ALBERT

Notizen: Describes the results of a survey of 281 adult women in the state of Florida. We used the 15 adjective pairs of the Malhotra self-concept scale to measure their self-image. A valid and reliable self-report scale measured their fashion innovativeness, thus identifying those consumers most likely to buy new fashions after they first appear in the market. T-tests compared the mean scores on the self-image adjective pairs between 30 innovators and 251 later adopters. Pearson correlation analysis was also performed. The results of both analyses showed that the fashion innovators described themselves uniquely as more comfortable, pleasant, contemporary, formal, colorful, and vain than the later adopters. The results were quite consistent with an earlier published study of college students, lending confidence to this approach to profiling fashion innovators and suggesting that using self-image could be a fruitful way to appeal to these important consumers.

Notizen: Focuses on how brand managers in fast-moving consumer goods industries view their contacts with the various interfaces, allocate their working time and perceive the significance and quality of these contacts. Based on the product management literature, several hypotheses are proposed and empirically examined using data collected from a sample of 161 product managers, working for 48 companies in five different sectors in Greece. The results show that brand managers working in various sectors differ in the perception of their contacts with the various interfaces.

Notizen: The processes of consumer perception and decision making remain relatively complex phenomena despite the depth of research undertaken in the area. One way in which these processes may be influenced is through the explicit mentioning of product attributes in advertising. This study investigates consumer perceptions of mentioned product attributes in magazine advertising for a specific product category. Results confirm a clear relationship between attributes specifically mentioned in advertising for the three selected brands and respondents' rating of those attributes against evaluative criteria for the product category. Factor analyses of respondents' ratings indicate a clear convergence of factors extracted and the mentioned attributes for each brand.

Notizen: At an early stage in the new product development process, marketers often evaluate several concept statements in terms of customer preferences to choose the best concept for further development. Purchase intention scale is often used to measure consumer preferences at this stage when the product is still a concept statement or a mathematical position on a perceptual map. This paper discusses the limitations of two methods of aggregating individual preferences, namely plurality (first-choice) and the Condorcet (pair-wise majority) methods. The plurality method is subject to the top-box paradox while the Condorcet method suffers from the paradox of voting. The Copeland method is presented as an alternative to the Condorcet method when the latter fails to identify the majority's choice. Some limitations of predicting product trial are also presented.

Notizen: Most airlines utilize a revenue maximizing technique called yield management (YM), which allows the airlines to allocate their fixed capacity of seats to various fare categories in the most profitable manner possible. The discriminatory pricing goal is to sell only non-discounted seats to the business travel segment. Suggests that yield management techniques may also be appropriate in certain retail settings where capacity (i.e. product inventory) is not necessarily "perishable" in the same sense as unsold seats on an airline flight however, its value may decline with the culmination of a well-defined shopping period (e.g. the "Christmas holiday" shopping period). Examines how knowledge of customer price sensitivity as it pertains to this shopping period, coupled with the appropriate use of discount pricing, can maximize the revenue gained from sales of a seasonal product associated with a specific holiday.

Notizen: Service industries, such as public bus transport, are time-bound, which makes it impossible to inventory their service output. The potential revenue from an empty seat on a bus is lost for good once the service run is complete. Conversely, when demand for a seat on a service run exceeds supply, the revenue is also lost. As public bus transport has a high fixed to variable cost ratio, these demand and supply imbalances have a significant impact on cost recovery performance. Addresses a number of factors that influence the cost recovery performance of public bus transport using data from one of Australia's largest operators. It considers the shortcomings of current fare price structures and how these may be changed to reflect operational cost drivers in a way that improves cost recovery performance. The various non-monetary costs passengers incur when purchasing and using public transport are also considered along with methods of reducing these to increase the revenue-generating performance of operators' fixed capacity.

Notizen: Data from national brand manufacturers suggest they are more willing to take legal action against other independent manufacturers than against retailers when they think their trademark brands have been infringed. Imitation by other independent manufacturers prompts national brands to be more likely to improve their products than imitation by retailers. Those manufacturers who have taken legal action against imitating retailers are less fearful of possible retaliation tactics, such as delisting, or losing shelf space in the retail environment.

Notizen: In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to positioning and, more specifically, positioning of service brands. This is so because of the unique characteristics of services. Although some authors argue that there are no marked differences between positioning in services and that of physical goods, the vast majority of marketing scholars believe that it is difficult to embark on positioning strategies in services. Sheds some light on this issue within the context and aims to contribute to the debate.

Notizen: A brand is a kind of sign by which we can distinguish one commodity from another. Commodity prices, as well as consumers' utility and firms' profit, are affected by brands. Presents a theoretical framework that incorporates aspects of brand in microeconomic analysis. The theory developed makes it possible to infer the quality of differentiated products from the price distribution of the second-hand market for that product. A case study illustrates the workings of the methodology; the application evaluates the quality of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.

