WorldWideScience

Sample records for product category competitive

  1. Productive and Unproductive Competition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guerra, Alice; Luppi, Barbara; Parisi, Francesco

    Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories of com...... and socially optimal levels of competition in the full range of intermediate cases, as well as in the extremum cases of destructive and super-productive competition.......Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories...... of competition create a division of real-world situations into analytical categories that fails to recognize the entire spectrum of competitive activities. Taking the existing models of productive and unproductive competition as benchmark idealizations, this paper explores the relationship between the privately...

  2. Can height categories replace weight categories in striking martial arts competitions? A pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubnov-Raz, Gal; Mashiach-Arazi, Yael; Nouriel, Ariella; Raz, Raanan; Constantini, Naama W

    2015-09-29

    In most combat sports and martial arts, athletes compete within weight categories. Disordered eating behaviors and intentional pre-competition rapid weight loss are commonly seen in this population, attributed to weight categorization. We examined if height categories can be used as an alternative to weight categories for competition, in order to protect the health of athletes. Height and weight of 169 child and adolescent competitive karate athletes were measured. Participants were divided into eleven hypothetical weight categories of 5 kg increments, and eleven hypothetical height categories of 5 cm increments. We calculated the coefficient of variation of height and weight by each division method. We also calculated how many participants fit into corresponding categories of both height and weight, and how many would shift a category if divided by height. There was a high correlation between height and weight (r = 0.91, p<0.001). The mean range of heights seen within current weight categories was reduced by 83% when participants were divided by height. When allocating athletes by height categories, 74% of athletes would shift up or down one weight category at most, compared with the current categorization method. We conclude that dividing young karate athletes by height categories significantly reduced the range of heights of competitors within the category. Such categorization would not cause athletes to compete against much heavier opponents in most cases. Using height categories as a means to reduce eating disorders in combat sports should be further examined.

  3. Perceptions of five-year competitive categories: model of how relative age influences competitiveness in masters sport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medic, Nikola; Young, Bradley W; Grove, J Robert

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the contrasting perceptions of masters swimmers related to the first and fifth constituent years of a 5-year age category. Swimmers aged between 35 and 93 years (154 male, 184 female) were surveyed at the 2008 FINA World Masters Championships. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of the following five factors considered important for preparation, attendance, and success at masters competitions: awareness of advantages, expectancy, motivation, training, and physiological capacity. One sample t-tests showed that masters swimmers are conscious of advantages that 5-year age categories afford to relatively-younger cohorts (i.e., those who are in the first year of any age category). They also perceive that, in the first compared to the fifth year of an age category, they have greater physiological capacity, engage in more training, have higher expectations to perform well, and are more motivated (all ps competitions than relatively older masters athletes. Key PointsThere are at least five psycho-social and physical factors (i.e., awareness of advantages, expectancy, motivation, training, and physiological capacity) that may explain why relatively younger masters athletes are more likely to perform better and to participate more in masters competitions than relatively older masters athletes.Masters athletes are conscious of the advantage that 5-year age categories afford to relatively younger cohorts of athletes.Differential perceptions associated with the 5-year age categories might compromise masters athletes' continuity of sport competitiveness and underlying training.

  4. Brand importance across product categories in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Formánek Tomáš

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with customer loyalty to brands and provides an analysis of brand-related attitudes among Czech consumers. Brand loyalty is a very important aspect of competitive marketing and we contribute an empirically supported point of view on the topic. Based on primary data from a complex consumer survey carried out for the purpose of this study, we investigate the extent of brand loyalty across different product categories, mostly fast moving consumer goods (FMCG. For convenience, the analysis of our survey-data may be divided in two main areas. First, product categories are ranked according to their potential power to attract customers’ interest and loyalty towards brands. When loyalty programs are prepared, it is important to discern product categories where loyalty potential is weak from those categories that attract consumer loyalty. Second, sociodemographic features and lifestyle factors from the survey are evaluated with respect to different product categories, by means of logistic regression and subsequent average partial effect (APE analysis. A detailed and practically oriented interpretation of the empirical results is provided by the authors. However, both corporate marketers and academic readers can use the tables with empirical estimation outputs that are provided in this article to draw their own conclusions, which may be focused on the product category of interest and/or focused on any specific consumer group that is of particular interest. Among other topics, this paper emphasizes the fact that brand loyalty is a highly complex phenomenon and that it can and should be analysed from different perspectives.

  5. How malleable is categorization by race? Evidence for competitive category use in social categorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klauer, Karl Christoph; Hölzenbein, Fabian; Calanchini, Jimmy; Sherman, Jeffrey W

    2014-07-01

    We contrast 3 theoretical viewpoints concerning the factors affecting social categorization by race: (a) the classical theory of social categorization highlighting the role of a priori accessibility and situational factors, (b) the classical theory augmented by a principle of competitive category use, and (c) competition between race (but not gender) and coalition with race (but not gender) encoded only as a proxy to coalition. Study 1 documents a confound that renders important portions of previous research difficult to interpret. In Studies 2 and 3, race categorization was stronger than categorization by more weakly accessible categories when situational support in terms of topic relevance was comparable across categories. A situational focus on race further increased race categorization. Race categorization was reduced in the presence of strongly cued cross-cutting coalitions. Race categorization also was depressed when situational factors promoted comparative processing of cross-cutting categories while cues to potential coalitional divisions were held constant (Study 4). Accessibility, topic relevance, and cuing cross-cutting coalitions had the same effects on gender categorization as found for race categorization (Study 5). Taken together, the results suggest that classical theories of social categorization have to be augmented by a principle of competitive category use that is not limited to a competition between race and coalition.

  6. The Historical Evolution and Current Interpretation of the Definition of Essence of the Category of «Competitiveness of Enterprise of the Automobile Industry»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shevchenko Inna Yu.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at researching the historical evolution and a current interpretation of the definition of essence of the category of «competitiveness of enterprise of the automobile industry». Using the monographic analysis, the article reviews the historical evolution of the definition of essence of the category of «competitiveness of enterprise» in the national scientific literature in the period from 2007 to 2016. It has been concluded that the essence of the concept of «competitiveness of enterprise» is actually reduced to the competitiveness of products or operational efficiency. The author’s own definition of the essence of the category of «competitiveness of enterprise of the automobile industry» has been suggested: it has been specified that under the given term be understood «...the dynamic ability of enterprise of the automobile industry to ensure the efficiency of all activities as result of interaction of the internal competitive potential and the external competitive environment factors in accordance with the chosen competitive strategy at a certain stage of the life cycle».

  7. Battle of the Retail Channels: How Product Selection and Geography Drive Cross-Channel Competition

    OpenAIRE

    Erik Brynjolfsson; Yu (Jeffrey) Hu; Mohammad S. Rahman

    2009-01-01

    A key question for Internet commerce is the nature of competition with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Although traditional retailers vastly outsell Internet retailers in most product categories, research on Internet retailing has largely neglected this fundamental dimension of competition. Is cross-channel competition significant, and if so, how and where can Internet retailers win this battle? This paper attempts to answer these questions using a unique combination of data sets. We ...

  8. Consumer Product Category Database

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Chemical and Product Categories database (CPCat) catalogs the use of over 40,000 chemicals and their presence in different consumer products. The chemical use...

  9. Investigating cross-category brand loyalty behavior in FMCG

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boztug, Yasemin; Hildebrandt, Lutz; Silberhorn, Nadja

    category depend on purchases in other categories. The aspect of cross-category related brand loyalty has been somewhat neglected so far. We concentrate on cross-category relationships of strong national brands and on how customers' brand choice decisions are related across several product categories.......In competitive markets, customer retention is more efficient than trying to attract new customers. Brand loyalty is an intrinsic commitment to repeatedly purchase a particular brand. But most analyses have been conducted in one specific category only. It has been shown that product purchases in one...

  10. Consumer Product Category Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Chemical and Product Categories database (CPCat) catalogs the use of over 40,000 chemicals and their presence in different consumer products. The chemical use information is compiled from multiple sources while product information is gathered from publicly available Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). EPA researchers are evaluating the possibility of expanding the database with additional product and use information.

  11. Export competitiveness of pakistani horticultural products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akhtar, W.; Akmal, N.; Shah, H.; Tahir, A.; Niazi, M.A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines Pakistan's competitiveness in export of selected horticulture commodities by employing set of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and revealed competitive advantage indices with respect to global trade. Results demonstrate that Pakistan has comparative and competitive advantage over the period under analysis and indicates a transition from comparative and competitive disadvantage to comparative and competitive advantage during the period under analysis. Tangerines, mandarins, clem have maintained relatively higher revealed comparative advantage as compared to other categories for the whole period under analysis. Onion export has revealed comparative advantage with some fluctuations over time. The research indicates that Pakistan's comparative and competitive advantages have been increasing in all the selected commodities during period under analysis which indicates the potential of horticulture exports for foreign exchange earnings. There is need to strengthen comparative and competitive advantage in horticulture sector by policy support and facilitating role by all stakeholders. (author)

  12. On the Competitive Interaction Between Private Label and Branded Grocery Products

    OpenAIRE

    Ronald W. Cotterill; Ravi Dhar; William P. Putsis Jr.

    1996-01-01

    Recent research in marketing has focused on cross-category variation in the market share of private label products, while recent work in the economics and industrial organization literature has focused on the determinants of firm price setting behavior. In this paper, the authors develop a framework for estimating market share and price reaction equations simultaneously in an attempt to understand the nature of competitive interaction in the market for private label and branded grocery produc...

  13. Product market competition and corporate governance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Chou

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates whether product market competition acts as an external mechanism for disciplining management and also whether there is any relationship between the degree of competition a firm faces and its corporate governance. We find that firms in competitive industries or with low market power tend to have weak corporate governance structures. Results are robust to various competition measures at firm and industry levels, even after controlling for firm-specific variables. We further find that corporate governance quality has a significant effect on performance only when product market competition is weak. The overall evidence suggests that product market competition has a substantial impact on corporate governance and that it substitutes for corporate governance quality. Finally, we provide evidence that the disciplinary force of competition on management is from the fear of liquidation.

  14. Product competitiveness analysis for e-commerce platform of special agricultural products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Fucheng; Ma, Ning; Yang, Dongwei; Xiong, Zhangyuan

    2017-09-01

    On the basis of analyzing the influence factors of the product competitiveness of the e-commerce platform of the special agricultural products and the characteristics of the analytical methods for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, the price, the sales volume, the postage included service, the store reputation, the popularity, etc. were selected in this paper as the dimensionality for analyzing the competitiveness of the agricultural products, and the principal component factor analysis was taken as the competitiveness analysis method. Specifically, the web crawler was adopted to capture the information of various special agricultural products in the e-commerce platform ---- chi.taobao.com. Then, the original data captured thereby were preprocessed and MYSQL database was adopted to establish the information library for the special agricultural products. Then, the principal component factor analysis method was adopted to establish the analysis model for the competitiveness of the special agricultural products, and SPSS was adopted in the principal component factor analysis process to obtain the competitiveness evaluation factor system (support degree factor, price factor, service factor and evaluation factor) of the special agricultural products. Then, the linear regression method was adopted to establish the competitiveness index equation of the special agricultural products for estimating the competitiveness of the special agricultural products.

  15. 78 FR 20697 - New Competitive Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-05

    ... Product AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning an addition to the competitive product list. This notice informs the... request and associated supporting information to add Priority Mail Contract 57 to the competitive product...

  16. 78 FR 20360 - New Competitive Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-04

    ... Product AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning the addition of Priority Mail Contract 56 to the competitive product... 56 to the competitive product list.\\1\\ The Postal Service asserts that Priority Mail Contract 56 is a...

  17. Competitiveness regulation of dairy products production in the Crimea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domozhilkina Zh. V.

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available the article outlines the results of studying the major problems concerning supporting competitiveness and quality of dairy products in the Crimea. The researchers compared the level of competitiveness of the dairy enterprise ltd. «Бег» with other brands of milk and suggested measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of competitiveness management of dairy products in this region.

  18. Abrupt category shifts during real-time person perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Jonathan B

    2014-02-01

    Previous studies have suggested that real-time person perception relies on continuous competition, in which partially active categories smoothly compete over time. Here, two studies demonstrated the involvement of a different kind of competition. In Study 1, before participants selected the correct sex category for morphed faces, their mouse trajectories often exhibited a continuous attraction toward the incorrect category that increased with sex-category ambiguity, indicating continuous competition. On other trials, however, trajectories initially pursued the incorrect category and then abruptly redirected toward the correct category, suggesting early incorrect category activation that was rapidly reversed later in processing. These abrupt category reversals also increased with ambiguity. In Study 2, participants were presented with faces containing a sex-typical or sex-atypical hair cue, in a context in which the norm was either sex-typical targets (normative context) or sex-atypical targets (counternormative context). Sex-atypical targets induced greater competition in the normative context, but sex-typical targets induced greater competition in the counternormative context. Together, these results demonstrate that categorizing others involves both smooth competition and abrupt category shifts, and that these flexibly adapt to the social context.

  19. 77 FR 2676 - Competitive Postal Products

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-19

    ... could give the Postal Service an artificial competitive advantage. The Commission gave considerable... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 39 CFR Part 3015 [Docket No. RM2012-3; Order No. 1108] Competitive... Commission is initiating a review to determine whether competitive products provide the appropriate minimum...

  20. Effect of competition program "Acrobatics" category "B-Class" at the level of technical preparedness of athletes in acrobatic rock and roll

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petro Kyzim

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to define the level of technique of execution of acrobatic competition program «Acrobatics» elements a category «В-class» in acrobatic rock-and-roll. Material and Methods: the followings methods of research were used: theoretical analysis and generalization of information of the special scientific-methodical literature; photography, videosurvey, computer analysis, pedagogical supervision. The competition programs are analysed from 1 to a 6 place on World Cup of 2014 and 2015. Results: on the basis of evaluation scale of implementation of acrobatic directory of WRRC (version 2 entries, the evaluation results of technique of implementation of acrobatic competition program «Acrobatic» elements are got separately every sporting pair of skilled sportsmen of category of «В-сlass» of the World Cup final in Krakov 2014 (6 pair and World Cup final in Krakov 2015 (6 pair. Certainly dynamics of evaluation results of technique of execution of acrobatic competition program «Acrobatic» elements separately every sporting pair of skilled sportsmen of category of «В-сlass» in the World Cup final in Krakov 2015. Conclusions: including of acrobatic elements of enhanceable complication and combinations from two acrobatic elements and two rotations allowed substantially to promote the level of technical preparedness of participants of the World Cup final 2015 years

  1. The effect of midazolam on implicit and explicit memory in category exemplar production and category cued recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, Jason; Passannante, Anthony; Hirshman, Elliot

    2004-03-01

    Transfer-appropriate processing theory (Roediger, Weldon, & Challis, 1989) proposes that dissociations between performance on explicit and implicit memory tests arise because these tests often rely on different types of information processing (e.g., perceptual processing vs conceptual processing). This perspective predicts that implicit and explicit memory tasks that rely primarily on conceptual processing should show comparable results, not dissociations. Numerous studies have demonstrated such similarities. It is, however, possible that these results arise from explicit memory contamination of performance on implicit memory tasks. To address this issue, an experiment was conducted in which participants were administered the sedative midazolam prior to study. Midazolam is known to create a temporary, but dense, period of anterograde amnesia. The effects of blocking stimulus materials by semantic category at study and generation at study were investigated on category exemplar production and category-cued recall. The results of this study demonstrated a dissociation of the effects of midazolam on category exemplar production and category-cued recall. Specifically, midazolam reduced the effect of blocking stimulus materials in category-cued recall, but not in category exemplar production. The differential effect of midazolam on explicit and implicit memory is at odds with transfer-appropriate processing theory and suggests that theories of memory must distinguish the roles of different types of conceptual processing on implicit and explicit memory tests.

  2. Semi-arid development: competitiveness factors in biodiesel productive chain

    OpenAIRE

    Breno Barros Telles do Carmo; Dmontier Pinheiro Aragão; Heráclito Lopes Jaguaribe Pontes; Bruno Magalhães Ribeiro; Marcos Ronaldo Albertin

    2009-01-01

    The new global market competitiveness considerer the competition between productive chains (PC) or supply chains, not just between enterprises. In this case, it can be observed collaboration and cooperation enterprises that dispute with others productives chain. The PC competitiveness can be impaired if is subject by inhibitors factors, that can impairer the performance. This paper analyses these competitiveness factors inhibitors in biodiesel productive chain (CPB) in semi-arid area: exporte...

  3. Competitiveness of tomato production in punjab, pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akhtar, W.; Qureshi, A.H.; Khan, M.A.

    2016-01-01

    The study measures competitiveness at farm level and economic efficiency at country level of tomato production in relation to tomato trade by using Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) framework in Punjab, Pakistan. The province was divided into two tomato production regions i.e., Central and Southern Punjab for analysis purpose under importable scenario by using import parity price. Results of PAM model revealed that tomato production in both regions of Punjab has competitiveness under prevailing market situation as indicated by positive private profitability and private cost ratio (PCR) which is less than 1. Competitiveness difference in two regions indicated that Central Punjab has more competitiveness at farm level in tomato production. Economic efficiency results i.e. Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) ratio remained 0.39 and 0.51 in Central and Southern Punjab, respectively with positive social profitability indicating strong comparative advantage under importable scenario. The above results implied that Central Punjab has greater economic efficiency than Southern Punjab in domestic resources use for production of tomato as import substitute commodity. Results of Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC) and Effective Protection Coefficient (EPC) indicated that combine effects of policies on output and tradable input market did not pass any protection to tomato farmers in the study area. Net effect of policy or market failure is reducing the profitability of tomato producers at farm level which indicates lack of motivation from policies for farmers to expand tomato production as import substitute crop. Present study recommended competitiveness and economic efficiency analysis in other tomato producing regions of the country for year round tomato supply on the basis of resource efficiency and to curtail tomato imports to save the precious foreign exchange. To enhance the competitiveness there is need to increase farmer's incentives through increase of farm level price up to

  4. Comparisons of Website Visit Behavior between Purchase Outcomes and Product Categories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chatpong Tangmanee

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The online retail business has grown substantially. Given distinctive product categories (e.g. search or experience goods, owners must put an effort in the design of websites so every visit may end with a purchase. Clickstream panel data allowing examination into website visiting behavior (i.e. the number of pages viewed (or pageview or the visit duration are increasingly accessible. However, it is unclear whether the differences of the two visiting behavior between purchase outcome or product categories are significant. The present study hopes to fill the void. An analysis of 27,528 visit sessions extracted from ComScore verifies that (1 the difference of page views between purchase outcomes and that between product categories were significant and (2 only the difference of visit duration between the product categories was significant but that between purchase outcomes was insignificant. In addition to theoretical insight into online behavior across purchasing horizons and product categories using clickstream data, online retail practitioners could apply the findings to enhance the possibility of the purchases at their online stores.

  5. What drives consumer involvement? The relative impact of product category and product attribute

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    de Barcellos, Marcia Dutra; Kügler, Jens Oliver; Scholderer, Joachim

    2009-01-01

    , foods, household appliances, alcoholic beverages) and on two involvement dimensions (interest and importance). The results indicate that in three of the four super-categories the predominant source of variation in product involvement were the attributes of the products, not the product category...... they belong to. Only for foods, the traditional conceptualisation of involvement held. The findings suggest that parts of previous research on involvement may have to be re-interpreted and that future research should adopt more complex conceptualisations of involvement. From a managerial point of view...

  6. Productivity and Competitiveness of Sorghum Production in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    showed that sorghum production in the study areas yielded profitable returns ... Keywords: Sorghum, Profitability, Competitiveness, Investment Potential, .... Guinness Ghana Brewery Limited to estimate cost and returns at the marketing sector ...

  7. Comparing Product Category Rules from Different Programs: Learned Outcomes Towards Global Alignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purpose Product category rules (PCRs) provide category-specific guidance for estimating and reporting product life cycle environmental impacts, typically in the form of environmental product declarations and product carbon footprints. Lack of global harmonization between PCRs or ...

  8. Online Consumer Reviews: The Moderating Effect of Product Category

    OpenAIRE

    Bjering, Einar; Havro, Lars Jaakko

    2014-01-01

    This paper tests a previously proposed model for assessing consumer generated online reviews effect on sales, the review impact continuum. Product category is found to play an important role as a moderating factor of several properties concerning user generated online reviews - including its impact on sales. The authors introduce a novel method for product category classification using natural language processing (NLP), and by applying this method show that reviews are more influential for su...

  9. Identifying demand effects in a large network of product categories

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gelper, S.E.C.; Wilms, I.; Croux, C.

    2016-01-01

    Planning marketing mix strategies requires retailers to understand within- as well as cross-category demand effects. Most retailers carry products in a large variety of categories, leading to a high number of such demand effects to be estimated. At the same time, we do not expect cross-category

  10. Competition and product quality in the supermarket industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsa, David A

    2011-01-01

    This article analyzes the effect of competition on a supermarket firm's incentive to provide product quality. In the supermarket industry, product availability is an important measure of quality. Using U.S. Consumer Price Index microdata to track inventory shortfalls, I find that stores facing more intense competition have fewer shortfalls. Competition from Walmart—the most significant shock to industry market structure in half a century—decreased shortfalls among large chains by about a third. The risk that customers will switch stores appears to provide competitors with a strong incentive to invest in product quality.

  11. Importance of Country-of-Origin on Different Product Categories Purchase Decision

    OpenAIRE

    Krupka Zoran; Arežina Darija

    2017-01-01

    Country of origin is an important factor in product evaluation process as well as for purchase decision. Its importance depends on the amount of information consumers have about the product and product category. This paper investigates the importance of coutry of origin in purchase decision-making process for three different product categories: high risk and high level of consumer involvement in purchasing process (car), medium risk and midium level of consumer involvement in purchasing proce...

  12. Product Image to Build the Core Competitiveness of Enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shi Yan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available As a new specialty research field, Product Image is being paid more attention. This article introduced the concept of Product Image and Core-competition, and illustrated how to conduct Core-competition of enterprise from two aspects of the foundation of Product Image and the communication of Product Image.

  13. 77 FR 65279 - Domestic Competitive Products Pricing and Mailing Standards Changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-26

    ... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Domestic Competitive Products Pricing and Mailing Standards Changes... and mailing standards for the following competitive products: Express Mail[supreg], Priority Mail.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule describes new prices and product features for competitive products...

  14. 76 FR 77271 - Competitive Product Postal Price Changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-12

    ... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. CP2012-2; Order No. 997] Competitive Product Postal Price... recently-filed Postal Service request for a change in competitive products prices. The changes will take... and justification for the changes, the effective date, and a schedule of the changed rates. The price...

  15. Comparing Product Category Rules from Different Programs: Learned Outcomes Towards Global Alignment (Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purpose Product category rules (PCRs) provide category-specific guidance for estimating and reporting product life cycle environmental impacts, typically in the form of environmental product declarations and product carbon footprints. Lack of global harmonization between PCRs or ...

  16. 78 FR 26404 - New Competitive Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-06

    ... Product AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent... product list. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other... the competitive product list.\\1\\ The Postal Service asserts that Parcel Return Service Contract 4 is a...

  17. 78 FR 19393 - Designation of Product Categories for Federal Procurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-01

    .../products.htm and then clicking on the appropriate product name. Federal Government Purchase of Sustainable Products. The Federal government's sustainable purchasing program includes the following three statutory... significant. Most of the product categories being designated in this rulemaking are typical consumer products...

  18. Mechanism of management of competitiveness of production of agrarian and industrial complex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Buryak E. A.

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available the concept of competitiveness and mechanisms of management of competitiveness of production is considered. Major factors of ensuring competitiveness of production of agrarian and industrial complex are allocated. The main problems of production of wheat in the Republic of Crimea making negative impact on the level of her competitiveness are revealed. The mechanism of management of competitiveness of production of agrarian and industrial complex is developed.

  19. Importance of Country-of-Origin on Different Product Categories Purchase Decision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krupka Zoran

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Country of origin is an important factor in product evaluation process as well as for purchase decision. Its importance depends on the amount of information consumers have about the product and product category. This paper investigates the importance of coutry of origin in purchase decision-making process for three different product categories: high risk and high level of consumer involvement in purchasing process (car, medium risk and midium level of consumer involvement in purchasing process (TV, and low risk and low level of consumer involvement in purchasing process (confectionery products. Also, this paper investigates importance of country of manufacturing for purchase decision-making process in relation to country of origin’s importance. Research was conducted on 215 respondents from Belgium and Republic of Croatia. Results have shown that country of origin is important only for car purchase, but not for TV and confectionery products. For all product categories, country of origin has been shown to be more important in the decision-making process than country of manufacturing.

  20. The competitiveness of biofuels in heat and power production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kosunen, P.; Leino, P.

    1995-01-01

    The paper showed that natural gas is the most competitive fuel in all the energy production alternatives under review, ie both in separate heat production and electricity generation and in combined heat and power production. Even though the heavy fuel oil taxes have grown more rapidly than taxes on domestic fuels, oil continues to be cheaper than solid fuels in heating and steam plants. According to the feasibility calculations made, combined heat and power production is the least-cost production form of electricity, and the larger the plant unit, the lower the cost. Looking to the future, in respect of merely the development in fuel taxes the competitiveness of domestic fuels will improve markedly if the taxation structure remains unchanged. It seems that at smaller points of consumption, such as heating and steam plants and small-scale power plants, fuel chips would be the most competitive fuel. In larger units, such as heat and power production plants and condensing power plants, fuel peat, primarily milled peat, would be the most competitive. The competitiveness of fuel chips at larger plants will probably be limited by the supply of sufficient volumes from such an area where the delivery costs would not raise the price of fuel chips too high. Coal would remain competitive only if the real import price of coal rose clearly more slowly than the real prices of domestic fuels. It seems that heavy fuel oil will be used only as a start-up, support and back-up fuel. Evaluating the future competitiveness of natural gas is difficult, since the impact of new pipeline investments on the price of natural gas is not known

  1. Prospects of competitive process innovation business in Brazil: critical factors for competitiveness, productivity and growth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kátia Keiko Kitaguti

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The economic conditions of recent times require a structural changing and, mainly, behavioral ones of Brazilian business. The scenario created by big economic powers shows the difference between Brazilian industries and service sectors when it is compared business issues, for example, competitiveness, productivity and innovation, with others countries. The technological innovation consists in a critical factor for competitiveness and for the global economic development; moreover, it can be found in industrial sectors (responsible for materialization and organization of operational system of production process and in service sectors (which make planning of the contracted activity. Innovation should not be included only in these two economic sectors; however, it has to be included in the economic thought of countries. It has to be highlighted the fact that innovation is not the unique factor of competitiveness, but, productivity and knowledge make the same impact in competitiveness as innovation does. Besides, external and internal demands predict trends in terms of searching products, process an strategies, which can promote a better interaction between market and productivity control. In a global context, Brazil, specially, has a lot of techniques to learn in terms of how to use its resources in a adequate way, independently if they are natural or not. That is why studies about critical factors for competitiveness are determined for the Brazil's sustainable growth.

  2. Entry and Competition in Differentiated Products Markets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaumans, C.B.C.; Verboven, F.L.

    2011-01-01

    We propose a methodology for estimating the competition effects from entry when firms sell differentiated products. We first derive precise conditions under which Bres- nahan and Reiss'entry threshold ratios (ETRs) can be used to test for the presence and to measure the magnitude of competition

  3. Cold War competition and food production in China, 1957-1962.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yixin

    2009-01-01

    This article examines how Mao's grand strategy for Cold War competition inflicted a catastrophic agricultural failure in China and victimized tens of millions of Chinese peasants. It argues that Khrushchev's 1957 boast about the Soviet Union surpassing the United States in key economic areas inspired Mao to launch an industrialization program that would push the People's Republic past Great Britain in some production categories within fifteen years. Beginning in 1958 Mao imposed unrealistic targets on Chinese grain production to extract funds from agriculture for rapid industrial growth. Maoists placed relentless pressure on communist cadres for ruthless implementation of the Great Leap Forward. Contrary to Maoist plans, China's grain output in 1959-1960 declined sharply from 1957 levels and rural per capita grain retention decreased dramatically. Throughout China, party cadres' mismanagement of agricultural production was responsible for the decline in grain output, and the communist state's excessive requisition of grain caused food shortages for the peasants. But the key factor determining the famine's uneven impact on the peasantry in the provinces was the degree to which provincial leaders genuinely and energetically embraced Maoist programs. This is illustrated by a close examination of the Great Leap famine in Anhui Province.

  4. Out-of-category brand imitation : Product categorization determines copycat evaluation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Horen, F.; Pieters, Rik

    2017-01-01

    Copycat brands imitate the trade dress of other brands, such as their brand name, logo, and packaging design. Copycats typically operate in the core product category of the imitated brand under the assumption that such “in-category imitation” is most effective. In contrast, four experiments

  5. 77 FR 72653 - Designation of Product Categories for Federal Procurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-05

    ... corrosion removers; microbial cleaning products; paint removers; and water turbine bearing oils. USDA is... cover a wide range of products. For some product categories, there are subgroups of products that meet... corrosion remover products are required to meet, but it may have information on only one type of metal...

  6. THE CUBAN ENTERPRISE, COMPETITIVENESS, IMPROVEMENT BUSINESS AND QUALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Fernández-Companioni

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article offers some reflections on the Cuban enterprise, its business process improvement and competitiveness that firms must have in entering the world market. It analyzes the economic policies of the last two Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba that give importance to the role of the Cuban socialist state enterprise system. It conceptualizes the category: business. Knowledge of the categories: effectiveness, efficiency, effectiveness, competitiveness, quality and productivity must for Cuban entrepreneurs. To increase export capacity, we must address a number of factors such as quality and product innovation, the price level depends on the productivity of the inflation differential between countries and other factors with indirect effects on competitiveness, and service quality or corporate image. Are some of the mistakes made in business development in the country. Relate some of the quality awards granted in the world and which should aim to achieve the necessary visibility in international business. Relate some of the quality awards that are granted in the world and which should aim for Cuban entrepreneurs to achieve the necessary visibility in international business. It provides a table that lists the entities Award Winning Quality in Cuba until 2008. It shows a country ranking of the indicators of global competitiveness generated annually by The Global Competitiveness Report. Reasoning about the causes that led to the business improvement process (SPE (Legislative Decree 252 and Decree 281. 

  7. 77 FR 20281 - Designation of Product Categories for Federal Procurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-04

    ... derived from imported oil and natural gas. When USDA designates by rulemaking a product category (a...: Vehicular Products--re-refined lubricating oils. USDA is requesting that manufacturers of these qualifying...

  8. COMPETITIVE PRODUCT ADVANTAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian MICU

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Cost advantages may be either internal or external. Internal economics of scope, scale, or experience, and external economies of focus or logistical integration, enable a company to produce some products at a lower cost than the competition. The coordination of pricing with suppliers, although not actually economizing resources, can improve the efficiency of pricing by avoiding the incrementalization of a supplier's nonincremental fixed costs and profit. Any of these strategies can generate cost advantages that are, at least in the short run, sustainable. Even cost advantages that are not sustainable, however, can generate temporary savings that are often the key to building more sustainable cost or product advantages later.. Even when a product's physical attributes are not readily differentiable, opportunities to develop product advantages remain. The augmented product that customers buy is more than the particular product or service exchanged. It includes all sorts of ancillary services and intangible relationships that make buying thesame product from one company less difficult, less risky, or more pleasant than buying from a competitor. Superior augmentation of the same basic product can add substantial value in the eyes of consumers, leading them to pay willingly what are often considerable price premiums.

  9. Secondary Products (Markets, Competition, and Technological Improvements)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philip A. Araman

    1988-01-01

    Competitiveness, imports, exports, and technological improvements--these are issues facing secondary wood-product manufacturers. The major problems focus on increasing foreign imports and the inability of U.S. industries to repell the imports. How and where should we, as researchers, allocate our efforts to enhance the competitiveness of secondary forest industries in...

  10. 77 FR 69381 - Designation of Product Categories for Federal Procurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-19

    ... expectations. USDA recognizes that performance is the key factor in making purchasing decisions among the... price reasonableness of preferred products before making a purchase. B. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA... required generally to purchase biobased products within the designated product category where the purchase...

  11. The Impact of Product Market Competition on Training Provision

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lai, Tat-kei; Ng, Travis

    2014-01-01

    While standard models of training focus on how input market affects firms' training decisions, this paper investigates the impact of product market competition on training provision. Using the longitudinal data from Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey, we find that increased...... that increasing training is an important channel through which competition raises productivity....

  12. The Impact of Product Market Competition on Training Provision

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lai, Tat-kei; Ng, Travis

    's Workplace and Employee Survey, we find that increased competition is strongly associated with more training provision within workplace. We show that this association is unlikely to be driven by unobservable workplace heterogeneity, the specific measures used, and other relevant factors which can affect...... training provisions. To the extent that training is a significant source of human capital and industry competitiveness, our empirical results suggest increasing training is a significant channel through which competition raises productivity.......While standard models of training focus on how the structure of the input market affects training provisions of firms, this paper investigates the relationship between product market competition and training provision. Using the longitudinal and nationally representative data from Statistics Canada...

  13. Hippocampal activation during episodic and semantic memory retrieval: comparing category production and category cued recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Lee; Cox, Christine; Hayes, Scott M; Nadel, Lynn

    2008-01-01

    Whether or not the hippocampus participates in semantic memory retrieval has been the focus of much debate in the literature. However, few neuroimaging studies have directly compared hippocampal activation during semantic and episodic retrieval tasks that are well matched in all respects other than the source of the retrieved information. In Experiment 1, we compared hippocampal fMRI activation during a classic semantic memory task, category production, and an episodic version of the same task, category cued recall. Left hippocampal activation was observed in both episodic and semantic conditions, although other regions of the brain clearly distinguished the two tasks. Interestingly, participants reported using retrieval strategies during the semantic retrieval task that relied on autobiographical and spatial information; for example, visualizing themselves in their kitchen while producing items for the category kitchen utensils. In Experiment 2, we considered whether the use of these spatial and autobiographical retrieval strategies could have accounted for the hippocampal activation observed in Experiment 1. Categories were presented that elicited one of three retrieval strategy types, autobiographical and spatial, autobiographical and nonspatial, and neither autobiographical nor spatial. Once again, similar hippocampal activation was observed for all three category types, regardless of the inclusion of spatial or autobiographical content. We conclude that the distinction between semantic and episodic memory is more complex than classic memory models suggest.

  14. COMPETITIVE PRESSURE AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH: THE CASE OF THE FLORIDA VEGETABLE INDUSTRY

    OpenAIRE

    Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G.; Taylor, Timothy G.

    1990-01-01

    The relationship between the degree of competitive market pressure and the rate of productivity growth is empirically investigated with a case study of the Florida fresh winter vegetable industry. The results indicate that crops which faced considerable competitive pressure exhibited significant productivity growth while the crops that faced minimal competitive pressure generally exhibited little growth in productivity. Thus, the hypothesis that competitive pressure is positively related to p...

  15. Designing Cost-Competitive Technology Products through Cost Management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davila, T.; Wouters, Marc

    2004-01-01

    SYNOPSIS: As manufacturing innovations spread throughout leading organizations, product development becomes a more important source of competitive advantage. Within product development, cost management receives increasing attention. To date, cost management in new product development focuses

  16. Competition along productivity gradients: news from heathlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delerue, Florian; Gonzalez, Maya; Achat, David L; Puzos, Luc; Augusto, Laurent

    2018-05-01

    The importance of competition in low productive habitats is still debated. Studies which simultaneously evaluate preemption of resources and consequences for population dynamics are needed for a comprehensive view of competitive outcomes. We cultivated two emblematic species of European heathlands (Calluna vulgaris and Molinia caerulea) in a nursery for 2 years at two fertility levels, reproducing the productivity gradient found in phosphorus (P)-depleted heathlands in southwest France. The second year, we planted Ulex europaeus seedlings, a ubiquitous heathland species, under the cover of the two species to evaluate its ability to regenerate. Half of the seedlings were placed in tubes for exclusion of competitor roots. We measured the development of the competitors aboveground and belowground and their interception of resources (light, water, inorganic P). Ulex seedlings' growth and survival were also measured. Our results on resources interception were consistent with species distribution in heathlands. Molinia, which dominates rich heathlands, was the strongest competitor for light and water in the rich soil. Calluna, which dominates poor heathlands, increased its root allocation in the poor soil, decreasing water and inorganic P availability. However, the impact of total competition and root competition on Ulex seedlings decreased in the poor soil. Other mechanisms, especially decrease of water stress under neighbouring plant cover, appeared to have more influence on the seedlings' response. We found no formal contradiction between Tilman and Grime's theories. Root competition has a primary role in acquisition of soil resources in poor habitats. However, the importance of competition decreases with decreasing fertility.

  17. RELEVANT DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF COMPETITIVE CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS ON THE BASIS OF INNOVATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Yu. Levitskiy

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. The article substantiates the necessity for competitive innovative high-tech construction products at the present stage of modernisation of the construction industry and reveals some peculiarities of their manufacture.Methods. In the course of the research, a programme-targeted method was applied, underlying the development of a programme for the innovative development of construction production.Results. Relevant directions of innovative development of construction production are systematised. The world's application experience of a technical regulation parametric model for construction industry product manufacturing is generalised. In order to increase the level of innovative activity of construction organisations, a set of practical measures is proposed whose implementation will ensure the output of competitive building products to the market.Conclusion. Increasing the competitiveness of construction products is closely connected with the activation of innovative processes: the introduction of high technology (including resource-saving into production processes and the expansion of the output of innovative products with the best consumer properties capable of successfully competing on the market with foreign counterparts in the context of import substitution strategies. The modernisation of the construction industry on the basis of introduction of hightech production methods specifies new requirements to the professional competencies of personnel producing competitive building products. To solve the set problems, a tool for improving the management mechanism of the innovative activity of construction organisations was proposed, ensuring the integration of institutional and production conditions for the large-scale development of advanced technologies and production of science-intensive types of construction products. 

  18. Product Category Management Issues

    OpenAIRE

    Żukowska, Joanna

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of the paper is to present the issues related to category management. It includes the overview of category management definitions and the correct process of exercising it. Moreover, attention is paid to the advantages of brand management, the benefits the supplier and retailer may obtain in this way. The risk element related to this topics is also presented herein. Joanna Żukowska

  19. Enhancing Efficiency of Water Supply – Product Market Competition versus Trade

    OpenAIRE

    Reto Foellmi; Urs Meister

    2004-01-01

    This paper analyses and compares potential efficiency gains induced by the introduction of product market competition and cross boarder trade in the piped water market. We argue that due to the specific circumstances in the water sector product market competition, i.e. competition by common carriage is not expected to be very intensive. The connection of networks could alternatively be used for cross boarder trade between neighboured water utilities. We show that competition by common carriag...

  20. The relative labour productivity contribution of different age-skill categories for a developing economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerhardus van Zyl

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: The article dealt with the estimation, computation and interpretation of the relative productivity contributions of different age-skill categories. Research purpose: The aim of the article was to estimate and compute, (1 relative productivity contributions and (2 relative productivity contribution–employee remuneration cost levels for different age-skill categories. Motivation for the study: The research was deemed necessary given the current debate on relative productivity levels and possible changes to the retirement age in the South African labour market. No real research in this regard has been published regarding the South African labour market situation. Research design, approach and method: A less restrictive production function was used, allowing for the simultaneous estimation and final computation of relative labour contribution levels of different age-skill categories. Main findings: The lower-skilled segment produced significantly smaller productivity contributions and the relative productivity contribution–employee remuneration cost ratios of the 55 years and older age group were superior in the higher-skilled segment but, at the same time, the lowest in the lower-skilled segment. Practical/managerial implications: It is recommended that human resource practitioners (given the perceived rigidity of labour legislation implement and maintain structures that promote higher productivity levels for all age-skill categories in the workplace. Contribution/value-add: An estimation procedure, which can be applied to the measurement of the relative productivity contribution of different age-skill categories, has been established.

  1. The relative labour productivity contribution of different age-skill categories for a developing economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerhardus van Zyl

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: The article dealt with the estimation, computation and interpretation of the relative productivity contributions of different age-skill categories.Research purpose: The aim of the article was to estimate and compute, (1 relative productivity contributions and (2 relative productivity contribution–employee remuneration cost levels for different age-skill categories.Motivation for the study: The research was deemed necessary given the current debate on relative productivity levels and possible changes to the retirement age in the South African labour market. No real research in this regard has been published regarding the South African labour market situation.Research design, approach and method: A less restrictive production function was used, allowing for the simultaneous estimation and final computation of relative labour contribution levels of different age-skill categories.Main findings: The lower-skilled segment produced significantly smaller productivity contributions and the relative productivity contribution–employee remuneration cost ratios of the 55 years and older age group were superior in the higher-skilled segment but, at the same time, the lowest in the lower-skilled segment.Practical/managerial implications: It is recommended that human resource practitioners (given the perceived rigidity of labour legislation implement and maintain structures that promote higher productivity levels for all age-skill categories in the workplace.Contribution/value-add: An estimation procedure, which can be applied to the measurement of the relative productivity contribution of different age-skill categories, has been established.

  2. THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE AGRIFOOD SECTOR FROM THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA IN THE FIELD OF ALIMENTARY PRODUCTS OF PLANT AND ANIMAL ORIGIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena SCERBACOV

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Competitiveness is a category that expresses the economic, technical, scientific, production,managerial, organizational, marketing, etc. possibilities of an enterprise, branch, country's economy,which is focused on goods and services, both on the domestic markets and on external ones. This workaims to analyze the competitiveness of the agrifood sector of the Republic of Moldova through the prism oftrade with food products of vegetable and animal origin. In the investigation process there were usedmethods of analysis, synthesis and comparison, and the informational base constituted recent works fromthe field as well as statistical reports of the NBS. The obtained results show that the fruits and nuts,cereals, oilseeds and oleaginous fruits predominate in Moldovan export of food products of vegetableorigin. The reduction in the import of the food products of animal origin during the analyzed period isexplained by the fact that the livestock sector has suffered from droughts from the recent years and manyfarmers have had to sacrifice a part of cattle and poultry livestock.

