE job satisfaction on customer satisfaction. In doing so, prior studies ignore the possibility that-as suggested by the Service Profit Chain's satisfaction mirror-a portion of the observed empirical effect may be due to the "outside-in" impact of customer satisfaction on FLE job satisfaction. Consequently, both the magnitude and direction of the causal relationship between the constructs remain unclear. To address this oversight, this study builds on multisource data, including longitudinal satisfaction data provided by 49,242 customers and 1,470 FLEs from across 209 retail stores, to examine the association between FLE job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in a context where service relationships are the norm. Consistent with predictions rooted in social exchange theory, the results reveal that (a) customer satisfaction and FLE job satisfaction are reciprocally related; (b) the outside-in effect of customer satisfaction on FLE job satisfaction is predominant (i.e., larger in magnitude than the inside-out effect); and (c) customer engagement determines the extent of this outside-in predominance. Contrary to common wisdom, the study's findings suggest that, in relational contexts, incentivizing FLEs to satisfy customers may prove to be more effective for enhancing FLE and customer outcomes than direct investments in FLE job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Market policy as an innovative element of marketing in the Romanian healthcare services – an approach focused on the patient

PubMed Central

Coculescu, BI; Coculescu, EC; Radu, A; Petrescu, L; Purcărea, VL

2015-01-01

The orientation towards one of the marketing policies with a major impact in organizations providing healthcare services, requires a careful analysis of the needs and aspirations of customers, targeting those patients whose needs the service organization can achieve through the existing resources at the respective health facility, finding the most effective way of achieving benefits associated with reduced costs to maximizing profits, placing the offers for medical services required by the patients on the market, as well as promptly reacting and acting to the changes of health services market which is constantly evolving through a flexible organizing and functioning structure, connected to the financial needs of the patients. PMID:26664466

Achieving the Quality Difference: Making Customers Count

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-02

Involve Unions in the Quality Im provem ent Process .................................................... 53 Workshop 11 How to Develop an Effective ...quality and cost effective products and services to the American public. Proper management of this require- ment calls for enlightened approaches. To...potential rewards for all of us are enormous. A culture that is dedicated to quality will result in more profitable companies, more effective public

Defense Industrial Base Assessment: U.S. Space Industry

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-31

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection...DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release, distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The original document contains color...profitability and a refusal of some foreign customers to procure equipment that requires U.S. ITAR licensing.” The BIS survey addressed

Impact of Culturally Relevant Contextualized Activities on Elementary and Middle School Students' Perceptions of Science: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González-Espada, Wilson; Llerandi-Román, Pablo; Fortis-Santiago, Yaihara; Guerrero-Medina, Giovanna; Ortiz-Vega, Nicole; Feliú-Mójer, Mónica; Colón-Ramos, Daniel

2015-01-01

Although researchers have argued that textbooks should be customized to local cultures and experiences, they rarely are. Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit group interested in promoting science literacy and education among Latino(a)s/Hispanics, identified a need to provide schools with culturally relevant materials. The result was the publication…

Agile supply chain capabilities: emerging patterns as a determinant of competitive objectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yusuf, Yahaya Y.; Adeleye, E. O.; Sivayoganathan, K.

2001-10-01

Turbulent change caused by factors such as changing customer and technological requirements threatens manufacturers through lower product life cycles, profits and bleak survival prospects. Therefore, several companies are stressing flexibility and agility in order to respond, real time, to the unique needs of customers and markets. However, the resource competencies required are often difficult to mobilise and retain by single companies. It is therefore imperative for companies to co-operate and leverage complementary competencies. To this end, legally separate and spatially distributed companies are becoming integrated through Internet-based technologies. The paper reviews emerging patterns in supply chain integration. It also explores the relationship between the emerging patterns and attainment of competitive objectives. The results reported in the paper are based on data from a survey by questionnaire. The survey involved 600 companies in the UK, as part of a larger study of agile manufacturing. The study was driven by a conceptual model, which relates supply chain practices to competitive objectives. The analysis involves the use of factor analysis to reduce research variables to a few principal components. Subsequently, multiple regression was conducted to study the relationship amongst the reduced variables. The results validate the proposed conceptual model and lend credence to current thinking that supply chain integration is a vital tool for competitive advantage.

Profitability and acceptability of fat- and sodium-modified hot entrees in a worksite cafeteria.

PubMed

Perlmutter, C A; Canter, D D; Gregoire, M B

1997-04-01

To compare the acceptability of fat- and sodium-modified entrees before and after implementation of a marketing program and to determine the effect offering and marketing these healthful entrees had on total cafeteria and entree sales in a worksite cafeteria. The research was conducted in five phases, including sales data collection, acceptance testing of unmodified hot entrees, acceptance testing of modified entrees, and implementation of a marketing campaign for promoting low-fat, sodium-controlled food selections. The Kansas Farm Bureau and Affiliated Services (KFB) employee cafeteria. KFB employees who ate lunch in the employee cafeteria and were willing to participate in the study. Sales data (percent of customers purchasing a modified entree and sales of modified entree as a percent of total sales); nutrient analysis data (energy, grams of total fat, percent of energy from fat, milligrams of cholesterol, and milligrams of sodium); and acceptability data (11 characteristics were measured using a seven-point hedonic scale). General linear model analysis of variance was used to compare sales data from phases 1 to 5 and to compare acceptability data from phases 2 to 4. No significant differences in sales data were observed during the 7-month study. No significant changes in overall acceptability were found for any entree. However, customers tended to rate overall acceptability higher when entrees were marketed as lower in fat and sodium. Customers in worksite cafeterias may be more willing to tolerate changes in flavor attributes when modified entrees are marketed as "healthful" and nutrition information is available.

Marketing Management Elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costoiu, M.; Ioana, A.; Semenescu, A.; Marcu, D.

2016-11-01

The article takes as a starting point several complementary definitions of marketing. Also present several key points related to marketing policy: defining the position that the company will occupy on the market with respect to competition, fixing the image with what will approach the market, achieving a balance between turnover rates profit and expenses as a condition for the survival of the company. In below article it is proposed an original concept of marketing management. This concept takes into consideration on the one hand correlations between company position in the market definition and on the other hand the image received by customers. The ultimate goal of this original concept of marketing management is to ensure an effective balance between: the turnover rate of profit and expenses of the company.

How treating the patient with diabetes can enhance your practice: recommendations for practice management.

PubMed

Levin, Roger P

2003-10-01

The ability of dental practices to remain productive and profitable over time depends on their capacity to serve patients comprehensively. The increasing diversity in the patient population demands that practices customize services to ensure exceptional care for all patients. This diversity is particularly prevalent in patient subpopulations with unique medical conditions and treatment needs, such as patients with diabetes. Proper and effective management of patients with diabetes requires that the practice evaluate all aspects of patient interaction. Systems need to be customized so that all procedures and patient communication scripts are implemented consistently to meet the distinct needs of patients with diabetes. A significant return on investment in customized systems can be realized if the practice implements effective marketing strategies to both attract this population of patients and brand the practice as a unique and specialized service provider.

21. century customers: Volume 1 -- Industry and manufacturing. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hanley, P.H.; Asfour, A.; Tripp, S.

1998-12-01

The arrival of 21st century information technologies has compelled traditional heavy industries such as steel, chemicals, and paper/pulp to invest in new plants and technologies, efficiency moves, globalization of sourcing, and aggressive pursuit of foreign direct investment. This report will assist strategic planners and marketing executives charged with identifying the needs of the widely dispersed industrial sector and provide insights regarding how to improve long-term profitability. Understanding and meeting the evolving needs of industrial customers could be critical to the future prosperity of energy enterprises. This report examines five significant industries that are undergoing dramatic changes in their markets andmore » relationships to buyers of their products--steel and aluminum, paper and pulp, chemicals, plastics, and food processing. The report provides a companion to Volume 2, ``21st Century Customers: Volume 2: Business and Commerce``, covering the evolving needs of five commercial sector businesses.« less

Energy planning and energy efficiency assistance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Markel, L.

1995-12-31

Electrotek is an engineering services company specializing in energy-related programs. Clients are most utilities, large energy users, and the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute. Electrotek has directed energy projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of Energy in Poland and other countries of Central Europe. The objective is to assist the host country organizations to identify and implement appropriate energy efficiency and pollution reduction technologies, to transfer technical and organizational knowledge, so that further implementations are market-driven, without needed continuing foreign investment. Electrotek has worked with the Silesian Power Distribution Company to design an energymore » efficiency program for industrial customers that has proven to be profitable for the company and for its customers. The program has both saved energy and costs, and reduced pollution. The program is expanding to include additional customers, without needing more funding from the U.S. government.« less

Optimal pricing policies for services with consideration of facility maintenance costs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeh, Ruey Huei; Lin, Yi-Fang

2012-06-01

For survival and success, pricing is an essential issue for service firms. This article deals with the pricing strategies for services with substantial facility maintenance costs. For this purpose, a mathematical framework that incorporates service demand and facility deterioration is proposed to address the problem. The facility and customers constitute a service system driven by Poisson arrivals and exponential service times. A service demand with increasing price elasticity and a facility lifetime with strictly increasing failure rate are also adopted in modelling. By examining the bidirectional relationship between customer demand and facility deterioration in the profit model, the pricing policies of the service are investigated. Then analytical conditions of customer demand and facility lifetime are derived to achieve a unique optimal pricing policy. The comparative statics properties of the optimal policy are also explored. Finally, numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effects of parameter variations on the optimal pricing policy.

Impact of Different Economic Performance Metrics on the Perceived Value of Solar Photovoltaics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Drury, E.; Denholm, P.; Margolis, R.

2011-10-01

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are installed by several types of market participants, ranging from residential customers to large-scale project developers and utilities. Each type of market participant frequently uses a different economic performance metric to characterize PV value because they are looking for different types of returns from a PV investment. This report finds that different economic performance metrics frequently show different price thresholds for when a PV investment becomes profitable or attractive. Several project parameters, such as financing terms, can have a significant impact on some metrics [e.g., internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and benefit-to-cost (B/C)more » ratio] while having a minimal impact on other metrics (e.g., simple payback time). As such, the choice of economic performance metric by different customer types can significantly shape each customer's perception of PV investment value and ultimately their adoption decision.« less

Reaching out to retirees.

PubMed

Adigozel, Ozgur; Huber, Celia; Lewis, Greg; Singhal, Shubham

2006-01-01

The numbers pertaining to the approaching demographic boom in health-care-related expenditures are eye-popping: Health-related financial products to help retiring baby boomers deal with out-of-pocket costs alone will generate up to 80 billion dollars in revenues and 8-12 billion dollars in pre-tax profits by 2014. But health insurers will have to refocus their efforts if they want to take full advantage of this opportunity. (For more, see "Turning Subscribers Into Customers: The Future Is Now" in the July/August issue, the first in this two-part series.) Two areas are critical: product innovation to provide comprehensive solutions that meet seniors' needs more effectively, and advice-based distribution that creates privileged customer relationships.

Optimizing the warranty period by cuckoo meta-heuristic algorithm in heterogeneous customers' population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roozitalab, Ali; Asgharizadeh, Ezzatollah

2013-12-01

Warranty is now an integral part of each product. Since its length is directly related to the cost of production, it should be set in such a way that it would maximize revenue generation and customers' satisfaction. Furthermore, based on the behavior of customers, it is assumed that increasing the warranty period to earn the trust of more customers leads to more sales until the market is saturated. We should bear in mind that different groups of consumers have different consumption behaviors and that performance of the product has a direct impact on the failure rate over the life of the product. Therefore, the optimum duration for every group is different. In fact, we cannot present different warranty periods for various customer groups. In conclusion, using cuckoo meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, we try to find a common period for the entire population. Results with high convergence offer a term length that will maximize the aforementioned goals simultaneously. The study was tested using real data from Appliance Company. The results indicate a significant increase in sales when the optimization approach was applied; it provides a longer warranty through increased revenue from selling, not only reducing profit margins but also increasing it.

76 FR 55352 - Light-Walled Rectangular Pipe and Tube From Mexico: Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-07

... convenience and Customs purposes, our written description of the scope of this order is dispositive... is based on the starting prices of sales in the home market or, when normal value is based on... profit. See also 19 CFR 351.412(c)(1)(iii). For EP, the level of trade is based on the starting price...

Optimizing Product Attributes to Gain Competitive Advantage in Markets for Hardwood Lumber

Treesearch

Robert J. Bush; Philip A. Araman

1990-01-01

One of the ways in which wood-based companies can gain competitive advantage is to concentrate on a particular segment of the market for their products. By meeting the needs of this segment better than its competitors, a company can create switching costs, develop customer loyalty, and the increase profit margins. This article describes a study that was conducted that...

[Balanced Scorecard--a business tool for profit calculations--usable in gynecology and obstetrics?].

PubMed

Goerke, K

2001-08-01

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is an instrument of business administration using score numbers, that not only includes financial aspects but also levels of communication, motivation and customer relations. Thus it seems usable in service oriented companies including hospitals. The next years will have to show, whether the results rectify the immense expenses necessary with the implementation of the BSC.

Get inside the lives of your customers.

PubMed

Seybold, P B

2001-05-01

Many companies have become adept at the art of customer relationship management. They've collected mountains of data on preferences and behavior, divided buyers into ever-finer segments, and refined their products, services, and marketing pitches. But all too often those efforts are too narrow--they concentrate only on the points where the customer comes into contact with the company. Few businesses have bothered to look at what the author calls the customer scenario--the broad context in which customers select, buy, and use products and services. As a result, consultant Patricia Seybold maintains, they've routinely missed chances to deepen loyalty and expand sales. In this article, the author shows how effective three very different companies have been at using customer scenarios as the centerpiece of their marketing plans. Chip maker National Semiconductor looked beyond the purchasing agents that buy in bulk to find ways to make it easier for engineers to design National's components into their specifications for mobile telephones. Each time they do so, it translates into millions of dollars in orders. By developing a customer scenario that describes how people actually shop for groceries, Tesco learned the importance of decentralizing its Web shopping site and how the extra costs of decentralization could be outweighed by the higher profit margins on-line customers generate. And Buzzsaw.com used customer scenarios as the basis for its entire business. It has used the Web to create a better way for the dozens of participants in a construction project to share their drawings and manage their projects. Seybold lays out the steps managers can take to develop their own customer scenarios. By thinking broadly about the challenges your customers face, she suggests, you can almost always find ways to make their lives easier--and thus earn their loyalty.

A meta-heuristic approach supported by NSGA-II for the design and plan of supply chain networks considering new product development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alizadeh Afrouzy, Zahra; Paydar, Mohammad Mahdi; Nasseri, Seyed Hadi; Mahdavi, Iraj

2018-03-01

There are many reasons for the growing interest in developing new product projects for any firm. The most embossed reason is surviving in a highly competitive industry which the customer tastes are changing rapidly. A well-managed supply chain network can provide the most profit for firms due to considering new product development. Along with profit, customer satisfaction and production of new products are goals which lead to a more efficient supply chain. As new products appear in the market, the old products could become obsolete, and then phased out. The most important parameter in a supply chain which considers new and developed products is the time that developed and new products are introduced and old products are phased out. With consideration of the factors noted above, this study proposes to design a tri-objective multi-echelon multi-product multi-period supply chain model, which incorporates product development and new product production and their effects on supply chain configuration. The supply chain under consideration is assumed to consist of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customer groups. In terms of overcoming NP-hardness of the proposed model and in order to solve the complicated problem, a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm is employed. As there is no benchmark available in the literature, the non-dominated ranking genetic algorithm is developed to validate the results obtained and some test problems are provided to show the applicability of the proposed methodology and evaluate the performance of the algorithms.

Customer-centered brand management.

PubMed

Rust, Roland T; Zeithaml, Valarie A; Lemon, Katherine N

2004-09-01

Most executives today agree that their efforts should be focused on growing the lifetime value of their customers. Yet few companies have come to terms with the implications of that idea for their marketing management. Oldsmobile, for example, enjoyed outstanding brand equity with many customers through the 1980s. But as the century wore further on, the people who loved the Olds got downright old. So why did General Motors spend so many years and so much money trying to reposition and refurbish the tired,tarnished brand? Why didn't GM managers instead move younger buyers along a path of less resistance, toward another of the brands in GM's stable--or even launch a wholly new brand geared to their tastes? Catering to new customers, even at the expense of the brand, would surely have been the path to profits. The reason, argue the authors, is that in large consumer-goods companies like General Motors, brands are the raison d'etre. They are the focus of decision making and the basis of accountability. But this overwhelming focus on growing brand equity is inconsistent with the goal of growing customer equity. Drawing on a wide range of current examples, the authors offer seven tactics that will put brands in the service of growing customer equity. These include replacing traditional brand managers with a new position--the customer segment manager; targeting brands to as narrow an audience as possible; developing the capability and the mind-set to hand off customers from one brand to another within the company; and changing the way brand equity is measured by basing calculations on individual, rather than average, customer data.

Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance-of-System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems, Using a Bottom-Up Approach and Installer Survey - Second Edition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedman, B.; Ardani, K.; Feldman, D.

2013-10-01

This report presents results from the second U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored, bottom-up data-collection and analysis of non-hardware balance-of-system costs -- often referred to as 'business process' or 'soft' costs -- for U.S. residential and commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems. In service to DOE's SunShot Initiative, annual expenditure and labor-hour-productivity data are analyzed to benchmark 2012 soft costs related to (1) customer acquisition and system design (2) permitting, inspection, and interconnection (PII). We also include an in-depth analysis of costs related to financing, overhead, and profit. Soft costs are both a major challenge and a major opportunity for reducing PVmore » system prices and stimulating SunShot-level PV deployment in the United States. The data and analysis in this series of benchmarking reports are a step toward the more detailed understanding of PV soft costs required to track and accelerate these price reductions.« less

What is a free customer worth? Armchair calculations of nonpaying customers' value can lead to flawed strategies.

PubMed

Gupta, Sunil; Mela, Carl F

2008-11-01

Free customers who are subsidized by paying customers are essential to a vast array of businesses, such as media companies, employment services, and even IT providers. But because they generate revenue only indirectly, figuring out the true value of those customers--and how much attention to devote them--has always been a challenge. Traditional customer-valuation models don't help; they focus exclusively on paying customers and largely ignore network effects, or how customers help draw other customers to a business. Now a new model, devised by professors Gupta, of Harvard Business School, and Mela, of Fuqua School of Business, takes into account not only direct network effects (where buyers attract more buyers or sellers more sellers) but also indirect network effects (where buyers attract more sellers or vice versa) . The model calculates the precise long-term impact of each additional free customer on a company's profits, factoring in the degree to which he or she brings in other customers--whether free or paying--and the ripple effect of those customers. The model helped an online auction house make several critical decisions. The business made its money on fees charged to sellers but recognized that its free customers--its buyers--were valuable, too. As competition heated up, the company worried that it wasn't wooing enough buyers. Using the model, the business discovered that the network effects of buyers were indeed large and that those customers were worth over $1,000 each--much more than had been assumed. Armed with that information, the firm increased its research on buyers, invested more in targeting them with ads, and improved their experience. The model also helped the company identify the effects of various pricing strategies on sellers, showing that they became less price-sensitive over time. As a result, the company raised the fees it charged them as well.

The receiving simplification partnership: a win-win approach to better service and higher profitability.

PubMed

Beech, W D; Berg, R C

1999-02-01

To achieve competitive advantage, customers and suppliers are increasingly forming logistics partnerships to improve supply chain performance and reduce costs. The partnerships are typically motivated by the need to solve a particular problem, but with attention and open communication, new program ideas can develop, sometimes even breakthrough concepts. During the course of their partnership, Avery Dennison and United Stationers created a program that dramatically simplifies and speeds receiving and put-away of shipments with the aim of reducing workloads, improving service, and increasing profitability. The program involves optimizing order quantity increments to full-pallet, layer, and case volumes based on demand and warehouse configurations. Within six weeks, the results included a 50 percent reduction in shipment line items and 92 percent fewer put-away pieces, despite unchanged inventory levels.

Marketers Understanding Engineers and Engineers Understanding Marketers: The Opportunities and Constraints of a Cross-Discipline Course Using 3D Printing to Develop Marketable Innovations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reifschneider, Louis; Kaufman, Peter; Langrehr, Frederick W.; Kaufman, Kristina

2015-01-01

Marketers are criticized for not understanding the steps in the engineering research and development process and the challenges of manufacturing a new product at a profit. Engineers are criticized for not considering the marketability of and customer interest in such a product during the planning stages. With the development of 3D printing, rapid…

An evaluation of pending energy and environmental policy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eck, T.

1995-12-31

A very brief summary of the restructuring of the Amoco Corporation is provided. Also included in the paper are a number of graphs depicting historical data on energy supply and demand. The Amoco restructuring included elimination of middle management and staff to improve profitability, cost leadership, long-term growth, and customer focus. Data provided concern U.S. oil and natural gas consumption, gas prices, and emissions. 15 refs.

Considerations of Online Numeric Databases for Social Science Research,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

online user groups profit from them has greatly increased the size of the online market . International Resource Development says the revenues of...information services. Carlos Cuadra, however, feels that the customizers have been beneficial to the online market by educating users at a local level...calculations. Online data can sometimes assume a spurious authority due to the medium itself. "The market for numeric databases and systems is still

Should the Defense Fuel Supply Center Trade in the Futures Market?

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

reform, and Federal and State Law. 4 Over 30 hours of personal interviews were conducted with people from DFSC, the Department of Energy (DOE), the...Management, Finance and Accounting, and Personal Staff. (Defense Logistics Agency Command Support Office, 1993) Of particular interest is the Office of...member can beat the market price, attract hungry customers, improve personal market share, and thereby improve total revenue and profits. In effect

Telecommunications: Opportunities in the emerging technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schultheis, R.W.

1994-12-31

A series of slides present opportunities for Utility Telecommunications. The following aspects are covered: (1) Technology in a period of revolution; (2) Technology Management by the Energy Utility, (3) Contemporary Telecommunication Network Architectures, (4) Opportunity Management, (5) Strategic Planning for Profits and Growth, (6) Energy Industry in a period of challenge. Management topics and applications are presented in a matrix for generation, transmission, distribution, customer service and new business revenue growth subjects.

A Hybrid Tabu Search Heuristic for a Bilevel Competitive Facility Location Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Küçükaydın, Hande; Aras, Necati; Altınel, I. Kuban

We consider a problem in which a firm or franchise enters a market by locating new facilities where there are existing facilities belonging to a competitor. The firm aims at finding the location and attractiveness of each facility to be opened so as to maximize its profit. The competitor, on the other hand, can react by adjusting the attractiveness of its existing facilities, opening new facilities and/or closing existing ones with the objective of maximizing its own profit. The demand is assumed to be aggregated at certain points in the plane and the facilities of the firm can be located at prespecified candidate sites. We employ Huff's gravity-based rule in modeling the behavior of the customers where the fraction of customers at a demand point that visit a certain facility is proportional to the facility attractiveness and inversely proportional to the distance between the facility site and demand point. We formulate a bilevel mixed-integer nonlinear programming model where the firm entering the market is the leader and the competitor is the follower. In order to find a feasible solution of this model, we develop a hybrid tabu search heuristic which makes use of two exact methods as subroutines: a gradient ascent method and a branch-and-bound algorithm with nonlinear programming relaxation.

Systems engineering for very large systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewkowicz, Paul E.

1993-01-01

Very large integrated systems have always posed special problems for engineers. Whether they are power generation systems, computer networks or space vehicles, whenever there are multiple interfaces, complex technologies or just demanding customers, the challenges are unique. 'Systems engineering' has evolved as a discipline in order to meet these challenges by providing a structured, top-down design and development methodology for the engineer. This paper attempts to define the general class of problems requiring the complete systems engineering treatment and to show how systems engineering can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction and profit ability. Specifically, this work will focus on a design methodology for the largest of systems, not necessarily in terms of physical size, but in terms of complexity and interconnectivity.

Systems engineering for very large systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewkowicz, Paul E.

Very large integrated systems have always posed special problems for engineers. Whether they are power generation systems, computer networks or space vehicles, whenever there are multiple interfaces, complex technologies or just demanding customers, the challenges are unique. 'Systems engineering' has evolved as a discipline in order to meet these challenges by providing a structured, top-down design and development methodology for the engineer. This paper attempts to define the general class of problems requiring the complete systems engineering treatment and to show how systems engineering can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction and profit ability. Specifically, this work will focus on a design methodology for the largest of systems, not necessarily in terms of physical size, but in terms of complexity and interconnectivity.

The Internet and managed care: a new wave of innovation.

PubMed

Goldsmith, J

2000-01-01

Managed care firms have been under siege in the political system and the marketplace for the past few years. The rise of the Internet has brought into being powerful new electronic tools for automating administrative and financial processes in health insurance. These tools may enable new firms or employers to create custom-designed networks connecting their workers and providers, bypassing health plans altogether. Alternatively, health plans may use these tools to create a new consumer-focused business model. While some disintermediation of managed care plans may occur, the barriers to adoption of Internet tools by established plans are quite low. Network computing may provide important leverage for health plans not only to retain their franchises but also to improve their profitability and customer service.

Tailored logistics: the next advantage.

PubMed

Fuller, J B; O'Conor, J; Rawlinson, R

1993-01-01

How many top executives have ever visited with managers who move materials from the factory to the store? How many still reduce the costs of logistics to the rent of warehouses and the fees charged by common carriers? To judge by hours of senior management attention, logistics problems do not rank high. But logistics have the potential to become the next governing element of strategy. Whether they know it or not, senior managers of every retail store and diversified manufacturing company compete in logistically distinct businesses. Customer needs vary, and companies can tailor their logistics systems to serve their customers better and more profitably. Companies do not create value for customers and sustainable advantage for themselves merely by offering varieties of goods. Rather, they offer goods in distinct ways. A particular can of Coca-Cola, for example, might be a can of Coca-Cola going to a vending machine, or a can of Coca-Cola that comes with billing services. There is a fortune buried in this distinction. The goal of logistics strategy is building distinct approaches to distinct groups of customers. The first step is organizing a cross-functional team to proceed through the following steps: segmenting customers according to purchase criteria, establishing different standards of service for different customer segments, tailoring logistics pipelines to support each segment, and creating economics of scale to determine which assets can be shared among various pipelines. The goal of establishing logistically distinct businesses is familiar: improved knowledge of customers and improved means of satisfying them.

Price smarter on the Net.

PubMed

Baker, W; Marn, M; Zawada, C

2001-02-01

Companies generally have set prices on the Internet in two ways. Many start-ups have offered untenably low prices in a rush to capture first-mover advantage. Many incumbents have simply charged the same prices on-line as they do off-line. Either way, companies are missing a big opportunity. The fundamental value of the Internet lies not in lowering prices or making them consistent but in optimizing them. After all, if it's easy for customers to compare prices on the Internet, it's also easy for companies to track customers' behavior and adjust prices accordingly. The Net lets companies optimize prices in three ways. First, it lets them set and announce prices with greater precision. Different prices can be tested easily, and customers' responses can be collected instantly. Companies can set the most profitable prices, and they can tap into previously hidden customer demand. Second, because it's so easy to change prices on the Internet, companies can adjust prices in response to even small fluctuations in market conditions, customer demand, or competitors' behavior. Third, companies can use the clickstream data and purchase histories that it collects through the Internet to segment customers quickly. Then it can offer segment-specific prices or promotions immediately. By taking full advantage of the unique possibilities afforded by the Internet to set prices with precision, adapt to changing circumstances quickly, and segment customers accurately, companies can get their pricing right. It's one of the ultimate drivers of e-business success.

Discovering new points of differentiation.

PubMed

MacMillan, I C; McGrath, R G

1997-01-01

Most profitable strategies are built on differentiation: offering customers something they value that competitors don't have. But most companies concentrate only on their products or services. In fact, a company can differentiate itself every point where it comes in contact with its customers--from the moment customers realize they need a product or service to the time when they dispose of it. The authors believe that if companies open up their thinking to their customer's entire experience with a product or service--the consumption chain--they can uncover opportunities to position their offerings in ways that neither they nor their competitors though possible. The authors show how even a mundane product such as candles can be successfully differentiated. By analyzing its customers' experiences and exploring various options, Blyth Industries, for example, has grown from a $2 million U.S. candle manufacturer into a global candle and accessory business with nearly $500 million in sales and a market value of $1.2 billion. Finding ways to differentiate one's company is a skill that can be nurtured, the authors contend. In this Manager's Tool Kit, they have designed a two-part approach that can help companies continually identify new points of differentiation and develop the ability to generate successful differentiation strategies. "Mapping the Consumption Chain" captures the customer's total experience with a product or service. "Analyzing Your Customer's Experience" shows managers how directed brainstorming about each step in the consumption chain can elicit numerous ways to differentiate any offering.

Knowledge discovery from patients' behavior via clustering-classification algorithms based on weighted eRFM and CLV model: An empirical study in public health care services.

PubMed

Zare Hosseini, Zeinab; Mohammadzadeh, Mahdi

2016-01-01

The rapid growing of information technology (IT) motivates and makes competitive advantages in health care industry. Nowadays, many hospitals try to build a successful customer relationship management (CRM) to recognize target and potential patients, increase patient loyalty and satisfaction and finally maximize their profitability. Many hospitals have large data warehouses containing customer demographic and transactions information. Data mining techniques can be used to analyze this data and discover hidden knowledge of customers. This research develops an extended RFM model, namely RFML (added parameter: Length) based on health care services for a public sector hospital in Iran with the idea that there is contrast between patient and customer loyalty, to estimate customer life time value (CLV) for each patient. We used Two-step and K-means algorithms as clustering methods and Decision tree (CHAID) as classification technique to segment the patients to find out target, potential and loyal customers in order to implement strengthen CRM. Two approaches are used for classification: first, the result of clustering is considered as Decision attribute in classification process and second, the result of segmentation based on CLV value of patients (estimated by RFML) is considered as Decision attribute. Finally the results of CHAID algorithm show the significant hidden rules and identify existing patterns of hospital consumers.

Knowledge discovery from patients’ behavior via clustering-classification algorithms based on weighted eRFM and CLV model: An empirical study in public health care services

PubMed Central

Zare Hosseini, Zeinab; Mohammadzadeh, Mahdi

2016-01-01

The rapid growing of information technology (IT) motivates and makes competitive advantages in health care industry. Nowadays, many hospitals try to build a successful customer relationship management (CRM) to recognize target and potential patients, increase patient loyalty and satisfaction and finally maximize their profitability. Many hospitals have large data warehouses containing customer demographic and transactions information. Data mining techniques can be used to analyze this data and discover hidden knowledge of customers. This research develops an extended RFM model, namely RFML (added parameter: Length) based on health care services for a public sector hospital in Iran with the idea that there is contrast between patient and customer loyalty, to estimate customer life time value (CLV) for each patient. We used Two-step and K-means algorithms as clustering methods and Decision tree (CHAID) as classification technique to segment the patients to find out target, potential and loyal customers in order to implement strengthen CRM. Two approaches are used for classification: first, the result of clustering is considered as Decision attribute in classification process and second, the result of segmentation based on CLV value of patients (estimated by RFML) is considered as Decision attribute. Finally the results of CHAID algorithm show the significant hidden rules and identify existing patterns of hospital consumers. PMID:27610177

Hedging customers.

PubMed

Dhar, Ravi; Glazer, Rashi

2003-05-01

You are a marketing director with $5 million to invest in customer acquisition and retention. Which customers do you acquire, and which do you retain? Up to a point, the choice is obvious: Keep the consistent big spenders and lose the erratic small ones. But what about the erratic big spenders and the consistent small ones? It's often unclear whether you should acquire or retain them and at what cost. Businesses have begun dealing with unpredictable customer behavior by following the practices of sophisticated investors who own portfolios comprising dozens of stocks with different, indeed divergent, histories and prospects. Each portfolio is diversified so as to produce the investor's desired returns at the particular level of uncertainty he or she can tolerate. Customers, too, are assets--risky assets. As with stocks, the cost of acquiring them is supposed to reflect the cash-flow values they are likely to generate. The authors explain how to construct a portfolio based on the notion that a customer's risk-adjusted lifetime value depends on its anticipated effect on the riskiness of the group it is joining. They also show how this approach was used to identify the best prospects for Myron Corporation, a global leader in the personalized business-gift industry. The concept of risk-adjusted lifetime value has a transforming power: For companies that rely on it, product managers will be replaced by customer managers, and the current method of accounting for profit and loss--which is by product--will be replaced by one that determines each customer's P&L. Once adjusted for risk, those P&Ls will become the firm's key performance and operational metric.

Recycling Pricing and Coordination of WEEE Dual-Channel Closed-Loop Supply Chain Considering Consumers' Bargaining.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiaodong; Wang, Jing; Tang, Juan

2017-12-15

Environmentally friendly handling and efficient recycling of waste electrical on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) have grown to be a global social problem. As holders of WEEE, consumers have a significant effect on the recycling process. A consideration of and attention to the influence of consumer behavior in the recycling process can help achieve more effective recycling of WEEE. In this paper, we built a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain model composed of manufacturers, retailers, and network recycling platforms. Based on the influence of customer bargaining behavior, we studied several different scenarios of centralized decision-making, decentralized decision-making, and contract coordination, using the Stackelberg game theory. The results show that retailers and network recycling platforms will reduce the direct recovery prices to maintain their own profit when considering the impact of consumer bargaining behavior, while remanufacturers will improve the transfer payment price for surrendering part of the profit under revenue and the expense sharing contract. Using this contract, we can achieve supply chain coordination and eliminate the effect of consumer bargaining behavior on supply chain performance. It can be viewed from the parameter sensitivity analysis that when we select the appropriate sharing coefficient, the closed-loop supply chain can achieve the same system performance under a centralized decision.

Recycling Pricing and Coordination of WEEE Dual-Channel Closed-Loop Supply Chain Considering Consumers’ Bargaining

PubMed Central

Zhu, Xiaodong; Wang, Jing; Tang, Juan

2017-01-01

Environmentally friendly handling and efficient recycling of waste electrical on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) have grown to be a global social problem. As holders of WEEE, consumers have a significant effect on the recycling process. A consideration of and attention to the influence of consumer behavior in the recycling process can help achieve more effective recycling of WEEE. In this paper, we built a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain model composed of manufacturers, retailers, and network recycling platforms. Based on the influence of customer bargaining behavior, we studied several different scenarios of centralized decision-making, decentralized decision-making, and contract coordination, using the Stackelberg game theory. The results show that retailers and network recycling platforms will reduce the direct recovery prices to maintain their own profit when considering the impact of consumer bargaining behavior, while remanufacturers will improve the transfer payment price for surrendering part of the profit under revenue and the expense sharing contract. Using this contract, we can achieve supply chain coordination and eliminate the effect of consumer bargaining behavior on supply chain performance. It can be viewed from the parameter sensitivity analysis that when we select the appropriate sharing coefficient, the closed-loop supply chain can achieve the same system performance under a centralized decision. PMID:29244778

Kill a brand, keep a customer.

PubMed

Kumar, Nirmalya

2003-12-01

Most brands don't make much money. Year after year, businesses generate 80% to 90% of their profits from less than 20% of their brands. Yet most companies tend to ignore loss-making brands, unaware of the hidden costs they incur. That's because executives believe it's easy to erase a brand; they have only to stop investing in it, they assume, and it will die a natural death. But they're wrong. When companies drop brands clumsily, they antagonize loyal customers: Research shows that seven times out of eight, when firms merge two brands, the market share of the new brand never reaches the combined share of the two original ones. It doesn't have to be that way. Smart companies use a four-step process to kill brands methodically. First, CEOs make the case for rationalization by getting groups of senior executives to conduct joint audits of the brand portfolio. These audits make the need to prune brands apparent throughout the organization. In the next stage, executives need to decide how many brands will be retained, which they do either by setting broad parameters that all brands must meet or by identifying the brands they need in order to cater to all the customer segments in their markets. Third, executives must dispose of the brands they've decided to drop, deciding in each case whether it is appropriate to merge, sell, milk, or just eliminate the brand outright. Finally, it's critical that executives invest the resources they've freed to grow the brands they've retained. Done right, dropping brands will result in a company poised for new growth from the source where it's likely to be found--its profitable brands.

Data-Driven Simulation-Enhanced Optimization of People-Based Print Production Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rai, Sudhendu

This paper describes a systematic six-step data-driven simulation-based methodology for optimizing people-based service systems on a large distributed scale that exhibit high variety and variability. The methodology is exemplified through its application within the printing services industry where it has been successfully deployed by Xerox Corporation across small, mid-sized and large print shops generating over 250 million in profits across the customer value chain. Each step of the methodology consisting of innovative concepts co-development and testing in partnership with customers, development of software and hardware tools to implement the innovative concepts, establishment of work-process and practices for customer-engagement and service implementation, creation of training and infrastructure for large scale deployment, integration of the innovative offering within the framework of existing corporate offerings and lastly the monitoring and deployment of the financial and operational metrics for estimating the return-on-investment and the continual renewal of the offering are described in detail.

Testing Software Development Project Productivity Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipkin, Ilya

Software development is an increasingly influential factor in today's business environment, and a major issue affecting software development is how an organization estimates projects. If the organization underestimates cost, schedule, and quality requirements, the end results will not meet customer needs. On the other hand, if the organization overestimates these criteria, resources that could have been used more profitably will be wasted. There is no accurate model or measure available that can guide an organization in a quest for software development, with existing estimation models often underestimating software development efforts as much as 500 to 600 percent. To address this issue, existing models usually are calibrated using local data with a small sample size, with resulting estimates not offering improved cost analysis. This study presents a conceptual model for accurately estimating software development, based on an extensive literature review and theoretical analysis based on Sociotechnical Systems (STS) theory. The conceptual model serves as a solution to bridge organizational and technological factors and is validated using an empirical dataset provided by the DoD. Practical implications of this study allow for practitioners to concentrate on specific constructs of interest that provide the best value for the least amount of time. This study outlines key contributing constructs that are unique for Software Size E-SLOC, Man-hours Spent, and Quality of the Product, those constructs having the largest contribution to project productivity. This study discusses customer characteristics and provides a framework for a simplified project analysis for source selection evaluation and audit task reviews for the customers and suppliers. Theoretical contributions of this study provide an initial theory-based hypothesized project productivity model that can be used as a generic overall model across several application domains such as IT, Command and Control, Simulation and etc... This research validates findings from previous work concerning software project productivity and leverages said results in this study. The hypothesized project productivity model provides statistical support and validation of expert opinions used by practitioners in the field of software project estimation.

Methods utilized in evaluating the profitability of commercial space processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bloom, H. L.; Schmitt, P. T.

1976-01-01

Profitability analysis is applied to commercial space processing on the basis of business concept definition and assessment and the relationship between ground and space functions. Throughput analysis is demonstrated by analysis of the space manufacturing of surface acoustic wave devices. The paper describes a financial analysis model for space processing and provides key profitability measures for space processed isoenzymes.

Metrics help rural hospitals achieve world-class performance.

PubMed

Goodspeed, Scott W

2006-01-01

This article describes the emerging trend of using metrics in rural hospitals to achieve world-class performance. This trend is a response to the fact that rural hospitals have small patient volumes yet must maintain a profit margin in order to fulfill their mission to the community. The conceptual idea for this article is based largely on Robert Kaplan and David Norton's Balanced Scorecard articles in the Harvard Business Review. The ideas also come from the experiences of the 60-plus rural hospitals that are using the Balanced Scorecard and their implementation of metrics to influence performance and behavior. It is indeed possible for rural hospitals to meet and exceed the unique needs of patients and physicians (customers), to achieve healthy profit margins, and to be the rural hospital of choice that employees are proud to work for.

Profitability analysis in the hospital industry.

PubMed Central

Cleverley, W O

1978-01-01

Measures of marginal profit are derived for the two payment classes--cost payers and charge payers--that the hospital industry must consider in profitability analysis, i.e., prediction of the excess of revenue over expenses. Two indexes of profitability, use when payment mix is constant and when it is nonconstant, respectively, are derived from the two marginal profit measures, and one of them is shown to be a modification of the contribution margin, the conventional measure of profitability used in general industry. All three measures--the contribution margin and the two new indexes of profitability--are used to estimate changes in net income resulting from changes in patient volume with and without accompanying changes in payment mix. The conventional measure yields large overestimates of expected excess revenue. PMID:632101

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing mortality rates of private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals

PubMed Central

Devereaux, P.J.; Choi, Peter T.L.; Lacchetti, Christina; Weaver, Bruce; Schünemann, Holger J.; Haines, Ted; Lavis, John N.; Grant, Brydon J.B.; Haslam, David R.S.; Bhandari, Mohit; Sullivan, Terrence; Cook, Deborah J.; Walter, Stephen D.; Meade, Maureen; Khan, Humaira; Bhatnagar, Neera; Guyatt, Gordon H.