Notizen: The marketer's principal objective is typically to build a relationship with buyers, rather than merely to make a single sale. Ideally, the essence of that relationship consists of a strong bond between the buyer and the brand. Outlines six strategies for building that relationship: linking the brand to a particular need; associating it with a pleasant mood; appealing to subconscious motives; conditioning buyers to prefer the brand through reward; penetrating perceptual and cognitive barriers to create preference; and providing attractive models for buyers to emulate. The choice of an individual strategy or combination depends mainly on the nature of the branded product or service. The success of the strategy depends heavily on the marketer's understanding of the preference building and bonding process.

Notizen: There is research evidence that suggests that perceptions of price unfairness give rise to consumer resistance to prices and result in decreased profit to the firm. However, it is as yet unclear what factors influence perceptions of unfairness. Answers the question, "What is fair?" by proposing that consumers sometimes infer a firm's motive for a price and that the inferred motive influences perceived price fairness. A study provides evidence that consumers use contextual information to infer a firm's motive. When consumers infer a negative motive, the price is perceived to be unfair and when consumers do not infer a negative motive, the same price is perceived to be fair. Suggests that marketers should: provide reasons for prices; consider consumers' likely inferences of motive and either avoid taking actions that are likely to give rise to inferences of negative motive or manage the motive inferred; and consider the inferences that consumers may make for other marketing actions in addition to price.

Notizen: Rather than taking the more traditional approach of measuring brand equity for accounting or strategic reasons, the approach taken here is concerned with optimizing brand equity through parsimonious manipulation of the marketing mix. To this end a macro-model is first developed; this model is then operationalized and tested (in terms of predicted versus actual brand share) in three Korean markets. The contribution of the paper lies in the development of a methodology through which management can efficiently build brand power in their markets. The statistical methods (factor analysis and preference regression) are commonly used in commercial research and the research requirements to build such a model are quite modest - the proposed model makes a theoretical contribution but can also be used as a practical managerial tool.

Notizen: An experimental design is used to examine the effect of products' country-of-origin on first-mover advantage. Specifically, focuses on the effects of favorable/unfavorable country-of-origin on first-mover advantage, as well as its effects with regard to "early followers" and "late followers". The results have direct implications for products entering international markets as a first mover, "early" follower, or "late" follower. Results indicate that with increasing number of competitors entering an international market, a product's favorable country image begins to lose its strategic importance. Consequently, the pursuit of first-mover advantage may be more relevant than a positive country-of-origin effect. Also, the results suggest that for products from countries with a less than favorable image, it may be more useful to be a "follower" than a "first-mover" because the advantage of being first in a market can be negated by the unfavorable country-of-origin effect.

Notizen: Assesses how branded ingredients affect consumer product quality perceptions, confidence in product quality perceptions, product evaluations, taste perceptions, purchase likelihoods, and reservation prices of host brands of varying quality. In two experiments, we find that branded ingredients consistently and positively affected moderate-quality host brands, but only occasionally positively affected higher-quality host brands. Suggests that managers of both moderate and higher-quality host brands consider implementing branded ingredient strategies, albeit for different reasons. While moderate-quality host brands can improve their competitive position by using branded ingredients, higher-quality host brands generally do not. However, higher-quality host brands may benefit most by securing the most desirable branded ingredients for their own use, thereby blocking moderate-quality host brands from using a branded ingredient strategy to improve their competitive position.

Notizen: Examines the product life cycle (PLC) concept as presented in much of the marketing literature, and the implications of PLC-based strategic action for marketing practitioners. A range of problems is identified with the PLC, and an evolutionary perspective for product management decisions is considered. Concludes that an evolutionary perspective is more appropriate than PLC-based approaches, and proposes an evolutionary model known as "Lamarckism", which is better able to account for the realities of product evolution than the Darwinian model.

Notizen: Identifies some managerially relevant factors that influence the size of the price premium that consumers will pay for national brands over store brands in grocery products. We define price premium as the maximum price consumers will pay for a national brand over a store brand, expressed as the proportionate price differential between a national brand and a store brand. Overall, perceived quality differential accounts for about 12 percent of the variation in price premiums across consumers and product categories and is the most important variable influencing price premiums.

Notizen: This study concerns consumer responses to new product offerings in the category of high-tech audio equipment. For the purposes of the study, consumers were categorised as high-innovators or non-innovators. The general objective of the research was to determine how differing groups of consumers view innovativeness, and how innovativeness is assessed, with particular reference to high-tech product offerings. The research was carried out in two stages; a series of focus groups was run to determine the dimensions of the problem, and a questionnaire derived from this. The questionnaire was then administered to visitors at a consumer-oriented trade show. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire revealed that there are significant differences between groups of consumers regarding the relative importance of various factors in the process of assessing innovativeness.