  3. Hi-tech products marketing and competitive advantage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perović Jelena

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The company today, in causes turbulent environment and intensive integrations must cooperate, accept and develop high technology in order to achieve needs of customers. It's only way that companies replay on challenge global environment, decrease costs of investment per capita, decrease the risk, captivate new market and held competitive in causes of global market. High tech technology marketing function is help that results of new technology transfer on economy. Their function is reach need of customers, too. Positive influence of technology is the highest in area of production costs and productivity. Speed years are in front of our and it demands larger productivity, which primary source must be technology changes. High technology marketing is the most provocative framework for take competitive advantage, answer on global change and way of permanent reach rigorous need of customers.

  4. Overview and theory relating to the concepts of competitiveness, efficiency and productivity

    OpenAIRE

    Latruffe, Laure

    2017-01-01

    This is a brief overview and theory relating to the concepts of competitiveness, efficiency and productivity: concept of competitiveness, measurement of competitiveness, determinants of competitiveness.

  5. Provider category and quality of care in the Norwegian nursing home industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Astri Drange Hole

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines empirically if there is a link between quality of care in the Norwegian nursing home industry and exposure of the industry to competition. Exposing public care to competition implies that the responsibility for providing care services is shared between public authorities and private actors. In Norway, exposure to competition means tender competition. Suppliers bid for a contract issued by the Norwegian authorities for a limited number of years. Quality of care in an institution is the major competitive factor. The provider categories of elderly care are: 1 care provided by institutions run by municipalities, 2 care provided by institutions run by private companies, which have won a tender competition, 3 care provided by institutions run by private companies owned by private families, voluntary religious or idealistic organizations. Nurse-to-patient ratio is used as a proxy for quality of care. The regression analysis indicates a relationship between quality of care and exposure to competition. The quality of care in provider category 2 is significantly lower than in provider category 1, but there are more variations in the quality of care in provider category 1 than in provider category 2. We find the lowest quality of care in provider category 1. There is also a relationship between the quality of care in an institution and the educational level of the staff, the location, the workforce, and the size of an institution. Finally, there is a relationship between the quality of care in an institution and the real and the required capacity, and the financial status in a region.

  6. Questionnaire survey of customer satisfaction for product categories towards certification of ergonomic quality in design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mochimaru, Masaaki; Takahashi, Miwako; Hatakenaka, Nobuko; Horiuchi, Hitoshi

    2012-01-01

    Customer satisfaction was surveyed for 6 product categories (consumer electronics, daily commodities, home equipment, information systems, cars, and health appliances) by questionnaires based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Analyzing weight of evaluation factors, the 6 product categories were reorganized into 4 categories, those were related to 4 aspects in daily living that formed by two axes: home living - mobility life and healthy life - active communication. It was found that consumers were attracted by the actual user test by public institutes for all product categories. The certification based on the design process standard established by authorities, such as EQUID was the second best attractor for consumers.

  7. Product-Market Competition in the Water Industry: Voluntarily Nondiscriminatory Pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Föllmi, Reto; Meister, Urs

    2002-01-01

    This paper presents an attempt to create competition in the water market by means of direct competition. We argue that the usual liberalisation device, competition for the market by franchise bidding, is problematic due to the particular features of the water industry. Our approach proposes the implementation of product market competition, i.e. competition in the market. In such a situation several water utilities using a single set of pipes compete for customers in the same area. Since the w...

  8. Categorization and Willingness to Pay for New Products : The Role of Category Cues as Value Anchors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuijken, B.; Gemser, G.; Wijnberg, N.M.

    2017-01-01

    This study focuses on textual category cues and their influence on consumers' willingness to pay for new products. It examines whether an anchoring effect occurs when consumers are provided with textual category cues that refer consumers toward a particular product category. This article argues that

  9. Competitiveness of wood pulp production in different Brazilian states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naisy Silva Soares

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This work aimed to analyze the competitiveness of wood pulp production in different Brazilian states, in May, 2008 (Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Bahia, using the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM. The results obtained indicated that the private and social profitability of wood pulp production and commercialization was positive and greater in Bahia. The Brazilian companies were penalized by public policies adopted for the sector; the wood pulp production in São Paulo and Bahia were more competitive and less exposed to the negative effects of public policies that reduce the national company profits.

  10. THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SOYBEAN PRODUCTION IN BLITAR-EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moh. Azis Arisudi

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In East Java Province, the government still provides subsidy to soybean production in the form of soft credit to production inputs. Since the government budget and subsidy have been limited, efficiency in production, marketing and trade become crucial issues. The conducted research will try to achieve some research objectives as follows: Analyzing soybean farmer income in the Blitar District at the different cropping system; Obtaining analysis on comparative advantage and competitive-ness of soybean by different cropping system; analyzing influences of social price changes to farmers income due to public investment; and analyzing government policy impact on farmers income due to market/actual price development. The research uses Policy Analysis Matrix to obtain competitiveness rate, efficiency and impact of government policy on soybean production under multi-cropping system and different ecological zones in the Blitar district.

  11. Sustaining Competitiveness Through product Development Activities Within Malaysian Automotive Suppliers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norizah Mohamad

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The local automotive suppliers are facing a number of important challenges such asglobalisation, new requirement in market specifications and the competition brought about by theAsean Free Trade Area (AFTA agreements. In an effort to enhance the competitiveness of themanufacturing sector, the government has implemented the Second Industrial Master Plan, IMP2(1996-2005. The focus of the IMP2 is more on innovation and applications of new technologies, sothat industries can move up the value chain of their activities. Innovative capabilities achieved fromcompanies’ new product development activities have been recognized to be crucial for companies tosustain their competitiveness and organisational success. The importance of product development ismost obvious in the context of the discussion on the competitiveness of the Malaysian automotivesuppliers. The study will focus on the small medium enterprises (SMEs that make up more than 60 %of these automotive suppliers. The study is to determine the extensiveness of the suppliers’ productdevelopment activities by examining the involvement of the suppliers in customer’s productdevelopment activities. Consequently, the impact of this involvement to the competitiveness of thesuppliers is examined. The results were established based from a survey to parts and componentssuppliers of Proton, the Malaysian car national assembler. The study has shown that the SMEs wereinvolved from the early stages of the product development process that is during the design stage. Theproduct development efforts have shown to contribute towards increasing firms’ market share andfirms were also able to gain a better understanding of future product demand. A significant number ofthe suppliers have managed to penetrate the export market. Unfortunately, among the respondents,there is only one system supplier. This indicates that, either the technological capabilities of theSMEs still needed upgrading for the requirement as

  12. ECONOMIC ESSENCE OF COMPETITIVENESS OF AGRO-FOOD PRODUCTS AND ITS MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cornel COSER

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Approach of the competitiveness of food products can be found in many research studies in the field. They reveal the essence of agro-food competitiveness, while expressing management tools and method. At the level of agro-food competitiveness management, this article highlights also the possibility of influencing factors determining the defining characteristics of the respective competitiveness.

  13. Economic essence of competitiveness of agro-food products and its management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Coser Cornel

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Approach of the competitiveness of food products can be found in many research studies in the field. They reveal the essence of agro-food competitiveness, while expressing management tools and method. At the level of agro-food competitiveness management, this article highlights also the possibility of influencing factors determining the defining characteristics of the respective competitiveness.

  14. Market Entry, Product Quality And Price Competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathur Sameer

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available We study an entrant firm’s product quality choice and the price competition arising between the entrant and the incumbent firm. We show that the entrant firm should introduce a relatively higher (lower quality than the incumbent firm when the consumers’ valuation for quality is sufficiently large (small. We also study how the incumbent firm modifies its price in response to the ensuing price competition. We find that the incumbent firm should decrease its price. We also profile how the incumbent firm’s price non-linearly depends on consumers’ valuation for quality.

  15. Evaluation of turmeric-mung bean intercrop productivity through competition functions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamaed ISLAM

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available An intercropping experiment was conducted with varying combinations of turmeric and mung bean to find out the efficacy of productivity and economic return through competition functions. Treatments were evaluated on the basis of several competition functions, such as land equivalent ratio (LER, aggressiveness, competitive ratio (CR, monetary advantage index (MAI and system productivity index (SPI. Results showed that rhizome yields of turmeric were higher in intercropping system than in mono crop. It indicated that intercropping of mung bean did not affect the rhizome yield of turmeric. However, turmeric (100 % + 3 row mung bean (100 % in between turmeric lines intercropping system exhibited maximum yield of both the crops as well as turmeric equivalent yield, LER, competitive indices values, SPI and MAI (Tk. 2,44,734.46 ha-1 compared to the other intercropping combinations and the mono crops. Aggressiveness of intercrop indicated dominance of turmeric over mung bean in all the combinations except turmeric (100 % + 1 row mung bean (33 %. Competition functions of intercroping suggested beneficial association of turmeric and mung bean crops. The study revealed that mung bean could be introduced as intercrop with turmeric without hampering rhizome yield with higher benefit additionally increasing mung bean production area.

  16. Low risk of concussions in top-level karate competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arriaza, Rafael; Cierna, Dusana; Regueiro, Patricia; Inman, David; Roman, Franco; Abarca, Benjamin; Barrientos, Mercé; Saavedra, Miguel A

    2017-02-01

    Although it is well known that injuries occur in combat sports, the true incidence of concussions is not clearly defined in the literature for karate competition. To determine the incidence of concussions in top-level (World Karate Federation World Championships) karate competition. Injuries that took place in 4 consecutive World Karate Championships (from 2008 to 2014) were prospectively registered. A total of 4625 fights (2916 in the male category and 1709 in the female category) were scrutinised, and concussions were identified and analysed separately for frequency (rate per fight) and injury risk. A total of 4 concussions were diagnosed by the attending physicians after carrying out athlete examinations. Globally, there was 1 concussion in every 1156 fights, or 0.43/1000 athlete-exposures (AE). In male athletes, the rate of concussion was 1/5832 min of fighting, and in female athletes, it was 1/6836 min. OR for concussion in women is 0.57 (95% CI 0.06 to 5.47; z=0.489; p=0.6249) and risk ratio for concussions in men is RR 1.478 (95% CI 0.271 to 8.072), p=0.528, representing a higher risk of definite concussions in men than in women, but not statistically significant. There is not a significantly higher risk of concussions in team competition (no weight limit) when compared with individual competition (held with strict weight limits for each category). The risk of concussions in top-level karate competition is low, with a tendency for an increased risk for men and for competition without weight limits, but not statistically significant with respect to women or individual competition. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  17. Intra-industry momentum and product market competition around the world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting Li

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between product market competition and intra-industry momentum returns. Based on 12,982 firm observations from 19 developed markets for the period of 1990–2010, I find that buying winners and selling losers in competitive industries generates significantly higher momentum profits than that in concentrated industries. The higher the intensity of product market competition, the larger are the intra-industry momentum returns. The results are robust to sub-samples (periods of the U.S., non-U.S. countries, the G7 countries, 1990–2000, and 2001–2010. I further employ the nearness of a stock's price to the 52-week high to determine past winners and losers and find stronger results. I also compare intra-industry momentum returns with Jegadeesh and Titman (1993 individual stock momentum and Moskowitz and Grinblatt (1999 inter-industry momentum strategies. My results suggest that intra-industry momentum strategy outperforms the latter two strategies in most cases. The overall results are consistent with the notion that severe product market competition induces managers to improve financial performance.

  18. Pay attention to the enterprise competitive intelligence analysis research promotion enterprise scientific research production and product development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Yan

    2014-01-01

    This article covers the competitive intelligence content and five characteristics, and on the American Competitive intelligence Outstanding Company's place situation, shows fully the competitive intelligence constructs the core competitive power regarding the enterprise to have the significant function, Its contribution has already hold the pivotal status in the world famous enterprise. It is an important cornerstone for enterprises which construct the core competitive power. Along with the enterprise competition environment rapid change, the competitive intelligence importance suddenly to reveal day by day. Just like the world richest family Microsoft Corporation president Bill. Gates asserted that, How to collect, How to analysis, how to manage and how to use information, lt will decide the enterprise victory and loss. And unified the enterprise scientific research production the special details, take 'To develop the SF_6 New Product' to introduce as the example how did the enterprise competition intelligence, as well as how did the information development and using in it. (author)

  19. Essays on the Indian economy : Competitive pressure, productivity and performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sahoo, A.

    2008-01-01

    India undertook a drastic economic reform program in 1991, with the significant objectives of removing existing inefficiencies and enhancing global competitiveness. A competitive environment is a prerequisite condition for gaining higher productivity. The main desired role of economic liberalization

  20. Productivity of lexical categories in French-speaking children with cochlear implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Normand, M-T; Ouellet, C; Cohen, H

    2003-11-01

    The productivity of lexical categories was studied longitudinally in a sample of 17 young hearing-impaired French-speaking children with cochlear implants. Age of implantation ranged from 22 months to 76 months. Spontaneous speech samples were collected at six-month intervals over a period of 36 months, starting at the one-word stage. Four general measures of their linguistic production (number of utterances, verbal fluency, vocabulary, and grammatical production) as well as 36 specific lexical categories, according to the CHILDES codes, were computed in terms of tokens, i.e., total number of words. Cochlear-implanted children (CI) were compared to a French database of normally hearing children aged 2-4 compiled by the first author. Follow-up results indicate that, at the two-year post-implantation follow-up, noun, and verb morphology was significantly impaired. At the three-year follow-up, the cochlear-implanted group had recovered on adjectives, determiners and nouns, main verbs, and auxiliaries. The two groups differed significantly in processing locative adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs (infinitive verb, modal, and modal lexical), but individual variability within the cochlear-implanted group was substantial. Results are discussed in terms of recovery and developmental trends and variability in the acquisition of lexical categories by French children two years and three years post-implantation.

  1. Service Co-Production, Customer Efficiency and Market Competition

    OpenAIRE

    Mei Xue; Patrick T. Harker

    2003-01-01

    Customers’ participation in service co-production processes has been increasing with the rapid development of self-service technologies and business models that rely on self-service as the main service delivery channel. However, little is known about how the level of participation of customers in service delivery processes influences the competition among service providers. In this paper, a game-theoretic model is developed to study the competition among service providers when selfservice is ...

  2. Sustainability and cleaner production: a study on the implications competitive advantage in business

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaqueline Guimarães Santos

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the relationship between the adoption of environmental management system in the business and the competitive advantages that can result from this process. Therefore, the effects are discussed the emergence of a model of sustainable development and the role and opportunities of the company that perspective. Being theoretical, the aim of this paper is to discuss the potential contributions that the implementation of cleaner production technology can offer to the enterprise competitive strategy. To elucidate these relationships are discussed concepts relating to the introduction of an environmental management system, which emphasized the use of environmental measures, specifically the inherent Cleaner Production that aim to reduce the environmental impacts of industrial production, eliminating waste and reducing costs. Moreover, the concept of competitive advantage is crafted light of assumptions Porter on profitability from cost reduction and product differentiation. The findings indicate that the introduction of the Cleaner Production to reduce costs and add value to the image of the product, is an instrument of competitiveness that allows the company to differentiate and gain competitive advantage.

  3. Property of Fluctuations of Sales Quantities by Product Category in Convenience Stores.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaku Fukunaga

    Full Text Available The ability to ascertain the extent of product sale fluctuations for each store and locality is indispensable to inventory management. This study analyzed POS data from 158 convenience stores in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan and found a power scaling law between the mean and standard deviation of product sales quantities for several product categories. For the statistical domains of low sales quantities, the power index was 1/2; for large sales quantities, the power index was 1, so called Taylor's law holds. The value of sales quantities with changing power indixes differed according to product category. We derived a Poissonian compound distribution model taking into account fluctuations in customer numbers to show that the scaling law could be explained theoretically for most of items. We also examined why the scaling law did not hold in some exceptional cases.

  4. Property of Fluctuations of Sales Quantities by Product Category in Convenience Stores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukunaga, Gaku; Takayasu, Hideki; Takayasu, Misako

    2016-01-01

    The ability to ascertain the extent of product sale fluctuations for each store and locality is indispensable to inventory management. This study analyzed POS data from 158 convenience stores in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan and found a power scaling law between the mean and standard deviation of product sales quantities for several product categories. For the statistical domains of low sales quantities, the power index was 1/2; for large sales quantities, the power index was 1, so called Taylor's law holds. The value of sales quantities with changing power indixes differed according to product category. We derived a Poissonian compound distribution model taking into account fluctuations in customer numbers to show that the scaling law could be explained theoretically for most of items. We also examined why the scaling law did not hold in some exceptional cases.

  5. Pricing Strategy and the Formation and Evolution of Reference Price Perceptions in New Product Categories

    OpenAIRE

    Lowe, Ben; Alpert, Frank

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the formation and evolution of reference price perceptions in new product categories. It contributes to our understanding of pricing new products by integrating two important research streams in marketing-reference price theory and the theory of pioneer brand advantage. Prior research has focused solely on products in existing or incrementally new categories, and has typically examined fast-moving consumer goods. Using a cross-sectional experiment to study the formation of...

  6. Export competitiveness of dairy products on global markets: the case of the European Union countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bojnec, Š; Fertő, I

    2014-10-01

    This paper analyzed the export competitiveness of dairy products of the European Union (EU) countries (EU-27) on intra-EU, extra-EU, and global markets, using the revealed comparative advantage index over the 2000-2011 period. The results indicated that about half of the EU-27 countries have had competitive exports in a certain segment of dairy products. The results differed by level of milk processing and for intra-EU and extra-EU markets, and did so over the analyzed years. Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands are old EU-15 countries with competitive dairy exports (from the lowest to the highest according to the level of milk processing). The majority of the new EU-12 countries have faced difficulties in maintaining their level of export competitiveness, at least for some dairy products and market segments. The more competitive EU-12 countries in dairy exports were the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and Poland. The duration of export competitiveness differed across the dairy groups of products according to the level of milk processing, indicating the importance of dairy chain product differentiation for export competitiveness and specialization. The export competitiveness of the higher level of processed milk products for final consumption can be significant for export dairy chain competitiveness on global markets. Copyright © 2014 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Product reformulation and nutritional improvements after new competitive food standards in schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahn, Jaquelyn L; Cohen, Juliana Fw; Gorski-Findling, Mary T; Hoffman, Jessica A; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B

    2018-04-01

    In 2012, Massachusetts enacted school competitive food and beverage standards similar to national Smart Snacks. These standards aim to improve the nutritional quality of competitive snacks. It was previously demonstrated that a majority of foods and beverages were compliant with the standards, but it was unknown whether food manufacturers reformulated products in response to the standards. The present study assessed whether products were reformulated after standards were implemented; the availability of reformulated products outside schools; and whether compliance with the standards improved the nutrient composition of competitive snacks. An observational cohort study documenting all competitive snacks sold before (2012) and after (2013 and 2014) the standards were implemented. The sample included thirty-six school districts with both a middle and high school. After 2012, energy, saturated fat, Na and sugar decreased and fibre increased among all competitive foods. By 2013, 8 % of foods were reformulated, as were an additional 9 % by 2014. Nearly 15 % of reformulated foods were look-alike products that could not be purchased at supermarkets. Energy and Na in beverages decreased after 2012, in part facilitated by smaller package sizes. Massachusetts' law was effective in improving the nutritional content of snacks and product reformulation helped schools adhere to the law. This suggests fully implementing Smart Snacks standards may similarly improve the foods available in schools nationally. However, only some healthier reformulated foods were available outside schools.

  8. Crossed products of C(X)-algebras by endomorphisms and C(X)-categories

    OpenAIRE

    Vasselli, Ezio

    2001-01-01

    We construct the crossed product of a C(X)-algebra by an endomorphism, in such a way that it becomes induced by a Hilbert C(X)-bimodule. Furthermore we introduce the notion of C(X)-category, and discuss relationships with crossed products and duality for compact groups.

  9. Evaluation on Core Competitiveness of Wholesale Market of Agricultural Products Based on CWAA Operator

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    According to relevant data,we select five indices,namely management ability,organization and management capability,enterprise culture,development ability and technical equipment ability,to establish the index system of core competitiveness of wholesale market of agricultural products.Based on combination weight arithmetic average(CWAA) operator,we advance an evaluation model of core competitiveness of wholesale market of agricultural products which involves participation of many people.By inviting five exerts,we conduct evaluation in terms of management ability of wholesale market of agricultural products,organization and management capability of leadership,enterprise culture of wholesale market of agricultural products,future development ability of wholesale market of agricultural products,and exiting technical equipment ability of wholesale market of agricultural products.We adopt hundred-mark system to grade and evaluate core competitiveness of wholesale market of agricultural products.The results show that the experts’ evaluation score of core competitiveness of wholesale market of agricultural products is high.The evaluation result is reasonable and authentic and this model is feasible.

  10. Organizational Structure and Product Market Competition

    OpenAIRE

    Jung Hur; Yohanes E. Riyanto

    2007-01-01

    We analyze an interaction between a firm’s choice of organizational structure and competition in the product-market. Two organizational structures are considered, namely a centralized-organization, whereby formal authority is retained by a principal, and a decentralized-organization, whereby formal authority is delegated to an agent. We show that the choice of organizational structure hinges on a trade-off between operating-profit and managerial effort. The principal may prefer to choose an o...

  11. Rising from the ashes : How brands and categories can overcome product-harm crises

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cleeren, K.; van Heerde, H.J.; Dekimpe, M.G.

    2013-01-01

    Product-harm crises are omnipresent in today's marketplace. Such crises can cause major revenue and market-share losses, lead to costly product recalls, and destroy carefully nurtured brand equity. Moreover, some of these effects may spill over to nonaffected competitors in the category when they

  12. Spatial Competition with Entry Deterrence considering Horizontal Product Differentiations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ai-nong Zhou

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Spatial competition plays important roles in economics, which attracts extensive research. This paper addresses spatial competitions along with horizontal product differentiations and entry deterrence. By the dynamic game theory model about one firm and a potential entrant with different cost in a linear city, this paper finds that both the higher fixed setup cost and the higher transportation cost deter entrants. To efficiently deter the entrants, the establisher is inclined to locating at the middle point of the linear city.

  13. 77 FR 64999 - Guidance for Industry: Necessity of the Use of Food Product Categories in Food Facility...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-24

    ...] Guidance for Industry: Necessity of the Use of Food Product Categories in Food Facility Registrations and... industry entitled ``Necessity of the Use of Food Product Categories in Food Facility Registrations and... made available a draft guidance entitled ``Guidance for Industry: Necessity of the Use of Food [[Page...

  14. A prospective study of injuries sustained during competitive Muay Thai kickboxing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gartland, Sam; Malik, Mohammad Hammad; Lovell, Martyn

    2005-01-01

    To investigate prospectively the type and rate of injuries sustained during amateur Muay Thai competition. Prospective cohort study collection of data following clinical examination. Amateur Muay Thai competitions in the United Kingdom organized by the International Amateur Muay Thai Federation. Amateur Muay Thai boxers. Both sexes. Lightweight to super heavyweight. There were 92 participants, 12 females and 82 males. The average age was 17.3 years, and the average previous number of bouts was 3.9. A total of 588.5 minutes of competition time was assessed during a total of 10 events. Injury rates were 1.3 injuries per 100 minutes of competition in the lightweight category, 2.25 per 100 minutes of competition in the middleweight category, 30 per 100 minutes of competition in the heavyweight category, and 2.54 per 100 minutes of competition in the super heavyweight category. Compared with other reported martial arts, the injury rates are higher in Muay Thai. The head was shown to be the most common site of injury in amateur fighters, but there was an almost complete absence of lower limb injuries, which again is at variance with reported figures for other martial arts.

  15. Competition, Ownership and Productivity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baghdasaryan, Delia; la Cour, Lisbeth

    2013-01-01

    Theoretical results support two concurrent views regarding the mediating role that ownership structure might play on the effect of competition on firm performance. According to one stream of literature, competition has a high, positive impact in companies that have an effective ownership structur...

  16. THE PATTERN OF IPPON APPEARANCE IN MAJOR JUDO COMPETITIONS IN THE PERIOD 2008 - 2009

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosu Daniel

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available AbstractPurpose: Determining the trends manifested in the current competition judo, in relation to the incidence of the Ippon.Methods: 26 major judo competitions during 2008-2009 are analysed in terms of the incidence of Ippon, based on gender, age, weight category and the importance of competition.Results: Ippon appears, on average, at 55.52% of the meetings of males and 51.95% of the meetings of the females. Independent Samples T-test shows that these averages are significantly different at p = 0.033.In men's competitions Ippon represents an increasing share to the extent that increases the weightcategory: 52.34% in light categories, 57.15% in medium categories, 59.98% in heavy categories. One Way Anova shows that these differences are significant at p = 0.002. The lowest frequency of Ippon occurs in light female categories: 48.90%. The Independent Samples T-test shows that between this value and the frequency of53.91% corresponding to the occurrence of Ippon in the middle categories, there are also statistically significantdifferences at p = 0.025.Conclusions: in Judo competitions Ippon occurs following a normal statistical law, yet, some variables such as sex and the weight category can significantly influence the frequency of its occurrence. The age and the importance of the competition do not significantly influence the frequency of Ippon in the competition.

  17. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klimova A. V.

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available One of the most important conditions of the existence of every organization, every enterprise is to insure the long-term sustainable development, one of the conditions of which is the increase of an organizational competitiveness. In modern economic conditions, social aspects of competitiveness are now in the foreground of interest, because just the strategy of social responsibility (SSR of modern enterprises can assure some commercial benefits, in responding, at the same time, to the social demands and in creating its well-being. Such an approach is in the basis of the notion of competitiveness. Along with «rigid parameters», such as price characteristics, the capability to deal with competitors, effective financial and production policies, «flexible factors» of competitiveness are of a big importance: a personnel potential, individual and collective competencies, organizational and managerial capabilities. As a result, we have formulated a research hypothesis: the organizational competitiveness is defined by individual and collective competencies of an organization, is based on socially responsible actions, confirms the demand for the object and insures its sustainable long-term development. Any organization should base all its actions aimed to increase its competitiveness on its intellectual potential, or on the management of individual and collective competencies that assure the sustainable development and the goal achievement. For every organizational strategic action, an effective combination of these competencies exists. So, we suggest a new definition of competitiveness: it is a social and economic category of understanding of the social responsibility, having as a central element individual and collective competencies, based on socially responsible actions of an enterprise, insuring its long-term sustainable development.

  18. Competitive Reactions to Advertising and Promotion Attacks

    OpenAIRE

    Jan-Benedict E. M. Steenkamp; Vincent R. Nijs; Dominique M. Hanssens; Marnik G. Dekimpe

    2005-01-01

    How do competitors react to each other's price-promotion and advertising attacks? What are the reasons for the observed reaction behavior? We answer these questions by performing a large-scale empirical study on the short-run and long-run reactions to promotion and advertising shocks in over 400 consumer product categories over a four-year time span. Our results clearly show that the most predominant form of competitive response is passive in nature. When a reaction does occur, it is usually ...

  19. Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL Students’ Lexical Tonal Development: An Investigation of Tonal Production and Awareness of Tonal Categories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Jin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on an empirical study examining the relationship between beginning-level CFL students’ tonal production and their awareness of lexical tonal categories. Additionally, it investigated CFL learners’ views about the relationship. A mixed method approach was adopted to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data from 23 beginning-level English-speaking adult CFL learners. The quantitative results show that the participants’ accuracy of lexical tonal production was statistically significantly correlated to their awareness of tonal categories and their tonal production was statistically more accurate than their awareness of tonal categories. The qualitative findings show that the participants didn’t rely on their awareness of tonal categories when conducting the production task. However, the participants stressed the importance of awareness of tonal categories in their tonal production, particularly when producing unfamiliar characters. Based on the discovered unique relationship, pedagogical suggestions for beginning-level CFL tonal development are offered.

  20. The effect of animated images on persuasion: The mediator role of hedonic responses and the moderator role of product category

    OpenAIRE

    Hussant-Zebian, Rola

    2004-01-01

    This paper aims to highlight the mediator role of hedonic responses in the relation between animated images and attitudinal responses. It has another objective which is to show off the moderator role of product category. To this purpose, we have manipulated two categories of advertising opposing computer animated to non-computer animated images. We have also seetwo product categories : a high involvement product and a low involvement one.

  1. Competition in the household heat product markets in Finland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linden, Mikael; Peltola-Ojala, Paeivi

    2005-01-01

    In the article the market of household heat products is defined independently. The market consists mainly of electricity, district heating, light fuel oil, and wood. Geographically household heat product markets are limited to the area which is covered by the local district heating network. We test indirectly whether this market definition is valid, i.e. do different household heat products act as substitutes to each other. However, the substitution may quite often be limited since the local district heat supplier is the only supplier on the area and also electricity companies have high market shares in the area they are located. The amount of competitors even in these enlarged markets is low. Also the local district heating network gives a technological potential to non-competitive product specific pricing. Thus, a relevant case exists where the district heating company can determine the price of its product without constraints from other firms and heat products. We test empirically whether the local prices of district heating are affected by the local heat product market shares of district heating companies. We use panel data which consists of 75 district heating companies in years 1996 - 2002. The data includes market share, joint production, district heating tariffs, production scale, and raw material input cost variables. The results obtained from different estimations indicate clearly that competitive case is not the prevailing one in the Finnish district heating pricing. The market shares of district heating companies had a positive effect on the district heating prices. The result also does not support the hypothesis that different household heat products belong to same heat product markets. (Author)

  2. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MINIMUM ASSORTMENT OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL ORGANIZATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. F. Samoshchenkova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The main principle of the category management is the management of product category as a separate business unit. Category management directs the activities of the pharmaceutical organization to meet the consumer requirements and to provide customers with maximum benefits, which are expressed in the improved assortment,the attractive prices, the reduction of cases of lack of necessary goods, the simplifiedpurchase process. In article the structure of the category management and its role inthe minimum pharmaceutical assortment, a complex of the theoretical and practical issues affecting interrelation of the list of vital and essential medicines and the minimum range of medicines are considered. A number of the new elements supplementing the concept of category management is offered, and the corresponding generalizations are made. The objective of the research is to study the influence of category management on the structure in management of the minimum assortment of medicines of the pharmaceutical organization. Materials and methods. In the course of the solution of the set tasks, the methods of marketing and economic-mathematical analysis were used. Results and discussion. In the analysis of the assortment list of medicines for medical application, which is obligatory for the pharmaceutical enterprises of all forms of ownership, it was revealed that this assortment list is based on the List of Vital Essential and Necessary (VEN Drugs. The results of the analysis of the obligatory assortment list from the position of internal category management showed that 77.45% are medicines of the list of VEN Drugs; 46.08% are medicines of non-prescription dispensing. Proceeding from this it follows that the worthy, profitable price policy can be conducted only with 22.55% of the list; to develop standards of merchandising with 46.05%. The category management gives an opportunity to the pharmaceutical organization to specify its competitive strategy and to

  3. Competition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bridoux, F.; Vodosek, M.; Den Hartog, D.N.; McNett, J.M.

    2014-01-01

    Competition traditionally refers to the actions that firms take in a product market to outperform rivals in attracting customers and generating revenues. Yet, competition extends beyond product markets to other arenas such as factor markets, where firms compete for resources, and the political

  4. COMPETITIVENESS OF NIGERIAN RICE AND MAIZE PRODUCTION ECOLOGIES: A POLICY ANALYSIS APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Olusegun Okoruwa

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The Nigerian rice and maize sectors are faced with decreasing supply and increasing demand as rice and maize have taken a strategic place of other staples leading to excessive importation and increasing government intervention. This study therefore assesses the competitiveness of Nigerian rice and maize production ecologies using the policy analysis matrix (PAM on a sample of 122 farmers. Results of the PAM revealed that outputs from the production ecologies are taxed. This is further confirmed by the Effective protection coefficient (EPC and Subsidy ratio to producers (SRP values, however, the production ecologies are subsidized on the use of tradable inputs. The production ecologies show a strong competitiveness at the farm level (under irrigated rice, upland rice and upland maize and a strong comparative advantage. Sensitivity analysis indicated that a 50 percent increase in output and a 13.3 percent depreciation of the domestic currency will increase competitiveness and comparative advantage of rice and maize production in all ecologies. The study recommends that government should ensure a level of policy stability in the rice and maize sectors, assist farmers with irrigated water scheme to ensure constant water supply, and increase the level of output through provision of improved seed varieties.

  5. Product market competition and investments in cooperative R&D

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hinloopen, J.; Vandekerckhove, J.

    2011-01-01

    Building on the framework developed by Qiu (1997) we investigate the influence of product market competition on incentives to invest in cooperative R&D. For that we disentangle the three components that make up the combined-profits externality. The strategic component is always negative and the size

  6. The analysis of indiference and the price elasticity of demand between different categories of agricultural products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vukadinović Predrag

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the analysis of the price elasticity of demand of four different categories of agricultural products in the Republic of Serbia was described. Differentiating the price and demand of these products by sales points, and using the least squares approximation method, the elasticity for all different agricultural categories was expressed in the functional form. According to this, the coefficients of elasticity of the price and demand were computed and between different agricultural categories were analyzed. The results we obtained show that the market of agricultural products in Serbia is mostly inelastic because the coefficients of inelasticity and indifference of demand to change of prices, are dominant. The influence of factors on the elasticity of demand that are not of price character, proved to be very pronounced. The relationship of the two segments of agricultural market (markets and shops was also analysed and it was demonstrated that these two segments have a slight correlation.

  7. COMPETITIVENESS OF METAL PRODUCTION OF RUP ‘BMZ» ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY MARKETS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. V. Kuzmich

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available It is shown that the received integral indices of competitiveness testify to the fact that production is on the high level of competitiveness on world markets of sales and is approximately on one position with the best goods-analogues.

  8. The impact of packaging on product competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Masoumi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The primary objective of this paper is to detect important factors, which are influencing competitive advantage. The proposed model of this paper uses sampling technique to measure characteristics of society. There are eight independent variables for the proposed study of this paper including packaging endurance, easy distribution, customer promotion through packaging, packaging structure, packaging as silent advertiser, diversity of packaging, clean and healthy packaging and innovation in packaging. The proposed study uses structural equation modeling to either accept or reject all hypotheses associated with the proposed study of this paper. The population of this study includes all managers and experts who are involved in packaging products. We used simple sampling technique and chooses 300 from a population of 450 people who are considered as the population of this survey. Cronbach alpha was determined as 0.732, which is above the minimum acceptable level. The results confirm that all mentioned factors influence competitiveness, effectively.

  9. Mathematical analysis of the impact mechanism of information platform on agro-product supply chain and agro-product competitiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Qi-Jie

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available How to optimize agro-product supply chain to promote its operating efficiency so as to enhance the competitiveness of regional agricultural products has posed a problem to academic circles, business circles and governments of various levels. One way to solve this problem is to introduce an information platform into the supply chain, which this essay focuses on. Firstly, a review of existing research findings concerning the agro-product competitiveness, agro-product supply chain (ASC and information platform was given. Secondly, we constructed a mathematical model to analyze the impact of information platform on the bullwhip effect in ASC. Thirdly, another mathematical model was constructed to help compare and analyze the impact of information platform on information acquisition of members in ASC. The research results show that the implantation of information platform can mitigate the bullwhip effect in ASC, and members can determine order amount or production more close to the actual market demand. And also the information platform can reduce the time for members in ASC to get information from other members. Besides, information platform can help ASC to alleviate information asymmetry among upstream and downstream members. Furthermore, researches about the operating mechanism and pattern, technical feature and running structure of the information platform, along with their impacts on agro-product supply chain and the competitiveness of agricultural products need to be advanced.

  10. Mathematical analysis of the impact mechanism of information platform on agro-product supply chain and agro-product competitiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Qi-Jie; Jin, Mao-Zhu; Ren, Pei-Yu

    2017-04-01

    How to optimize agro-product supply chain to promote its operating efficiency so as to enhance the competitiveness of regional agricultural products has posed a problem to academic circles, business circles and governments of various levels. One way to solve this problem is to introduce an information platform into the supply chain, which this essay focuses on. Firstly, a review of existing research findings concerning the agro-product competitiveness, agro-product supply chain (ASC) and information platform was given. Secondly, we constructed a mathematical model to analyze the impact of information platform on the bullwhip effect in ASC. Thirdly, another mathematical model was constructed to help compare and analyze the impact of information platform on information acquisition of members in ASC. The research results show that the implantation of information platform can mitigate the bullwhip effect in ASC, and members can determine order amount or production more close to the actual market demand. And also the information platform can reduce the time for members in ASC to get information from other members. Besides, information platform can help ASC to alleviate information asymmetry among upstream and downstream members. Furthermore, researches about the operating mechanism and pattern, technical feature and running structure of the information platform, along with their impacts on agro-product supply chain and the competitiveness of agricultural products need to be advanced.

  11. 78 FR 44982 - Public Inquiry on Competitive Products Fund

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-25

    ... administrative steps. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, at 202-789-6820... Commission found that beginning in October 2012, the National Trial Balance showed a zero balance for Account... zero balance likely resulted from a transfer of the balance in the Competitive Products Fund to the...

  12. ASPECTS REGARDING WINE PRODUCTION AND WINE SECTOR COMPETITIVENESS IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raluca Georgiana LADARU

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper aimed to make some assumptions regarding wine sector competitiveness in Romania. Vineyards have an important share in Romanian agriculture, Romania being ranked on 11th position in the world and on 5th position in the European Union in terms of vineyards surface, while the wine industry is an important contributor to the GDP. The research method was based on analyze of wine sector evolution in the last years. The paper presents current global context of wine market at international level and focus on Romanian wine production sector and wine trade, seen in the light of competitiveness. The competitiveness of Romanian wine sector need to be related with measures that are able to increase the attractiveness of Romanian wines, both on domestic and external markets.

  13. Technical inefficiency and competitiveness in production: the case of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study examined technical inefficiency and competitiveness among rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. Data for the analysis came from a random sample survey of the area of study. A Single-stage (Cobb-Douglas based stochastic frontier production function was used in analyzing the data. Evidence from the analysis ...

  14. Processed Apple Product Marketing Analysis: Hard Cider and Apple Wine

    OpenAIRE

    Rowles, Kristin

    2000-01-01

    Hard cider and apple wine offer new value-added marketing opportunities to the apple industry. Both products are situated in rapidly growing categories of the beverage industry. The development of effective marketing strategies for these products requires an understanding of the forces driving competition in these markets. This paper provides background information to support competitive analysis and strategy development. Development of these markets will be positive for the apple industry, b...

  15. Impact of competition on nuclear production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slade, G.B.

    1993-01-01

    The Comprehensive National Energy Policy Act of 1992 made access to utility transmission systems by Independent other utilities, and wholesale generators easier and cheaper. Further, the law requires that transmission rates be set to allow recovery of only legitimate and verifiable costs. According to Douglas Smith in the January 1993 issue of Power Engineering, non-utility generators of electricity increased installed capacity by 16% from 1989 to 1990. During that same period, regulated utilities added only 1% of new capacity. By 1993 non-utility generation is expected to supply 62,000 Megawatts of U.S. electric power. It is likely that with the transmission barrier to entry decreased, the non-utility generators will continue to expand even faster. Recent rulings by several public service commissions have put utilities on-notice that future additions to capacity will have to be demonstrated to be the most cost-effective method to serve customers' needs. In the nuclear production part of the business, the author has already started to see some impact from this increased competition: Trojan, Yankee Rowe, San Onofre-1, and Rancho Seco, have either shut down or have announced their imminent shutdown as a result of economic concerns. The paper presents ten years of operating and maintenance costs taken from Utility Data Institute reports of data reported to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by the utilities who operate the nuclear and fossil production facilities in the United States. It is apparent that the non-fuel costs for nuclear plants have increased substantially. This paper examines the impacts of these cost increases on the ability of nuclear plants to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace

  16. FACTORS INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF MILK PRODUCTION IN THE KRASNODAR REGION

    OpenAIRE

    Kremyanskaya E. V.

    2016-01-01

    The study justifies the need for improving the competitiveness of milk production in the commodity market, identifies the key indicators of improving the competitiveness of milk, which include the quality and level of costs. A direct dependence of the efficiency of realization of milk and incentives of operators of machine milking (milkers) on the quality of the raw milk produced is defined by means of the method of statistical groupings. A correlation and regression analysis of the quality o...

  17. Distinct Patterns of Brain Activity Characterise Lexical Activation and Competition in Spoken Word Production

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Piai, V.; Roelofs, A.P.A.; Jensen, O.; Schoffelen, J.M.; Bonnefond, M.

    2014-01-01

    According to a prominent theory of language production, concepts activate multiple associated words in memory, which enter into competition for selection. However, only a few electrophysiological studies have identified brain responses reflecting competition. Here, we report a magnetoencephalography

  18. INNOVATION POTENTIAL AS A DETERMINING FACTOR IN THE GROWTH OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES BUILDING PRODUCTS

    OpenAIRE

    T. U. Levitsky; A. M. Esetova

    2014-01-01

    It is stipulated that the construction company, chosen the strategy of economic growth, should have some competitive advantages, determining opportunities for sustainable development and effective improving, and operational efficiency increase. One of the factors of the competitiveness increase of construction products is the innovative potential of construction industry. Methodical approaches to the evaluation of innovative capacity and its effect on the growth of competitive advantages have...

  19. The Effects of Brand Loyalty on Competitive Price Promotional Strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Jagmohan S. Raju; V. Srinivasan; Rajiv Lal

    1990-01-01

    This paper analyzes the role played by brand loyalty in determining optimal price promotional strategies used by firms in a competitive setting. (Loyalty is operationalized as the minimum price differential needed before consumers who prefer one brand switch to another brand.) Our objective is to examine how loyalties toward the competing brands influence whether or not firms would use price promotions in a product category. We also examine how loyalty differences lead to variations in the de...