2002-01-01

Background Canadians are engaged in an intense debate about the relative merits of private for-profit versus private not-for-profit health care delivery. To inform this debate, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the mortality rates of private for-profit hospitals and those of private not-for-profit hospitals. Methods We identified studies through an electronic search of 11 bibliographical databases, our own files, consultation with experts, reference lists, PubMed and SciSearch. We masked the study results before determining study eligibility. Our eligibility criteria included observational studies or randomized controlled trials that compared private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals. We excluded studies that evaluated mortality rates in hospitals with a particular profit status that subsequently converted to the other profit status. For each study, we calculated a relative risk of mortality for private for-profit hospitals relative to private not-for-profit hospitals and pooled the studies of adult populations that included adjustment for potential confounders (e.g., teaching status, severity of illness) using a random effects model. Results Fifteen observational studies, involving more than 26 000 hospitals and 38 million patients, fulfilled the eligibility criteria. In the studies of adult populations, with adjustment for potential confounders, private for-profit hospitals were associated with an increased risk of death (relative risk [RR] 1.020, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.003–1.038; p = 0.02). The one perinatal study with adjustment for potential confounders also showed an increased risk of death in private for-profit hospitals (RR 1.095, 95% CI 1.050–1.141; p < 0.0001). Interpretation Our meta-analysis suggests that private for-profit ownership of hospitals, in comparison with private not-for-profit ownership, results in a higher risk of death for patients. PMID:12054406

IPPF firm reconciles money with mission.

PubMed

1991-01-01

Despite its seemingly conflicting goals, the Family Health Management Service (FHMS) has become an important middleman agency for contraceptives. A for-profit subsidiary of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), FHMS has established itself by helping fill the funding gap left by large international donor agencies. FHMS acts as consulting and procurement firm of contraceptives for smaller family planning programs around the world. These organizations, whether government or private, are generally too small to qualify extensive assistance from major donor groups. Although FHMS is a for-profit organization, its leadership stresses that its main goal is to make family planning knowledge and skills available to everyone. FHMS makes a determination whether the organization seeking contraceptives is a charitable or commercial enterprise. If the organization is charitable, FHMS charges only a handling fee. If the organization is commercial, FHMS adds a percentage to make the cost of the contraceptive reflect the market value. Since it begun operating in 1988, FHMS has assisted hundreds of customers. When Action Aid needed 6000 contraceptive products (a figure too small to attract funding from large donor organizations but too large to buy in the open market) for its rural development program in sierra Leone, FHMS procured them at an affordable cost. Last year, the organization spent about $1 million in procuring, shipping, and managing contraceptive sales, and netted a profit of about $45,000. All profits are channeled back to IPPF's altruistic programs.

Managing global accounts.

PubMed

Yip, George S; Bink, Audrey J M

2007-09-01

Global account management--which treats a multinational customer's operations as one integrated account, with coherent terms for pricing, product specifications, and service--has proliferated over the past decade. Yet according to the authors' research, only about a third of the suppliers that have offered GAM are pleased with the results. The unhappy majority may be suffering from confusion about when, how, and to whom to provide it. Yip, the director of research and innovation at Capgemini, and Bink, the head of marketing communications at Uxbridge College, have found that GAM can improve customer satisfaction by 20% or more and can raise both profits and revenues by at least 15% within just a few years of its introduction. They provide guidelines to help companies achieve similar results. The first steps are determining whether your products or services are appropriate for GAM, whether your customers want such a program, whether those customers are crucial to your strategy, and how GAM might affect your competitive advantage. If moving forward makes sense, the authors' exhibit, "A Scorecard for Selecting Global Accounts," can help you target the right customers. The final step is deciding which of three basic forms to offer: coordination GAM (in which national operations remain relatively strong), control GAM (in which the global operation and the national operations are fairly balanced), and separate GAM (in which a new business unit has total responsibility for global accounts). Given the difficulty and expense of providing multiple varieties, the vast majority of companies should initially customize just one---and they should be careful not to start with a choice that is too ambitious for either themselves or their customers to handle.

Financial Analysis of For Profit Child Care: A Work in Progress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, Keith

1989-01-01

Compares revenues, debts, investments, and profit margins of for-profit publicly and privately owned day care centers. An evaluation tool was developed through analysis of financial statements of seven privately owned child care businesses and six publicly owned child care chains. (RJC)

Customer service skills for survival.

PubMed

McAtee, L F

1999-11-01

As APICS practitioners, we all must share a common goal. How can we contribute to our company's success? Success can be measured in positive terms of market share, growth, profitability, return on investment, or some combination thereof. Each company must establish its own definition of success. For the purposes of this article, success will be equated to one word that we can all readily identify with: survival. What skills do we need to survive in the marketplace of the next millennium?

Quality of care in for-profit and not-for-profit nursing homes: systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Comondore, Vikram R; Zhou, Qi; Stone, Samuel B; Busse, Jason W; Ravindran, Nikila C; Burns, Karen E; Haines, Ted; Stringer, Bernadette; Cook, Deborah J; Walter, Stephen D; Sullivan, Terrence; Berwanger, Otavio; Bhandari, Mohit; Banglawala, Sarfaraz; Lavis, John N; Petrisor, Brad; Schünemann, Holger; Walsh, Katie; Bhatnagar, Neera; Guyatt, Gordon H

2009-01-01

Objective To compare quality of care in for-profit and not-for-profit nursing homes. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomised controlled trials investigating quality of care in for-profit versus not-for-profit nursing homes. Results A comprehensive search yielded 8827 citations, of which 956 were judged appropriate for full text review. Study characteristics and results of 82 articles that met inclusion criteria were summarised, and results for the four most frequently reported quality measures were pooled. Included studies reported results dating from 1965 to 2003. In 40 studies, all statistically significant comparisons (P<0.05) favoured not-for-profit facilities; in three studies, all statistically significant comparisons favoured for-profit facilities, and the remaining studies had less consistent findings. Meta-analyses suggested that not-for-profit facilities delivered higher quality care than did for-profit facilities for two of the four most frequently reported quality measures: more or higher quality staffing (ratio of effect 1.11, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 1.14, P<0.001) and lower pressure ulcer prevalence (odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 0.98, P=0.02). Non-significant results favouring not-for-profit homes were found for the two other most frequently used measures: physical restraint use (odds ratio 0.93, 0.82 to 1.05, P=0.25) and fewer deficiencies in governmental regulatory assessments (ratio of effect 0.90, 0.78 to 1.04, P=0.17). Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence suggests that, on average, not-for-profit nursing homes deliver higher quality care than do for-profit nursing homes. Many factors may, however, influence this relation in the case of individual institutions. PMID:19654184

Detection and analysis of diamond fingerprinting feature and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Huang, Guoliang; Li, Qiang; Chen, Shengyi

2011-01-01

Before becoming a jewelry diamonds need to be carved artistically with some special geometric features as the structure of the polyhedron. There are subtle differences in the structure of this polyhedron in each diamond. With the spatial frequency spectrum analysis of diamond surface structure, we can obtain the diamond fingerprint information which represents the "Diamond ID" and has good specificity. Based on the optical Fourier Transform spatial spectrum analysis, the fingerprinting identification of surface structure of diamond in spatial frequency domain was studied in this paper. We constructed both the completely coherent diamond fingerprinting detection system illuminated by laser and the partially coherent diamond fingerprinting detection system illuminated by led, and analyzed the effect of the coherence of light source to the diamond fingerprinting feature. We studied rotation invariance and translation invariance of the diamond fingerprinting and verified the feasibility of real-time and accurate identification of diamond fingerprint. With the profit of this work, we can provide customs, jewelers and consumers with a real-time and reliable diamonds identification instrument, which will curb diamond smuggling, theft and other crimes, and ensure the healthy development of the diamond industry.

Factor analysis of financial and operational performance measures of non-profit hospitals.

PubMed

Das, Dhiman

2009-01-01

To understand the important dimensions of the financial and operational performance of non-profit hospitals. Secondary data for non-profit US hospitals between 1996 and 2004. I use iterative principal factor analysis of hospitals' financial and operational ratios for each year of the study. For factor interpretation, I use oblique rotation. Financial ratios were created using cost report data from HCRIS 2552-96 available from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). I identify five factors--capital structure, profitability, activity, liquidity, and an operational factor--that explain most of the variation in the performance of non-profit hospitals. I also find that capital structure is more important than profitability in determining the performance of these hospitals. The importance of capital structure highlights a significant shift in the organization of the non-profit hospitals' finances.

Retailer Stackelberg game in a supply chain with pricing and service decisions and simple price discount contract.

PubMed

Sadjadi, Seyed Jafar; Asadi, Hashem; Sadeghian, Ramin; Sahebi, Hadi

2018-01-01

This paper studies the Retailer Stackelberg game in a supply chain consisting of two manufacturers and one retailer where they compete simultaneously under three factors including price, service and simple price discount contract. It is assumed that the second manufacturer provides service directly to his customers, and the retailer provides service for the first product's customers, while the retailer buys the first product under price discount from the first manufacturer. The analysis of the optimal equilibrium solutions and the results of the numerical examples show that if a manufacturer chooses the appropriate range of discount rate, he will gain more profit than when there is no discount given to the retailer. This situation can be considered as an effective tool for the coordination of the first manufacturer and the retailer to offer discount by manufacturer and to provide the service by the retailer. We obtain equilibrium solution of Retailer Stackelberg game and analyze the numerical examples under two cases: a) the manufacturers sell their products to the retailer without price discount contract. b) The first manufacturer sells his products to the retailer with the simple price discount contract. The preliminary results show that the service and the price discount contract can improve the performance of supply chain.

Retailer Stackelberg game in a supply chain with pricing and service decisions and simple price discount contract

PubMed Central

Sadjadi, Seyed Jafar; Sadeghian, Ramin; Sahebi, Hadi

2018-01-01

This paper studies the Retailer Stackelberg game in a supply chain consisting of two manufacturers and one retailer where they compete simultaneously under three factors including price, service and simple price discount contract. It is assumed that the second manufacturer provides service directly to his customers, and the retailer provides service for the first product’s customers, while the retailer buys the first product under price discount from the first manufacturer. The analysis of the optimal equilibrium solutions and the results of the numerical examples show that if a manufacturer chooses the appropriate range of discount rate, he will gain more profit than when there is no discount given to the retailer. This situation can be considered as an effective tool for the coordination of the first manufacturer and the retailer to offer discount by manufacturer and to provide the service by the retailer. We obtain equilibrium solution of Retailer Stackelberg game and analyze the numerical examples under two cases: a) the manufacturers sell their products to the retailer without price discount contract. b) The first manufacturer sells his products to the retailer with the simple price discount contract. The preliminary results show that the service and the price discount contract can improve the performance of supply chain. PMID:29649315

Healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI) and non-profit organization (NPO): essentials for healthcare data exchange.

PubMed

Takeda, Hiroshi; Matsumura, Yasushi; Nakagawa, Katsuhiko; Teratani, Tadamasa; Qiyan, Zhang; Kusuoka, Hideo; Matsuoka, Masami

2004-01-01

To share healthcare information and to promote cooperation among healthcare providers and customers (patients) under computerized network environment, a non-profit organization (NPO), named as OCHIS, was established at Osaka, Japan in 2003. Since security and confidentiality issues on the Internet have been major concerns in the OCHIS, the system has been based on healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI), and found that there remained problems to be solved technically and operationally. An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the central and the local function in terms of a registration authority and a time stamp authority by contracting with the Ministry of Economics and Trading Industries in 2003. This paper describes the experimental design with NPO and the results of the study concerning message security and HPKI. The developed system has been operated practically in Osaka urban area.

Clinical laboratory as an economic model for business performance analysis

PubMed Central

Buljanović, Vikica; Patajac, Hrvoje; Petrovečki, Mladen

2011-01-01

Aim To perform SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of a clinical laboratory as an economic model that may be used to improve business performance of laboratories by removing weaknesses, minimizing threats, and using external opportunities and internal strengths. Methods Impact of possible threats to and weaknesses of the Clinical Laboratory at Našice General County Hospital business performance and use of strengths and opportunities to improve operating profit were simulated using models created on the basis of SWOT analysis results. The operating profit as a measure of profitability of the clinical laboratory was defined as total revenue minus total expenses and presented using a profit and loss account. Changes in the input parameters in the profit and loss account for 2008 were determined using opportunities and potential threats, and economic sensitivity analysis was made by using changes in the key parameters. The profit and loss account and economic sensitivity analysis were tools for quantifying the impact of changes in the revenues and expenses on the business operations of clinical laboratory. Results Results of simulation models showed that operational profit of €470 723 in 2008 could be reduced to only €21 542 if all possible threats became a reality and current weaknesses remained the same. Also, operational gain could be increased to €535 804 if laboratory strengths and opportunities were utilized. If both the opportunities and threats became a reality, the operational profit would decrease by €384 465. Conclusion The operational profit of the clinical laboratory could be significantly reduced if all threats became a reality and the current weaknesses remained the same. The operational profit could be increased by utilizing strengths and opportunities as much as possible. This type of modeling may be used to monitor business operations of any clinical laboratory and improve its financial situation by implementing changes in the next fiscal period. PMID:21853546

Clinical laboratory as an economic model for business performance analysis.

PubMed

Buljanović, Vikica; Patajac, Hrvoje; Petrovecki, Mladen

2011-08-15

To perform SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of a clinical laboratory as an economic model that may be used to improve business performance of laboratories by removing weaknesses, minimizing threats, and using external opportunities and internal strengths. Impact of possible threats to and weaknesses of the Clinical Laboratory at Našice General County Hospital business performance and use of strengths and opportunities to improve operating profit were simulated using models created on the basis of SWOT analysis results. The operating profit as a measure of profitability of the clinical laboratory was defined as total revenue minus total expenses and presented using a profit and loss account. Changes in the input parameters in the profit and loss account for 2008 were determined using opportunities and potential threats, and economic sensitivity analysis was made by using changes in the key parameters. The profit and loss account and economic sensitivity analysis were tools for quantifying the impact of changes in the revenues and expenses on the business operations of clinical laboratory. Results of simulation models showed that operational profit of €470 723 in 2008 could be reduced to only €21 542 if all possible threats became a reality and current weaknesses remained the same. Also, operational gain could be increased to €535 804 if laboratory strengths and opportunities were utilized. If both the opportunities and threats became a reality, the operational profit would decrease by €384 465. The operational profit of the clinical laboratory could be significantly reduced if all threats became a reality and the current weaknesses remained the same. The operational profit could be increased by utilizing strengths and opportunities as much as possible. This type of modeling may be used to monitor business operations of any clinical laboratory and improve its financial situation by implementing changes in the next fiscal period.

Application of Tuncay's Language Teacher Model to Business-Customer Relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costea, Carmen

It seems that what has been said by now about market and competitiveness does not fit perfectly with competences of getting the best of profit. Sometimes, the classical methods of fundamentals of management do not apply to individual companies that face irregular accommodation on the market. It is high time to replace the perfect business with the right one. New approaches and models may help in identifying new competition trends, changes for better application of purposes and proposals.

The Development and Structure of Consumer Credit in Japan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-01

specializing in granting credit to their shoppers, mainly as a means of promoting sales.15 However, the biggest of these stores, the Marui chain of department...stores, has made credit into a profit-making activity of its own. In a 1980s shift in strategy, Marui was successful in reorienting its clientele from...a lower income, working class shopper to a younger, credit-using customer. In early 1988, Marui had issued 9.6 million credit cards. 16 Its annual

Retail video analytics: an overview and survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connell, Jonathan; Fan, Quanfu; Gabbur, Prasad; Haas, Norman; Pankanti, Sharath; Trinh, Hoang

2013-03-01

Today retail video analytics has gone beyond the traditional domain of security and loss prevention by providing retailers insightful business intelligence such as store traffic statistics and queue data. Such information allows for enhanced customer experience, optimized store performance, reduced operational costs, and ultimately higher profitability. This paper gives an overview of various camera-based applications in retail as well as the state-ofthe- art computer vision techniques behind them. It also presents some of the promising technical directions for exploration in retail video analytics.

Getting started in business: from fantasy to reality.

PubMed

Finnigan, S

1996-01-01

Numerous theories and concepts of business management are available in the authoriatative literature. Some of the important lessons for getting started in business, and more important, staying in business may not, however, be found there. The practical business realities that influence success are the real-life lessons. They include examining worthwhile motives, applying commonsense approaches, demonstrating value to the customer, and achieving early and sustained profitability. Such lessons and other principles of entrepreneurship must be learned to create a successful beginning and long-term business viability.

Breeding objectives for pigs in Kenya. I: bio-economic model development and application to smallholder production systems.

PubMed

Mbuthia, Jackson M; Rewe, Thomas O; Kahi, Alexander K

2015-02-01

A deterministic bio-economic model was developed and applied to evaluate biological and economic variables that characterize smallholder pig production systems in Kenya. Two pig production systems were considered namely, semi-intensive (SI) and extensive (EX). The input variables were categorized into biological variables including production and functional traits, nutritional variables, management variables and economic variables. The model factored the various sow physiological systems including gestation, farrowing, lactation, growth and development. The model was developed to evaluate a farrow to finish operation, but the results were customized to account for a farrow to weaner operation for a comparative analysis. The operations were defined as semi-intensive farrow to finish (SIFF), semi-intensive farrow to weaner (SIFW), extensive farrow to finish (EXFF) and extensive farrow to weaner (EXFW). In SI, the profits were the highest at KES. 74,268.20 per sow per year for SIFF against KES. 4026.12 for SIFW. The corresponding profits for EX were KES. 925.25 and KES. 626.73. Feed costs contributed the major part of the total costs accounting for 67.0, 50.7, 60.5 and 44.5 % in the SIFF, SIFW, EXFF and EXFW operations, respectively. The bio-economic model developed could be extended with modifications for use in deriving economic values for breeding goal traits for pigs under smallholder production systems in other parts of the tropics.

A financial ratio analysis of for-profit and non-profit rural referral centers.

PubMed

McCue, Michael J; Nayar, Preethy

2009-01-01

National financial data show that rural referral center (RRC) hospitals have performed well financially. RRC hospitals' median cash flow margin ratio was 10.04% in 2002 and grew to 11.04% in 2004. The aim of this study is to compare the ratio analysis of key operational and financial performance measures of for-profit RRCs to those of private, non-profit RRCs. To control for accounting aberrations within a given year, we selected RRCs that reported 3 consecutive fiscal years of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) cost report data, starting with fiscal year 2004 and ending with fiscal year 2006. Given a limited sample size of 28 for-profit RRCs and 127 non-profits, we used the non-parametric median test to assess median differences in operational and key financial measures between the 2 groups. For-profit RRCs treated less complex cases and reported fewer discharges per bed and fewer occupied beds than did non-profits. However, for-profit RRCs staffed their beds with fewer full-time-equivalent (FTE) personnel and served a higher proportion of Medicaid patients. For-profit RRCs generated operating cash flow margins in excess of 19%, compared to only 8.1% for non-profits, and maintained newer plant and equipment. For-profit RRCs generated a substantially higher cash flow margin by controlling their operating costs.

Court rules against failed viatical firm in investor suit.

PubMed

1999-10-01

A Federal appeals court has revived a claim against Dignity Partners Inc., a viatical business, and offshoot of a financial-services firm. Dignity Partners operated by buying the life insurance policies of terminally ill people. The company was charged with making false and misleading statements in its prospectus for an initial public stock offering. Five months later, the company announced that it would not accept new customers with AIDS, a group which represented 95 percent of its accounts at that time. The company had information from researchers and clinicians that the introduction of protease inhibitors would greatly increase life expectancy for its customers and would reduce company profits. This information was not generally available to potential investors. The suit against the company alleges violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Exchange Act of 1934, both which govern stock trading.

Hospital activity and hospital profits.

PubMed

Hegji, Charles E

2007-01-01

The paper uses data from a cross section of southeastern hospitals to examine which activities are profitable for hospitals. The analysis suggests that hospitals may operate at less than profit-maximizing levels of output. In addition, contrary to popular belief emergency rooms are shown to be profit generating centers for hospitals.

The Effect of Supply Disruptions on Customer Service Levels: a Case for Delivering Fertilizer Products using Maritime Transportation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siswanto, N.; Kurniawati, U.; Wiratno, S. E.; Rusdiansyah, A.

2018-04-01

Delivering a product to customers can have a series of activities. It starts with the production of the product and then transporting it to the customers. However, uncontrollable and undesirable chance of disruption can occur during the delivery either at the production facility/supply side or in the process of transporting the product. Many researches has been conducting in the process of delivering the product. However not many considers these disruptions, although the disruptions has negative impacts on company such as reduce the profit, produce unbalanced inventory, and affect its reputation. This research will focus on the effect of supply disruption on customer service levels in the maritime transportation problem in order to maintain inventory level both in the supply and destination warehouses during predetermined planning horizon. The system considered consists of one loading port and two discharge ports for distributing one product. By using discrete event simulation, the result showed that supply disruption affects unbalanced inventory in the destination warehouses so that it will also influence company’s service level. The results show that there is a significant decreasing both in delivery service level, about 14%, and production service level, about 15% when the disruption occurs. A scenario to increase production rate is simulated to improved the service level.

Product-line selection and pricing with remanufacturing under availability constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aras, Necati; Esenduran, G.÷k.‡e.; Altinel, I. Kuban

2004-12-01

Product line selection and pricing are two crucial decisions for the profitability of a manufacturing firm. Remanufacturing, on the other hand, may be a profitable strategy that captures the remaining value in used products. In this paper we develop a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model form the perspective of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The objective of the OEM is to select products to manufacture and remanufacture among a set of given alternatives and simultaneously determine their prices so as to maximize its profit. It is assumed that the probability a customer selects a product is proportional to its utility and inversely proportional to its price. The utility of a product is an increasing function of its perceived quality. In our base model, products are discriminated by their unit production costs and utilities. We also analyze a case where remanufacturing is limited by the available quantity of collected remanufacturable products. We show that the resulting problem is decomposed into the pricing and product line selection subproblems. Pricing problem is solved by a variant of the simplex search procedure which can also handle constraints, while complete enumeration and a genetic algorithm are used for the solution of the product line selection problem. A number of experiments are carried out to identify conditions under which it is economically viable for the firm to sell remanufactured products. We also determine the optimal utility and unit production cost values of a remanufactured product, which maximizes the total profit of the OEM.

Contextual marketing--the real business of the Internet.

PubMed

Kenny, D; Marshall, J F

2000-01-01

The painful truth is that the Internet has been a letdown for most companies--largely because the dominant model for Internet commerce, the destination Web site, doesn't suit the needs of those companies or their customers. Most consumer product companies don't provide enough value or dynamic information to induce customers to make the repeat visits--and disclose the detailed information--that make such sites profitable. In this article, David Kenny and John F. Marshall suggest that companies discard the notion that a Web site equals an Internet strategy. Instead of trying to create destinations that people will come to, companies need to use the power and reach of the Internet to deliver tailored messages and information to customers. Companies have to become what the authors call "contextual marketers." Delivering the most relevant information possible to consumers in the most timely manner possible will become feasible, the authors say, as access moves beyond the PC to shopping malls, retail stores, airports, bus stations, and even cars. The authors describe how the ubiquitous Internet will hasten the demise of the destination Web site--and open up scads of opportunities to reach customers through marketing "mobilemediaries," such as smart cards, e-wallets, and bar code scanners. The companies that master the complexity of the ubiquitous Internet will gain significant advantages: they'll gain greater intimacy with customers and target market segments more efficiently. The ones that don't will be dismissed as nuisances, the authors conclude. They suggest ways to become welcome additions--not unwelcome intrusions--to customers' lives.

Presumptive treatment of malaria from formal and informal drug vendors in Nigeria.

PubMed

Isiguzo, Chinwoke; Anyanti, Jennifer; Ujuju, Chinazo; Nwokolo, Ernest; De La Cruz, Anna; Schatzkin, Eric; Modrek, Sepideh; Montagu, Dominic; Liu, Jenny

2014-01-01

Despite policies that recommend parasitological testing before treatment for malaria, presumptive treatment remains widespread in Nigeria. The majority of Nigerians obtain antimalarial drugs from two types of for-profit drug vendors-formal and informal medicine shops-but little is known about the quality of malaria care services provided at these shops. This study seeks to (1) describe the profile of patients who seek treatment at different types of drug outlets, (2) document the types of drugs purchased for treating malaria, (3) assess which patients are purchasing recommended drugs, and (4) estimate the extent of malaria over-treatment. In urban, peri-urban, and rural areas in Oyo State, customers exiting proprietary and patent medicine vendor (PPMV) shops or pharmacies having purchased anti-malarial drugs were surveyed and tested with malaria rapid diagnostic test. A follow-up phone survey was conducted four days after to assess self-reported drug administration. Bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was conducted to determine the correlates of patronizing a PPMV versus pharmacy, and the likelihood of purchasing an artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT) drug. Of the 457 participants who sought malaria treatment in 49 enrolled outlets, nearly 92% had diagnosed their condition by themselves, a family member, or a friend. Nearly 60% pharmacy customers purchased an ACT compared to only 29% of PPMV customers, and pharmacy customers paid significantly more on average. Multivariate regression results show that patrons of PPMVs were younger, less wealthy, waited fewer days before seeking care, and were less likely to be diagnosed at a hospital, clinic, or laboratory. Only 3.9% of participants tested positive with a malaria rapid diagnostic test. Poorer individuals seeking care at PPMVs are more likely to receive inappropriate malaria treatment when compared to those who go to pharmacies. Increasing accessibility to reliable diagnosis should be explored to reduce malaria over-treatment.

Nonprofit, payload process improvement through lean management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sampson, Melissa

Organizations that are successful and competitive long-term have learned to efficiently utilize their resources, such as money, people, facilities, and time. Over the last half-century, there have been a variety of theories and techniques put forth on how to do this. One recent theory applied in the aerospace industry is Lean Management (LM), which emphasizes a customer focus and a rigorous elimination of activities that do not add value from the customer's perspective. LM has not, until now, been evaluated for small, nonprofit, one-off production organizations (NOPOs). Previous research on LM focused on for-profit companies and large-scale production organizations, producing relatively similar products repetitively (e.g. automobiles, commercial satellites, aircraft, and launch vehicles). One-off production organizations typically create one-of-a-kind products. The purpose of this research is to examine the applicability of LM to a NOPO. LM will improve resource utilization and thereby competitiveness, as well as exploring a new area of knowledge and research. The research methodology consists of conducting case studies, formal and informal interviews, observation and analysis in order to assess whether and how LM may be beneficial. The research focuses on one particular NOPO, BioServe Space Technologies (BST): a nonprofit, payload development organization. Additional NOPOs were interviewed in order to draw more generalized conclusions about LM benefits. The research demonstrates that LM is applicable to NOPOs, thus providing a tool to improve efficiency and competitiveness. Results from this research are guidelines for payload development organizations to implement LM, and highlighting potential LM weaknesses. A major conclusion is that LM needs some minor modifications to be applicable and useful to NOPOs, particularly in terms of value stream mapping. The LM implementation roadmap developed for NOPOs introduces customized metrics, as well as including standard LM ideas. The metrics address efficiency; customer and stakeholder satisfaction; research value; and employee education. LM will improve resource utilization, while retaining the NOPO's hallmarks of adaptability and flexibility.

Presumptive Treatment of Malaria from Formal and Informal Drug Vendors in Nigeria

PubMed Central

Isiguzo, Chinwoke; Anyanti, Jennifer; Ujuju, Chinazo; Nwokolo, Ernest; De La Cruz, Anna; Schatzkin, Eric; Modrek, Sepideh; Montagu, Dominic; Liu, Jenny

2014-01-01

Background Despite policies that recommend parasitological testing before treatment for malaria, presumptive treatment remains widespread in Nigeria. The majority of Nigerians obtain antimalarial drugs from two types of for-profit drug vendors—formal and informal medicine shops—but little is known about the quality of malaria care services provided at these shops. Aims This study seeks to (1) describe the profile of patients who seek treatment at different types of drug outlets, (2) document the types of drugs purchased for treating malaria, (3) assess which patients are purchasing recommended drugs, and (4) estimate the extent of malaria over-treatment. Methods In urban, peri-urban, and rural areas in Oyo State, customers exiting proprietary and patent medicine vendor (PPMV) shops or pharmacies having purchased anti-malarial drugs were surveyed and tested with malaria rapid diagnostic test. A follow-up phone survey was conducted four days after to assess self-reported drug administration. Bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was conducted to determine the correlates of patronizing a PPMV versus pharmacy, and the likelihood of purchasing an artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT) drug. Results Of the 457participants who sought malaria treatment in 49 enrolled outlets, nearly 92% had diagnosed their condition by themselves, a family member, or a friend. Nearly 60% pharmacy customers purchased an ACT compared to only 29% of PPMV customers, and pharmacy customers paid significantly more on average. Multivariate regression results show that patrons of PPMVs were younger, less wealthy, waited fewer days before seeking care, and were less likely to be diagnosed at a hospital, clinic, or laboratory. Only 3.9% of participants tested positive with a malaria rapid diagnostic test. Conclusions Poorer individuals seeking care at PPMVs are more likely to receive inappropriate malaria treatment when compared to those who go to pharmacies. Increasing accessibility to reliable diagnosis should be explored to reduce malaria over-treatment. PMID:25333909

No association of smoke-free ordinances with profits from bingo and charitable games in Massachusetts.

PubMed

Glantz, S A; Wilson-Loots, R

2003-12-01

Because it is widely played, claims that smoking restrictions will adversely affect bingo games is used as an argument against these policies. We used publicly available data from Massachusetts to assess the impact of 100% smoke-free ordinances on profits from bingo and other gambling sponsored by charitable organisations between 1985 and 2001. We conducted two analyses: (1) a general linear model implementation of a time series analysis with net profits (adjusted to 2001 dollars) as the dependent variable, and community (as a fixed effect), year, lagged net profits, and the length of time the ordinance had been in force as the independent variables; (2) multiple linear regression of total state profits against time, lagged profits, and the percentage of the entire state population in communities that allow charitable gaming but prohibit smoking. The general linear model analysis of data from individual communities showed that, while adjusted profits fell over time, this effect was not related to the presence of an ordinance. The analysis in terms of the fraction of the population living in communities with ordinances yielded the same result. Policymakers can implement smoke-free policies without concern that these policies will affect charitable gaming.

Payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Devereaux, P.J.; Heels-Ansdell, Diane; Lacchetti, Christina; Haines, Ted; Burns, Karen E.A.; Cook, Deborah J.; Ravindran, Nikila; Walter, S.D.; McDonald, Heather; Stone, Samuel B.; Patel, Rakesh; Bhandari, Mohit; Schünemann, Holger J.; Choi, Peter T.-L.; Bayoumi, Ahmed M.; Lavis, John N.; Sullivan, Terrence; Stoddart, Greg; Guyatt, Gordon H.

2004-01-01

Background It has been shown that patients cared for at private for-profit hospitals have higher risk-adjusted mortality rates than those cared for at private not-for-profit hospitals. Uncertainty remains, however, about the economic implications of these forms of health care delivery. Since some policy-makers might still consider for-profit health care if expenditure savings were sufficiently large, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals. Methods We used 6 search strategies to identify published and unpublished observational studies that directly compared the payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals. We masked the study results before teams of 2 reviewers independently evaluated the eligibility of all studies. We confirmed data or obtained additional data from all but 1 author. For each study, we calculated the payments for care at private for-profit hospitals relative to private not-for-profit hospitals and pooled the results using a random effects model. Results Eight observational studies, involving more than 350 000 patients altogether and a median of 324 hospitals each, fulfilled our eligibility criteria. In 5 of 6 studies showing higher payments for care at private for-profit hospitals, the difference was statistically significant; in 1 of 2 studies showing higher payments for care at private not-for-profit hospitals, the difference was statistically significant. The pooled estimate demonstrated that private for-profit hospitals were associated with higher payments for care (relative payments for care 1.19, 95% confidence interval 1.07–1.33, p = 0.001). Interpretation Private for-profit hospitals result in higher payments for care than private not-for-profit hospitals. Evidence strongly supports a policy of not-for-profit health care delivery at the hospital level. PMID:15184339

Federal Higher Education Policy and the Profitable Nonprofits. Policy Analysis. No. 678

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fried, Vance H.

2011-01-01

Undergraduate education is a highly profitable business for nonprofit colleges and universities. They do not show profits on their books, but instead take their profits in the form of spending on some combination of research, graduate education, low-demand majors, low faculty teaching loads, excess compensation, and featherbedding. The industry's…

Lender Profitability in the Student Loan Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenkins, Sarah

This report provides results of a study that measured lender profitability in the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program and compares these results with the profitability of other types of lending. Data analysis reveals credit card lending to be the highest average level of profitability over the 5-year period considered. Other lending types, in…

Microgrid to enable optimal distributed energy retail and end-user demand response

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jin, Ming; Feng, Wei; Marnay, Chris

In the face of unprecedented challenges in environmental sustainability and grid resilience, there is an increasingly held consensus regarding the adoption of distributed and renewable energy resources such as microgrids (MGs), and the utilization of flexible electric loads by demand response (DR) to potentially drive a necessary paradigm shift in energy production and consumption patterns. However, the potential value of distributed generation and demand flexibility has not yet been fully realized in the operation of MGs. This study investigates the pricing and operation strategy with DR for a MG retailer in an integrated energy system (IES). Based on co-optimizing retailmore » rates and MG dispatch formulated as a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem, our model devises a dynamic pricing scheme that reflects the cost of generation and promotes DR, in tandem with an optimal dispatch plan that exploits spark spread and facilitates the integration of renewables, resulting in improved retailer profits and system stability. Main issues like integrated energy coupling and customer bill reduction are addressed during pricing to ensure rates competitiveness and customer protection. By evaluating on real datasets, the system is demonstrated to optimally coordinate storage, renewables, and combined heat and power (CHP), reduce carbon dioxide emission while maintaining profits, and effectively alleviate the PV curtailment problem. Finally, the model can be used by retailers and MG operators to optimize their operations, as well as regulators to design new utility rates in support of the ongoing transformation of energy systems.« less

Microgrid to enable optimal distributed energy retail and end-user demand response

DOE PAGES

Jin, Ming; Feng, Wei; Marnay, Chris; ...

2018-06-07

In the face of unprecedented challenges in environmental sustainability and grid resilience, there is an increasingly held consensus regarding the adoption of distributed and renewable energy resources such as microgrids (MGs), and the utilization of flexible electric loads by demand response (DR) to potentially drive a necessary paradigm shift in energy production and consumption patterns. However, the potential value of distributed generation and demand flexibility has not yet been fully realized in the operation of MGs. This study investigates the pricing and operation strategy with DR for a MG retailer in an integrated energy system (IES). Based on co-optimizing retailmore » rates and MG dispatch formulated as a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem, our model devises a dynamic pricing scheme that reflects the cost of generation and promotes DR, in tandem with an optimal dispatch plan that exploits spark spread and facilitates the integration of renewables, resulting in improved retailer profits and system stability. Main issues like integrated energy coupling and customer bill reduction are addressed during pricing to ensure rates competitiveness and customer protection. By evaluating on real datasets, the system is demonstrated to optimally coordinate storage, renewables, and combined heat and power (CHP), reduce carbon dioxide emission while maintaining profits, and effectively alleviate the PV curtailment problem. Finally, the model can be used by retailers and MG operators to optimize their operations, as well as regulators to design new utility rates in support of the ongoing transformation of energy systems.« less

A Systematic Review of the Benefits of Hiring People with Disabilities.

PubMed

Lindsay, Sally; Cagliostro, Elaine; Albarico, Mikhaela; Mortaji, Neda; Karon, Leora

2018-02-01

Purpose We reviewed literature on the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Increasing attention is being paid to the role of people with disabilities in the workplace. Although most research focuses on employers' concerns, many companies are now beginning to share their successes. However, there is no synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature on the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Methods Our team conducted a systematic review, completing comprehensive searches of seven databases from 1997 to May 2017. We selected articles for inclusion that were peer-reviewed publications, had a sample involving people with disabilities, conducted an empirical study with at least one outcome focusing on the benefits of hiring people with disabilities, and focused on competitive employment. Two reviewers independently applied the inclusion criteria, extracted the data, and rated the study quality. Results Of the 6176 studies identified in our search, 39 articles met our inclusion criteria. Findings show that benefits of hiring people with disabilities included improvements in profitability (e.g., profits and cost-effectiveness, turnover and retention, reliability and punctuality, employee loyalty, company image), competitive advantage (e.g., diverse customers, customer loyalty and satisfaction, innovation, productivity, work ethic, safety), inclusive work culture, and ability awareness. Secondary benefits for people with disabilities included improved quality of life and income, enhanced self-confidence, expanded social network, and a sense of community. Conclusions There are several benefits to hiring people with disabilities. Further research is needed to explore how benefits may vary by type of disability, industry, and job type.

A Financial Ratio Analysis of For-Profit and Non-Profit Rural Referral Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCue, Michael J.; Nayar, Preethy

2009-01-01

Context: National financial data show that rural referral center (RRC) hospitals have performed well financially. RRC hospitals' median cash flow margin ratio was 10.04% in 2002 and grew to 11.04% in 2004. Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the ratio analysis of key operational and financial performance measures of for-profit RRCs to…

Does outsourcing affect hospital profitability?

PubMed

Danvers, Kreag; Nikolov, Pavel

2010-01-01

Organizations outsource non-core service functions to achieve cost reductions and strategic benefits, both of which can impact profitability performance. This article examines relations between managerial outsourcing decisions and profitability for a multi-state sample of non-profit hospitals, across 16 states and four regions of the United States. Overall regression results indicate that outsourcing does not necessarily improve hospital profitability. In addition, we identify no profitability impact from outsourcing for urban hospitals, but somewhat positive effects for teaching hospitals. Our regional analysis suggests that hospitals located in the Midwest maintain positive profitability effects with outsourcing, but those located in the South realize negative effects. These findings have implications for cost reduction efforts and the financial viability of non-profit hospitals.

From value chain to value constellation: designing interactive strategy.

PubMed

Normann, R; Ramírez, R

1993-01-01

In today's fast-changing competitive environment, strategy is no longer a matter of positioning a fixed set of activities along that old industrial model, the value chain. Successful companies increasingly do not just add value, they reinvent it. The key strategic task is to reconfigure roles and relationships among a constellation of actors--suppliers, partners, customers--in order to mobilize the creation of value by new combinations of players. What is so different about this new logic of value? It breaks down the distinction between products and services and combines them into activity-based "offerings" from which customers can create value for themselves. But as potential offerings grow more complex, so do the relationships necessary to create them. As a result, a company's strategic task becomes the ongoing reconfiguration and integration of its competencies and customers. The authors provide three illustrations of these new rules of strategy. IKEA has blossomed into the world's largest retailer of home furnishings by redefining the relationships and organizational practices of the furniture business. Danish pharmacies and their national association have used the opportunity of health care reform to reconfigure their relationships with customers, doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers, and with Danish and international health organizations to enlarge their role, competencies, and profits. French public-service concessionaires have mastered the art of conducting a creative dialogue between their customers--local governments in France and around the world--and a perpetually expanding set of infrastructure competencies.

The integration between Business Model Canvas and Manufacturing System Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasetyawan, Y.; Maulida, N.; Lutvitasari, M. R.

2018-04-01

Business Model Canvas (BMC) is an increasingly popular business design tool especially for a start-up business and new business player. In general, BMC seeks a balance between effective working patterns with suppliers, good relation with customers and ability to understand and manage internal resources. This balance will expedite the implementation of Manufacturing System Design (MSD). The existing use of BMC and MSD is frequently applied separately at various business levels. BMC business plan is primarily to have engagement with customers and explore potential revenue to increase profits, while MSD primarily aims to meet production targets with available resources. The purpose of this research is to provide a roadmap to align BMC and MSD. A series of simple mathematical (modified) and integration models are created to connect BMC and MSD. Several results in various industries (new, developed and mature) are presented and used as examples of implementation.

Paying for Express Checkout: Competition and Price Discrimination in Multi-Server Queuing Systems

PubMed Central

Deck, Cary; Kimbrough, Erik O.; Mongrain, Steeve

2014-01-01

We model competition between two firms selling identical goods to customers who arrive in the market stochastically. Shoppers choose where to purchase based upon both price and the time cost associated with waiting for service. One seller provides two separate queues, each with its own server, while the other seller has a single queue and server. We explore the market impact of the multi-server seller engaging in waiting cost-based-price discrimination by charging a premium for express checkout. Specifically, we analyze this situation computationally and through the use of controlled laboratory experiments. We find that this form of price discrimination is harmful to sellers and beneficial to consumers. When the two-queue seller offers express checkout for impatient customers, the single queue seller focuses on the patient shoppers thereby driving down prices and profits while increasing consumer surplus. PMID:24667809

Energy Value Housing Award Guide: How to Build and Profit with Energy Efficiency in New Home Construction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sikora, J. L.