Notizen: Examines the way in which the performance of the pharmaceutical product manager is evaluated. Attempts to provide a picture of the principal functions on which the Canadian pharmaceutical product manager is evaluated, as well as of performance appraisal systems currently used in the pharmaceutical industry. Two methodologies are used, both in-depth interviews and survey, in order to provide the most comprehensive examination of this area. Additionally, examines whether or not these systems are proving useful in linking job tasks to performance appraisal in order to achieve the goals of the organization.

Notizen: Reviews instructional approaches based on the use of different media to provide examples of strategies and evaluation tools for media integration. Uses an introductory information systems undergraduate course taught at the George Washington University as an example.

Notizen: The emergence of online education creates opportunities for positive education changes centering on improved learning rather than on reaping economies of scale. We can develop online strategies for using class time more productively; courses can be arranged to correspond to the varying learning curves of different students; and degrees can be tailored to the actual competencies students achieve. Further, the online world based in hypertext and virtuality creates the possibility of providing entirely new educational materials and environments. These improvements depend on faculty seizing control of the way technology is used in education.

Notizen: Represents a case study of an instructional health-care department's journey through a technological metamorphosis. Highlights the process and challenges that instructional departments undergo so as to provide guidance for those interested in bringing about a technological transformation. Explores motivations for technological change, a planning process including budget needs, assessment of infrastructure, and priority determination for direction of resources. Defines a needs assessment process, including determination of the resource needs and interest levels of administrators, faculty and students, as well as the prudence of investigating pre-existing models. Finally, addresses strategies for technological success.

Notizen: Two main areas of activity can be identified in the field of network security: the local area network and the common point between networks. Presents an overview of two projects concerning the above-mentioned areas. While the first will concern security architectures based on active firewall components, the second presents a secure intranet solution. The combination of active firewall components with the DMZ concept can translate a security policy into reality and will result in a high level security firewall system. One of the most important security problems in an intranet is to ensure that every user has access only to the information which is relevant for his/her work. In our project this is solved using role-dependent information access for each user.

Notizen: The Java programming language supports the concept of downloadable executable content; a key technology in a wide range of emerging applications including collaborative systems, electronic commerce, and Web information services. Java enables the execution of a program, on almost any modern computer regardless of hardware configuration and operating system. Safe-Tcl was proposed as an executable content type of MIME and thus as the standard language for executable contents within e-mail messages. However, the ability to download, integrate, and execute code from a remote computer, provided by both Java and Safe-Tcl, introduces serious security risks since it enables a malicious remote program to obtain unauthorised access to the downloading system's resources. In this paper, the two proposed security models are described in detail and the efficiency and flexibility of current implementations are evaluated in a comparative manner. Finally, upcoming extensions are discussed.

Notizen: Finding specific information on the Web can be difficult and time-consuming due to the Web's tremendous size and the current speed of network connections. Information agents that search the Web on behalf of users are invaluable. Since information needs are diverse, there should be tools for users to build their own agents that specialize in finding the information they want. These tools should be usable by non-programmers. This paper describes ARIS, a shell for constructing information agents without coding. Our approach is akin to expert system shells, where the user supplies the knowledge for each specialist agent, and a common engine utilizes the agents' knowledge. An agent's search is guided by knowledge about how Web sites in a given domain are typically structured. We also report on our experiences with two agents built using ARIS.

Notizen: The study described in this article aimed to gather insights into what people think when they search the Internet for information. The premise is that people relate to information services and systems metaphorically. In other words, they identify the system or service as analogous to something perhaps more mundane or commonplace. These are known as wild metaphors. They help to explain the unknown or unfamiliar and help us to learn new things. They arise from our individual beliefs and backgrounds but they are also inevitably influenced by our collective experience of contemporary media characterisations of the Internet. This study relates the analogies that academics in Australia report for the Internet with the satisfaction that they derive from information seeking on the network. It provides some insight into how academics in Australia perceive the Internet when they use it to search for information.

Notizen: The Internet has the potential to facilitate understanding across cultures and languages by removing the physical barriers to intercultural communication. One possible contributor to this development has been the recent release of freely-available automated direct machine translation systems, such as AltaVista with SYSTRAN, which translates from English to five other European languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese), and vice versa. However, concerns have recently been raised over the performance of these systems, and the potential for confusion that can be created when the intended meaning of sentences is not correctly translated (i.e. semantic processing errors). In this paper, we use an iterative paradigm to examine errors associated with interlingual divergence in meaning arising from the automated machine translation of English proverbs. The need for the development of Web-based translation systems, which have an explicit cross-linguistic representation of meaning for successful intercultural communication, is discussed.