  20. Corporate competitiveness and sustainability risks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Udo Braendle

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims at providing a theoretical analysis of the existing research on corporate competition and sustainability risks that occur when companies aspire to reach maximum competitive advantages and gain competitive benefits compared to their rivals. Competitiveness has been described as a multidimensional, theoretical and relative concept linked with the market mechanism. The concept of competitiveness may refer to different levels of aggregation: national, regional, industrial and individual companies. This paper contributes to the theoretical research on corporate competitiveness by the analysis of old and new definitions of this category. It also notes that the sustainability risks connected to competition can be divided into several groups where the authors highlight environmental, legal, financial risks, behaviour risks and state-related risks as the most crucial ones. For companies to be fit for the competitive challenge, the paper identifies main characteristics of such risks and gives policy guidance for their avoidance

  1. Greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland: A grounded look at sector competitiveness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mann, S.; Breukers, A.; Schweiger, J.; Mack, G.

    2011-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory that is sufficiently adapted to sector competitiveness. The case of greenhouse vegetable production in The Netherlands and Switzerland is used to explain differences in sector competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews

  2. Herbivory and competition slow down invasion of a tall grass along a productivity gradient

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuijper, DPJ; Nijhoff, DJ; Bakker, JP

    2004-01-01

    Competition models including competition for light predict that small plant species preferred by herbivores will be outshaded by taller unpreferred plant species with increasing productivity. When the tall plant species is little grazed by the herbivores, it can easily invade and dominate short

  3. COMPETITIVENESS IN THE SPHERE OF INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Yu. Reshetov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The theme of this article is relevant because in any economic doctrine of competition is seen as a driving force of the market. The ability of business entities, including entities of innovative entrepreneurship to compete for the market (consumers is a key factor in the development of this segment and the main factor stimulating the transition of the national economy to innovation-oriented development.The purpose: The aim of the article is in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the positions of Russian and foreign scientists-economists on the question of the essence of the concepts of «competition» and «competitiveness».Methods. Methodological basis of this paper are generalization of literary sources and comparative analysis methods. Results. Comprehensively analyzed the positions of leading scientists and economists in relation to the concepts of «competition and competitiveness», including and in such an important sector as innovative entrepreneurship. The identifi ed similarities, diff erences and their features.Conclusions / significance. Identifi ed and completed a substantial part of the economic category «competitiveness of innovative entrepreneurship». According to the authors, the competitiveness of innovative entrepreneurship should be considered as the ability of the subjects of this segment to compete in a superior degree with the manufacturers (sellers of a similar product (goods, works, services with the best (unique characteristics through effi cient and optimal use of knowledge and other resources to support the activities to maximize the economic benefi ts, not available to competitors of, or adjacent segment.

  4. GLOBAL COMPETITION AND ROMANIA’S NATIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pop Nicolae Alexandru

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Analyzing products and services around us it is clear that most of them are the result of production factors, labor and capital becoming more international and increasingly less and less national. We are witnessing the globalization of markets and production, to a large global integration and interdependence, increase personalization of production and services as a result of new communication systems interaction and flexible production processes. Markets will continue to homogenize and diversify at the same time, so it is important that as a global marketer one addresses a market segment defined by income, age, and consumption habits and not by membership of a nation. The most visible and polarized is the premium segment fighting for high income clients where brand value plays an important role. Instead identification of large segments of customers offers the advantages of scale economy in production and marketing for global enterprises. Consumer profile is the dominant global consumer requesting and accepting global products and services easily. In fact, what can force an economic alignment to achieve the best performance, rather than the global consumer. The research methodology used includes literature review, comparative analysis, synthesis of data based on bibliographic resources and official documents.The aim of the paper is to highlight current models that underlie the competitive advantage of nations and assess the competitive advantage of Romania in the context of the global market. A case study is used to offer an overview of competitive advantage of Antibiotice Iasi SA, a competitive player, in a global pharmaceutical market with strong global competition. Countries moderate companies’ achievements of global efficiency objectives due to the countries’ rivalry. Romania has to understand that it is in competition with other countries in order to fulfill economic, political and social objectives. The scope in the end is the well

  5. COMPETITIVENESS OF THE PRODUCTS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE STRUCTURE OF EXPORTS - THE CASE OF ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TRIPA Simona

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyse the evolution of the competitive advantages of the main products exported by Romania in the 2000-2014 period and the connection between this evolution and the current structure of Romanian exports. In the first part we calculated the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA of Balassa, index for main groups of products exported by Romania the period 1990 to 2014 and we analysed the competitive advantage evolution. In the second part we presented the evolution of the structure of Romanian exports in 2010-2014 and we noticed that the recorded changes in structure of Romanian exports is in close correlation with the changing competitiveness of products exported by Romania. In this sense one of the most significant examples is given by the evolution recorded in exports of machinery and transport equipment that not only was raised every year but the sector succeeded and currently holds a competitive advantage in the market of these products - a market where it is knows is stiff competition. Although garment exports have recorded during the analyzed period the largest decrease, the advantages of the Romanian garment industry - labor force highly qualified endowing companies with machinery efficient, product quality achieved, flexibility and quick response to orders but also geographical position the country - still cause this sector recording still comparative advantages though its values are declining during the whole period analyzed.

  6. 40 CFR Table 1 to Subpart C - VOC Content Limits by Product Category

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... (weight-percent VOC) Air fresheners: Single-phase 70 Double-phase 30 Liquids/pump sprays 18 Solids/gels 3... 40 Protection of Environment 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false VOC Content Limits by Product Category 1 Table 1 to Subpart C Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR...

  7. INNOVATION POTENTIAL AS A DETERMINING FACTOR IN THE GROWTH OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES BUILDING PRODUCTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. U. Levitsky

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available It is stipulated that the construction company, chosen the strategy of economic growth, should have some competitive advantages, determining opportunities for sustainable development and effective improving, and operational efficiency increase. One of the factors of the competitiveness increase of construction products is the innovative potential of construction industry. Methodical approaches to the evaluation of innovative capacity and its effect on the growth of competitive advantages have been proposed. 

  8. Brand competition in consumer packaged goods : Sustaining large market advantages with little product differentiation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bronnenberg, B.J.

    2008-01-01

    In direct competition between national brands of consumer packaged goods (CPG), one brand often has a large local share advantage over the other despite the similarity of the branded products. I present an explanation for these large and persistent advantages in the context of local competition on

  9. Can Competition Keep the Restrooms Clean? Price, Quality and Spatial Competition

    OpenAIRE

    Pennerstorfer, Dieter

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates the influence of competition on price and product quality among Austrian camping sites, a market characterized by both horizontal (spatial) and vertical product differentiation. Theoretically, the effect of competition on quality is ambiguous and depends on the degree of cost substitutability between output and quality. Estimating a system of equations shows that intense competition has a positive impact on product quality and a negative effect on prices (conditional...

  10. COMPETITIVENESS OF CROATIAN PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF WHEAT ON THE EU MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davor Balaž

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Analysis of competitiveness is a demanding process that includes data collection and comparison on the macro and micro economic basis. For the purposes of this study, an analysis the available data on the production and processing of wheat in the Republic of Croatia and the European Union (desk research, 5 Region of eastern Croatian (130 samples of producers, and processors of wheat 18 samples was conducted. Based on the collected data, an analysis of the samples structure was conducted according to different variables in accordance with the performed descriptive statistical analysis for ordinal variables and quantitative (the metering and interval. The data analysis resulted in calculations using the cost competitiveness of domestic resources (DRC, and making analytical matrix (PAM. The calculation of separated coefficient (DRC has not confirmed the competitiveness of Croatian wheat production for the reference year. Possible necessary adjustments to business standards, foreign trade, foreign trade protection and domestic support under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP have been identified. The study was conducted to evaluate the economic performance of Croatian production and processing of wheat in simulated conditions, using the method calculating the coefficient of DRC. The performed calculations showed mutual diseconomic interdependence of production and processing of wheat in the Republic of Croatia, with a positive impact on the stability and sustainability of the business in rural areas. Based on the research it was found out that there are conditions for the quantitative and qualitative increase in the production and processing of wheat in the Republic of Croatia.

  11. Lexical Retrieval is not by Competition: Evidence from the Blocked Naming Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarrete, Eduardo; Del Prato, Paul; Peressotti, Francesca; Mahon, Bradford Z.

    2014-01-01

    A central issue in research on speech production is whether or not the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon is a competitive process. An important experimental paradigm to study the dynamics of lexical retrieval is the blocked naming paradigm, in which participants name pictures of objects that are grouped by semantic category (‘homogenous’ or ‘related’ blocks) or not grouped by semantic category (‘heterogeneous’ or ‘unrelated’ blocks). Typically, pictures are repeated multiple times (or cycles) within both related and unrelated blocks. It is known that participants are slower in related than in unrelated blocks when the data are collapsed over all within-block repetitions. This semantic interference effect, as observed in the blocked naming task, is the strongest empirical evidence for the hypothesis of lexical selection by competition. Here we show, contrary to the accepted view, that the default polarity of semantic context effects in the blocked naming paradigm is facilitation, rather than interference. In a series of experiments we find that interference arises only when items repeat within a block, and only because of that repetition: What looks to be ‘semantic interference’ in the blocked naming paradigm is actually less repetition priming in related compared to unrelated blocks. These data undermine the theory of lexical selection by competition and indicate a model in which the most highly activated word is retrieved, regardless of the activation levels of nontarget words. We conclude that the theory of lexical selection by competition, and by extension the important psycholinguistic models based on that assumption, are no longer viable, and frame a new way to approach the question of how words are retrieved in spoken language production. PMID:25284954

  12. COMPETITION AS MARKET MECHANISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Ya. Kazhuro

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The essence of a competition as an objective law for development of the commodities production based on private ownership of the means of production and commodity exchange has been revealed in the paper. The paper presents an economic basis of market economy (private ownership which generates a corresponding production objective. Such purpose is a maximization of profit and a minimization of market subject expenses. Therefore, a struggle for the most favourable conditions on commodity production and sales is inevitable in such situation. The struggle is considered in the community with developed market economy as a competition.The competition is regarded not as an exogenic factor exerting its influence on market economic system from the outside, but as an objective phenomenon which is inherent to management market system in itself. Such treatment is substantiated by economic disintegration of individual commodity producers. Being an important engine of market economy, the competition does not establish its laws, and its role is to be an executive of data which are internally inherent in commodity production laws and firstly it concerns a profit maximization law which defines a purpose and guiding motif of economic entities in the given economy.The competition plays a contradictory role under conditions of market economy. On the one hand, it makes manufacturers constantly to aspire to expense reduction for the sake of profit increase. This has resulted in labour productivity increase, production cost decrease and a company receives an opportunity to reduce retail price for its products. Consequently, the competition acts as a potential factor for lowering of prices while increasing production efficiency. On the other hand, sellers have more freedom in price fixing under conditions of imperfect competition as they sell their products under the conditions of a monopolistic competition or an oligopoly. This is the main weakest point of the market

  13. Effects of moistening, salinity and competitive interactions on vitality and production activity of Salicorniaeuropaea (Chenopodiaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. F. Kotov

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Dynamics of competitive interactions in populations of annual euhalophyte S. europaea was investigated. For S. europaea the hypothesis of Newman and Tilman is confirmed, concerning presence of intensive competition between plants on unproductive habitats for soil resources. Vital state of plants in populations of S. europaea is determined by intensity of competitive interactions, level of humidity and degree of salinity of ecotype. On an example of S. europaea, productive activity of plants on salted habitats was analyzed and the role of interspecific competition in this process was determined.

  14. Increasing operating room productivity by duration categories and a newsvendor model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehtonen, Juha-Matti; Torkki, Paulus; Peltokorpi, Antti; Moilanen, Teemu

    2013-01-01

    Previous studies approach surgery scheduling mainly from the mathematical modeling perspective which is often hard to apply in a practical environment. The aim of this study is to develop a practical scheduling system that considers the advantages of both surgery categorization and newsvendor model to surgery scheduling. The research was carried out in a Finnish orthopaedic specialist centre that performs only joint replacement surgery. Four surgery categorization scenarios were defined and their productivity analyzed by simulation and newsvendor model. Detailed analyses of surgery durations and the use of more accurate case categories and their combinations in scheduling improved OR productivity 11.3 percent when compared to the base case. Planning to have one OR team to work longer led to remarkable decrease in scheduling inefficiency. In surgical services, productivity and cost-efficiency can be improved by utilizing historical data in case scheduling and by increasing flexibility in personnel management. The study increases the understanding of practical scheduling methods used to improve efficiency in surgical services.

  15. A hybrid of monopoly and perfect competition model for hi-tech products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, P. C.; Wee, H. M.; Pai, S.; Yang, H. J.; Wee, P. K. P.

    2010-11-01

    For Hi-tech products, the demand rate, the component cost as well as the selling price usually decline significantly with time. In the case of perfect competition, shortages usually result in lost sales; while in a monopoly, shortages will be completely backordered. However, neither perfect competition nor monopoly exists. Therefore, there is a need to develop a replenishment model considering a hybrid of perfect competition and monopoly when the cost, price and demand are decreasing simultaneously. A numerical example and sensitivity analysis are carried out to illustrate this model. The results show that a higher decline-rate in the component cost leads to a smaller service level and a larger replenishment interval. When the component cost decline rate increases and the selling price decline rate decreases simultaneously, the replenishment interval decreases. In perfect competition it is better to have a high service level, while for the case with monopoly, keeping a low service level is better due to complete backordering.

  16. A competitive trade-off limits the selective advantage of increased antibiotic production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerardin, Ylaine; Springer, Michael; Kishony, Roy

    2016-09-26

    In structured environments, antibiotic-producing microorganisms can gain a selective advantage by inhibiting nearby competing species 1 . However, despite their genetic potential 2,3 , natural isolates often make only small amounts of antibiotics, and laboratory evolution can lead to loss rather than enhancement of antibiotic production 4 . Here, we show that, due to competition with antibiotic-resistant cheater cells, increased levels of antibiotic production can actually decrease the selective advantage to producers. Competing fluorescently labelled Escherichia coli colicin producers with non-producing resistant and sensitive strains on solid media, we found that although producer colonies can greatly benefit from the inhibition of nearby sensitive colonies, this benefit is shared with resistant colonies growing in their vicinity. A simple model, which accounts for such local competitive and inhibitory interactions, suggests that the advantage of producers varies non-monotonically with the amount of production. Indeed, experimentally varying the amount of production shows a peak in selection for producers, reflecting a trade-off between benefit gained by inhibiting sensitive competitors and loss due to an increased contribution to resistant cheater colonies. These results help explain the low level of antibiotic production observed for natural species and can help direct laboratory evolution experiments selecting for increased or novel production of antibiotics.

  17. Product Placement: A Smart Marketing Tool Shifting a Company to the Next Competitive Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kramolis Jan

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The primary aim of this paper was to discover connection between company’s competitiveness and product placement as a marketing tool. The secondary aim was searching for the genesis of product placement. The mentioned issues are explained from the perspectives of three groups: TV studios experts, directors and producers, and other experts (media agencies and advertisers. The Czech Republic market where product placement can be registered is very small – only few television companies. The survey was conducted during years 2011 and 2012 in the Czech Republic. There is no directly measurable tool to tell us exact outputs. However, the results reveal: Marketers are sure that product placement is efficient. The product placement belongs to a longterm marketing field where the brand building is also included. On the basis of the ascertainments acquired by the survey, the basic links between product placement, long-term marketing, and competitiveness are explained in this paper.

  18. The Competitive Advantages of Retail Enterprises: the Factor and the Result of Competitive Relations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chorna Maryna V.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at systematization and development of a conceptual-categorical apparatus of the essence of competitive advantages. The approaches to their interpretation have been allocated. The essential characteristics and stages of the life cycle of competitive advantages are considered. As active stages it is suggested to consider the following: formation, implementation, and development. The basic properties of competitive advantages such as dual character have been substantiated and supplemented. Both the factor and the effective nature of competitive advantages are characterized. On the basis of the mentioned approaches together with the identified features, a definition of the concept of «competitive advantages» as economic category has been proposed. Its use as a base along with taking into consideration the functional specificity of trade enterprises has allowed: clarifying the essence of competitive advantages of retail enterprises; suggesting their definition as a factor and as a result of competitive relations. The identification of dual character will increase the possibilities to assess competitive advantages. Prospects for further researches in this direction are connected with allocating of peculiarities and kinds of competitive advantages of retail trade enterprises with the purpose of increasing the of validity of decisions on their formation, implementation, and development.

  19. Theoretical bases of management product quality as one of the main direction of maintenance of industrial competitiveness

    OpenAIRE

    Dykan, O.

    2015-01-01

    In the article the author considered the essence of the concept of "product stewardship" as one of the main areas to ensure industrial competitiveness. Given the current negative trends in the development of industry in Ukraine and low competitiveness of domestic products, the necessity of rethinking the dominant principles, stages and functions of quality control. The main problems of implementation of the process of product quality control to domestic industrial enterprises. As a conclusion...

  20. The Spanish distribution system for oil products: an obstacle to competition?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Contin, I. [Universidad Publica de Navarra (Spain). Dpto. Gestion de Empresas; University of Njimegen (Netherlands). International Political Economy Centre; Correlje, A. [University of Rotterdam (Netherlands). Dept. of General Economy; Huerta, E. [Universidad Publica de Navarra (Spain). Dpto. Gestion de Empresas

    2001-01-01

    This paper examines why the formal liberalization of the Spanish market for automotive fuels did not introduce competition in the sector. Against the background of the transformation of the country's oil industry, it is shown how the Spanish distribution system emerged as the essential facility within the formally liberalized oil products market. 'Light-handed' regulation, in combination with the prevailing ownership structure turned the system into an impediment to newcomers' activities and to competition. This suggests that an evaluation of regulatory options for distribution systems in specific markets should take into due account crucial market characteristics like concentration and specific ownership/control relationships. (author)

  1. Do Corporate Control and Product Market Competition Lead to Stronger Productivity Growth? Evidence from Market-Oriented and Blockholder-Based Governance Regimes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koke, J.; Renneboog, L.D.R.

    2003-01-01

    This study investigates the impact of corporate governance and product market competition on total factor productivity growth for two large samples of German and UK firms. In poorly performing UK firms, the presence of strong outside blockholders lead to substantial increases in productivity.

  2. TV MEDIA ANALYSIS FOR BANKING CATEGORY (2012)

    OpenAIRE

    Alexandra Elena POȘTOACĂ; Dorian – Laurențiu FLOREA

    2014-01-01

    This article represents a short overview of the media landscape for the banking category in Romania in 2012. Unlike the other categories (for example FMCG – fast moving consumer goods), the banking category is more complex because every bank can communicate for a wider range of products (credits, deposits, packages dedicated to students, pensioners and other types of banking products). In the first part of this paper, there will be presented some theoretical notions about media planning a...

  3. Competitive drivers and international plant configuration strategies: A product level test

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belderbos, R.A.; Sleuwaegen, L.

    2005-01-01

    We analyze the determinants of the decision to invest abroad and the choice of spatial configurations of overseas plants for 120 Japanese firms active in 36 well-defined electronic product markets. We find that key competitive drivers at the firm and industry levels have a critical impact on the

  4. Smart, connected products as a new competitive advantage: Challenges for Serbia

    OpenAIRE

    Savić, Nebojša; Pitić, Goran; Trbovich, Ana S.

    2016-01-01

    The current debate among scholars of innovation and competitiveness centres on the concept of smart connected products (SCP). In this review article, we attempt to engage Serbia in this global debate by explaining the core concepts and arguments, building on previous research, and demonstrating how the developments in Serbia's ICT sector exemplify the new theory. We present the cases of three companies engaged in the production of SCPs, namely Schneider Electric DMS NS, Strawberry Energy, and...

  5. Dynamic Pricing of New Products in Competitive Markets: A Mean-Field Game Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Chenavaz, Régis; Paraschiv, Corina; Turinici, Gabriel

    2017-01-01

    Dynamic pricing of new products has been extensively studied in monopolistic and oligopolistic markets. But, the optimal control and differential game tools used to investigate the pricing behavior on markets with a finite number of firms are not well-suited to model competitive markets with an infinity of firms. Using a mean-field games approach, this paper examines dynamic pricing policies in competitive markets, where no firm exerts market power. The theoretical setting is based on a diffu...

  6. The competitiveness of domestic rice production in East Africa: A domestic resource cost approach in Uganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masao Kikuchi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The rapid increase of rice imports in sub-Saharan Africa under the unstable situation in the world rice market during the 2000s has made it an important policy target for the countries in the region to increase self-sufficiency in rice in order to enhance food security. Whether domestic rice production can be competitive with imported rice is a serious question in East African countries that lie close, just across the Arabian Sea, to major rice exporting countries in South Asia. This study investigates the international competitiveness of domestic rice production in Uganda in terms of the domestic resource cost ratio. The results show that rainfed rice cultivation, which accounts for 95% of domestic rice production, does not have a comparative advantage with respect to rice imported from Pakistan, the largest supplier of imported rice to Uganda. However, the degree of non-competitiveness is not serious, and a high possibility exists for Uganda’s rainfed rice cultivation to become internationally competitive by improving yield levels by applying more modern inputs and enhancing labour productivity. Irrigated rice cultivation, though very limited in area, is competitive even under the present input-output structure when the cost of irrigation infrastructure is treated as a sunk cost. If the cost of installing irrigation infrastructure and its operation and maintenance is taken into account, the types of irrigation development that are economically feasible are not large-scale irrigation projects, but are small- and microscale projects for lowland rice cultivation and rain-water harvesting for upland rice cultivation.

  7. Achievement motivation, competitiveness and sports performance in a team of sportsmen soccer players between 14 and 24 years old

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejo García-Naveira

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available In order to identify to what extent competitiveness trait is related to sport performance in soccer, and to what extent the age and sport category can influence these variables, a descriptive cross-sectional study has been developed. The variables age, sport category, sport performance, achievement motivation (Me, motivation to avoid the failure (Mef and competitiveness trait have been assessed in 151 men soccer players (between 14 and 24 y.o. of a Spanish sport club. The results indicated that the sport performance ascends with age. Consequently, a direct relationship between the sport category and the performance has been observed. Me, Mef and competitiveness trait have been associated with the performance and has varied based on the sport category. No correlation between Me, Mef, competitiveness and age of the sportsmen has been found

  8. The spillover effects of affirmative action on competitiveness and unethical behavior

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gupta, Nabanita Datta; Banerjee, Ritwik; Villeval, Marie Claire

    2018-01-01

    We conduct an artefactual field experiment to examine various spillover effects of Affirmative Action policies in the context of castes in India. We test a) if individuals who enter tournaments in the presence of an Affirmative Action policy remain competitive after the policy has been removed...... find no spillover effect on confidence and competitiveness once Affirmative Action is withdrawn. Furthermore, the discrimination by the dominant category against the backward category is not significantly aggravated by Affirmative Action, except when individuals learn that they have lost the previous...

  9. Oil production responses to price changes. An empirical application of the competitive model to OPEC and non-OPEC countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramcharran, Harri

    2002-01-01

    Falling oil prices over the last decade, accompanied by over-production by some OPEC members and the growth of non-OPEC supply, warrant further empirical investigation of the competitive model to ascertain production behavior. A supply function, based on a modification of Griffin's model, is estimated using data from 1973-1997. The sample period, unlike Griffin's, however, includes phases of price increase (1970s) and price decrease (1980s-1990s), thus providing a better framework for examining production behavior using the competitive model. The OPEC results do not support the competitive hypothesis; instead, a negative and significant price elasticity of supply is obtained. This result offers partial support for the target revenue theory. For most of the non-OPEC members, the estimates support the competitive model. OPEC's loss of market share and the drop in the share of oil-based energy should signal adjustments in price and quantity based on a competitive world market for crude oil

  10. Effect of competition on the production and activity of secondary metabolites in Aspergillus species

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Losada, L.; Ajayi, O.; Frisvad, Jens Christian

    2009-01-01

    and in the presence of other fungal species. However, it is not known whether secreted secondary metabolites provide a competitive advantage over other fungal species, or whether competition has any effect on the production of those metabolites. Here, we have performed co-cultivation competition assays among......Secondary metabolites are of intense interest to humans due to their pharmaceutical and/or toxic properties. Also, these metabolites are clinically relevant because of their importance in fungal pathogenesis. Aspergillus species secrete secondary metabolites when grown individually...... different species of Aspergillus to determine relative species fitness in culture, and to analyze the presence of possible antifungal activity of secondary metabolites in extracts. The results show that, for the most part, at 30C only one species is able to survive direct competition with a second species...

  11. Product quality as the main factor of increase of competitiveness (on the example of JSC “Kazan helicopter plant”)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khafizov, I. I.; Nurullin, I. G.

    2017-09-01

    Planning for effective development, and timely research perspectives and opportunities, States, markets, regulations, competition and competitiveness of its production, helps to achieve the stable business success in the market. The relevance of the study of the production of high quality products is that the quality of goods and services should always comply with the requirements established in state regulations, standards, regulations or conditions.

  12. Competitive advantages of firms in agro-industrial clusters: Study of wine in Brazil and Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mattia Adilene Alvares

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to explore two cases connected to the wine productive chain, emphasizing the process of competitive advantages creation under the logic of industrial clusters. The analyzed experiences deal with agglomerations of companies, where some are already established, while others are consolidated or under expansion: The Vale dos Vinhedos (Brazil, and Valle de Casablanca (Chile. The comparative study was based on the presence of territorial resources, analyzed in categories, of which we can highlight: denomination of origin (D.O., tourism, economy, political situation and unique value. The analysis of both territories allowed the identification of similarities and potentialities, and the attachment of those with the construction of com- petitive advantages. The results show that the competitiveness of companies established on the Vale dos Vinhedos and Valle de Casablanca is determined by the competitiveness of the territory, meaning that the spaces under analysis perform a fundamental role in the process of creation of competitive advantages of the already installed companies.

  13. U.S. Wind Energy Manufacturing and Supply Chain: A Competitiveness Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fullenkamp, Patrick H; Holody, Diane S

    2014-06-15

    The goal of the project was to develop a greater understanding of the key factors determining wind energy component manufacturing costs and pricing on a global basis in order to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, and to reduce installed systems cost. Multiple stakeholders including DOE, turbine OEMs, and large component manufactures will all benefit by better understanding the factors determining domestic competitiveness in the emerging offshore and next generation land-based wind industries. Major objectives of this project were to: 1. Carry out global cost and process comparisons for 5MW jacket foundations, blades, towers, and permanent magnet generators; 2. Assess U.S. manufacturers’ competitiveness and potential for cost reduction; 3. Facilitate informed decision-making on investments in U.S. manufacturing; 4. Develop an industry scorecard representing the readiness of the U.S. manufacturers’ to produce components for the next generations of wind turbines, nominally 3MW land-based and 5MW offshore; 5. Disseminate results through the GLWN Wind Supply Chain GIS Map, a free website that is the most comprehensive public database of U.S. wind energy suppliers; 6. Identify areas and develop recommendations to DOE on potential R&D areas to target for increasing domestic manufacturing competitiveness, per DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI). Lists of Deliverables 1. Cost Breakdown Competitive Analyses of four product categories: tower, jacket foundation, blade, and permanent magnet (PM) generator. The cost breakdown for each component includes a complete Bill of Materials with net weights; general process steps for labor; and burden adjusted by each manufacturer for their process categories of SGA (sales general and administrative), engineering, logistics cost to a common U.S. port, and profit. 2. Value Stream Map Competitiveness Analysis: A tool that illustrates both information and material flow from the point of getting a

  14. Dynamic Pricing Competition with Strategic Customers Under Vertical Product Differentiation

    OpenAIRE

    Qian Liu; Dan Zhang

    2013-01-01

    We consider dynamic pricing competition between two firms offering vertically differentiated products to strategic customers who are intertemporal utility maximizers. We show that price skimming arises as the unique pure-strategy Markov perfect equilibrium in the game under a simple condition. Our results highlight the asymmetric effect of strategic customer behavior on quality-differentiated firms. Even though the profit of either firm decreases as customers become more strategic, the low-qu...

  15. Tradeable emission permits regulations in the presence of imperfectly competitive product markets. Welfare implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sartzetakis, E.S.

    1997-01-01

    In the present paper, we analyse the interaction of a competitive market for emission permits with an oligopolistic product market. It is well known that a competitive permits market achieves the cost minimizing distribution of abatement effort among the polluting firms for a given reduction in emissions. However, when the product market is oligopolistic, it may redistribute production inefficiently among firms. It has been suggested that this inefficiency can outweigh the gains obtained from using emission permits instead of command and control. Although this argument is clearly correct under full information, it is shown in the present paper that it reverses under incomplete information. In particular, it is shown that when tradeable emission permits are specified according to the standard textbook example, they yield higher social welfare than the command and control regulation. 1 fig., 2 appendices, 11 refs

  16. INTEGRATED PRODUCT AND ENTERPRISE DESIGN FOR GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.D. Du Preez

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presentsan overview of the challenge to integrate product and process life cycles in maintaining global competitiveness of an enterprise and proposes IEKOS as a possible solution . It provides the reader with a framework of two virtual life cycles which create a problem solving matrix for the industrial engineer. In this matrix, bordered by the virtual enterprise life cycle and the virtual product life cycles, the business functions of analyze, design deploy and operate are predominantly functions executed by the, industrial engineer. The different phases of each life cycle serves as a framework to a virtual industrial engineering toolkit providing access to detailed functions, formats, examples and a series of software and other "tools" available to the industrial engineer.
    In conclusion a brief overview is provided of the progress of the IEKOS toolkit which is under development at the department of Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University.

  17. Analysis of competition and concentration in the confectionery products market in Serbia

    OpenAIRE

    Lončar, Dragan; Rajičić, Vesna

    2011-01-01

    Confectionery products make up a significant part of the consumer basket, which makes them a strategically important segment of the consumer standard in Serbia. Hence the authors' interest in the domains of market concentration and antitrust regulation of this industry. The aim of this paper is to present the current status and trends in the confectionery products market, to define the methodological framework and to perform an analysis of competition and market concentration. The methodology...

  18. An investigation of response competition in retrieval-induced forgetting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gina A. Glanc

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available It has been demonstrated that retrieval practice on a subset of studied items can cause forgetting of different related studied items. This retrieval-induced forgetting (the RIF effect has been demonstrated in a variety of recall studies and has been attributed to an inhibitory mechanism activated during retrieval practice by competition for a shared retrieval cue. The current study generalizes the RIF effect to recognition memory and investigates this competition assumption. Experiment 1 demonstrated an effect of RIF effect in item recognition with incidental encoding of category-exemplar association during the study phase. Experiment 2 demonstrated evidence of RIF with use of an independent retrieval cue during retrieval practice. Results from this study indicate that response competition may occur outside of the retrieval-practice phase, or may not be limited to situations where there is an overt link to a shared category cue.

  19. The impacts of product market competition on the quantity and quality of voluntary disclosures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojgan Saeidi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between product market competition and voluntary disclosure among 124 selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2004-2013. The study uses Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI and Lerner (LLIA index to measure competition in terms of capacity and price, respectively. In addition, the study uses the questionnaire developed by Botosan (1997 [Botosan, C. A. (1997. Disclosure level and the cost of equity capital. Accounting Review, 72(3, 323-349.] to measure voluntary disclosure. Using linear regression technique, the study has determined that there was a meaningful, direct and positive relationship between voluntary disclosure and competition in terms of price (LLIA. In addition, the results indicate that there was a meaningful and reverse relationship between voluntary disclosure and competition in terms of capacity (HHI.

  20. Size- and food-dependent growth drives patterns of competitive dominance along productivity gradients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huss, Magnus; Gårdmark, Anna; Van Leeuwen, Anieke; de Roos, André M

    2012-04-01

    Patterns of coexistence among competing species exhibiting size- and food-dependent growth remain largely unexplored. Here we studied mechanisms behind coexistence and shifts in competitive dominance in a size-structured fish guild, representing sprat and herring stocks in the Baltic Sea, using a physiologically structured model of competing populations. The influence of degree of resource overlap and the possibility of undergoing ontogenetic diet shifts were studied as functions of zooplankton and zoobenthos productivity. By imposing different size-dependent mortalities, we could study the outcome of competition under contrasting environmental regimes representing poor and favorable growth conditions. We found that the identity of the dominant species shifted between low and high productivity. Adding a herring-exclusive benthos resource only provided a competitive advantage over sprat when size-dependent mortality was high enough to allow for rapid growth in the zooplankton niche. Hence, the importance of a bottom-up effect of varying productivity was dependent on a strong top-down effect. Although herring could depress shared resources to lower levels than could sprat and also could access an exclusive resource, the smaller size at maturation of sprat allowed it to coexist with herring and, in some cases, exclude it. Our model system, characterized by interactions among size cohorts, allowed for consumer coexistence even at full resource overlap at intermediate productivities when size-dependent mortality was low. Observed shifts in community patterns were crucially dependent on the explicit consideration of size- and food-dependent growth. Accordingly, we argue that accounting for food-dependent growth and size-dependent interactions is necessary to better predict changes in community structure and dynamics following changes in major ecosystem drivers such as resource productivity and mortality, which are fundamental for our ability to manage exploitation of

  1. THE USAGE OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE ORIGIN RAW MATERIALS COMBINATORICS IN MEAT PRODUCTS OF “HALAL†CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT

    OpenAIRE

    Ivan F. Gorlov; Oksana B. Gelunova; Tatiana M. Giro; Ekaterina P. Mirzayanova

    2014-01-01

    Integrated researches aimed to develop technologies and recipes for meat products of “Halal†category using seed fat and Milk Protein-Carbohydrate Concentrate (MPCC) represent a new generation of scientific and practical interest. In this connection, the authors propose technologies and recipes for meat products of “Halal†category, designed on the basis of rational combinatorics of animal and vegetable origin raw materials, that l...

  2. Coal competitiveness?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogeaux, B.

    2006-01-01

    Will coal electrical plants be more competitive in the coming years? Answering this one cannot be limited to merely comparing estimates based on reference electricity production costs. The competitiveness of coal will indeed depend on the final product marketed, as the MWhs are not equal: is the purpose to produce base, half-base MWh? Does the electrical equipment structure require flexible MWh (for instance in the event of significant intermittent renewable energy amounts), and therefore plants able to adjust their power rapidly? But the competitiveness of coal will also depend on many factors that will correct reference cost estimates: uncertainties, risks, externalities. These factors will need to be appreciated on a case by case basis. We introduce some of the reasoning used to better appreciate the future competitiveness of coal, and the main factors conditioning it in three contrasting regions of the world: Europe, USA, china. (author)

  3. How do Category Managers Manage?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hald, Kim Sundtoft; Sigurbjornsson, Tomas

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this research is to explore the managerial role of category managers in purchasing. A network management perspective is adopted. A case based research methodology is applied, and three category managers managing a diverse set of component and service categories in a global production...... firm is observed while providing accounts of their progress and results in meetings. We conclude that the network management classification scheme originally deve loped by Harland and Knight (2001) and Knight and Harland (2005) is a valuable and fertile theoretical framework for the analysis...

  4. Analysis of Reasons for Participating in Competitions for Young Sport Climbers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uroš Perko

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to determine, how young sports climbers evaluate reasons for participating in climbing competitions. For this purpose we interviewed 125 competitors of both genders, year of birth 2002 and younger. Children were participating in the competitions for East and West League in the youngest category. Data were collected with a close-ended questionnaire. The acquired data were processed with SPSS software programme; frequencies were carried out. Mean age was 8.9 years. Most young athletes, 42.4%, attend competitions with the purpose of gaining new experience, followed by those whose main goal is good climbing. These are 40.8%. 14.4% attend competitions to achieve good result and 2.4% for reason of socializing. 19.2% of children don't care if they don't reach the top of the climbing route, but 80.8% are slightly to quite dissatisfied. The study shows that internal motivation is dominant in young climbers. Mostly they attend competitions to gain new experience and to show good climbing. If they don't reach the top of the climbing route, they leave competition unsatisfied. It would be reasonable to consider the study results in the organization of competitions for youngest categories.

  5. Bankruptcy and Product-Market Competition: Evidence from the Airline Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Ciliberto, Federico; Schenone, Carola

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the effects of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings on product market competition using data from the US airline industry. We find that bankrupt airlines permanently downsize their national route structure, their airport-specific networks, and their route-specific flight frequency and capacity. We also find that bankrupt airlines lower their route-specific prices while under bankruptcy protection, and increase them after emerging. We do not find robust evidence of significant changes ...

  6. The organization and conducting of paratriathlon competitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir Vodlozerov

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to analyze the system of the organization and conducting of competitions among paratriathletes concerning compliance with specifics of this sport – the consecutive overcoming of the combined distance by means of different types of physical activity. Material & Methods: the analysis of conditions of the organization and conducting of competitions of paratriathletes in six competitive categories was made on the basis of studying of articles of the UNO Convention on the Rights of physically disabled people, the regulatory base of the international federations of triathlon and Federation of triathlon of Ukraine. Results: the compliance of the organization and conducting of paratriathlon competitions concerning specifics of continuous triathlon with certain modifications of passing of stages of the combined distance by sportsmen with limited physical capacities is revealed. Conclusions: competition rules on paratriathlon, which allow conducting the fair competitive competition in the spirit of fair, competitive and safe rivalry to athletes with different physical deviations, are developed for more active attraction to sports activities, and also for the purpose of removal of discrimination barriers from physically disabled people.

  7. Appellations of geographical origin as a generator of national competitiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovićević-Simin Marina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The protection of appellations of geographical origin worldwide, through the Lisbon Agreement mainly refers to agricultural and food products and the leading countries in the number of registrations of appellations of origin are: France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Italy etc. By the product structure 85% of registrations of appellations of origin in the world refer to the four major categories of food products such as: wine (61.5%, spirits (9.5%, agricultural products (8.4% and cheese (8.5%. Considering that the protection of appellations of geographical origin in Serbia is mainly related to agricultural and food products, and the fact that we have 52 domestic and only 3 internationally protected appellations of origin, these could be used as a powerful tool to support the growth of competitiveness in agriculture of certain regions as well as of the entire country. Appellations of geographical origin have a collective ownership and represent a kind of national resource.

  8. The contribution of competitive intelligence to the development of local productive settlements: case Jaú-SP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wanda A. M. Hoffmann

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The current economical context has been provoking the largest exhibition of the Brazilian companies to the international competition, imposing challenges and opportunities. The Brazilian small and medium enterprises, SME’s, they are the most vulnerable given the shortage of resources and production costs, among other aspects. The local productive settlements or clusters are important manners of organization of the production of SMEs. Those production manners are considered vital in the employment generation and income to the country. The characteristics of those settlements that measure your dynamics and growth are important themes of research in several areas and countries, for the economical and social importance, thoroughly spread the last years for researchers and entities. The present study approaches the contribution of the competitive intelligence for the clusters improvements. In that context the dynamics of local productive settlements and your technological difficulties and of administration they are identified focalizing the segment of foot-wears and leathers of Jaú in the State of São Paulo. Several aspects are approached in relation to dynamics of that local productive settlement, through your comparative analysis with international settlements, especially Italian. Indicating signs of a typical strategy of industrial clusters, shown by the synergy obtained by the interactivity of change of information intra-cluster and the effort in increasing your competitive capacity.

  9. Facultative control of matrix production optimizes competitive fitness in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 biofilm models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madsen, Jonas S; Lin, Yu-Cheng; Squyres, Georgia R; Price-Whelan, Alexa; de Santiago Torio, Ana; Song, Angela; Cornell, William C; Sørensen, Søren J; Xavier, Joao B; Dietrich, Lars E P

    2015-12-01

    As biofilms grow, resident cells inevitably face the challenge of resource limitation. In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, electron acceptor availability affects matrix production and, as a result, biofilm morphogenesis. The secreted matrix polysaccharide Pel is required for pellicle formation and for colony wrinkling, two activities that promote access to O2. We examined the exploitability and evolvability of Pel production at the air-liquid interface (during pellicle formation) and on solid surfaces (during colony formation). Although Pel contributes to the developmental response to electron acceptor limitation in both biofilm formation regimes, we found variation in the exploitability of its production and necessity for competitive fitness between the two systems. The wild type showed a competitive advantage against a non-Pel-producing mutant in pellicles but no advantage in colonies. Adaptation to the pellicle environment selected for mutants with a competitive advantage against the wild type in pellicles but also caused a severe disadvantage in colonies, even in wrinkled colony centers. Evolution in the colony center produced divergent phenotypes, while adaptation to the colony edge produced mutants with clear competitive advantages against the wild type in this O2-replete niche. In general, the structurally heterogeneous colony environment promoted more diversification than the more homogeneous pellicle. These results suggest that the role of Pel in community structure formation in response to electron acceptor limitation is unique to specific biofilm models and that the facultative control of Pel production is required for PA14 to maintain optimum benefit in different types of communities. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  10. From pioneering orientation to new product performance through competitive tactics in SMEs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro M. García-Villaverde

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The literature regarding entry timing suggests that pioneering orientation (PO is a key determinant factor of new product performance (NPP due to ‘first mover advantages’. The contradictory results and specific biases raise a research gap on which conditions and processes lead PO to a higher NPP. This paper proposes to fill this gap by designing and testing a model examining to what extent development of competitive tactics drive and explain the way from PO to NPP. We test the model on a sample of 224 footwear firms. Results show that, separately, each of the competitive tactics has a total mediating effect linking PO with NPP. Introducing the competitive tactics into a multiple mediator model the routes from PO to NPP through low cost and innovation differentiation are relevant and compatible. However, marketing differentiation is less effective. The study provides new ways of linking the entry timing and advantage strategy perspectives.

  11. COMPETITIVENESS OF NIGERIAN RICE AND MAIZE PRODUCTION ECOLOGIES: A POLICY ANALYSIS APPROACH

    OpenAIRE

    Victor Olusegun Okoruwa

    2011-01-01

    The Nigerian rice and maize sectors are faced with decreasing supply and increasing demand as rice and maize have taken a strategic place of other staples leading to excessive importation and increasing government intervention. This study therefore assesses the competitiveness of Nigerian rice and maize production ecologies using the policy analysis matrix (PAM) on a sample of 122 farmers. Results of the PAM revealed that outputs from the production ecologies are taxed. This is further confir...