2001-06-01

As concern over the environment grows, builders have the potential to fulfill a market niche by building homes that use fewer resources and have lower environmental impact than conventional construction. Builders can increase their marketability and customer satisfaction and, at the same time, reduce the environmental impact of their homes. However, it takes dedication to build environmentally sound homes along with a solid marketing approach to ensure that customers recognize the added value of energy and resource efficiency. This guide is intended for builders seeking suggestions on how to improve energy and resource efficiency in their new homes. It ismore » a compilation of ideas and concepts for designing, building, and marketing energy- and resource-efficient homes based on the experience of recipients of the national Energy Value Housing Award (EVHA).« less

Improving productivity and firm performance with enterprise resource planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beheshti, Hooshang M.; Beheshti, Cyrus M.

2010-11-01

Productivity is generally considered to be the efficient utilisation of organisational resources and is measured in terms of the efficiency of a worker, company or nation. Focusing on efficiency alone, however, can be harmful to the organisation's long-term success and competitiveness. The full benefits of productivity improvement measures are realised when productivity is examined from two perspectives: operational efficiency (output/input) of an individual worker or a business unit as well as performance (effectiveness) with regard to end user or customer satisfaction. Over the years, corporations have adopted new technology to integrate business activities in order to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency in their operations. In recent years, many firms have invested in enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to integrate all business activities into a uniform system. The implementation of ERP enables the firm to reduce the transaction costs of the business and improve its productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability.

Paying for express checkout: competition and price discrimination in multi-server queuing systems.

PubMed

Deck, Cary; Kimbrough, Erik O; Mongrain, Steeve

2014-01-01

We model competition between two firms selling identical goods to customers who arrive in the market stochastically. Shoppers choose where to purchase based upon both price and the time cost associated with waiting for service. One seller provides two separate queues, each with its own server, while the other seller has a single queue and server. We explore the market impact of the multi-server seller engaging in waiting cost-based-price discrimination by charging a premium for express checkout. Specifically, we analyze this situation computationally and through the use of controlled laboratory experiments. We find that this form of price discrimination is harmful to sellers and beneficial to consumers. When the two-queue seller offers express checkout for impatient customers, the single queue seller focuses on the patient shoppers thereby driving down prices and profits while increasing consumer surplus.

The development of NEdSERV: quantitative instrumentation to measure service quality in nurse education.

PubMed

Roberts, P

1999-07-01

The political climate of health care provision and education for health care in the latter years of the 20th century is evolving from the uncertainty of newly created markets to a more clearly focused culture of collaboration, dissemination of good practice, with an increased emphasis on quality provision and its measurement. The need for provider units to prove and improve efficiency and effectiveness through evidence-based quality strategies in order to stay firmly in the market place has never been more necessary. The measurement of customer expectations and perceptions of delivered service quality is widely utilized as a basis for customer retention and business growth in both commercial and non-profit organizations. This paper describes the methodological development of NEdSERV--quantitative instrumentation designed to measure and respond to ongoing stakeholder expectations and perceptions of delivered service quality within nurse education.

Profitability Analysis of Soybean Oil Processes.

PubMed

Cheng, Ming-Hsun; Rosentrater, Kurt A

2017-10-07

Soybean oil production is the basic process for soybean applications. Cash flow analysis is used to estimate the profitability of a manufacturing venture. Besides capital investments, operating costs, and revenues, the interest rate is the factor to estimate the net present value (NPV), break-even points, and payback time; which are benchmarks for profitability evaluation. The positive NPV and reasonable payback time represent a profitable process, and provide an acceptable projection for real operating. Additionally, the capacity of the process is another critical factor. The extruding-expelling process and hexane extraction are the two typical approaches used in industry. When the capacities of annual oil production are larger than 12 and 173 million kg respectively, these two processes are profitable. The solvent free approach, known as enzyme assisted aqueous extraction process (EAEP), is profitable when the capacity is larger than 17 million kg of annual oil production.

Profitability Analysis of Soybean Oil Processes

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Soybean oil production is the basic process for soybean applications. Cash flow analysis is used to estimate the profitability of a manufacturing venture. Besides capital investments, operating costs, and revenues, the interest rate is the factor to estimate the net present value (NPV), break-even points, and payback time; which are benchmarks for profitability evaluation. The positive NPV and reasonable payback time represent a profitable process, and provide an acceptable projection for real operating. Additionally, the capacity of the process is another critical factor. The extruding-expelling process and hexane extraction are the two typical approaches used in industry. When the capacities of annual oil production are larger than 12 and 173 million kg respectively, these two processes are profitable. The solvent free approach, known as enzyme assisted aqueous extraction process (EAEP), is profitable when the capacity is larger than 17 million kg of annual oil production. PMID:28991168

Valuing goodwill: not-for-profits prepare for annual impairment testing.

PubMed

Heuer, Christian; Travers, Mary Ann K

2011-02-01

Accounting standards for valuing goodwill and intangible assets are becoming more rigorous for not-for-profit organizations: Not-for-profit healthcare organizations need to test for goodwill impairment at least annually. Impairment testing is a two-stage process: initial analysis to determine whether impairment exists and subsequent calculation of the magnitude of impairment. Certain "triggering" events compel all organizations--whether for-profit or not-for-profit--to perform an impairment test for goodwill or intangible assets.

The four things a service business must get right.

PubMed

Frei, Frances X

2008-04-01

Many of the management tools and techniques used in service businesses were designed to tackle the challenges of product companies. Although they are valuable to service managers, they aren't sufficient for success. In this article, Harvard Business School's Frei explains why and urges companies to add some new ones to the mix. After years of extensive research and analysis, she offers an approach for crafting a profitable service business based on four critical elements: the design of the offering, employee management, customer management, and the funding mechanism. Just like a product that's going to market, a service needs to be compellingly designed, and management must field a workforce capable of producing it at an attractive price. Additionally, however, service firms must manage their customers, who do not simply use the service but also can be integral to its production: Because customers' involvement as producers can wreak havoc on costs, companies must also develop creative ways to fund their distinctive offerings, by providing a self-service alternative, for example, or by offsetting expenses with operational savings. A close look at successful service businesses--Wal-Mart, Commerce Bank, the Cleveland Clinic, and others--reveals that effective integration of the four elements is key. There is no "right" way to combine them; the appropriate design of one depends upon the other three. If managers don't get all four pulling together, they risk pulling the enterprise apart. Incumbents can fend off attacks from highly focused upstarts by becoming multifocused--that is, by pursuing multiple niches through optimized service models rather than trying to cover the entire waterfront with one model. Shared services within a firm (functions such as HR and finance) can help, since they will enable it to generate economies of scale and experience across models.

Fracturing alliance allows massive diatomite oil reserves to be economically produced at Lost Hills, California: A case study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klins, M.A.; Stewart, D.W.; Pferdehirt, D.J.

1995-12-31

As North American oilfield operations mature, there is a perceptible loosening of the autocratic ties between oil companies and contractors. They are being replaced by alliances or partnerships designed to minimize cost while improving profitability of the companies involved. Many papers have been written concerning alliance theory, but little documentation exists detailing actual performance. This paper evaluates a mature alliance, its implementation, structure and results. In Lost Hills, California, the diatomite formation requires hydraulic fracturing to allow oil recovery at profitable production rates. Because hydraulic fracturing is approximately two-thirds of the total well cost, it is imperative that fracturing investmentsmore » be optimized to allow field development to proceed at optimum levels. Therefore, in 1990, a fracturing alliance (the first of its kind) was initiated between Chevron and Schlumberger Dowell. Over 1 billion lbm of sand has been successfully placed during approximately 2,000 fracture stimulation jobs. Through this prototype fracturing alliance, many major accomplishments are being achieved. The most notable are the hydraulic fracturing costs that have been reduced by 40% while improving the profitability of both companies. This paper illustrates the benefits of an alliance and justifies the change in management style from a low-bid operating strategy to a win-win customer/supplier attitude.« less

Open access, library and publisher competition, and the evolution of general commerce.

PubMed

Odlyzko, Andrew M

2015-02-01

Discussions of the economics of scholarly communication are usually devoted to Open Access, rising journal prices, publisher profits, and boycotts. That ignores what seems a much more important development in this market. Publishers, through the oft-reviled Big Deal packages, are providing much greater and more egalitarian access to the journal literature, an approximation to true Open Access. In the process, they are also marginalizing libraries and obtaining a greater share of the resources going into scholarly communication. This is enabling a continuation of publisher profits as well as of what for decades has been called "unsustainable journal price escalation." It is also inhibiting the spread of Open Access and potentially leading to an oligopoly of publishers controlling distribution through large-scale licensing. The Big Deal practices are worth studying for several general reasons. The degree to which publishers succeed in diminishing the role of libraries may be an indicator of the degree and speed at which universities transform themselves. More importantly, these Big Deals appear to point the way to the future of the whole economy, where progress is characterized by declining privacy, increasing price discrimination, increasing opaqueness in pricing, increasing reliance on low-paid or unpaid work of others for profits, and business models that depend on customer inertia. © The Author(s) 2014.

No association of smoke-free ordinances with profits from bingo and charitable games in Massachusetts

PubMed Central

Glantz, S; Wilson-Loots, R

2003-01-01

Background: Because it is widely played, claims that smoking restrictions will adversely affect bingo games is used as an argument against these policies. We used publicly available data from Massachusetts to assess the impact of 100% smoke-free ordinances on profits from bingo and other gambling sponsored by charitable organisations between 1985 and 2001. Methods: We conducted two analyses: (1) a general linear model implementation of a time series analysis with net profits (adjusted to 2001 dollars) as the dependent variable, and community (as a fixed effect), year, lagged net profits, and the length of time the ordinance had been in force as the independent variables; (2) multiple linear regression of total state profits against time, lagged profits, and the percentage of the entire state population in communities that allow charitable gaming but prohibit smoking. Results: The general linear model analysis of data from individual communities showed that, while adjusted profits fell over time, this effect was not related to the presence of an ordinance. The analysis in terms of the fraction of the population living in communities with ordinances yielded the same result. Conclusion: Policymakers can implement smoke-free policies without concern that these policies will affect charitable gaming. PMID:14660778

The development of an integrated Indonesian health care model using Kano's model, quality function deployment and balanced scorecard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jonny, Zagloed, Teuku Yuri M.

2017-11-01

This paper aims to present an integrated health care model for Indonesian health care industry. Based on previous researches, there are two health care models in the industry such as decease- and patient-centered care models. In their developments, the patient-centered care model is widely applied due to its capability in reducing cost and improving quality simultaneously. However, there is still no comprehensive model resulting in cost reduction, quality improvement, patient satisfaction and hospital profitability simultaneously. Therefore, this research is intended to develop that model. In doing so, first, a conceptual model using Kano's Model, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is developed to generate several important elements of the model as required by stakeholders. Then, a case study of an Indonesian hospital is presented to evaluate the validity of the model using correlation analysis. As a result, it can be concluded that the model is validated implying several managerial insights among its elements such as l) leadership (r=0.85) and context of the organization (r=0.77) improve operations; 2) planning (r=0.96), support process (r=0.87) and continual improvement (r=0.95) also improve operations; 3) operations improve customer satisfaction (r=0.89) and financial performance (r=0.93) and 4) customer satisfaction improves the financial performance (0.98).

Shopper marketing: a new challenge for Spanish community pharmacies.

PubMed

Gavilan, Diana; Avello, Maria; Abril, Carmen

2014-01-01

Changes that have occurred over the past few decades in retailing and in the health care sector--namely, a drastic reduction in drug profit-margins, and a more critical use of health services by patients--have created a scenario characterized by rising competitiveness. This new context is necessitating community pharmacies (hereafter, pharmacies) to improve their business model through new strategies. Shopper marketing has proven invaluable in other retail settings and therefore, could be a critical element for new practices in pharmacies. First, to analyze how shopping experiences in pharmacies based on new practices in shopper marketing affect shopping behavior. Second, to study the mediating effect of customer satisfaction on the relationship between shopping experiences and shopping behavior. A self-reported questionnaire was developed to measure four concepts: hedonic experience (enjoyable), functional experience (goal-oriented), customer satisfaction and shopping behavior. Data were collected from 28 different pharmacies dispersed throughout Spain. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships in the theoretical model. First, the measurement model was estimated to assess model fit, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Then, the parameters of the structural model were estimated and the mediation effects were subsequently tested. Functional experience and hedonic experience each significantly and positively correlate with consumer satisfaction and with customer shopping behavior (purchases and loyalty). Moreover, the effects of each type of experience on shopping behavior are partially mediated by customer satisfaction. The results suggest that even in Spanish pharmacies, which have traditionally been considered as strictly functional retailers, ensuring customer satisfaction and enhancing shopping behavior now demand more than just functional experiences. Moreover, a customer's experience at a pharmacy can itself trigger a shopping cycle; therefore, pharmacists should consider prioritizing investments in hedonic experiences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Smoke-free cafe in an unregulated European city: highly welcomed and economically successful.

PubMed

Künzli, N; Mazzoletti, P; Adam, M; Götschi, T; Mathys, P; Monn, C; Brändli, O

2003-09-01

In a unique setting with two identical cafes, which only differed in their smoking ordinances, this study assessed the influence of smoking policies on the choice of the cafe, investigated regulatory preferences among customers, and evaluated the claim that smoking cafes have better sales performance in a city without smoking bans. In a parallel assessment, customers of both cafes answered a questionnaire. Sales were compared and air pollutants were measured to confirm air quality differences. The two customer groups (n = 177) differed only with regard to smoking status (p < 0.01). The smoking regulation was the most often cited selection criterion (83%). In the non-smoking café, 89% indicated that they were usually annoyed by smoke in coffee houses, and 62% would avoid or leave cafes for this reason. Two thirds stated that all cafe/restaurants should offer the opportunity of a smoke-free environment. However, almost half stated that mandatory regulations are not needed and that customers should make individual arrangements based on tolerance and courtesy. Those who were informed about the health effects of secondhand smoke were more likely to call for clear policies. Whereas sales showed no differences, tips were 22% (p < 0.001) higher in the non-smoking cafe. In a generation raised in smoking friendly environments, customers paradoxically ask for a landmark shift towards smoke-free opportunities, while substantially adhering to the tobacco industry paradigm of promoting "tolerance" rather than smoke-free policies. Given the clear preference of a large number of customers, hospitality businesses could, however, greatly profit from offering smoke-free environments even in the absence of regulatory policies.

Growth outside the core.

PubMed

Zook, Chris; Allen, James

2003-12-01

Growth in an adjacent market is tougher than it looks; three-quarters of the time, the effort fails. But companies can change those odds dramatically. Results from a five-year study of corporate growth conducted by Bain & Company reveal that adjacency expansion succeeds only when built around strong core businesses that have the potential to become market leaders. And the best place to look for adjacency opportunities is inside a company's strongest customers. The study also found that the most successful companies were able to consistently, profitably outgrow their rivals by developing a formula for pushing out the boundaries of their core businesses in predictable, repeatable ways. Companies use their repeatability formulas to expand into any number of adjacencies. Some companies make repeated geographic moves, as Vodafone has done in expanding from one geographic market to another over the past 13 years, building revenues from $1 billion in 1990 to $48 billion in 2003. Others apply a superior business model to new segments. Dell, for example, has repeatedly adapted its direct-to-customer model to new customer segments and new product categories. In other cases, companies develop hybrid approaches. Nike executed a series of different types of adjacency moves: it expanded into adjacent customer segments, introduced new products, developed new distribution channels, and then moved into adjacent geographic markets. The successful repeaters in the study had two common characteristics. First, they were extraordinarily disciplined, applying rigorous screens before they made an adjacency move. This discipline paid off in the form of learning curve benefits, increased speed, and lower complexity. And second, in almost all cases, they developed their repeatable formulas by studying their customers and their customers' economics very, very carefully.

Smoke-free cafe in an unregulated European city: highly welcomed and economically successful

PubMed Central

Kunzli, N; Mazzoletti, P; Adam, M; Gotschi, T; Mathys, P; Monn, C; Brandli, O

2003-01-01

Objective: In a unique setting with two identical cafes, which only differed in their smoking ordinances, this study assessed the influence of smoking policies on the choice of the cafe, investigated regulatory preferences among customers, and evaluated the claim that smoking cafes have better sales performance in a city without smoking bans. Methods: In a parallel assessment, customers of both cafes answered a questionnaire. Sales were compared and air pollutants were measured to confirm air quality differences. Results: The two customer groups (n = 177) differed only with regard to smoking status (p < 0.01). The smoking regulation was the most often cited selection criterion (83%). In the non-smoking café, 89% indicated that they were usually annoyed by smoke in coffee houses, and 62% would avoid or leave cafes for this reason. Two thirds stated that all cafe/restaurants should offer the opportunity of a smoke-free environment. However, almost half stated that mandatory regulations are not needed and that customers should make individual arrangements based on tolerance and courtesy. Those who were informed about the health effects of secondhand smoke were more likely to call for clear policies. Whereas sales showed no differences, tips were 22% (p < 0.001) higher in the non-smoking cafe. Conclusion: In a generation raised in smoking friendly environments, customers paradoxically ask for a landmark shift towards smoke-free opportunities, while substantially adhering to the tobacco industry paradigm of promoting "tolerance" rather than smoke-free policies. Given the clear preference of a large number of customers, hospitality businesses could, however, greatly profit from offering smoke-free environments even in the absence of regulatory policies. PMID:12958388

Smokeless Tobacco Supply Chain in South Asia: A Comparative Analysis Using the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

PubMed

Siddiqi, Kamran; Scammell, Katy; Huque, Rumana; Khan, Amina; Baral, Sushil; Ali, Shehzad; Watt, Ian

2016-04-01

Most South Asian countries are signatories to the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, there is little information on the extent to which FCTC standards are effectively implemented for controlling smokeless tobacco (SLT)-used by over 250 million people in the region. We assessed the feasibility of a novel approach based on interviewing the key actors of SLT supply chain and analyzing its findings using standards set by FCTC. Using a snowball-sampling technique, we interviewed point-of-sale vendors, wholesale retailers, manufacturers, raw-tobacco retailers, and farmers involved in the supply chain of SLT in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Using a structured-questionnaire, participants were asked about their customer profiles; product types; marketing practices; suppliers; profit margins, awareness and adherence to legislation. We recruited 72% (130/180) of all supply chain actors approached. Findings indicate several loopholes in the existing taxation, regulatory, and inspection systems. A significant proportion of smuggled and counterfeit SLT products are available in the market. Most SLT products are sold without recommended warnings, information on their ingredients, and manufacturers' details. There appear to be no restrictions on sale of SLT products to minors. On the other hand, there are also several incentives built-in the supply chain that makes tobacco farming, SLT manufacturing, and its sale a profitable business. Our novel approach to study SLT control was successful in identifying and interviewing actors involved in its supply chain. The analysis using FCTC could provide valuable information to policy makers and enable them to effectively regulate SLT products. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability

PubMed Central

Pradhan, Aliza; Idol, Travis; Roul, Pravat K.

2016-01-01

Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift toward more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPSs) may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer’s net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over 3 years (2011–2014) of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation, i.e., minimum tillage, maize–cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e., conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs. PMID:27471508

Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability.

PubMed

Pradhan, Aliza; Idol, Travis; Roul, Pravat K

2016-01-01

Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift toward more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPSs) may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer's net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over 3 years (2011-2014) of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation, i.e., minimum tillage, maize-cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e., conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs.

Transitioning to an uncertain and competitive environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davison, J.C.

1996-08-01

The move to greater competition by natural gas and electric utilities has meant change unparalleled since the 1930s. To adapt to this revolution, utilities will have to, first, understand the nature of the restructuring and, second, answer such fundamental questions as what they are selling and how they can operate profitably. Answering these and related questions will likely result in the utility evaluating its own structure and deciding how it can bring the most value to its customers. Both natural gas and electric utilities ultimately may have to choose what business niche they will most profitably operate in as themore » days of operating as vertically integrated entities in a cost-plus environment are all but gone. This paper analyzes the changing natural gas and electric utility industries and presents a model of the utility industry in the future. It explains why restructure is inevitable, what form it may take and how newly configured utilities might withstand the brutality of competition by using GIS predictive tools, such as business geographies.« less

The optimal design of service level agreement in IAAS based on BDIM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiaochen; Zhan, Zhiqiang

2013-03-01

Cloud Computing has become more and more prevalent over the past few years, and we have seen the importance of Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). This kind of service enables scaling of bandwidth, memory, computing power and storage. But the SLA in IaaS also faces complexity and variety. Users also consider the business of the service. To meet the most users requirements, a methodology for designing optimal SLA in IaaS from the business perspectives is proposed. This method is different from the conventional SLA design method, It not only focuses on service provider perspective, also from the customer to carry on the design. This methodology better captures the linkage between service provider and service client by considering minimizing the business loss originated from performance degradation and IT infrastructure failures and maximizing profits for service provider and clients. An optimal design in an IaaS model is provided and an example are analyzed to show this approach obtain higher profit.

Managing for the next big thing. Interview by Paul Hemp.

PubMed

Ruettgers, M

2001-01-01

In this HBR interview, CEO Michael Ruettgers speaks in detail about the managerial practices that have allowed EMC to anticipate and exploit disruptive technologies, market opportunities, and business models ahead of its competitors. He recounts how the company repeatedly ventured into untested markets, ultimately transforming itself from a struggling maker of minicomputer memory boards into a data storage powerhouse and one of the most successful companies of the past decade. The company has achieved sustained and nearly unrivaled revenue, profit, and shareprice growth through a number of means. Emphasizing timing and speed, Ruettgers says, is critical. That's meant staggering products rather than developing them sequentially and avoiding the excessive refinements that slow time to market. Indeed, a sense of urgency, Ruettgers explains, has been critical to EMC's success. Processes such as quarterly goal setting and monthly forecasting meetings help maintain a sense of urgency and allow managers to get early glimpses of changes in the market. So does an environment in which personal accountability is stressed and the corporate focus is single-minded. Perhaps most important, the company has procedures to glean insights from customers. Intensive forums involving EMC engineers and leading-edge customers, who typically push for unconventional solutions to their problems, often yield new product features. Similarly, a customer service system that includes real-time monitoring of product use enables EMC to understand customer needs firsthand.

Statistical analysis of the count and profitability of air conditioners.

PubMed

Rady, El Houssainy A; Mohamed, Salah M; Abd Elmegaly, Alaa A

2018-08-01

This article presents the statistical analysis of the number and profitability of air conditioners in an Egyptian company. Checking the same distribution for each categorical variable has been made using Kruskal-Wallis test.

The power of cross-functional teams in driving total quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClung, Tim M.; McMaster, Tom J.

Garrett Canada, a Division of Allied-Signal Aerospace Canada, has been a member of the Canadian aerospace industry for 40 years. Although Garrett Canada has always been a profitable division with a solid market share, the changing and turbulent business environment and globalization of the aerospace industry has created new demands and challenges. The marketplace is demanding faster introduction of new products, as well as shorter leadtimes for repairs and spares. It was recognized that reducing cycle times for new products and for ongoing production would not only satisfy our customers, it would also enhance our business performance through reduced inventories, lower past due, and more responsiveness to change. It was evident that drastic function changes were required if we were to maintain our position as a premier aerospace supplier. The challenge was to convert a stable, somewhat slow-paced work environment with strong functional boundaries into a boundaryless world class team functioning in a total quality environment and focused on customer satisfaction. Complete and uncompromised customer satisfaction has become our driving force, with Total Quality being our engine to continuously improve our processes and increase our speed. The way in which this transition has been brought about is the subject of this presentation.

Current and new developments in transport and regulatory issues concerning radioisotopes: managing change for minimum business impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, Neil; Coppell, David; Rogers, David; Schrader, John

2004-09-01

Changes in the regulatory framework governing the Radiation Processing Industry have the potential to make a real business impact on day-to-day profitability. Many areas of the Radiation Processing Industry are affected by changes in the regulatory framework within which these areas are managed. When planning for such changes the transportation element in the shipment of sealed cobalt radiation sources is an area that is often neglected by some parts of the distribution chain. A balance must be struck between the cobalt supplier and the facility operator/customer that rests upon how much the customer needs to know about the intricacies of cobalt shipment. The objective of this paper is to highlight areas of possible business impact and reassure the users of sealed radiation sources that the global suppliers of these products are used to negotiating local variations in regulations governing the physical transportation of radiation sources, changes in regulations governing the design, manufacture and use of transportation containers and changes in the availability of commercial shippers and shipping routes. The major suppliers of industrial quantities of cobalt-60 are well placed to lead their customers through this complex process as a matter of routine.

The power of cross-functional teams in driving total quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcclung, Tim M.; Mcmaster, Tom J.

1992-01-01

Garrett Canada, a Division of Allied-Signal Aerospace Canada, has been a member of the Canadian aerospace industry for 40 years. Although Garrett Canada has always been a profitable division with a solid market share, the changing and turbulent business environment and globalization of the aerospace industry has created new demands and challenges. The marketplace is demanding faster introduction of new products, as well as shorter leadtimes for repairs and spares. It was recognized that reducing cycle times for new products and for ongoing production would not only satisfy our customers, it would also enhance our business performance through reduced inventories, lower past due, and more responsiveness to change. It was evident that drastic function changes were required if we were to maintain our position as a premier aerospace supplier. The challenge was to convert a stable, somewhat slow-paced work environment with strong functional boundaries into a boundaryless world class team functioning in a total quality environment and focused on customer satisfaction. Complete and uncompromised customer satisfaction has become our driving force, with Total Quality being our engine to continuously improve our processes and increase our speed. The way in which this transition has been brought about is the subject of this presentation.

[NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 3:] Technical communications in aeronautics: Results of an exploratory study. An analysis of profit managers' and nonprofit managers' responses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Glassman, Myron; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Oliu, Walter E.

1989-01-01

Data collected from an exploratory study concerned with the technical communications practices of aerospace engineers and scientists were analyzed to test the primary assumption that profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community have different technical communications practices. Five assumptions were established for the analysis. Profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community were found to have different technical communications practices for one of the five assumptions tested. It was, therefore, concluded that profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community do not have different technical communications practices.

Saving money, saving lives.

PubMed

Meliones, J

2000-01-01

In 1996, Duke Children's Hospital was in serious trouble. Its $11 million annual operating loss had forced administrators to make cutbacks. As a result, some caregivers felt that the quality of care had deteriorated. Parents' complaints were on the rise. Frustrated staff members were quitting. In this article, Jon Meliones, DCH's chief medical director, candidly describes how his debt-ridden hospital transformed itself into a vibrant and profitable one. The problem, he realized, was that each group in DCH was focusing only on its individual mission. Doctors and nurses wanted to restore their patients to health; they didn't want to have to think about costs. Hospital administrators, for their part, were focused only on controlling wildly escalating health care costs. To keep DCH afloat, clinicians and administrators needed to work together. By listening to staff concerns, turning reams of confusing data into useful information, taking a fresh approach to teamwork, and using the balanced scorecard method, Meliones and his colleagues brought DCH back to life. Developing and implementing the balanced scorecard approach wasn't easy: it took a pilot project, a top-down reorganization, development of a customized information system, and systematic work redesign. But their efforts paid off. Customer satisfaction ratings jumped 18%. Improvements to internal business processes reduced the average length of stay 21% while the readmission rate fell from 7% to 3%. The cost per patient dropped nearly $5,000. And DCH recorded profits of $4 million in 2000. This first-person account is required reading for any executive seeking to revitalize a sagging organization. Meliones shares the operating principles DCH followed to become a thriving business.

The Rationale behind Small Food Store Interventions in Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods: Insights from New Orleans1–3

PubMed Central

Bodor, J. Nicholas; Ulmer, Vanessa M.; Futrell Dunaway, Lauren; Farley, Thomas A.; Rose, Donald

2010-01-01

Environmental approaches to the obesity problem in the US have garnered favor due to growing evidence that changes to the environment are at the root of the epidemic. Low-income urban neighborhoods, where obesity rates are disproportionately high, typically lack supermarkets yet have a high density of small food stores. This may increase the risk for unhealthy diets and obesity for neighborhood residents, because small stores carry mostly energy-dense foods and few fruits and vegetables. This paper pulls together various studies and pilot work conducted in New Orleans to explore the rationale behind small store interventions. Many low-income residents in New Orleans live within walking distance of small food stores and shop at them frequently. Marketing research has documented that changes to in-store shelf space and displays of specific foods affect the sales of these foods. Initiatives in New Orleans and elsewhere have demonstrated some success with improving healthy food availability in small stores, and an intercept survey of customers at small stores suggests that customers would purchase more fruits and vegetables if available. Efforts to encourage small store operators to offer a healthier mix of foods may, in the end, depend on the profitability of such changes. Evidence from a typical small store in New Orleans indicates that a greater percentage of gross profits come from snack foods and beverages than from fruits and vegetables. More research is needed to better understand the financial operations of small food stores and whether altering the mix of foods is economically feasible. PMID:20410086

The rationale behind small food store interventions in low-income urban neighborhoods: insights from New Orleans.

PubMed

Bodor, J Nicholas; Ulmer, Vanessa M; Dunaway, Lauren Futrell; Farley, Thomas A; Rose, Donald

2010-06-01

Environmental approaches to the obesity problem in the US have garnered favor due to growing evidence that changes to the environment are at the root of the epidemic. Low-income urban neighborhoods, where obesity rates are disproportionately high, typically lack supermarkets yet have a high density of small food stores. This may increase the risk for unhealthy diets and obesity for neighborhood residents, because small stores carry mostly energy-dense foods and few fruits and vegetables. This paper pulls together various studies and pilot work conducted in New Orleans to explore the rationale behind small store interventions. Many low-income residents in New Orleans live within walking distance of small food stores and shop at them frequently. Marketing research has documented that changes to in-store shelf space and displays of specific foods affect the sales of these foods. Initiatives in New Orleans and elsewhere have demonstrated some success with improving healthy food availability in small stores, and an intercept survey of customers at small stores suggests that customers would purchase more fruits and vegetables if available. Efforts to encourage small store operators to offer a healthier mix of foods may, in the end, depend on the profitability of such changes. Evidence from a typical small store in New Orleans indicates that a greater percentage of gross profits come from snack foods and beverages than from fruits and vegetables. More research is needed to better understand the financial operations of small food stores and whether altering the mix of foods is economically feasible.

Retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time in a supply chain for deteriorating items with up-stream and down-stream trade credits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahata, Gour Chandra

2015-09-01

In practice, the supplier often offers the retailers a trade credit period and the retailer in turn provides a trade credit period to her/his customer to stimulate sales and reduce inventory. From the retailer's perspective, granting trade credit not only increases sales and revenue but also increases opportunity cost (i.e., the capital opportunity loss during credit period) and default risk (i.e., the percentage that the customer will not be able to pay off his/her debt obligations). Hence, how to determine credit period is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to increase retailer's profitability. Also, the selling items such as fruits, fresh fishes, gasoline, photographic films, pharmaceuticals and volatile liquids deteriorate continuously due to evaporation, obsolescence and spoilage. In this paper, we propose an economic order quantity model for the retailer where (1) the supplier provides an up-stream trade credit and the retailer also offers a down-stream trade credit, (2) the retailer's down-stream trade credit to the buyer not only increases sales and revenue but also opportunity cost and default risk, and (3) the selling items are perishable. Under these conditions, we model the retailer's inventory system as a profit maximization problem to determine the retailer's optimal replenishment decisions under the supply chain management. We then show that the retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time not only exist but also are unique. We deduce some previously published results of other researchers as special cases. Finally, we use some numerical examples to illustrate the theoretical results.

Taxes, bankruptcy costs, and capital structure in for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals.

PubMed

Huang, Sean S; Yang, Jie; Carroll, Nathan

2018-02-01

About 60% of the US hospitals are not-for-profit and it is not clear how traditional theories of capital structure should be adapted to understand the borrowing behavior of not-for-profit hospitals. This paper identifies important determinants of capital structure taken from theories describing for-profit firms as well as prior literature on not-for-profit hospitals. We examine the differential effects these factors have on the capital structure of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Specifically, we use a difference-in-differences regression framework to study how differences in leverage between for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals change in response to key explanatory variables (i.e. tax rates and bankruptcy costs). The sample in this study includes most US short-term general acute hospitals from 2000 to 2012. We find that personal and corporate income taxes and bankruptcy costs have significant and distinct effects on the capital structure of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Specifically, relative to not-for-profit hospitals: (1) higher corporate income tax encourages for-profit hospitals to increase their debt usage; (2) higher personal income tax discourages for-profit hospitals to use debt; and (3) higher expected bankruptcy costs lead for-profit hospitals to use less debt. Over the past decade, the capital structure of for-profit hospitals has been more flexible as compared to that of not-for-profit hospitals. This may suggest that not-for-profit hospitals are more constrained by external financing resources. Particularly, our analysis suggests that not-for-profit hospitals operating in states with high corporate taxes but low personal income taxes may face particular challenges of borrowing funds relative to their for-profit competitors.

The Profit-Maximizing Firm: Old Wine in New Bottles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felder, Joseph

1990-01-01

Explains and illustrates a simplified use of graphical analysis for analyzing the profit-maximizing firm. Believes that graphical analysis helps college students gain a deeper understanding of marginalism and an increased ability to formulate economic problems in marginalist terms. (DB)

Moon-Based Advanced Reusable Transportation Architecture: The MARTA Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, R.; Bechtel, R.; Chen, T.; Cormier, T.; Kalaver, S.; Kirtas, M.; Lewe, J.-H.; Marcus, L.; Marshall, D.; Medlin, M.; McIntire, J.; Nelson, D.; Remolina, D.; Scott, A.; Weglian, J.; Olds, J.

2000-01-01

The Moon-based Advanced Reusable Transportation Architecture (MARTA) Project conducted an in-depth investigation of possible Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to lunar surface transportation systems capable of sending both astronauts and large masses of cargo to the Moon and back. This investigation was conducted from the perspective of a private company operating the transportation system for a profit. The goal of this company was to provide an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 25% to its shareholders. The technical aspect of the study began with a wide open design space that included nuclear rockets and tether systems as possible propulsion systems. Based on technical, political, and business considerations, the architecture was quickly narrowed down to a traditional chemical rocket using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. However, three additional technologies were identified for further investigation: aerobraking, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and a mass driver on the lunar surface. These three technologies were identified because they reduce the mass of propellant used. Operational costs are the largest expense with propellant cost the largest contributor. ISRU, the production of materials using resources on the Moon, was considered because an Earth to Orbit (ETO) launch cost of 1600 per kilogram made taking propellant from the Earth's surface an expensive proposition. The use of an aerobrake to circularize the orbit of a vehicle coming from the Moon towards Earth eliminated 3, 100 meters per second of velocity change (Delta V), eliminating almost 30% of the 11,200 m/s required for one complete round trip. The use of a mass driver on the lunar surface, in conjunction with an ISRU production facility, would reduce the amount of propellant required by eliminating using propellant to take additional propellant from the lunar surface to Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). However, developing and operating such a system required further study to identify if it was cost effective. The vehicle was modeled using the Simulated Probabilistic Parametric Lunar Architecture Tool (SPPLAT), which incorporated the disciplines of Weights and Sizing, Trajectories, and Cost. This tool used ISRU propellant cost, Technology Reduction Factor (a dry weight reduction due to improved technology), and vehicle engine specific impulse as inputs. Outputs were vehicle dry weight, total propellant used per trip, and cost to charge the customer in order to guarantee an IRR of 25%. SPPLAT also incorporated cost estimation error, weight estimation error, market growth, and ETO launch cost as uncertainty variables. Based on the stipulation that the venture be profitable, the price to charge the customer was highly dependent on ISRU propellant cost and relatively insensitive to the other inputs. The best estimate of ISRU cost is 1000/kg, and results in a price to charge the customer of 2600/kg of payload. If ISRU cost can be reduced to 160/kg, the price to the customer is reduced to just 800/kg of payload. Additionally, the mass driver was only cost effective at an ISRU propellant cost greater than 250/kg, although it reduced total propellant used by 35%. In conclusion, this mission is achievable with current technology, but is only profitable with greater research into the enabling technology of ISRU propellant production.

Barriers to Effective Implementation of Programs for the Prevention of Workplace Violence in Hospitals.

PubMed

Blando, James; Ridenour, Marilyn; Hartley, Daniel; Casteel, Carri

2015-01-01

Effective workplace violence (WPV) prevention programs are essential, yet challenging to implement in healthcare. The aim of this study was to identify major barriers to implementation of effective violence prevention programs. After reviewing the related literature, the authors describe their research methods and analysis and report the following seven themes as major barriers to effective implementation of workplace violence programs: a lack of action despite reporting; varying perceptions of violence; bullying; profit-driven management models; lack of management accountability; a focus on customer service; and weak social service and law enforcement approaches to mentally ill patients. The authors discuss their findings in light of previous studies and experiences and offer suggestions for decreasing WPV in healthcare settings. They conclude that although many of these challenges to effective implementation of workplace violence programs are both within the program itself and relate to broader industry and societal issues, creative innovations can address these issues and improve WPV prevention programs.

Barriers to Effective Implementation of Programs for the Prevention of Workplace Violence in Hospitals.

PubMed

Blando, James; Ridenour, Marilyn; Hartley, Daniel; Casteel, Carri

2014-12-04

Effective workplace violence (WPV) prevention programs are essential, yet challenging to implement in healthcare. The aim of this study was to identify major barriers to implementation of effective violence prevention programs. After reviewing the related literature, the authors describe their research methods and analysis and report the following seven themes as major barriers to effective implementation of workplace violence programs: a lack of action despite reporting; varying perceptions of violence; bullying; profit-driven management models; lack of management accountability; a focus on customer service; and weak social service and law enforcement approaches to mentally ill patients. The authors discuss their findings in light of previous studies and experiences and offer suggestions for decreasing WPV in healthcare settings. They conclude that although many of these challenges to effective implementation of workplace violence programs are both within the program itself and relate to broader industry and societal issues, creative innovations can address these issues and improve WPV prevention programs.

A methodology model for quality management in a general hospital.

PubMed

Stern, Z; Naveh, E

1997-01-01

A reappraisal is made of the relevance of industrial modes of quality management to the issues of medical care. Analysis of the nature of medical care, which differentiates it from the supplier-client relationships of industry, presents the main intrinsic characteristics, which create problems in application of the industrial quality management approaches to medical care. Several examples are the complexity of the relationship between the medical action and the result obtained, the client's nonacceptance of economic profitability as a value in his medical care, and customer satisfaction biased by variable standards of knowledge. The real problems unique to hospitals are addressed, and a methodology model for their quality management is offered. Included is a sample of indicator vectors, measurements of quality care, cost of medical care, quality of service, and human resources. These are based on the trilogy of planning quality, quality control, and improving quality. The conclusions confirm the inadequacy of industrial quality management approaches for medical institutions and recommend investment in formulation of appropriate concepts.

Optimal replenishment and credit policy in supply chain inventory model under two levels of trade credit with time- and credit-sensitive demand involving default risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahata, Puspita; Mahata, Gour Chandra; Kumar De, Sujit

2018-03-01

Traditional supply chain inventory modes with trade credit usually only assumed that the up-stream suppliers offered the down-stream retailers a fixed credit period. However, in practice the retailers will also provide a credit period to customers to promote the market competition. In this paper, we formulate an optimal supply chain inventory model under two levels of trade credit policy with default risk consideration. Here, the demand is assumed to be credit-sensitive and increasing function of time. The major objective is to determine the retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time such that the total profit per unit time is maximized. The existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution to the presented model are examined, and an easy method is also shown to find the optimal inventory policies of the considered problem. Finally, numerical examples and sensitive analysis are presented to illustrate the developed model and to provide some managerial insights.

Small retailer perspectives of the 2009 Women, Infants and Children Program food package changes.

PubMed

Gittelsohn, Joel; Laska, Melissa N; Andreyeva, Tatiana; Foster, Gary; Rose, Donald; Tester, June; Lee, Seung Hee; Zenk, Shannon N; Odoms-Young, Angela; McCoy, Tara; Ayala, Guadalupe X

2012-09-01

To understand vendor perspectives regarding changes made in 2009 to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) food package. Fifty-two in-depth, qualitative interviews with owners or managers of small stores in 8 urban areas across 7 states conducted 6-12 months after the changes. Store owners experienced implementation challenges, but felt the changes increased the number of customers, sales, and profits. This research provides vendor perspectives on the 2009 WIC policy changes and may enhance policy implementation directed at increasing healthy food availability, particularly in urban communities.