Notizen: This paper examines the concept of the Internet as a virtual cultural region with its own demographics and psychographics. Longitudinal studies of the changing make up of Internet users have been running for much of the 1990s and market intelligence companies have been applying their proprietary segmentation models to this data and also creating new models specifically for the Internet. At a more sociological level, what are the cultural norms and cutoms of the population of the Internet cultural region? This paper complements the market intelligence research by an investigation into the applicability of cultural classification schemes as exemplified by Hofstede with a view to information extant and prospective Internet involvement. Finally, practical recommendations are made in order to reduce the risk of activities likely to cause irritation of and non-response from this burgeoning new market.

Notizen: Eight college and university Webmasters in three midwestern states were interviewed to explore their communications practices and activities by applying a traditional mass media gatekeeping perspective. The results suggest that gatekeeping theory is a valuable approach for studying individuals responsible for the mediation of messages in the emerging online media. Webmasters' personal characteristics and attitudes were found to influence their media content decisions, they share common values used to determine content and design, and they face a variety of organizational and related constraints, some exclusive to Web gatekeepers in an academic setting. Examples of gatekeeping activity and observations by the informants are presented, and suggestions for future research are included.

Notizen: Considers the world-wide emergence of "educational superhighway" policies: government programmes aiming to connect school systems to the Internet - and explores their relevance to education. By examining the key actors and motives behind educational Internet initiatives the paper argues that such policies are primarily economically not educationally driven. The implications of this are then considered in the light of increasing global information priorities.

Notizen: The Internet environment, with its packet-switched network and lack of resource reservation mechanisms, has made the delivery of low bit-rate real-time communication services particularly difficult and challenging. The high potential transmission delay and data packet loss under varying network conditions will lead to unpleasant and unintelligible audio and jerky video play-out. The Internet TCP/IP protocol suite can be extended with new mechanisms in an attempt to tackle such problems. In this research, an integrated transmission mechanism that incorporates a number of existing techniques to enhance the quality and deliver "acceptable" real-time services is proposed. These techniques include the use of data compression, data buffering, dynamic rate control, packet lost replacement, silence deletion and virtual video play-out mechanism. The proposed transmission mechanism is designed as a generic communication system so that it can be used in different systems and conditions. This approach has been successfully implemented and demonstrated using three separate systems that include the Internet Phone, WebVideo and video-conferencing tool.

Notizen: This paper examines the issue of fraud on the Internet and discusses three areas with significant potential for misleading and fraudulent practices, namely: securities sales and trading; electronic commerce; and the rapid growth of Internet companies. The first section of the paper discusses securities fraud on the Internet. Activities that violate US securities laws are being conducted through the Internet, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been taking steps to suppress these activities. The second section of the paper discusses fraud in electronic commerce. The rapid growth of electronic commerce, and the corresponding desire on the part of consumers to feel secure when engaging in electronic commerce, has prompted various organizations to develop mechanisms to reduce concerns about fraudulent misuse of information. It is questionable, however, whether these mechanisms can actually reduce fraud in electronic commerce. The third section of the paper discusses the potential for fraud arising from the rapid growth of Internet companies, often with little economic substance and lacking traditional management and internal controls. The paper examines the three areas of potential Internet fraud mentioned above and suggest ways in which these abuses may be combated.

Notizen: The increasing dimension and heterogeneity of global Web systems make their management with tools based on the client/server model more difficult. The mobile agent technology overcomes the limits of traditional approaches and proposes solutions that are suitable for the management of distributed and heterogeneous Internet-based systems. The paper describes the MAMAS environment and its implementation with a mobile agent technology. MAMAS has the goals of monitoring the whole system, introducing dynamic corrective actions and modifying system policies at run-time. MAMAS achieves these objectives by answering the guidelines of both security and compliance to standards. The choice of Java as the implementation language has made it possible to achieve portability, to exploit the language security features, and to provide Web accessibility. The MAMAS compliance with CORBA ensures interoperability with legacy management platforms.

Notizen: Examines the general requirement for security technologies in order to provide a basis for trust in the e-commerce environment. The discussion is supported by the findings from two surveys, conducted by the authors, among general Internet users (i.e. potential target consumers) and commercial businesses. These surveys considered both the attitudes to e-commerce in general and opinions relating to the associated security requirements. Attempts were also made to assess the respondent's knowledge of the existing security safeguards that may be applied. The survey results suggest that, while there is significant concern among Internet-based consumers regarding the security of their purchasing activities, these are outweighed by the merits offered by the medium. The results also suggested a lack of awareness or understanding of the security technologies that are available and it is concluded that overcoming this problem would help to establish a wider foundation of trust in the new technology.

Notizen: Although benchmarking has touched many areas of an organization, including information systems, very few examples are available on how this powerful methodology can be used to specifically address one of the fastest growing elements within information systems - the World Wide Web. This paper presents a case study on how benchmarking was used to determine how one organization's Web site compared to Web sites of related schools and professional organizations. The results of the benchmarking study provided a measure of how our Web site compares to the sites of related organizations, ideas on how we may further enhance our site, and also a way to regularly evaluate our site.