  12. 40 CFR 98.110 - Definition of the source category.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ferroalloy Production § 98.110 Definition of the source category. The ferroalloy production source category consists of any facility that uses pyrometallurgical techniques to produce any of the following metals: ferrochromium, ferromanganese, ferromolybdenum...

  13. Facultative control of matrix production optimizes competitive fitness in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 biofilm models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jonas Stenløkke; Lin, Yu Cheng; Squyres, Georgia R.

    2015-01-01

    response to electron acceptor limitation in both biofilm formation regimes, we found variation in the exploitability of its production and necessity for competitive fitness between the two systems. The wild type showed a competitive advantage against a non-Pel-producing mutant in pellicles but no advantage...... in colonies. Adaptation to the pellicle environment selected for mutants with a competitive advantage against the wild type in pellicles but also caused a severe disadvantage in colonies, even in wrinkled colony centers. Evolution in the colony center produced divergent phenotypes, while adaptation...... to the colony edge produced mutants with clear competitive advantages against the wild type in this O2-replete niche. In general, the structurally heterogeneous colony environment promoted more diversification than the more homogeneous pellicle. These results suggest that the role of Pel in community structure...

  14. Product reformulation in the context of nutritional warning labels: Exploration of consumer preferences towards food concepts in three food categories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ares, Gastón; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Curutchet, María Rosa; Antúnez, Lucía; Machín, Leandro; Vidal, Leticia; Giménez, Ana

    2018-05-01

    The reformulation of the food products available in the marketplace to improve their nutritional quality has been identified as one of the most cost-effective policies for controlling the global obesity pandemic. Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling is one of the strategies that has been suggested to encourage the food industry to reformulate their products. However, the extent to which certain FOP labels can encourage product reformulation is dependent on consumer reaction. The aim of the present work was to assess consumers' perception towards product reformulation in the context of the implementation of nutritional warnings, an interpretive FOP nutrition labelling scheme. Three product categories were selected as target products: bread, cream cheese and yogurt, each associated with high content of one target nutrient. For each category, six packages were designed using a 3 × 2 experimental design with the following variables: product version (regular, nutrient-reduced and nutrient-free) and brand (market leader and non-market leader). A total 306 Uruguayan participants completed a choice experiment with 18 choice sets. Reformulated products without nutritional warnings were preferred by participants compared to regular products with nutritional warnings. No apparent preference for products reformulated into nutrient-reduced or nutrient-free product versions was found, although differences depended on the product category and the specific reformulation strategy. Preference for reformulated products without nutritional warnings was more pronounced for non-market leaders. Results from the present work suggest that reformulation of foods in the context of the implementation of nutritional warnings holds potential to encourage consumers to make more healthful food choices and to cause a reduction of their intake of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Categories of space in music and lifestyles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milenković Pavle

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the connection between categories of space in music, music production and lifestyles. The relations between the symbolic space of social connections and musical contents in the social space of various status interactions is complex and contradictory. Category of space in the music exists in four forms. Categories of space in the description of the experience of the musical works, as well as in the way of music production (spacing are the integral part of the special way of consumption of these works (home Hi-Fi, and represent the social status, ways of cultural consumption and habitus in general.

  16. 75 FR 52378 - Transfer of Commercial Standard Mail Parcels to Competitive Product List

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-25

    ..., 2010, the United States Postal Service[reg] filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission a Request of the United States Postal Service to transfer commercial Standard Mail Parcels from the Mail... POSTAL SERVICE Transfer of Commercial Standard Mail Parcels to Competitive Product List AGENCY...

  17. Finite land resources and competition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haberl, Helmut; Mbow, Cheikh; Deng, Xiangzheng

    2014-01-01

    Rising demand for land-based products (food, feed, fi ber, and bioenergy) as well as conservation of forests and carbon sinks create increasing competition for land. Landuse competition has many drivers, takes different forms, and can have many significant implications for ecosystems as well......: production versus production (e.g., food vs. fuel), production versus conservation (e.g., food production vs. conservation), and built-up environment versus production or conservation (e.g., food vs. urban). Sustainability impacts that result from land-use competition are analyzed and found to differ...... and energy systems, “ land architecture” (i.e., the significance of spatial confi gurations), and multiscale models to assess local-global connections and impacts....

  18. Buying behavior and competition in the software market

    OpenAIRE

    Rosário, João Carlos Vinagre Ferreira do; Reis, António Palma dos

    2012-01-01

    In the actual world, the impact of the software buying decisions has a rising relevance in social and economic terms. This research tries to explain it focusing on the organizations buying decisions of Operating Systems and Office Suites for personal computers and the impact on the competition between incumbent and alternative players in the market in these software categories, although the research hypotheses and conclusions may extend to other software categories and platforms. We concluded...

  19. How to Do Things with Categories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krabbe, Anders Dahl

    Consumers and other audiences draw upon cognitive categories when evaluating technological products (Clark, 1985; Kaplan and Tripsas, 2008). Categories such as “mini-van” or “computer” provide labels and conceptual meaning structures that consumers and other market actors draw upon in making sense...... the majority of archival data was collected. Finally, to trace consumer reception of innovations in the design of products and technological innovations, I constructed a data set based on posts from an online hearing aid consumer forum. The initial analysis each spawned into three distinct trajectories...

  20. THE EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND HUMAN ADVANTAGE ON INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVE STRATEGY (Case Study: SMIs in Gorontalo Province

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trifandi Lasalewo

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Small and Medium Industries (SMIs have a strategic role in the Indonesian economy, as they earn 61.9 percent of the foreign exchange which goes to make up the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and nationally they are able to absorb 97 percent of the workforce. The Global Competitiveness Report also notes that SMIs serve as the business units that affect every nation’s competitiveness. Considering this strategic role, the selection of a competitive strategy for these SMIs is absolutely necessary. Through an in-depth literature review, this study aims to explore what variables influence the competitive strategy of industries, particularly the SMIs. By using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR with a total of 31 main literature (articles, papers and books, this study has found two dominant factors that influence industrial competitive strategy: Competitive advantage and human advantage, which are subsequently developed into six independent variables (construct variables, i.e. cost, delivery, product quality, product variety, know-how and innovativeness, with a total of 44 indicators. The results of measurements of the sample of SMIs in Gorontalo Province, using Structural Equation Modeling, found that both competitive advantage and human advantage jointly influence 40.2 percent of the industrial competitive strategies. These results indicate that competitive strategies, such as creating products with unique features, on-time delivery, flexibility in production, and employee involvement in the innovations, are indispensable to SMIs in order for them to produce quality products and be able to maintain their advantage.

  1. Competitive activity of highly skilled freestyle wrestlers at the present stage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.F. Boyko

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to compare competitive activity of highly skilled freestyle wrestlers after making adjustments to the wrestling rules. Material: the analysis involved 80 bouts performed by high skilled wrestlers at 2011 World Wrestling Championships (Ankara, Turkey and 2012 Olympic Games in London (weight categories 84 and 96 kg. Results: the resultant technical actions have been analyzed in the standing position performed by highly skilled freestyle wrestlers in major events of the annual cycle for the last three years. The characteristic changes in a competitive activity of highly skilled freestyle wrestlers in the weight categories 84 and 96 kg have been determined. We identified the techniques which were used most frequently in different periods of bout by elite athletes: spurt moving, throwing by knock, pressing, pushing the mat, etc. Conclusions: the competitions in the training of athletes are not only a means of controlling the level of preparedness, the process for deciding the winner, but also an important means of improving fitness and sports mastership. In the future, specialists can use these features of competitive activity in determining the overall training strategy of freestyle wrestlers to competitions at various levels.

  2. Low Risk of Injuries in Young Adolescents Participating in Top-Level Karate Competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arriaza, Rafael; Inman, David; Arriaza, Alvaro; Saavedra, Miguel A

    2016-02-01

    Prospective studies on injuries in martial arts competition are scarce, especially those involving young practitioners, but the upsurge of children and adolescents taking part in organized training and competition in these sports requires clarification of the injury risk that they represent for youths. Top-level karate competition for young adolescents (cadets, or 14- to 15-year-olds) has a low injury rate and can be safely promoted. Descriptive epidemiological study. Prospective recording of the injuries resulting from all bouts in 3 consecutive World Karate Championships (2009, 2011, and 2013) for cadets was performed. Data were collected prospectively in situ with checklists that described competitor sex, bout category, and weight as well as injured area, diagnosis, mechanism of injury, severity, and treatment. A total of 1020 bouts were reviewed, 671 in the male category and 349 in the female category. A total of 61 injuries were recorded. Of those, only 3 were time-loss injuries. During the 2009 and 2011 championships, there was 1 injury per 25.6 fights, while during the 2013 championship the number of injuries increased, with 1 injury per 10 fights (P = .003). There was no statistical difference in the total injury rate between the male and female categories (P = .71), with an odds ratio of 1.16 (95% CI, 0.52-2.55). The injury rate for cadet top-level karate competition found in this prospective study is much lower than the rates previously published for karate or other martial arts competitions, but there seems to be a marked increase as more championships are held, which is a matter of concern. © 2015 The Author(s).

  3. The Role of Internal Reference Points in the Category Purchase Decision.

    OpenAIRE

    Bell, David R; Bucklin, Randolph E

    1999-01-01

    The authors study the role that reference effects play in the category purchase decision for consumer nondurable products. Category purchase behavior is represented by a nested logit model that is estimated on purchase records of shoppers in two Universal Product Code (UPC) scanner panels. A series of hypotheses are developed, modeled, and tested regarding the effects that internal reference points for product category attractiveness are likely to have on the decision to buy in a product cate...

  4. PRICES IN COMPETITIVE SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VADUVA MARIA

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Regularities of competitive market determine rules for determining prices and their dynamics. Orientation prices to competition (competitive pricing is the strategy most frequently used in countries with market economies and especially for exports. Moreover, in an economy dominated by market competition it cannot be ignored without certain risks the prices resulting from competition between products bidders. Companies that use this type of strategy seek to maintain a level of prices linked to that charged by other competitors (or exporting producers generally no longer covering production costs or demand, relying on the assumption that the average market price is a reasonable basis of costs. But the way how practical guidance and reporting to the competition in every price strategy, will be determined by the company's market position, by the available power and enjoyed prestige, objectives and prospects of its market share etc. according to these elements, there may be several versions of pricing strategies oriented to competitors.

  5. Petrochemical industries diagnosis concerning competition, quality and productivity programs; Diagnostico de industrias petroquimicas face aos programas de competitividade, produtividade e qualidade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza Antunes, Adelaide Maria de; Chamas, Claudia Ines [Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia

    1992-12-31

    The objective of this study is to evaluate how brazilian petrochemical industries take technological and competitive strategies. New industrial policy emphasizes quality, productivity and competitiveness aspects. The sector company survival depends on fitting to competition patterns. (author) 6 refs.

  6. Petrochemical industries diagnosis concerning competition, quality and productivity programs; Diagnostico de industrias petroquimicas face aos programas de competitividade, produtividade e qualidade

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza Antunes, Adelaide Maria de; Chamas, Claudia Ines [Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia

    1993-12-31

    The objective of this study is to evaluate how brazilian petrochemical industries take technological and competitive strategies. New industrial policy emphasizes quality, productivity and competitiveness aspects. The sector company survival depends on fitting to competition patterns. (author) 6 refs.

  7. Competitiveness of Colombian Cotton in Relation to the Main Producing Countries Through the Focus of Production Costs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio M. Martínez Reina

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the competitiveness of cotton production in Colombia through a comparative analysis of the patterns of production costs in the producing regions of Colombia in relation to the main producers of cotton fiber. The basic information for this study is based on statistics taken mostly from Conalgodón, producer organizations and the textile industry. Economic statistics and estimates measurement techniques by the method of ordinary least squares (OLS were used, especially for estimating the functions of supply and demand. For the analysis of competitiveness, the unit production cost of Colombia was compared against other countries producing cotton fiber. The results show, on the one hand, that the production of short fiber in Colombia is likely to increase and to dedicate more areas to such type of crops given the growing trend of demand from the industry, which exceeds right now the spinning rings or long-fiber; and on the other hand, the results show that under the current conditions the country is not producing cotton in a competitive way and therefore the component of imported cotton is growing over time.

  8. Napping-Ultra Flash Profile as a Tool for Category Identification and Subsequent Model System Formulation of Caramel Corn Products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayhew, Emily; Schmidt, Shelly; Lee, Soo-Yeun

    2016-07-01

    In a novel approach to formulation, the flash descriptive profiling technique Napping-Ultra Flash Profile (Napping-UFP) was used to characterize a wide range of commercial caramel corn products. The objectives were to identify product categories, develop model systems based on product categories, and correlate analytical parameters with sensory terms generated through the Napping-UFP exercise. In one 2 h session, 12 panelists participated in 4 Napping-UFP exercises, describing and grouping, on a 43×56 cm paper sheet, 12 commercial caramel corn samples by degree of similarity, globally and in terms of aroma-by-mouth, texture, and taste. The coordinates of each sample's placement on the paper sheet and descriptive terms generated by the panelists were used to conduct Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering of the samples. Strong trends in the clustering of samples across the 4 Napping-UFP exercises resulted in the determination of 3 overarching types of commercial caramel corn: "small-scale dark" (typified by burnt, rich caramel corn), "large-scale light" (typified by light and buttery caramel corn), and "large-scale dark" (typified by sweet and molasses-like caramel corn). Representative samples that best exemplified the properties of each category were used as guides in the formulation of 3 model systems that represent the spread of commercial caramel corn products. Analytical testing of the commercial products, including aw measurement, moisture content determination, and thermal characterization via differential scanning calorimetry, were conducted and results related to sensory descriptors using Spearman's correlation. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

  9. TV MEDIA ANALYSIS FOR BANKING CATEGORY (2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra Elena POȘTOACĂ

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This article represents a short overview of the media landscape for the banking category in Romania in 2012. Unlike the other categories (for example FMCG – fast moving consumer goods, the banking category is more complex because every bank can communicate for a wider range of products (credits, deposits, packages dedicated to students, pensioners and other types of banking products. In the first part of this paper, there will be presented some theoretical notions about media planning and media analyses in order for the lecturer to easily go through the second part of the article. The second part of the paper will only refer to TV analyses. This media channel owns the highest budget share in our category, and also in the media mix of every important player, active in the Romanian market. The analyses will show which bank communicated most effectively, which is the most important spender on TV, what banking products had the largest budget allocated, which is the pattern for this category when it comes to allocating audience points for each day interval and so on. The starting point of this analyses is based on the secondary data obtained from InfoSys+ which is the world’s leading TV analyses software, used in more than 29 countries by 8000+ users.

  10. Theoretical Basis Of The Company Competitiveness Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir Nikiforovich Belkin

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the basic theoretical questions of the company competitiveness assessment. The state of modern economic thought on this issue is shown. The main factors of the company competitiveness are specified. A specific role of staff of an enterprise is revealed: on the one hand, it is a resource, on the other is a subject, resulting in productive movement all factors of competitiveness, i.e. the staff is a critical factor in the company competitiveness. The criterion of company competitiveness is proposed, on its basis, the concept of “competitive enterprise” is defined. The most well-known approaches for assessing the company competitiveness are analyzed. The author’s method of the company competitiveness assessment based on the dynamics of the integral index of competitiveness is provided. For those cases, when it is impossible to determine the proportion of products on the market, it is proposed to evaluate the company competitiveness on the profitability of its production. The article shows the experience in calculating of the company competitiveness on the proposed author’s methods.

  11. Endogenous, Imperfectly Competitive Business Cycles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Whitta-Jacobsen, Hans Jørgen

    We investigate how imperfect competition affects the occurrence and the properties of endogenous, rational expectations business cycles in an overlapping generations model with constant returns to scale in production. The model has explicit product and labor markets all characterized...... by monopolistic competition. An implicit assumption of barriers to entry justifies that the number of firms is fixed even when positive profits occur. It turns out that both market power of firms on the product markets and market power of unions on the labor markets make the occurrence of cycles more likely....... In particular, imperfect competition on the product markets and the positive profits associated with it may have the effect that there is a cycle even if the labor supply curve is increasing in the real-wage rate. For competitive cycles is required not only a decreasing labor supply curve, but a wage elasticity...

  12. COMPETITIVE STRATEGY OF A FOREIGN MULTINATIONAL IN BRAZILIAN POULTRY PRODUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Barros de Azevedo

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the question of the strategies involved in the import process of cages for laying hens, directed at the multinational enterprise distribution center. Identifies the reasons why a multinational company invests in Brazil, specifically in the city of Araraquara, São Paulo, where it is implementing a distribution center (DC. Developing the study of the strategies involved in the process, according to the main issue of the work, it took place through the exploratory analysis of the current logistics process of the Company, identifying the strategies adopted and the advantages of the new process. In order to achieve the objectives, the study is based on the theoretical study of Porter's five competitive forces, SWOT analysis, generic strategies adopted to achieve return on investment and, based on issues such as import , logistics, warehousing and distribution center. The survey shows that deployment of the DC, the strategy involves the insertion in the national market, specifically in São Paulo that is the biggest market of laying hens in the country to gain competitive advantage, and the multinational also adopts the strategy generic differentiation, with regard to technology and product quality. Despite the high costs of construction and maintenance of the DC, they represent a barrier to market entry, have no financial risk for the multinational enterprise, since this deployment will also increase the demand for the product, allowing the return on invested capital.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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...

  14. BVA members wow judges in photo competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-03

    Earlier this year, BVA ran its inaugural photo competition, giving members the opportunity to showcase the work of the veterinary profession and the animals and wildlife they encounter. Standing out from over 400 high-quality entries, judges picked the images reproduced in this month's BVA News as the winning and highly commended photos. To see all the entries and hear from the winners, visit www.bva.co.uk/vet-photos-2016/. There will be another photo competition in 2017 with more categories to be announced. British Veterinary Association.

  15. A “value for money” framework to study product competitiveness in the automotive market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. lo Storto

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Assessing the value for money of a product is of paramount importance to get useful strategic information relative to market and technological trends and major determinants of technological innovation, and to conduct benchmarking studies and make comparison among competitive products. This paper note presents a methodological “value for money” framework to assess the market competitiveness of a passenger car. This framework uses both published data and industry expert judgements. In this framework, the value for money of a car is assumed to be dependent on the economic cost (i.e., price and fuel consumption that the consumer has to bear when using it, and on the car technical value (PTV which is built as a function of certain measurable features of the product. The framework is adopted to analyse a sample of 216 cars that were sold in the Italian domestic market between the 70s and the early 90s. The relationship between the car technical value, price, and fuel consumption is investigated using a translog regression equation.

  16. Distinct patterns of brain activity characterise lexical activation and competition in spoken word production.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitória Piai

    Full Text Available According to a prominent theory of language production, concepts activate multiple associated words in memory, which enter into competition for selection. However, only a few electrophysiological studies have identified brain responses reflecting competition. Here, we report a magnetoencephalography study in which the activation of competing words was manipulated by presenting pictures (e.g., dog with distractor words. The distractor and picture name were semantically related (cat, unrelated (pin, or identical (dog. Related distractors are stronger competitors to the picture name because they receive additional activation from the picture relative to other distractors. Picture naming times were longer with related than unrelated and identical distractors. Phase-locked and non-phase-locked activity were distinct but temporally related. Phase-locked activity in left temporal cortex, peaking at 400 ms, was larger on unrelated than related and identical trials, suggesting differential activation of alternative words by the picture-word stimuli. Non-phase-locked activity between roughly 350-650 ms (4-10 Hz in left superior frontal gyrus was larger on related than unrelated and identical trials, suggesting differential resolution of the competition among the alternatives, as reflected in the naming times. These findings characterise distinct patterns of activity associated with lexical activation and competition, supporting the theory that words are selected by competition.

  17. Efficient Assessment of Social Hotspots in the Supply Chains of 100 Product Categories Using the Social Hotspots Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Benoît Norris

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Data collection, or the inventory step, is often the most labor-intensive phase of any Life Cycle Assessment (LCA study. The S-LCA Guidelines and numerous authors have recommended generic assessment in this first phase of an S-LCA. In an effort to identify the social hotspots in the supply chains of 100 product categories during just a few months’ time, adopting a streamlined approach was essential. The Social Hotspots Database system was developed by New Earth over 5 years. It includes a Global Input Output (IO model derived from the Global Trade Analysis Project, a Worker Hours Model constructed using annual wage payments and wage rates by country and sector, and Social Theme Tables covering 22 themes within five Social Impact Categories—Labor Rights and Decent Work, Health and Safety, Human Rights, Governance and Community Impacts. The data tables identify social risks for over 100 indicators. Both the ranking of worker hour intensity and the risk levels across multiple social themes for the Country Specific Sectors (CSS within a product category supply chain are used to calculate Social Hotspots Indexes (SHI using an additive weighting method. The CSS with the highest SHI are highlighted as social hotspots within the supply chain of the product in question. This system was tested in seven case studies in 2011. In order to further limit the number of hotspots, a set of prioritization rules was applied. This paper will review the method implemented to study the social hotspots of the 100 product categories and provide one detailed example. Limitations of the approach and recommended research avenues will be outlined.

  18. The neural dynamics of competition resolution for language production in the prefrontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourguignon, Nicolas J; Ohashi, Hiroki; Nguyen, Don; Gracco, Vincent L

    2018-03-01

    Previous research suggests a pivotal role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in word selection during tasks of confrontation naming (CN) and verb generation (VG), both of which feature varying degrees of competition between candidate responses. However, discrepancies in prefrontal activity have also been reported between the two tasks, in particular more widespread and intense activation in VG extending into (left) ventrolateral PFC, the functional significance of which remains unclear. We propose that these variations reflect differences in competition resolution processes tied to distinct underlying lexico-semantic operations: Although CN involves selecting lexical entries out of limited sets of alternatives, VG requires exploration of possible semantic relations not readily evident from the object itself, requiring prefrontal areas previously shown to be recruited in top-down retrieval of information from lexico-semantic memory. We tested this hypothesis through combined independent component analysis of functional imaging data and information-theoretic measurements of variations in selection competition associated with participants' performance in overt CN and VG tasks. Selection competition during CN engaged the anterior insula and surrounding opercular tissue, while competition during VG recruited additional activity of left ventrolateral PFC. These patterns remained after controlling for participants' speech onset latencies indicative of possible task differences in mental effort. These findings have implications for understanding the neural-computational dynamics of cognitive control in language production and how it relates to the functional architecture of adaptive behavior. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Future survival requires competitive skills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adam, P.J.

    1996-01-01

    The companies that will succeed in the global power business in 25 years will be those that best understand the productivity implications of the current power game. In the competitive free market for electricity, the inefficient will be driven out. This will include the developer that is unable to achieve higher productivity in developing and financing projects, the engineer-constructor that longs for the old risk-free, cost-plus environment and the trading company that fails to enter into new relationships with the most productive companies in the world. Also in jeopardy will be the operator who can't reduce O and M costs and the manufacturer who is unable to control overhead or labor costs. Succeeding will be all about productivity. Free market competition drives productivity improvement. In a competitive environment, companies must operate at a more efficient level. The US learned this accidentally through the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, getting us a side benefit of free market competition and lower electricity prices. In other countries the practice of socialism and its final bankruptcy forced adjustments to free market policies

  20. Data survey on the effect of product features on competitive advantage of selected firms in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olokundun, Maxwell; Iyiola, Oladele; Ibidunni, Stephen; Falola, Hezekiah; Salau, Odunayo; Amaihian, Augusta; Peter, Fred; Borishade, Taiye

    2018-06-01

    The main objective of this study was to present a data article that investigates the effect product features on firm's competitive advantage. Few studies have examined how the features of a product could help in driving the competitive advantage of a firm. Descriptive research method was used. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22) was engaged for analysis of one hundred and fifty (150) valid questionnaire which were completed by small business owners registered under small and medium scale enterprises development of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed; reliability and validity procedures were also confirmed. The field data set is made publicly available to enable critical or extended analysis.

  1. The Battle for Health and Beauty: What Drives Supermarket and Drugstore Category-Promotion Lifts?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Lin, Arjen; Gijsbrechts, E.

    2016-01-01

    This paper studies promotion-induced competition between supermarkets and drugstores, resulting from increased channel blurring and category overlap. It documents the relative impact of price cuts and feature ads at the two channels, and establishes substantive factors underlying their differences

  2. The battle for health and beauty : What drives supermarket and drugstore category-promotion lifts?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Lin, A.I.J.G.; Gijsbrechts, Els

    This paper studies promotion-induced competition between supermarkets and drugstores, resulting from increased channel blurring and category overlap. It documents the relative impact of price cuts and feature ads at the two channels, and establishes substantive factors underlying their differences

  3. Potential land competition between open-pond microalgae production and terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems in the U.S.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Langholtz, Matthew H.; Coleman, Andre M.; Eaton, Laurence M.; Wigmosta, Mark S.; Hellwinckel, Chad M.; Brandt, Craig C.

    2016-08-01

    Biofuels produced from both terrestrial and algal biomass feedstocks can contribute to energy security while providing economic, environmental, and social benefits. To assess the potential for land competition between these two feedstock types in the United States, we evaluate a scenario in which 41.5 x 109 L yr-1 of second-generation biofuels are produced on pastureland, the most likely land base where both feedstock types may be deployed. This total includes 12.0 x 109 L yr-1 of biofuels from open-pond microalgae production and 29.5 x 109 L yr-1 of biofuels from terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems. Under these scenarios, open-pond microalgae production is projected to use 1.2 million ha of private pastureland, while terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems would use 14.0 million ha of private pastureland. A spatial meta-analysis indicates that potential competition for land under these scenarios would be concentrated in 110 counties, containing 1.0 and 1.7 million hectares of algal and terrestrial dedicated feedstock production, respectively. A land competition index applied to these 110 counties suggests that 38 to 59 counties could experience competition for upwards of 40% of a county’s pastureland. However, this combined 2.7 million ha represents only 2%-5% of total pastureland in the U.S., with the remaining 12.5 million ha of algal or terrestrial dedicated feedstock production on pastureland in non-competing areas.

  4. Demonstration of intuitive thinking in conditions of competitive activity depending on athletes' psychophysiological state.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Korobeynikov G.V.

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available One investigated application of intuitive thinking, depending on the physiological status of skilled fighters in their competitive activity. In research members of the team of Ukraine in Greco-Roman wrestling participated. 29 effective throws were analysed reverse a capture from position orchestra. One analyzed the effectiveness of intuitive thinking in athletes of different weight categories and the distribution coefficients of correlation of psychophysiological functions of athletes directly in competition during championships of Ukraine, World and Europe. One found that expression of intuitive thinking is associated with weight category of skilled fighters. It is shown that the effectiveness of intuitive thinking in terms of competitive activity is related to physiological state, and, above all qualified wrestlers' neurodynamic functions.

  5. MACROECONOMIC ASPECTS OF COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Hooke

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available In the process of globalization of world economic processes, the role of individual national economies increases, comparative advantages of the development of a country are formed, and their competitiveness is ensured. That is why it is worth emphasizing the importance of increasing the competitiveness of each individual country, based on its internal capacity. In a broad aspect, the competitiveness of the national economy is perceived as the ability of the country to ensure the balance of its external proportions and to avoid those constraints imposed by the foreign economic sphere, to self-organizing the improvement of their world economic ties. The competitiveness of the economy at the macro level is associated with the duration of the cycle of reproduction of the main productive assets and, accordingly, the jobs, productive forces of society and determined by the overall economic efficiency of investment. The criteria of competitiveness of the national economy are the growth of social productivity of labor, increase of social and economic efficiency of production and standard of living of the population. The competitiveness of the national economy determines sustainable socio-economic development of the country, as well as sustainable development predetermines the competitiveness of not only the country, but also all its levels. Scientific results are obtained using special methods of research of economic objects and phenomena, that is, based on the correlation and regressive, comparative analysis (establishing the relationship between the indicator factor, as well as economic modeling. Findings. Generalizing analysis and the importance of the macroeconomic aspect of competitiveness were used in the research paper, which will allow to better respond to the economic situation, in accordance with the trends of the “green” transformation of the economy; which in turn will solve important problems of the development and implementation of its

  6. Competitive strategy : Sorrin Puutarha

    OpenAIRE

    Haaristo, Emilia

    2010-01-01

    The thesis handles the fresh food product industry in Finland and especially one company operating in the industry and its competitive position. Sorrin Puutarha manufactures ready-to-use fresh cut salad bag, which is sold in the grocery stores. The objective of the thesis was to find competitive advantages of the case company. Once the competitive advantages were identified the purpose was to choose a fitting competitive strategy that would strengthen those advantages. The field study was con...

  7. Grammatical category dissociation in multilingual aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Waked, Arifi N

    2010-03-01

    Word retrieval deficits for specific grammatical categories, such as verbs versus nouns, occur as a consequence of brain damage. Such deficits are informative about the nature of lexical organization in the human brain. This study examined retrieval of grammatical categories across three languages in a trilingual person with aphasia who spoke Arabic, French, and English. In order to delineate the nature of word production difficulty, comprehension was tested, and a variety of concomitant lexical-semantic variables were analysed. The patient demonstrated a consistent noun-verb dissociation in picture naming and narrative speech, with severely impaired production of verbs across all three languages. The cross-linguistically similar noun-verb dissociation, coupled with little evidence of semantic impairment, suggests that (a) the patient has a true "nonsemantic" grammatical category specific deficit, and (b) lexical organization in multilingual speakers shares grammatical class information between languages. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the architecture of lexical organization in bilinguals.

  8. Methodological Foundations of Clustering and Innovativeness for Establishing the Competitive Production of Biofuels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klymchuk Oleksandr V.

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed to study the worldwide trends in development of innovative processes and creation of cluster structures for elaborating methodological foundations for establishing the competitive production of biofuels. The article highlights the cluster approaches in conducting the global commercial activities that create effective mechanisms and tools to encourage innovation-investment regional development and can be characterized by their relevance for the Ukrainian economy. Emphasis is made on the matter that clustering is one of the key tools for structuring the energy market, integrated exploiting the potential of bioenergy industry sector, management of the economic policies of redistribution of value added, implementation of the growth of investment attractiveness of the biofuel industry in our country. It has been concluded that cluster development in the biofuel production will stimulate specialization and cooperation processes in the agro-industrial economy sector, bringing together related businesses in the direction of an effective interaction, thereby ensuring a high level of competitiveness of biofuels in both the national and the international markets.

  9. Mathematics and engineering in real life through mathematical competitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    More, M.

    2018-02-01

    We bring out an experience of organizing mathematical competitions that can be used as a medium to motivate the student and teacher minds in new directions of thinking. This can contribute to fostering research, innovation and provide a hands-on experience of mathematical concepts with the real world. Mathematical competitions can be used to build curiosity and give an understanding of mathematical applications in real life. Participation in the competition has been classified under four broad categories. Student can showcase their findings in various forms of expression like model, poster, soft presentation, animation, live performance, art and poetry. The basic focus of the competition is on using open source computation tools and modern technology, to emphasize the relationship of mathematical concepts with engineering applications in real life.

  10. Two-Echelon Inventory Optimization for Imperfect Production System under Quality Competition Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinfeng Lai

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper develops two integrated optimization models of two-echelon inventory for imperfect production system under quality competition environment, in which the vendor’s production process is assumed to be imperfect, and JIT delivery policy is implemented to ship product from the vendor to the buyer. In the first model, product defect rate is fixed, and, in the second model, quality improvement investment is function of defect rate. The optimal policies of ordering quantity of buyer and shipment from vendor to buyer are obtained to minimize the expected annual total cost of vendor and buyer. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the models. Sensitivity analysis is taken to analyze the impact of demand, production rate, and defect rate on the solution. Implications are highlighted in that both the vendor and the buyer can benefit from the vendor’s investing in quality improvement.

  11. Analysis of Competitiveness and Support Instruments for Heat and Electricity Production from Wood Biomass in Latvia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klavs, G.; Kudrenickis, I.; Kundzina, A.

    2012-01-01

    Utilisation of renewable energy sources is one of the key factors in a search for efficient ways of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases and improving the energy supply security. So far, the district heating supply in Latvia has been based on natural gas, with the wood fuel playing a minor role; the same is true for decentralised combined heat-power (CHP) production. The paper describes a method for evaluation of the economic feasibility of heat and electricity production from wood biomass under the competition between different fuel types and taking into account the electricity market. For the simulation, a cost estimation model is applied. The results demonstrate that wood biomass can successfully be utilised for competitive heat production by boiler houses, while for electricity production by CHP utilities it cannot compete on the market (even despite the low prices on wood biomass fuel) unless particular financial support instruments are applied. The authors evaluate the necessary support level and the impact of two main support instruments - the investment subsidies and the feed-in tariff - on the economic viability of wood-fuelled CHP plants, and show that the feed-in tariff could be considered as an instrument strongly affecting the competitiveness of such type CHP. Regarding the feed-in tariff determination, a compromise should be found between the economy-dictated requirement to develop CHP projects concerning capacities above 5 MWel - on the one hand, and the relatively small heat loads in many Latvian towns - on the other.

  12. The Bayesian way to relate rhythm perception and production

    OpenAIRE

    Sadakata, M.; Desain, P.W.M.; Honing, H.J.

    2006-01-01

    Measurement of the perception and production of simple rhythmic patterns have been shown not to be in line in some cases. In this study it is demonstrated that a Bayesian approach provides a new way of understanding this difference, by formalizing the perceptual competition between mental representations and assuming possible nonuniform a priori probabilities of the rhythmic categories. Thus we can relate the two kinds of information and predict perception data from production data. In this a...

  13. State aid for the adequacy of production in EU competition law

    OpenAIRE

    Domazet, Siniša

    2017-01-01

    State aid is essentially inadmissible in EU competition law. The paper deals with state aid for the adequacy of production. Research has shown that if the conditions contained in the guidelines on state aid for environmental protection and energy for the period 2014-2020 are fulfilled, this form of state aid will be permitted. It has been established that there is no practice of the European Commission in connection with this form of state aid. Recommendation to the Member States is to carry ...

  14. 76 FR 13000 - Transfer of Commercial First-Class Mail Parcels to Competitive Product List

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-09

    ...: On February 24, 2011, the United States Postal Service[supreg] filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission a Request of the United States Postal Service to transfer commercial First-Class Mail Parcels from... POSTAL SERVICE Transfer of Commercial First-Class Mail Parcels to Competitive Product List AGENCY...

  15. Exploring consumer exposure pathways and patterns of use for chemicals in the environment through the Chemical/Product Categories Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Exploring consumer exposure pathways and patterns of use for chemicals in the environment through the Chemical/Product Categories Database (CPCat) (Presented by: Kathie Dionisio, Sc.D., NERL, US EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC (1/23/2014).

  16. ASPECTS OF REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH DYNAMIC PRICES OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela\tENACHESCU

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents aspects regarding the dynamics of prices of petroleum products: gasoline and diesel in Romania in the period 2003(2007-2014. Both focus on relationship-price raw material and finished product by the impact of market prices. Given that the price of fuel is a key factor in economic development but also in the living of population, this paper has proposed to analyze some aspects of the dynamics of prices of petroleum products in correlation with commodity prices in a competitive market in 2003 -2014. In the analized period, price of oil barrel has a dynamics substantially influenced by the global political turbulences but also by lower oil demand due to consumption reduction, especially lately. Increases and decreases were abrupt and unpredictable in the early years of the first decade of the XXI century. Political crises in the Middle East, the economic crisis started in 2007 and especially the crisis in Ukraine and policies adopted by the EU and the US have led to extremely large fluctuations in oil prices from one period to another . This dynamic will only cover the price of petroleum products namely gazoline and diesel for vehicles.

  17. Agent-Based Model of Price Competition and Product Differentiation on Congested Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Lei Zhang; David Levinson; Shanjiang Zhu

    2007-01-01

    Using consistent agent-based techniques, this research models the decision-making processes of users and infrastructure owner/operators to explore the welfare consequence of price competition, capacity choice, and product differentiation on congested transportation networks. Component models include: (1) An agent-based travel demand model wherein each traveler has learning capabilities and unique characteristics (e.g. value of time); (2) Econometric facility provision cost models; and (3) Rep...

  18. COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH INFORMATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raluca Daniela RIZEA

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Intelligence competitiveness has already started to build its road in the company’s long term strategies. Nonetheless, business executives continue to look for ways to apply information technology strategically to their businesses. Using information managers manage to communicate, to convey their knowledge about markets, competitors, products, services and operations. Even if data and information are all over there are few amounts of managers that realize the importance of them to the success of the business. This article will review competitive forces and competitive information systems strategies for gaining competitive advantages, explain concepts of value chain, value co-opetition (competition and cooperation, and discuss innovation strategy. Co-opetition is a strategy whereby companies cooperate and compete at the same time with their competitors, complementors (i.e. hardware and software businesses, customers, suppliers. The article discuss an important dimension of information system, identifies competitive advantages and enhancing competitive strategies thought information systems.

  19. The impact of product market competition on transactions with related parties and company performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojtaba Asadi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation on the effect of product market competition on transactions with related parties and company performance. The study selects a sample of 250 randomly selected firms whose common shares were traded on Tehran Stock Exchange. The study uses Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI to measure the market concentration and uses historical information over the period 2008-2012 to examine the hypotheses of the survey. Using simple regression analysis, the study has detected a positive relationship between HHI and related party transactions. In addition, the study has detected a negative relationship between competition and company performance measured by return on assets.

  20. A compilation of life cycle studies for six household detergent product categories in Europe: the basis for product-specific A.I.S.E. Charter Advanced Sustainability Profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golsteijn, Laura; Menkveld, Rimousky; King, Henry; Schneider, Christine; Schowanek, Diederik; Nissen, Sascha

    2015-01-01

    A.I.S.E., the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products, launched the 'A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning' in Europe in 2005 to promote sustainability in the cleaning and maintenance products industry. This Charter is a proactive programme for translating the concept of sustainable innovation into reality and actions. Per product category, life cycle assessments (LCA) are used to set sustainability criteria that are ambitious, but also achievable by all market players. This paper presents and discusses LCAs of six household detergent product categories conducted for the Charter, i.e.: manual dishwashing detergents, powder and tablet laundry detergents, window glass trigger spray cleaners, bathroom trigger spray cleaners, acid toilet cleaners, and bleach toilet cleaners. Relevant impact categories are identified, as well as the life cycle stages with the largest contribution to the environmental impact. It was concluded that the variables that mainly drive the results (i.e. the environmental hotspots) for manual dishwashing detergents and laundry detergents were the water temperature, water consumption (for manual dishwashing detergents), product dosage (for laundry detergents), and the choice and amount of surfactant. By contrast, for bathroom trigger sprays, acid and bleach toilet cleaners, the driving factors were plastic packaging, transportation to retailer, and specific ingredients. Additionally, the type of surfactant was important for bleach toilet cleaners. For window glass trigger sprays, the driving factors were the plastic packaging and the type of surfactant, and the other ingredients were of less importance. A.I.S.E. used the results of the studies to establish sustainability criteria, the so-called 'Charter Advanced Sustainability Profiles', which led to improvements in the marketplace.

  1. RECONSIDERING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Zaharia

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Development of the competitive advantage involves a considerable effort from any organization. In particular, those organizations involved in a strong competitive market require the development of strategies to allocate long-term strategic marketing resources, efficiently and with easily quantifiable results. Faced with a multitude of phenomena and processes sometimes contradictory on different markets of consumption, contemporarily marketing has the mission to develop as creative as possible the business strategy of the organizations, their capacity of interacting with customers and other categories of audience. Such concepts as strategic positioning, relational marketing, management of the relationship with the consumer, marketing integrated research, a.s.o. are only a few of the tools with the help of which the marketing managers will implement successful operational strategies. All these developments are creating a real new paradigm of Marketing aimed to better explain the new types of complex market relationship in which the 21st Century organization is .

  2. A competition for budding Spanish scientists is launched

    CERN Multimedia

    Antonella Del Rosso

    2013-01-01

    Drawing, video, photo and even a challenging news story category complete the range of options offered by the competition launched by CERN in collaboration with the “Prince of Asturias” foundation. Open to young and very young students in Spain, the first prize for six Spanish pupils of all ages will be a trip to CERN.   It's never too early to get into science. Since 1981, the Prince of Asturias Foundation has presented awards to eminent personalities in the fields of arts, communication and humanities, international cooperation, social sciences, concord, sports, literature, and technical and scientific research. CERN, Peter Higgs and François Englert are the laureates of the 2013 award in the scientific category “for the theoretical prediction and experimental detection of the Higgs boson”. CERN’s share of the prize-money associated with this prestigious prize will be partly used to run a competition for Spanish schoolch...

  3. 21 CFR 330.5 - Drug categories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Drug categories. 330.5 Section 330.5 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN...) Stimulants. (r) Antitussives. (s) Allergy treatment products. (t) Cold remedies. (u) Antirheumatic products...

  4. Production structure and international competition position of the German environmental protection economy; Produktionsstruktur und internationale Wettbewerbsposition der deutschen Umweltschutzwirtschaft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Legler, Harald; Schasse, Ulrich [Niedersaechsisches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung e.V., Hannover (Germany)

    2009-06-15

    There exists a connection between the economic structural orientation and international competitiveness on the one hand as well as the environmental political requirements on the other hand. The environmental protection economy fits quite well the profile that Germany is demanded in the international change. Under this aspect, the authors of the contribution under consideration report on the production structure and on the international competition position of the German environmental protection economy. The authors report on (a) the production structure and production dynamics of the environmental protection industry; (b) German environmental protection economy in the international comparison; (c) Goods, building works and services for environmental protection in Germany.