Development of a Supporting System of the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for Construction Companies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mano, Kouhei; Shiraki, Wataru; Inomo, Hitoshi; Kuyama, Hironori; Isouchi, Chikako

Recently, the natural disaster and the accident have happened frequently. Thus, many companies and local organizations had been suffered such as discontinuity of business, loss of profits, customers' confidence decrease, and tremendous damage out of business. Especially the business stop of construction companies are influenced the recovery activities, so that it could be late the rescue activities. In this study, a supporting system of the business continuity plan (BCP) for construction companies is developed using the web server and database, and then some ideas for the user's friendly system are considered.

Integer Optimization Model for a Logistic System based on Location-Routing Considering Distance and Chosen Route

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulyasari, Joni; Mawengkang, Herman; Efendi, Syahril

2018-02-01

In a distribution network it is important to decide the locations of facilities that impacts not only the profitability of an organization but the ability to serve customers.Generally the location-routing problem is to minimize the overall cost by simultaneously selecting a subset of candidate facilities and constructing a set of delivery routes that satisfy some restrictions. In this paper we impose restriction on the route that should be passed for delivery. We use integer programming model to describe the problem. A feasible neighbourhood search is proposed to solve the result model.

Measuring human capital cost through benchmarking in health care environment.

PubMed

Kocakülâh, Mehmet C; Harris, Donna

2002-01-01

Each organization should seek to maximize its human capital investments, which ultimately lead to increased profits and asset efficiency. Service companies utilize less capital equipment and more human productivity, customer service, and/or delivery of service as the product. With the measurement of human capital, one can understand what is happening, exercise some degree of control, and make positive changes. Senior management lives or dies by the numbers and if Human Resources (HR) really wants to be a strategic business partner, HR must be judged by the same standards as everyone else in the health care organization.

The impact of financial and nonfinancial incentives on business-unit outcomes over time.

PubMed

Peterson, Suzanne J; Luthans, Fred

2006-01-01

Unlike previous behavior management research, this study used a quasi-experimental, control group design to examine the impact of financial and nonfinancial incentives on business-unit (21 stores in a fast-food franchise corporation) outcomes (profit, customer service, and employee turnover) over time. The results showed that both types of incentives had a significant impact on all measured outcomes. The financial incentive initially had a greater effect on all 3 outcomes, but over time, the financial and nonfinancial incentives had an equally significant impact except in terms of employee turnover. (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

77 FR 19991 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-03

... business entities under the proposed action. The profitability of these vessels as a result of this... sardine ex-vessel price per mt to conduct a profitability analysis because cost data for the harvesting... small entities' profitability compared to last season, due to the much higher HG this fishing season...

The Profitability Analysis of PT. Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. Before and After Privatization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurasiah, I.; Anggara

2017-03-01

This study purposes to determine differences in the profitability of PT. Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. before and after privatization using Net Profit Margin (NPM), Return on Investmen (ROI) and Return on Equity (ROE). This research used a case study method with a qualitative approach. The data used are secondary data from official financial statements of PT. Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. periode 2008-2013, 3 years before privatization and 3 years after privatization. Data analysis was performed by reviewing the financial statement data, calculate & determine the value of profitability ratios before and after privatization, and determine the amount of the average difference before and after privatization. The result proved that the average ratio of profitability calculated by applying NPM, ROI and ROE in every year shows a decrease that caused imbalance components forming of NPM, ROI, ROE, where profit is getting down while the selling, total assets and equity increase more and more from the previous period. The implication for the next research is a research that focus on determine how long a company can emerged from the crisis by privatization decision.

Trade-off Between Quality, Price, and Profit Orientation in Germany's Nursing Homes.

PubMed

Geraedts, Max; Harrington, Charlene; Schumacher, Daniel; Kraska, Rike

International data suggest that for-profit nursing homes tend to provide lower quality than not-for-profit nursing homes. In Germany, the relationships between profit orientation, price and quality of nursing homes have not been investigated. We performed an observational study using secondary data from statutory quality audits of all nursing homes in Germany. The relationships were analyzed bivariately via Mann-Whitney U -Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test respectively, followed by a multivariate variance analysis which also covered the interaction effect between quality, price and type of ownership. 41 % of 10,168 German nursing homes were for-profit charging on average about 10 % less than not-for-profit homes. In five out of six quality categories under study, for-profit nursing homes provided lower quality than not-for-profit homes. Quality of care in all quality categories improved with increasing prices per day. However, for four out of six quality categories examined, the quality difference between for-profit and non-profit nursing homes existed independent of the price charged. When selecting a nursing home it is therefore advisable to consider the profit orientation of the institution. German legislation should require that statutory public quality reports contain details on the profit orientation of nursing homes.

Developing new services using fuzzy QFD: a LIFENET case study.

PubMed

Rahman, Zillur; Qureshi, M N

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) method to assess LIFENET customers' spoken and unspoken needs in order to achieve the various objectives like: how to decide optimum portfolio for health services strategically; how to assess competitors' market position in order to reckon the market position of LIFENET; and how to set the revised target in order to satisfy the customers' demand and to fetch profit in order to satisfy managers' mission and vision in a competitive market. A fuzzy QFD method has been devised to take care of the various LIFENET objectives. Fuzzy logic's use has been recommended to remove the uncertainty, vagueness, and impreciseness from data obtained to assess customers' spoken and unspoken needs. Symmetric triangular fuzzy numbers (STFNs) may be used to assess various needs to enhance data accuracy. House of quality (HOQ), an in-built QFD matrix, may be constructed to take care of LIFENET's various requirements in order to satisfy internal and external customers. Fuzzy QFD plays a vital role in assessing customers' need in terms of WHATs. Various WHATs thus obtained can be accomplished by incorporating technical parameter HOWs'. The QFD HOQ offers various vital comparisons for instance, WHATs vs HOWs, HOWs vs HOWs, NOWs vs WHATs, etc. to obtain important inferences, which help to revise target to remain competitive in the market Fuzzy QFD helps devise a management strategy to follow customers' needs in health industry successfully. Accessing Indian customers' needs poses many challenges as the decision to opt for a given healthcare service is most uncertain because it varies from person to person. The set of parameters that influence individual decisions to opt for healthcare services are costs, treatment response time, disease/risk, and health service satisfaction. Fuzzy QFD may help LIFENET promoters to consider customers' favored health services thereby helping strategically in their attempt for major expansion, in order to get the most benefits of becoming first-movers in the sector. Fuzzy QFD may also help LIFENET to avert major investment decisions that looked attractive in short-term, but in fact were unfruitful, in long-term.

Cost, volume and profitability analysis.

PubMed

Tarantino, David P

2002-01-01

If you want to increase your income by seeing more patients, it's important to figure out the financial impact such a move could have on your practice. Learn how to run a cost, volume, and profitability analysis to determine how business decisions can change your financial picture.

A comparison of quality measures between for-profit and nonprofit medicare-certified home health agencies in Michigan.

PubMed

Haldiman, Kathryn L; Tzeng, Huey-Ming

2010-04-01

This exploratory study investigated the differences in the means of quality measures between for-profit and nonprofit Medicare-certified home health agencies in Michigan. The research question was: Do nonprofit agencies provide higher quality of care than for-profit agencies? Twelve publicly available quality measures were retrieved in May 2009 and used for analysis. Independent t tests found significant differences between for-profit and nonprofit agencies on 6 of the 12 measures, with for-profit agencies performing better on 5 measures. The relative value of both types of ownership should be recognized. Future research may focus on using standardized quality measures to explore further the impact of profit orientation on home health quality of care.

Creating the living brand.

PubMed

Bendapudi, Neeli; Bendapudi, Venkat

2005-05-01

It's easy to conclude from the literature and the lore that top-notch customer service is the province of a few luxury companies and that any retailer outside that rarefied atmosphere is condemned to offer mediocre service at best. But even companies that position themselves for the mass market can provide outstanding customer-employee interactions and profit from them, if they train employees to reflect the brand's core values. The authors studied the convenience store industry in depth and focused on two that have developed a devoted following: QuikTrip (QT) and Wawa. Turnover rates at QT and Wawa are 14% and 22% respectively, much lower than the typical rate in retail. The authors found six principles that both firms embrace to create a strong culture of customer service. Know what you're looking for: A focus on candidates' intrinsic traits allows the companies to hire people who will naturally bring the right qualities to the job. Make the most of talent: In mass-market retail, talent is generally viewed as a commodity, but that outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Create pride in the brand: Service quality depends directly on employees' attachment to the brand. Build community: Wawa and QT have made concerted efforts to build customer loyalty through a sense of community. Share the business context: Employees need a clear understanding of how their company operates and how it defines success. Satisfy the soul: To win an employee's passionate engagement, a company must meet his or her needs for security, esteem, and justice.

Order management empowering entrepreneurial partnerships in the context of new technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tămăşilă, M.; Proştean, G.; Diaconescu, A.

2018-01-01

The expansiveness of latest generation technologies triggers manufacturers from different industry sectors more complex situations in order management with various loyal customers and occasional customers. More specifically, orders variations in logistics chain make it difficult to achieve entrepreneurial partnerships in the context of new technologies integrated into automotive and wind industry processes, which hinders getting major investments. Within this framework, the research team investigates the bottlenecks in the supply chain and indicates some rules and methods to solve the desynchronizations and fluctuations caused by the constraints of cutting-edge technologies. The paper aims to solve order management problems based on both an algorithm and an implementation in SAP. Also, in the paper, a conceptual model is created for the user whose basic task is the management of the entrepreneurial orders. Solutions identified based on the algorithm offers an order management plan by optimally adjusting inventories to deal with any kind of orders, thus achieving a profitable entrepreneurial approach between the two partners.

Racialized customer service in restaurants: a quantitative assessment of the statistical discrimination explanatory framework.

PubMed

Brewster, Zachary W

2012-01-01

Despite popular claims that racism and discrimination are no longer salient issues in contemporary society, racial minorities continue to experience disparate treatment in everyday public interactions. The context of full-service restaurants is one such public setting wherein racial minority patrons, African Americans in particular, encounter racial prejudices and discriminate treatment. To further understand the causes of such discriminate treatment within the restaurant context, this article analyzes primary survey data derived from a community sample of servers (N = 200) to assess the explanatory power of one posited explanation—statistical discrimination. Taken as a whole, findings suggest that while a statistical discrimination framework toward understanding variability in servers’ discriminatory behaviors should not be disregarded, the framework’s explanatory utility is limited. Servers’ inferences about the potential profitability of waiting on customers across racial groups explain little of the overall variation in subjects’ self-reported discriminatory behaviors, thus suggesting that other factors not explored in this research are clearly operating and should be the focus of future inquires.

Strategic planning for public health practice using macroenvironmental analysis.

PubMed Central

Ginter, P M; Duncan, W J; Capper, S A

1991-01-01

Macroenvironmental analysis is the initial stage in comprehensive strategic planning. The authors examine the benefits of this type of analysis when applied to public health organizations and present a series of questions that should be answered prior to committing resources to scanning, monitoring, forecasting, and assessing components of the macroenvironment. Using illustrations from the public and private sectors, each question is examined with reference to specific challenges facing public health. Benefits are derived both from the process and the outcome of macroenvironmental analysis. Not only are data acquired that assist public health professionals to make decisions, but the analytical process required assures a better understanding of potential external threats and opportunities as well as an organization's strengths and weaknesses. Although differences exist among private and public as well as profit and not-for-profit organizations, macroenvironmental analysis is seen as more essential to the public and not-for-profit sectors than the private and profit sectors. This conclusion results from the extreme dependency of those areas on external environmental forces that cannot be significantly influenced or controlled by public health decision makers. PMID:1902305

Social media: how hospitals use it, and opportunities for future use.

PubMed

Richter, Jason P; Muhlestein, David B; Wilks, Chrisanne E A

2014-01-01

When used effectively, social media benefits hospitals through increased revenue, employee recruitment, and increased customer satisfaction. Although 72% of adults who use the Internet engage in social media, little is known about its prevalence among hospitals and the ways in which hospitals use it. We examined hospital characteristics associated with social media use and how U.S. hospitals use Facebook. Through analysis of websites and Facebook pages, we found that seven in 10 hospitals use social media and that 9% of hospitals with a Facebook page do not provide a link to it from their web page. The odds of social media use were greater in large, urban, nonprofit hospitals; at hospitals affiliated with universities or health systems; and at hospitals that emphasize quality metrics or educational information. Hospitals use Facebook as a dissemination strategy to educate consumers, acknowledge staff, and share news of the hospital's awards. However, the majority of hospitals do not actively engage consumers on Facebook pages. We conclude that this lack of engagement is a lost opportunity to enhance customer service, improve quality of care, and build loyalty. For hospital executives, we illustrate that Facebook is underutilized and that considerable opportunity exists for consumer engagement at a low cost. For policymakers, there is a greater use of social media by nonprofit hospitals, compared to for-profit facilities. As Facebook is most commonly used as an educational tool, it is another example of nonprofit hospitals' heightened focus on health promotion and disease prevention.

MarketBusting: strategies for exceptional business growth.

PubMed

McGrath, Rita Gunther; MacMillan, Ian C

2005-03-01

If company leaders were granted a single wish, it would surely be for a reliable way to create new growth businesses. Business practitioners'overwhelming interest in this subject prompted the authors to conduct a three-year study of organizational growth--specifically, to find out which growth strategies were most successful. They discovered, somewhat to their surprise, that even companies in mature industries found rich new sources of growth when they reconfigured their unit of business (what they bill customers for) or their key metrics (how they measure success). In this article, the authors outline these and other moves companies can make to redefine their profit drivers and realize low-risk growth. They offer plenty of real-world examples. For instance: CHANGING YOUR UNIT OF BUSINESS: Once a conventional printing house, Madden Communications not only prints promotional materials for customers but also manages the distribution and installation of those materials on-site. Its revenues grew from dollars 1o million in 1990 to dollars 133 million in 2004, in an industry that many had come to regard as hopelessly mature. IMPROVING YOUR KEY METRICS-PARTICULARLY PRODUCTIVITY: Lamons Gasket, with dollars 80 million in revenues, built a Web site that radically improved its customers' ability to find, order, and pay for goods. The firm's market share rose along with its customer retention rate. The authors also suggest ways to identify your unit of business and associated key metrics and recognize the obstacles to changing them; review the key customer segments you serve; assess the need for new capabilities and the potential for internal resistance to change; and communicate to internal and external constituencies the changes you wish to make in your unit of business or key metrics.

78 FR 6794 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-31

... will impact these small entities in the same manner. The profitability of these vessels as a result of... Pacific sardine ex-vessel price per mt to conduct a profitability analysis because cost data for the... rule will decrease the effected small entities' potential profitability compared to last season, due to...

76 FR 4854 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-27

... disproportionality between small and large business entities under the proposed action. The profitability of these.... NMFS used average Pacific sardine ex-vessel price per mt to conduct a profitability analysis because... approximately $11.5 million. There will also likely be a drop in profitability based on this rule compared to...

75 FR 56976 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-17

... proposed action. The profitability of these vessels as a result of this proposed rule is based on the...-vessel price per mt to conduct a profitability analysis because cost data for the harvesting operations... drop in profitability based on this rule as the 2010/2011 available harvest (11,000 mt) is twice the...

NREL Analysis Identifies Where Commercial Customers Might Benefit from

Science.gov Websites

Battery Energy Storage | NREL | News | NREL NREL Analysis Identifies Where Commercial Customers Might Benefit from Battery Energy Storage News Release: NREL Analysis Identifies Where Commercial reduce operating costs for customers paying demand charges Commercial electricity customers who are

Launching a Geoscience Career: Insights Gained from MS PHD'S Beyond the PhD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzman, W. I.; Johnson, A.; Williamson Whitney, V.; Jansma, P. E.; Huggans, M. J.; Ricciardi, L.

2013-05-01

The Beyond the PhD (B-PhD) Professional Development Program is the newest addition to the Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success (MS PHD'S®) Professional Development Program in Earth System Science. This exciting new program is designed to facilitate the development of a new community of underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral candidates and recent doctorate degree recipients in Earth system science (ESS)-related fields. Building upon MS PHD'S extensive professional development activities provided to URM undergraduate and graduate students, B-PhD's vision is to encourage and support URM doctoral students and early career PhD's in becoming part of the global workforce. (Since its inception in 2003, MSPHD'S supports 213 participants of which 42 have achieved the doctoral degree and another 71 are enrolled in doctoral programs.) By providing customized support and advocacy for participants, B-PhD facilitates smoother and informed transitions from graduate school to postdoctoral and tenure-track positions, as well as other "first" jobs in academia, government, industry, and non-profit organizations. In 2011, the first conference for 18 doctoral candidate and recent graduates was hosted at the University of Texas at Arlington's (UTA) College of Science. Using a format of guest speakers, brown bag discussions, and interactive breakout sessions, participants engaged in sessions entitled "Toolkits for Success in Academia, Business and Industry, Federal Government and Non-Profits", "Defining Short, Mid and Long Term Career Goals", "Accessing and Refining Skill Sets and Other Door Openers", "International Preparation and Opportunities", "Paying it Forward/Lifting as You Climb", and "Customized Strategies for Next Steps". This presentation will discuss outcomes from this pilot project, the use of social media to track and support ongoing B-PhD activities, and objectives for future B-PhD workshops.

Feasibility Evaluation of an On-site Generator Network by the Cooperative Game Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komiyama, Ryoichi; Hayashi, Taketo; Fujii, Yasumasa; Yamaji, Kenji

On-site generator, such as CGS (cogeneration system), is allegedly considered to be an effective end-use energy system in order to accomplish primary energy conservation, CO2 emission mitigation and system cost reduction, which characteristics eventually improve the whole performance of an existing energy system for the future. Considering the drawback of installing an end-use CGS into the customer with small or middle scale floor space, however, it is difficult to achieve those distinctive features because the thermal-electricity ratio of CGS does not always be in agreement with that of customer energy demand. In order to overcome that matching deficiency, it is hence better to organize an on-site generator network based on mutual electricity and heating transmission. But focusing on some cogenerators underlying their behaviors on maximizing their own profits, this on-site network, which situation corresponds to a grand coalition, is not necessarily established because of each cogenerator’s motivation to form a partial coalition and acquire its own profit as much as possible. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the optimal operation of an on-site generator network and identify by applying the nucleolus of the cooperative game theory the optimal benefit allocation strategy in order for the cogenerators to construct the network. Regarding the installation site of this network, the center of Tokyo area is assumed, which locational information includes floor space and so forth through a GIS (geographic information system) database. The results from the nucleolus suggest that all districts should impartially obtain the benefit from organizing network for the purpose of jointly attaining the system total cost reduction.

Application of Emerging Open-source Embedded Systems for Enabling Low-cost Wireless Mini-observatory Nodes in the Coastal Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glazer, B. T.

2016-02-01

Here, we describe the development of novel, low-cost, open-source instrumentation to enable wireless data transfer of biogeochemical sensors in the coastal zone. The platform is centered upon the Beaglebone Black single board computer. Process-inquiry in environmental sciences suffers from undersampling; enabling sustained and unattended data collection typically involves expensive instrumentation and infrastructure deployed as cabled observatories with little flexibility in deployment location following initial installation. High cost of commercially-available or custom electronic packages have not only limited the number of sensor node sites that can be targeted by reasonably well-funded academic researchers, but have also entirely prohibited widespread engagement with K-12, public non-profit, and `citizen scientist' STEM audiences. The new platform under development represents a balanced blend of research-grade sensors and low-cost open-source electronics that are easily assembled. Custom, robust, open-source code that remains customizable for specific node configurations can match a specific deployment's measurement needs, depending on the scientific research priorities. We have demonstrated prototype capabilities and versatility through lab testing and field deployments of multiple sensor nodes with multiple sensor inputs, all of which are streaming near-real-time data over wireless RF links to a shore-based base station. On shore, first-pass data processing QA/QC takes place and near-real-time plots are made available on the World Wide Web. Specifically, we have worked closely with an environmental and cultural management and restoration non-profit organization, and middle and high school science classes, engaging their interest in STEM application to local watershed processes. Ultimately, continued successful development of this pilot project can lead to a coastal oceanographic analogue of the popular Weather Underground personal weather station model.

Program on stimulating operational private sector use of Earth observation satellite information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eastwood, L. F., Jr.; Foshage, J.; Gomez, G.; Kirkpatrick, B.; Konig, B.; Stein, R. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

Ideas for new businesses specializing in using remote sensing and computerized spatial data systems were developd. Each such business serves as an 'information middleman', buying raw satellite or aircraft imagery, processing these data, combining them in a computer system with customer-specific information, and marketing the resulting information products. Examples of the businesses the project designed are: (1) an agricultural facility site evaluation firm; (2) a mass media grocery price and supply analyst and forecaster; (3) a management service for privately held woodlots; (4) a brokerage for insulation and roofing contractors, based on infrared imagery; (5) an expanded real estate information service. In addition, more than twenty-five other commercially attractive ideas in agribusiness, forestry, mining, real estate, urban planning and redevelopment, and consumer information were created. The commercial feasibility of the five business was assessed. This assessment included market surveys, revenue projections, cost analyses, and profitability studies. The results show that there are large and enthusiastic markets willing to pay for the services these businesses offer, and that the businesses could operate profitably.

Determination of production run time and warranty length under system maintenance and trade credits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsao, Yu-Chung

2012-12-01

Manufacturers offer a warranty period within which they will fix failed products at no cost to customers. Manufacturers also perform system maintenance when a system is in an out-of-control state. Suppliers provide a credit period to settle the payment to manufacturers. This study considers manufacturer's production and warranty decisions for an imperfect production system under system maintenance and trade credit. Specifically, this study uses the economic production quantity to model the decisions under system maintenance and trade credit. These decisions involve how long the production run time and warranty length should be to maximise total profit. This study provides lemmas for the conditions of optimality and develops a theorem and an algorithm for solving the problems described. Numerical examples illustrate the solution procedures and provide a variety of managerial implications. Results show that simultaneously determining production and warranty decisions is superior to only determining production. This study also discusses the effects of the related parameters on manufacturer's decisions and profits. The results of this study are a useful reference for managerial decision-making and administration.

An Incremental High-Utility Mining Algorithm with Transaction Insertion

PubMed Central

Gan, Wensheng; Zhang, Binbin

2015-01-01

Association-rule mining is commonly used to discover useful and meaningful patterns from a very large database. It only considers the occurrence frequencies of items to reveal the relationships among itemsets. Traditional association-rule mining is, however, not suitable in real-world applications since the purchased items from a customer may have various factors, such as profit or quantity. High-utility mining was designed to solve the limitations of association-rule mining by considering both the quantity and profit measures. Most algorithms of high-utility mining are designed to handle the static database. Fewer researches handle the dynamic high-utility mining with transaction insertion, thus requiring the computations of database rescan and combination explosion of pattern-growth mechanism. In this paper, an efficient incremental algorithm with transaction insertion is designed to reduce computations without candidate generation based on the utility-list structures. The enumeration tree and the relationships between 2-itemsets are also adopted in the proposed algorithm to speed up the computations. Several experiments are conducted to show the performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of runtime, memory consumption, and number of generated patterns. PMID:25811038

Optimal Operation and Value Evaluation of Pumped Storage Power Plants Considering Spot Market Trading and Uncertainty of Bilateral Demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Kenta; Hara, Ryoichi; Kita, Hiroyuki; Hasegawa, Jun

In recent years, as the deregulation in electric power industry has advanced in many countries, a spot market trading of electricity has been done. Generation companies are allowed to purchase the electricity through the electric power market and supply electric power for their bilateral customers. Under this circumstance, it is important for the generation companies to procure the required electricity with cheaper cost to increase their profit. The market price is volatile since it is determined by bidding between buyer and seller. The pumped storage power plant, one of the storage facilities is promising against such volatile market price since it can produce a profit by purchasing electricity with lower-price and selling it with higher-price. This paper discusses the optimal operation of the pumped storage power plants considering bidding strategy to an uncertain spot market. The volatilities in market price and demand are represented by the Vasicek model in our estimation. This paper also discusses the allocation of operational reserve to the pumped storage power plant.

Strategies for a risky business: How drug dealers manage customers, suppliers and competitors in Italy, Slovenia and Germany.

PubMed

Tzvetkova, Marina; Pardal, Mafalda; Disley, Emma; Rena, Alice; Talic, Sanela; Forberger, Sarah

2016-05-01

A growing body of literature aims to improve understanding of the operations of drug trafficking markets through conducting interviews with dealers and traffickers. Insight into how these individuals conduct business can provide evidence to inform the efforts by policy makers, law enforcement and practitioners to disrupt illicit markets. This paper aims to make a contribution to this evidence base by extending the number of European countries in which interviews have been conducted with incarcerated drug dealers and traffickers. It draws on interviews with 135 men convicted of offences related to the distribution or sale of heroin or cocaine and imprisoned in Italy, Slovenia and Germany. The research was conducted as part of the Reframing Addictions Project (ALICE-RAP) funded by the European Commission. The sample was diverse. It included a range of nationalities and some individuals who were members of organised crime groups. The majority of the interviewees were dealers who sold at the retail and street level, but there were some who were importers and wholesalers. Most dealers in each of the three countries reported having more than one regular supplier, and were able to respond to periods of over and under supply without losing customers. Supply arrangements varied in terms of frequency and quantities bought. Dealers engaged in repeated transactions and their relationships with customers were based on trust and reputation. Dealers aimed to sell to regular customers and to provide drugs of good quality. While dealers sought to maximise their profits by cutting drugs with cutting agents, the quality of drugs that they sold could affect their reputation and thus their profits and position in the market. Lastly, while there are some significant differences in the approach between those involved in organised crime groups and those who are not, and between street dealers and those operating at higher levels of the market, there were striking similarities in terms of the day-to-day operational concerns and modes of relationship management. Interviewees' arrangements for securing supplies of drugs provide support to the notion that drug markets are resilient and flexible. Our findings correspond with other empirical research in relation to the centrality of trust in the practical operation of supply and sale of drugs. The research highlights some differences, but important similarities between dealers who were part of organised crime groups and those who were not; dealers all faced some common challenges and adopted some common responses to these. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Propulsion/flight control integration technology (PROFIT) design analysis status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlin, C. M.; Hastings, W. J.

1978-01-01

The propulsion flight control integration technology (PROFIT) program was designed to develop a flying testbed dedicated to controls research. The preliminary design, analysis, and feasibility studies conducted in support of the PROFIT program are reported. The PROFIT system was built around existing IPCS hardware. In order to achieve the desired system flexibility and capability, additional interfaces between the IPCS hardware and F-15 systems were required. The requirements for additions and modifications to the existing hardware were defined. Those interfaces involving the more significant changes were studied. The DCU memory expansion to 32K with flight qualified hardware was completed on a brassboard basis. The uplink interface breadboard and a brassboard of the central computer interface were also tested. Two preliminary designs and corresponding program plans are presented.

Technical Communications in Aeronautics: Results of an Exploratory Study. An Analysis of Profit Managers' and Nonprofit Managers' Responses. NASA Technical Memorandum 101626.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinelli, Thomas E.; And Others

Data collected from an exploratory study concerned with the technical communications practices of aerospace engineers and scientists were analyzed to test the primary assumption that profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community have different technical communications practices. Profit and nonprofit managers were compared in five…

How to map your industry's profit pool.

PubMed

Gadiesh, O; Gilbert, J L

1998-01-01

Many managers chart strategy without a full understanding of the sources and distribution of profits in their industry. Sometimes they focus their sights on revenues instead of profits, mistakenly assuming that revenue growth will eventually translate into profit growth. In other cases, they simply lack the data or the analytical tools required to isolate and measure variations in profitability. In this Manager's Tool Kit, the authors present a way to think clearly about where the money's being made in any industry. They describe a framework for analyzing how profits are distributed among the activities that form an industry's value chain. Such an analysis can provide a company's managers with a rich understanding of their industry's profit structure--what the authors call its profit pool--enabling them to identify which activities are generating disproportionately large or small shares of profits. Even more important, a profit-pool map opens a window onto the underlying structure of the industry, helping managers see the various forces that are determining the distribution of profits. As such, a profit-pool map provides a solid basis for strategic thinking. Mapping a profit pool involves four steps: defining the boundaries of the pool, estimating the pool's overall size, estimating the size of each value-chain activity in the pool, and checking and reconciling the calculations. The authors briefly describe each step and then apply the process by providing a detailed example of a hypothetical retail bank. They conclude by looking at ways of organizing the data in chart form as a first step toward plotting a profit-pool strategy.

49 CFR 260.17 - Credit risk premium analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... past and projected: (A) Profitability; (B) Liquidity; (C) Financial strength; (D) Size; and (E) Level... improving revenues, profitability and cash flow from operations; and (B) Reliance on third parties for...

49 CFR 260.17 - Credit risk premium analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... past and projected: (A) Profitability; (B) Liquidity; (C) Financial strength; (D) Size; and (E) Level... improving revenues, profitability and cash flow from operations; and (B) Reliance on third parties for...

49 CFR 260.17 - Credit risk premium analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... past and projected: (A) Profitability; (B) Liquidity; (C) Financial strength; (D) Size; and (E) Level... improving revenues, profitability and cash flow from operations; and (B) Reliance on third parties for...

49 CFR 260.17 - Credit risk premium analysis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... past and projected: (A) Profitability; (B) Liquidity; (C) Financial strength; (D) Size; and (E) Level... improving revenues, profitability and cash flow from operations; and (B) Reliance on third parties for...

Framework for Financial Ratio Analysis of Audited Federal Financial Reports

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-12-01

franchising operations, allowing them to lower costs and share administrative support services with other agencies. [Ref. 60:sec. 402-403] The GMRA also...96 Federal Financial Reporting Statement of Net Cost Report Format 97 Federal Financial Reporting Statement of Changes in Net Position Report Format...analysis for sales, profitability, efficiency, marketing, investment, debt and capital analysis. Monitor growth Monitor costs Measure profitability and

Analysis of profitability of using a heat recovery system from grey water discharged from the shower (case study of Poland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kordana, Sabina; Słys, Daniel

2017-11-01

The paper analyses the profitability of the use of Drain Water Heat Recovery units. An original simulation model was used for this purpose, and a detached residential building located in Poland was selected as the test facility. The conducted analysis proved that the type of the hot water heater has decisive influence on the profitability level of such an investment. Application of the abovementioned technology is particularly profitable, when water is heated with the use of an electrical device. When the energy source in the system is a gas water heater, the obtained calculation results are not as favourable, and the period of investment return in many cases exceeds the expected service life of these devices. Moreover, the analysis demonstrated that the potential energy savings, and thus also the financial savings, may be in both cases increased as a result of simultaneous intake of water from various water taps.

A classification of user-generated content into consumer decision journey stages.

PubMed

Vázquez, Silvia; Muñoz-García, Óscar; Campanella, Inés; Poch, Marc; Fisas, Beatriz; Bel, Nuria; Andreu, Gloria

2014-10-01

In the last decades, the availability of digital user-generated documents from social media has dramatically increased. This massive growth of user-generated content has also affected traditional shopping behaviour. Customers have embraced new communication channels such as microblogs and social networks that enable them not only just to talk with friends and acquaintances about their shopping experience, but also to search for opinions expressed by complete strangers as part of their decision making processes. Uncovering how customers feel about specific products or brands and detecting purchase habits and preferences has traditionally been a costly and highly time-consuming task which involved the use of methods such as focus groups and surveys. However, the new scenario calls for a deep assessment of current market research techniques in order to better interpret and profit from this ever-growing stream of attitudinal data. With this purpose, we present a novel analysis and classification of user-generated content in terms of it belonging to one of the four stages of the Consumer Decision Journey Court et al. (2009) (i.e. the purchase process from the moment when a customer is aware of the existence of the product to the moment when he or she buys, experiences and talks about it). Using a corpus of short texts written in English and Spanish and extracted from different social media, we identify a set of linguistic patterns for each purchase stage that will be then used in a rule-based classifier. Additionally, we use machine learning algorithms to automatically identify business indicators such as the Marketing Mix elements McCarthy and Brogowicz (1981). The classification of the purchase stages achieves an average precision of 74%. The proposed classification of texts depending on the Marketing Mix elements expressed achieved an average precision of 75% for all the elements analysed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Error Prevention Aid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

In a complex computer environment there is ample opportunity for error, a mistake by a programmer, or a software-induced undesirable side effect. In insurance, errors can cost a company heavily, so protection against inadvertent change is a must for the efficient firm. The data processing center at Transport Life Insurance Company has taken a step to guard against accidental changes by adopting a software package called EQNINT (Equations Interpreter Program). EQNINT cross checks the basic formulas in a program against the formulas that make up the major production system. EQNINT assures that formulas are coded correctly and helps catch errors before they affect the customer service or its profitability.

Small Retailer Perspectives of the 2009 Women, Infants and Children Program Food Package Changes

PubMed Central

Gittelsohn, Joel; Laska, Melissa N.; Andreyeva, Tatiana; Foster, Gary; Rose, Donald; Tester, June; Lee, Seung Hee; Zenk, Shannon N.; Odoms-Young, Angela; McCoy, Tara; Ayala, Guadalupe X.

2015-01-01

Objective To understand vendor perspectives regarding changes made in 2009 to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) food package. Methods Fifty-two in-depth, qualitative interviews with owners or managers of small stores in 8 urban areas across 7 states conducted 6-12 months after the changes. Results Store owners experienced implementation challenges, but felt the changes increased the number of customers, sales, and profits. Conclusion This research provides vendor perspectives on the 2009 WIC policy changes and may enhance policy implementation directed at increasing healthy food availability, particularly in urban communities. PMID:22584093

Development of a space universal modular architecture (SUMO)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Bernie F.

This concept paper proposes that the space community should develop and implement a universal standard for spacecraft modularity - to improve interoperability of spacecraft components. Pursuing a global industry consensus standard for open and modular spacecraft architecture will encourage trade, remove standards-related market barriers, and in the long run increase both value provided to customers and profitability of the space industrial sector. This concept paper sets out: (1) the goals for a SUMO standard and how it will benefit the space community; (2) background on spacecraft modularity and existing related standards; (3) the proposed technical scope of the current standardization effort; and (4) an approach for creating a SUMO standard.

Cost-volume-profit and net present value analysis of health information systems.

PubMed

McLean, R A

1998-08-01

The adoption of any information system should be justified by an economic analysis demonstrating that its projected benefits outweigh its projected costs. Analysis differ, however, on which methods to employ for such a justification. Accountants prefer cost-volume-profit analysis, and economists prefer net present value analysis. The article explains the strengths and weaknesses of each method and shows how they can be used together so that well-informed investments in information systems can be made.

Farm Business Management Analysis: Adjusting the Farm Business to Increase Profit. Unit III. Volume 15, Number 3. Instructor's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denker, Robert; And Others

Designed primarily for Missouri vocational agricultural instructors participating in the Farm Business Management Analysis Program, this instructor's guide, consisting of 10 lessons, deals with adjusting a farm business to increase profits. The following topics are covered in the individual lessons: law and the farm family, planning income tax…

Open pit mining profit maximization considering selling stage and waste rehabilitation cost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muttaqin, B. I. A.; Rosyidi, C. N.

2017-11-01

In open pit mining activities, determination of the cut-off grade becomes crucial for the company since the cut-off grade affects how much profit will be earned for the mining company. In this study, we developed a cut-off grade determination mode for the open pit mining industry considering the cost of mining, waste removal (rehabilitation) cost, processing cost, fixed cost, and selling stage cost. The main goal of this study is to develop a model of cut-off grade determination to get the maximum total profit. Secondly, this study is also developed to observe the model of sensitivity based on changes in the cost components. The optimization results show that the models can help mining company managers to determine the optimal cut-off grade and also estimate how much profit that can be earned by the mining company. To illustrate the application of the models, a numerical example and a set of sensitivity analysis are presented. From the results of sensitivity analysis, we conclude that the changes in the sales price greatly affects the optimal cut-off value and the total profit.

Leadership Strategies for Maintaining Profitability in a Volatile Crude Oil Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braimoh, Lucky Anderson

Volatile crude oil prices significantly affect the profitability of crude oil firms. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies some crude oil and gas business leaders used to remain profitable during periods of crude oil price volatility. The target population comprised 8 crude oil and gas business leaders located in Calgary, Canada, whose company remained profitable despite crude oil price volatility. The transformational leadership theory formed the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through the use of semistructured face-to-face interviews, company reports, and field notes. Data analysis involved a modified Van Kamm method, which included descriptive coding, a sequential review of the interview transcripts, and member checking. Based on methodological triangulation and thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged from the study, including communication and engagement; motivation and empowerment; measurement, monitoring, and control; self-awareness and humility; and efficiency and optimization. The implications for social change include the potential for crude oil and gas companies in Calgary, Canada to manage production costs, ensure earnings and profitability, and thus improve the socioeconomic well-being of Calgary indigenes through improved employment opportunities.

Application of Gray Relational Analysis Method in Comprehensive Evaluation on the Customer Satisfaction of Automobile 4S Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cenglin, Yao

The car sales enterprises could continuously boost sales and expand customer groups, an important method is to enhance the customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction of car sales enterprises (4S enterprises) depends on many factors. By using the grey relational analysis method, we could perfectly combine various factors in terms of customer satisfaction. And through the vertical contrast, car sales enterprises could find specific factors which will improve customer satisfaction, thereby increase sales volume and benefits. Gray relational analysis method has become a kind of good method and means to analyze and evaluate the enterprises.

Midmarket Solar Policies in the United States: A Guide for Midsized Solar Customers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tian, Tian; Liu, Chang; O'Shaughnessy, Eric

The midscale market for solar photovoltaics (PV) has not experienced the same high growth rate as residential- or utility-scale market segments in the past five years when solar PV deployment increased rapidly. Midscale solar can be defined as behind-the-meter solar PV between 50 kilowatts and 2 megawatts adopted by multi-housing residential, commercial, industrial, non-profit, and other entities. A number of challenges face the midscale segment, including difficulties in contracting, mismatch between tenant lease and PV financing terms, high transaction costs relative to project sizes, and inefficiencies in matching prospective projects with capital. The changing policy landscape across U.S. states providesmore » both opportunities and challenges to midmarket solar. Some states, such as California, are expanding system capacity limits for policies such as net metering, thus enabling a wider range of customers to benefit from excess generation. A number of states and utilities are making changes to rate design to introduce new or higher user fees for solar customers or reduced tariffs for net metering, which decrease the value of solar generation. An understanding of these policies relative to project feasibility and economics is important for prospective customers to make informed decisions to adopt solar PV. This guide complements existing solar policy resources to help potential customers navigate through the policy landscape in order to make informed decisions for their solar investment. The first part of this guide introduces the key solar policies necessary for policy-based decision-making, which involves using knowledge of a solar policy to improve project economics and efficiency. Policies that could result in policy-based decisions include interconnection standards, net metering, user fees, incentives, and third-party ownership policies. The goal of this section is to equip prospective customers and project developers with the tools necessary to understand and use solar policies in a dynamic policy environment. The second part of this guide provides a complete, state-by-state inventory of midmarket solar policies for potential customers and developers to use as reference when making policy-based decisions. Although solar policies are dynamic, the profiles provide a framework for assessing policies to build the parameters that could be used to determine feasibility and structure of a solar PV system for midmarket customers and developers.« less

Analysis of the rationale for, and consequences of, nonprofit and for-profit ownership conversions.

PubMed Central

Mark, T L

1999-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To examine percursors to private hospitals conversion, both from nonprofit status to for-profit status and from for-profit to nonprofit status, as well as the effect of hospital conversions on hospital profitability, efficiency, staffing, and the probability of closure. DATA SOURCES: The Health Care Financing Administration's Medicare Cost Reports and the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey of Hospitals. STUDY DESIGN: Bivariate and multivariate analyses comparing conversion hospitals to nonconversion hospitals over time were conducted. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: The study sample consisted of all private acute care hospital conversions that occurred from 1989 through 1992. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Hospitals that converted had significantly lower profit margins prior to converting than did nonconversion hospitals. This was particularly true for nonprofit to for-profit conversions. After converting, both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals significantly improved their profitability. Nonprofit to for-profit hospital conversions were associated with a decrease in the ratio of staff to patients. No association was found between for-profit to nonprofit conversion and staff-to-patient ratios. The difference seems partially attributed to the fact that nonprofit hospitals that converted had higher staff ratios than the industry average. For-profit to nonprofit hospital conversions were associated with an increase in the ratio of registered nurses to patients and administrators to patients, despite the fact that nonprofit and for-profit hospitals did not differ in these ratios. CONCLUSIONS: The improvement in financial performance following hospital conversions may be a benefit to the community that policymakers want to consider when regulating hospital conversions. PMID:10201853

Revenue-based cost assignment: a potent but hidden threat to the survival of the multispecialty medical practice.