Notizen: WebCT has been used to support traditional teaching techniques for the entire 1997-98, and half of the 1998-99, academic years. It was used within the structure of over 60 courses (enrolling a total of more than 1,000 students) in the English, Theology, Modern Languages, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Management Information Systems, Law, Pharmacy, Medicine, and Business programs. Concerned with the impact WebCT might have within a traditionally oriented liberal arts teaching environment, the author explored the views of the students, rather than the faculty and system administrators, who were required to use the WebCT tools in their classes. Data from students addressing the use of WebCT in their classes are now available for three full semesters, providing an expanded assessment over earlier findings. The ramifications of the use of WebCT as a course adjunct and course presentation tool are addressed based upon the data collected from Creighton University students over the past 18 months of WebCT use.

Notizen: Reengineering is becoming an increasingly popular option for corporations seeking radical process change. Central to the success of reengineering is the coordination of information technology (IT) throughout the organization. Essentially, IT represents the core mechanism of information flow. When companies improve core IT processes, such as gathering data only once, integrating cross-functional systems or increasing information speed to customers, radical business process change is possible. However, for IT to be an enabler of reengineering or organizational change, it is imperative that managers are conversant with the various methods by which IT can help advance process change. At the same time, management needs to be aware of the numerous pitfalls that may doom any change effort using IT.

Notizen: Investigates the perceptions of staff in regard to critical success factors (CSFs) for successful BPR implementation in the public sector. The research methodology involved semi-structured interviews and staff surveys within a large public sector organisation. The results of the study show that many of the key CSFs identified for BPR in the private sector are equally relevant to the success of BPR in the public domain. The factors deemed most important for successful BPR in the public sector included items such as: top management support, commitment and understanding of BPR; communication; empowerment; and alleviation of downsizing fears. Also identifies a number of unique characteristics of public sector organisations which have a bearing on the application of BPR. These include: the existence of many intricate overlapping processes with multiple stakeholders; the existence of a professional workforce; and the existence of defined internal organisational boundaries.

Notizen: The growing importance of the service sector in almost every economy in the world has created a significant amount of interest in service operations. In practice, many service sectors have sought and made use of various enhancement programs to improve their operations and performance in an attempt to hold competitive success. As most researchers recognize, service operations link with customers. The customers as participants act in the service operations system driven by the goal of sufficing his/her added values. This is one of the distinctive features of service production and consumption. In the paper, first, we propose the idea of service operations improvement by mapping objectively the service experience of customers from the view of customer journey. Second, a portraying scheme of service experience of customers based on the IDEF3 technique is proposed, and last, some implications on service operations improvement are given.

Notizen: An overview of the success/failure literature in new product development points to a long list of critical success factors (CSF), which define what should be done to enhance new product success rates but not how to do it. The net result is failure rates which are marginal improvements on previous decades. The basic tenet of this paper is that the effective use of market information throughout the new product development process (NPD) can enhance the success rates of new products. We examine the contingencies affecting the perceived utility and use of market information in the NPD process and develop propositions describing these contingencies. The outcome of our discussion is a conceptual framework, which can aid research in this critical area of organisational activity.

Notizen: Notes that benchmarking is an under-utilised tool in the field of innovation. Examines consumer brands in the UK cosmetics and toiletries sector and attempts to use both soft and hard metrics in terms of benchmarking measurement. Considers various types of benchmarking approach and also the nature of both "hard" and "soft" measurement. Focuses on numerous factors relating to brands, using data from the cosmetics and toiletries sector. Concludes by underlining the need for organizations to pay attention to both quantitative and qualitative dimensions if benchmarking is to be effective.

Notizen: The article will propose strategic community management as a new management style and innovation technique for large, established companies, that is implemented through the creation of a variety of strategic business communities. The article will take up, as a new model case of the use of strategic community management in business, the expansion of Japan's multimedia communication market achieved by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Inc. (hereafter, NTT), Japan's largest telecommunications carrier, over roughly the past four years. The article will explain how NTT cultivated this new multimedia market, which was spawned from its creation of business communities (both internal and external, and including communities with customers) using strategic outsourcing and various strategic partnerships with businesses in other industries.

Notizen: The study of franchising as a small business growth strategy is only weakly researched and understood. This preliminary, qualitative investigation examines the experiences of 17 operational and five "failed" franchises in the UK, in translating their business concepts into a franchise format. It reveals that small firms select franchising as a growth strategy for both economic and idiosyncratic reasons, but that economic reasons tend to prevail. The findings suggest that franchising is a viable growth strategy for small firms and that per se it creates few major problems for growth-oriented small businesses. It is argued that further research is needed, particularly into the experiences of "failed" franchises and into the problems encountered by growing small firms who do not adopt franchising as a growth strategy.