  5. Radiation protection in category III large gamma irradiators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa, Neivaldo; Furlan, Gilberto Ribeiro; Itepan, Natanael Marcio

    2011-01-01

    This article discusses the advantages of category III large gamma irradiator compared to the others, with emphasis on aspects of radiological protection, in the industrial sector. This category is a kind of irradiators almost unknown to the regulators authorities and the industrial community, despite its simple construction and greater radiation safety intrinsic to the model, able to maintain an efficiency of productivity comparable to those of category IV. Worldwide, there are installed more than 200 category IV irradiators and there is none of a category III irradiator in operation. In a category III gamma irradiator, the source remains fixed in the bottom of the tank, always shielded by water, negating the exposition risk. Taking into account the benefits in relation to radiation safety, the category III large irradiators are highly recommended for industrial, commercial purposes or scientific research. (author)

  6. Effectiveness of the Positioning Statement: Experimental Test on Brand Awareness in Competitive Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Barreiros Porto

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Good positioning statements have an effect on consumer brand awareness. However, the competitive context formed by the novelty of the category and the brand market structure may hinder the assimilation of positioning and its association with the pre-existing image. This study assesses the effectiveness of positioning statements in the generation of brand awareness, considering its competitive context. Using an experimental design, with a group of control, the exposure of brands and their competitive contexts were manipulated and the positioning statement remained constant for a sample of consumers. The results show the positioning statement had an effect on both assimilation of the message and valence of image association, which adds awareness for the brand, but only for the traditional category. The effectiveness on the message assimilation occurred within the weak brand and within the less known median brand. For the image valence, it occurred only between the weak brand and the strong one from the traditional category. These findings are distinct among consumer segments. The research brings up a classic theme, but presents a new methodological approach to measure the effectiveness of brand positioning.

  7. Industrial Competitiveness of Pakistan (2000-10)

    OpenAIRE

    A. R. Kemal

    2007-01-01

    Though Pakistan’s exports have increased significantly, analyses have shown that Pakistan’s industrial competitiveness is limited to a narrow range of products. This paper looks at the factors affecting Pakistan’s competitiveness ranking and relates these various factors to trends in Pakistan’s total factor productivity. In addition to looking at the components of Pakistan’s competitiveness ranking, this paper details the steps required for Pakistan to increase its global industrial competiti...

  8. Measuring on-shelf availability of FMCG products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grubor Aleksandar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Technological development and the process of globalization influence the increase of customers' awareness. In these circumstances they are becoming more demanding, expecting retailers to offer them the right product at the right time and at the right place. The result is one of the basic tasks of retailers, which reflects in providing an adequate level of product availability in retail stores. In order to prevent the stock-out situation, special attention should be dedicated to its identification and measurement. These operations are very important for establishing and implementing other various measures for increasing product availability and thus sales and competitiveness of retail companies. In this regard, besides theoretical considerations of product availability, we presented the basic methods for its measurement. Also, by using the sample of six Fast Moving Consumer goods categories, we applied the method based on the analysis of POS data. In addition to identifying the out-of-stock rates, we confirmed the results of other studies that product availability varies among different categories and retail stores.

  9. Regular and promotional sales in new product life-cycle: A competitive approach

    OpenAIRE

    Guidolin, Mariangela; Guseo, Renato; Mortarino, Cinzia

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the application of the Lotka-Volterra model with churn effects, LVch, (Guidolin and Guseo, 2015) to the case of a confectionary product produced in Italy and recently commercialized in a European country. Weekly time series, referring separately to quantities of regular and promotional sales, are available. Their joint inspection highlighted the presence of compensatory dynamics suggesting the study with the LVch to estimate whether competition between regular and p...

  10. Anaerobic biodegradability of Category 2 animal by-products: methane potential and inoculum source.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pozdniakova, Tatiana A; Costa, José C; Santos, Ricardo J; Alves, M M; Boaventura, Rui A R

    2012-11-01

    Category 2 animal by-products that need to be sterilized with steam pressure according Regulation (EC) 1774/2002 are studied. In this work, 2 sets of experiments were performed in mesophilic conditions: (i) biomethane potential determination testing 0.5%, 2.0% and 5.0% total solids (TS), using sludge from the anaerobic digester of a wastewater treatment plant as inoculum; (ii) biodegradability tests at a constant TS concentration of 2.0% and different inoculum sources (digested sludge from a wastewater treatment plant; granular sludge from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor; leachate from a municipal solid waste landfill; and sludge from the slaughterhouse wastewater treatment anaerobic lagoon) to select the more adapted inoculum to the substrate in study. The higher specific methane production was of 317 mL CH(4)g(-1) VS(substrate) for 2.0% TS. The digested sludge from the wastewater treatment plant led to the lowest lag-phase period and higher methane potential rate. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The role of grammatical category information in spoken word retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duràn, Carolina Palma; Pillon, Agnesa

    2011-01-01

    We investigated the role of lexical syntactic information such as grammatical gender and category in spoken word retrieval processes by using a blocking paradigm in picture and written word naming experiments. In Experiments 1, 3, and 4, we found that the naming of target words (nouns) from pictures or written words was faster when these target words were named within a list where only words from the same grammatical category had to be produced (homogeneous category list: all nouns) than when they had to be produced within a list comprising also words from another grammatical category (heterogeneous category list: nouns and verbs). On the other hand, we detected no significant facilitation effect when the target words had to be named within a homogeneous gender list (all masculine nouns) compared to a heterogeneous gender list (both masculine and feminine nouns). In Experiment 2, using the same blocking paradigm by manipulating the semantic category of the items, we found that naming latencies were significantly slower in the semantic category homogeneous in comparison with the semantic category heterogeneous condition. Thus semantic category homogeneity caused an interference, not a facilitation effect like grammatical category homogeneity. Finally, in Experiment 5, nouns in the heterogeneous category condition had to be named just after a verb (category-switching position) or a noun (same-category position). We found a facilitation effect of category homogeneity but no significant effect of position, which showed that the effect of category homogeneity found in Experiments 1, 3, and 4 was not due to a cost of switching between grammatical categories in the heterogeneous grammatical category list. These findings supported the hypothesis that grammatical category information impacts word retrieval processes in speech production, even when words are to be produced in isolation. They are discussed within the context of extant theories of lexical production.

  12. Teamwork in health care: opportunities for gains in quality, productivity, and competitive advantage. What works, what doesn't, and why.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montebello, A R

    1994-01-01

    Wholesale political, economic, and social change is pressuring health-care organizations to reinvent themselves as they enter a new arena of managed competition. Survival is at stake. Will belt-tightening efforts, combined with structural changes and strategic alliances, achieve the necessary improvements in efficiency and help to secure an adequate patient base? It seems reasonable to expect that health-care institutions can realize the major gains in quality, productivity, efficiency, and competitive edge that organizations in the manufacturing and service industries have enjoyed for the past several years. It seems like a logical next step for health-care organizations to deploy proven methods--such as work redesign, team-based structures, and empowered workforces--that have helped to restore competitiveness to many industrial and service firms. This article describes how to organize teams at all levels and accelerate their development to achieve important organizational objectives--such as improving quality, productivity, and efficiency--while increasing employee satisfaction. Pioneering workplace innovations are reviewed to demonstrate how high-involvement teams integrating strategic planning, research, and health-care delivery processes are not only possible but highly desirable. Enhanced quality, improved productivity, greater efficiency, and employee satisfaction all translate to an undeniable competitive advantage.

  13. National workshop on forest productivity & technology: cooperative research to support a sustainable & competitive future - progress and strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eric D. Vance

    2010-01-01

    The Agenda 2020 Program is a partnership among government agencies, the forest products industry, and academia to develop technology capable of enhancing forest productivity, sustaining environmental values, increasing energy efficiency, and improving the economic competitiveness of the United States forest sector. In November 2006, the USDA Forest Service, in...

  14. The competitiveness of metallurgy and metal products industry in Spain; La competitividad de las industrias metalurgica y de productos metalicos en Espana

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mateos Torres, C.

    2012-07-01

    This article analyzes the competitiveness of metallurgy and manufacture of metal products sectors, in which the Industrial Observatory of the Metal Sector has studied the key factors of innovation for competitiveness. It includes a reference to the competitive situation of the Spanish iron and steel industry. Furthermore, the investments carried out by both sectors under the Competitiveness Promotion Programme for Strategic Industrial Sectors during the years 2009-2011 are analyzed. (Author)

  15. Competitive Effects of Mass Customization

    OpenAIRE

    Oksana Loginova

    2010-01-01

    Earlier theoretical literature on mass customization maintains that customization reduces product differentiation and intensifies price competition. In contrast, operations management studies argue that customization serves primarily to differentiate a company from its competitors. Interactive involvement of the customer in product design creates an affective relationship with the firm, relaxing price competition. This paper provides a model that incorporates consumer involvement to explain t...

  16. CO2 emission costs and Gas/Coal competition for power production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santi, Federico

    2005-01-01

    This paper demonstrates how a CO 2 emission reduction programme can change the competition between the two power production technologies which will probably dominate the future of the Italian power industry: the coal fired USC steam power plant and the natural gas fired CCGT power plant. An economic value of the CO 2 emission is calculated, in order to make the short-run-marginal-cost (or the long-run-marginal-cost). equal for both technologies, under a CO 2 emission trading scheme and following a single-plant specific CO 2 emission homogenizing approach [it

  17. Tensor categories and the mathematics of rational and logarithmic conformal field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Yi-Zhi; Lepowsky, James

    2013-01-01

    We review the construction of braided tensor categories and modular tensor categories from representations of vertex operator algebras, which correspond to chiral algebras in physics. The extensive and general theory underlying this construction also establishes the operator product expansion for intertwining operators, which correspond to chiral vertex operators, and more generally, it establishes the logarithmic operator product expansion for logarithmic intertwining operators. We review the main ideas in the construction of the tensor product bifunctors and the associativity isomorphisms. For rational and logarithmic conformal field theories, we review the precise results that yield braided tensor categories, and in the rational case, modular tensor categories as well. In the case of rational conformal field theory, we also briefly discuss the construction of the modular tensor categories for the Wess–Zumino–Novikov–Witten models and, especially, a recent discovery concerning the proof of the fundamental rigidity property of the modular tensor categories for this important special case. In the case of logarithmic conformal field theory, we mention suitable categories of modules for the triplet W-algebras as an example of the applications of our general construction of the braided tensor category structure. (review)

  18. Structure and content of competitive group compositions in sports aerobics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tetiana Moshenska

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to make the analysis of modern competitive group compositions in sports aerobics. Material & Methods: pedagogical, sociological and methods of mathematical statistics were used. 10 coaches took part in the experimental part; analysis of protocols and video records of competitions of the aged category of children of 9–11 years old, who perform in the nomination of triplets and quintuples (group exercises, is carried out. Results: the content of competitive compositions and the allocated indicators are studied which defined it. Conclusions: the basic structural elements, which characterize competitive compositions, are allocated. Their components, quantity and time of performance are defined. It is established that variety of aerobic contents, spaces, and means of registration, musical compliance and logicality of creation of the whole competitive composition at high quality of performance characterizes teams – winners.

  19. Large-scale weakly supervised object localization via latent category learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong Wang; Kaiqi Huang; Weiqiang Ren; Junge Zhang; Maybank, Steve

    2015-04-01

    Localizing objects in cluttered backgrounds is challenging under large-scale weakly supervised conditions. Due to the cluttered image condition, objects usually have large ambiguity with backgrounds. Besides, there is also a lack of effective algorithm for large-scale weakly supervised localization in cluttered backgrounds. However, backgrounds contain useful latent information, e.g., the sky in the aeroplane class. If this latent information can be learned, object-background ambiguity can be largely reduced and background can be suppressed effectively. In this paper, we propose the latent category learning (LCL) in large-scale cluttered conditions. LCL is an unsupervised learning method which requires only image-level class labels. First, we use the latent semantic analysis with semantic object representation to learn the latent categories, which represent objects, object parts or backgrounds. Second, to determine which category contains the target object, we propose a category selection strategy by evaluating each category's discrimination. Finally, we propose the online LCL for use in large-scale conditions. Evaluation on the challenging PASCAL Visual Object Class (VOC) 2007 and the large-scale imagenet large-scale visual recognition challenge 2013 detection data sets shows that the method can improve the annotation precision by 10% over previous methods. More importantly, we achieve the detection precision which outperforms previous results by a large margin and can be competitive to the supervised deformable part model 5.0 baseline on both data sets.

  20. Improving the composition of voluntary programs in the category of Women in fitness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iryna Bilenka

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: to reveal the basic directions of perfection of construction of compositions of voluntary programs in the category of Women in fitness. Material & Methods: judges-experts analyzed the structure and content of voluntary competitive programs of performances of six female athletes'-finalists of the championship of Ukraine on bodybuilding and fitness in 2016. Results: voluntary programs include elements of structural groups of varying complexity: "acrobatic", "choreographic", "strength" and "flexibility"; female athletes with better indicators in the quantitative analysis of competitive compositions received higher grades for performance; the results of athletes for an arbitrary program are directly proportional to the number of complex elements in the composition. Conclusions: in an voluntary program in women's fitness for a competitive result affects the saturation of the program, the variety and complexity of the elements.

  1. Learning from Toyota: How Action Learning Can Foster Competitive Advantage in New Product Development (NPD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, Barbara

    2007-01-01

    New product development and commercialization are essential to entrepreneurial growth and international competitiveness. Excellence in this area is strongly supported by individual and organizational learning efforts. By analyzing how Japanese car manufacturer Toyota organizes learning, this paper evaluates the potential of action learning to…

  2. An imperialist competitive algorithm for solving the production scheduling problem in open pit mine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mojtaba Mokhtarian Asl

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Production scheduling (planning of an open-pit mine is the procedure during which the rock blocks are assigned to different production periods in a way that the highest net present value of the project achieved subject to operational constraints. The paper introduces a new and computationally less expensive meta-heuristic technique known as imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA for long-term production planning of open pit mines. The proposed algorithm modifies the original rules of the assimilation process. The ICA performance for different levels of the control factors has been studied and the results are presented. The result showed that ICA could be efficiently applied on mine production planning problem.

  3. Characterizing Product Lifecycle in Online Marketing: Sales, Trust, Revenue, and Competition Modeling

    OpenAIRE

    C, Santosh K; Mukherjee, Arjun

    2017-01-01

    Recent researches have seen an upsurge in the analysis of consumer reviews. Although, several dimensions have been explored, less is known on the temporal dynamics of events that happen over the lifecycle of online products. What are the dominant sales patterns? How are they affected by review count, rating, helpfulness and sentiment? How is trust characterized and what are its effects on sales and revenue? What happens during a market competition? When does a takeover/recovery happen and by ...

  4. Intensity of competition in the market of greenhouse vegetables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Ivanovich Botkin

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews the competitive environment of the market greenhouse vegetables. Revealed specific features of the industry, determining the level of intensity of competition in the market greenhouse vegetables. Classified factors internal and external environment, identify indicators that affect the state of the market. The factors that determine the intensity of competition in the market greenhouse vegetables.The main competitors on the Russian market of greenhouse production.Identified indicators of the intensity level of competition, in particular: the level of monopolization of the market greenhouse vegetables, the level of concentration of production in the industry, the generalized index of the intensity of the competitive environment.Shows a comparative analysis of competitors’ market greenhouse vegetables in Udmurtia.Revealed competitive advantages which can help local producers to reduce the pressure of competition and intra-industry to occupy a leading position in the Russian market of greenhouse vegetable production.The dynamics of economic performance of Russian producers. Ways of improving the competitiveness of enterprises for the production of greenhouse vegetables

  5. Attentional Bias in Human Category Learning: The Case of Deep Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanson, Catherine; Caglar, Leyla Roskan; Hanson, Stephen José

    2018-01-01

    . Third, we show that even BP can exhibit human like learning differences between integral and separable category structures when high dimensional stimuli (face exemplars) are used. We conclude, after visualizing the hidden unit representations, that DL appears to extend initial learning due to feature development thereby reducing destructive feature competition by incrementally refining feature detectors throughout later layers until a tipping point (in terms of error) is reached resulting in rapid asymptotic learning.

  6. Attentional Bias in Human Category Learning: The Case of Deep Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Hanson

    2018-04-01

    structures. Third, we show that even BP can exhibit human like learning differences between integral and separable category structures when high dimensional stimuli (face exemplars are used. We conclude, after visualizing the hidden unit representations, that DL appears to extend initial learning due to feature development thereby reducing destructive feature competition by incrementally refining feature detectors throughout later layers until a tipping point (in terms of error is reached resulting in rapid asymptotic learning.

  7. The Instrumentarium for Providing the Competitiveness of Exports of the Food Industry Products of Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tunitska Julia M.

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at analyzing the dynamics, structure, and problems of the innovation development of the food industry and substantiating the directions of its intensification as a factor in the development of a competitive exports of Ukrainian food products. The article carries out a detailed analysis of the dynamics and structure of the innovation activity of Ukrainian food industry in the period from 2007 to 2015, in particular the characteristics of its resource and innovation provision. The performance level of productive-economic activities of the economic entities, the destabilizing factors impeding the innovation development of the national food industry, and the nature of formation of its technological infrastructure have been determined. A set of measures has been proposed to accelerate the innovation development of the food industry at the meso- and macro levels. For further research, enhanced studies on substantiating the methodology for estimating and forecasting the competitiveness of the food industry at the international level would be prospective.

  8. Knowledge-based competitiveness indices and its connection with energy indices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katić Andrea V.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge-based economy has become a major trend in international society in the 21st century. However, today’s strategies place a greater emphasis on sustainability than in the past, while continuing to emphasize the importance of education and its connection with labour market. There has been a re-orientation, where resource, eco-efficiency and innovation have become major elements for achieving national objectives and a relevant level of competitiveness. This article deals with 30 indices, which define the competitiveness of a specific economy, and involve knowledge parameters. They are classified into four main categories and one special category. They are then analysed regarding the participation of Serbia and their availability. The main focus of this paper is to give detailed analyses of energy indices, as a special category of knowledge indexes. It has been shown that Serbia, in many cases, was not included in the study analysis or that there was insufficient information about Serbia’s position. This article shows that only a part of the presented indices includes Serbia. It is concluded that a new, revised model is needed that will include more exact indicators.

  9. PLACEBO EFFECTS IN COMPETITIVE SPORT: QUALITATIVE DATA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher J. Beedie

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines the placebo effect in sports performance. The possibility that the placebo effect is a more common phenomenon than the quantity of published research would suggest is briefly addressed. It is suggested that the placebo control design often used in sports performance research masks any placebo effects and thus presents a false picture of the mechanisms underlying performance-enhancing interventions in the real world. An electronic survey was sent to 48 competitive, international and professional athletes. Questions related to the placebo effect in competitive sport. Thirty responses were received. Data indicate that the majority (97% of respondents believe that the placebo effect can exert an influence on sports performance, and that a significant number (73% have experienced what they defined as a placebo effect. Inductive content analysis reveals that these experiences fall into several categories such as explicit placebo effects, inadvertent false beliefs, ritual and reverse placebo effects. Furthermore, 10 respondents (33% offer explanations as to the nature of the placebo effect. Again, inductive content analysis reveals that these explanations fall into several categories including deliberate changes in competitive strategy, belief/expectancy, faith in a third party, and marketing. Overall, responses support previous experimental research and anecdotal reports that have found a relationship between belief and sports performance. It is suggested that further research be structured to not simply control for the placebo effect, but to elucidate it

  10. The fight between store brands and national brands: What's the score?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juhl, Hans Jørn; Esbjerg, Lars; Grunert, Klaus G.

    2006-01-01

    In the Western world market shares for store brands have increased across all product categories. The competitive position of store brands compared to national brands may depend on the product category and a retail chain's overall brand assortment strategy. In order to investigate these possible...... chain and category effects we have selected five chains with different store brand strategies and three product categories that differ with respect to the number of strong national brands in a category. The results we report focus on the competitive position of store brands compared to national brands...... from a consumer point of view. We find that store brands are in a weak competitive position compared to national brands independent of category and retail chain brand assortment strategy....

  11. Feature-Based versus Category-Based Induction with Uncertain Categories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Oren; Hayes, Brett K.; Newell, Ben R.

    2012-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that when feature inferences have to be made about an instance whose category membership is uncertain, feature-based inductive reasoning is used to the exclusion of category-based induction. These results contrast with the observation that people can and do use category-based induction when category membership is…

  12. Design of Product Placement Layout In Retail Shop Using Market Basket Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isti Surjandari

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Retailing is an industry with high level of competition.  It is a customer-based industry which depends on how it could be aware of what the customers' needs and requirements are. One technique most used in supermarkets is the mix merchandise. The purpose of this paper is to identify associated products, which then grouped in mix merchandise with the use of market basket analysis. This association between products then will be applied in the design layout of the product in the supermarket. The process of identifying the related products bought together in one transaction is done by using data mining  technique. Apriori algorithm is chosen as a method in the data mining process. Using WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis software, the association rule between products is calculated. The results found five category association rules and fourteen sub-category association rules. These associations then will be interpreted as confidence and support to become consideration for the product layout.

  13. Placebo effects in competitive sport: qualitative data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beedie, Christopher J

    2007-01-01

    The paper examines the placebo effect in sports performance. The possibility that the placebo effect is a more common phenomenon than the quantity of published research would suggest is briefly addressed. It is suggested that the placebo control design often used in sports performance research masks any placebo effects and thus presents a false picture of the mechanisms underlying performance-enhancing interventions in the real world. An electronic survey was sent to 48 competitive, international and professional athletes. Questions related to the placebo effect in competitive sport. Thirty responses were received. Data indicate that the majority (97%) of respondents believe that the placebo effect can exert an influence on sports performance, and that a significant number (73%) have experienced what they defined as a placebo effect. Inductive content analysis reveals that these experiences fall into several categories such as explicit placebo effects, inadvertent false beliefs, ritual and reverse placebo effects. Furthermore, 10 respondents (33%) offer explanations as to the nature of the placebo effect. Again, inductive content analysis reveals that these explanations fall into several categories including deliberate changes in competitive strategy, belief/expectancy, faith in a third party, and marketing. Overall, responses support previous experimental research and anecdotal reports that have found a relationship between belief and sports performance. It is suggested that further research be structured to not simply control for the placebo effect, but to elucidate it. Key pointsA survey of 30 athletes revealed that 73% have experienced a placebo effect in sport.Athletes suggest several potential explanations for these effects.Findings support the idea that placebo effects might be common in sport.Researchers and practitioners should be aware of the possible impact of these effects on research findings and competitive performance.

  14. Firms’ behavior in conditions of imperfect competitive environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ján Kantor

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the analysis of market structure on the imperfect competitive market, measuring market power, its effect on the price of products and reasons for origin of imperfect competition at the market. Described are the market conditions issues and possibilities of their manufacturing influence on the market price with graphical expressions. Prices are higher and capacity of production is lower. It characterizes monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. With its content it expresses, that imperfect competitive environment differs from perfect competition environment disparity of demand curve and in the market economics it has a more frequent application.

  15. Costing and competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, K; Brignall, S

    1994-01-01

    Working for patients established a new system of contracts between providers and purchasers of healthcare, with prices based on full costs, avoiding cross-subsidization. The new regime necessitates greatly improved costing systems, to improve the efficiency of service provision by creating price competition between providers. Ken Bates and Stan Brignall argue that non-price competition also occurs, with providers 'differentiating' on quality of service/product, flexibility or innovation.

  16. 1999 who's who category index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    A classified index and alphabetical directory of Canadian corporate entities involved in the production, manufacturing, conversion, service, retail sales, research and development, transportation, insurance, legal and communications aspects of propane in Canada is provided. The alphabetical directory section provides the usual business information (name, postal address, phone, fax, e-mail and Internet addresses), names of principal officers, affiliations, products or services produced or marketed, and the category under which the company is listed in the classified index

  17. Product Differentiation and Brand Competition in the Italian Breakfast Cereal Market: a Distance Metric Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Sckokai

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This article employs a nation-wide sample of supermarket scanner data to study product and brand competition in the Italian breakfast cereal market. A modified Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS, that includes Distance Metrics (DMs as proposed by Pinkse, Slade and Brett (2002, is estimated to study demand responses, substitution patterns, own-price and cross-price elasticities. Estimation results provide evidence of some degree of brand loyalty, while consumers do not seem loyal to the product type. Elasticity estimates point out the presence of patterns of substitution within products sharing the same brand and similar nutritional characteristics.

  18. The representation of grammatical categories in the brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, Kevin; Caramazza, Alfonso

    2003-05-01

    Language relies on the rule-based combination of words with different grammatical properties, such as nouns and verbs. Yet most research on the problem of word retrieval has focused on the production of concrete nouns, leaving open a crucial question: how is knowledge about different grammatical categories represented in the brain, and what components of the language production system make use of it? Drawing on evidence from neuropsychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging, we argue that information about a word's grammatical category might be represented independently of its meaning at the levels of word form and morphological computation.

  19. Feasibility and Competitiveness of the Further Nuclear Energy Production in Lithuania

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gylys, S.; Ziedelis, S.; Klevas, V.

    2006-01-01

    The newest results gained during analysis of perspectives and technical - economical conditions of nuclear energy usage continuation in Lithuania are presented. After the compulsory premature closure of Ignalina NPP the negative power balance and the shortage of power generating capacity can emerge in the energy sector of Lithuania. This problem can arise already in 2010. Depending on rate of growth of economy the extent of shortage of power generating capacity can range from -50 MW to -583 MW with evident trend for further growing. The positive power balance could be restored if new nuclear power plant (NPP) or new combined cycle gas turbine power plants (CCGT PP) are erected. Feasibility and competitiveness of the new NPP and CCGT PP are compared, analysed and evaluated. Analysis is performed taking into account volume of investments for construction, level of discount rate, forecast of changes of the price of primary energy sources, possible loading level of a new power plant. At the case of low plant loading level (7000 hours per year) the electricity production costs are almost the same for NPP and for CCGT PP. However, increasing the plant's loading level up to 8000 hours per year changes the ratio of electricity production costs to positive for NPP. Comparison of expenses for fuel and total expenses shows unchallenged priority of NPP against CCGT PP. Estimating the forthcoming inevitable growth of price for natural gas, economic advantage of nuclear energy production seems to be obvious. The future energy balance for Baltic states, NORDEL countries, Germany and Russia is also analysed. Deficit of electricity is foreseen in Baltic states and NORDEL countries already after 2007, in Russia - after 2010. Even Central and South European countries (especially those, which are planning to cancel usage of nuclear energy) are forecasting shortage of electricity in 2015 - 2020 years. Such situation in European energy market could be treated as additional argument for

  20. Land use competition for production of food and liquid biofuels. An analysis of the arguments in the current debate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rathmann, Regis; Szklo, Alexandre; Schaeffer, Roberto [Energy Planning Program, Graduate School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Tecnologia, Bloco C, Sala 211, Cidade Universitaria, Ilha do Fundao, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-972 (Brazil)

    2010-01-15

    This article analyses the current state of the debate over competition for land use, by means of an index of the main arguments in favor and against the production of liquid biofuels and the impacts on food production. Based on this index, an analytic framework is constructed to establish the causal relations indicated by the existing studies on this competition. We find that the emergence of agro-energy has altered the land use dynamic, albeit not yet significantly, with a shift of areas traditionally used to grow foods over to crops to produce biofuels. This has been contributing to raise food prices in the short run. However, it is probable that this is not the only factor determining this trend, nor will it last over the long run. The challenge is to conciliate the production of biofuels with the production of foods in sustainable form. (author)

  1. COMPETITIVENESS OF UKRAINIAN FOOD ENTERPRISES. FEATURES OF ASSESSMENT.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Stasiukova

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Competitiveness of a product is a main factor for its commercial success in the market with a largenumber of manufacturers of similar products. The article describes features of assessment and analysis offood enterprises products. It offers an evaluation algorithm and the ways of competitiveness improvement.

  2. Performance Aspects and Physiological Responses in Male Amateur Boxing Competitions: A Brief Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slimani, Maamer; Chaabène, Helmi; Davis, Philip; Franchini, Emerson; Cheour, Foued; Chamari, Karim

    2017-04-01

    Slimani, M, Chaabène, H, Davis, P, Franchini, E, Cheour, F, and Chamari, K. Performance aspects and physiological responses in male amateur boxing competitions: a brief review. J Strength Cond Res 31(4): 1132-1141, 2017-Boxing is one of the most popular striking combat sports in the world. The aim of this review was to present data concerning performance analysis (time-motion and technical-tactical analysis) and physiological responses (i.e., blood lactate concentration [BLC], heart rate, and oxygen consumption) during novice and elite male simulated and official amateur boxing competitions in any age category. The present review shows that boxing competition is a high-intensity intermittent striking combat sport. Typically, the activity-to-rest ratio was higher in elite (18:1) than in novice (9:1) boxers and significant differences were observed between rounds (first round = 16:1, second round = 8:1, and third round = 6:1) in novice boxers. Thus, total stop-time and total stop-frequency increased over subsequent rounds in novice boxers. The technical-tactical aspects in elite and novice boxing bouts were different between rounds and dependent on the match outcome (i.e., winners vs. losers). Particularly, the current review highlights that triple-punch combinations, total combinations, block- and counter-punch combinations, total punches to the head, technical performance effectiveness, and defensive- and offensive-skills effectiveness may have contributed to win in novice and elite boxing competitions. Higher frequencies of technical movements were also observed in elite compared with novice boxers. From a physiological point of view, BLC increased significantly from postround 1 compared with postround 3 in novice boxing match. BLC was also higher in official than in simulated elite boxing matches in senior compared with junior boxers and in medium heavy-weight category compared with light- and medium-weight categories in junior boxing competition. A higher

  3. THE MARKETING ROLE IN IMPROVING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuliia Shapoval

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The research objective is the sight of theoretical aspects formulation and prediction of competitiveness of regions within the framework of modern marketing positions. The evolution, programs, strategies, and factors of marketing are analysed, which affects the attractiveness of the regions. Methodology. In the study process, a combination of the following methods is used: generalization and scientific abstraction to specify the key definitions and categories, monographic method – for presenting the opinion of scientists regarding the directions of application of marketing tools in the process of managing the competitiveness of regions, comparative analysis – to detect features of application programs and marketing strategies. Results. It is considered that regional marketing is a mechanism that provides a methodology and tools for ensuring the competitiveness of the territory. It allows determining the marketing type of territorial management, which is formed not from the wishes of the authorities (for example, in search for funds for the implementation of certain projects, but from the study of the needs of consumers (entrepreneurs, local residents, investors, tourists, which the territory has the opportunity to satisfy; analyse the market opportunities and determine the competitive advantages of the territory, as well as influence the sustainable economic growth. It is determined that the competitiveness of the region is defined as a potential opportunity to win in a competition between territories for the benefits that satisfy needs and are distributed among the population and business entities that identify themselves with the region, as well as visitors who have certain intentions in this region. In fact, we are talking about the choice of priorities, in which this territory has competitive advantages, the raise of which can lead to heightening living standards, which is an indicator of the competitiveness of the region. The practical

  4. Assessing Competition in Philippine Markets

    OpenAIRE

    Aldaba, Rafaelita M.

    2008-01-01

    This paper reviews the current empirical literature on competition and market structure of Philippine industries. It shows that weak competition is one of the fundamental factors that explain limited growth, productivity, and employment in the economy. Philippine experience has shown that reforms such as trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization, while necessary, are not sufficient to foster effective competition. The success of these reforms depends on the creation of a competiti...

  5. PREREQUISITES FOR CREATING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN NATURE PARKS THROUGH DIFFERENTIATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vesna Vučemilović

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Differentiation is a way for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage or achieving a market position which enables companies to satisfy customers’ needs better than the competition. Differentiation can manifest itself through four dimensions: product, services, personnel and image. Nature parks, national parks, strict reserves and special reserves are categories of protected areas of national importance. Nature parks and national parks have exceptional potential for visiting system development, but are also responsible for the management of these activities. There are numerous nature protection restrictions arising from legislation and management documents. The principal task is to protect and preserve the natural and landscape values and ecological characteristics. Creating and realizing visiting activities as a part of tourist services supplied trough Public institutions are also specific. These services must be differentiated on the market in relation to the competition. Income generated from tourist services in the income structure of nature parks, will be even more important in the future, because of self-financing development and central budget dependency reduction. It must be emphasized that nature parks help the larger community through development of complementary economic activities. This paper is based on market research conducted in the period from 16 May to 10 June 2016 in Nature Park Kopački rit, which is one of the most visited nature parks in the Republic of Croatia. A poll survey was carried out among 300 randomly selected visitors. The research results may be used for policy suggestions for how to create adequate products, services and promotional activities, ensure quality education for visitors about natural, historical and cultural protected area values and minimize visitors’ impact on natural resources.

  6. Current and future competitiveness of bioenergy - Conceptions about competitiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ling, E.; Lundgren, K.; Maartensson, Kjell

    1998-01-01

    It is important to visualize the conceptions that guide the behaviour of the actors within the energy system to be able to, in an efficient manner, increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix. A major issue is to elucidate explicit and implicit presumptions within judgements on the competitiveness of bioenergy. This study focuses on how conceptions of bioenergy in the form of patterns of thinking, influence whether bioenergy can become competitive. The aim of the study is to develop a framework that will enable an increased understanding of the competitiveness of bioenergy today and in the future. The conceptions that the actors of the energy system uphold are studied and analysed. The conceptions of the actors are seen as key factors for the understanding of the function of the energy system and accordingly also for the understanding of the competitiveness of bioenergy. The over-all method perspective in the study is an actor approach. The actors' conceptions have been identified from interviews with 30 significant actors within the energy system. The material from the interviews has been synthesised into nine ideal types of actors. These nine 'model actors' are seen as representing the whole material and form the basis for the further analysis of the competitiveness of bioenergy as depending on patterns of thinking called logics. Three idealized logics are developed. The three logics developed in the study are production logic, market logic and socio-economic logic. (Upholders of the logics rank energy sources after production cost, profitability, and socio-economic legitimacy, respectively.) The logics co-exist within the different parts of the energy system. A single person can even uphold more than one logic. The three logics have however different weight in different organisations and in different parts of the energy system. Finally, the study proposes an enlarged description of the competitiveness of bioenergy in three dimensions: price

  7. THE COMPETITIVENESS OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PRUNEA ANA

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The role of this paper is to highlight the position of the European players in the textile market and the challenges to which they are subjected. In this paper are presented ways, taking the „diamond" model of M. Porter and are adapted to the situation of the textile market. These adaptations have outlined the main existing problems and the possible solutions that can ensure the long-term competitive advantage. Gaining a competitive advantage based on innovation, the development of production and outsourcing strategies using the "diamond" model of M. Porter, we can say that is one of the viable solutions for gaining competitive advantages necessary for proper European companies to face competition from countries outside Europe. As developing countries do not meet certain environmental standards or norms of European law, but in terms of product innovation and development of new materials, they do not have the necessity for technology. We conducted an analysis of the factors that play a key role in the production of textiles, representing how they are used in the favor of European companies such investments to be supplemented can be found in how these factors act on the total costs.

  8. Data-driven battery product development: Turn battery performance into a competitive advantage.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sholklapper, Tal [Voltaiq, Inc.

    2016-04-19

    Poor battery performance is a primary source of user dissatisfaction across a broad range of applications, and is a key bottleneck hindering the growth of mobile technology, wearables, electric vehicles, and grid energy storage. Engineering battery systems is difficult, requiring extensive testing for vendor selection, BMS programming, and application-specific lifetime testing. This work also generates huge quantities of data. This presentation will explain how to leverage this data to help ship quality products faster using fewer resources while ensuring safety and reliability in the field, ultimately turning battery performance into a competitive advantage.

  9. Competitiveness analysis on the grounds of information from the annual financial statements of the enterprise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivanova Rositsa

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Competitiveness is a category which is innate in every economic subject. It shows itself in the conditions of market competition. Between competition and competitiveness objectively exist mutual relations and dependence. The presence of competition is a prerequisite for rise of competitiveness and for its manifestation in the real business. In the scientific literature, there is no synonymous definition of the nature of competitiveness. This paper represents an attempt at systematization of the views on this scientific issue. The methodology and the methods of competitiveness analysis should be based on a system of methods. The purpose of this paper is to present possibilities for use of information from the annual financial statements of the enterprises for analysis of their competitiveness by taking into consideration the legislative decisions and the specific business conditions in the Republic of Bulgaria. .

  10. The modality-specific organization of grammatical categories: evidence from impaired spoken and written sentence production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rapp, B; Caramazza, A

    1997-02-01

    We describe the case of a brain-damaged individual whose speech is characterized by difficulty with practically all words except for elements of the closed class vocabulary. In contrast, his written sentence production exhibits a complementary impairment involving the omission of closed class vocabulary items and the relative sparing of nouns. On the basis of these differences we argue: (1) that grammatical categories constitute an organizing parameter of representation and/or processing for each of the independent, modality-specific lexicons, and (2) that these observations contribute to the growing evidence that access to the orthographic and phonological forms of words can occur independently.

  11. Economic requirements for competitive laser fusion power production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hogan, W.J.; Meier, W.R.

    1986-01-01

    An economic model of a laser fusion commercial power plant is used to identify the design and operating regimes of the driver, target and reaction chamber that will result in economic competitiveness with future fission and coal plants. The authors find that, for a plant with a net power of 1 GW/sub e/, the cost of the driver must be less than $0.4 to 0.6 B, and the recirculating power fraction must be less than 25%. Target gain improvements at low driver energy are the most beneficial but also the most difficult to achieve. The optimal driver energy decreases with increasing target technology. The sensitivity of the cost of electricity to variations in cost and performance parameters decreases with increasing target technology. If chamber pulse rates of a few Hz can be achieved, then gains of 80-100 are sufficient, and higher pulse rates do not help much. Economic competitiveness becomes more difficult with decreasing plant size. Finally, decreasing the cost of the balance of plant has the greatest beneficial effect on economic competitiveness

  12. Procedural-Based Category Learning in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: Impact of Category Number and Category Continuity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Vincent eFiloteo

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Previously we found that Parkinson's disease (PD patients are impaired in procedural-based category learning when category membership is defined by a nonlinear relationship between stimulus dimensions, but these same patients are normal when the rule is defined by a linear relationship (Filoteo et al., 2005; Maddox & Filoteo, 2001. We suggested that PD patients' impairment was due to a deficit in recruiting ‘striatal units' to represent complex nonlinear rules. In the present study, we further examined the nature of PD patients' procedural-based deficit in two experiments designed to examine the impact of (1 the number of categories, and (2 category discontinuity on learning. Results indicated that PD patients were impaired only under discontinuous category conditions but were normal when the number of categories was increased from two to four. The lack of impairment in the four-category condition suggests normal integrity of striatal medium spiny cells involved in procedural-based category learning. In contrast, and consistent with our previous observation of a nonlinear deficit, the finding that PD patients were impaired in the discontinuous condition suggests that these patients are impaired when they have to associate perceptually distinct exemplars with the same category. Theoretically, this deficit might be related to dysfunctional communication among medium spiny neurons within the striatum, particularly given that these are cholinergic neurons and a cholinergic deficiency could underlie some of PD patients’ cognitive impairment.

  13. Socio-Cultural Factors and International Competitiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madara Apsalone

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Socio-cultural factors – shared values, norms and attitudes are significant, but less acknowledged sources of international competitiveness. Previous studies have found socio-cultural factors positively affecting various aspects of international competitiveness – entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity and international cooperation. These factors are more sustainable and less affected by external environment changes in comparison with the traditional factors. Socio-cultural factors provide an opportunity to develop competitiveness strategies based on unique advantages. This research aims to explore the impact of socio-cultural factors on international competiveness in small, open economies. Analysing relationship between 400 socio-cultural indicators and competitiveness indicators such as productivity, economic development, business and government efficiency, innovation capacity and infrastructure in 37 countries, six socio-cultural factors have emerged: Collectivism and Hierarchy; Future, Cooperation and Performance Orientation, Self-expression, Monochronism and Rationality, Economic Orientation and Social structure. The first factor – Collectivism and Hierarchy – tends to reduce the international competitiveness; the other five affect it positively.

  14. Contested Categories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Drawing on social science perspectives, Contested Categories presents a series of empirical studies that engage with the often shifting and day-to-day realities of life sciences categories. In doing so, it shows how such categories remain contested and dynamic, and that the boundaries they create...

  15. EC Competition law and environmental protection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rantala, M.

    1996-12-31

    Due to the increasing attention paid on environmental protection, by the European Community, the Member States and the consumers, undertakings are forced to adjust their policies to meet the new demands posed by public authorities and the market. This has an inevitable impact on competition. No matter how acceptable the goals were, the means are to be assessed also from the competition law point of view. The objective of this study is to analyze the situations where conflicts may take place, the main sources of research being the principles of law relating to the Treaty ,the judgements of the European Court of Justice, the Commission Decisions and other official documents of the Community as well as legal literature. This study classifies the Community and Member State instruments which are used for environmental protection into four categories. These are legislative, market-based, horizontal and financial supporting instruments. Undertakings` environmental practices, which are capable of affecting competition, are examined under Articles 85 and 86 EC, some attention being paid also to Article 90 EC. The touching points of competition policy and environmental protection in such cases are scrutinized under three headings. These are the two, in this case, most relevant public instruments, ie. legislative and market-based measures, and the voluntary actions of undertakings. (42 refs.)

  16. 39 CFR 3.9 - Establishment of rates and classes of competitive products of general applicability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Establishment of rates and classes of competitive products of general applicability. 3.9 Section 3.9 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE THE BOARD OF... demonstrating compliance with the standards of 39 U.S.C. 3633(a). (b) Pursuant to § 6.6(f) of these bylaws, the...

  17. MEASURING COMPETITIVENESS OF ECONOMIC ENTITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MUNGIU-PUPĂZAN MARIANA CLAUDIA

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available A competitive structure of a national economy is influenced by the competitiveness of each of the actors made the national economy. In other words, to achieve competitive economic structure shall contribute all sectors of the national economy and hence all branches of the national economy, all organizations within each branch. Thus, the productive sectors of the economy contribute by increasing their competitiveness, GDP growth, added value, while other branches making a contribution through activity, increased quality of life (health, culture, social in training skilled labor (education to ensure effective functioning of the judiciary, protection of private property and citizen safety, lower crime rate (police, reducing the risk of political instability, increasing social cohesion, social disparities (richness and extreme poverty, and discrimination against women and minority groups. Human resources are probably the most important factor determining the competitiveness of an area. The ability of a country to move up the value chain is closely related to human resource capability. In understanding the competitive evaluation is important to assess not only in terms of education, improvement, skills and work experience, but also in terms of other attributes, more difficult to measure, as entrepreneurial relationships, creativity and risk tolerance. Secondly, we must accept that individual productivity is determined by external factors. Latent potential of the individual can develop when the person moves to another environment that provides better and more opportunities. Currently structural changes to remain competitive obtaining essential parameters of the Romanian economy to cope with competitive pressures of the single European market.