PubMed

Cooper, Robin; Kramer, Theresa R

2010-03-01

To demonstrate detrimental effects of revenue-based cost assignment (RBCA) in clinical practice and to compare that system with activity-based costing (ABC). Four cost-allocation methods including RBCA were applied to a comprehensive ophthalmology practice using typical accounting methods. Data were obtained by a survey of practitioners or practices and/or extracted from decision support and practice management systems. Inaccuracies and distortions in reported costs were enumerated. Accounting scenario analysis was used to predict resultant provider and managerial decisions. A sampling survey was used to analyze other specialties. ABC was applied to the practice. RBCA causes procedures with higher profitability to appear less profitable and those with lower profitability to appear more profitable. The distortion in reported costs, in medical settings, is often sufficient to incentivize providers with higher profitability to exit a practice and those with lower profitability to remain in it. The departure of providers causes the residual practice profits to decline. These detrimental effects occur in many subspecialties, which suggests a national effect on health care. ABC allocation can reduce cost distortions and eliminate detrimental effects. RBCA leads to fragmentation of health care and a reduction in the profitability of multispecialty practices. Its use may slow the updating of reimbursement and help eliminate low-profitability specialties.

Organizational Culture and Its Relationship with Hospital Performance in Public Hospitals in China

PubMed Central

Zhou, Ping; Bundorf, Kate; Chang, Ji; Huang, Jin Xin; Xue, Di

2011-01-01

Objective To measure perceptions of organizational culture among employees of public hospitals in China and to determine whether perceptions are associated with hospital performance. Data Sources Hospital, employee, and patient surveys from 87 Chinese public hospitals conducted during 2009. Study Design Developed and administered a tool to assess organizational culture in Chinese public hospitals. Used factor analysis to create measures of organizational culture. Analyzed the relationships between employee type and perceptions of culture and between perceptions of culture and hospital performance using multivariate models. Principal Findings Employees perceived the culture of Chinese public hospitals as stronger in internal rules and regulations, and weaker in empowerment. Hospitals in which employees perceived that the culture emphasized cost control were more profitable and had higher rates of outpatient visits and bed days per physician per day but also had lower levels of patient satisfaction. Hospitals with cultures perceived as customer-focused had longer length of stay but lower patient satisfaction. Conclusions Managers in Chinese public hospitals should consider whether the culture of their organization will enable them to respond effectively to their changing environment. PMID:22092228

Using of material-technological modelling for designing production of closed die forgings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, K.; Vorel, I.; Jeníček, Š.; Káňa, J.; Aišman, D.; Kotěšovec, V.

2017-02-01

Production of forgings is a complex and demanding process which consists of a number of forging operations and, in many cases, includes post-forge heat treatment. An optimized manufacturing line is a prerequisite for obtaining prime-quality products which in turn are essential to profitable operation of a forging company. Problems may, however, arise from modifications to the manufacturing route due to changing customer needs. As a result, the production may have to be suspended temporarily to enable changeover and optimization. Using material-technological modelling, the required modifications can be tested and optimized under laboratory conditions outside the plant without disrupting the production. Thanks to material-technological modelling, the process parameters can be varied rapidly in response to changes in market requirements. Outcomes of the modelling runs include optimum parameters for the forging part’s manufacturing route, values of mechanical properties, and results of microstructure analysis. This article describes the use of material-technological modelling for exploring the impact of the amount of deformation and the rate of cooling of a particular forged part from the finish-forging temperature on its microstructure and related mechanical properties.

Organizational culture and its relationship with hospital performance in public hospitals in China.

PubMed

Zhou, Ping; Bundorf, Kate; Le Chang, Ji; Huang, Jin Xin; Xue, Di

2011-12-01

To measure perceptions of organizational culture among employees of public hospitals in China and to determine whether perceptions are associated with hospital performance. Hospital, employee, and patient surveys from 87 Chinese public hospitals conducted during 2009. Developed and administered a tool to assess organizational culture in Chinese public hospitals. Used factor analysis to create measures of organizational culture. Analyzed the relationships between employee type and perceptions of culture and between perceptions of culture and hospital performance using multivariate models. Employees perceived the culture of Chinese public hospitals as stronger in internal rules and regulations, and weaker in empowerment. Hospitals in which employees perceived that the culture emphasized cost control were more profitable and had higher rates of outpatient visits and bed days per physician per day but also had lower levels of patient satisfaction. Hospitals with cultures perceived as customer-focused had longer length of stay but lower patient satisfaction. Managers in Chinese public hospitals should consider whether the culture of their organization will enable them to respond effectively to their changing environment. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Building online brand perceptual map.

PubMed

Chiang, I-Ping; Lin, Chih-Ying; Wang, Kaisheng M

2008-10-01

Many companies have launched their products or services online as a new business focus, but only a few of them have survived the competition and made profits. The most important key to an online business's success is to create "brand value" for the customers. Although the concept of online brand has been discussed in previous studies, there is no empirical study on the measurement of online branding. As Web 2.0 emerges to be critical to online branding, the purpose of this study was to measure Taiwan's major Web sites with a number of personality traits to build a perceptual map for online brands. A pretest identified 10 most representative online brand perceptions. The results of the correspondence analysis showed five groups in the perceptual map. This study provided a practical view of the associations and similarities among online brands for potential alliance or branding strategies. The findings also suggested that brand perceptions can be used with identified consumer needs and behaviors to better position online services. The brand perception map in the study also contributed to a better understanding of the online brands in Taiwan.

Assessing the system value of optimal load shifting

DOE PAGES

Merrick, James; Ye, Yinyu; Entriken, Bob

2017-04-30

We analyze a competitive electricity market, where consumers exhibit optimal load shifting behavior to maximize utility and producers/suppliers maximize their profit under supply capacity constraints. The associated computationally tractable formulation can be used to inform market design or policy analysis in the context of increasing availability of the smart grid technologies that enable optimal load shifting. Through analytic and numeric assessment of the model, we assess the equilibrium value of optimal electricity load shifting, including how the value changes as more electricity consumers adopt associated technologies. For our illustrative numerical case, derived from the Current Trends scenario of the ERCOTmore » Long Term System Assessment, the average energy arbitrage value per ERCOT customer of optimal load shifting technologies is estimated to be $3 for the 2031 scenario year. We assess the sensitivity of this result to the flexibility of load, along with its relationship to the deployment of renewables. Finally, the model presented can also be a starting point for designing system operation infrastructure that communicates with the devices that schedule loads in response to price signals.« less

Assessing the system value of optimal load shifting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Merrick, James; Ye, Yinyu; Entriken, Bob

We analyze a competitive electricity market, where consumers exhibit optimal load shifting behavior to maximize utility and producers/suppliers maximize their profit under supply capacity constraints. The associated computationally tractable formulation can be used to inform market design or policy analysis in the context of increasing availability of the smart grid technologies that enable optimal load shifting. Through analytic and numeric assessment of the model, we assess the equilibrium value of optimal electricity load shifting, including how the value changes as more electricity consumers adopt associated technologies. For our illustrative numerical case, derived from the Current Trends scenario of the ERCOTmore » Long Term System Assessment, the average energy arbitrage value per ERCOT customer of optimal load shifting technologies is estimated to be $3 for the 2031 scenario year. We assess the sensitivity of this result to the flexibility of load, along with its relationship to the deployment of renewables. Finally, the model presented can also be a starting point for designing system operation infrastructure that communicates with the devices that schedule loads in response to price signals.« less

A methodological comparison of customer service analysis techniques

Treesearch

James Absher; Alan Graefe; Robert Burns

2003-01-01

Techniques used to analyze customer service data need to be studied. Two primary analysis protocols, importance-performance analysis (IP) and gap score analysis (GA), are compared in a side-by-side comparison using data from two major customer service research projects. A central concern is what, if any, conclusion might be different due solely to the analysis...

Putting Automated Visual Inspection Systems To Work On The Factory Floor: What's Missing?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waltz, Frederick M.; Snyder, Michael A.; Batchelor, Bruce G.

1990-02-01

Machine vision systems and other automated visual inspection (AVI) systems have been proving their usefulness in factories for more than a decade. In spite of this, the number of installed systems is far below the number that could profitably be employed. In the opinion of the authors, the primary reason for this is the high cost of customizing vision systems to meet applications requirements. A three-part approach to this problem has proven to be useful: 1. A multi-phase paradigm for customer interaction, system specification, system development, and system installation; 2. A powerful and easy-to-use system development environment, including a a flexible laboratory lighting setup, plus software-based tools to assist in the design of image acquisition systems, b. an image processing environment with a very large repertoire of image processing and feature extraction operations and an easy-to-use command interpreter having macro capabilities, and c. an image analysis environment with high-level constructs, a flexible and powerful syntax, and a "seamless" interface to the image processing level; and 3. A moderately-priced high-speed "target" system fully compatible with the development environment, so that algorithms developed thereon can be transferred directly to the factory environment without further development costs or reprogramming. Items 1 and 2 are covered in other papers1,23,4,5 and are touched on here only briefly. Item 3 is the main subject of this paper. Our major motivation in presenting this paper is to offer suggestions to vendors developing commercial boards and systems, in hopes that the special needs of industrial inspection can be met.

Desert Express: An Analysis on Improved Customer Service

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

Nt MARQ 3,199 Of. DESERT EXPRESS: AN ANALYSIS ON IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE THESIS Thomas C Thaiheim, Majo-,r USAF AFTT/GLM/LSM,/91S-64 ?Z; W...Astq vt.: tyc a l AFIT/GLM/,LSM/91S-64 DESERT EXPRESS: AN ANALYSIS ON IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE THESIS Thomas C. Thalheim, Major, USAF AFIT/GLM/LSM...91S-64 Approved for public release; distribution unlimited AFIT/GLM/LSM/91S-64 DESERT EXPRESS: AN ANALYSIS ON IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE THESIS

Cigarette sales to women and children in urban Thailand.

PubMed

Jirojwong, Sansnee

2003-03-01

This descriptive study aimed to document cigarette retailers' knowledge and behaviors about the minimum legal age of cigarette buyers, and their estimates of the proportion of children and women among cigarette buyers. The study was conducted among 70 shop attendants in Hat Yai and Chon Buri cities. A semi-structured interview method was used to collect data using open-ended and close-ended questions. Qualitative data gained from observation and in-depth interviews among six shop owners provided information to support data collected from semi-structured interviews. Cigarettes are sold in small family-run food and household item shops. Although cigarette sales provide limited profits, they were described as essential to attract customers. Twenty-four percent sold only Thai cigarettes, 4% sold only imported cigarettes and 72% sold both. Almost one-third said they did not know the minimum legal age and more than half sold cigarettes to persons younger than 18 years. Single Thai cigarettes were sold to poor customers and to children. A small proportion (13%) said that 50% of their cigarette customers were women. It is possible that women and children were buying for adult males. Although cigarette sales to children younger than 18 years have been prohibited in Thailand for almost ten years, this information was only acknowledged by a small proportion of the shopkeepers. More research is needed on smoking prevalence and the reasons for initiating of smoking in women and children.

Unbundling the corporation.

PubMed

Hagel, J; Singer, M

1999-01-01

No matter how monolithic they may seem, most companies are really engaged in three kinds of businesses. One business attracts customers. Another develops products. The third oversees operations. Although organizationally intertwined, these businesses have conflicting characteristics. It takes a big investment to find and develop a relationship with a customer, so profitability hinges on achieving economies of scope. But speed, not scope, drives the economics of product innovation. And the high fixed costs of capital-intensive infrastructure businesses require economies of scale. Scope, speed, and scale can't be optimized simultaneously, so trade-offs have to be made when the three businesses are bundled into one corporation. Historically, they have been bundled because the interaction costs--the friction--incurred by separating them were too high. But we are on the verge of a worldwide reduction in interaction costs, the authors contend, as electronic networks drive down the costs of communicating and of exchanging data. Activities that companies have always believed were central to their businesses will suddenly be offered by new, specialized competitors that won't have to make trade-offs. Ultimately, the authors predict, traditional businesses will unbundle and then rebundle into large infrastructure and customer-relationship businesses and small, nimble product innovation companies. And executives in many industries will be forced to ask the most basic question about their companies: What business are we really in? Their answer will determine their fate in an increasingly frictionless economy.

Tools and Strategies for Product Life Cycle Management ñ A Case Study in Foundry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patil, Rajashekar; Kumar, S. Mohan; Abhilash, E.

2012-08-01

Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have opened new possibilities of collaborations among the customers, suppliers, manufactures and partners to effectively tackle various business challenges. Product Life Cycle Management(PLM) has been a proven approach for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to increase their productivity, improve their product quality, speed up delivery, and increase their profit and to become more efficient. However, their Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers like foundry industries are still in their infancy without adopting PLM. Hence to enhance their understanding, the basic concepts, the tools and strategies for PLM are presented is this paper. By selecting and implementing appropriate PLM strategies in a small foundry, an attempt was also made to understand the immediate benefits of using PLM tools (commercial PLM software and digital manufacturing tools). This study indicated a reduction in lead time and improved utilization of organizational resources in the production of automobile impeller. These observations may be further extrapolated to other multiproduct, multi-discipline and multi-customer companies to realize the advantages of using PLM technology

Facebook's personal page modelling and simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarlis, Apostolos S.; Sakas, Damianos P.; Vlachos, D. S.

2015-02-01

In this paper we will try to define the utility of Facebook's Personal Page marketing method. This tool that Facebook provides, is modelled and simulated using iThink in the context of a Facebook marketing agency. The paper has leveraged the system's dynamic paradigm to conduct Facebook marketing tools and methods modelling, using iThink™ system to implement them. It uses the design science research methodology for the proof of concept of the models and modelling processes. The following model has been developed for a social media marketing agent/company, Facebook platform oriented and tested in real circumstances. This model is finalized through a number of revisions and iterators of the design, development, simulation, testing and evaluation processes. The validity and usefulness of this Facebook marketing model for the day-to-day decision making are authenticated by the management of the company organization. Facebook's Personal Page method can be adjusted, depending on the situation, in order to maximize the total profit of the company which is to bring new customers, keep the interest of the old customers and deliver traffic to its website.

Returns on equity to not-for-profit hospitals: theory and implementation.

PubMed Central

Conrad, D A

1984-01-01

It is argued that not-for-profit hospitals can be assumed to generate a return on equity capital due, in principle, to competition in the final product market for hospital services and in the capital market. Practical difficulties in identifying claimants to the net income of the firm, as well as the incentive problems of cost-based reimbursement, suggest that a competitive pricing approach is likely to be the appropriate means to provide a reasonable return on equity for the not-for-profit and the for-profit hospital. Implications of the analysis for the correct discount rate in investment decisions are outlined. PMID:6724955

77 FR 7281 - Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Distribution Transformers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-10

... Manufacturing Transformers H. Customer Subgroup Analysis I. Manufacturer Impact Analysis 1. Overview 2... Justification and Energy Savings 1. Economic Impacts on Customers a. Life-Cycle Cost and Payback Period b. Customer Subgroup Analysis c. Rebuttable-Presumption Payback 2. Economic Impact on Manufacturers a...

Hospital finance.

PubMed

Herman, M J

1998-01-01

This article summarizes key areas of focus for the analysis of risk in the hospital segment of the health care industry. The article is written from a commercial bank lending perspective. Both for-profit (C-corporations) and 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit segments are addressed.

An Integrated Model for Supplier Selection for a High-Tech Manufacturer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Amy H. I.; Kang, He-Yau; Lin, Chun-Yu

2011-11-01

Global competitiveness has become the biggest concern of manufacturing companies, especially in high-tech industries. Improving competitive edges in an environment with rapidly changing technological innovations and dynamic customer needs is essential for a firm to survive and to acquire a decent profit. Thus, the introduction of successful new products is a source of new sales and profits and is a necessity in the intense competitive international market. After a product is developed, a firm needs the cooperation of upstream suppliers to provide satisfactory components and parts for manufacturing final products. Therefore, the selection of suitable suppliers has also become a very important decision. In this study, an analytical approach is proposed to select the most appropriate critical-part suppliers in order to maintain a high reliability of the supply chain. A fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) model, which incorporates the benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR) concept, is constructed to evaluate various aspects of suppliers. The proposed model is adopted in a TFT-LCD manufacturer in Taiwan in evaluating the expected performance of suppliers with respect to each important factor, and an overall ranking of the suppliers can be generated as a result.

Third-Party Finance for Commercial Photovoltaic Systems: The Rise of the PPA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bolinger, Mark A

2009-02-15

Installations of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States have increased dramatically in recent years, growing from less than 20 MW in 2000 to nearly 500 MW at the end of 2007, a compound average annual growth rate of 59%. Of particular note is the increasing contribution of 'non-residential' grid-connected PV systems--defined here as those systems installed on the customer (rather than utility) side of the meter at commercial, institutional, non-profit, or governmental properties--to the overall growth trend. Although there is some uncertainty in the numbers, non-residential PV capacity grew from less than half of aggregate annual capacity installationsmore » in 2000-2002 to nearly two-thirds in 2007. This relative growth trend is expected to have continued through 2008. This article, which is excerpted from a longer report, focuses specifically on just one subset of the non-residential PV market: systems hosted (and perhaps owned) by commercial, tax-paying entities. Tax-exempt entities (e.g., non-profits or municipalities) face unique issues and have different financing options at their disposal; readers interested in PV financing options for tax-exempt entities can find more information in the Bolinger report.« less

Polemics on Ethical Aspects in the Compost Business.

PubMed

Maroušek, Josef; Hašková, Simona; Zeman, Robert; Žák, Jaroslav; Vaníčková, Radka; Maroušková, Anna; Váchal, Jan; Myšková, Kateřina

2016-04-01

This paper focuses on compost use in overpasses and underpasses for wild animals over roads and other similar linear structures. In this context, good quality of compost may result in faster and more resistant vegetation cover during the year. Inter alia, this can be interpreted also as reduction of damage and saving lives. There are millions of tones of plant residue produced every day worldwide. These represent prospective business for manufacturers of compost additives called "accelerators". The opinions of the sale representatives' with regards to other alternatives of biowaste utilization and their own products were reviewed. The robust analyzes of several "accelerated" composts revealed that the quality was generally low. Only two accelerated composts were somewhat similar in quality to the blank sample that was produced according to the traditional procedure. Overlaps between the interests of decision makers on future soil fertility were weighed against the preferences on short-term profit. Possible causes that allowed the boom of these underperforming products and the possible consequences are also discussed. Conclusions regarding the ethical concerns on how to run businesses with products whose profitability depends on weaknesses in the legal system and customer unawareness are to follow.

Optimization of a Future RLV Business Case using Multiple Strategic Market Prices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charania, A.; Olds, J. R.

2002-01-01

There is a lack of depth in the current paradigm of conceptual level economic models used to evaluate the value and viability of future capital projects such as a commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV). Current modeling methods assume a single price is charged to all customers, public or private, in order to optimize the economic metrics of interest. This assumption may not be valid given the different utility functions for space services of public and private entities. The government's requirements are generally more inflexible than its commercial counterparts. A government's launch schedules are much more rigid, choices of international launch services restricted, and launch specifications generally more stringent as well as numerous. These requirements generally make the government's demand curve more inelastic. Subsequently, a launch vehicle provider will charge a higher price (launch price per kg) to the government and may obtain a higher level of financial profit compared to an equivalent a commercial payload. This profit is not a sufficient condition to enable RLV development by itself but can help in making the financial situation slightly better. An RLV can potentially address multiple payload markets; each market has a different price elasticity of demand for both the commercial and government customer. Thus, a more resilient examination of the economic landscape requires optimization of multiple prices in which each price affects a different demand curve. Such an examination is performed here using the Cost and Business Analysis Module (CABAM), an MS-Excel spreadsheet-based model that attempts to couple both the demand and supply for space transportation services in the future. The demand takes the form of market assumptions (both near-term and far-term) and the supply comes from user-defined vehicles that are placed into the model. CABAM represents RLV projects as commercial endeavors with the possibility to model the effects of government contribution, tax-breaks, loan guarantees, etc. The optimization performed here is for a 3rd Generation RLV program. The economic metric being optimized (maximized) is Net Present Value (NPV) based upon a given company financial structure and cost of capital assumptions. Such an optimization process demands more sophisticated optimizers and can result in non-unique solutions/local minimums if using gradient-based optimization. Domain spanning/evolutionary algorithms are used to obtain the optimized solution in the design space. These capabilities generally increase model calculation time but incorporate realistic pricing portfolios than just assuming one unified price for all launch markets. This analysis is conducted with CABAM running in Phoenix Integration's ModelCenter 4.0 collaborative design environment using the SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI) OptWorks suite of optimization components.

Preintervention Analysis and Improvement of Customer Greeting in a Restaurant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Therrien, Kelly; Wilder, David A.; Rodriguez, Manuel; Wine, Byron

2005-01-01

We examined customer greeting by employees at one location of a sandwich restaurant chain. First, a preintervention analysis was conducted to determine the conditions under which greeting a customer within 3 s of his or her entry into the restaurant did and did not occur. Results suggested that an appropriate customer greeting was most likely to…

Is NIPARS Working as Advertised? An Analysis of NIPARS Program Customer Service

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-01

AD-A259 733IN I II I ll IMiiiI Gil III 11 AFIT/GLM/LSM/92S- 17 IS NIPARS WORKING AS ADVERTISED ? AN ANALYSIS OFNIPARS PROGRAM CUSTOMER SERVICE THESIS...and/or Dist Speoiai. AFIT/GLM/LSM/92S-17 IS NIPARS WORKING AS ADVERTISED ? AN ANALYSIS OF NIPARS PROGRAM CUSTOMER SERVICE THESIS Presented to the...measures. x1i IS NIPARS WORKING AS ADVERTISED ? AN ANALYSIS OF NIPARS PROGRAM CUSTOMER SERVICE L Introduction 1.1 Overview Foreign policy must start with

Analysis of design tool attributes with regards to sustainability benefits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zain, S.; Ismail, A. F.; Ahmad, Z.; Adesta, E. Y. T.

2018-01-01

The trend of global manufacturing competitiveness has shown a significant shift from profit and customer driven business to a more harmonious sustainability paradigm. This new direction, which emphasises the interests of three pillars of sustainability, i.e., social, economic and environment dimensions, has changed the ways products are designed. As a result, the roles of design tools in the product development stage of manufacturing in adapting to the new strategy are vital and increasingly challenging. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the attributes of design tools with regards to the sustainability perspective. Four well-established design tools are selected, namely Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Failure Mode and Element Analysis (FMEA), Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Design for Environment (DfE). By analysing previous studies, the main attributes of each design tool and its benefits with respect to each sustainability dimension throughout four stages of product lifecycle are discussed. From this study, it is learnt that each of the design tools contributes to the three pillars of sustainability either directly or indirectly, but they are unbalanced and not holistic. Therefore, the prospective of improving and optimising the design tools is projected, and the possibility of collaboration between the different tools is discussed.

A longitudinal analysis of the impact of hospital service line profitability on the likelihood of readmission.

PubMed

Navathe, Amol S; Volpp, Kevin G; Konetzka, R Tamara; Press, Matthew J; Zhu, Jingsan; Chen, Wei; Lindrooth, Richard C

2012-08-01

Quality of care may be linked to the profitability of admissions in addition to level of reimbursement. Prior policy reforms reduced payments that differentially affected the average profitability of various admission types. The authors estimated a Cox competing risks model, controlling for the simultaneous risk of mortality post discharge, to determine whether the average profitability of hospital service lines to which a patient was admitted was associated with the likelihood of readmission within 30 days. The sample included 12,705,933 Medicare Fee for Service discharges from 2,438 general acute care hospitals during 1997, 2001, and 2005. There was no evidence of an association between changes in average service line profitability and changes in readmission risk, even when controlling for risk of mortality. These findings are reassuring in that the profitability of patients' admissions did not affect readmission rates, and together with other evidence may suggest that readmissions are not an unambiguous quality indicator for in-hospital care.

Medicine as a business.

PubMed

Matthews, Merrill

2004-09-01

There is a growing debate over whether medicine should function like a business, guided, as businesses are, by concerns such as profits and customer satisfaction. Of course, for-profit businesses already permeate medicine, and those businesses are not confused about their priorities: providing high quality goods and services people want, at affordable prices. These companies know that they must do well in order to continue doing good. Critics of the business model argue that the profit motive makes health care too expensive and that only by nationalizing the health care system can doctors provide high quality care at an affordable cost to society. However, a survey of journals and newspaper articles about the Canadian health care system, often cited as an anti-business model for U.S. reform, reveals that quality has suffered significantly under that system. Patients wait in long lines for health care, and sometimes cannot get help at all. This paper argues that incentives in the U.S. health care system are complicated, and that health care needs to work more like a business--not less. Doctors don't know whom they are serving--patients, insurers, employers or the government--because it is usually someone other than the patient who it paying the bill. The way to get the incentives structured properly is to allow patients to control more of their health care dollars--perhaps through a system of Medical Savings Accounts. Following the business model is the only way to ensure that medicine provides high quality services at affordable prices--just like every other sector of the economy.

Wise Investment? Modeling Industry Profitability and Risk of Targeted Chemotherapy for Incurable Solid Cancers

PubMed Central

Conter, Henry J.; Chu, Quincy S.C.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Pharmaceutical development involves substantial financial risk. This risk, rising development costs, and the promotion of continued research and development have been cited as major drivers in the progressive increase in drug prices. Currently, cost-effective analyses are being used to determine the value of treatment. However, cost-effective analyses practically function as a threshold for value and do not directly address the rationale for drug prices. We set out to create a functional model for industry price decisions and clarify the minimum acceptable profitability of new drugs. Methods: Assuming that industry should only invest in profitable ventures, we employed a linear cost-volume-profit breakeven analysis to equate initial capital investment and risk and post–drug-approval profits, where drug development represents the bulk of investment. A Markov decision analysis model was also used to define the relationships between investment events risk. A systematic literature search was performed to determine event probabilities, clinical trial costs, and total expenses as inputs into the model. Disease-specific inputs, current market size across regions, and lengths of treatment for cancer types were also included. Results: With development of single novel chemotherapies costing from $802 to $1,042 million (2002 US dollars), pharmaceutical profits should range from $4.3 to $5.2 billion, with an expected rate of return on investment of 11% annually. However, diversification across cancer types for chemotherapy can reduce the minimum required profit to less than $3 billion. For optimal diversification, industry should study four tumor types per drug; however, nonprofit organizations could tolerate eight parallel development tracks to minimize the risk of development failure. Assuming that pharmaceutical companies hold exclusive rights for drug sales for only 5 years after market approval, the minimum required profit per drug per month per patient ranges from $294 for end-stage lung cancer to $3,231 for end-stage renal cell carcinoma. Conclusion: Pharmaceutical development in oncology is costly, with substantial risk, but is also highly profitable. Minimum acceptable profits per drug per month of treatment per patient vary with prevalence of disease, but they should be less than $5,000 per month of treatment in the developed world. Minimum acceptable profits may be lower for treatments with additional efficacy in the earlier stages of a tumor type. However, this type of event could not be statistically modeled. PMID:29447097

Long memory in patterns of mobile phone usage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owczarczuk, Marcin

2012-02-01

In this article we show that usage of a mobile phone, i.e. daily series of number of calls made by a customer, exhibits long memory. We use a sample of 4502 postpaid users from a Polish mobile operator and study their two-year billing history. We estimate Hurst exponent by nine estimators: aggregated variance method, differencing the variance, absolute values of the aggregated series, Higuchi's method, residuals of regression, the R/S method, periodogram method, modified periodogram method and Whittle estimator. We also analyze empirically relations between estimators. Long memory implies an inertial effect in clients' behavior which may be used by mobile operators to accelerate usage and gain additional profit.

A scalable delivery framework and a pricing model for streaming media with advertisements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Hadrusi, Musab; Sarhan, Nabil J.

2008-01-01

This paper presents a delivery framework for streaming media with advertisements and an associated pricing model. The delivery model combines the benefits of periodic broadcasting and stream merging. The advertisements' revenues are used to subsidize the price of the media content. The pricing is determined based on the total ads' viewing time. Moreover, this paper presents an efficient ad allocation scheme and three modified scheduling policies that are well suited to the proposed delivery framework. Furthermore, we study the effectiveness of the delivery framework and various scheduling polices through extensive simulation in terms of numerous metrics, including customer defection probability, average number of ads viewed per client, price, arrival rate, profit, and revenue.

Application of queuing theory in inventory systems with substitution flexibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seyedhoseini, S. M.; Rashid, Reza; Kamalpour, Iman; Zangeneh, Erfan

2015-03-01

Considering the competition in today's business environment, tactical planning of a supply chain becomes more complex than before. In many multi-product inventory systems, substitution flexibility can improve profits. This paper aims to prepare a comprehensive substitution inventory model, where an inventory system with two substitute products with ignorable lead time has been considered, and effects of simultaneous ordering have been examined. In this paper, demands of customers for both of the products have been regarded as stochastic parameters, and queuing theory has been used to construct a mathematical model. The model has been coded by C++, and it has been analyzed due to a real example, where the results indicate efficiency of proposed model.

Analysis of Customer Loyalty through Total Quality Service, Customer Relationship Management and Customer Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Binsar Kristian P., Feliks Anggia; Panjaitan, Hotman

2014-01-01

This research talks about total quality service and customer relationship management effects toward customer satisfaction and its impact on customer loyalty. Fast food restaurant KFC, always strives to continue to make improvements in total quality service, so that customer satisfaction can be maintained, which in turn will have an impact on…

The sales learning curve.

PubMed

Leslie, Mark; Holloway, Charles A

2006-01-01

When a company launches a new product into a new market, the temptation is to immediately ramp up sales force capacity to gain customers as quickly as possible. But hiring a full sales force too early just causes the firm to burn through cash and fail to meet revenue expectations. Before it can sell an innovative product efficiently, the entire organization needs to learn how customers will acquire and use it, a process the authors call the sales learning curve. The concept of a learning curve is well understood in manufacturing. Employees transfer knowledge and experience back and forth between the production line and purchasing, manufacturing, engineering, planning, and operations. The sales learning curve unfolds similarly through the give-and-take between the company--marketing, sales, product support, and product development--and its customers. As customers adopt the product, the firm modifies both the offering and the processes associated with making and selling it. Progress along the manufacturing curve is measured by tracking cost per unit: The more a firm learns about the manufacturing process, the more efficient it becomes, and the lower the unit cost goes. Progress along the sales learning curve is measured in an analogous way: The more a company learns about the sales process, the more efficient it becomes at selling, and the higher the sales yield. As the sales yield increases, the sales learning process unfolds in three distinct phases--initiation, transition, and execution. Each phase requires a different size--and kind--of sales force and represents a different stage in a company's production, marketing, and sales strategies. Adjusting those strategies as the firm progresses along the sales learning curve allows managers to plan resource allocation more accurately, set appropriate expectations, avoid disastrous cash shortfalls, and reduce both the time and money required to turn a profit.

Defeating feature fatigue.

PubMed

Rust, Roland T; Thompson, Debora Viana; Hamilton, Rebecca W

2006-02-01

Consider a coffeemaker that offers 12 drink options, a car with more than 700 features on the dashboard, and a mouse pad that's also a clock, calculator, and FM radio. All are examples of "feature bloat", or "featuritis", the result of an almost irresistible temptation to load products with lots of bells and whistles. The problem is that the more features a product boasts, the harder it is to use. Manufacturers that increase a product's capability--the number of useful functions it can perform--at the expense of its usability are exposing their customers to feature fatigue. The authors have conducted three studies to gain a better understanding of how consumers weigh a product's capability relative to its usability. They found that even though consumers know that products with more features are harder to use, they initially choose high-feature models. They also pile on more features when given the chance to customize a product for their needs. Once consumers have actually worked with a product, however, usability starts to matter more to them than capability. For managers in consumer products companies, these findings present a dilemma: Should they maximize initial sales by designing high-feature models, which consumers consistently choose, or should they limit the number of features in order to enhance the lifetime value of their customers? The authors' analytical model guides companies toward a happy middle ground: maximizing the net present value of the typical customer's profit stream. The authors also advise companies to build simpler products, help consumers learn which products suit their needs, develop products that do one thing very well, and design market research in which consumers use actual products or prototypes.

Managing for creativity.

PubMed

Florida, Richard; Goodnight, Jim

2005-01-01

A company's most important asset isn't raw materials, transportation systems, or political influence. It's creative capital--simply put, an arsenal of creative thinkers whose ideas can be turned into valuable products and services. Creative employees pioneer new technologies, birth new industries, and power economic growth. If you want your company to succeed, these are the people you entrust it to. But how do you accommodate the complex and chaotic nature of the creative process while increasing efficiency, improving quality, and raising productivity? Most businesses haven't figured this out. A notable exception is SAS Institute, the world's largest privately held software company. SAS makes Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list every year. The company has enjoyed low employee turnover, high customer satisfaction, and 28 straight years of revenue growth. What's the secret to all this success? The authors, an academic and a CEO, approach this question differently, but they've come to the same conclusion: SAS has learned how to harness the creative energies of all its stakeholders, including its customers, software developers, managers, and support staff. Its framework for managing creativity rests on three guiding principles. First, help employees do their best work by keeping them intellectually engaged and by removing distractions. Second, make managers responsible for sparking creativity and eliminate arbitrary distinctions between "suits" and "creatives". And third, engage customers as creative partners so you can deliver superior products. Underlying all three principles is a mandate to foster interaction--not just to collect individuals' ideas. By nurturing relationships among developers, salespeople, and customers, SAS is investing in its future creative capital. Within a management framework like SAS's, creativity and productivity flourish, flexibility and profitability go hand in hand, and work/life balance and hard work aren't mutually exclusive.

Profitability of grazing versus mechanical forage harvesting on New York dairy farms.

PubMed

Gloy, B A; Tauer, L W; Knoblauch, W

2002-09-01

The profitability of rotational grazing versus mechanical harvesting of forages was estimated using data from 237 nongrazing and 57 grazing farms participating in the New York farm business summary program in the year 2000. The objective was to perform an empirical comparison of the profitability of grazing versus mechanical forage harvesting systems. A regression analysis technique that controls for treatment selection bias is used to determine the impact of grazing on the rate of return on assets. This is accomplished by joint maximum likelihood estimation of a probit adoption function and a profit function. The results indicate that treatment selection does not have an important impact on the estimate of the profitability of grazing. There were wide ranges and overlap of profitability among herds using the two systems. However, other things equal, farmers utilizing grazing systems were at least if not more profitable than farmers not using grazing systems. After controlling for the factors influencing the decision to graze, we found that herd size, rate of milk production per cow, and prices received for milk have a strong positive impact on profitability. Farmers who perceive potential lifestyle benefits that might be obtained by implementing a grazing system likely do not have to pay an income penalty for adopting a grazing system.

Profit and loss analysis for an intensive care unit (ICU) in Japan: a tool for strategic management

PubMed Central

Cao, Pengyu; Toyabe, Shin-ichi; Abe, Toshikazu; Akazawa, Kouhei

2006-01-01

Background Accurate cost estimate and a profit and loss analysis are necessary for health care practice. We performed an actual financial analysis for an intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital in Japan, and tried to discuss the health care policy and resource allocation decisions that have an impact on critical intensive care. Methods The costs were estimated by a department level activity based costing method, and the profit and loss analysis was based on a break-even point analysis. The data used included the monthly number of patients, the revenue, and the direct and indirect costs of the ICU in 2003. Results The results of this analysis showed that the total costs of US$ 2,678,052 of the ICU were mainly incurred due to direct costs of 88.8%. On the other hand, the actual annual total patient days in the ICU were 1,549 which resulted in revenues of US$ 2,295,044. However, it was determined that the ICU required at least 1,986 patient days within one fiscal year based on a break-even point analysis. As a result, an annual deficit of US$ 383,008 has occurred in the ICU. Conclusion These methods are useful for determining the profits or losses for the ICU practice, and how to evaluate and to improve it. In this study, the results indicate that most ICUs in Japanese hospitals may not be profitable at the present time. As a result, in order to increase the income to make up for this deficit, an increase of 437 patient days in the ICU in one fiscal year is needed, and the number of patients admitted to the ICU should thus be increased without increasing the number of beds or staff members. Increasing the number of patients referred from cooperating hospitals and clinics therefore appears to be the best strategy for achieving these goals. PMID:16403235

The importance of working capital management for hospital profitability: evidence from bond-issuing, not-for-profit U.S. hospitals.

PubMed

Rauscher, Simone; Wheeler, John R C

2012-01-01

Increased financial pressures on hospitals have elevated the importance of working capital management, that is, the management of current assets and current liabilities, for hospitals' profitability. Efficient working capital management allows hospitals to reduce their holdings of current assets, such as inventory and accounts receivable, which earn no interest income and require financing with short-term debt. The resulting cash inflows can be reinvested in interest-bearing financial instruments or used to reduce short-term borrowing, thus improving the profitability of the organization. This study examines the relationship between hospitals' profitability and their performance at managing two components of working capital: accounts receivable, measured in terms of hospitals' average collection periods, and accounts payable, measured in terms of hospitals' average payment periods. Panel data derived from audited financial statements for 1,397 bond-issuing, not-for-profit U.S. hospitals for 2000-2007 were analyzed using hospital-level fixed-effects regression analysis. The results show a negative relationship between hospitals' average collection period and profitability. That is, hospitals that collected on their patient revenue faster reported higher profit margins than did hospitals that have larger balances of accounts receivable outstanding. We also found a negative relationship between hospitals' average payment period and their profitability. Hospital managers did not appear to delay paying their vendors. Rather, the findings indicated that more profitable hospitals paid their suppliers faster, possibly to avoid high effective interest rates on outstanding accounts payable, whereas less profitable hospitals waited longer to pay their bills. The findings of this study suggest that working capital management indeed matters for hospitals' profitability. Efforts aimed at reducing large balances in both accounts receivable and accounts payable may frequently be worthwhile investments that have the potential to reduce the costs associated with working capital management and thus improve the profitability of an organization.

Role of Surgical Services in Profitability of Hospitals in California: An Analysis of Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development Annual Financial Data.

PubMed

Moazzez, Ashkan; de Virgilio, Christian

2016-10-01

With constant changes in health-care laws and payment methods, profitability, and financial sustainability of hospitals are of utmost importance. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between surgical services and hospital profitability. The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development annual financial databases for the years 2009 to 2011 were used for this study. The hospitals' characteristics and income statement elements were extracted for statistical analysis using bivariate and multivariate linear regression. A total of 989 financial records of 339 hospitals were included. On bivariate analysis, the number of inpatient and ambulatory operating rooms (ORs), the number of cases done both as inpatient and outpatient in each OR, and the average minutes used in inpatient ORs were significantly related with the net income of the hospital. On multivariate regression analysis, when controlling for hospitals' payer mix and the study year, only the number of inpatient cases done in the inpatient ORs (β = 832, P = 0.037), and the number of ambulatory ORs (β = 1,485, 466, P = 0.001) were significantly related with the net income of the hospital. These findings suggest that hospitals can maximize their profitability by diverting and allocating outpatient surgeries to ambulatory ORs, to allow for more inpatient surgeries.

Relationship of Automobile Characteristics to List Prices and Profit Margins -- A Preliminary Analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-08-01

The report describes research on potential impacts of fuel economy regulations on the U.S. automobile industry. The study focused on the possible effects of auto "down-sizing" on manufacture profit margins. Historical price data were used to estimate...

48 CFR 215.404-4 - Profit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... DEFENSE CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 215.404-4... prenegotiation profit or fee objective on any negotiated contract action when cost or pricing data is obtained... analysis when assessing cost realism in competitive acquisitions. (2) When using a structured approach, the...

A Bayesian approach for incorporating economic factors in sample size design for clinical trials of individual drugs and portfolios of drugs.

PubMed

Patel, Nitin R; Ankolekar, Suresh

2007-11-30

Classical approaches to clinical trial design ignore economic factors that determine economic viability of a new drug. We address the choice of sample size in Phase III trials as a decision theory problem using a hybrid approach that takes a Bayesian view from the perspective of a drug company and a classical Neyman-Pearson view from the perspective of regulatory authorities. We incorporate relevant economic factors in the analysis to determine the optimal sample size to maximize the expected profit for the company. We extend the analysis to account for risk by using a 'satisficing' objective function that maximizes the chance of meeting a management-specified target level of profit. We extend the models for single drugs to a portfolio of clinical trials and optimize the sample sizes to maximize the expected profit subject to budget constraints. Further, we address the portfolio risk and optimize the sample sizes to maximize the probability of achieving a given target of expected profit.

Implications of deregulation in natural gas industry on utility risks and returns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Addepalli, Rajendra P.