Notizen: The transition from centralised to market economy created a number of difficulties for Polish enterprises and many of them went bankrupt, especially after the Soviet market had been lost. While large companies, such as steelworks, coal mines, railways, etc, have been protected by the government for social reasons, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could survive only when they, by themselves or with some external assistance, were able to introduce internal changes and adjust to the market environment. Polish SMEs may be divided into two groups: emerging private firms and split firms which were created by a partition of large state-owned enterprises. The various reasons for failure are discussed for both groups and compared with those described in the literature. A general model of consultancy intervention is presented and the attitudes of Polish enterprises towards change are described. In general, the state-owned and split firms are reluctant to change unless their situation is critical, and if restructurisation is done it is rather superficial. Thus, a successful consultant has to be not only convincing and flexible but also must assess how deep a change is wanted by a given enterprise. This paper presents the approach used in helping the split firms by the University of Mining and Metallurgy (UMM), Faculty of Management Consulting Group. In order to find solutions for a given firm, a working team consisting of representatives of an enterprise and university was set up. The team devises a strategy of enterprise survival and prepares a detailed plan of the steps to be taken. This approach, which in many cases has proved to be successful, consists of trying to infuse the employees with the philosophy of enterprise survival and organising a series of relevant training activities. When the employees fully understand the essence of all the actions necessary for enterprise survival (privatisation, improvement of marketing, creation of systems of motivation, quality control, management information and other), the consulting group's role as "company doctor" is limited to the supervision of the change planning process and the assessment of the solutions chosen. This system of triggering employee initiative has been found to be not only effective but also cheap, an aspect which in the case of small enterprises should not be underestimated.

Notizen: Large owner-users of real estate increasingly search for methods to streamline their operations and reduce expenses without decreasing services to building occupants. This paper describes a model successfully adopted by a variety of corporations to accomplish these objectives. Key to achieving these results is the establishing of Standard Service Agreements between occupants and service providers and the 'bundling' of similar services under a unified management umbrella.

Notizen: Many organisations have increased collaborative performance by introducing new technologies and new processes; by integrating these with innovations in the working environment they can catalyse additional and sustained improvements in collaborative performance. If planned, designed and managed as an integrated system encompassing people, process and place issues, the workplace environment can be a powerful catalyst for business change.

Notizen: Even the most experienced and hardened negotiators tend to 'lighten up' when they step onto foreign soil. Current global conditions, however, allow for a systematic, diligent and professional approach to lease and purchase negotiations. This paper encourages corporate real estate professionals to do the right thing - wherever they may be.

Notizen: The proportion of real estate in a non-property company's asset portfolio has increased to anextent where it has become an asset capable of enhancing corporate wealth. This initial study hopes to establish the foundation and provide background information on corporate real estate holding profiles of listed Singapore businessfirms. Using financial statement data and firm market values from 1987 to 1996, this paper provides an analysis of real estate holdings in both absolute and relative terms. Real estate holdings by business segment and asset subtype,growth in corporate real estate holdings over time; and key financial characteristics of corporate real estate (eg real estate as a percentage of shareholders' equity and real estate relative to market value of the firm) are included in the paper.

Notizen: The cost of occupying and utilising a real estate asset, whether leased or owned, if an important element of controlling corporate resources. Yet, the focus of corporate real estate departments is often in the areas of acquisitions, dispositions and facilities rather than cost control. This paper takes the reader through the methods of identifying and controlling costs as the transaction progresses through the real estate life cycle.

Notizen: This paper presents findings from a major research study investigating management training and development (MTD) activity within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the East Midlands. Despite the fact that the academic evidence linking training and development with business performance remains inconclusive, the previous UK Government clearly signalled the importance of improving skills levels to promote business success. The Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) are charged with a key role in stimulating MTD activity within SMEs, a sector where MTD has traditionally been given a low priority. The system of government-backed support for SMEs is currently under review, and the continued existence of the TECs in their present form largely depends upon their ability to provide proactive, tailored solutions to local business needs. It is, therefore, an extremely opportune time to review the TECs' performance. Based on detailed analysis of the activities of six TECs in the East Midlands, the paper examines how they define MTD, establish the MTD needs of SMEs within their respective catchment areas, and formulate appropriate strategies to meet those needs. The reasons why generic MTD products are not generally taken up by SMEs are explored; supply-side obstacles hinder the promotion of generic products by the TECs and demand is constrained as owner-managers are reluctant to adopt such initiatives, although the boundaries between these two sets of factors are blurred. After reviewing the ways in which the TECs evaluate their activities, the paper concludes by offering some recommendations as to how the TECs could increase the take-up of MTD by SMEs and improve the targeting of SMEs for assistance.