  18. Duopoly price competition on markets with agricultural products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Prášilová

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A situation, in which two firms compete, is in the economic theory described by duopoly models. Market equilibrium on the duopoly market is formed in a reciprocal adjustment process of market prices and materialized market opportunities. The goal of the analysis is to find out whether the agricultural products market is significantly influenced by appearance of duopolies, what form they have and if they can fundamentally influence the price level of food. That food chain stores endeavour to mutually adapt food product prices is generally known; it is set especially by the inelastic demand for the mentioned goods on the side of consumers, i.e., by the need to demand basic food. Duopoly reactions to price competition in food chain stores are particularly strong in the case of commodities of milk and tomatoes, where the reactions and approximation of prices can be clearly seen. Based on statistical research it is obvious that the reactions are most reflected on sales of the food chain stores Billa and Albert. To identify specific reactions of price duopoly at retail chains the ANOVA statistical method was used. The firm’s duopoly behaviour as such on the food market need not be a subject for applying punishment from the antimonopoly bureau, if it does not have the cartel agreement character. An example can be the identical potato prices inquiry in the supermarkets of food chain stores.

  19. Energy Production from Biogas: Competitiveness and Support Instruments in Latvia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klāvs, G.; Kundziņa, A.; Kudrenickis, I.

    2016-10-01

    Use of renewable energy sources (RES) might be one of the key factors for the triple win-win: improving energy supply security, promoting local economic development, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The authors ex-post evaluate the impact of two main support instruments applied in 2010-2014 - the investment support (IS) and the feed-in tariff (FIT) - on the economic viability of small scale (up to 2MWel) biogas unit. The results indicate that the electricity production cost in biogas utility roughly corresponds to the historical FIT regarding electricity production using RES. However, if in addition to the FIT the IS is provided, the analysis shows that the practice of combining both the above-mentioned instruments is not optimal because too high total support (overcompensation) is provided for a biogas utility developer. In a long-term perspective, the latter gives wrong signals for investments in new technologies and also creates unequal competition in the RES electricity market. To provide optimal biogas utilisation, it is necessary to consider several options. Both on-site production of electricity and upgrading to biomethane for use in a low pressure gas distribution network are simulated by the cost estimation model. The authors' estimates show that upgrading for use in a gas distribution network should be particularly considered taking into account the already existing infrastructure and technologies. This option requires lower support compared to support for electricity production in small-scale biogas utilities.

  20. Energy Production from Biogas: Competitiveness and Support Instruments in Latvia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klāvs G.

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Use of renewable energy sources (RES might be one of the key factors for the triple win-win: improving energy supply security, promoting local economic development, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The authors ex-post evaluate the impact of two main support instruments applied in 2010-2014 – the investment support (IS and the feed-in tariff (FIT – on the economic viability of small scale (up to 2MWel biogas unit. The results indicate that the electricity production cost in biogas utility roughly corresponds to the historical FIT regarding electricity production using RES. However, if in addition to the FIT the IS is provided, the analysis shows that the practice of combining both the above-mentioned instruments is not optimal because too high total support (overcompensation is provided for a biogas utility developer. In a long-term perspective, the latter gives wrong signals for investments in new technologies and also creates unequal competition in the RES electricity market. To provide optimal biogas utilisation, it is necessary to consider several options. Both on-site production of electricity and upgrading to biomethane for use in a low pressure gas distribution network are simulated by the cost estimation model. The authors’ estimates show that upgrading for use in a gas distribution network should be particularly considered taking into account the already existing infrastructure and technologies. This option requires lower support compared to support for electricity production in small-scale biogas utilities.

  1. NEW APPROACHES TO EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alina Petronela NEGREA

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The economic literature and the political discourse typically look at international competitiveness mainly by the means of export market shares. However, globalisation, production fragmentation and the growing importance of global value chains (GVCs increasingly challenge traditional approaches of export competitiveness and call for a more accurate and disaggregated level of analysis. Due to the growing fragmentation of production, a country exports now include a significant amount of imports of intermediate goods which are part of the export value. In this case, a simple analysis of the evolution of exports can distort the international competitive position of a country. The article suggests a new approach based on the value-added content of international trade measured by means of global value chain analysis.

  2. Green Power Marketing in Retail Competition: An Early Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wiser, R. (LBL); Fang, J.; Porter, K.; Houston, A. (NREL)

    1999-02-26

    Green power marketing-the business of selling electricity products or services based in part on their environmental values-is still in an early stage of development. This Topical Issues Brief presents a summary of early results with green power marketing under retail competition, covering both fully competitive markets and relevant direct access pilot programs. The brief provides an overview of green products that are or were offered, and discusses consumers' interest in these products. Critical issues that will impact the availability and success of green power products under retail competition are highlighted.

  3. Green Power Marketing in Retail Competition: An Early Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kevin Porter; Ryan Wiser

    1999-01-01

    Green power marketing-the business of selling electricity products or services based in part on their environmental values-is still in an early stage of development. This Topical Issues Brief presents a summary of early results with green power marketing under retail competition, covering both fully competitive markets and relevant direct access pilot programs. The brief provides an overview of green products that are or were offered, and discusses consumers' interest in these products. Critical issues that will impact the availability and success of green power products under retail competition are highlighted

  4. Techno-Economic Comparison of Onshore and Offshore Underground Coal Gasification End-Product Competitiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie Christine Nakaten

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Underground Coal Gasification (UCG enables the utilisation of coal reserves that are currently not economically exploitable due to complex geological boundary conditions. Hereby, UCG produces a high-calorific synthesis gas that can be used for generation of electricity, fuels and chemical feedstock. The present study aims to identify economically competitive, site-specific end-use options for onshore and offshore produced UCG synthesis gas, taking into account the capture and storage (CCS and/or utilisation (CCU of resulting CO 2 . Modelling results show that boundary conditions that favour electricity, methanol and ammonia production expose low costs for air separation, high synthesis gas calorific values and H 2 /N 2 shares as well as low CO 2 portions of max. 10%. Hereby, a gasification agent ratio of more than 30% oxygen by volume is not favourable from economic and environmental viewpoints. Compared to the costs of an offshore platform with its technical equipment, offshore drilling costs are negligible. Thus, uncertainties related to parameters influenced by drilling costs are also negligible. In summary, techno-economic process modelling results reveal that scenarios with high CO 2 emissions are the most cost-intensive ones, offshore UCG-CCS/CCU costs are twice as high as the onshore ones, and yet all investigated scenarios except from offshore ammonia production are competitive on the European market.

  5. COMPETITIVENESS - KEY ISSUES OF THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela-Liliana, CIOBAN

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Based on the theory that competitiveness plays an increasingly powerful role in creating prosperity, wealth, a large number of economists, researchers, scientists, highlight a number of approaches aimed, on the one hand, on the analysis of competitiveness at national or regional level, and on the other hand, on the ability of local firms to achieve competitive products and to commercialize them in the extern markets. In this context we aim to analyze and develop strategies and methods to help identify competitive areas at a national level. This is necessary because in our opinion the competitiveness of a company and / or country is more than wealth itself; it means a systematic process of wealth creation, plus a social system in which most citizens have access to material wealth. We consider in this respect that a country cannot automatically be considered competitive only if it is rich in natural resources. In our view, a competitive country creates wealth through labor, talent and organization and thus it manages to have a productive and creative potential making it independent of material resources.

  6. Decomposing the sales promotion bump accounting for cross-category effects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leeflang, Peter S. H.; Selva, Josefa Parreno; Wittink, Dick R.; Dijk, Albertus Alard van

    Extant research on the decomposition of unit sales bumps due to price promotions considers these effects only within a single product category. This article introduces a framework that accommodates specific cross-category effects. Empirical results based on daily data measured at the item/SKU level

  7. COMPETITIVENESS OF INDONESIAN TEA IN INTERNATIONAL MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jauhar Samudera

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Since 2000, Indonesian tea has experienced a lot of problems such as land use change of plantation, lower selling prices, and low productivity. The objectives of this study are to analyze the competitiveness of tea in Indonesia and formulate priority improvements that can support the increasing competitiveness of Indonesian tea. The methods used to analyze the competitiveness were the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA and the Export Product Dynamics (EPD, and to formulate strategies to increase competitiveness, Importance Performance Analysis (IPA was applied. Based on RCA, the types of Indonesian tea which have strong competitiveness are HS 090 210 and HS 090240. The EPD analysis showed that only tea of HS 090210 is in the rising star position, while the HS 090220, HS 090230 and HS090240 tea types are on the retreat position. Based on IPA, sub-determinants which are priority to improve are in quadrant A (under act consisting of five sub-factors, namely the availability of human resources with the capbility of production management, marketing and possess an entrepreneurial spirit; availability and ease of access to capital; strengthening of the structure of Indonesian tea agribusiness; the government policies in improving domestic demand conditions and in encouraging the development of tea processing industry.Keywords: competitiveness, tea, RCA, EPD, IPA

  8. Tracking Multiple Statistics: Simultaneous Learning of Object Names and Categories in English and Mandarin Speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chi-Hsin; Gershkoff-Stowe, Lisa; Wu, Chih-Yi; Cheung, Hintat; Yu, Chen

    2017-08-01

    Two experiments were conducted to examine adult learners' ability to extract multiple statistics in simultaneously presented visual and auditory input. Experiment 1 used a cross-situational learning paradigm to test whether English speakers were able to use co-occurrences to learn word-to-object mappings and concurrently form object categories based on the commonalities across training stimuli. Experiment 2 replicated the first experiment and further examined whether speakers of Mandarin, a language in which final syllables of object names are more predictive of category membership than English, were able to learn words and form object categories when trained with the same type of structures. The results indicate that both groups of learners successfully extracted multiple levels of co-occurrence and used them to learn words and object categories simultaneously. However, marked individual differences in performance were also found, suggesting possible interference and competition in processing the two concurrent streams of regularities. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  9. Virginia Space Grant Consortium Management of National General Aviation Design Competition

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    This report summarizes the management of the National General Aviation Design Competition on behalf of NASA, the FAA and the Air Force by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) for the time period October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001. This was the VSGC's seventh and final year of managing the Competition, which the Consortium originally designed, developed and implemented for NASA and the FAA. The competition is now being managed in-house by NASA. Awards to winning university teams were presented at a ceremony held at AirVenture 2001, the Experimental Aircraft Association's Annual Convention and Fly-In at Oshkosh, Wis. by NASA and FAA officials. The competition called for individuals or teams of undergraduate and graduate students from U.S. engineering schools to participate in a major national effort to rebuild the U.S. general aviation sector. Participants were challenged to meet the engineering goals of the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE) project. For the purpose of the contest, general aviation aircraft are typically defined as single or twin engine (turbine or piston), single-pilot, fixed-wing aircraft for 2 - 6 passengers. The competition seeks to raise student awareness of the importance of general aviation by having students address design challenges for a small aircraft transportation system. NASA, AFRL and the FAA hope to stimulate breakthroughs in technology and their application in the general aviation marketplace. National goals for revitalizing the industry offer excellent, open-ended design challenges with real world applications for the Innovative Design Category. Both individual and team submissions were encouraged. University faculty advisors and students consistently cite the value of this kind of educational experience for their engineering students. Eight proposals were submitted for the 2001 Competition for the Innovative Design Category. Eleven faculty members and 124 students participated. Since inception

  10. Towards the development of a salinity impact category for South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DRINIE

    2003-07-03

    Jul 3, 2003 ... nature from existing categories to warrant a separate salinity impact category. A conceptual method is ... compounds to the environment from all stages of a product's life- cycle are ... Marine. - Terrestrial. • Photo-oxidant formation. • Acidification .... algae. Reduced light input. Oxygen depletion near bottom.

  11. Green Product Development with Consumer Heterogeneity under Horizontal Competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bing Xu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we explore the pricing and greenness issues of two competitive firms without and with consumer heterogeneity. We derive and compare the optimal solutions and profits employed by firms under different scenarios. Then, we identify the effects of consumer heterogeneity under different competition intensities. The analytical results reveal that if market competition is at a relatively low level, we find that: (i when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is sufficiently small, more consumers have high environmental awareness, and companies easily achieve their environmental goals as well as economic goals; (ii when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is at a medium level, as the fraction of consumers with high environmental awareness increases, and the firm might achieve economic goals at the cost of reducing environmental goals; and (iii when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is at a high level, the fraction of consumers with high environmental awareness increases, but firms might have more difficulty achieving their environmental and economic goals. On the other hand, if the market competition is at a relatively high level, the presence of consumer heterogeneity can help improve environmental goals, but make achievement of economic goals difficult.

  12. 76 FR 12141 - New Postal Product and New Price Category

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-04

    ... Service will be available with Express Mail, Priority Mail and Parcel Select for commercial and online customers only. The Postal Service includes the following attachments with its Request: Attachment A... Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal Service request to add Competitive Ancillary Services to the...

  13. THE MECHANISM FOR IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY OF COMPETITIVENESS INCREASE OF THE ORGANIZATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Николай Петрович ГРИНЧЕНКО

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The mechanism of the organizational competitiveness increase, which is employed to enhance the organizational structure, has been performed in the research. The principles ensuring the product competitiveness have been pointed out. The involvement of the strategic marketing service organizational structure which aims to optimize the information flows for the development of the managerial decisions has been proved.  The generalized structure of strategic marketing services focused on medium-sized and large enterprises has been proposed. The proposed strategic marketing service develops strategic standards for all production parameters on the first stage of organizational product life cycle. Employing the innovation management methods, it prepares the exclusive values for all production parameters to turn them into an organizational competitiveness according to the following scheme: exclusive value, competitive advantages of products, competitiveness of products and organization competitiveness. Strategic Marketing Service together with top managers performs: the strategic vision and organization mission development, the tree of long-term objectives development, the strategy of the organization competitiveness improvement development, projects formation, control, and implementation. The Strategic Marketing Service Management is based on the strategic management functions implementation while performing the strategy of organizational competitiveness increase. The mechanism structure of the strategy of organizational competitiveness increase that will effectively perform the strategic management decisions and convert the exclusive values into the organizational competitiveness has been proposed.

  14. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE

    OpenAIRE

    PRUNEA Ana Daniela

    2014-01-01

    Rapid changes in market characteristics and the technological innovations are common and faster challenges, resulting in products, processes and technologies. The competitive advantage is volatile, difficult to obtain and more difficult to maintain and strengthened with consumers who through their individual choices polarization confirms the recognition performance and award competitive advantages, thus causing the competitive ranking of companies present in a particular market. The competiti...

  15. [Competition and prices in the Mexican pharmaceutical market].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molina-Salazar, Raúl E; González-Marín, Eloy; Carbajal-de Nova, Carolina

    2008-01-01

    The forms of market competition define prices. The pharmaceutical market contains submarkets with different levels of competition; on the one hand are the innovating products with patents, and on the other, generic products with or without trade names. Innovating medicines generally have monopolistic prices, but when the patents expire prices drop because of competition from therapeutic alternatives. The trade name makes it easier to maintain monopolistic prices. In Mexico, medicine prices in the private market are high--according to aggregated estimates and prices for specific medicines--which reflect the limitations of pharmaceutical market competition and the power of the trade name. The public segment enjoys competitive prices using the WHO strategy for essential medicines on the basis of the Essential List.

  16. Market responses to HMOs: price competition or rivalry?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, C G

    1988-01-01

    Although competition for consumers is increasing in the health care sector, there is disagreement about whether it is resulting in cost containment, as its supporters have argued it would. In part this stems from a confusion between price competition, which under ideal circumstances leads to the production of services at the lowest possible cost, and nonprice competition--or rivalry--which under many circumstances will lead to increased costs. In this paper, I examine the evidence about the competitive response to the growing presence of health maintenance organizations in the health care marketplace. The available evidence suggests that providers are responding not with classical cost-containing price competition but, instead, with cost-increasing rivalry, characterized by increased expenditures to promote actual or perceived product differentiation.

  17. Competitividade da cadeia produtiva da madeira de eucalipto no Brasil Competitiveness of the Brazilian eucalyptus production chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naisy Silva Soares

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral analisar a competitividade da cadeia produtiva da madeira de eucalipto no Brasil, comparando diferentes sistemas de produção, por meio da matriz de análise política (MAP. Pelos resultados, conclui-se que a lucratividade privada e social da produção e comercialização da madeira de eucalipto foi positiva e maior em áreas motomecanizáveis; os produtores brasileiros foram penalizados por políticas públicas adotadas para o setor; a produção em áreas motomecanizáveis apresentou-se mais competitiva e menos exposta aos efeitos negativos das políticas públicas; e os produtores nacionais tiveram seus lucros reduzidos.The present work aimed to analyze the competitiveness of the eucalyptus productive chain in Brazil, comparing different production systems, through a policy analysis matrix (PAM. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the private and social profitability of the production and commercialization of eucalyptus was positive and greater in flat areas; Brazilian producers were penalized by the public policies adopted for the sector; the production in flat areas was more competitive and less exposed to the negative effects of public policies; and national producers had decreased profits.

  18. University of Calgary students in 2011 solar home competition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2010-01-01

    This article described a solar home designed by University of Calgary students for the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition hosted by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The home features an Aboriginal design that will produces at least as much energy as it consumes. Designed as a collaborative project between First Nations, industry, and the University of Calgary, the entry will compete against teams from throughout the world. The entry will be judged in several categories, including architecture, engineering, affordability, and market appeal. In 2009, students from the university collaborated with other Canadian educational facilities to place sixth overall in the competition. 1 fig.

  19. Leadership vs. Management From Competitive Intelligence Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valeriu Ivan

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper brings into attention a less studies topic: the analysis and intelligence productionspecificity – as competitive intelligence process stage – given that the beneficiary is practicing classic management or leadership. The contextualization of the issue imposed us to separate the two concepts from the current debates perspective regarding the relationship between management and leadership. We did this in respect of the competition and competitiveness. Although that report is not clearly and definitively established, we tried to identify the main characteristics and essential differences in the approach of the actionable information needs. The obtained results were correlated with the competitive intelligence cycle stages, in order to identify the approach similarities and differences for each stage. Subsequently, we suggested models of possible approaches in the information analysis and intelligence production activity in order for the resulted informational product to fulfil their role as decision support in competitiveness augmenting.

  20. Third generation of Thyssen tailored tubes - a new category of tubular products

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Flehmig, T.; Brueggenbrock, M.; Kibben, M.; Schwenecke, S. [ThyssenKrupp Stahl, Duisburg (Germany)

    2005-07-01

    Further weight saving goals have prompted the automotive industry to design lighter car body structures in order to reduce fuel consumption, while maintaining the high safety standards for occupants. Body structures developed with large portions of closed profiles have a so-called ''profile intensive design.'' Particularly in the case of large scale production, it is necessary to have cost effective manufacturing methods. Therefore, production and processing require short process chains as well as the latest techniques. New forming technologies, combined with laser-beam welding and hydroforming processes is one strategy to save costs. A further way to shorten the process chain is the joining and combining of process steps at first and then later fitting the tailored tubes with the new features. The result of these efforts led to a new category of tubular products the so called ''3{sup rd} generation Thyssen Tailored Tubes {sup registered} TTT {sup registered} ''. These nearly finished parts are manufactured by a new forming technology the so called ''Thyssen Tube Curling Process''. This technique permits the direct forming from flat blanks into welded longitudinal beams, for example from the NewSteelBody {sup registered} car, without a hydroforming step, all within a single machine. The paper points out a further forming method with similar results. Compared to processes like roll or roller forming in combination with hydroforming, these new methods cause only minimal plastic strains. The paper shows some parts, manufactured by these methods. The pre-bending of Thyssen Tailored Tubes {sup registered} is also a newly developed process. (orig.)

  1. COMPETITIVENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelu Eugen POPESCU

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The current economic environment puts pressure on all national economies which struggle to improve their competitiveness and innovativeness in a sustainable way. This article aims to present the current state of the competitiveness by reviewing the main literature and worldwide researches, in order to provide a brief overview of the determinants that drive productivity and economic success at global and national level, taking into consideration the entrepreneurial activity for a country’s competitiveness and economic growth. The paper identifies the ways in which efficiency driven countries can improve their policies and get a better return on their investments, underlining a set of competitiveness enhancing policies (measures that can be implemented by public and private institutions in order to strengthen the economic fundamentals of the economies.

  2. Capital Structure, Strategic Competition, and Governance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    T.T. Nguyen (Thuy Thu)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractThis thesis consists of four studies on the interactions of capital structure and product market competition, and on several aspects of governance, firm financing and growth. The first study investigates how competitive behavior and market uncertainty affect the capital structure of a

  3. Analysis of the JSF Engine Competition

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-01

    development and planned production relative to the F136, the differences were not significant enough to saddle the F136 with a competitive disadvantage ... disadvantage of the F136 at the first competitive lot to be smaller than those calculated for earlier successful competition programs. Once we...SDD contracts by evaluating F135 and F136 schedule projections  Focused on Initial Flight Release ( IFR ) and Initial Service Release (ISR

  4. The evolution of siderophore production as a competitive trait.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niehus, Rene; Picot, Aurore; Oliveira, Nuno M; Mitri, Sara; Foster, Kevin R

    2017-06-01

    Microbes have the potential to be highly cooperative organisms. The archetype of microbial cooperation is often considered to be the secretion of siderophores, molecules scavenging iron, where cooperation is threatened by "cheater" genotypes that use siderophores without making them. Here, we show that this view neglects a key piece of biology: siderophores are imported by specific receptors that constrain their use by competing strains. We study the effect of this specificity in an ecoevolutionary model, in which we vary siderophore sharing among strains, and compare fully shared siderophores with private siderophores. We show that privatizing siderophores fundamentally alters their evolution. Rather than a canonical cooperative good, siderophores become a competitive trait used to pillage iron from other strains. We also study the physiological regulation of siderophores using in silico long-term evolution. Although shared siderophores evolve to be downregulated in the presence of a competitor, as expected for a cooperative trait, privatized siderophores evolve to be upregulated. We evaluate these predictions using published experimental work, which suggests that some siderophores are upregulated in response to competition akin to competitive traits like antibiotics. Although siderophores can act as a cooperative good for single genotypes, we argue that their role in competition is fundamental to understanding their biology. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  5. Analysis of competition program "Аcrobatics" of skilled athletes in acrobatic rock and roll

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Batieieva N.P.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Reviewed and analyzed the results of the strongest performances of dancing couples in acrobatic rock and roll category "M-class", the competition rules of the World rock 'n' roll confederation. A comparative analysis on the requirements to perform acrobatic competition program "Acrobatics". Selected a number of acrobatic elements that make up the structure of competitive acrobatic programs. Found that a number of sports pairs allow technical errors (involuntary distortion performance techniques acrobatic element when performing acrobatic elements. Proposed grading scale acrobatic elements of the program, using methodical and special terms "related" sports. The recommendations to judges, coaches on the cost of each acrobatic element in assessing and compiling competitive program.

  6. Competitive nuclear production on the nordic deregulated electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bohl, T.

    2000-01-01

    The Nordic electricity market has been partly deregulated since 1994. Today only Denmark follows the timetable recommended by the European Union, while Sweden, Norway and Finland are completely deregulated. As in most countries, the production of electricity is deregulated while the distribution is still a monopoly. This deregulation of the electricity market has created a new situation for plant life management. In order to be competitive on the market it is important to cut cost down a level when the nuclear power companies earn money again. All means to cut cost have to be used while still maintaining safety and the possibilities for operation over at least 40+ years. The possibilities to invest in modernization are limited to the absolutely necessary modifications. All investments must be very thoroughly questioned and the money can only be spent where most benefit is gained. This means new prerequisites for the absolute necessary long-strategic planning. New safety requirements from the authorities have to be discussed between the industry and the authority. The requirement cost must be compared to the benefit to safety. The authority is today requested to carry out such analyses and do so in most cases. Since the electricity market is international the requirements of the authorities must be harmonized on the whole market. The political threat against nuclear power is serious in many countries and it is important to continue working with public acceptance and lobbying. Especially in Sweden a lot of effort is spent on trying to change the taxation of nuclear power. In the near future increasing electricity demand will make the prices go up to a level when nuclear power companies earn money again. The very serious worries about climate change will also strengthen the competitiveness of nuclear power. (author)

  7. Productive Agglomerations of Suppliers in the Automotive Industry: A Way to Maximize Competitiveness in Supply Chain Management.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia Guarnieri

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to identify how the automotive industries maximize the competitiveness in supply chain management through the constitution of entrepreneurial productive agglomerations of suppliers. For this purpose, an applied research was carried out, and the technical procedure utilized was bibliographic review based in some researches about Brazilian industrial condominiums. Thus, through the constitution of entrepreneurial agglomerations of suppliers in automotive industry it is possible to obtain logistic advantages in the transporting, stocking and warehousing activities. Besides, it is possible to maximize the supply chain management competitiveness through the establishment of trust and lasting relationships between the components of the whole chain.

  8. [Competition-dependence on retrieval-induced forgetting: the influence of the amount of retrieval cues].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Yohei; Tsukimoto, Takashi; Hirano, Tetsuji

    2010-02-01

    Remembering some of the studied (target) items impairs subsequent remembrance of relevant (non-target) items. This phenomenon, retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), occurs when non-targets actively compete with the retrieval of a target. Researchers suggest that suppression mechanisms reduce interference from relevant items to facilitate the retrieval of target items (Anderson, 2003). Competition-dependence is one of the properties that support the suppression hypothesis (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). In the present study, we manipulated the type of retrieval practice (normal, last-letter, or category-name) in order to vary the degree of competition between the target and the non-targets. For the high-scoring retrieval practice group, RIF occurred in the normal retrieval condition, but not in the last-letter or in the category-name conditions. For the low-scoring retrieval practice group, RIF did not occur in any of the conditions. These findings provide new evidence that the occurrence of RIF depends on the degree of competition between a target item and related non-target items during retrieval practice.

  9. CATEGORY MANAGEMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MINIMUM ASSORTMENT OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL ORGANIZATION

    OpenAIRE

    I. F. Samoshchenkova; R. Y. Garankina

    2017-01-01

    The main principle of the category management is the management of product category as a separate business unit. Category management directs the activities of the pharmaceutical organization to meet the consumer requirements and to provide customers with maximum benefits, which are expressed in the improved assortment,the attractive prices, the reduction of cases of lack of necessary goods, the simplifiedpurchase process. In article the structure of the category management and its role inthe ...

  10. The competitiveness of medicinal plants in Central Java Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riptanti, E. W.; Qonita, R. A.; Fajarningsih, R. U.

    2018-03-01

    Indonesia hold a potential opportunity to be a pharmaceutical production country. In the other side, Indonesia facing agriculture product and market competition internationally and domestically. Improving competitiveness of specific products are aimed to hit the export market and also to be able to compete with import products in domestic market. Considering Indonesian market opportunity, therefore we perform this study aiming to examine the competitiveness of medicinal plants in Central Java area. The basic method applied in this study was descriptive and data sources are primary and secondary data. Data were analyzed using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Trade Specialization Index (TSI) approaches. According to the study, we reveal that medicinal plant commodities in Central Java province have average score 8.52, indicating a strong comparative advantage in global markets, while the commodities appear to have average score of 0.97 at 0 to 1 range, representing a strong competitiveness. Those results are attributed to natural and environmental condition, as well as high demand of global market. This competitiveness will encourage traditional/modern medicinal industries in global market.

  11. Type A personality and mortality: Competitiveness but not speed is associated with increased risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohse, Tina; Rohrmann, Sabine; Richard, Aline; Bopp, Matthias; Faeh, David

    2017-07-01

    Type A behavior pattern (TABP) is a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, existing evidence is conflicting, also because studies did not examine underlying traits separately. In this study, we investigated whether all-cause and CVD mortality were associated with the Bortner Scale, a measure of TABP, in particular with its subscales competitiveness and speed. Information on Bortner Scale and covariates of 9921 participants was collected at baseline in two cross-sectional studies that were linked with mortality information, yielding a follow-up of up to 37 years. We analyzed the Bortner Scale and its two subscales competitiveness and speed. Applying Cox regression models, we investigated the association with all-cause, CVD, and specific CVD type mortality. During follow-up, 3469 deaths were observed (1118 CVD deaths). The total Bortner Scale was not associated with mortality, only its subscales. In women, competitiveness was positively associated with all-cause mortality (highest category vs. the lowest, HR 1.25 [95% CI 1.08,1.44]), CVD mortality (1.39 [1.07,1.81]), and ischemic heart disease mortality (intermediate category vs. the lowest, 1.46 [1.02,2.10]). In men, CVD mortality was inversely associated with speed (highest category vs. the lowest, 0.74 [0.59,0.93]). The subscales of the Bortner Scale may be associated with CVD in an opposed manner and may therefore have to be analyzed separately. More studies are needed to further investigate this association, also considering differences by sex. Persons scoring high in the competitiveness subscale ought to be screened and counselled in order to reduce their CVD risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Categories of difference in science and policy: Reflections on academic practices, conceptualizations and knowledge production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Bak Jørgensen

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Categories of difference have a crucial position in academic research as well as policy-making. They serve to distinguish and differentiate between groups in society. They can appear in the shape of crude dichotomies or in complex and sophisticated forms resting on constructivist and intersectionalist perspectives. Nevertheless, using categories of difference also creates something into existence and there may be implications through the particular application of specific categories. This article reflects on how categories of difference are constructed and employed in research, legislation and policy discourse. By looking at different approaches used by qualitative and quantitative researchers, as well as at how specific concepts enter policy-making and legislation, I want to address a number of questions about how we as researchers understand and work with categories of differences. The article will mainly consist of a theoretical discussion, but will use two main empirical examples of race and religion. The article aims to provide tentative answers about what the consequences of particular uses of categories and concepts could be.

  13. Competition in the health system: good news and bad news.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, R H

    1996-01-01

    Competition among health plans, hospitals, and physicians has taken place in fifteen health care markets primarily on the basis of price and secondarily on network breadth and style of care. In most markets, competition resulted in lower (or slowly growing) premium prices. Within a type of plan product, competition was leading to similar prices and networks and was reducing product differentiation among health plans. Competition was not taking place on the basis of measured and reported quality of care, which limited the capacity of employers and enrollees to make informed health plan choices. As a result, there was a substantial gap between competition as envisioned by the architects of the managed competition model and competition as it is evolving today.

  14. The Benefits of Franchising and Vertical Disintergration in Monopolistic Competition for Locationally Differentiated Products

    OpenAIRE

    Nicholas Economides

    1993-01-01

    A model of franchising competition in locationally differentiated products is constructed. A franchisor (upstream firm) collects a marginal transfer fee per unit of output sold by a franchisee (downstream firm). For example, the marginal transfer fee can be realized as a markup on variable inputs supplied by the franchisor. A franchisor also collects a lump-sum rent (commonly called "franchising fee") from each franchisee. Acting in the first stage, a franchisor can manipulate the degree of c...

  15. CONCEPTUAL APPROACH OF COMPETITIVENESS AND INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana GUTIUM

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This article is devoted to analysis of interdependence and correlation between competition and competitiveness, and competition’s consequences. The author analysed some authors’ visions on competitiveness, and common features between theories of competition and competitiveness. Using the synthetic indicator elaborated by author has been evaluated the competitiveness of domestic goods on the internal and external market. At the end of this article, the author has developed proposals to increase competitiveness.

  16. 1990: Twenty-Second Annual National Council on Family Relations Media Awards Competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anson, Julie; And Others

    1991-01-01

    Describes winning videotapes and films of Media Competition in 12 categories: Human Development across the Life Span; Parenting Issues; Nontraditional Family Systems; Marital and Family Issues and Communication; Sexuality and Sex Role Development; Substance Abuse/Addiction; Human Reproduction and Family Planning; Stress, Transition, and Crisis…

  17. GLOBAL LOGISTICS , COMPETITIVENESS AND THE NEW INCOTERMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Popa Ioan

    2013-07-01

    The category of global firms should not include just the large transnational corporations, but also the medium and small enterprises that operate exclusively or mainly on the global market. Within this plan there can be created and developed competitive advantages which are primarily based on the reaction speed to the changes in progress, the capacity to adapt to new things and the availability for intercultural communication. These last conditions represent characteristics of the Romanian business approach.

  18. Competition protection and Philip Kotler’s strategic recommendations

    OpenAIRE

    Fornalczyk, Anna

    2011-01-01

    P. Kotler’s recommendations of modern marketing tell managers how to achieve and maintain a dominant market position. Some of the recommended activities may, however, infringe European and Polish competition law. Objections are not raised by market success achieved as a result of high product quality, good customer care, high market shares, continuous product improvements, new product release, entry onto fast growing markets, and exceeding customer expectations. Competition law...

  19. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVENESS FACTORS OF REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. V. Bakanach

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In the conditions of market economy the competition is the main driving force of economic growth. The idea about existence of the interregional competition isn't conventional and demands the proof. The phenomena allowing to state existence of the interregional competitive relations which are realized through system of prerequisites of political, economic, legal and technological character were for this purpose studied. Competitiveness – one of the most important characteristics of the territory which level directly influences formation of positive tendencies in development of subjects of the Russian Federation. Productive indicators of level of competitiveness of the region are: a gross regional product on one occupied in economy, production of a gross regional product for one ruble of fixed assets, a gross regional product for one ruble of investments, a share of balanced financial result in a gross regional product. On the basis of private indicators the Pattern method received an integrated indicator of level of competitiveness of region. The quantitative assessment of the factors determining distinctions of regions of the Russian Federation by competitiveness level allowed to define that the competitiveness variation in the territory of regions in the greatest measure depends on a variation of number of graduates of educational institutions with higher education on 1000 people and the specific weight of investments into the enterprises occupied with mining. Regional values of competitiveness are most elastic relatively the specific weight of own investments, that is increase of this indicator for 1 % causes increase of competitiveness for 0.9 %. The practical importance of this work is caused by possibility of application of results of research by federal and regional executive authorities as information representation when developing programs of increase of level of competitiveness of regions of the Russian Federation. Besides, it is

  20. Marketing Aspect of Banking Competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nieizviestna Olena V.

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the article is to study the need for application of marketing tools in order to improve competitiveness and competitive advantages of banks. By analyzing, systematizing and summarizing the scientific works of many scientists, the relationship between the competitiveness of the commercial bank and its share in the banking market has been discovered. In the process of studying the integration of the strategy of maximizing customer satisfaction in the practice of strategic competition in the banking market there was presented the author’s position regarding the need to take into account the structure of the customer loyalty, as it is it that helps to properly distribute the bank’s marketing efforts. It has been proved that the technology of bank marketing should not only include the systems of identifying customer needs, creation of new financial products, but also contribute to the formation of the multi-factor strategic model of competitive strategy of the bank competitive development. It has been proposed to use the SWOT-analysis in order to effectively manage the bank’s competitiveness.

  1. Production and competition in the European electric sector. 4. report from the research project 'renewable energy in the community's internal market'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kjersgaard, A.

    1997-01-01

    The aim is to elucidate the dynamic interactive pricing, competition and market mechanisms that are valid for the European electric power market. The perspective in the report is to analyse the vertical flow of substance and values of energy, the interaction of the actors, and the economic relations. The first link in the vertical chain is the energy raw materials supplies: the reserves and production of fossil and nuclear fuels and the relation to globalization of electricity production. The next link is the production of electricity: the production technologies used and their positioning, the importance of large trans-national utilities in relation to technological changes. The third link is the market and the changes of the market between production, transmission, distribution and consumption of electricity, and the consequences of these changes. Two horizontal regulating sectional views are analysed: The European Union regulations of the electric power sector and the Danish regulations of power supplies. Finally, production and competition of electric power from renewable energy sources, i.e. wind power, in a future European energy market is put into perspective. (LN) 134 refs

  2. Trade Liberalization and the Degree of Competition in International Duopoly

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ashournia, Damoun; Hansen, Per Svejstrup; Hansen, Jonas Worm

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyzes how a reduction in trade costs influences the possibility for firms to engage in international cartels, and hence how trade liberalization affects the degree of competition. We consider a particular intra-industry trade model amended to allow for firms producing differentiated...... products. Our main finding is that trade liberalization may have an anti-competitive effect. We find that there is no unique relation between a reduction in trade costs and the degree of competition. When products are differentiated, a lowering of trade costs is pro-competitive if trade costs are initially...... high, but anti-competitive if trade costs initially are low. Hence, trade policy is not necessarily a substitute for competition policy...

  3. Comparing two K-category assignments by a K-category correlation coefficient

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gorodkin, Jan

    2004-01-01

    Predicted assignments of biological sequences are often evaluated by Matthews correlation coefficient. However, Matthews correlation coefficient applies only to cases where the assignments belong to two categories, and cases with more than two categories are often artificially forced into two...... categories by considering what belongs and what does not belong to one of the categories, leading to the loss of information. Here, an extended correlation coefficient that applies to K-categories is proposed, and this measure is shown to be highly applicable for evaluating prediction of RNA secondary...

  4. Improving the competitiveness of catering enterprises through innovative food

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. G. Stukalo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available To date, the problem of increase of competitiveness of the enterprise is becoming increasingly important. The market situation depends largely on the status and results of competition. The restaurant business today is developing rapidly. Restaurateurs understand how important it is to plan a strategy for long-term survival and adapt to a rapidly changing environment. In this article the concept of competitiveness, given the types of competition, also examines the factors influencing competitiveness of the enterprise. The proposed way to increase the competitiveness of catering enterprises through innovation in a particular product. The concept of innovation and describes its types. In our case, product innovation is the introduction of gluten-free foods in the menu of public catering enterprises. The need for diet and preventive products due to the overall health status of the population. In the country are progressing alimentary-dependent diseases, which arise from the imbalance of the diet. Conducted marketing study revealed the acute problem of import dependence for gluten-free products on the consumer market. Was investigated the technological aspects of replacement of wheat flour in which gluten, linseed and rice flour in the production of muffins functional orientation. The formula has been developed free cupcake “Flax-rice”, which is presented in the article. On the catering market is a small number of institutions have in their menu gluten-free options, and they are mainly concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In other Russian regions this niche is free. The article presents the way of distribution of products and the calculation of the basic indicators of efficiency of production of gluten-free cupcakes with a capacity.

  5. Meat export competitiveness of European Union countries on global markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Štefan Bojnec

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to provide insight into the export competitiveness of meat products of the European Union (EU-27 member states on global markets. The revealed comparative advantage index is used to analyze the levels, compositions, and evolutions in patterns of development in the export competitiveness of meat products and their levels of stability at the product level. Except for some niche meat products, a larger number of the EU-27 member states have experienced comparative disadvantages on global markets over the analysed years of 2000 to 2011. The revealed comparative advantages on the global markets are the most robust for Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Cyprus and Hungary. The revealed comparative advantage indices and their survival rates differ across the meat product groups. The heterogeneity in export competitiveness of the EU-27 member states suggests the importance of the differentiation of meat products in competitive export specialization on global markets.

  6. COMPETITIVENESS IN SERVICES, DRIVING FORCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RAMONA PÎRVU

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The competitiveness of a nation is ensured by the profitable activity of firms. They strengthen their position in the domestic and international markets through global strategies whose purpose is to increase productivity and maintain it at a high level. For this, the company must take into account both the internal economic environment which ensures operating conditions and the external economic environment’s development. The five competitive forces determine the industry’s profitability because they configure firms’ selling prices, production costs and investments needed to be competitive in the field. The threat of new competitors limits the potential profit since they involve new production units and the opportunities for market expansion. Economic strength of the buyers and bidders attracts profits to them. Rivalry among existing competitors erodes profits by increasing costs of competition (like advertising, selling expenses or those required for research and development. The presence of substitutive goods or services limits competitors’ prices through buyers’ transfer phenomena limiting and eroding market share of industry / firm in the total production output.

  7. The Boolean Algebra of Cubical Areas as a Tensor Product in the Category of Semilattices with Zero

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Ninin

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we describe a model of concurrency together with an algebraic structure reflecting the parallel composition. For the sake of simplicity we restrict to linear concurrent programs i.e. the ones with no loops nor branching. Such programs are given a semantics using cubical areas. Such a semantics is said to be geometric. The collection of all these cubical areas enjoys a structure of tensor product in the category of semi-lattice with zero. These results naturally extend to fully fledged concurrent programs up to some technical tricks.

  8. Analysis of the Competitive Potential of Bioethanol in Colombia: An approach from Michael Porter's 5 Competitive Forces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramirez Velasquez, Alejandro; Montoya R, Ivan Alonso; Montoya Restrepo, Alexandra

    2012-01-01

    The search for alternative energy production and consumption require a look into the industry of biofuels such as bioethanol as an alternative energy to overcome the disadvantages generated by the traditional methods of production and consumption, especially in the political, environmental and social issues and generate competitive advantages compared to other primary energy sources. In the present document, and from the Michael Porter five (5) Forces model is detailed an evaluation of the bioethanol industry as an alternative fuel and is described how attractive or competitive may become the industry today. To achieve this purpose, an evaluation of the competitive forces was proposed to a group of experts, using a Likert scale. Thus, it was evaluated the potential usefulness of the proposal.

  9. Quality Response and Competitiveness of Fish Exports in Oman

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Zaibet

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available Received trade theory presumes an important role for increasing returns to scale, product-differentiation, and quality as determinants of trade flows. In a global world, exports can only be expanded if a nation is competitive in terms of cost and quality of traded products. Food safety and quality systems, such as HACCP or ISO 9000, are indirectly included in international agreements (GATT as facilitators of trade. These systems may lead to cost leadership and product improvement, which are key factors to higher competitiveness and sustained benefits in international markets. This paper estimates a modified Armington model that links product differentiation and safety programs to market shares, i.e. competitiveness.