This thesis examines the changes in risk and required return on capital for local distribution utility companies in the increasingly competitive natural gas industry. The deregulation in the industry impacts the LDCs in several ways. First, with the introduction of competition consumers have been given choices among suppliers besides the traditional monopoly, the local utility, for purchasing their natural gas supply needs. Second, with the introduction of competition, some of the interstate pipelines were stuck with 'Take Or Pay' contracts and other costs that resulted in 'stranded costs', which have been passed on to customers of the pipeline including the LDCs. Third, the new obligation for the LDCs to purchase gas from the market, as opposed to buying it from pipelines and passing on the costs to its customers, brought opportunities and risks as well. Finally, with the introduction of competition, in some states LDCs have been allowed to enter into unregulated ventures to increase their profits. In the thesis we first develop a multifactor model (MFM) to explain historical common stock returns of individual utilities and of utility portfolios. We use 'rolling regression' analysis to analyze how different variables explain the variation in stock returns over time. Second, we conduct event studies to analyze the events in the deregulation process that had significant impacts on the LDC returns. Finally we assess the changes in risk and required return on capital for the LDCs over a 15 year time frame, covering the deregulation period. We employ four aspects in the examination of risk and return profile of the utilities: measuring (a) changes in required return on common equity and Weighted Average Cost of Capital, (b) changes in risk premium (WACC less an interest rate proxy), (c) changes in utility bond ratings, and (d) changes in dividend payments, new debt and equity issuances. We perform regression analysis to explain the changes in the required WACC using new security issuances, dividend payments and revenues of the companies.

The proprietary hospital industry: a financial analysis 1972-1982.

PubMed

Michel, A; Shaked, I; Daley, J

1985-01-01

This paper evaluates the performance of both specific firms within the American for-profit hospital industry and the industry as a whole. First, traditional financial analysis is used to evaluate individual publicly traded for-profit chains. Then, industry performance from 1973 to 1982 is evaluated using a set of measures based on Modern Portfolio Theory. The traditional financial analysis indicates that the industry seems increasingly profitable as well as increasingly healthy from the perspective of utilizing its assets and reducing its collection period. However, the industry's rapid growth rate has strained its ability to use additional debt funding and has created a potentially dangerous liquidity position. Measures based on Modern Portfolio Theory indicate that the average return of the industry has improved over the past 5 years. However, its risk has also increased. Nevertheless, the increase in risk is more than offset by the increased average return. In addition, recent legislation designed 'to reward the efficient' has introduced a significant degree of uncertainty into the industry's performance for the coming years. Thus, hospitals' ability to maintain the substantial profitability and rate of growth they have experienced over the past decade will depend on how well they will adapt to the changing environment.

Hospital ownership and performance: evidence from stroke and cardiac treatment in Taiwan.

PubMed

Lien, Hsien-Ming; Chou, Shin-Yi; Liu, Jin-Tan

2008-09-01

This paper compares program expenditure and treatment quality of stroke and cardiac patients between 1997 and 2000 across hospitals of various ownership types in Taiwan. Because Taiwan implemented national health insurance in 1995, the analysis is immune from problems arising from the complex setting of the U.S. health care market, such as segmentation of insurance status or multiple payers. Because patients may select admitted hospitals based on their observed and unobserved characteristics, we employ instrument variable (IV) estimation to account for the endogeneity of ownership status. Results of IV estimation find that patients admitted to non-profit hospitals receive better quality care, either measured by 1- or 12-month mortality rates. In terms of treatment expenditure, our results indicate no difference between non-profits and for-profits index admission expenditures, and at most 10% higher long-term expenditure for patients admitted to non-profits than to for-profits.

Perceived profitability and well-being in Australian dryland farmers and irrigators.

PubMed

Peel, Dominic; Berry, Helen L; Schirmer, Jacki

2015-08-01

To describe the relationship between self-reported farm profitability and farmer well-being, and to explore potential implications for farmer assistance policy. Cross-sectional analysis of farmers from Regional Wellbeing Survey data (wave 1, 2013) and comparison between groups. Participants were 1172 dryland farmers (35% women) and 707 irrigators (24% women). The Personal Wellbeing Index and the Kessler 10-item measure of general psychological distress. There is a consistent and significant relationship between higher profitability, greater well-being and less distress among dryland farmers and irrigators. The relationship between farm profitability and the well-being of Australian dryland farmers and irrigators has the potential to inform farmer assistance policy. Assistance programs can be more effective if they explicitly incorporate a profitability assessment into their targeting and eligibility requirements and a well-being component into program design and delivery. Rural Australia. Not applicable. © 2015 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

48 CFR 415.404-4 - Profit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

...) Termination settlements; and (v) Cost-plus-award-fee contracts; (b) Unless otherwise restricted by contracting... CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 415.404-4 Profit. (a)(1) USDA will use a... negotiation is based on cost analysis. (2) The following types of acquisitions are exempt from the...

Cost analysis of prophylactic intraoperative cystoscopic ureteral stents in gynecologic surgery.

PubMed

Fanning, James; Fenton, Bradford; Jean, Geraldine Marie; Chae, Clara

2011-12-01

Prophylactic intraoperative ureteral stent placement is performed to decrease operative ureteric injury, though few data are available on the effectiveness of this procedure, and no data are available on its cost. To analyze the cost of prophylactic intraoperative cystoscopic ureteral stents in gynecologic surgery. All cases of prophylactic ureteral stent placement performed in gynecologic surgery during a 1-year period were identified and retrospectively reviewed through the electronic medical records database of Summa Health System. Costs were obtained through the Healthcare Cost Accounting System. The principles of cost-effective analysis were used (ie, explicit and detailed descriptions of costs and cost-effectiveness statistics). Importantly, we evaluated cost and not charges or financial model estimates. In addition, we obtained the contribution margins (ie, the hospital's net profit or loss) for prophylactic ureteral stent placement. Other gynecologic procedures were also analyzed. Among 792 major inpatient gynecologic procedures, 18 cases of prophylactic intraoperative ureteral stents were identified. Median costs were as follows: additional cost of prophylactic intraoperative ureteral stenting, $1580; additional cost of surgical resources, $770; cost of ureteral catheters, $427; cost of surgeons, $383. The contribution margins per case for various gynecologic surgical procedures were as follows: oophorectomy, $2804 profit; abdominal hysterectomy, $2649 profit; laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH), $1760 profit. When intraoperative ureteral stenting was added, the contribution margins changed to the following: oophorectomy, $782 profit; abdominal hysterectomy, $627 profit; LAVH, $262 loss. Overall, the contribution margin profit was decreased by about 85%, from $2400 to $380. Prophylactic intraoperative ureteral stenting in gynecologic surgery decreases a hospital's contribution margin. Because of the expense of this procedure, as well as scientific data suggesting a lack of effectiveness, the authors argue that prophylactic intraoperative ureteral stenting should not be used in gynecologic surgery to decrease operative ureteric injury.

The Impact of Subsidies on the Ecological Sustainability and Future Profits from North Sea Fisheries

PubMed Central

Heymans, Johanna Jacomina; Mackinson, Steven; Sumaila, Ussif Rashid; Dyck, Andrew; Little, Alyson

2011-01-01

Background This study examines the impact of subsidies on the profitability and ecological stability of the North Sea fisheries over the past 20 years. It shows the negative impact that subsidies can have on both the biomass of important fish species and the possible profit from fisheries. The study includes subsidies in an ecosystem model of the North Sea and examines the possible effects of eliminating fishery subsidies. Methodology/Principal Findings Hindcast analysis between 1991 and 2003 indicates that subsidies reduced the profitability of the fishery even though gross revenue might have been high for specific fisheries sectors. Simulations seeking to maximise the total revenue between 2004 and 2010 suggest that this can be achieved by increasing the effort of Nephrops trawlers, beam trawlers, and the pelagic trawl-and-seine fleet, while reducing the effort of demersal trawlers. Simulations show that ecological stability can be realised by reducing the effort of the beam trawlers, Nephrops trawlers, pelagic- and demersal trawl-and-seine fleets. This analysis also shows that when subsidies are included, effort will always be higher for all fleets, because it effectively reduces the cost of fishing. Conclusions/Significance The study found that while removing subsidies might reduce the total catch and revenue, it increases the overall profitability of the fishery and the total biomass of commercially important species. For example, cod, haddock, herring and plaice biomass increased over the simulation when optimising for profit, and when optimising for ecological stability, the biomass for cod, plaice and sole also increased. When subsidies are eliminated, the study shows that rather than forcing those involved in the fishery into the red, fisheries become more profitable, despite a decrease in total revenue due to a loss of subsidies from the government. PMID:21637848

A genetic analysis of post-weaning feedlot performance and profitability in Bonsmara cattle.

PubMed

van der Westhuizen, R R; van der Westhuizen, J; Schoeman, S J

2009-02-25

The aim of this study was to identify factors influencing profitability in a feedlot environment and to estimate genetic parameters for and between a feedlot profit function and productive traits measured in growth tests. The heritability estimate of 0.36 for feedlot profitability shows that this trait is genetically inherited and that it can be selected for. The genetic correlations between feedlot profitability and production and efficiency varied from negligible to high. The genetic correlation estimate of -0.92 between feed conversion ratio and feedlot profitability is largely due to the part-whole relationship between these two traits. Consequently, a multiple regression equation was developed to estimate a feed intake value for all performance-tested Bonsmara bulls, which were group fed and whose feed intakes were unknown. These predicted feed intake values enabled the calculation of a post-weaning growth or feedlot profitability value for all tested bulls, even where individual feed intakes were unknown. Subsequently, a feedlot profitability value for each bull was calculated in a favorable economic environment, an average economic environment and in an unfavorable economic environment. The high Pearson and Spearman correlations between the estimate breeding values based on the average economic environment and the other two environments suggested that the average economic environment could be used to calculate estimate breeding values for feedlot profitability. It is therefore not necessary to change the carcass, weaned calf or feed price on a regular basis to allow for possible re-rankings based on estimate breeding values.

For-Profit Hospital Status and Rehospitalizations to Different Hospitals: An Analysis of Medicare Data

PubMed Central

Kind, Amy JH; Bartels, Christie; Mell, Matthew W; Mullahy, John; Smith, Maureen

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND About one-quarter of rehospitalized Medicare patients are admitted to hospitals different from their original. The extent to which this practice is related to for-profit hospital status, and impacts payments and mortality, is unknown. OBJECTIVE To describe and examine predictors of and payments for rehospitalization to a different hospital within 30 days among Medicare beneficiaries in for-profit and in not-for-profit/public hospitals. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Medicare fee-for-service hospitals throughout the United States. PARTICIPANTS Random 5% national sample of Medicare beneficiaries with acute-care rehospitalizations within 30-days of discharge, 2005–2006 (N=74,564). MEASUREMENTS 30-day rehospitalizations to different hospitals; total payments/mortality over subsequent 30-days. Multivariate logistic and quantile regression models included index hospital for-profit status, discharge counts, geographic region, rural-urban commuting area, and teaching status; and patient sociodemographics, disabled status, comorbidities, and a measure of risk-adjustment. RESULTS 22% (16,622) of the sample was rehospitalized to a different hospital. Factors associated with increased risk for rehospitalization to a different hospital included being hospitalized within a for-profit, major medical school-affiliated, or low volume index hospital, and having a Medicare-defined disability. When compared to those rehospitalized to the same hospital, patients rehospitalized to different hospitals had significantly higher adjusted 30-day total payments (median additional $1,308/patient, p-value<0.001), but no significant differences in 30-day mortality, regardless of index hospital for-profit status. LIMITATIONS The analysis lacked detailed clinical data, and did not assess specific provider practice motivations or the role of patient choice. CONCLUSIONS Rehospitalizations to different hospitals are common among Medicare beneficiaries, more likely among those initially hospitalized at a for-profit hospital, and related to increased overall payments without improved mortality. PMID:21135295

Nonprofit conversion: theory, evidence, and state policy options.

PubMed Central

Marsteller, J A; Bovbjerg, R R; Nichols, L M

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To describe the contributions of nonprofit hospitals and health plans to healthcare markets and to analyze state policy options with regard to the conversion of nonprofits to for-profit status. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Secondary national and state data from a variety of sources, 1980-present. STUDY DESIGN: Policy analysis. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Development of a conceptual economic framework; analysis of empirical, legal, and theoretical literature; and review of statutes, rules, and court decisions. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Three main rationales support special status for nonprofits, especially hospitals: charity care, other community benefits, and consumer protection. The main social rationale for for-profits is their incentives for better efficiency. There are reasons to expect that nonprofit and for-profit goals differ; however, measured differences in community hospital cost, prices, and quality between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals are undetectable or inconclusive. Nonprofit hospitals do provide more uncompensated care than for-profit hospitals. Similarities between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals may exist because nonprofits may set norms that for-profits follow to some degree. States have substantial power and discretion in overseeing nonprofit conversions. Some have regularized oversight through new legislation that constrains, but does not eliminate, state officials' discretion. These statutes may be deferential to converting entities and their buyers or may be very restrictive of them. CONCLUSIONS: Overseeing the appropriate disposition of nonprofit assets in individual conversions is extremely important. States should also monitor local market conditions through community benefits assessments and other data collection, however, to accurately assess (and possibly redress) what is lost or gained from conversion. Local market conditions are likely more important in determining hospital behavior than ownership form. Potentially, a mix of for-profit and nonprofit hospitals in a given market may improve market performance due to constraints the two ownership types may exercise over one another. If nonprofits disappear, the states may need to maintain quality and access norms through regulation. Images Figure 1 PMID:9865231

A break-even analysis of major ear surgery.

PubMed

Wasson, J D; Phillips, J S

2015-10-01

To determine variables which affect cost and profit for major ear surgery and perform a break-even analysis. Retrospective financial analysis. UK teaching hospital. Patients who underwent major ear surgery under general anaesthesia performed by the senior author in main theatre over a 2-year period between dates of 07 September 2010 and 07 September 2012. Income, cost and profit for each major ear patient spell. Variables that affect major ear surgery profitability. Seventy-six patients met inclusion criteria. Wide variation in earnings, with a median net loss of £-1345.50 was observed. Income was relatively uniform across all patient spells; however, theatre time of major ear surgery at a cost of £953.24 per hour varied between patients and was the main determinant of cost and profit for the patient spell. Bivariate linear regression of earnings on theatre time identified 94% of variation in earnings was due to variation in theatre time (r = -0.969; P < 0.0001) and derived a break-even time for major ear surgery of 110.6 min. Theatre time was dependent on complexity of procedure and number of OPCS4 procedures performed, with a significant increase in theatre time when three or more procedures were performed during major ear surgery (P = 0.015). For major ear surgery to either break-even or return a profit, total theatre time should not exceed 110 min and 36 s. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Utilization of HIV-related services from the private health sector: A multi-country analysis.

PubMed

Wang, Wenjuan; Sulzbach, Sara; De, Susna

2011-01-01

Increasing the participation of the private health sector in the AIDS response could help to achieve universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Yet little is known about the extent to which the private health sector is delivering HIV-related services. This study uses data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and AIDS Indicator Surveys (AIS) from 12 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean to explore use of HIV testing and STI care from the private for-profit sector, and its association with household wealth status. The analysis indicates that the private for-profit health sector is active in HIV-related service delivery, although the level of participation varies by region and country. From 3 to 45 percent of women and 6 to 42 percent of men reported the private for-profit sector as their source of the most recent HIV testing. While in some countries, use of the private for-profit health sector for HIV testing and STI care increases with wealth, in others the relationship is not clear, as there are no significant differences in using private for-profit HIV-related services between the rich and the poor. We conclude that as the global AIDS response evolves from emergency relief to sustained country programs, broader consideration of the role of the private for-profit health sector may be warranted. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic Evaluation of the Production Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles via Liquid-Phase Route

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nandiyanto, A. B. D.; Fariansyah, R.; Ramadhan, M. F.; Abdullah, A. G.; Widiaty, I.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the production of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles. The evaluation was done in two perspectives: engineering and economic evaluation. The engineering perspective concerned about the analysis of the production rate based on the available apparatuses and raw materials, completed with mass balance calculation. The economic analysis was conducted based on several economic parameters: gross profit margin (GPM), internal return rate (IRR), payback period (PBP), cumulative net present value (CNPV), break even point (BEP), and profit to investment (PI). The engineering perspective showed that the production of MgO is feasibly done in small scale industry. This is verified by the potential production using current available apparatuses and raw materials in the market. Economic analysis obtained that the present project is profitable. But, for some cases, further studies must be done to get the present production process is attractive for investor.

Economic Analysis of a Laser-Powered, Global Small Aerospacecraft Transportation System (G-SATS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walton, David; List, George; Myrabo, Leik N.

2005-04-01

A first-order economic analysis is performed for a revolutionary transport technology intended for hypersonic world travel — powered by laser energy beamed from satellite solar power stations, with relay mirrors in low Earth orbit. A fleet of 1-person to 5-person, `tractor-beam' lightcraft will enable direct port-to-port (no refueling) trips, half-way around the globe in under an hour — riding suborbital boost-glide trajectories through space. Estimates are presented of vehicle size, ridership, revenues, fleet size, capital, operating and maintenance costs, and expected profitability for a lightcraft-based global transportation system called G-SATS. On a net present value basis, over a 20-year time span, G-SATS should have a profit margin of over 20% — implying not only the ability to be profitable, but also a potential market penetrability that goes well beyond the conservative assumptions made in this analysis.

Model prototype utilization in the analysis of fault tolerant control and data processing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovalev, I. V.; Tsarev, R. Yu; Gruzenkin, D. V.; Prokopenko, A. V.; Knyazkov, A. N.; Laptenok, V. D.

2016-04-01

The procedure assessing the profit of control and data processing system implementation is presented in the paper. The reasonability of model prototype creation and analysis results from the implementing of the approach of fault tolerance provision through the inclusion of structural and software assessment redundancy. The developed procedure allows finding the best ratio between the development cost and the analysis of model prototype and earnings from the results of this utilization and information produced. The suggested approach has been illustrated by the model example of profit assessment and analysis of control and data processing system.

77 FR 65053 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-24

... Ave. NW., Suite 8140, Washington, DC 20220, or online at www.PRAComment.gov . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION... of a U.S. company in order to do a national security analysis of the acquisition. Affected Public: Private Sector: businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit institutions. Estimated Total Annual...

Profitability and risk analysis of soybean planting date by maturity group

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Limited knowledge exists on estimated soybean yield response to planting date to determine the profit-maximizing planting date for soybean production by maturity group (MG) in the southern United States. Furthermore, determining the optimal MG and crop insurance coverage level that is preferred by r...

Value innovation: the strategic logic of high growth.

PubMed

Kim, W C; Mauborgne, R

1997-01-01

Why are some companies able to sustain high growth in revenues and profits--and others are not? To answer that question, the authors, both of INSEAD, spent five years studying more than 30 companies around the world. They found that the difference between the high-growth companies and their less successful competitors was in each group's assumptions about strategy. Managers of the less successful companies followed conventional strategic logic. Managers of the high-growth companies followed what the authors call the logic of value innovation. Conventional strategic logic and value innovation differ along the basic dimensions of strategy. Many companies take their industry's conditions as given; value innovators don't. Many companies let competitors set the parameters of their strategic thinking; value innovators do not use rivals as benchmarks. Rather than focus on the differences among customers, value innovators look for what customers value in common. Rather than view opportunities through the lens of existing assets and capabilities, value innovators ask, What if we start anew? The authors tell the story of the French hotelier Accor, which discarded the notion of what a hotel is supposed to look like in order to offer what most customers want: a good night's sleep at a low price. And Virgin Atlantic challenged industry conventions by eliminating first-class service and channeling savings into innovations for business-class passengers. Those companies didn't set out to build advantages over the competition, but they ended up achieving the greatest competitive advantages.

Cost analysis helps evaluate contract profitability.

PubMed

Sides, R W

2000-02-01

A cost-accounting analysis can help group practices assess their costs of doing business and determine the profitability of managed care contracts. Group practices also can use cost accounting to develop budgets and financial benchmarks. To begin a cost analysis, group practices need to determine their revenue and cost centers. Then they can allocate their costs to each center, using an appropriate allocation basis. The next step is to calculate costs per procedure. The results can be used to evaluate operational cost efficiency as well as help negotiate managed care contracts.

A Decomposition of Hospital Profitability: An Application of DuPont Analysis to the US Market.

PubMed

Turner, Jason; Broom, Kevin; Elliott, Michael; Lee, Jen-Fu

2015-01-01

This paper evaluates the drivers of profitability for a large sample of U.S. hospitals. Following a methodology frequently used by financial analysts, we use a DuPont analysis as a framework to evaluate the quality of earnings. By decomposing returns on equity (ROE) into profit margin, total asset turnover, and capital structure, the DuPont analysis reveals what drives overall profitability. Profit margin, the efficiency with which services are rendered (total asset turnover), and capital structure is calculated for 3,255 U.S. hospitals between 2007 and 2012 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Healthcare Cost Report Information System (CMS Form 2552). The sample is then stratified by ownership, size, system affiliation, teaching status, critical access designation, and urban or non-urban location. Those hospital characteristics and interaction terms are then regressed (OLS) against the ROE and the respective DuPont components. Sensitivity to regression methodology is also investigated using a seemingly unrelated regression. When the sample is stratified by hospital characteristics, the results indicate investor-owned hospitals have higher profit margins, higher efficiency, and are substantially more leveraged. Hospitals in systems are found to have higher ROE, margins, and efficiency but are associated with less leverage. In addition, a number of important and significant interactions between teaching status, ownership, location, critical access designation, and inclusion in a system are documented. Many of the significant relationships, most notably not-for-profit ownership, lose significance or are predominately associated with one interaction effect when interaction terms are introduced as explanatory variables. Results are not sensitive to the alternative methodology. The results of the DuPont analysis suggest that although there appears to be convergence in the behavior of NFP and IO hospitals, significant financial differences remain depending on their respective hospital characteristics. Those differences are tempered or exacerbated by location, size, teaching status, system affiliation, and critical access designation. With the exception of cost-based reimbursement for critical access hospitals, emerging payment systems are placing additional financial pressures on hospitals. The financial pressures being applied treat hospitals as a monolithic category and, given the delicate and often negative ROE for many hospitals, the long-term stability of the healthcare facility infrastructure may be negatively impacted.

Co-creating value through demand and supply integration in senior industry-observations on 33 senior enterprises in Taiwan.

PubMed

Yang, Ya-Ting; Iqbal, Usman; Chen, Ya-Mei; Su, Shyi; Chang, Yao-Mao; Handa, Yujiro; Lin, Neng-Pai; Hsu, Yi-Hsin Elsa

2016-09-01

With global population aging, great business opportunities are driven by the various needs that the elderly face in everyday living. Internet development makes information spread faster, also allows elderly and their caregivers to more easily access information and actively participate in value co-creation in the services. This study aims to investigate the designs of value co-creation by the supply and demand sides of the senior industry. This study investigated senior industry in Taiwan and analyzed bussiness models of 33 selected successful senior enterprises in 2013. We adopted series field observation, reviews of documentations, analysis of meeting records and in-depth interviews with 65 CEOs and managers. Thirty-three quality enterprises in senior industry. Sixty-five CEOs and managers in 33 senior enterprises. None. Value co-creation design, value co-creating process. We constructed a conceptual model that comprehensively describes essential aspects of value co-creation and categorized the value co-creation designs into four types applying for different business models: (i) interaction in experience spaces co-creation design, (ii) on-site interacting co-creation design, (iii) social networking platform co-creation design and (iv) empowering customers co-creation design. Through value co-creation platform design, the senior enterprises have converted the originally passive roles of the elderly and caregivers into active participants in the value co-creation process. The new paradigm of value co-creation designs not only promote innovative development during the interactive process, lead enterprises reveal and meet customers' needs but also increase markets and profits. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Research on the Rural Express Alliance based on ANP improved profit Allocation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuang, Yufeng; Zhang, Bin

2018-01-01

Online shopping platform in rural distribution difficulties, leading to rural online shopping market and logistics market development is slow. At present, China Post and other private courier companies are not possible to do. So we need to build distribution alliances. Reasonable profit allocation mechanism is the key to the stable development of this distribution alliance. So we proposed the Shapley Value Method and the ANP Improved Model to allocate profits. Finally, the rationality of the method is proved by numerical analysis before and after using the corrected Shapley Value.

Preintervention Analysis and Improvement of Customer Greeting in A Restaurant

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

We examined customer greeting by employees at one location of a sandwich restaurant chain. First, a preintervention analysis was conducted to determine the conditions under which greeting a customer within 3 s of his or her entry into the restaurant did and did not occur. Results suggested that an appropriate customer greeting was most likely to occur when a door chime was used to indicate that a customer had entered the store and when the store manager was present behind the service counter. Next, a performance improvement intervention, which consisted of the combination of the use of a door chime and manager presence, was evaluated. Results showed that during baseline, a mean of 6% of customers were greeted; during intervention a mean of 63% of customers were greeted. The addition of manager-delivered verbal and graphic group feedback resulted in 100% of customers being greeted across two consecutive sessions. PMID:16270851

Preintervention analysis and improvement of customer greeting in a restaurant.

PubMed

Therrien, Kelly; Wilder, David A; Rodriguez, Manuel; Wine, Byron

2005-01-01

We examined customer greeting by employees at one location of a sandwich restaurant chain. First, a preintervention analysis was conducted to determine the conditions under which greeting a customer within 3 s of his or her entry into the restaurant did and did not occur. Results suggested that an appropriate customer greeting was most likely to occur when a door chime was used to indicate that a customer had entered the store and when the store manager was present behind the service counter. Next, a performance improvement intervention, which consisted of the combination of the use of a door chime and manager presence, was evaluated. Results showed that during baseline, a mean of 6% of customers were greeted; during intervention a mean of 63% of customers were greeted. The addition of manager-delivered verbal and graphic group feedback resulted in 100% of customers being greeted across two consecutive sessions.

Engineering Analysis and Economic Evaluation of the Synthesis of Composite CuO/ZnO/ZrO2 Nanocatalyst

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nandiyanto, A. B. D.; Hayati, W. R.; Aziz, T. A.; Ragadhita, R.; Abdullah, A. G.; Widiaty, I.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the synthesis process of composite CuO/ZnO/ZrO2 (CZZ) nanocatalyst. The CZZ nanocatalyst is used as a catalyst in the hydrogenation reaction, which is used to convert harmful CO2 gas into liquid fuels such as methanol. In this study, CZZ produced using the sol-gel autocombustion method was selected as a model of the production procedure. The evaluation was conducted into two factors: engineering and economic analysis. Engineering analysis was analyzed based on the available apparatuses and raw materials in online web. Then, these data were used and compared with the mass balance approximation. The economic analysis was done using several economic parameters, including such as gross margin, internal rate return, payback period, cumulative net value, break even point (BEP), profitability index on sales to investment. Engineering analysis showed the present method can be applied using available apparatuses and raw materials in market. Economic analysis result confirmed that the present project is profitable. The analysis concluded that the present project for the production of CZZ nanocatalyst is prospective in small scale industry and profitable (by positive values in all economic parameters).

The effect of age at first calving and calving interval on productive life and lifetime profit in korean holsteins.

PubMed

Do, Changhee; Wasana, Nidarshani; Cho, Kwanghyun; Choi, Yunho; Choi, Taejeong; Park, Byungho; Lee, Donghee

2013-11-01

This study was performed to estimate the effect of age at first calving and first two calving intervals on productive life and life time profit in Korean Holsteins. Reproduction data of Korean Holsteins born from 1998 to 2004 and lactation data from 276,573 cows with birth and last dry date that calved between 2000 and 2010 were used for the analysis. Lifetime profit increased with the days of life span. Regression of Life Span on Lifetime profit indicated that there was an increase of 3,800 Won (approximately $3.45) of lifetime profit per day increase in life span. This is evidence that care of each cow is necessary to improve net return and important for farms maintaining profitable cows. The estimates of heritability of age at first calving, first two calving intervals, days in milk for lifetime, lifespan, milk income and lifetime profit were 0.111, 0.088, 0.142, 0.140, 0.143, 0.123, and 0.102, respectively. The low heritabilities indicated that the productive life and economical traits include reproductive and productive characteristics. Age at first calving and interval between first and second calving had negative genetic correlation with lifetime profit (-0.080 and -0.265, respectively). Reducing age at first calving and first calving interval had a positive effect on lifetime profit. Lifetime profit increased to approximately 2,600,000 (2,363.6) from 800,000 Won ($727.3) when age at first calving decreased to (22.3 month) from (32.8 month). Results suggested that reproductive traits such as age at first calving and calving interval might affect various economical traits and consequently influenced productive life and profitability of cows. In conclusion, regard of the age at first calving must be taken with the optimum age at first calving for maximum lifetime profit being 22.5 to 23.5 months. Moreover, considering the negative genetic correlation of first calving interval with lifetime profit, it should be reduced against the present trend of increase.

The Effect of Age at First Calving and Calving Interval on Productive Life and Lifetime Profit in Korean Holsteins

PubMed Central

Do, Changhee; Wasana, Nidarshani; Cho, Kwanghyun; Choi, Yunho; Choi, Taejeong; Park, Byungho; Lee, Donghee

2013-01-01

This study was performed to estimate the effect of age at first calving and first two calving intervals on productive life and life time profit in Korean Holsteins. Reproduction data of Korean Holsteins born from 1998 to 2004 and lactation data from 276,573 cows with birth and last dry date that calved between 2000 and 2010 were used for the analysis. Lifetime profit increased with the days of life span. Regression of Life Span on Lifetime profit indicated that there was an increase of 3,800 Won (approximately $3.45) of lifetime profit per day increase in life span. This is evidence that care of each cow is necessary to improve net return and important for farms maintaining profitable cows. The estimates of heritability of age at first calving, first two calving intervals, days in milk for lifetime, lifespan, milk income and lifetime profit were 0.111, 0.088, 0.142, 0.140, 0.143, 0.123, and 0.102, respectively. The low heritabilities indicated that the productive life and economical traits include reproductive and productive characteristics. Age at first calving and interval between first and second calving had negative genetic correlation with lifetime profit (−0.080 and −0.265, respectively). Reducing age at first calving and first calving interval had a positive effect on lifetime profit. Lifetime profit increased to approximately 2,600,000 (2,363.6) from 800,000 Won ($727.3) when age at first calving decreased to (22.3 month) from (32.8 month). Results suggested that reproductive traits such as age at first calving and calving interval might affect various economical traits and consequently influenced productive life and profitability of cows. In conclusion, regard of the age at first calving must be taken with the optimum age at first calving for maximum lifetime profit being 22.5 to 23.5 months. Moreover, considering the negative genetic correlation of first calving interval with lifetime profit, it should be reduced against the present trend of increase. PMID:25049735

Prediction of hospital failure: a post-PPS analysis.

PubMed

Gardiner, L R; Oswald, S L; Jahera, J S

1996-01-01

This study investigates the ability of discriminant analysis to provide accurate predictions of hospital failure. Using data from the period following the introduction of the Prospective Payment System, we developed discriminant functions for each of two hospital ownership categories: not-for-profit and proprietary. The resulting discriminant models contain six and seven variables, respectively. For each ownership category, the variables represent four major aspects of financial health (liquidity, leverage, profitability, and efficiency) plus county marketshare and length of stay. The proportion of closed hospitals misclassified as open one year before closure does not exceed 0.05 for either ownership type. Our results show that discriminant functions based on a small set of financial and nonfinancial variables provide the capability to predict hospital failure reliably for both not-for-profit and proprietary hospitals.

Person-Organization Commitment: Bonds of Internal Consumer in the Context of Non-profit Organizations.

PubMed

Juaneda-Ayensa, Emma; Clavel San Emeterio, Mónica; González-Menorca, Carlos

2017-01-01

From an Organizational Behavior perspective, it is important to recognize the links generated between individuals and the organization that encourage a desire for permanence. After more than a half century of research, Organizational Commitment remains one of the open questions in the Psychology of Organizations. It is considered an essential factor for explaining individual behavior in the organization such as satisfaction, turnover intention, or loyalty. In this paper, we analyze different contributions regarding the nature of the bond between the individual and the organization. Taking into account the peculiarities of Non-profit Organizations, we present different interpretation for later validation, comparing results from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the four models obtained using exploratory factor analysis, both conducted on a sample of 235 members of Non-profit Organizations.

The use of ion mobility spectrometry and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for the detection of illicit drugs on clandestine records

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Donnelly, Brian; Jourdan, Thomas; Fetterolf, Dean D.; Beasley, James O., II

1995-01-01

Illicit drug distribution has over the past decade grown tremendously from simple 'drug pushing' where drugs were distributed from poorly organized individuals to today's well organized and well financed drug cartels. This change to a more 'corporate-like' atmosphere has resulted in a greater use of record keeping to monitor the profits generated. The use of record keeping by drug distributors is not restricted to high level drug smugglers but is used at all levels within the distribution network. Dealers at all levels including street dealers are generally 'fronted', given on consignment quantities of drugs that they in turn sell to customers, thereby requiring the need for records to keep track of drug sales versus liabilities. These records because of their illicit nature are often encrypted to hide the fact that they are indeed records of drug transactions. The creation of a handwritten notation concerning a drug transaction is normally brought on because of a purchase or sale. In a sale, this is commonly accomplished through a consignment, or the designation of a quantity to a customer to whom that amount has been 'fronted'. Because this activity generates a debt, it follows that an accounting for payments made, as well as new transactions completed, is only logical. One of the most common means of representing these is through an 'accounting flow', in which payments are subtracted from a running balance while new sales are added to it. The examination of illicit drug records has been the key to the prosecution of numerous federal, state, and local drug cases for a number of years. The Document Section of the FBI Laboratory, through its Racketeering Records Analysis Unit (RRAU), has been involved in such analytical efforts since 1983. Detailed analytical research brought about an evolution in the systematic approach utilized in the RRAU since that time. The close proximity of the drugs to the records often results in trace drug evidence being transferred to the records. The detection of trace drug residue on surfaces by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is well documented in literature. The following procedure will deal primarily with the newer techniques of trace drug analysis and drug record analysis developed by the Chemistry/Toxicology Unit of the FBI Laboratory since the more traditional techniques of latent finger print analysis and document analysis are well known.

[Comparative analysis of the non-profit, for-profit and public hospital providers: American experiences].

PubMed

Mogyorósy, Zsolt

2004-07-04

The new legislation allowed hospitals and other health care facilities to be converted into for-profit status. The detailed regulatory framework is under development in Hungary. This article reviews the literature of studies comparing hospital financial performance and the quality of care before and after conversion from public or non-profit status to for-profit. Studies were identified through electronic search of Medline (Pubmed), EconLit, Cochrane Library, Economic Evaluation Database (EED), az Health Technology Assessment (HTA) databases, library files and reference lists. The literature search was extended to the Internet, World Bank, International Labor Office (ILO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and WHO websites as well as government, academic institutions and large insurance companies web pages for unpublished online information. Time series and before-after studies and systematic literature reviews were included. The conversion from non-profit to for-profit status improved the profitability of the hospitals. However the quality of care (measures in mortality, frequency of side effects, complications) might suffer in the first couple years of the conversion. The conversion may increase the total health care expenditures per capita. Trustful relationship between patients and physicians may also be threatened. The generalisability of the American experiences into the Hungarian single payer system may be limited. From societal point of view, for-profit providers could provide socially beneficial care in areas where it is possible to define, monitor and evaluate the nature and quality characteristics of the services, as well as market competition can be ensured. However most of the healthcare services are too complex to fall into this category.

Seller's dilemma due to social interactions between customers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Mirta B.; Nadal, Jean-Pierre; Phan, Denis; Vannimenus, Jean

2005-10-01

In this paper, we consider a discrete choice model where heterogeneous agents are subject to mutual influences. We explore some consequences on the market's behaviour, in the simplest case of a uniform willingness to pay distribution. We exhibit a first-order phase transition in the profit optimization by the monopolist: if the social influence is strong enough, there is a regime where, if the mean willingness to pay increases, or if the production costs decrease, the optimal solution for the monopolist jumps from a solution with a high price and a small number of buyers, to a solution with a low price and a large number of buyers. Depending on the path of prices adjustments by the monopolist, simulations show hysteretic effects on the fraction of buyers.

The Impact of Person-Organization Fit on Nurse Job Satisfaction and Patient Care Quality.

PubMed

Risman, K L; Erickson, Rebecca J; Diefendorff, James M

2016-08-01

In the current healthcare context, large health care organizations may increasingly emphasize profit, biomedicine, efficiency, and customer service in the delivery of care. This orientation toward nursing work by large organizations may be perceived by nurses as incompatible with professional caring. Ordinary Least Squares regression was used to explore the impact of person-organization fit (i.e., value congruence between self and employing organization) on nurses' general job satisfaction and quality of patient care (n=753). Nurses' perceived person-organization fit is a significant predictor of general job satisfaction and quality of patient care. The implications of our findings are discussed and recommendations for nursing leaders and future research are made. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reactive Scheduling in Multipurpose Batch Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narayani, A.; Shaik, Munawar A.

2010-10-01

Scheduling is an important operation in process industries for improving resource utilization resulting in direct economic benefits. It has a two-fold objective of fulfilling customer orders within the specified time as well as maximizing the plant profit. Unexpected disturbances such as machine breakdown, arrival of rush orders and cancellation of orders affect the schedule of the plant. Reactive scheduling is generation of a new schedule which has minimum deviation from the original schedule in spite of the occurrence of unexpected events in the plant operation. Recently, Shaik & Floudas (2009) proposed a novel unified model for short-term scheduling of multipurpose batch plants using unit-specific event-based continuous time representation. In this paper, we extend the model of Shaik & Floudas (2009) to handle reactive scheduling.

Social marketing: the family planning experience.

PubMed

El-ansary, A I; Kramer Oe, J

1973-07-01

The authors explore social marketing applications in the Louisiana model of statewide program for family planning. The marketing concept has 4 major elements: 1) consumer orientation; 2) social process; 3) integrated effort; 4) profitable operation. Success of program and continued growth are the results of defining services needed by consumer; determining market target; taking services to customer; and emphasizing concept of selling family planning rather than giving free birth control method. Another important facet is the recognition of many participants--community agencies, the church, the American Medical Association, funding sources, and hospitals. This project used anyaltical marketing tools and defined services as human services rather than the narrow family planning services. It also extended activities to multinational environment and adapted the product offering to meet these needs.

An information system that knits the whole company together

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hendryx, M.

1997-03-01

During the 1980s, as the economics of the natural gas industry weathered some fairly heavy changes, local distribution companies (LDCs) had to keep pace, with new products and new ways of doing business, or get left behind. The competition for the big industrial and commercial customers became intense, prompting new ventures such as pipeline capacity leases and special industrial sales programs. The transportation business emerged as important in its own right, as profit margins from gas sales shrank; novel provisions in gas purchase contracts became the norm. But in many cases, it was the LDCs` information systems that didn`t keepmore » pace. With business innovations sprouting up like mushrooms, it was hardly surprising that many of the computer applications backing them up emerged as stand-alone operations, designed solely for the business function of one area or department. At Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. the unfortunate consequences of so many new applications separated from one another began to pile up. As the numbers of pipeline-capacity lease and transportation customers continued to expand, the manual effort needed to take care of the requisite paperwork became nearly overwhelming. The paper describes the development of the information system and its operation.« less

Developing an Advanced Environment for Collaborative Computing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Becerra-Fernandez, Irma; Stewart, Helen; DelAlto, Martha; DelAlto, Martha; Knight, Chris

1999-01-01

Knowledge management in general tries to organize and make available important know-how, whenever and where ever is needed. Today, organizations rely on decision-makers to produce "mission critical" decisions that am based on inputs from multiple domains. The ideal decision-maker has a profound understanding of specific domains that influence the decision-making process coupled with the experience that allows them to act quickly and decisively on the information. In addition, learning companies benefit by not repeating costly mistakes, and by reducing time-to-market in Research & Development projects. Group-decision making tools can help companies make better decisions by capturing the knowledge from groups of experts. Furthermore, companies that capture their customers preferences can improve their customer service, which translates to larger profits. Therefore collaborative computing provides a common communication space, improves sharing of knowledge, provides a mechanism for real-time feedback on the tasks being performed, helps to optimize processes, and results in a centralized knowledge warehouse. This paper presents the research directions. of a project which seeks to augment an advanced collaborative web-based environment called Postdoc, with workflow capabilities. Postdoc is a "government-off-the-shelf" document management software developed at NASA-Ames Research Center (ARC).

Non-use of condoms by prostitute women.

PubMed

Cusick, L

1998-04-01

Ethnographic research among Glasgow female prostitutes working in street, sauna, flat, escort agency and "sugar daddy" sectors investigated prostitutes' accounts of the occasions in which condoms were not used for penetrative sexual encounters. Such occasions were a minority of commercial sex encounters and a majority of private sex encounters. Although prostitutes saw condom use as inappropriate in private sexual relationships this was not, as has been suggested, an aid to relationship interpretation as either private or commercial. Condoms in commercial sex were seen as routine tools of the trade, and hence emerged as emblems of prostitution. These emblematic qualities were found in turn to produce both challenges to condom use from customers and opportunities for prostitutes to manipulate customer relations by judicious suspension of condom application. Both norms of gendered role-play and prostitute status were highlighted as threatening condom use in some situations, while prostitute status could also be used as the basis of rational argument for condom use in others. Relational issues such as familiarity or a desire to communicate trust were at the forefront in explanations of condom non-use. Perceptions of physical power and the authority to permit or withhold sexual service or profit were determining influences crucial in condom use negotiation.