Notizen: Understanding cyclical activity is an important component of efficient portfolio management. Property appraisal models that do not explicitly take into account cyclical fluctuations may produce unrealistic valuation estimates resulting in property assets being incorrectly added to or removed from the general investment portfolio. In this paper we use conventional spectral analysis techniques to examine property and financial assets for evidence of cycles and co-cycles. One finding is that the very pronounced cyclical patterns that appear in direct real estate markets and the economy as a whole are very much less obvious once they have filtered through to securitised property markets and financial assets markets.

Notizen: The operations strategy literature has identified four primary dimensions on which a firm competes with another. These are: price, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability. Of these, quality is perhaps the most critical dimension in terms of the impact on the degree of competitiveness imparted to a firm by a competitiveness dimension. In this paper, we propose a quantitative measure - quality competitiveness index (QCI) - to determine the degree to which a firm's quality practices and policies are instrumental in improving its competitiveness. The QCI can be effectively employed for benchmarking among competing firms. More importantly, however, the process leading to the determination of QCI is itself an educative one - the weaknesses and strengths of a company with respect to its quality practices and policies come right to the fore and the company can usefully employ this information to improve competitiveness for quality.

Notizen: This paper describes the extent to which Australian university alumni offices currently apply benchmarking principles. Not surprisingly, there is considerable diversity in the way that the offices measure, evaluate, and progress their operations. Benchmarking has been adopted by only half of the respondents to a survey of management practices. To some extent, the differences reflect differences in alumni officers' perceptions of the primacy of various customer groups, and the extent to which the top echelons of the universities advocate quality management practices. Resource constraints and concerns about meeting target performance measures are key deterrents to the adoption of benchmarking. Those associations that adopt benchmarking out-perform those that do not on the following dimensions: commitment to quality management practices; communication with employees; continuous improvement, emphasis on customer satisfaction; and participative management. Organisations that have adopted quality management principles vary according to how they implement benchmarking, including the types of benchmarking partners adopted.

Notizen: This paper describes the application of a new variant of process benchmarking called value stream mapping to the development of a supplier network around a prominent distributor of electronic, electrical and mechanical components. This involved mapping the activities of the firm, identifying opportunities for improvement and then undertaking with the firm an improvement programme. The resulting supplier association programme involved around 50 key suppliers across eight product category areas. The paper explores the different methods employed together with the support structure that was created. It concludes with evidence of the early results of the programmes as well as a number of key learning points for other organisations wishing to follow a similar path.

Notizen: Chronicles the USA's provision of telecoms services from the early 1970s. States it is unknown whether competition has been a success and whether today's competition is better than Bell's monopoly position of old. Pinpoints competition and subsidization and looks at how the US system works. Concludes that for competition proper all subsidy forms should be eliminated, which means access charge, etc., but wonders whether this could actually happen?

Notizen: Chronicles a series of errors in the Telecommunications Act by using a "fairy tale" scenario to aid in explanation of this US 1996 procedure. Addresses local market jurisdiction and dual cost standards. Concludes many of the Act's goals remain largely unfulfilled as local exchange customers will not see the benefits the Act was hoped to deliver, until technology allows better delivery.

Notizen: Suggests this analysis' principal objective is to demonstrate that recent merger activity in US Bell operating companies can foster increased incentives for out-of-region entry. Reveals that the local telephone industry can serve to enhance competition by fostering more pronounced incentives for out-of-region entry.

Notizen: Looks at two possibilities outcomes for information and communication technology (ICT) in the world. Argues ICT's development potential is undervalued but its potential is increasing as technology becomes cheaper and diversifies. States ICTs offer important tools to empower the less-well-off communities, reducing inequalities.

Notizen: Examines policy implications of over-the-air's impending demise to cable and direct broadcast satellites in the USA. Looks at policy questions and the different types of broadcasters. In conclusion, says that TV has been going through a gradual but fundamental change, but stresses that on the other hand, radio is a wonderful means to reach many people simultaneously, although TV has only a visual modality, whereas radio is best for people on the move.

Notizen: Discusses how new types of publishing (electronic, particularly) are about to make major changes in the media-related industry. Contends traditional approaches to the business will not work in the digital era. Investigates the traditional and new publishing technologies/industries, including the Internet, and wonders what the future holds for publishing and media companies with regard to regulations.

Notizen: Looks at deregulation in telecommunications in Italy in 1998, and how the process has proceeded only slowly because of the lack of a legal market arbiter. Lists out the three processes of liberalization: implementation of EU liberalization directives; the institution of Italian regulators for telecommunications; and various regulatory policies implementation. Concludes telecommunications liberalization is a widely recognized benefit for customers.

Notizen: Makes recommendations for protecting users in cyberspace, which relate to commercial communications, relationships between the service provider and consumers, and data protection. Concludes that initiatives involving trust and confidence are a means of developing confidence in electronic commerce.