  10. Competition Experiments for Legume Infection Identify Burkholderia phymatum as a Highly Competitive β-Rhizobium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martina Lardi

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Members of the genus Burkholderia (β-proteobacteria have only recently been shown to be able to establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with several legumes, which is why they are also referred to as β-rhizobia. Therefore, very little is known about the competitiveness of these species to nodulate different legume host plants. In this study, we tested the competitiveness of several Burkholderia type strains (B. diazotrophica, B. mimosarum, B. phymatum, B. sabiae, B. symbiotica and B. tuberum to nodulate four legumes (Phaseolus vulgaris, Macroptilium atropurpureum, Vigna unguiculata and Mimosa pudica under our closely defined growth conditions. The assessment of nodule occupancy of these species on different legume host plants revealed that B. phymatum was the most competitive strain in the three papilionoid legumes (bean, cowpea and siratro, while B. mimosarum outcompeted the other strains in mimosa. The analysis of phenotypes known to play a role in nodulation competitiveness (motility, exopolysaccharide production and additional in vitro competition assays among β-rhizobial strains suggested that B. phymatum has the potential to be a very competitive legume symbiont.

  11. Competitive pressures on income distribution in China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pan, H.

    1999-01-01

    to explore what perfect competition would do to income distribution in China. The research analyzes this question by determining personal income distribution under hypothetical, perfectly competitive conditions, where factors are rewarded according to their marginal productivities. Comparison with

  12. Green energy criteria and life cycle assessment in assessing environmental competitiveness of energy products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maelkki, H.; Hongisto, M.; Turkulainen, T.; Kuisma, J.; Loikkanen, T.

    1999-01-01

    The liberalisation of energy markets has increased the need to enlarge the information base of fuel chains, to evaluate the environmental quality of energy products transparently and to communicate results in a credible way. The preparedness of energy purchasers, producers and sellers to support energy choices of their customers and to meet the information requirements of various stake holders can be strengthened. The environmental impacts related to energy products are turning into a significant dimension of competitiveness. Possibilities to promote market-driven environmental protection mechanisms and to construct incentives, which cover the whole energy production system exist and can be supported. Knowledge of environmental impacts of various energy products can be increased by means of several supplementary instruments like eco-profiles, environmental labels and life cycle assessments of products. Life cycle assessment forms a systematic basis of information, which supports the environmental communications directed to various stake holders. In this study selected public LCA-studies concerning energy production have been compared, criteria of green energy have been charted and their outlook has been assessed. In addition the development of an LCA- based relative environmental performance indicator system, which supports various transparent comparisons, has been outlined. The mapping of methodological differences of published LCA-studies regarding various energy alternatives proves, that there is differences e.g. in allocation principles, system boundaries, and age of source information and in many other details. These discrepancies should be known, because they also affect the results. That is why the use of available LCA studies as a basis for comparative assertions may be problematic. The renewability of an energy source is a threshold requirement in eco-energy criteria formulated and introduced by Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian nature conservation

  13. The tensor structure on the representation category of the Wp triplet algebra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuchiya, Akihiro; Wood, Simon

    2013-01-01

    We study the braided monoidal structure that the fusion product induces on the Abelian category W p -mod, the category of representations of the triplet W-algebra W p . The W p -algebras are a family of vertex operator algebras that form the simplest known examples of symmetry algebras of logarithmic conformal field theories. We formalize the methods for computing fusion products, developed by Nahm, Gaberdiel and Kausch, that are widely used in the physics literature and illustrate a systematic approach to calculating fusion products in non-semi-simple representation categories. We apply these methods to the braided monoidal structure of W p -mod, previously constructed by Huang, Lepowsky and Zhang, to prove that this braided monoidal structure is rigid. The rigidity of W p -mod allows us to prove explicit formulae for the fusion product on the set of all simple and all projective W p -modules, which were first conjectured by Fuchs, Hwang, Semikhatov and Tipunin; and Gaberdiel and Runkel. (paper)

  14. Planning the amount of construction work by modelling the industry competitive field

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Panteleeva Margarita

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article gives the author’s interpretation of concepts such as the model of competitive field and competitive market conditions in the field, and shows how to quantify the competitive field provided adequate statistical base for the operation of enterprises in market competition. The authors offer a competitively construction company with a model of the competitive field, which gives the following definition: a model of a competitive field is a graph crossing function of the life cycle of concrete products construction companies. However, the model cannot afford to manage the process, it only helps to visualize the situation. To control you need to select a specific element of the model, which can be quantified. The authors make it through the competitive field, which is defined as a closed path created by the intersection of functions depending on the market price of the construction product by product positioning in the market of the time. For a quantitative analysis of the competitive field size must use the main economic-mathematical methods and types of statistical analysis of competition.

  15. Competition for cores in remanufacturing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulmus, Serra Caner; Zhu, Stuart X.; Teunter, Ruud

    2014-01-01

    We study competition between an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and an independently operating remanufacturer (IO). Different from the existing literature, the OEM and IO compete not only for selling their products but also for collecting returned products (cores) through their acquisition

  16. Product Category Layout and Organization: Retail Placement of Food Products

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herpen, van E.

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the placement of food products in retail stores, in particular how the placement of food products can influence how consumers perceive the store in general and these products in particular. It reviews the overall layout of the store, assortment organization, and shelf

  17. REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE COMPETITIVENESS OF FARMS IN POLAND

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Nowak

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study is to assess the competitiveness of the regional diversity of farms in Poland. The study was conducted on a sample of commodity holdings participating in the Polish FADN in 16 voivodeships for the years 2010–2012. The study was based on indicators of competitiveness in terms of production factors and results. Research shows that labour resources and the eff ectiveness of their use are important aspects of regional diversity of competitiveness of farms. In regions where this factor is present in excess (Małopolskie, Świętokrzyskie, Mazowieckie, Łódzkie and Lubelskie voivodeships, labor productivity was relatively low. These regions are also characterized by lower production potential expressed by the agricultural area of an average farm. The greatest competitive advantages in terms of production profi tability were achieved by farms in Dolnośląskie voivodeship, where there were also some of the highest rates of profi tability of assets.

  18. Categories from scratch

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poss, R.

    2014-01-01

    The concept of category from mathematics happens to be useful to computer programmers in many ways. Unfortunately, all "good" explanations of categories so far have been designed by mathematicians, or at least theoreticians with a strong background in mathematics, and this makes categories

  19. Current and future competitiveness of renewable energy carriers - Conceptions about competitiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lundgren, K.

    1998-01-01

    The dissertation draws attention to the fact that in the world today 80% of the resources that are used are limited - non renewable energy carriers - and because of the long time between planning and doing (carrying out) within the energy sector, it is worthwhile from the long-term perspective to steer early on towards more sustainable solutions, such as renewable energy carriers. The State and the market have begun to adjust to concepts such as 'competitiveness', which can be viewed as containing both feasibility and legitimacy aspects - the state through different regulations and environmental taxes and environmental fees, and actors on the market that marginally produce/choose renewable energy carriers. The overlying methodology in the dissertation is an actor's viewpoint. This viewpoint brings forth, in turn, two different views, the analytical and the interpretative. The dissertation presents different stances within the energy sector: commercial production logic, commercial sustainability logic, and the socio-economic sustainability logic. By drawing one's attention to how one has the possibility to create (enact) his own reality, it is possible to highlight how organisations can increase their competitiveness by being conscious of their own view and others, logic, which in turn forms their views about competitiveness, which in turn determines which projects will materialize. Enterprises and individuals create a description of reality together through a dialectic process, i.e. by developing an environmental management system that contains elements of environmental auditing, environmental performance indicators, and environmental labelling, which 'reveal' the production conditions that lie behind the actualization of the final product. An example is the product, 'green' electricity, which, in spite of the fact that the final product - electricity - is identical irrespective of the production method, just at the moment can be sold at different prices according

  20. Supply Chain Management as a Driving Force for Generating Competitive Advantage for Dairy Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Olegovna Poleshkina

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The study aims to uncover the reserves to generate competitive advantages for the participants of the market of perishables in the case of the dairy sector due to the formation of effective supply chains, as this category of goods is the most demanding in terms of periods and conditions of transportation and terms of preservation. The research technique is based on the concepts of value chains and supply chain management. In order to optimize the distribution of functions between the participants of the dairy chain a process-based approach has been applied. The research has revealed the main reasons for high aggregate costs and the places of their formation at each stage of the dairy supply chain. The article proposes the mechanisms to address three main problems arising from the process of building relations between the participants of the dairy supply chain in Russia. These problems are associated with a disproportionate margin distribution between the participants of the chain, with non-compliance of the quality of raw milk with the requirements for the production of specific types of dairy products, and with distrust of the supply chain participants, which increases transaction costs and forces to create reserve supplies which reduce the competitiveness of the whole dairy supply chain in general. In order to improve the competitiveness of all participants in the dairy chain, the article presents several mechanisms for solving these problems. The first is margin distribution based on the costs incurred by each participant of the dairy chain. The second is the use of a mathematical model to determine the assortment of goods of a dairy enterprise on the basis of the incoming volume and quality of raw milk according to the seasonal factor and the demand for dairy products. The third is the feasibility of refusal from the formation of reserve supplies by all participants of the dairy chain, which will not only minimize aggregate costs, but also

  1. World competitiveness and agriculture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. van Zyl

    1997-07-01

    Full Text Available Against the background of a changing environment in which market factors and greater world trade and competitiveness are increasingly becoming the only criteria for success, a framework for the analysis of world competitiveness is initially developed. This is followed by a discussion on the growth of productivity in agriculture, as well as an exposition of the role of agricultural research. Thirdly, price factors and the terms of trade are discussed, followed by a summary of policy implications.

  2. AKTIVITAS BANCASSURANCE DALAM DUNIA PERBANKAN: ADAKAH PRAKTIK BUNDLING YANG MELANGGAR HUKUM PERSAINGAN USAHA?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Indirani Wauran-Wicaksono

    2015-04-01

    Insurance companies develop marketing strategies to promote their product called bancassurance. According to the SE BI No. 12/35/DPNP dated December 23, 2010, bancassurance had some category. Furthermore, it is known that there is a kind of bancassurance that included in the category of pure product bundling or often referred as tying. This bundling categories fall under exclusive dealing provision that basically prohibited by the Competition Act, with rule of reason approach. By considering the current condition of the insurance company’s market share, it could be said that pure product bundling or tying in bancassurance is not infringe competition law however have a very small potential to creates monopolistic practices and unfair business competition, therefore violating Competition Law.

  3. Discourse Appropriation and Category Boundary Work: Casual Teachers in the Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charteris, Jennifer; Jenkins, Kathryn; Jones, Marguerite; Bannister-Tyrrell, Michelle

    2017-01-01

    With the increasing casualisation of the teacher labour force, there is little written on the experiences of casual teachers and the challenges they face in brokering professional identities within constantly shifting and uncertain work contexts. Being a category bound casual teacher (a product of category boundary work) is a complex subject…

  4. Effects of task and category membership on representation stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Céline Manetta

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the within-subject stability of 150 participants who performed both a sorting task and a property-generation task over multiple sessions, focusing on three concrete concept categories (food, animals and bathroom products. We hypothesized that (1 the within-subject stability would be higher in the sorting task than in the property-generation task and (2 the nature of the category would influence both the within-subject stability of the classification groups in the sorting task and the properties generated to define these groups. The results show that the within-subject stability of conceptual representations depends both on the task and on the nature of the category. The stability of the representations was greater in the sorting task than in the property-generation task and in the food category. These results are discussed from a longitudinal perspective.

  5. Problems in the Study of the Concepts of Underlying Categories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guzel R. Faizova

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the concepts of underlying categories. The economic good is one of such categories. In this regard, we considered such characteristics of an economic good as utility, value, and cost. The public goods, which are the goods that can benefit society and have two distinctive features, are an important category as well. In this regard, we characterized the characteristics and features of public goods and identified the main problems in this category. At present, the actual problem faced by the state is the production and evaluation of the effectiveness of public goods. The difficulty is that it is impossible to accurately determine the production volume of goods necessary for the society. Assessment of the effectiveness of the state activities requires the development of special tools. The existing legislatively defined methods have a number of shortcomings and do not allow obtaining an objective picture. Financing of most public goods occurs at the expense of the state, so it is very important to ensure and increase the efficiency of their spending at the moment. Public-private partnership is the most promising tool for better satisfying the needs of the population. The main goal of this work is to identify and discuss the main characteristics of the concepts of underlying categories and explain possible problems, issues faced by the state and the society.

  6. The cobordism category and Waldhausen's K-theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bökstedt, M.; Madsen, Ib

    This paper examines the category C^k_{d,n} whose morphisms are d-dimensional smooth manifolds that are properly embedded in the product of a k-dimensional cube with an (d+n-k)-dimensional Euclidean space. There are k directions to compose k-dimensional cubes, so C^k_{d,n} is a (strict) k-tuple ca......-tuple category. The geometric realization of the k-dimensional multi-nerve is the classifying space BC^k_{d,n}. At the end of the paper we construct an infinite loop map to Waldhausens K-theory. \\Omega BC^1_{d,n}-> A(BO(d)), We believe that the map factors through \\Omega...

  7. I want products my own way, but which way? The effects of different product categories and cues on customer responses to Web-based customizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chia-Chi; Chen, Hui-Yun

    2009-02-01

    Mass customization is a strategy that has been adopted by companies to tailor their products in order to match customer needs more precisely. Therefore, to fully capture the value of mass customization, it is crucial to explore how customers react to mass customization. In previous studies, an implied premise has been that consumers are keen to embrace customized products, and this assumption has also been treated by firms as a prerequisite for successful mass customization strategies. However, an undesirable complexity may result from difficult configuration processes that may intimidate and confuse some customers. Hence, this study explores strategies that marketers can employ to facilitate the customization process. Specifically, this study investigates how to enhance customer satisfaction and purchase decision toward customized products by providing cues compatible with the product category. It is hypothesized that for search products, customers rely more on intrinsic cues when making configuration decisions. On the other hand, for experience products, customers perceive extrinsic cues to be more valuable in assisting them to make configuration decisions. The results suggest that consumers tend to respond more favorably toward customized search products when intrinsic cues are provided than when extrinsic or irrelevant ones are provided. In contrast, when customizing experience products, customers tend to depend more on extrinsic cues than on intrinsic or irrelevant ones.

  8. Perceived versus Actual Competitive Advantage

    OpenAIRE

    Langemeier, Michael R.; Yeager, Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    This paper examined the relationship between farm characteristics and perceived sources of competitive advantage, and cost-based and revenue-based efficiency indices. Gross farm income and the percentage of labor devoted to crop production were significant and positively correlated with cost and revenue efficiency while the perception of the cowherd being the most important part of the operation was negatively correlated with efficiency. In general, perceived sources of competitive advantage ...

  9. Competition increases in the face of strong regional ties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knoetgen, P.M.

    1987-01-01

    The current fuel market exhibits a large surplus production capacity and is strongly influenced by regional ties, with imports of fabricated fuel serving to supplement domestic production or to keep domestic vendors competitive. In the future, the market is set to become increasingly competitive, especially in Europe and the United States. (author)

  10. The Instrumentarium for Providing the Competitiveness of Exports of the Food Industry Products of Ukraine

    OpenAIRE

    Tunitska Julia M.

    2017-01-01

    The article is aimed at analyzing the dynamics, structure, and problems of the innovation development of the food industry and substantiating the directions of its intensification as a factor in the development of a competitive exports of Ukrainian food products. The article carries out a detailed analysis of the dynamics and structure of the innovation activity of Ukrainian food industry in the period from 2007 to 2015, in particular the characteristics of its resource and innovation provisi...

  11. Tactics at the category level of purchasing and supply management: sourcing levers, contingencies and performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hesping, Frank

    2015-01-01

    For the ‘front-line’ purchasing agent, it is obvious that not all categories of products and supplier relationships should be managed in the same way. Rather, in a modern category management approach, firms group similar products into ‘sourcing categories’ forming coherent supply markets (e.g.,

  12. Trade Openness, Market Competition, and Inflation: Some Sectoral Evidence from OECD Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Mahir Binici; Yin-Wong Cheung; Kon S. Lai

    2011-01-01

    This study evaluates the role market competition plays in determining inflation based on sector-level data from OECD countries. In theory, trade openness can affect inflation through changes in market competitiveness and productivity. Nonetheless, previous empirical studies often fail to account for productivity effects, and their results may overstate the role of market competition. This study shows that inflation decreases with greater market competitiveness even after controlling for produ...

  13. Implementation of Competitive Food and Beverage Standards in a Sample of Massachusetts Schools: The NOURISH Study (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Jessica A; Rosenfeld, Lindsay; Schmidt, Nicole; Cohen, Juliana F W; Gorski, Mary; Chaffee, Ruth; Smith, Lauren; Rimm, Eric B

    2015-08-01

    During 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards that closely align with Institute of Medicine recommendations and Smart Snacks in School national standards. We examined the extent to which a sample of Massachusetts middle schools and high schools sold foods and beverages that were compliant with the state competitive food and beverage standards after the first year of implementation, and complied with four additional aspects of the regulations. Observational cohort study with data collected before implementation (Spring 2012) and 1 year after implementation (Spring 2013). School districts (N=37) with at least one middle school and one high school participated. Percent of competitive foods and beverages that were compliant with Massachusetts standards and compliance with four additional aspects of the regulations. Data were collected via school site visits and a foodservice director questionnaire. Multilevel models were used to examine change in food and beverage compliance over time. More products were available in high schools than middle schools at both time points. The number of competitive beverages and several categories of competitive food products sold in the sample of Massachusetts schools decreased following the implementation of the standards. Multilevel models demonstrated a 47-percentage-point increase in food and 46-percentage-point increase in beverage compliance in Massachusetts schools from 2012 to 2013. Overall, total compliance was higher for beverages than foods. This study of a group of Massachusetts schools demonstrated the feasibility of schools making substantial changes in response to requirements for healthier competitive foods, even in the first year of implementation. Copyright © 2015 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. THE TAXATION AND THE COUNTRIES COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Csongor CSŐSZ

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available According to the OECD, competitiveness is a measure of a country's advantage or disadvantage in selling its products on international markets. While economists consider productivity and growth rate as basic indicators of competitiveness, those dealing with economic- and social policy - including the OECD and various bodies of the EU - also emphasize the importance of high level employment rates. The regional policy of the EU,which is targeting balanced territorial development, considers the improvement of the competitiveness of its regions as the most effective tool achieving cohesion. The study contains an analysis of the GDP of the 12 member states that joined the Union in 2004 (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and those in 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria in relation with the employment rate, corporate tax, personal income tax values, imports and exports value.

  15. The Effect Of Atributes Product’s Analysis, Halal Certification, And Product Innovation To The Interest Of Consumer Buying-Back Through The Advantage Competitive Of Micro Small And Medium Business (MSMB) In Medan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aditi, Bunga

    2017-12-01

    This research is done to know and analyzing the effect of attribute, halal certification product, and product innovation on the competitiveness of Micro Small and Medium Business in Medan, knowing and analyzing the effect of product attribute, halal certification, and product innovation to consumer buying surge. The type of research used is explanatory research with quantitative approach. The population in this study is the community as consumers who are in the area of Medan province of North Sumatera. Total sample of 150 people. Sampling method which use an accidental sampling is the technique of determining samples by chance, example: consumers whomeets with researcher coincidentally can be sampled if the consumer is appropriate or suitable as a source of data. This research uses the method of Structural Equation Modeling analysis. The mainting of this research is showed that product attributes, halal certification, and product innovation had a positive and significant impact on competitive advantage which impact on consumer buy-back (surge) interest. The advantage competitive has affects consumer buying surge interest positively. Keywords: Product attributes, halal certification, product innovation, competitive advantage, consumer buying interest

  16. Category-length and category-strength effects using images of scenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumann, Oliver; Vromen, Joyce M G; Boddy, Adam C; Crawshaw, Eloise; Humphreys, Michael S

    2018-06-21

    Global matching models have provided an important theoretical framework for recognition memory. Key predictions of this class of models are that (1) increasing the number of occurrences in a study list of some items affects the performance on other items (list-strength effect) and that (2) adding new items results in a deterioration of performance on the other items (list-length effect). Experimental confirmation of these predictions has been difficult, and the results have been inconsistent. A review of the existing literature, however, suggests that robust length and strength effects do occur when sufficiently similar hard-to-label items are used. In an effort to investigate this further, we had participants study lists containing one or more members of visual scene categories (bathrooms, beaches, etc.). Experiments 1 and 2 replicated and extended previous findings showing that the study of additional category members decreased accuracy, providing confirmation of the category-length effect. Experiment 3 showed that repeating some category members decreased the accuracy of nonrepeated members, providing evidence for a category-strength effect. Experiment 4 eliminated a potential challenge to these results. Taken together, these findings provide robust support for global matching models of recognition memory. The overall list lengths, the category sizes, and the number of repetitions used demonstrated that scene categories are well-suited to testing the fundamental assumptions of global matching models. These include (A) interference from memories for similar items and contexts, (B) nondestructive interference, and (C) that conjunctive information is made available through a matching operation.

  17. Energy's role in industrial competitiveness: An overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruneau, A.A.

    1993-01-01

    Canadian exports are fundamentally dominated by raw materials, and the manufacturers and producers of these materials are inherently large consumers of energy. The access to reliable indigenous energy reserves at relatively low costs has played a significant role in Canada's competitiveness. Nevertheless, this competitiveness exists in a commercial environment in which practices are undergoing profound changes, attributable to the low relative value of raw materials on world markets where there are many competitors. In addition, recycling is increasingly influencing the demand and the price of products. Trade in manufactured goods has increased over the past few years, which has an effect on energy demand and on requirements related to the quality of supply. It is increasingly evident that the value of information products will increase more rapidly than the value of products made from materials, and that those information products will be the principal foundation of future wealth. At the same time, energy and fuel sectors are subject to profound change following environmental restrictions, questions regarding sustainable development, technological advances, modification of institutions, and political changes. An examination of the principal sectors of the Canadian energy system shows different degrees of development in each and different capabilities for making positive contributions to the competitiveness of the industries they serve. The protective monopoly supply of power is seen as one factor inhibiting competitiveness

  18. Competitive Pressure on China : Factor Rewards Migration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ten Raa, T.; Pan, H.

    2001-01-01

    Our objective is to assess personal income under perfect competition, when factors are rewarded according to their productivities, and to contrast the ensuing distribution with the status quo.Competition will yield winners and losers, both in terms of factor claims and in terms of regions or

  19. Which categories should direct marketers feature for which customers when using targeted promotions?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reutterer, Thomas; Boztug, Yasemin; Breugelmans, Els

    -stage procedure. For deriving segment-specific promotions at the product category level, this procedure takes both interdependencies in purchase behaviour across categories and customer heterogeneity with respect to cross-category effects in response to marketing actions into account. The resulting...... recommendations are empirically evaluated vis-à-vis alternative approaches in a controlled field experiment conducted in cooperation with a major online grocery retailer....

  20. Co-Opetition (Coexisting Competition and Competitive Coexistaence in the Tourism Field in Siberian Regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Pavlovna Kuznetsova

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The relevance of the topic is due to the need to use of such category as “co-opetition” by public and local government authorities when implementing their powers in the tourism sphere. We divide the term “co-opetition” into two categories: “coexisting competition” and “competitive coexistence”. The problem field of the study is that in the conditions of crisis development, it is difficult to choose and implement new measures and approaches aimed at improving the economic situation in Russia and its regions, diversify the economy. In modern conditions, it is important and effective to develop domestic tourism and incoming tourism in Russia as well as its effective functioning. Russia has considerable natural and ecological, cultural and historical resources. However, the imperfection of the authorities operation and a mechanism of combined implementation of projects by different territories prevent the transformation of tourism industry into the economic powerhouse. In this regard, on the example of Siberian regions, we offer to the authorities to use co-opetition (in both of its meanings in the combined development of tourism and to establish on this basis the tourist mega-cluster “Fairy Siberia”. The study of foreign experience has allowed revealing the positions, in which Russia falls behind other countries-leaders in the tourism industry. The proposed approach is promising, and it is based on joint efforts of regions and saving money due to the economies of scale. At the same time, it allows the regions to develop their competitive advantages. The practical significance of the received results consists in the possibility of their use by the public and local authorities in the implementation of effective policy for the development of tourism industry.

  1. US producers in a competitive market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beck, M.

    1987-01-01

    The current (1986) situation in the world-wide uranium market is explained and the competitiveness of United States producers is considered in this context. Historical export contracts by US producers are examined to evaluate how sales quantities by region have changed. The influence of inflation and exchange rates on production costs are considered. The threat of US protectionism is discussed. Despite the contraction of the US uranium industry in recent years a number of US producers have remained competitive. Factors which could increase US competitiveness are listed. (U.K.)

  2. Resisting Foreign Competition – A Case Study of France and Germany

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thannaletchimy Thanagopal

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This article incorporates both the new trade and the endogenous growth theories to study the determinants of import volumes of France and Germany so as to explain their individual industrial competitiveness strategies – price or quality competition. This article is different because it studies competitiveness of a country’s products by considering its resistance to foreign competition rather than considering exports of these countries. Using disaggregated bilateral data for 16 European countries including Japan and the United States across 15 distinctly classified industries over a period of 20 years (between 1991 and 2010, we use an import demand equation to compare the relative product performances of France and Germany vis-à-vis their exporting competitors. To eliminate the price endogeneity problem, we implement a Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS estimation technique using the cost of production (which includes the unit labor cost and costs of capital and intermediates, mark-up and distance as instrumental variables for import prices. We also proxy innovation and hence product quality using research and development (R&D intensity, reported in Product Field. We find that French products are highly substitutable vis-à-vis their foreign competitors in contrast to German products. Germany adopts better quality competitive strategies, thus rendering their products less substitutable and highly differentiated vis-à-vis their foreign counterparts.

  3. Competition under capacitated dynamic lot-sizing with capacity acquisition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Hongyan; Meissner, Joern

    2011-01-01

    Lot-sizing and capacity planning are important supply chain decisions, and competition and cooperation affect the performance of these decisions. In this paper, we look into the dynamic lot-sizing and resource competition problem of an industry consisting of multiple firms. A capacity competition...... production setup, along with inventory carrying costs. The individual production lots of each firm are limited by a constant capacity restriction, which is purchased up front for the planning horizon. The capacity can be purchased from a spot market, and the capacity acquisition cost fluctuates...

  4. Energy and competitiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taylor, D.; Flaman, L.; Beigie, C.

    1992-01-01

    Energy efficiency-related programs in two Canadian provinces are reviewed. The Ontario Ministry of Energy has implemented programs to improve industrial energy efficiency in order to contribute to future economic growth. Since 1987, the Industrial Energy Services Program provides energy audits, feasibility analysis grants, and project engineering grants for energy efficiency improvements. Results show that an industrial plant can cut its energy costs by an average of 10% with the proper help. To minimize electricity costs, Ontario Hydro has a demand management program that offers a combination of financial assistance for energy conservation measures, rate incentives, standards and regulation, and fuel substitution. Results in 1992 show 250 MW in saved and shifted load. In Alberta, a TransAlta Utilities program in supply side management has the objective of maximizing the production potential of existing plants. The resulting benefit is improved electric power production efficiency that leads to increased competitiveness. Side benefits include delay of new plant construction, reduced coal consumption, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, Canada's economic competitiveness is reviewed historically and measures to improve this competitiveness are suggested. A new national policy strategy would include gradual elimination of all import tariffs, optimization of natural resources, securing energy availability at prices at or below world levels, and becoming a leader in transportation and communications. 1 fig., 1 tab

  5. Advertising Dynamics and Competitive Advantage

    OpenAIRE

    Ulrich Doraszelski; Sarit Markovich

    2004-01-01

    Can advertising lead to a sustainable competitive advantage? To answer this question, we propose a dynamic model of advertising competition where firms repeatedly advertise, compete in the product market, and make entry as well as exit decisions. Within this dynamic framework, we study two different models of advertising: In the first model, advertising influences the goodwill consumers extend towards a firm ("goodwill advertising"), whereas in the second model it influences the share of cons...

  6. Increase in competitiveness of housing-and-communal services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skripnik, Oksana

    2017-10-01

    The problems, interfering effective activity of housing-and-communal complex are considered in the article. Some factors of the increase in competitiveness and the importance of transactional expenses are revealed. The assessment of competitiveness of the organizations of the sphere of housing-and-communal services is considered as the set of the following basic elements organizational and administrative, marketing, financial, production, indicators of quality, indicators of development, labor indicators interconnected with processes of the organization. The author proves that the increase in competitiveness is possible by carrying out organizational and administrative, innovative, technological, economic transformations, increasing quality of services, reducing costs for production and realization of services, providing new services.

  7. Tactics at the category level of purchasing and supply management: sourcing levers, contingencies and performance

    OpenAIRE

    Hesping, Frank

    2015-01-01

    For the ‘front-line’ purchasing agent, it is obvious that not all categories of products and supplier relationships should be managed in the same way. Rather, in a modern category management approach, firms group similar products into ‘sourcing categories’ forming coherent supply markets (e.g., ‘metal sheets’, ‘leather’, ‘displays’, ‘cables’, etc.). Thus, to achieve cost reduction targets, a tailored mix of tactical sourcing levers for each sourcing category may be required. The fundamental q...

  8. The Effect of Competitive Advantage and Human Advantage on Industrial Competitive Strategy (Case Study: Smis in Gorontalo Province)

    OpenAIRE

    Lasalewo, Trifandi; Masruroh, Nur Aini; Subagyo; Hartono, Budi; Yuniarto, Hari Agung

    2016-01-01

    Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) have a strategic role in the Indonesian economy, as they earn 61.9 percent of the foreign exchange which goes to make up the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and nationally they are able to absorb 97 percent of the workforce. The Global Competitiveness Report also notes that SMIs serve as the business units that affect every nation’s competitiveness. Considering this strategic role, the selection of a competitive strategy for these SMIs is absolutely necessa...

  9. Lunabotics Mining Competition: Inspiration Through Accomplishment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Robert P.

    2011-01-01

    NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition is designed to promote the development of interest in space activities and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. The competition uses excavation, a necessary first step towards extracting resources from the regolith and building bases on the moon. The unique physical properties of lunar regolith and the reduced 1/6th gravity, vacuum environment make excavation a difficult technical challenge. Advances in lunar regolith mining have the potential to significantly contribute to our nation's space vision and NASA space exploration operations. The competition is conducted annually by NASA at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The teams that can use telerobotic or autonomous operation to excavate a lunar regolith geotechnical simulant, herein after referred to as Black Point-1 (or BP-1) and score the most points (calculated as an average of two separate 10-minute timed competition attempts) will eam points towards the Joe Kosmo Award for Excellence and the scores will reflect ranking in the on-site mining category of the competition. The minimum excavation requirement is 10.0 kg during each competition attempt and the robotic excavator, referred to as the "Lunabot", must meet all specifications. This paper will review the achievements of the Lunabotics Mining Competition in 2010 and 2011, and present the new rules for 2012. By providing a framework for robotic design and fabrication, which culminates in a live competition event, university students have been able to produce sophisticated lunabots which are tele-operated. Multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged and the extreme sense of accomplishment provides a unique source of inspiration to the participating students, which has been shown to translate into increased interest in STEM careers. Our industrial sponsors (Caterpillar, Newmont Mining, Harris, Honeybee Robotics) have all stated that there is a strong need for skills in the workforce related

  10. Chromatic Perceptual Learning but No Category Effects without Linguistic Input.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grandison, Alexandra; Sowden, Paul T; Drivonikou, Vicky G; Notman, Leslie A; Alexander, Iona; Davies, Ian R L

    2016-01-01

    Perceptual learning involves an improvement in perceptual judgment with practice, which is often specific to stimulus or task factors. Perceptual learning has been shown on a range of visual tasks but very little research has explored chromatic perceptual learning. Here, we use two low level perceptual threshold tasks and a supra-threshold target detection task to assess chromatic perceptual learning and category effects. Experiment 1 investigates whether chromatic thresholds reduce as a result of training and at what level of analysis learning effects occur. Experiment 2 explores the effect of category training on chromatic thresholds, whether training of this nature is category specific and whether it can induce categorical responding. Experiment 3 investigates the effect of category training on a higher level, lateralized target detection task, previously found to be sensitive to category effects. The findings indicate that performance on a perceptual threshold task improves following training but improvements do not transfer across retinal location or hue. Therefore, chromatic perceptual learning is category specific and can occur at relatively early stages of visual analysis. Additionally, category training does not induce category effects on a low level perceptual threshold task, as indicated by comparable discrimination thresholds at the newly learned hue boundary and adjacent test points. However, category training does induce emerging category effects on a supra-threshold target detection task. Whilst chromatic perceptual learning is possible, learnt category effects appear to be a product of left hemisphere processing, and may require the input of higher level linguistic coding processes in order to manifest.

  11. The nanotechnological inventions raise competitive ability of the products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VLASOV Vladimir Alexeevich

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available A brief description of the nanotechnological inventions is given. The inventions in the area of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials produce a profound effect in construction, housing and communal services and adjacent economic fields as they allow us: to obtain high strength and durability of surfaces of the details, to provide different materials with hydrophil properties, to increase efficiency of transformation of light energy into electrical one etc., and in general – to raise competitive ability of the products. For example, the method of production of solar element and a unit of solar elements (RU 2532137 comprises following stages: formation of pn-transfer in semiconductor base plate, formation of passivating layer on the light-receptive surface and/or non light-receptive surface of semiconductor base plate and formation of power robbing electrodes on the light-receptive surface and non light-receptive. A film of aluminium oxide is formed as passivating layer, its thickness is up to 40 nm, and lectrode is formed by baking conductive paste under the temperature 500–900ͦͦ°C for 1 second – 30 inutes with formation of sintered product. The sintered product penetrates through passivating layer setting electric contact between electrode and base plate. The formation of aluminium ide with specified thickness on the surface of base plate makes it possible to achieve good passivating characteristics and good electric contact between silica and electrode only by eans of baking conductive paste, that is standard technology. Moreover the baking stage which was necessary to get the effect of film passivation for aluminium oxide in the past now can be cancelled to decrease costs. The specialists may be also interested in the following nanotechnological inventions: reinforced flaked element made of natural or conglomerate stone and its multilayer protective coating (RU 2520193; fine organic suspension of carbon metal-containing nanostructures

  12. Competition for transparency as a carrier of competition. Transparency needs in the European wholesale electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jong, Hanneke de; Hakvoort, Rudi

    2005-01-01

    This paper analyses different transparency aspects regarding European wholesale electricity markets and discusses transparency issues to be solved. In Europe, currently some progress has been made with respect to market transparency but transparency issues related to transmission, system operation and regulation have received little attention so far. Transmission system operators (TSOs) and regulatory authorities need certain market information in order to secure efficient competition. However, TSOs and regulatory authorities need to communicate themselves in order to facilitate competition and decrease uncertainty among market participants. Furthermore, considering ongoing market integration both TSOs and regulatory authorities must exchange information amongst themselves in order to facilitate coordination and monitoring activities. The effect of a higher level of transparency on effective competition is depended on two categories of transparency aspects: aspects that are related to transparency in the sense of open and adequate communication (perspicuity) and aspects that are related to the easiness to understand (clarity). Transparency includes both aspects. Pursuing overall harmonization of the European transparency level is important to fully profit from a higher level of (international) harmonization. Effective harmonization requires harmonization on all communication aspects. For Europe, with its many immature markets, the dilemma remains whether it is preferable to have less transparency with a high level of harmonization or to have a higher level of transparency but a lower level of harmonization. (Author)

  13. Competition, Takeovers, and Gender Discrimination

    OpenAIRE

    Fredrik Heyman; Helena Svaleryd; Jonas Vlachos

    2013-01-01

    Theories of taste-based discrimination predict that competitive pressures will drive discriminatory behaviour out of the market. Using detailed matched employer-employee data, we analyze how firm takeovers and product market competition are related to the gender composition of the firm’s workforce and the gender wage gap. Using a difference-in-difference framework and dealing with several endogeneity concerns, we find that the share of female employees increases as a result of an ownership ch...

  14. Meat export competitiveness of European Union countries on global markets

    OpenAIRE

    Štefan Bojnec; Imre Fertő

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to provide insight into the export competitiveness of meat products of the European Union (EU-27) member states on global markets. The revealed comparative advantage index is used to analyze the levels, compositions, and evolutions in patterns of development in the export competitiveness of meat products and their levels of stability at the product level. Except for some niche meat products, a larger number of the EU-27 member states have experienced comparativ...

  15. COMPARISON OF SUCCESS OF SLOVENIAN TOP LEVEL ATHLETES AT SENIOR AND JUNIOR COMPETITION LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitija Samardžija Pavletič

    2014-12-01

    We found that the Slovenian athletes in senior competition level on average achieve top level results at the age of 27. Furthermore, we found out that a half (49 % of the athletes who achieved excellent results in senior category had not achieved superb results earlier in junior category, and that almost 30 % of athletes who achieved their best results at major competitions on senior levels failed to obtain the status of an athlete of perspective class at the time when they competed in junior category. We have come to the conclusion that unlike the sportsmen achieving top results only a small group of sportswomen achieve top level results. We recommend a systemic analysis of expert professional work in individual sports, adoption of certain measures to improve the competencies of sports managers who coordinate the work of expert teams and the contribution of many other stakeholders who are co-creators of top sports achievements. In addition, we would further suggest the analysis of the categorisation system, particularly in the area of determining the status of perspective athlete. We believe it would be wise to carry out a further in-depth research that would respond to the question who are the key stakeholders and how to influence them in order to reduce the result dropout rate of top young athletes in the transition period to senior categories and to increase the total number of top athletes.

  16. IMPACT OF FARM SIZE AND TYPE ON COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

    OpenAIRE

    Morgan, Jeffery D.; Langemeier, Michael R.

    2003-01-01

    This study examined sustained competitive advantage for a sample of Kansas farms. Whole-farm data for 224 farms with continuous data from 1982-2001 were used. Overall efficiency was computed for each farm and year. Sixty farms exhibited a sustained competitive advantage. Seventy-six farms exhibited a sustained competitive disadvantage. Farms with a competitive advantage were relatively larger, received more of their gross farm income from dairy and swine production, had significantly lower ex...

  17. The Scientific Competitiveness of Nations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cimini, Giulio; Gabrielli, Andrea; Sylos Labini, Francesco

    2014-01-01

    We use citation data of scientific articles produced by individual nations in different scientific domains to determine the structure and efficiency of national research systems. We characterize the scientific fitness of each nation-that is, the competitiveness of its research system-and the complexity of each scientific domain by means of a non-linear iterative algorithm able to assess quantitatively the advantage of scientific diversification. We find that technological leading nations, beyond having the largest production of scientific papers and the largest number of citations, do not specialize in a few scientific domains. Rather, they diversify as much as possible their research system. On the other side, less developed nations are competitive only in scientific domains where also many other nations are present. Diversification thus represents the key element that correlates with scientific and technological competitiveness. A remarkable implication of this structure of the scientific competition is that the scientific domains playing the role of "markers" of national scientific competitiveness are those not necessarily of high technological requirements, but rather addressing the most "sophisticated" needs of the society.

  18. Application of self-organizing competition artificial neural network to logging data explanation of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Jianguo; Xu Xianli; Wang Weiguo

    2008-01-01

    The article describes the model construction of self-organizing competition artificial neural network, its principle and automatic recognition process of borehole lithology in detail, and then proves the efficiency of the neural network model for automatically recognizing the borehole lithology with some cases. The self-organizing competition artificial neural network has the ability of self- organization, self-adjustment and high permitting errors. Compared with the BP algorithm, it takes less calculation quantity and more rapidly converges. Furthermore, it can automatically confirm the category without the known sample information. Trial results based on contrasting the identification results of the borehole lithology with geological documentations, indicate that self-organizing artificial neural network can be well applied to automatically performing the category of borehole lithology, during the logging data explanation of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits. (authors)

  19. From groups to categorial algebra introduction to protomodular and mal’tsev categories

    CERN Document Server

    Bourn, Dominique

    2017-01-01

    This book gives a thorough and entirely self-contained, in-depth introduction to a specific approach to group theory, in a large sense of that word. The focus lie on the relationships which a group may have with other groups, via “universal properties”, a view on that group “from the outside”. This method of categorical algebra, is actually not limited to the study of groups alone, but applies equally well to other similar categories of algebraic objects. By introducing protomodular categories and Mal’tsev categories, which form a larger class, the structural properties of the category Gp of groups, show how they emerge from four very basic observations about the algebraic litteral calculus and how, studied for themselves at the conceptual categorical level, they lead to the main striking features of the category Gp of groups. Hardly any previous knowledge of category theory is assumed, and just a little experience with standard algebraic structures such as groups and monoids. Examples and exercises...

  20. Including chemical-related impact categories in LCA on printed matter does it matter?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Henrik Fred; Hansen, Morten Søes; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

    2004-01-01

    global warming, acidification and nutrification. The studies focus on energy consumption including the emissions and impact categories related to energy. The chemical-related impact categories comprising ecotoxicity and human toxicity are not included at all or only to a limited degree. In this paper we...... include these chemical-related impact categories by making use of some of the newest knowledge about emissions from the production at the printing industry combined with knowledge about the composition of the printing materials used during the production of offset printed matter. This paper is based...... printed matter produced on a fictitious sheet feed offset printing industry in Europe has been identified and shown in Figure 1 (light bars). „Ï The effect of including the chemical related impact categories is substantial as shown in Figure 1, e.g. the importance of paper is reduced from 67% to 31...