Mastering the broadband challenge: next-generation SONET in a packet world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farhi, Eyal

2001-10-01

The continuing liberalization of the world's telecommunications markets and the progressive convergence of voice, data, video and Internet communication are prompting telecommunication service providers to both expand and enhance their service capabilities. As bandwidth-hungry applications proliferate, and the demand for data and data services grows, the requirement for broadband communications appears to be insatiable. To provide the expected level of service in this environment of rapidly increasing demand, telcos and service providers must invest in an expanded network. However, to remain competitive and profitable, they must also continue to leverage their existing infrastructure investment. This paper will examine the current challenges network operators are facing today with the deployment of broadband technologies as they strive to maintain existing infrastructure investments while providing new services to their customers and developing added value network operations. This paper will explore various broadband technologies (optical/wireless) that operate on the primary SDH/SONET standards, their topologies and inherent benefits, which provide operators with solutions to the broadband challenge. New customer demands, such as high-speed Data transmissions (increased Internet use), coupled with operators' continuous need for network optimization, have thrown a wrench into daily operations. Therefore, the need to modernize existing networks has become paramount.

48 CFR 1515.404-471 - EPA structured approach for developing profit or fee objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... profit or fee objective. (5) The weight factors discussed in this section are designed for arriving at... involving creative design. (B) Consideration should be given to the managerial and technical efforts.../technical and general labor. Analysis of labor should include evaluation of the comparative quality and...

48 CFR 1515.404-471 - EPA structured approach for developing profit or fee objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... profit or fee objective. (5) The weight factors discussed in this section are designed for arriving at... involving creative design. (B) Consideration should be given to the managerial and technical efforts.../technical and general labor. Analysis of labor should include evaluation of the comparative quality and...

48 CFR 1515.404-471 - EPA structured approach for developing profit or fee objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... profit or fee objective. (5) The weight factors discussed in this section are designed for arriving at... involving creative design. (B) Consideration should be given to the managerial and technical efforts.../technical and general labor. Analysis of labor should include evaluation of the comparative quality and...

48 CFR 1515.404-471 - EPA structured approach for developing profit or fee objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... profit or fee objective. (5) The weight factors discussed in this section are designed for arriving at... involving creative design. (B) Consideration should be given to the managerial and technical efforts.../technical and general labor. Analysis of labor should include evaluation of the comparative quality and...

48 CFR 1515.404-471 - EPA structured approach for developing profit or fee objectives.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... profit or fee objective. (5) The weight factors discussed in this section are designed for arriving at... involving creative design. (B) Consideration should be given to the managerial and technical efforts.../technical and general labor. Analysis of labor should include evaluation of the comparative quality and...

Miller Table Company: A Profit Analysis Case Integrating Managerial Accounting, Microeconomics and Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Louise

2014-01-01

This paper describes a unique integrative business case appropriate for use in a managerial accounting course or other business courses related to economics or marketing. The case describes a scenario in which a managerial accountant is assisting in business decisions relating to factors influencing the profitability of a small manufacturing…

Impact of facility size and profit status on intermediate outcomes in chronic dialysis patients.

PubMed

Frankenfield, D L; Sugarman, J R; Presley, R J; Helgerson, S D; Rocco, M V

2000-08-01

Little information is available regarding the influence of dialysis facility size or profit status on intermediate outcomes in chronic dialysis patients. We have combined data from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) Core Indicators Project; the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facility survey; and the HCFA On-Line Survey, Certification, and Reporting System to analyze trends in this area. For hemodialysis patients, larger facilities were more likely than smaller facilities to perform dialysis on patients who were younger than 65 years of age, black, or undergoing dialysis 2 years or more (P < 0.001). Nonprofit facilities were more likely to perform dialysis on patients with diabetes mellitus as a cause of ESRD and less likely to perform dialysis on patients with hypertension as a cause of ESRD compared with for-profit units (P < 0.05). By multivariate analysis, larger facility size was modestly associated with a greater Kt/V value and urea reduction ratio, but not with hematocrit or serum albumin values. Facility profit status was not associated with these intermediate outcomes. For peritoneal dialysis patients, there were no significant differences in patient demographics based on facility size. More patients in nonprofit units had been undergoing dialysis 2 or more years than patients in for-profit units (P < 0.05). By univariate analysis, patients in larger facilities were more likely to have an adequacy measure performed than patients from smaller facilities (P < 0.05). There were few substantial differences in intermediate outcomes in chronic dialysis patients based on facility size or profit status.

Economic viability of geriatric hip fracture centers.

PubMed

Clement, R Carter; Ahn, Jaimo; Mehta, Samir; Bernstein, Joseph

2013-12-01

Management of geriatric hip fractures in a protocol-driven center can improve outcomes and reduce costs. Nonetheless, this approach has not spread as broadly as the effectiveness data would imply. One possible explanation is that operating such a center is not perceived as financially worthwhile. To assess the economic viability of dedicated hip fracture centers, the authors built a financial model to estimate profit as a function of costs, reimbursement, and patient volume in 3 settings: an average US hip fracture program, a highly efficient center, and an academic hospital without a specific hip fracture program. Results were tested with sensitivity analysis. A local market analysis was conducted to assess the feasibility of supporting profitable hip fracture centers. The results demonstrate that hip fracture treatment only becomes profitable when the annual caseload exceeds approximately 72, assuming costs characteristic of a typical US hip fracture program. The threshold of profitability is 49 cases per year for high-efficiency hip fracture centers and 151 for the urban academic hospital under review. The largest determinant of profit is reimbursement, followed by costs and volume. In the authors’ home market, 168 hospitals offer hip fracture care, yet 85% fall below the 72-case threshold. Hip fracture centers can be highly profitable through low costs and, especially, high revenues. However, most hospitals likely lose money by offering hip fracture care due to inadequate volume. Thus, both large and small facilities would benefit financially from the consolidation of hip fracture care at dedicated hip fracture centers. Typical US cities have adequate volume to support several such centers.

Time-bound product returns and optimal order quantities for mass merchandisers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Min-Chun; Goh, Mark

2012-01-01

The return guidelines for a mass merchandiser usually entail a grace period, a markdown on the original price and the condition of the returned items. This research utilises eight scenarios formed from the variation of possible return guidelines to model the cost functions of single-product categories for a typical mass merchandiser. Models for the eight scenarios are developed and solved with the objective of maximising the expected profit so as to obtain closed form solutions for the associated optimal order quantity. An illustrative example and sensitivity analysis are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the model. Our results show that merchandisers who allow for returns within a time window, albeit with a penalty cost imposed and the returned products being recoverable, should plan for larger order amounts as such products do not affect the business. Similarly, the merchandisers who allow for returns beyond a grace period and without any penalty charges, but where the returned products are irrecoverable, should manage their stocks in this category more judiciously by ordering as little as possible so as to limit the number of returns and carefully consider the effects of their customer satisfaction-guaranteed policies, if any.

A multi-objective model for closed-loop supply chain optimization and efficient supplier selection in a competitive environment considering quantity discount policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jahangoshai Rezaee, Mustafa; Yousefi, Samuel; Hayati, Jamileh

2017-06-01

Supplier selection and allocation of optimal order quantity are two of the most important processes in closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) and reverse logistic (RL). So that providing high quality raw material is considered as a basic requirement for a manufacturer to produce popular products, as well as achieve more market shares. On the other hand, considering the existence of competitive environment, suppliers have to offer customers incentives like discounts and enhance the quality of their products in a competition with other manufacturers. Therefore, in this study, a model is presented for CLSC optimization, efficient supplier selection, as well as orders allocation considering quantity discount policy. It is modeled using multi-objective programming based on the integrated simultaneous data envelopment analysis-Nash bargaining game. In this study, maximizing profit and efficiency and minimizing defective and functions of delivery delay rate are taken into accounts. Beside supplier selection, the suggested model selects refurbishing sites, as well as determining the number of products and parts in each network's sector. The suggested model's solution is carried out using global criteria method. Furthermore, based on related studies, a numerical example is examined to validate it.

How to Make Money out of RLVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parkinson, B.

A successful reusable launch vehicle (RLV) will need to launch payloads at lower prices than competing expendable launch vehicles (ELVs). Existing ELVs have the advantage of written off development costs, and support a range of payload sizes through dual launch and launcher modularity - features not expected to be shared by an RLV. However, the majority of ELV launch costs are expendable hardware, while for RLVs many costs are fixed annual costs. Starting with a per-flight cost below that of competing ELVs, an RLV can support a range of payload sizes at a fixed cost/kg. Since the cost of adding an extra flight to the annual operations (“marginal cost”) is also very much less than the “full recovery” cost, it is possible to extend the range of economic payload sizes downwards. This can provide the customer with a flexible, constant specific cost launcher, while giving the operator a strategy allowing recovery of the development and initial fleet production costs. An estimate for the probability distribution of future payloads (to LEO, GTO and polar orbits) is presented. This can then be used to optimize the vehicle market capture to maximise the operator's profit, or to identify a minimum market size for which an RLV will be profitable.

An adaptable toolkit to assess commercial fishery costs and benefits related to marine protected area network design.

PubMed

Daigle, Rémi M; Monaco, Cristián J; Elgin, Ashley K

2015-01-01

Around the world, governments are establishing Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks to meet their commitments to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. MPAs are often used in an effort to conserve biodiversity and manage fisheries stocks. However, their efficacy and effect on fisheries yields remain unclear. We conducted a case-study on the economic impact of different MPA network design strategies on the Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) fisheries in Canada. The open-source R package that we developed to analyze this case study can be customized to conduct similar analyses for other systems. We used a spatially-explicit individual-based model of population growth and dispersal coupled with a fisheries management and harvesting component. We found that MPA networks that both protect the target species' habitat and were spatially optimized to improve population connectivity had the highest net present value (i.e., were most profitable for the fishing industry). These higher profits were achieved primarily by reducing the distance travelled for fishing and reducing the probability of a moratorium event. These findings add to a growing body of knowledge demonstrating the importance of incorporating population connectivity in the MPA planning process, as well as the ability of this R package to explore ecological and economic consequences of alternative MPA network designs.

Re-powering and site recycling in a competitive environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Taylor, A.; Kahn, E.P.

1991-03-01

Re-powering and site recycling are strategies designed to expand electric generating capacity by using depreciated assets. The resource base for the these strategies is large. By 1995, over 170,000 MW of fossil-fired capacity will be in excess of thirty years old, and approaching the end of its conventional economic lifetime. This paper explores how these assets might be developed using competitive market forces. While some re-powering is being pursued under traditional ratebase regulation, there are four other generic alternatives. These are: (1) utility investment at fixed prices with regulatory pre-approval, (2) utility investment under competitive bidding, (3) utility leasing formore » private producer development, and (4) utility sale of sites for private producer development. Issues associated with each alternative are explored and illustrated with examples. State regulatory policy will be the critical determinant of whether a market develops for depreciated power plants. Financial incentives will stimulate utilities to re-deploy depreciated assets. This means some form of profit-sharing between customers and shareholders of the grains from asset sales. Different approaches to profit sharing are reviewed. These developments are still in an experimental state, however, and no single approach appears to have emerged as a dominant trend. 36 refs., 1 tab.« less

Assessing the economic impacts of drought from the perspective of profit loss rate: a case study of the sugar industry in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Lin, L.; Chen, H.

2015-07-01

Natural disasters have enormous impacts on human society, especially on the development of the economy. To support decision-making in mitigation and adaption to natural disasters, assessment of economic impacts is fundamental and of great significance. Based on a review of the literature on economic impact evaluation, this paper proposes a new assessment model of the economic impacts of droughts by using the sugar industry in China as a case study, which focuses on the generation and transfer of economic impacts along a simple value chain involving only sugarcane growers and a sugar-producing company. A perspective of profit loss rate is applied to scale economic impact. By using "with and without" analysis, profit loss is defined as the difference in profits between disaster-hit and disaster-free scenarios. To calculate profit, analysis of a time series of sugar price is applied. With the support of a linear regression model, an endogenous trend in sugar price is identified and the time series of sugar price "without" disaster is obtained, using an autoregressive error model to separate impact of disasters from the internal trend in sugar price. Unlike the settings in other assessment models, representative sugar prices, which represent value level in disaster-free conditions and disaster-hit conditions, are integrated from a long time series that covers the whole period of drought. As a result, it is found that in a rigid farming contract, sugarcane growers suffer far more than the sugar company when impacted by severe drought, which may promote reflections among various economic bodies on economic equality related to the occurrence of natural disasters. Further, sensitivity analysis of the model built reveals that sugarcane purchase price has a significant influence on profit loss rate, which implies that setting a proper sugarcane purchase price would be an effective way of realizing economic equality in future practice of contract farming.

Evaluation of economic efficiencies in clinical retina practice: activity-based cost analysis and modeling to determine impacts of changes in patient management

PubMed Central

Murray, Timothy G; Tornambe, Paul; Dugel, Pravin; Tong, Kuo Bianchini

2011-01-01

Background The purpose of this study is to report the use of activity-based cost analysis to identify areas of practice efficiencies and inefficiencies within a large academic retinal center and a small single-specialty group. This analysis establishes a framework for evaluating rapidly shifting clinical practices (anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, microincisional vitrectomy surgery) and incorporating changing reimbursements for care delivery (intravitreal injections, optical coherence tomography [OCT]) to determine the impact on practice profitability. Pro forma modeling targeted the impact of declining reimbursement for OCT imaging and intravitreal injection using a strategy that incorporates activity-based cost analysis into a direct evaluation schema for clinical operations management. Methods Activity-based costing analyses were performed at two different types of retinal practices in the US, ie, a small single-specialty group practice and an academic hospital-based practice (Bascom Palmer Eye Institute). Retrospective claims data were utilized to identify all procedures performed and billed, submitted charges, allowed charges, and net collections from each of these two practices for the calendar years 2005–2006 and 2007–2008. A pro forma analysis utilizing current reimbursement profiles was performed to determine the impact of altered reimbursement on practice profitability. All analyses were performed by a third party consulting firm. Results The small single-specialty group practice outperformed the academic hospital-based practice on almost all markers of efficiency. In the academic hospital-based practice, only four service lines were profitable, ie, nonlaser surgery, laser surgery, non-OCT diagnostics, and injections. Profit margin varied from 62% for nonlaser surgery to 1% for intravitreal injections. Largest negative profit contributions were associated with office visits and OCT imaging. Conclusion Activity-based cost analysis is a powerful tool to evaluate retinal practice efficiencies. These two distinct practices were able to provide significant increases in clinical care (office visits, ophthalmic imaging, and patient procedures) through maintaining efficiencies of care. Pro forma analysis of 2011 data noted that OCT payments to facilities and physicians continue to decrease dramatically and that this payment decrease further reduced the profitability for the two largest aspects of these retinal practices, ie, intravitreal injections and OCT retinal imaging. Ultimately, all retinal practices are at risk for significant shifts in financial health related to rapidly evolving changes in patterns of care and reimbursement associated with providing outstanding clinical care. PMID:21792278

Integrating sentiment analysis and term associations with geo-temporal visualizations on customer feedback streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming; Rohrdantz, Christian; Janetzko, Halldór; Keim, Daniel; Dayal, Umeshwar; Haug, Lars-Erik; Hsu, Mei-Chun

2012-01-01

Twitter currently receives over 190 million tweets (small text-based Web posts) and manufacturing companies receive over 10 thousand web product surveys a day, in which people share their thoughts regarding a wide range of products and their features. A large number of tweets and customer surveys include opinions about products and services. However, with Twitter being a relatively new phenomenon, these tweets are underutilized as a source for determining customer sentiments. To explore high-volume customer feedback streams, we integrate three time series-based visual analysis techniques: (1) feature-based sentiment analysis that extracts, measures, and maps customer feedback; (2) a novel idea of term associations that identify attributes, verbs, and adjectives frequently occurring together; and (3) new pixel cell-based sentiment calendars, geo-temporal map visualizations and self-organizing maps to identify co-occurring and influential opinions. We have combined these techniques into a well-fitted solution for an effective analysis of large customer feedback streams such as for movie reviews (e.g., Kung-Fu Panda) or web surveys (buyers).

Economics of adopting solar photovoltaic energy systems in irrigation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matlin, R.W.; Katzman, M.T.

An economic analysis concerning the adoption of solar photovoltaic energy systems in irrigation has been made compared to conventional fossil fuel energy sources. The basis for this analysis is presented along with a discussion as to the time of initial profitability, the time of optimal investment, the effects of the tax system, the cost per acre that would make irrigation unviable, and possible governmental incentives that would promote the deployment of photovoltaic irrigation systems between the time of initial profitability and the time of optimal investment.

Dancing bees tune both duration and rate of waggle-run production in relation to nectar-source profitability.

PubMed

Seeley, T D; Mikheyev, A S; Pagano, G J

2000-09-01

For more than 50 years, investigators of the honey bee's waggle dance have reported that richer food sources seem to elicit longer-lasting and livelier dances than do poorer sources. However, no one had measured both dance duration and liveliness as a function of food-source profitability. Using video analysis, we found that nectar foragers adjust both the duration (D) and the rate (R) of waggle-run production, thereby tuning the number of waggle runs produced per foraging trip (W, where W= DR) as a function of food-source profitability. Both duration and rate of waggle-run production increase with rising food-source profitability. Moreover, we found that a dancing bee adjusts the rate of waggle-run production (R) in relation to food-source profitability by adjusting the mean duration of the return-phase portion of her dance circuits. This finding raises the possibility that bees can use return-phase duration as an index of food-source profitability. Finally, dances having different levels of liveliness have different mean durations of the return phase, indicating that dance liveliness can be quantified in terms of the time interval between consecutive waggle runs.

Complaints in for-profit, non-profit and public nursing homes in two Canadian provinces

PubMed Central

McGregor, Margaret J; Cohen, Marcy; Stocks-Rankin, Catherine-Rose; Cox, Michelle B; Salomons, Kia; McGrail, Kimberlyn M; Spencer, Charmaine; Ronald, Lisa A; Schulzer, Michael

2011-01-01

Background Nursing homes provide long-term housing, support and nursing care to frail elders who are no longer able to function independently. Although studies conducted in the United States have demonstrated an association between for-profit ownership and inferior quality, relatively few Canadian studies have made performance comparisons with reference to type of ownership. Complaints are one proxy measure of performance in the nursing home setting. Our study goal was to determine whether there is an association between facility ownership and the frequency of nursing home complaints. Methods We analyzed publicly available data on complaints, regulatory measures, facility ownership and size for 604 facilities in Ontario over 1 year (2007/08) and 62 facilities in British Columbia (Fraser Health region) over 4 years (2004–2008). All analyses were carried out at the facility level. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to assess the association between type of facility ownership and frequency of complaints. Results The mean (standard deviation) number of verified/substantiated complaints per 100 beds per year in Ontario and Fraser Health was 0.45 (1.10) and 0.78 (1.63) respectively. Most complaints related to resident care. Complaints were more frequent in facilities with more citations, i.e., violations of the legislation or regulations governing a home, (Ontario) and inspection violations (Fraser Health). Compared with Ontario’s for-profit chain facilities, adjusted incident rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals of verified complaints were 0.56 (0.27–1.16), 0.58 (0.34–1.00), 0.43 (0.21– 0.88), and 0.50 (0.30– 0.84) for for-profit single-site, non-profit, charitable, and public facilities respectively. In Fraser Health, the adjusted incident rate ratio of substantiated complaints in non-profit facilities compared with for-profit facilities was 0.18 (0.07–0.45). Interpretation Compared with for-profit chain facilities, non-profit, charitable and public facilities had significantly lower rates of complaints in Ontario. Likewise, in British Columbia’s Fraser Health region, non-profit owned facilities had significantly lower rates of complaints compared with for-profit owned facilities. PMID:22567074

Regulatory reform for natural gas pipelines: The effect on pipeline and distribution company share prices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jurman, Elisabeth Antonie

1997-08-01

The natural gas shortages in the 1970s focused considerable attention on the federal government's role in altering energy consumption. For the natural gas industry these shortages eventually led to the passage of the Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA) in 1978 as part of the National Energy Plan. A series of events in the decade of the 1980s has brought about the restructuring of interstate natural gas pipelines which have been transformed by regulators and the courts from monopolies into competitive entities. This transformation also changed their relationship with their downstream customers, the LDCs, who no longer had to deal with pipelines as the only merchants of gas. Regulatory reform made it possible for LDCs to buy directly from producers using the pipelines only for delivery of their purchases. This study tests for the existence of monopoly rents by analyzing the daily returns of natural gas pipeline and utility industry stock price data from 1982 to 1990, a period of regulatory reform for the natural gas industry. The study's main objective is to investigate the degree of empirical support for claims that regulatory reforms increase profits in the affected industry, as the normative theory of regulation expects, or decrease profits, as advocates of the positive theory of regulation believe. I also test Norton's theory of risk which predicts that systematic risk will increase for firms undergoing deregulation. Based on a sample of twelve natural gas pipelines, and 25 utilities an event study concept was employed to measure the impact of regulatory event announcements on daily natural gas pipeline or utility industry stock price data using a market model regression equation. The results of this study provide some evidence that regulatory reforms did not increase the profits of pipeline firms, confirming the expectations of those who claim that excess profits result from regulation and will disappear, once that protection is removed and the firms are operating in competitive markets. The study's empirical findings support the claims of Norton's risk theory that systematic risk is higher in unregulated firms.

[Analysis of financial statements of Japanese private hospitals (1982-1991)].

PubMed

Matsuda, S; Murata, H

1996-06-01

In order to clarify the financial situation of Japanese private hospitals, the financial statements provided by the Social Welfare and Medical Service Corporation were analyzed for the period from 1982 to 1991. The results clarified the low growth rate and low profitability of the Japanese private hospitals, although their financial situation was relatively stable. However, the efficiency of cost has been stalled in recent years and profitability has been declining due to the low turnover rate of capital. According to the CVP analysis, the Profit volume ratio of the investigated hospitals has been increased to the level of 95%. This situation means that, in the current financial situation, more than half of the Japanese private hospitals will go into the red if revenue declines 5% due to some short term change in the managerial environment.

Person-Organization Commitment: Bonds of Internal Consumer in the Context of Non-profit Organizations

PubMed Central

Juaneda-Ayensa, Emma; Clavel San Emeterio, Mónica; González-Menorca, Carlos

2017-01-01

From an Organizational Behavior perspective, it is important to recognize the links generated between individuals and the organization that encourage a desire for permanence. After more than a half century of research, Organizational Commitment remains one of the open questions in the Psychology of Organizations. It is considered an essential factor for explaining individual behavior in the organization such as satisfaction, turnover intention, or loyalty. In this paper, we analyze different contributions regarding the nature of the bond between the individual and the organization. Taking into account the peculiarities of Non-profit Organizations, we present different interpretation for later validation, comparing results from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the four models obtained using exploratory factor analysis, both conducted on a sample of 235 members of Non-profit Organizations. PMID:28775699

Definition, willingness-to-pay, and ranking of quality attributes of U.S. pork as defined by importers in Asia and Mexico.

PubMed

Murphy, R G L; Howard, S T; Woerner, D R; Pendell, D L; Dixon, C L; Desimone, T L; Green, M D; Igo, J L; Tatum, J D; Belk, K E

2015-01-01

A survey was conducted from November 2009 to April 2010 to determine how importers of pork define 7 predetermined quality categories (food safety, customer service, eating quality, product specification, packaging, visual characteristics, and production history) and to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) and establish best-worst (B/W) scaling (rank) for the 7 quality categories. Interviews were conducted in Hong Kong/China (n = 83), Japan (n = 48), Mexico (n = 70) and Russia (n = 54) with importers of U.S. pork or those who had purchased U.S. pork from distributors in the last 3 yr. Interviews used dynamic routing software and were structured such that economic factors for purchase were addressed first, allowing all responses to focus on quality. Questions about WTP and B/W were asked and then each respondent was asked to define what each quality category meant to them. Generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze frequency data. Over 70% of interviewees in Hong Kong/China, Japan, and Mexico responded that purchase price was influential in deciding whether or not to purchase imported pork. This number was lower in Russia, where respondents stated tariff rates were also important, indicating market access was a larger issue in Russia. Food safety was the most important quality category (price was not included as a part of quality) for imported pork followed by specifications. Respondents indicated some form of government inspection was how they defined food safety, whereas product size, weight, and subcutaneous fat were all included in the definition of specifications. Interviewees were more likely to pay premiums for customer service and less likely to pay premiums for packaging (P < 0.05). The premiums that were willing to be paid for guarantees of quality for imported pork variety meats were numerically lower than for whole muscle cuts or processed products. A guarantee associated with food safety of processed pork products was found to be the quality attribute for which importers would be willing to pay the highest premium. Production history was found to be the least important quality attribute for importers of all types of U.S. pork, except those in Japan. Exporters could increase profitability if a guarantee of customer service was made. Price, tariffs, and exchange rates are important to pork importers; these results indicated that if certain quality attributes could be guaranteed, exporters could increase profitability.

Quality of care in investor-owned vs not-for-profit HMOs.

PubMed

Himmelstein, D U; Woolhandler, S; Hellander, I; Wolfe, S M

1999-07-14

The proportion of health maintenance organization (HMO) members enrolled in investor-owned plans has increased sharply, yet little is known about the quality of these plans compared with not-for-profit HMOs. To compare quality-of-care measures for investor-owned and not-for-profit HMOs. Analysis of the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Version 3.0 from the National Committee for Quality Assurance's Quality Compass 1997, which included 1996 quality-of-care data for 329 HMO plans (248 investor-owned and 81 not-for-profit), representing 56% of the total HMO enrollment in the United States. Rates for 14 HEDIS quality-of-care indicators. Compared with not-for-profit HMOs, investor-owned plans had lower rates for all 14 quality-of-care indicators. Among patients discharged from the hospital after myocardial infarction, 59.2% of members in investor-owned HMOs vs 70.6% in not-for-profit plans received a beta-blocker (P<.001); 35.1% of patients with diabetes mellitus in investor-owned plans vs 47.9% in not-for-profit plans had annual eye examinations (P<.001). Investor-owned plans had lower rates than not-for-profit plans of immunization (63.9% vs 72.3%; P<.001), mammography (69.4% vs 75.1%; P<.001), Papanicolaou tests (69.2% vs 77.1%; P<.001), and psychiatric hospitalization (70.5% vs 77.1%; P<.001). Quality scores were highest for staff- and group-model HMOs. In multivariate analyses, investor ownership was consistently associated with lower quality after controlling for model type, geographic region, and the method each HMO used to collect data. Investor-owned HMOs deliver lower quality of care than not-for-profit plans.

A Web Application for Cotton Irrigation Management on The US Southern High Plains. Part I: Crop Yield Modeling and Profit Analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Irrigated cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) production is a central part of west Texas agriculture that depends on the essentially non-renewable water resource of the Ogallala aquifer. Web-based decision support tools that estimate the profit effects of irrigation for cotton under varying lint price, p...

Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: An Analysis of the Role of the For-Profit Higher Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Brittny Adair

2013-01-01

This research project examines the influence of the for-profit college sector on the 2008 reauthorization of the "Higher Education Act." It is based on interviews with Congressional staff, college lobbyists, and higher education reporters, as well as the "Congressional Record" and advocacy materials. Findings indicate that the…

Analysis of Servant-Leadership Characteristics: Case Study of a For-Profit Career School President

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hiatt, Elaine M.

2010-01-01

Servant leadership is a challenging leadership philosophy to study empirically. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to determine if an effective leader of a for-profit career school displays the 10 servant-leader characteristics, identified by Larry R. Spears (1995) in "Reflections on Leadership," according to respondents,…

For-Profit Colleges and Universities: Their Markets, Regulation, Performance, and Place in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hentschke, Guilbert C., Ed.; Lechuga, Vicente M., Ed.; Tierney, William G., Ed.

2010-01-01

This book offers a clear-eyed and balanced analysis of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs), reviewing their history, business strategies, and management practices; setting them in the context of marketplace conditions, the framework of public policy and government regulations; and viewing them in the light of the public good. Individual…

Assessing the feasibility and profitability of cable logging in southern upland hardwood forests

Treesearch

Chris B. LeDoux; Dennis M. May; Tony Johnson; Richard H. Widmann

1995-01-01

Procedures developed to assess available timber supplies from upland hardwood forest statistics reported by the USDA Forest Services' Forest Inventory and Analysis unit were modified to assess the feasibility and profitability of cable logging in southern upland hardwood forests. Depending on the harvest system and yarding distance used, cable logging can be...

Impact of in-woods product merchandizing on profitable logging opportunities in southern upland hardwood forests

Treesearch

Dennis M. May; Chris B. LeDoux; John B. Tansey; Richard Widmann

1994-01-01

Procedures developed to assess available timber supplies from upland hardwood forest statistics reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) units, were modified to demonstrate the impact of three in-woods product-merchandizing options on profitable logging opportunities in upland hardwood forests in 14 Southern...

Analysis on preemptive priority retrial queue with two types of customers, balking, optional re-service, single vacation and service interruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuvarani, S.; Saravanarajan, M. C.

2017-11-01

This paper concerned with performance analysis of single server preemptive priority retrial queue with a single vacation where two types of customers are considered and they are called priority customers and ordinary customers. The ordinary customers arrive in batch into the system. The priority customers do not form any queue. After the completion of regular service, the customers may demand re-service for the previous service without joining the orbit or may leave the system. As soon as the system is empty, the server goes for vacation and the regular busy server can be subjected to breakdown. By using the supplementary variable technique, we obtain the steady-state probability generating functions for the system/orbit size. Some important system performance measures and the stochastic decomposition are discussed. Finally, numerical examples are presented to visualize the effect of parameters on system performance measures.

Emotion Analysis of Telephone Complaints from Customer Based on Affective Computing.

PubMed

Gong, Shuangping; Dai, Yonghui; Ji, Jun; Wang, Jinzhao; Sun, Hai

2015-01-01

Customer complaint has been the important feedback for modern enterprises to improve their product and service quality as well as the customer's loyalty. As one of the commonly used manners in customer complaint, telephone communication carries rich emotional information of speeches, which provides valuable resources for perceiving the customer's satisfaction and studying the complaint handling skills. This paper studies the characteristics of telephone complaint speeches and proposes an analysis method based on affective computing technology, which can recognize the dynamic changes of customer emotions from the conversations between the service staff and the customer. The recognition process includes speaker recognition, emotional feature parameter extraction, and dynamic emotion recognition. Experimental results show that this method is effective and can reach high recognition rates of happy and angry states. It has been successfully applied to the operation quality and service administration in telecom and Internet service company.

Emotion Analysis of Telephone Complaints from Customer Based on Affective Computing

PubMed Central

Gong, Shuangping; Ji, Jun; Wang, Jinzhao; Sun, Hai

2015-01-01

Customer complaint has been the important feedback for modern enterprises to improve their product and service quality as well as the customer's loyalty. As one of the commonly used manners in customer complaint, telephone communication carries rich emotional information of speeches, which provides valuable resources for perceiving the customer's satisfaction and studying the complaint handling skills. This paper studies the characteristics of telephone complaint speeches and proposes an analysis method based on affective computing technology, which can recognize the dynamic changes of customer emotions from the conversations between the service staff and the customer. The recognition process includes speaker recognition, emotional feature parameter extraction, and dynamic emotion recognition. Experimental results show that this method is effective and can reach high recognition rates of happy and angry states. It has been successfully applied to the operation quality and service administration in telecom and Internet service company. PMID:26633967

Perceived Status and Value: The Student-Customer Relationship Inflected by the Inherent Challenges of University-Industry Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heikkinen, Juho; Isomöttönen, Ville

2017-01-01

This article examines how students in a multidisciplinary project-based learning course involving real customers perceive their interactions with their customers. The authors conducted a qualitative study and analysed students' learning reports by means of a thematic network analysis. The analysis shows how students perceive their status in…

Customer satisfaction planning and industrial engineering move hospital towards in-house stockless program.

PubMed

Burton, R; Mauk, D

1993-03-01

By integrating customer satisfaction planning and industrial engineering techniques when examining internal costs and efficiencies, materiel managers are able to better realize what concepts will best meet their customers' needs. Defining your customer(s), applying industrial engineering techniques, completing work sampling studies, itemizing recommendations and benefits to each alternative, performing feasibility and cost-analysis matrixes and utilizing resources through productivity monitoring will get you on the right path toward selecting concepts to use. This article reviews the above procedures as they applied to one hospital's decision-making process to determine whether to incorporate a stockless inventory program. Through an analysis of customer demand, the hospital realized that stockless was the way to go, but not by outsourcing the function--the hospital incorporated an in-house stockless inventory program.

The association of debt financing with not-for-profit hospitals' operational and capital-investment efficiency.

PubMed

Magnus, Stephen A; Wheeler, John R C; Smith, Dean G

2004-01-01

Increased debt in companies can motivate both operational and capital-investment efficiency. This positive influence of debt is attributed to creditors' oversight of corporate behavior and the need to generate cash flows to service debt. Our study investigates whether debt has a similar relationship with efficiency in not-for-profit hospitals. Using statistical analysis of a database of audited financial statements of not-for-profit hospitals, we test whether debt is associated with six distinct measures of operational and capital-investment efficiency. We find that debt either has no association with efficiency or predicts decreased efficiency. Possible explanations are that creditors' oversight is less tight in the not-for-profit setting and that debt may at times motivate excessive capital investment because of a legal requirement to tie tax-exempt debt with a capital-investment project.

Do Robotic Surgical Systems Improve Profit Margins? A Cross-Sectional Analysis of California Hospitals.

PubMed

Shih, Ya-Chen Tina; Shen, Chan; Hu, Jim C

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to examine the association between ownership of robotic surgical systems and hospital profit margins. This study used hospital annual utilization data, annual financial data, and discharge data for year 2011 from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. We first performed bivariate analysis to compare mean profit margin by hospital and market characteristics and to examine whether these characteristics differed between hospitals that had one or more robotic surgical systems in 2011 and those that did not. We applied the t test and the F test to compare mean profit margin between two groups and among three or more groups, respectively. We then conducted multilevel logistic regression to determine the association between ownership of robotic surgical systems and having a positive profit margin after controlling for other hospital and market characteristics and accounting for possible correlation among hospitals located within the same market. The study sample included 167 California hospitals with valid financial information. Hospitals with robotic surgical systems tended to report more favorable profit margins. However, multilevel logistic regression showed that this relationship (an association, not causality) became only marginally significant (odds ratio [OR] = 6.2; P = 0.053) after controlling for other hospital characteristics, such as ownership type, teaching status, bed size, and surgical volumes, and market characteristics, such as total number of robotic surgical systems owned by other hospitals in the same market area. As robotic surgical systems become widely disseminated, hospital decision makers should carefully evaluate the financial and clinical implications before making a capital investment in this technology. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ecology and Economics of Using Native Managed Bees for Almond Pollination.

PubMed

Koh, Insu; Lonsdorf, Eric V; Artz, Derek R; Pitts-Singer, Theresa L; Ricketts, Taylor H

2018-02-09

Native managed bees can improve crop pollination, but a general framework for evaluating the associated economic costs and benefits has not been developed. We conducted a cost-benefit analysis to assess how managing blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria Say [Hymenoptera: Megachildae]) alongside honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus [Hymenoptera: Apidae]) can affect profits for almond growers in California. Specifically, we studied how adjusting three strategies can influence profits: (1) number of released O. lignaria bees, (2) density of artificial nest boxes, and (3) number of nest cavities (tubes) per box. We developed an ecological model for the effects of pollinator activity on almond yields, validated the model with published data, and then estimated changes in profits for different management strategies. Our model shows that almond yields increase with O. lignaria foraging density, even where honey bees are already in use. Our cost-benefit analysis shows that profit ranged from -US$1,800 to US$2,800/acre given different combinations of the three strategies. Adding nest boxes had the greatest effect; we predict an increase in profit between low and high nest box density strategies (2.5 and 10 boxes/acre). In fact, the number of released bees and the availability of nest tubes had relatively small effects in the high nest box density strategies. This suggests that growers could improve profits by simply adding more nest boxes with moderate number of tubes in each. Our approach can support grower decisions regarding integrated crop pollination and highlight the importance of a comprehensive ecological economic framework for assessing these decisions. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Assessing the economic impacts of drought from the perspective of profit loss rate: a case study of the sugar industry in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.; Lin, L.; Chen, H.

2015-02-01

Natural disasters have enormous impacts on human society, especially on the development of the economy. To support decision making in mitigation and adaption to natural disasters, assessment of economic impacts is fundamental and of great significance. Based on a review of the literature of economic impact evaluation, this paper proposes a new assessment model of economic impact from drought by using the sugar industry in China as a case study, which focuses on the generation and transfer of economic impacts along a simple value chain involving only sugarcane growers and a sugar producing company. A perspective of profit loss rate is applied to scale economic impact with a model based on cost-and-benefit analysis. By using analysis of "with-and-without", profit loss is defined as the difference in profits between disaster-hit and disaster-free scenarios. To calculate profit, analysis on a time series of sugar price is applied. With the support of a linear regression model, an endogenous trend in sugar price is identified, and the time series of sugar price "without" disaster is obtained using an autoregressive error model to separate impact by disasters from the internal trend in sugar price. Unlike the settings in other assessment models, representative sugar prices, which represent value level in disaster-free condition and disaster-hit condition, are integrated from a long time series that covers the whole period of drought. As a result, it is found that in a rigid farming contract, sugarcane growers suffer far more than the sugar company when impacted by severe drought, which may promote the reflections on economic equality among various economic bodies at the occurrence of natural disasters.

Hospital financial management: what is the link between revenue cycle management, profitability, and not-for-profit hospitals' ability to grow equity?

PubMed

Singh, Simone Rauscher; Wheeler, John

2012-01-01

Effective revenue cycle management--from appointment scheduling and patient registration at the front end of the revenue cycle to billing and cash collections at the back end--plays a crucial role in hospitals' efforts to improve their financial performance. Using data for 1,397 bond-issuing, not-for-profit US hospitals for 2000 to 2007, this study analyzed the relationship between hospitals' performance at managing the revenue cycle and their profitability and ability to build equity capital. Hospital-level fixed effects regression analysis was used to model four different measures of profitability and equity capital as functions of two key financial indicators of revenue cycle management--amount of patient revenue and speed of revenue collection. The results indicated that higher amounts of patient revenue in relation to a hospital's assets were associated with statistically significant increases in operating and total profit margins, free cash flow, and equity capital (p < 0.01 for all four models); that is, hospitals that generated more patient revenue per dollar of assets invested reported improved financial performance. Likewise, a statistically significant link existed between lower revenue collection periods and all four indicators of hospital financial performance (p < 0.01 for three models; p < 0.05 for one model). Hospitals that collected faster on their patient revenue reported higher profit margins and larger equity values. For revenue cycle managers, these findings represent good news: Streamlining a hospital's management of the patient revenue cycle can advance the organization's financial viability by improving profitability and enabling equity growth.

Hard gains through soft contracts: productive engagement of private providers in tuberculosis control.

PubMed Central

Lönnroth, Knut; Uplekar, Mukund; Blanc, Léopold

2006-01-01

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the number of initiatives involving "for-profit" private health care providers in national tuberculosis (TB) control efforts. We reviewed 15 such initiatives with respect to contractual arrangements, quality of care and success achieved in TB control. In seven initiatives, the National TB Programme (NTP) interacted directly with for-profit providers; while in the remaining eight, the NTP collaborated with for-profit providers through intermediary not-for-profit nongovernmental organizations. All but one of the initiatives used relational "drugs-for-performance contracts" to engage for-profit providers, i.e. drugs were provided free of charge by the NTP emphasizing that providers dispense them free of charge to patients and follow national guidelines for diagnosis and treatment. We found that 90% (range 61-96%) of new smear-positive pulmonary TB cases were successfully treated across all initiatives and TB case detection rates increased between 10% and 36%. We conclude that for-profit providers can be effectively involved in TB control through informal, but well defined drugs-for-performance contracts. The contracting party should be able to reach a common understanding concerning goals and role division with for-profit providers and monitor them for content and quality. Relational drugs-for-performance contracts minimize the need for handling the legal and financial aspects of classical contracting. We opine that further analysis is required to assess if such "soft" contracts are sufficient to scale up private for-profit provider involvement in TB control and other priority health interventions. PMID:17143461

Analysis of NPS Contracting Service Quality

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

customer expectations is what they “hear from other customers ” or word of mouth communications (Zeithaml et al., 1990). The second factor... satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Hallowell et al., 1996). If a service quality gap exists between the provider and the customer , that gap could...identify a problem with provider job satisfaction , customer satisfaction , or both. In turn, by identifying potential problems in these areas, it could

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) proposed dual-use technology investment program in intelligent robotics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Jon D.