Notizen: Studies media convergence in Canada, arguing it has always been a possibility as change is not a consequence of new technologies but a shift from efforts to prevent cross-media combinations, to initiatives that promote this aim. Sums up that media reconvergence and the information highway are at the top of the communications policy agenda, but how it will involve is unclear.

Notizen: Focuses on current and near-term efforts to integrate Web browsing, computing, e-mail, video telephony and voice telephony in a hand-held device. Concludes with observations about the probable product/markets resulting from integration. Concludes the Far East seems to be the potential market for smart phones.

Notizen: This paper is concerned with reducing the barriers imposed on the flexibility and responsiveness of automated manufacturing systems by current control software technology. The general question that is addressed by this research is, how can insights be gained from the manufacturing system that can assist the control system in meeting this goal of responsive behavior? The approach that is taken is to investigate appropriate means of integrating available manufacturing system information into the control system. A framework for integrating status information to control an automated assembly line is introduced that combines both transient information (e.g. station queue length) and steady-state information (e.g. station gradient estimates) obtained by observing the operation of the assembly line. It is shown that, through the use of an appropriately designed fuzzy-logic controller (FLC), the combined information results in flow time performance superior to that achieved using the transient or steady-state measures individually.

Notizen: This paper shares the conclusions of the authors with respect to a comparison of Beer's viable systems model (VSM) and modern business process thinking. These conclusions have been arrived at as a result of extensive empirical research over the past five years. Modern business process thinking and the VSM provides the foundations for a viable business structure which maximises opportunities for managing agility. The paper provides a brief background to the research and explains VSM and modern business process thinking. It then goes on to demonstrate how VSM and modern business process thinking combine to provide a powerful structure for planning and managing today's modern organisation in an uncertain and dynamic environment. In developing the theorythe paper also provides empirical evidence to support and demonstrate the application of the theory. The paper concludes with a summary of key messages and lessons learned.

Notizen: Propoes a methodology that enables a dynamic and interactive 3-Dvisualization model of the assembly process to be developed from the CAD files of each part in the assembly. Makes three main contributions to the research in this area. First, a taxonomy of features for assembly is presented. Second, a process model for generating interactive 3D models of the assembly process is developed and, third, a new algorithm for creating a dynamic assembly model is derived. This algorithm, called the 3D assembly visualization (3AV) algorithm, involves instantiating the motion attributes that specify the motion of each part in the assembly. This dynamic assembly model is then converted to a 3-D renderable format for visualization. An example is presented that uses virtual reality modeling language (VRML) as the 3-D representation language. The result is a dynamic and interactive visual representation of the assembly operation. Such visualization can be of considerable use in DFA.

Notizen: There is a tension between improvement approaches which start from a holistic overview of a process and those that are based on detailed, low-level analysis. This paper argues that the two approaches are complementary and that modern information technologies can be used to support both approaches being used in harmony, and to support

Notizen: Outlines the evolution of facilities design to the point where it is capable of supporting an organisation's strategic content. Explains the key principles of strategic facility planning (SFP) and details the key stages of the design process. Outlines seven steps including elements such as determining space requirements and generating macro layouts. Concludes that SFP can provide the process to turn a facility into a facilitator of competitive advantage and customer perceived added value.

Notizen: This paper introduces The Layered Systems Model and describes how it can be applied to assist project managers to be effective at all stages of project design and delivery. Conventional rational problem solving techniques for difficult projects are supplemented with imaginative and relationship-focused approaches. The Layered Systems Model is a management tool for focusing on different levels of functioning in projects, organisations, and teams. The model acts like a series of "filters to perception" to assist managers to assess how well an organisation is functioning at each level. It can be applied to large organisations, departments, and small work groups or in the case of this paper, software project teams. The paper shows how the Layered Systems Model can happily coexist with the Project Management Institute's eight project knowledge areas to form a powerful diagnostic tool for software projects which are not quite "out of control" but are heading in that direction.

Notizen: The use of electronic mail has grown exponentially in the last five years. When used effectively, it is a very effective messaging and information medium. However, abuse of e-mail can be a significant risk to a company: increasingly e-mail figures in defamation and libel cases, and it is often the company, not just the individual sender of the e-mail, that is held to be responsible and liable. Establishing and ensuring adherence to a policy on the proper use of e-mail can minimise such risks - and can yield financial savings. This paper sets out the case for establishing an e-mail policy and presents sample policies and guidelines for the effective use of e-mail services.

Notizen: Increased worldwide competition has driven industry to find ever faster and more accurate techniques for product inspection. Although developed only recently, noncontact laser gauging systems (NCLGSs) are quickly becoming an accepted technology for manufacturing, in particular for large volume producers of wire who require online diameter measurement. This paper describes the major components of an NCLGS and how its technology enables manufacturers to incorporate extremely accurate online product measurement. The paper also describes the benefits and issues for concern associated with use of this new technology.