1994-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the proposed Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) precompetitive, dual-use technology investment project in robotics. New robotic technology in advanced robots, which can recognize and respond to their environments and to spoken human supervision so as to perform a variety of combined mobility and manipulation tasks in various sectors, is an objective of this work. In the U.S. economy, such robots offer the benefits of improved global competitiveness in a critical industrial sector; improved productivity by the end users of these robots; a growing robotics industry that produces jobs and profits; lower cost health care delivery with quality improvements; and, as these 'intelligent' robots become acceptable throughout society, an increase in the standard of living for everyone. In space, such robots will provide improved safety, reliability, and productivity as Space Station evolves, and will enable human space exploration (by human/robot teams). The proposed effort consists of partnerships between manufacturers, universities, and JSC to develop working production prototypes of these robots by leveraging current development by both sides. Currently targeted applications are in the manufacturing, health care, services, and construction sectors of the U.S. economy and in the inspection, servicing, maintenance, and repair aspects of space exploration. But the focus is on the generic software architecture and standardized interfaces for custom modules tailored for the various applications allowing end users to customize a robot as PC users customize PC's. Production prototypes would be completed in 5 years under this proposal.

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) proposed dual-use technology investment program in intelligent robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erikson, Jon D.

1994-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the proposed Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) precompetitive, dual-use technology investment project in robotics. New robotic technology in advanced robots, which can recognize and respond to their environments and to spoken human supervision so as to perform a variety of combined mobility and manipulation tasks in various sectors, is an obejective of this work. In the U.S. economy, such robots offer the benefits of improved global competitiveness in a critical industrial sector; improved productivity by the end users of these robots; a growing robotics industry that produces jobs and profits; lower cost health care delivery with quality improvements; and, as these 'intelligent' robots become acceptable throughout society, an increase in the standard of living for everyone. In space, such robots will provide improved safety, reliability, and productivity as Space Station evolves, and will enable human space exploration (by human/robot teams). The proposed effort consists of partnerships between manufacturers, universities, and JSC to develop working production prototypes of these robots by leveraging current development by both sides. Currently targeted applications are in the manufacturing, health care, services, and construction sectors of the U.S. economy and in the inspection, servicing, maintenance, and repair aspects of space exploration. But the focus is on the generic software architecture and standardized interfaces for custom modules tailored for the various applications allowing end users to customize a robot as PC users customize PC's. Production prototypes would be completed in 5 years under this proposal.

Design of customer knowledge management system for Aglaonema Nursery in South Tangerang, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiarto, D.; Mardianto, I.; Dewayana, TS; Khadafi, M.

2017-12-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of customer knowledge management system to support customer relationship management activities for an aglaonema nursery in South Tangerang, Indonesia. System. The steps were knowledge identification (knowledge about customer, knowledge from customer, knowledge for customer), knowledge capture, codification, analysis of system requirement and create use case and activity diagram. The result showed that some key knowledge were about supporting customer in plant care (know how) and types of aglaonema including with the prices (know what). That knowledge for customer then codified and shared in knowledge portal website integrated with social media. Knowledge about customer were about customers and their behaviour in purchasing aglaonema. Knowledge from customer were about feedback, favorite and customer experience. Codified knowledge were placed and shared using content management system based on wordpress.

A Decomposition of Hospital Profitability

PubMed Central

Broom, Kevin; Elliott, Michael; Lee, Jen-Fu

2015-01-01

Objectives: This paper evaluates the drivers of profitability for a large sample of U.S. hospitals. Following a methodology frequently used by financial analysts, we use a DuPont analysis as a framework to evaluate the quality of earnings. By decomposing returns on equity (ROE) into profit margin, total asset turnover, and capital structure, the DuPont analysis reveals what drives overall profitability. Methods: Profit margin, the efficiency with which services are rendered (total asset turnover), and capital structure is calculated for 3,255 U.S. hospitals between 2007 and 2012 using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Healthcare Cost Report Information System (CMS Form 2552). The sample is then stratified by ownership, size, system affiliation, teaching status, critical access designation, and urban or non-urban location. Those hospital characteristics and interaction terms are then regressed (OLS) against the ROE and the respective DuPont components. Sensitivity to regression methodology is also investigated using a seemingly unrelated regression. Results: When the sample is stratified by hospital characteristics, the results indicate investor-owned hospitals have higher profit margins, higher efficiency, and are substantially more leveraged. Hospitals in systems are found to have higher ROE, margins, and efficiency but are associated with less leverage. In addition, a number of important and significant interactions between teaching status, ownership, location, critical access designation, and inclusion in a system are documented. Many of the significant relationships, most notably not-for-profit ownership, lose significance or are predominately associated with one interaction effect when interaction terms are introduced as explanatory variables. Results are not sensitive to the alternative methodology. Conclusion: The results of the DuPont analysis suggest that although there appears to be convergence in the behavior of NFP and IO hospitals, significant financial differences remain depending on their respective hospital characteristics. Those differences are tempered or exacerbated by location, size, teaching status, system affiliation, and critical access designation. With the exception of cost-based reimbursement for critical access hospitals, emerging payment systems are placing additional financial pressures on hospitals. The financial pressures being applied treat hospitals as a monolithic category and, given the delicate and often negative ROE for many hospitals, the long-term stability of the healthcare facility infrastructure may be negatively impacted. PMID:28462258

Non-Profit Education Providers vis-a-vis the Private Sector: Comparative Analysis of Non-Governmental Organizations and Traditional Voluntary Organizations in Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bano, Masooda

2008-01-01

Under the New Policy Agenda, international development institutions have promoted non-profit organizations (NPOs) in developing countries, on a dual logic: firstly, they deliver social services more efficiently than the state; secondly, they mitigate equity concerns around privatization of basic social services by reaching out to the poor. Based…

A web application for cotton irrigation management on the U.S. southern high plains. Part I: Crop yield modeling and profit analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Irrigated cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) production is a central part of west Texas agriculture that depends on the essentially non-renewable water resource of the Ogallala aquifer. Web-based decision support tools that estimate the profit effects of irrigation for cotton under varying lint price, p...

Job Quality in Non-Profit Organizations. CPRN Research Series on Human Resources in the Non-Profit Sector.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMullen, Kathryn; Schellenberg, Grant

The quality of jobs in nonprofit organizations in Canada was examined through a review of data from Canada's Workplace and Employer Survey, which collected data from a nationally representative sample of Canadian workplaces and paid employees in those workplaces. Key findings of the analysis were as follows: (1) overall, compared to the for-profit…

Techno-economic and profitability analysis of food waste biorefineries at European level.

PubMed

Cristóbal, Jorge; Caldeira, Carla; Corrado, Sara; Sala, Serenella

2018-07-01

Food waste represents a potential source to produce value-added materials replacing the use of virgin ones. However, the use of food waste as feedstock in biorefineries is still at an early stage of development and studies assessing its economic viability at large scale are lacking in the literature. This paper presents a techno-economic and profitability analysis of four food waste biorefineries that use wastes from tomato, potato, orange, and olive processing as feedstock. The study includes the assessment of potentially available quantities of those waste flows in Europe. Due to the low technology readiness level of this kind of biorefineries, a screening methodology to estimate the investment and manufacturing costs as well as two profitability ratios (the return on investment and the payback time) was adopted. Results show that not all the waste feedstocks have the same potential. The most profitable options are those related to implementing fewer plants, namely concentrating the production and capitalising on economies of scale while being at risk of increasing externalities, e.g. due to logistics of the feedstocks. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Hospital Financial Conditions and the Provision of Unprofitable Services

PubMed Central

Bazzoli, Gloria J.; Hsieh, Hui-Min

2011-01-01

Increases in hospital financial pressure resulting from public and private payment policy may substantially reduce a hospital’s ability to provide certain services that are not well compensated or are frequently used by the uninsured. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of hospital financial condition on the provision of these unprofitable services for the insured and uninsured. Economic theory provides the conceptual underpinnings for the analysis, and a longitudinal empirical analysis is conducted for an eight-year study period. The results indicate that not-for-profit hospitals with strong financial performance provide more unprofitable services for the insured and uninsured than do not-for-profit hospitals with weaker condition. For-profit hospital provision of these services is not influenced by their financial condition and instead may reflect actions to meet community expectations or to offer a sufficiently broad service array to maintain the business of insured patients. PMID:21625342

An analytical approach to customer requirement information processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Zude; Xiao, Zheng; Liu, Quan; Ai, Qingsong

2013-11-01

'Customer requirements' (CRs) management is a key component of customer relationship management (CRM). By processing customer-focused information, CRs management plays an important role in enterprise systems (ESs). Although two main CRs analysis methods, quality function deployment (QFD) and Kano model, have been applied to many fields by many enterprises in the past several decades, the limitations such as complex processes and operations make them unsuitable for online businesses among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Currently, most SMEs do not have the resources to implement QFD or Kano model. In this article, we propose a method named customer requirement information (CRI), which provides a simpler and easier way for SMEs to run CRs analysis. The proposed method analyses CRs from the perspective of information and applies mathematical methods to the analysis process. A detailed description of CRI's acquisition, classification and processing is provided.

Towards personalized smart wheelchairs: Lessons learned from discovery interviews.

PubMed

Padir, Taşkin

2015-01-01

We posit that it is necessary to investigate the personalization of smart wheelchairs in three aspects interfaces for interaction, controllers for action (top-level, middle-level, and low-level), and feedback in interaction. Our team has been selected as an Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Team by the National Science Foundation to pursue customer discovery research to explore the commercial viability of smart wheelchairs. Through the process, our team has performed more than 110 interviews with powered wheelchair users, manufacturers, therapists, policy makers, and non-profit organization staff. Our findings revealed that the acceptability of fully autonomous systems by the users is still challenging and highly-dependent on the severity of the disability. Furthermore, the cost, ease-of-use and personalization are the most important factors in commercializing smart wheelchair technologies.

Flying Lessons: Learning from Ryanair's Cost Reduction Culture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawton, Thomas C.

2000-01-01

Through radically improving the value equation for airline customers, Ryanair has served to shake-up established norms and practices in European aviation. Underpinning its price leadership and market success is a vigorous and relentless cost reduction ethos and resultant low break-even load factor. Ryanair has lowered European airline cost structures considerably, shattering existing cost floors. Few competitors are able to follow, either because they do not know how or they are unable due to social settlement obligations or service commitments. At the same time, the company has maintained high average load factors on its flights. Taken in conjunction with its low break-even load factor, this results in consistently high overall profit margins. On this basis, Ryanair is likely to remain a significant competitor and increase its market presence and success across Europe.

Lessons drawn from 2 existing satellite networks: ARABSAT and EUTELSAT. Application to the Pacific basin projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloch, Jean-Jacques

The Arabsat and Eutelsat systems are described. The Arabsat belongs to an organization which includes 20 countries of the Arab League. The Eutelsat belongs to the European telecommunication system which includes 29 countries, and is based op the Intelsat model. The current use of their payload is reviewed and compared with their respective planning stage predictions. From this perspective, some teachings are drawn which could be profitable for emerging region Pacific basin networks, now in the planning stage. In the Pacific basin several private and governmental regional satellite networks either newly existing or in the design phase are vying to deliver services to potential customers. These services include national television, commercial television, VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) networks, and regional or domestic telephony.

Spatial firm competition in two dimensions with linear transportation costs: simulations and analytical results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roncoroni, Alan; Medo, Matus

2016-12-01

Models of spatial firm competition assume that customers are distributed in space and transportation costs are associated with their purchases of products from a small number of firms that are also placed at definite locations. It has been long known that the competition equilibrium is not guaranteed to exist if the most straightforward linear transportation costs are assumed. We show by simulations and also analytically that if periodic boundary conditions in a plane are assumed, the equilibrium exists for a pair of firms at any distance. When a larger number of firms is considered, we find that their total equilibrium profit is inversely proportional to the square root of the number of firms. We end with a numerical investigation of the system's behavior for a general transportation cost exponent.

Selling wind: Lessons in green niche marketing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Worden, Gregory Edward

Concern about global warming, energy independence, and threats to oil supply have increased attention on wind and other forms of renewable energy. Yet after more than twenty years, the wind industry remains dependent on government interventions. This research examined the potential of renewable energy credits (RECs) to help wind energy become profitable. Messages used to promote wind and solar energy RECs were compared with those for sustainable building materials. Findings confirm a still immature approach to marketing and sales. None of those interviewed either recognized the value of or had taken action to ensure customer retention nor recognized the role socially conscious and active consumers might play in promoting and helping develop the industry. Recommended actions include continuing research on effective marketing strategies and development of a coordinated industry message.

Managerial modes of influence and counterproductivity in organizations: a longitudinal business-unit-level investigation.

PubMed

Detert, James R; Treviño, Linda K; Burris, Ethan R; Andiappan, Meena

2007-07-01

The authors studied the effect of 3 modes of managerial influence (managerial oversight, ethical leadership, and abusive supervision) on counterproductivity, which was conceptualized as a unit-level outcome that reflects the existence of a variety of intentional and unintentional harmful employee behaviors in the unit. Counterproductivity was represented by an objective measure of food loss in a longitudinal study of 265 restaurants. After prior food loss and alternative explanations (e.g., turnover, training, neighborhood income) were controlled for, results indicated that managerial oversight and abusive supervision significantly influenced counterproductivity in the following periods, whereas ethical leadership did not. Counterproductivity was also found to be negatively related to both restaurant profitability and customer satisfaction in the same period and to mediate indirect relationships between managerial influences and distal unit outcomes.

Power trading in Europe, what it is and what it is likely to become

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Buehler, G.

1998-07-01

In the last 10 years, the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) on the European mainland had to face a situation of unprecedented oversupply. Now, it is in the middle of a new challenge called deregulation. The goal of this paper is to describe how power trading occurred up to now and how it is likely to evolve in the future, bearing in mind that the over-supply will not disappear during the process of deregulation. Up to now, the ESI was characterized by big companies, which were mostly state-owned and which had a monopoly on sales within a well defined area. Powermore » was offered as an integrated good to final customers, i.e. these companies acted as generators, transmitters and distributors. As a result, Europe was scattered with several companies that basically were similar in their functions, resulting in no incentives to promote competition on the domestic markets. Nevertheless, these interconnected companies have been trading power for a long time and for huge amounts. As they have not been tied by monopoly agreements, trading has been taking place in a highly competitive environment. An increasing number of final customers will have access to a free market where they will choose their suppler. As a result, a variety of different companies will appear which will no longer share the same goals. Moreover, the situation of over-supply will continue. Hence, one can expect fierce competition and thus lower prices in order to attract customers. As a result of the increased competition, profit margins will decrease, creating a need for risk-management. In the meantime, one can expect differing situations in different countries. Even within one country, customers will not have equal access to the market. These inequalities will result in opportunities for arbitrage for those players able to spot them. For this reason one can expect that in fact the deregulation will take less time that what is legally foreseen.« less

Financial standards for HMOs.

PubMed

Parsons, Robert J; Gustafson, Gary; Nelson, Ray D; Murray, Bruce P; Dwore, Richard B

2002-02-01

In today's health care environment, it is important to assess the liquidity and profitability performance of HMOs. This study focuses on three liquidity ratios and three profitability ratios derived from national databases of between 740 and 776 HMOs from 1996 to 1999. Most of the HMOs appear to be using more debt and are less liquid now than they were in 1995. Since administrative overhead costs and dollars spent on medical costs have been increasing, HMOs' margins have been consistently negative. A more careful analysis of overhead costs and the cost of the delivery of medical services could result in improved HMO quality of care, efficiencies, and a return to positive profit margins.

Development and Validation of a New Air Carrier Block Time Prediction Model and Methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litvay, Robyn Olson

Commercial airline operations rely on predicted block times as the foundation for critical, successive decisions that include fuel purchasing, crew scheduling, and airport facility usage planning. Small inaccuracies in the predicted block times have the potential to result in huge financial losses, and, with profit margins for airline operations currently almost nonexistent, potentially negate any possible profit. Although optimization techniques have resulted in many models targeting airline operations, the challenge of accurately predicting and quantifying variables months in advance remains elusive. The objective of this work is the development of an airline block time prediction model and methodology that is practical, easily implemented, and easily updated. Research was accomplished, and actual U.S., domestic, flight data from a major airline was utilized, to develop a model to predict airline block times with increased accuracy and smaller variance in the actual times from the predicted times. This reduction in variance represents tens of millions of dollars (U.S.) per year in operational cost savings for an individual airline. A new methodology for block time prediction is constructed using a regression model as the base, as it has both deterministic and probabilistic components, and historic block time distributions. The estimation of the block times for commercial, domestic, airline operations requires a probabilistic, general model that can be easily customized for a specific airline’s network. As individual block times vary by season, by day, and by time of day, the challenge is to make general, long-term estimations representing the average, actual block times while minimizing the variation. Predictions of block times for the third quarter months of July and August of 2011 were calculated using this new model. The resulting, actual block times were obtained from the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (Airline On-time Performance Data, 2008-2011) for comparison and analysis. Future block times are shown to be predicted with greater accuracy, without exception and network-wide, for a major, U.S., domestic airline.

Environmental performance, profitability, asset utilization, debt monitoring and firm value

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukit, R. Br; Haryanto, B.; Ginting, P.

2018-02-01

The growing issue on firm value shows that firm value is not only determined by the firm ability to increase financial profit, but also by the company's concern in maintaining the environmental condition. The industrial development produces waste that pollutes the environment that has potential to serious impact on the next life. In addition to provide financial benefits, companies are increasingly facing pressure to be socially responsible for the survival of the company. However, past findings demonstrate that the effect of environmental performance, profitability, and asset utilization to the firm’s value are still unclear. This study aims to test whether environmental performance, firm profitability and asset utilization can effectively enhance firm value in two different conditions: intensive debt monitoring and less intensive debt monitoring. Sample of companies is taken from the list of Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2013 to 2015. Using multiple regression analysis, discloses that: in intensive monitoring, managers tend to have high firm value when company has high environmental performance and or high profitability and high asset utilization. Monitoring system needs to be intensified especially for companies with the above characteristics.

Decision and coordination of low-carbon supply chain considering technological spillover and environmental awareness.

PubMed

Xu, Lang; Wang, Chuanxu; Li, Hui

2017-06-08

We focus on the impacts of technological spillovers and environmental awareness in a two-echelon supply chain with one-single supplier and one-single manufacturer to reduce carbon emission. In this supply chain, carbon abatement investment becomes one of key factors of cutting costs and improving profits, which is reducing production costs in the components and products-the investment from players in supply chain. On the basis of optimality theory, the centralized and decentralized models are respectively established to investigate the optimal decisions and profits. Further, setting the players' profits of the decentralized scenario as the disagreement points, we propose a bargaining-coordination contract through revenue-cost sharing to enhance the performance. Finally, by theoretical comparison and numerical analysis, the results show that: (i) The optimal profits of players and supply chain improve as technological spillovers and environmental awareness increase, and the profits of them in the bargaining-coordination contract are higher than that in the decentralized scenario; (ii) Technological spillovers between the players amplify the impact of "free-ride" behavior, in which the supplier always incentives the manufacturer to improve carbon emission intensity, but the cooperation will achieves and the profits will improve only when technological spillovers and environmental awareness are great; (iii) The contract can effectively achieve coordinated supply chain, and improve carbon abatement investment.

Critical Success Factors of Internet Shopping: The Case of Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atchariyachanvanich, Kanokwan; Okada, Hitoshi; Sonehara, Noboru

This paper presents the results from a study conducted on the effect of differing factors on a customer's attitude towards using Internet shopping in Japan. The research model used was an extended version of the consumers' acceptance of virtual stores model with the addition of a new factor, need specificity, and a grouping of critical success factors based on their customer-centric and website-centric viewpoints sources. It examines how differences in the individual characteristics of customers affect the actual use of Internet shopping. According to an online questionnaire filled out by 1,215 online customers used to conduct a multiple regression analysis and a structural equation modeling analysis, the participant's gender, education level, innovativeness, net-orientation, and need specificity, which are the factors for the customer-centric viewpoints, have a positive impact on the actual use of Internet shopping. The implication also shows that Japanese online customers do not worry about the quality of service of Internet shopping, a factor in the website-centric viewpoint, as significantly as offline customers do.

Nursing home costs, Medicaid rates, and profits under alternative Medicaid payment systems.

PubMed Central

Schlenker, R E

1991-01-01

This analysis compares nursing home costs, Medicaid payment rates, and profits under three Medicaid nursing home payment systems: case-mix, facility-specific, and class-rate systems. Data used were collected from 135 nursing homes in seven states. The association of case mix with costs, rates, and profits under the three payment systems was of particular interest. Case mix was more strongly associated (positively) with patient care cost and the Medicaid rate for the case-mix systems than for the other systems, particularly the class-rate systems. In contrast, case mix and profits were not associated in the case-mix or facility-specific systems, but were negatively associated in the class rate systems. Overall, the results suggest that case-mix systems have some important advantages over other payment systems, but further research is needed on larger samples and involving the newer case-mix systems. PMID:1743972

A Step-by-Step Design Methodology for a Base Case Vanadium Redox-Flow Battery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Mark; Counce, Robert M.; Watson, Jack S.; Zawodzinski, Thomas A.; Kamath, Haresh

2012-01-01

The purpose of this work is to develop an evolutionary procedure to be used by Chemical Engineering students for the base-case design of a Vanadium Redox-Flow Battery. The design methodology is based on the work of Douglas (1985) and provides a profitability analysis at each decision level so that more profitable alternatives and directions can be…

Determining Relevant Financial Statement Ratios in Department of Defense Service Component General Fund Financial Statements

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

a . Gross Profit Ratio Modified to Budget Compliance Ratio ....70 b...statements. 1. Objective and Users For a business to make a profit , it is often required to obtain funds from lenders or investors to purchase the...required to determine conclusions regarding the financial position of a business. It is important for users to acknowledge that a ratio analysis is

Jupiter Environment Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sturm, Erick J.; Monahue, Kenneth M.; Biehl, James P.; Kokorowski, Michael; Ngalande, Cedrick,; Boedeker, Jordan

2012-01-01

The Jupiter Environment Tool (JET) is a custom UI plug-in for STK that provides an interface to Jupiter environment models for visualization and analysis. Users can visualize the different magnetic field models of Jupiter through various rendering methods, which are fully integrated within STK s 3D Window. This allows users to take snapshots and make animations of their scenarios with magnetic field visualizations. Analytical data can be accessed in the form of custom vectors. Given these custom vectors, users have access to magnetic field data in custom reports, graphs, access constraints, coverage analysis, and anywhere else vectors are used within STK.

Diffraction analysis of customized illumination technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Chang-Moon; Kim, Seo-Min; Eom, Tae-Seung; Moon, Seung Chan; Shin, Ki S.

2004-05-01

Various enhancement techniques such as alternating PSM, chrome-less phase lithography, double exposure, etc. have been considered as driving forces to lead the production k1 factor towards below 0.35. Among them, a layer specific optimization of illumination mode, so-called customized illumination technique receives deep attentions from lithographers recently. A new approach for illumination customization based on diffraction spectrum analysis is suggested in this paper. Illumination pupil is divided into various diffraction domains by comparing the similarity of the confined diffraction spectrum. Singular imaging property of individual diffraction domain makes it easier to build and understand the customized illumination shape. By comparing the goodness of image in each domain, it was possible to achieve the customized shape of illumination. With the help from this technique, it was found that the layout change would not gives the change in the shape of customized illumination mode.

Profiting and providing less care: comprehensive services at for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs in the United States.

PubMed

Bachhuber, Marcus A; Southern, William N; Cunningham, Chinazo O

2014-05-01

Opioid use disorders are frequently associated with medical and psychiatric comorbidities (eg, HIV infection and depression), as well as social problems (eg, lack of health insurance). Comprehensive services addressing these conditions improve outcomes. To compare the proportion of for-profit, nonprofit, and public opioid treatment programs offering comprehensive services, which are not mandated by government regulations. Cross-sectional analysis of opioid treatment programs offering outpatient care in the United States (n=1036). Self-reported offering of communicable disease (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and viral hepatitis) testing, psychiatric services (screening, assessment and diagnostic evaluation, and pharmacotherapy), and social services support (assistance in applying for programs such as Medicaid). Mixed-effects logistic regression models were developed to adjust for several county-level factors. Of opioid treatment programs, 58.0% were for profit, 33.5% were nonprofit, and 8.5% were public. Nonprofit programs were more likely than for-profit programs to offer testing for all communicable diseases [adjusted odds ratios (AOR), 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2, 2.5], all psychiatric services (AOR, 8.0; 95% CI, 4.9, 13.1), and social services support (AOR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.3, 4.8). Public programs were also more likely than for-profit programs to offer communicable disease testing (AOR, 6.4; 95% CI, 3.5, 11.7), all psychiatric services (AOR, 25.8; 95% CI, 12.6, 52.5), and social services support (AOR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4, 4.3). For-profit programs were significantly less likely than nonprofit and public programs to offer comprehensive services. Interventions to increase the offering of comprehensive services are needed, particularly among for-profit programs.

Genetic relationships between growth and carcass traits and profitability in Japanese Brown cattle.

PubMed

Kahi, A K; Oguni, T; Sumio, Y; Hirooka, H

2007-02-01

The objectives of this study were 1) to examine the genetic relationship between growth and carcass traits and carcass price (CaP) and profitability in Japanese Brown cattle, 2) to estimate economic values of carcass and growth traits as regression coefficients of price and profit traits on growth and carcass traits using a multiple regression model, and 3) to compare direct and indirect predictions of the genetic merit of profit obtained from multitrait analysis and selection index, respectively. Growth and carcass traits considered in this study were ADG during the feedlot period, CWT, LM area (LMA), rib thickness (RT), subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), and marbling score (MS). Carcass price was evaluated as a price trait independent of its influence on profit. Profit traits were defined as 1) net income per year (PROF1), 2) net income per year/energy requirement (PROF2), and 3) net income per year minus feed costs (PROF3). Correlations between direct and indirect predictions were estimated based on EBV of sires and dams with progeny records. The heritability estimate for CaP was 0.41. The heritability estimates for profit traits were high and were 0.62, 0.66, and 0.60 for PROF1, PROF2, and PROF3, respectively. The genetic correlations between CaP and ADG, CWT, LMA, RT, SFT, and MS were 0.19, 0.14, 0.30, 0.38, -0.11, and 0.98, respectively. Among the profit traits, PROF1 had the greatest genetic correlations with growth and carcass traits. The correlations with ADG, CWT, LMA, RT, SFT, and MS were 0.30, 0.21, 0.24, 0.39, -0.01, and 0.69, respectively. These estimates indicate that use of profit traits as a selection criterion may promote desirable correlated responses in growth and carcass traits. The economic values for growth and carcass traits estimated relative to CaP and each profit trait differed because of the apparent differences in the description of these traits. The correlations between EBV for the same profit traits from direct and indirect predictions were high and ranged from 0.818 to 0.846 based on EBV of sires and from 0.786 to 0.798 based on EBV of dams. The strong correlations between direct and indirect predictions for profit indicate that there is no advantage to selecting directly for profit compared with an index with all of the component traits.

United States Marine Corps Aerial Refueling Requirements Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-12-01

REFUELING REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS William R. Gates Systems Management Department Naval Postgraduate School 555 Dyer Road, Room 229 Monterey, CA 93943...refueling customers . KC130s are rotated through the track 24 hours per day, providing customers fuel as needed. KC130 sorties are scheduled to reflect the...projected average customer (aircraft) arrival rates, average service times (time required to engage the drogue, receive fuel and 1075 Report Documentation

Outsourcing data processing: planning for the disentanglement.

PubMed

Moss, M E; Gordon, M L

1993-06-01

Outsourcing data processing operations may be considered a conventional acquisition transaction between a customer and supplier. The most distinctive feature of a DP outsourcing contract is that it involves complex issues relating to computer software and technology and, frequently, intense issues relating to employees. But, one must do more in order to provide for preservation of the integrity (and, therefore, the value) of the data center. The contract must include not just the sale of a facility to a supplier who will take over the operations, but also terms for reconveying the facility at a future date. Getting out of the arrangement can be very complex. Disentanglement can be made less complex however, if the customer and the supplier negotiate all or part of the disentanglement procedures during the original contract proposal. Know ahead of time the possible scenarios for when disentanglement may take place and know what to do during the contract negotiations and during the length of the agreement to keep track of each other's properties. Know also the risks involved in outsourcing DP operations, such as what happens when the supplier's business fails. Having the supplier set up a separate profit entity for your contracted business or using a lien on the data center properties may help avoid loss if such failure occurs.

Patient, staff and physician satisfaction: a new model, instrument and their implications.

PubMed

York, Anne S; McCarthy, Kim A

2011-01-01

Customer satisfaction's importance is well-documented in the marketing literature and is rapidly gaining wide acceptance in the healthcare industry. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new customer-satisfaction measuring method - Reichheld's ultimate question - and compare it with traditional techniques using data gathered from four healthcare clinics. A new survey method, called the ultimate question, was used to collect patient satisfaction data. It was subsequently compared with the data collected via an existing method. Findings suggest that the ultimate question provides similar ratings to existing models at lower costs. A relatively small sample size may affect the generalizability of the results; it is also possible that potential spill-over effects exist owing to two patient satisfaction surveys administered at the same time. This new ultimate question method greatly improves the process and ease with which hospital or clinic administrators are able to collect patient (as well as staff and physician) satisfaction data in healthcare settings. Also, the feedback gained from this method is actionable and can be used to make strategic improvements that will impact business and ultimately increase profitability. The paper's real value is pinpointing specific quality improvement areas based not just on patient ratings but also physician and staff satisfaction, which often underlie patients' clinical experiences.

The hidden competencies of healthcare: why self-esteem, accountability, and professionalism may affect hospital customer satisfaction scores.

PubMed

Decker, P J

1999-01-01

Data from 103 for-profit, nonprofit, and government-owned hospitals, spread across about half of the United States clearly show that there are common elements and several core competencies in all hospitals, some probably driven by JCAHO accreditation standards, but others coming from universal experience stemming from the changes in healthcare. The common competencies that are not, in my opinion, driven directly by the JCAHO standards include professionalism, accountability, self-esteem, customer service/focus, communication, information management/using data in decision making, and teamwork. There are several possible connections among the core competencies that suggest that the effects of accountability and possibly self-esteem on such outcomes as patient satisfaction and quality of care should be the subject of more research in healthcare settings. There are, however, several possible interventions to increase the core competency base of any hospital, which can be applied without this research. Executives and managers who attempt to measure and change these common competencies through selection, assessment, organizational system change, or reward and compensation systems will change the competence base of their workforce in critical areas needed in the future healthcare economy. Using a competence model incorporating these competencies may change the culture of the organization toward that which will be needed for survival in the twenty-first century.

Invention-driven marketing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlson, William E.

1994-01-01

Suppose you have just created a revolutionary bicycle suspension which allows a bike to be ridden over rough terrain at 60 miles per hour. In addition, suppose that you are deeply concerned about the plight of hungry children. Which should you do: be sure all hungry children have bicycles; transfer the technology for your new suspension to bicycle manufacturers worldwide; or start a company to supply premium sports bicycle based on your patented technology, and donate the profits to a charity which feeds hungry children? Woven through this somewhat trivial example is the paradox of technology transfer - the supplier (owner) may want to transfer technology; but to succeed, he or she must reformulate the problem as a user need for which there is a new and better solution. Successful technology transfer is little more than good marketing applied to an existing invention, process, or capability. You must identify who needs the technology, why they need it, why the new technology is better than alternatives, how much the customers are willing and able to pay for these benefits, and how to distribute products based on the technology tc the target customers. In market-driven development, the term 'technology transfer' is rarely used. The developers focus on studying user needs and designing solution They may have technology needs, but they don't have technology in search of a use.

Do public nursing home care providers deliver higher quality than private providers? Evidence from Sweden.

PubMed

Winblad, Ulrika; Blomqvist, Paula; Karlsson, Andreas

2017-07-14

Swedish nursing home care has undergone a transformation, where the previous virtual public monopoly on providing such services has been replaced by a system of mixed provision. This has led to a rapidly growing share of private actors, the majority of which are large, for-profit firms. In the wake of this development, concerns have been voiced regarding the implications for care quality. In this article, we investigate the relationship between ownership and care quality in nursing homes for the elderly by comparing quality levels between public, for-profit, and non-profit nursing home care providers. We also look at a special category of for-profit providers; private equity companies. The source of data is a national survey conducted by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare in 2011 at 2710 nursing homes. Data from 14 quality indicators are analyzed, including structure and process measures such as staff levels, staff competence, resident participation, and screening for pressure ulcers, nutrition status, and risk of falling. The main statistical method employed is multiple OLS regression analysis. We differentiate in the analysis between structural and processual quality measures. The results indicate that public nursing homes have higher quality than privately operated homes with regard to two structural quality measures: staffing levels and individual accommodation. Privately operated nursing homes, on the other hand, tend to score higher on process-based quality indicators such as medication review and screening for falls and malnutrition. No significant differences were found between different ownership categories of privately operated nursing homes. Ownership does appear to be related to quality outcomes in Swedish nursing home care, but the results are mixed and inconclusive. That staffing levels, which has been regarded as a key quality indicator in previous research, are higher in publicly operated homes than private is consistent with earlier findings. The fact that privately operated homes, including those operated by for-profit companies, had higher processual quality is more unexpected, given previous research. Finally, no significant quality differences were found between private ownership types, i.e. for-profit, non-profit, and private equity companies, which indicates that profit motives are less important for determining quality in Swedish nursing home care than in other countries where similar studies have been carried out.

LIFENET hospitals (India): developing new services' case study.

PubMed

Rahman, Zillur; Qureshi, M N

2008-01-01

Indian healthcare is in the process of offering a plethora of services to customers hailing largely from India and from neighboring countries. The Indian hospital sector consists of private "nursing homes" and government and charitable missionary hospitals. Government and missionary hospitals determine their charges according to patients' income levels and treat poor patients freely. Nursing homes charged higher, market-determined rates. They offer services in just a few medical specialties, owned and operated by physicians who worked with them. Nursing homes cannot afford the latest medical technology, but they provide more intimate settings than government hospitals. This case study aims to demonstrate the various strategic options available to a for-profit hospital, in an emerging economy with a burgeoning middle-class population and how it can choose which services that it can best offer to its target population. Diagnosing and treating complex ailments in nursing homes could be a time-consuming and expensive proposition as visits to several nursing homes with different specialties may be necessary. This paper demonstrates how an hospital can develop new customer-oriented services and eliminate the hassle for patients needing to run around different healthcare outlets even for minor ailments. The paper finds that large government hospitals generally have better facilities than nursing homes, but they were widely believed to provide poor-quality care. They failed to keep up with advanced equipment, train their technicians adequately and did not publicize their capabilities to doctors who might refer patients. Many missionary and charitable hospitals were undercapitalized and did not offer all services. These conditions left an unsatisfied demand for high-quality medical care. In 1983, LIFENET opened in Madras, becoming the first comprehensive, for-profit hospital in India. LIFENET, invested in a cardiology laboratory and clinics with capacity to diagnose heart and lung ailments, which grew through referrals it received from other doctors. Out of promoters' shared vision and the persistence to overcome financial and regulatory hurdles, LIFENET turned into a super specialty hospital. In early 2004, LIFENET promoters considered several options for expansion. In addition to building more hospitals, they considered licensing the brand name and establishing India's first health maintenance organization.

Are high penetrations of commercial cogeneration good for society?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keen, Jeremy F.; Apt, Jay

2016-12-01

Low natural gas prices, market reports and evidence from New York State suggest that the number of commercial combined heat and power (CHP) installations in the United States will increase by 2%-9% annually over the next decade. We investigate how increasing commercial CHP penetrations may affect net emissions, the distribution network, and total system energy costs. We constructed an integrated planning and operations model that maximizes owner profit through sizing and operation of CHP on a realistic distribution feeder in New York. We find that a greater penetration of CHP reduces both total system energy costs and network congestion. Commercial buildings often have low and inconsistent heat loads, which can cause low fuel utilization efficiencies, low CHP rates-of-return and diminishing avoided emissions as CHP penetration increases. In the northeast, without policy intervention, a 5% penetration of small commercially owned CHP would increase CO2 emissions by 2% relative to the bulk power grid. Low emission CHP installations can be encouraged with incentives that promote CHP operation only during times of high heat loads. Time-varying rates, such as time-of-day and seasonal rates, are one option and were shown to reduce customer emissions without reducing profits. In contrast, natural gas rate discounts, a common incentive for industrial CHP in some states, can encourage CHP operation during low heat loads and thus increase emissions.

A conjoint analysis to consumer choice in Brazil: Defining device attributes for recognizing customized foods characteristics.

PubMed

Calegari, L P; Barbosa, J; Marodin, G A; Fettermann, D C

2018-07-01

the availability of information about food products may be an essential factor in the consumer's value perception in their purchasing decision. As the food product becomes personalized, the customization of this information becomes complex due to the possible combinations of product components. The use of smart technology in devices is one way to provide customers with customized food information. In the following research five attributes were identified in the composition of these devices: (A) portability; (B) precision; (C) diet customization; (D) food quality analysis; and (E) price. This study aims to identify the appropriate combination of possible functionalities or attributes that must be present in a device in order to detect the food composition of customized foods and their relation to market characteristics. One experiment used fractional factorial project to present the attributes in the form of scenarios following the Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis (CBCA) method. The data collection was done using survey methodology, through online questionnaire, with some 303 Brazilian respondents. So, the Logistic Regression was applied to data analysis. The moderating variables-gender, age, gluten restriction, lactose restriction and other restrictions-were also added to verify potential interactions with the primary attributes. From the results obtained, it was possible to observe higher significance for the primary attributes of diet personalization and quality food analyzes function. Our study contributes to the literature by enhancing the understanding about what the attributes should be in a technological device that has the purpose of recognizing food characteristics and is capable of generating information about customized food products. Furthermore, this device can enabler the production of mass customized food with the nutritional labels for each possible combination. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Terminally ill patients as customers: the patient's perspective.

PubMed

Seibel, Katharina; Valeo, Sara Celestina; Xander, Carola; Adami, Sandra; Duerk, Thorsten; Becker, Gerhild

2014-01-01

Consumerism in health care defines patients as self-determined, rational customers. Yet, it is questionable whether vulnerable patients, such as the terminally ill, also fulfill these criteria. Vulnerable contexts and the patient's perspective on being a customer remain relatively unexplored. The present study addresses this research gap by analyzing terminally ill patients' views on being customers. To explore the ways in which patients in palliative care refer to themselves as patients/customers, and how the patients' concepts of self-determination are related to their attitudes toward the patient/customer role. Qualitative interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed in three steps: narrative analysis, thematic content analysis, and typology construction. Researchers recruited 25 patients via the Department of Palliative Care, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany. In many ways, palliative patients contradict the image of a self-determined customer. The palliative patient role is characterized by the concept of relational self-determination rather than an unrestricted self-determination. Self-attribution as a customer still occurs when positively associated with a person-centered, individualized treatment. Thus, the customer and patient role overlap within the palliative care setting because of the focus on the individual. The idealized customer role cannot be arbitrarily applied to all medical fields. Palliative patients are dependent on the physician, regardless of whether the customer or patient role is preferred. Hence, self-determination must be understood in relational terms, and physicians must recognize their crucial role in promoting patients' self-determination in the context of shared decision-making.

Importance/performance analysis: a tool for service quality control by clinical laboratories.

PubMed

Scammon, D L; Weiss, R

1991-01-01

A study of customer satisfaction with clinical laboratory service is used as the basis for identifying potential improvements in service and more effectively targeting marketing activities to enhance customer satisfaction. Data on customer satisfaction are used to determine the aspects of service most critical to customers, how well the organization is doing in delivery of service, and how consistent service delivery is. Importance-performance analysis is used to highlight areas for future resource reallocation and strategic emphasis. Suggestions include the establishment of performance guidelines for customer contact personnel, the enhancement of timely delivery of reports via electronic transmission (computer and fax), and the development of standardized graphics for request and report forms to facilitate identification of appropriate request forms and guide clients to key items of information on reports.

78 FR 77478 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, Federal Emergency...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-23

..., Federal Emergency Management Agency Individual Assistance Customer Satisfaction Surveys AGENCY: Federal... concerning the collection of Individual Assistance customer satisfaction survey responses and information for..., Customer Satisfaction Analysis Section of the National Processing Service Center Division, Recovery...