  1. SMES COMPETITIVENESS IN AN INTEGRATED ECONOMY: A PRELIMINARY STUDY FROM INDONESIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eko Suseno Hr Matrutty

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available ASEAN Economic Community (AEC offers both opportunities and challenges to Indonesian Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs. Highly competitive SMEs are likely to exploit opportunities from AEC by expanding their markets and securing raw materials at lower costs. On the contrary, the increasingly intense competition is likely to marginalize less competitive SMEs in their own domestic market. This study aims to analyze the SMEs competitiveness in anticipating AEC. Using 64 SMEs that already export their products or have potentials to export as the sample; this research shows that Indonesian SMEs exhibit a high competitiveness level from the perspective of the production factor, the availability of related and supporting industries factor (especially in relation to the availability of raw and supporting materials, and the demand factor. However, SME owners acknowledge that AEC intensify competition and the government has not provided adequate facilities to improve the SME competitiveness.

  2. More competition, less staff

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, T.D.

    1996-01-01

    Staffing at US nuclear plants has been sharply reduced in recent years, as nuclear plants strive for aggressive cost reduction in a deregulating energy market. These steps have proved necessary to make nuclear plant production competitive with alternative sources. (author)

  3. The effect of manure management regulations on competitiveness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Mikael Skou

    2003-01-01

    Significant differences in the competitiveness of pig production along with growing international competition in the pigmeat market have raised concerns about the cost impact of environmental regulations on producers, particularly those regarding the management of manure. There appears to be a U...

  4. Consider the category: The effect of spacing depends on individual learning histories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slone, Lauren K; Sandhofer, Catherine M

    2017-07-01

    The spacing effect refers to increased retention following learning instances that are spaced out in time compared with massed together in time. By one account, the advantages of spaced learning should be independent of task particulars and previous learning experiences given that spacing effects have been demonstrated in a variety of tasks across the lifespan. However, by another account, spaced learning should be affected by previous learning because past learning affects the memory and attention processes that form the crux of the spacing effect. The current study investigated whether individuals' learning histories affect the role of spacing in category learning. We examined the effect of spacing on 24 2- to 3.5-year-old children's learning of categories organized by properties to which children's previous learning experiences have biased them to attend (i.e., shape) and properties to which children are less biased to attend (i.e., texture and color). Spaced presentations led to significantly better learning of shape categories, but not of texture or color categories, compared with massed presentations. In addition, generalized estimating equations analyses revealed positive relations between the size of children's "shape-side" productive vocabularies and their shape category learning and between the size of children's "against-the-system" productive vocabularies and their texture category learning. These results suggest that children's attention to and memory for novel object categories are strongly related to their individual word-learning histories. Moreover, children's learned attentional biases affected the types of categories for which spacing facilitated learning. These findings highlight the importance of considering how learners' previous experiences may influence future learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of industrial enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kozyk Vasyl V.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the process of formation of the investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of industrial enterprises. It identifies the essence, composition, goals and means of functioning of this mechanism. It establishes sequence of the process of functioning of the investment-innovation mechanism of ensuring competitiveness of economic subjects. It marks out such particular types of this mechanism: mechanism of renovation of fixed assets of an enterprise, mechanism of formation of channels and network of sales of enterprise products, mechanism of expansion of production capacity of the enterprise on manufacture of traditional types of products, mechanism of introduction of new progressive production processes, mechanism of development and production of innovation products, and mechanism of reduction of the level of risk of investment activity of the enterprise. The article conducts modelling of the process of development and realisation of investment solutions on introduction of progressive technologies of manufacture of products at the enterprise. It offers a method of selection of the most competitive variant of technology of manufacture of products depending on the level of quality and also specific current capital outlays for their manufacture.

  6. 40 CFR 156.62 - Toxicity Category.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    .... Acute Toxicity Categories for Pesticide Products Hazard Indicators I II III IV Oral LD50 Up to and including 50 mg/kg >50 thru 500 mg/kg >500 thru 5,000 mg/kg >5,000 mg/kg Dermal LD50 Up to and including 200 mg/kg >200 thru 2000 mg/kg >2000 thru 20,000 mg/kg >20,000 mg/kg Inhalation LC50 Up to and including...

  7. EUROPEAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY COMPETITIVENESS: HISTORICAL TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmytro Gladkykh

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is to analyze historical trends and development prospects of the European chemical industry competitiveness. It is concluded that the chemical industry is one of the EU’s most successful spheres, boasting €527 billion in sales in 2013, making it the second-largest global manufacture. Methodology. To explain the competitiveness of the EU chemical branch in the global market, it is proposed the constant-market share methodology to chemical exports coupled with econometric analysis. Results. The constant market share (CMS approach to assessing competitiveness, developed in the 1970 s for analysis of trade, is based on the principle that changes in the geographic and product structures of exports will affect a country’s export growth relative to that of the world, and that is way its global export market share. There were analyzed the EU biggest exporters (Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, the USA, Japan; China, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil. Practical implication. The analysis presents the results of competitiveness assessment in a different way, showing the average annual growth rate of EU and world chemical exports in the top section and then decomposing the gap between the two into that thanks to growth dynamics (structure effect and competitive effect. It is defined a lot of factors that are important to industrial competitiveness. On the cost side, in many industries labor is a large enough share of overall production costs that international differences in salaries can have a large bearing on competitiveness. Costs are also affected by a variety of government policies. It is also defined that innovation is one of the most important factors, which opens up new opportunities both in terms of new products and more efficient processes for manufacturing existing products. Value/originality. Given analysis helps to understand the causes and factors that have an impact on the European

  8. A functorial model theory newer applications to algebraic topology, descriptive sets, and computing categories topos

    CERN Document Server

    Nourani, Cyrus F

    2014-01-01

    IntroductionCategorical PreliminariesCategories and FunctorsMorphismsFunctorsCategorical ProductsNatural TransformationsProducts on Models Preservation of LimitsModel Theory and Topoi More on Universal ConstructionsChapter ExercisesInfinite Language CategoriesBasicsLimits and Infinitary Languages Generic Functors and Language String ModelsFunctorial Morphic Ordered Structure ModelsChapter ExercisesFunctorial Morphic Ordered Structure ModelsFunctorial Fragment M

  9. The effect of counter-trading on competition in electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dijk, Justin; Willems, Bert

    2011-01-01

    In a competitive electricity market, nodal pricing is the most efficient way to manage congestion. Counter-trading is inefficient as it gives the wrong long term signals for entry and exit of power plants. However, in a non-competitive market, additional entry will improve the competitiveness of the market, and will increase social benefit by reducing price-cost margins. This paper studies whether the potential pro-competitive entry effects could make counter-trading more efficient than nodal pricing. We find that this is unlikely to be the case, and expect counter-trading to have a negative effect on overall welfare. The potential benefits of additional competition (more competitive prices and lower production cost) do not outweigh the distortions (additional investment cost for the entrant, and socialization of the congestion cost to final consumers). - Research highlights: → 'Counter-trading' and 'nodal pricing' manage congestion in electric grids. → Nodal pricing gives superior locational prices. → Counter-trading induces extra investments in regions with a production surplus. → Extra investments improve competition, but are expected to be socially inefficient.

  10. COMPETITIVE FEATURES IN THE MARKET STRUCTURE OF HOUSING PROPERTY WITH REGARD TO REGIONAL DEFINITIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kostyantyn Pavlov

    2017-09-01

    , builders, and direct the product itself – residential properties. The value/originality. In summary, this study can conclude that the mechanism of functioning of the regional real estate market based on the same economic category, and national real estate market, while, at the same time, characterized by institutional and structural asymmetry incomplete. Determining the hierarchical order of formation of the real estate market relative to their territorial characteristics and volume allows us to clearly understand the scope and specific measures needed to resolve the competitive environment for them. This study allowed defining and describing the signs and positions of the various forms of competitive real estate market participants.

  11. Does tax competition really promote growth?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Köthenbürger, Marko; Lockwood, Ben

    2010-01-01

    This paper considers the relationship between tax competition and growth in an endogenous growth model where there are stochastic shocks to productivity, and capital taxes fund a public good which may be for final consumption or an infrastructure input. Absent stochastic shocks, decentralized tax...... the centralized level. Growth can be lower with decentralization. Our results also predict a negative relationship between output volatility and growth with decentralization.......This paper considers the relationship between tax competition and growth in an endogenous growth model where there are stochastic shocks to productivity, and capital taxes fund a public good which may be for final consumption or an infrastructure input. Absent stochastic shocks, decentralized tax...

  12. Unification of the methodology of competitiveness evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivanova Marina

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the study is the comparison of the modern methods of competitiveness evaluation and testing the results in practice at a production plant in order to unify the methodology. Analysis of the publications shows that the existing diversity in methods of the competitiveness evaluation complicates the choice of a method and interpretation of the results, which confirms the need to classify and unify the methods available today. The authors suggest that the standardized method of competitiveness evaluation should combine matrix and graphical methods. In our study, we have shown that SWOT-analysis should be carried out in two stages: firstly, it is necessary to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the company, taking into account the following factors: marketing, production, economic and financial situation, technology, the administration and personnel; secondly, it is essential to assess the opportunities and threats with the allowance for the political, legal, and economic situation, the impact of market as well as social, cultural and natural environmental factors. The proposed methodology of competitiveness evaluation has been tested at the industrial enterprise "Olvita ltd", which is dynamically developing and successfully operates on the food market of Ukraine; it specializes in processing, logistics and distribution of fresh and frozen vegetables, fruits and berries, as well as ready-to cook meat products. The results have shown that the competitiveness evaluation remains a pressing issue that requires simple and fairly demonstrative methods, one of which is a method that combines both graphical and matrix approaches. The advantage of the proposed method is its sufficiently high visualizations and record of personal approaches in evaluating the scores for strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats. In the future, the authors are planning to examine and systemize the indicators used in the competitiveness

  13. ORIENTATION OF ENTERPRISES TOWARD OBTAINING COMPETITIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PAUL BOGDAN ZAMFIR

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I proposed to emphasize the importance of obtaining competitive advantage by companies on EU internal market. The huge EU market, offers for participating companies the possibility to achieve significant economies of scale and numerous niches (segments market, which can be covered with large quantities of goods, the condition is that niches to be discovered in time, and the firms to be able to adapt promptly at their needs. Thus, the most important positive effect derives from the fact that companies have at their disposal a vast market consisting approximately 500 million consumers, free of customs duties and other restrictions inhindering the movement of goods. On this background, the companies can achieve high series production and thereby can reduce their cost of production and increase their competitiveness. In this context, the companies must meet the standards of the European Union, if they really want to gain competitive advantage on EU market.

  14. Competition and disclosure incentives: an empirical study of HMOs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Ginger Zhe

    2005-01-01

    I examine Health Maintenance Organizations' (HMOs) voluntary disclosure of product quality, which is not as complete as unraveling theories predict. After controlling for cost and demand factors, I find that HMOs use voluntary disclosure to differentiate from competitors, with lower disclosure rates in highly competitive markets. These findings are consistent with product differentiation, but challenge the intuition that competition should lead to more provision of quality information.

  15. Competitiveness of Halal Industry in Maghreb Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Rizki Moi

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available To ensure that the countries produce halal products in order to remain in the international market, then they must make sure that they remain competitive in the market. Therefore, this study was to measure the competitiveness of the halal industry in the Maghreb countries which consist of five countries, namely Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The methodology of this study was using halal market share in the country and revealed comparative advantage (RCA. The study found that Mauritania is the most competitive country for halal industry because of it has the highest RCA value and followed by Morocco and Tunisia. While the countries that have lower competitiveness are Algeria and Libya. Therefore, the government and industry should plays a role to improve the competitiveness of their national halal industry and to ensure they remain competitive in the international halal market.

  16. Demolishing the competition: the longitudinal link between competitive video games, competitive gambling, and aggression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adachi, Paul J C; Willoughby, Teena

    2013-07-01

    The majority of research on the link between video games and aggression has focused on the violent content in games. In contrast, recent experimental research suggests that it is video game competition, not violence, that has the greatest effect on aggression in the short-term. However, no researchers have examined the long-term relationship between video game competition and aggression. In addition, if competition in video games is a significant reason for the link between video game play and aggression, then other competitive activities, such as competitive gambling, also may predict aggression over time. In the current study, we directly assessed the socialization (competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8 % female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play, gambling, and aggressive behaviors. Greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. The selection hypothesis also was supported, as aggression predicted greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time, after controlling for previous competitive video game play and competitive gambling. Our findings, taken together with the fact that millions of adolescents play competitive video games every day and that competitive gambling may increase as adolescents transition into adulthood, highlight the need for a greater understanding of the relationship between competition and aggression.

  17. Economic analysis of pandemic influenza mitigation strategies for five pandemic severity categories

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background The threat of emergence of a human-to-human transmissible strain of highly pathogenic influenza A(H5N1) is very real, and is reinforced by recent results showing that genetically modified A(H5N1) may be readily transmitted between ferrets. Public health authorities are hesitant in introducing social distancing interventions due to societal disruption and productivity losses. This study estimates the effectiveness and total cost (from a societal perspective, with a lifespan time horizon) of a comprehensive range of social distancing and antiviral drug strategies, under a range of pandemic severity categories. Methods An economic analysis was conducted using a simulation model of a community of ~30,000 in Australia. Data from the 2009 pandemic was used to derive relationships between the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) and hospitalization rates for each of five pandemic severity categories, with CFR ranging from 0.1% to 2.5%. Results For a pandemic with basic reproduction number R0 = 1.8, adopting no interventions resulted in total costs ranging from $441 per person for a pandemic at category 1 (CFR 0.1%) to $8,550 per person at category 5 (CFR 2.5%). For severe pandemics of category 3 (CFR 0.75%) and greater, a strategy combining antiviral treatment and prophylaxis, extended school closure and community contact reduction resulted in the lowest total cost of any strategy, costing $1,584 per person at category 5. This strategy was highly effective, reducing the attack rate to 5%. With low severity pandemics costs are dominated by productivity losses due to illness and social distancing interventions, whereas higher severity pandemic costs are dominated by healthcare costs and costs arising from productivity losses due to death. Conclusions For pandemics in high severity categories the strategies with the lowest total cost to society involve rigorous, sustained social distancing, which are considered unacceptable for low severity pandemics due to societal

  18. Dynamic competition in pharmaceuticals. Patent expiry, generic penetration, and industry structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magazzini, Laura; Pammolli, Fabio; Riccaboni, Massimo

    2004-06-01

    This paper investigates patterns of industrial dynamics and competition in the pharmaceutical industry, with particular reference to the consequences of patent expiry in different countries. We focus on the competition at the level of single chemical entities, distinguishing between original brands and generic products. Quarterly data, spanning from July 1987 to December 1998, on sales of pharmaceutical products in four countries (USA, UK, Germany, and France) constitute the basis of our analysis. All the products containing major molecules whose patent expiration date lies between 1986 and 1996 are included in our sample. We show how diffusion of generics is linked to the characteristics of the market and investigate how price dynamics of original products are affected by generic competition. Our empirical investigation shows that the dynamics of drug prices and the competition by generic drugs vary significantly across countries. This heterogeneity notwithstanding, a clear distinction seems to emerge. On the one hand, systems that rely on market-based competition in pharmaceuticals promote a clear distinction between firms that act as innovators and firms that act as imitators after patent expiry. Here, original products enjoy premium prices and exclusivity profits under patent protection, and face fierce price competition after patent expiry. On the other hand, in systems that rely on administered prices, penetration by generic drugs tends to be rather limited. Its descriptive and preliminary nature notwithstanding, our analysis seems to have relevant implications at different levels of generality, especially for Europe.

  19. Compounds in different aphasia categories: a study on picture naming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semenza, Carlo; De Pellegrin, Serena; Battel, Irene; Garzon, Martina; Meneghello, Francesca; Chiarelli, Valentina

    2011-12-01

    This study investigated the production of compounds in Italian-speaking patients affected by different aphasia categories (i.e., Broca's, Wernicke's, and anomic aphasia) in a confrontation naming task. Questions of theoretical interest concerning the processing of compounds within the framework of the "lemma theory" as well as the role of morphological productivity in compound processing are addressed. Results indicate that all persons with aphasia retain knowledge of the morphological status of words, even when they fail to retrieve the corresponding phonological form (the "compound effect"). A difference was found among aphasia categories in the type of errors produced (omission vs. substitution) and in the position (first or second) of these errors within the compound words. In Broca's aphasia, the first component is omitted more frequently than the second one, but only in verb-noun compounds. Anomic and Wernicke's aphasia, unlike in Broca's aphasia, seem to retain sensitivity to morphological productivity.

  20. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PRUNEA Ana Daniela

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Rapid changes in market characteristics and the technological innovations are common and faster challenges, resulting in products, processes and technologies. The competitive advantage is volatile, difficult to obtain and more difficult to maintain and strengthened with consumers who through their individual choices polarization confirms the recognition performance and award competitive advantages, thus causing the competitive ranking of companies present in a particular market. The competitive advantage lies in the focus of the performance of companies in competitive markets and innovation is a source for obtaining and consolidating it. Companies will need to demonstrate the capacity to adapt to changes in the business environment so as to maintain the helded positions. This paper treats this aspect behavior that companies should adopt to get on the account of innovation a sustainable competitive advantage. I started of the work in the elaboration from the theory of developed by Michael Porter in his book "Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance" we applied methods listed thus trying to point out possible ways of creating competitive advantage by companies. We have presented the sources of competitive advantage and the factors on which depends its creation. Walking theoretical research revealed how lack of competitive advantage leads to a lack of competitiveness of companies and the benefits that arise with the creation of this type of asset. Among the most important benefits is to increase performances. Once the competitive advantage is achieved, it must be maintained and updated market conditions and the methods that can be created a sustainable competitive advantage represent the answers to many of the companies questions are fighting for survival in an environment of fierce competition. The implementation of methods for obtaining competitive advantages, but also exist dangers, that every company should know them

  1. CONSIDERATIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURE’S ROLE IN EXPLAINING COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivana Načinović Braje

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to map the connection between national culture and competitiveness. Competitiveness includes the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. Although competitiveness can be a result of several drivers, we argue that as some of these are people driven, competitiveness must be related to basic underlying assumptions, espoused values and artefacts shared by the people from the observed entity. This makes competitiveness closely related to national and organizational culture. Cross-country analysis has indicated that national culture features do have an impact on national competitiveness. The empirical analysis of global competitiveness index and Hofstede’s cultural variables has shown that uncertainty avoidance index negatively affects competitiveness, but long term orientation index affects competitiveness in a positive way. Therefore, policy makers should be aware that not only tangible economic factors lead to competitiveness but intangible factors such as culture should also be considered in attempts to improve competitiveness.

  2. SPECIFICITY OF INTER-ELITE COMPETITION AT REGIONAL LEVEL IN MODERN RUSSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander SOKOLOV

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the approaches to understanding the concept of ‘competition’. There are three approaches to understanding the concept: as a competition in the market, as a behavioral element of the market mechanism and as a market mechanism criterion to resist monopolization. Conditions for the existence of competition are also considered. The first condition for the competition to emerge is a presence of a great number of items of any particular product or resource in the market. The second condition for the emergence of competition is freedom of choice of producers’ economic activities. The third condition for the competition to emerge is correspondence between what determines the demand and what determines the supply. The forth condition for the emergence of competition is the presence of the market of means of production. The essence of the competition in the political field is analyzed as well. Specific conditions for the political competition in modern Russia are distinguished and common features of the political competition in subjects of the Russian Federation are also determined. An example of the conditions and essence of the political competition in Yaroslavl is considered in detail. Changes of the area of political competition for the last four years of the Russian Federation are also considered.

  3. LEAN PRODUCTION ASSESSMENT IN A SUGARCANE AGRIBUSINESS: A CASE STUDY IN BRAZIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Guilherme Satolo

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The Brazilian sugarcane agribusiness has emerged as one of the main drivers of the economy; mainly stand out in global scenario as a major producer and exporter of sugar. To make this segment even more competitive it is also necessary to look for constant improvements in its production system. Over the past four decades, Lean Production has been recognized as a management model in efficiency and competitiveness when it comes to the use of a systematic approach and focused on waste elimination. In this scenario this article aims to evaluate the use of philosophy, techniques and tools of Lean Production System in a sugarcane agribusiness in State of São Paulo. A research roadmap developed from the 14 principles of Liker for the implementation of Lean Production was used to conduct an interview, as well as on site visit and observation in order to perform a data triangulation. Within the search results is identified that the organization has a satisfactory performance on Lean principles, especially the support given by the technical and applied tools, which support the processes and problem solving categories.

  4. Competition on the weg: Product strategies of German utilities; Wettbewerb per Internet. Produktstrategien deutscher Stromversorger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franke-Ewald, Andreas [Ernst und Young AG, Duesseldorf (Germany)

    2009-01-15

    Deregulation and regulation of the energy markets pose enormous challenges to German utilities. Further, consumer consultants and internet portals make it easier for consumers to find the best buy, which in turn enhances competition. An attractive online representation makes it possible for utilities to acquire new customers and satisfy regular ones. A current study analysed the web pages of German utilities with the intention to get a picture of the innovative capacity of the product range on offer to private customers. It was found that there is still vast room for improvement. (orig.)

  5. A Closed-Loop Supply Chain Problem with Retailing and Recycling Competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chuanchao Xu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigate a durable product retailing and recycling problem in a closed-loop supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and two competitive retailers, in which the manufacturer collects used products via retailers from the consumers and has sufficient channel power over the retailers to act as a Stackelberg leader; the retailers compete in retail products and recycling used products. In order to analyze the impact of retailing and recycling competitions on the profits of the manufacturer and the competitive retailers, two collection models (coordinated collection (Model C and decentralized collection (Model D are established, respectively. Then, based on game theory, we derive the optimal retail price, the optimal repurchase price, and the optimal profits of the manufacturer and the retailers. The managerial insights demonstrate that more intense retailing competition induces the increase of the manufacturer's profits in both forward and reverse channels and retailers' profits in the forward channel and the decrease of retailers' profits in the reverse channel, while more intense recycling competition induces the decrease of the profits of the manufacturer and retailers in both forward and reverse channels. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models.

  6. The impact of category structure and training methodology on learning and generalizing within-category representations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ell, Shawn W; Smith, David B; Peralta, Gabriela; Hélie, Sébastien

    2017-08-01

    When interacting with categories, representations focused on within-category relationships are often learned, but the conditions promoting within-category representations and their generalizability are unclear. We report the results of three experiments investigating the impact of category structure and training methodology on the learning and generalization of within-category representations (i.e., correlational structure). Participants were trained on either rule-based or information-integration structures using classification (Is the stimulus a member of Category A or Category B?), concept (e.g., Is the stimulus a member of Category A, Yes or No?), or inference (infer the missing component of the stimulus from a given category) and then tested on either an inference task (Experiments 1 and 2) or a classification task (Experiment 3). For the information-integration structure, within-category representations were consistently learned, could be generalized to novel stimuli, and could be generalized to support inference at test. For the rule-based structure, extended inference training resulted in generalization to novel stimuli (Experiment 2) and inference training resulted in generalization to classification (Experiment 3). These data help to clarify the conditions under which within-category representations can be learned. Moreover, these results make an important contribution in highlighting the impact of category structure and training methodology on the generalization of categorical knowledge.

  7. INFLUENCE OF ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION ON MICROBIOLOGICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF CERTAIN CATEGORIES OF VEGETABLES PRODUCTS AND THEIR PRESERVATION LIFE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danilevici Constantin

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Research paper aims to highlight the scientific correlation between the influence of ultraviolet radiation (UV onsensory and microbiological characteristics of plant products in the category of leaves (lettuce and other types ofvegetables or fruit (bananas and their preservation’s duration, through their UV irradiation under certain conditions.The literature indicates a germicidal action of UV (medium UV on micro-organisms, optimal for λ = 254 nm. Theeffectiveness of radiation is influenced by duration of irradiation, the distance between the radiation source and thesample product and radiant power source.The action of microbial cell inactivation or destruction can be explained by changes in cellular structure andpermeability with changes at the level of mitochondria and the genetic material as a result of photochemical effects ofUV products. Research highlights the preservative effect of UV radiation (with λ = 254 nm and also their influence onsensory properties and positive to negative for leafy vegetables and fruits (bananas in our case.

  8. Energy and competition in italian industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zanetti, G.

    2000-01-01

    The analysis of competition of the Italian production is based on the analysis of the prices. The most important period is between the first petroliferol crisis and these days. The production is concentrated on sector of old tradition and executed from an enterprise of small dimension [it

  9. Study on Pt-structured anodic alumina catalysts for catalytic combustion of toluene: Effects of competitive adsorbents and competitive impregnation methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qi; Luan, Hongjuan; Li, Tao; Wu, Yongqiang; Ni, Yanhui

    2016-01-01

    Novel competitive impregnation methods were used to prepare high dispersion Pt-structured anodic alumina catalysts. It is found that competitive adsorbents owning different acidity result in different Pt loading amount and also exert great effects on Pt distribution, particle size and redox ability. The suitable adsorption ability of lactic acid led to its best activity for catalytic combustion of toluene. Co-competitive and pre-competitive impregnation methods were also compared and the mechanisms of two competitive methods were proposed. Co-competitive impregnation made Pt distribute more uniformly through pore channels and resulted in better catalytic activity, because of the weaker spatial constraint effect of lactic acid. Furthermore, the optimized Pt-structured anodic alumina catalyst also showed a good chlorine-resistance under moisture atmosphere, because water could promote the reaction of dichloromethane (DCM) transformation and clean chloride by-products to release more active sites.

  10. A Bayesian Multi-Level Factor Analytic Model of Consumer Price Sensitivities across Categories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duvvuri, Sri Devi; Gruca, Thomas S.

    2010-01-01

    Identifying price sensitive consumers is an important problem in marketing. We develop a Bayesian multi-level factor analytic model of the covariation among household-level price sensitivities across product categories that are substitutes. Based on a multivariate probit model of category incidence, this framework also allows the researcher to…

  11. Pharmaceutical pricing: an empirical study of market competition in Chinese hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jing; Xu, Judy; Liu, Gordon; Wu, Jiuhong

    2014-03-01

    High pharmaceutical prices and over-prescribing of high-priced pharmaceuticals in Chinese hospitals has long been criticized. Although policy makers have tried to address these issues, they have not yet found an effective balance between government regulation and market forces. Our objective was to explore the impact of market competition on pharmaceutical pricing under Chinese government regulation. Data from 11 public tertiary hospitals in three cities in China from 2002 to 2005 were used to explore the effect of generic and therapeutic competition on prices of antibiotics and cardiovascular products. A quasi-hedonic regression model was employed to estimate the impact of competition. The inputs to our model were specific attributes of the products and manufacturers, with the exception of competition variables. Our results suggest that pharmaceutical prices are inversely related to the number of generic and therapeutic competitors, but positively related to the number of therapeutic classes. In addition, the product prices of leading local manufacturers are not only significantly lower than those of global manufacturers, but are also lower than their non-leading counterparts when other product attributes are controlled for. Under the highly price-regulated market in China, competition from generic and therapeutic competitors did decrease pharmaceutical prices. Further research is needed to explore whether this competition increases consumer welfare in China's healthcare setting.

  12. Dakwah, competition for authority, and development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johan Meuleman

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Da`wah – usually spelt dakwah in Indonesian – has been an important aspect of Islam from its very birth. Since the late nineteenth century, however, as a result of political and social transformations it has taken new forms. In one form or others, da`wah has been practised by a large variety of Islamic movements and organizations. Although complementary to each other in certain cases, in others their relations have rather been characterized by competition for authority and power, not only between various da`wah organizations, but also, through these organizations, between regimes, categories of religious and social leaders, and social categories of Muslims. For this reason, da`wah has had important dimensions beyond the domain of religion proper. Moreover, da`wah has been connected to political and social causes such as the struggle against communism and Christianity – sometimes emulating them in certain respects – and community development. Quite a few da`wah initiatives, state-sponsored or non-governmental, have taken transnational scopes. Indonesian dakwah has shared most of the above features. This article, analyzing dakwah in Indonesia, confirms their existence and adds to their understanding. It substantiates theories on the objectification of Islam in modern societies: the spread of mass education has led to the fragmentation of religious understanding, which has stimulated a fierce competition for religious authority and the control of religious institutions and organizations. Just as in many other Muslim-majority countries, in Indonesia the state has played a prominent role in the development of mass education, the ensuing competition for religious authority, as well as the functionalization of religion. As was the case elsewhere, in Indonesia dakwah has had important dimensions beyond the religious domain. On the other hand, Indonesian dakwah has shown a number of particularities. In order to illustrate the combination of

  13. Natural variation in dauer pheromone production and sensing supports intraspecific competition in nematodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bose, Neelanjan; Meyer, Jan M; Yim, Joshua J; Mayer, Melanie G; Markov, Gabriel V; Ogawa, Akira; Schroeder, Frank C; Sommer, Ralf J

    2014-07-07

    Dauer formation, a major nematode survival strategy, represents a model for small-molecule regulation of metazoan development [1-10]. Free-living nematodes excrete dauer-inducing pheromones that have been assumed to target conspecifics of the same genotype [9, 11]. However, recent studies in Pristionchus pacificus revealed that the dauer pheromone of some strains affects conspecifics of other genotypes more strongly than individuals of the same genotype [12]. To elucidate the mechanistic basis for this intriguing cross-preference, we compared six P. pacificus wild isolates to determine the chemical composition of their dauer-inducing metabolomes and responses to individual pheromone components. We found that these isolates produce dauer pheromone blends of different composition and respond differently to individual pheromone components. Strikingly, there is no correlation between production of and dauer response to a specific compound in individual strains. Specifically, pheromone components that are abundantly produced by one genotype induce dauer formation in other genotypes, but not necessarily in the abundant producer. Furthermore, some genotypes respond to pheromone components they do not produce themselves. These results support a model of intraspecific competition in nematode dauer formation. Indeed, we observed intraspecific competition among sympatric strains in a novel experimental assay, suggesting a new role of small molecules in nematode ecology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Competition policy at the service of development | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2011-02-07

    Feb 7, 2011 ... That's more than the Gross Domestic Product [GDP] of Tanzania in 2002.” ... to prevent foreign or domestic firms from engaging in anti-competitive behaviour. ... Taimoon Stewart is an advisor on trade and competition issues at the ... European consultancy specializing in political and regulatory issues.

  15. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RECENT EVOLUTIONS OF ROMANIAN AND EUROPEAN UNION'S COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felea Adrian Ioan

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The main subject of this paper refers to an analysis of the recent trends and evolution of Romanian competitiveness compared to the European Union competitiveness and it is structured in four main parts. The first section of the paper regards an introduction of the competitiveness evolution process, recalling the three actual evaluation models of the competitiveness level. In the second part of the paper there can be found the competitiveness indexes practiced and published by the World Economic Forum, indicators that are structured on three main levels as following: the Global Competitiveness Index and its aggregate indicators that are developed on three categories of factors that are essential for the competitiveness process (Basic requirements, Efficienty Enhancers, Innovation and sophistication factors and the indexes associated to the twelve pillars of competitiveness: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic stability, Health and primary education, Higer education and training, Goods market efficiency, Labor market efficiency, Financial market sophistication Technological readiness, Market size, Business sophistication, Innovation. Based on the values obtained after consulting the World Economic Forum Reports and regarding the competitiveness from a global perspective, the third part of the paper presents a comparative analyisis of the evolution of the Romanian competitiveness process and the one of the EU25. In the last part of the paper there can be found the conclusions of this analysis, with respect to the values found This paper is part of the doctoral thesis entitled "Increased Competitiveness in the Romanian economy, in the context of Sustainable Development, coordinated by Professor Michael Berinde University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics. Doctoral research is supported by Human Resources Development Operational Programme 2007-2013, Contract POSDRU/CPP107/DMI1.5/S/80272 , "Doctoral programs to train researchers performing

  16. Developments and competitiveness of Mozambican chicken meat industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Alberto de Oliveira

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Mozambican poultry industry might be an option to facilitate people's access to animal protein, as well as to reduce the dependence on imports of the product, bringing jobs and income forth. This study aimed to characterize and to analyze the competitiveness of poultry industry in Mozambique. Porter’s Five Forces Model, which focuses on the five strengths that shape business competition, was applied. The results show a low level of competition within the industry, a limited supply of raw material and the fact that national products are commodities and competes with strong foreign participants. Domestic demand for chicken meat is increasing, but buyers base their decision mainly on price. Challenges include establishment of governance structure and policies for poultry sector and consumer welfare. Another alternative to improve the poultry industry in Mozambique is to promote technical cooperation with other countries, such as Brazil, in order to acquire specific structures for chicken production, genetic material and adequate nutrition.

  17. A Regional Comparative Outlook of the Romanian Tourism Industry Competitiveness

    OpenAIRE

    Carmen MORARU

    2012-01-01

    The paper aims to determine if the Romanian tourism product has growth prospects using several diagnose and assessment tools: such as BCG matrix (Boston Consulting Group), "Porter Five Forces" model and finally, we are going to analyze the main products in the portfolio using the Ansoff's Matrix. This approach will help us decide what strategy is appropriate for each product. The last step will be to determine the degree of competitiveness of the Romanian tourism using the Tourism Competitive...

  18. Interactions between freshwater snails and tadpoles: competition and facilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brönmark, Christer; Rundle, Simon D; Erlandsson, Ann

    1991-06-01

    Freshwater snails and anuran tadpoles have been suggested to have their highest population densities in ponds of intermediate size where abiotic disturbance (e.g. desiccation) is low and large predators absent. Both snails and tadpoles feed on periphytic algae and, thus, there should be a large potential for competitive interactions to occur between these two distantly related taxa. In a field experiment we examined the relative strength of competition between two closely related snail species, Lymnaea stagnalis and L. peregra, and between L. stagnalis and tadpoles of the common frog, Rana temporaria. Snail growth and egg production and tadpole size at and time to metamorphosis were determined. Effects on the common food source, periphyton, were monitored with the aid of artificial substrates. Periphyton dry weight was dramatically reduced in the presence of snails and/or tadpoles. There were no competitive effects on growth or egg production of the two snail species when they were coexisting. Mortality of L. peregra was high (95%) after reproduction, but independent of treatment. Growth of L. stagnalis was reduced only at the highest tadpole densities, whereas egg production was reduced both by intraspecific competition and by competition with tadpoles. Differences in egg production were retained after tadpole metamorphosis. Tadpole larval period increased, weight of metamorphosing frogs decreased and growth rate was reduced as a function of increasing tadpole density. However, contrary to expectation, snails had a positive effect on tadpole larval period, weight and growth rate. Further, in experimental containers without snails there was a dense growth of the filamentous green alga Cladophora sp. We suggest that the facilitative effects of snails on tadpoles are due to an "indirect mutualistic" mechanism, involving competition between food sources of different quality (microalgae and Cladophora sp.) and tadpoles being competitively dominant over snails for the

  19. Energy Data Base: subject categories and scope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bost, D.E.

    1985-03-01

    The subject scope of the Energy Data Base (EDB) encompasses all DOE-sponsored research. Broadly defined, EDB subject scope includes all technological aspects of energy production, conversion, and efficient utilization, and the economic, social, and political aspects as well. Scope notes are provided to define the extent of interest in certain subject areas, particularly areas of basic research. Cross references between categories are provided to aid both the categorization of information and its retrieval. Citations entered into DOE's computerized bibliographic information system are assigned six-digit subject category numbers to broadly group information for storage, retrieval, and manipulation. These numbers are used in the preparation of printed documents, such as bibliographies and abstract journals, to arrange the citations and to aid searching on the DOE/RECON on-line system

  20. Economic factor environmental protection. Productivity of the German environmental and climate protection industry in international competition; Wirtschaftsfaktor Umweltschutz. Leistungsfaehigkeit der deutschen Umwelt- und Klimaschutzwirtschaft im internationalen Vergleich

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Legler, Harald; Krawczyk, Olaf [Niedersaechsisches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung (NIW), Hannover (Germany); Walz, Rainer; Eichhammer, Wolfgang; Frietsch, Rainer [Fraunhofer Institut fuer System- und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2006-05-15

    The analysis on the economic factor environment and the German environmental industry on international competition is faced to methodological limits, since the environmental industry does not present itself as an homogeneous sector. The study is organized in the following chapters: introduction - the importance of environmental industry; classification of environmental and climate protection industry; productivity volume and production structure; international competition for potential environmental protection products; environmental protection industry and innovative performance. Integrated environmental solutions are of increasing significance, avoiding emissions and products and production process from beginning on. All known forecast indicate an expansive market development. In addition the rising prices for crude oil may push the search for innovative solutions to substitute fossil energy sources. The environmental industry should look for globally transferable solutions in order to promote global sustainable growth.

  1. Competitiveness in tourism economies of the APEC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reyna María Ibáñez Pérez

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available It is estimated that by 2030 the influx of tourists worldwide scope 1. 7 billion people. For such figures become a reality, timely in formation that can be taken as a reference for the generation of strategies aimed at harnessing the tourism potential of the various destinations in the world is required, plus a coordinated work between different economies, blocks and organizations. Here, in this article, an overview of the situation and development of tourism competitiveness of nations that make up the Forum Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC is provided. The methodology consisted of review of specialized search and sta tistical information influx, income and tourism competitiveness globally and literature APEC member country. The main results indicate that globally between 2010 and 2013, APEC countries experienced an increase in tourism revenues of 25%, a figure that exceeds global trends. In 2013, the level of tourism competitiveness presented by APEC, ranged between 6 and 82 position globally and only 53% of the 19 APEC economies that were evaluated by the World Economic Forum (WEF, improved their level of competitiveness. In relation to the regulatory framework linked to tourism, nations like Peru, Brunei and Russia reached the lowest ratings of the block thus have enormous work to do to improve your score in this category. In business environment and infrastructure, highlighted America. While in human and cultural resources, proved to be the issue in which APEC economies outperformed. Finally, results for APEC economies, evidence that critical areas are those concerning regulation and policies; and particularly sustainability issue, which can become a bottleneck in terms of competitiveness in the area of APEC therefore must strengthen and design better strategies for joint efforts in relation to such matters.

  2. Methane production, sulfate reduction and competition for substrates in the sediments of Lake Washington

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuivila, K.M.; Murray, J.W.; Devol, A.H. (Univ. of Washington, Seattle (USA)); Novelli, P.C. (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder (USA))

    1989-02-01

    Rates of methane production (both acetate fermentation and CO{sub 2} reduction) and sulfate reduction were directly measured as a function of depth in the sediments of Lake Washington. Although methanogenesis was the primary mode of anaerobic respiration (63%), the major zone of methane production existed only below the sulfate reduction zone (16 cm). Acetate fermentation accounted for 61 to 85% of the total methane production, which is consistent with other low sulfate environments. The observed spatial separation of methane production and sulfate reduction, which has been reported for marine sediments, is attributed to competition between the methane-producing and sulfate-reducing bacteria for acetate and hydrogen. This hypothesis is supported by the strong correlation between the measured distributions of acetate and hydrogen and the rates of methane produced from these two precursors in Lake Washington sediments. Acetate concentrations increased rapidly (from 10-16 {mu}M to 30-40 {mu}M) once the sulfate concentration decreased below 30 {mu}M and methane production via acetate fermentation began. A similar trend was observed for hydrogen concentrations, which increased from 7 to 22 nM up to 40 to 55 nM, at the onset of methanogenesis from CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2} (sulfate concentrations of 35-40 {mu}M). These results show, for the first time in a freshwater lake, the separation of methane production and sulfate reduction and the corresponding changes in acetate and hydrogen concentrations.

  3. Competitive Pressure, Selection and Investments in Development and Fundamental Research

    OpenAIRE

    Boone, J.

    1998-01-01

    This paper analyses the effects of competitive pressure on a firm's incentives to undertake both fundamental research and development. It presents a new framework incorporating the selection effect of product market competition, the Schumpeterian argument for monopoly power, the Nickell/Porter argument for competitive pressure and the infant industry argument for protection. The key insight is that the effects of competitive pressure on a firm's incentives to innovate depend on the firm's eff...

  4. Encoding tasks dissociate the effects of divided attention on category-cued recall and category-exemplar generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Andrew; Dagnall, Neil; Munley, Gary

    2012-01-01

    The combined effects of encoding tasks and divided attention upon category-exemplar generation and category-cued recall were examined. Participants were presented with pairs of words each comprising a category name and potential example of that category. They were then asked to indicate either (i) their liking for both of the words or (ii) if the exemplar was a member of the category. It was found that divided attention reduced performance on the category-cued recall task under both encoding conditions. However, performance on the category-exemplar generation task remained invariant across the attention manipulation following the category judgment task. This provides further evidence that the processes underlying performance on conceptual explicit and implicit memory tasks can be dissociated, and that the intentional formation of category-exemplar associations attenuates the effects of divided attention on category-exemplar generation.

  5. Sustainable competitive advantage for accountable care organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macfarlane, Michael Alex

    2014-01-01

    In the current period of health industry reform, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have emerged as a new model for the delivery of high-quality and cost-effective healthcare. However, few ACOs operate in direct competition with one another, and the accountable care business model has yet to present a means of continually developing new marginal value for patients and network partners. With value-based purchasing and patient consumerism strengthening as market forces, ACOs must build organizational sustainability and competitive advantage to meet the value demands set by customers and competitors. This essay proposes a strategy, adapted from the disciplines of agile software development and Lean product development, through which ACOs can engage internal and external customers in the development of new products that will provide sustainability and competitive advantage to the organization by decreasing waste in development, promoting specialized knowledge, and closely targeting customer value.

  6. Computing color categories

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yendrikhovskij, S.N.; Rogowitz, B.E.; Pappas, T.N.

    2000-01-01

    This paper is an attempt to develop a coherent framework for understanding, modeling, and computing color categories. The main assumption is that the structure of color category systems originates from the statistical structure of the perceived color environment. This environment can be modeled as

  7. Competitive Intelligence in Perspective to be a Source of Competitive Advantage and Strategic Contributions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Gama Buzzerio

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the prospect of Competitive Intelligence (CI constitute a source of competitive advantage in light of the Resource Based View and its contribution to the strategic management of the company. Relies on exploratory and descriptive research using the qualitative method. Six managers responsible for CI activities institutionalized in large different business companies were interviewed. Data were processed and analyzed with the application of content analysis. It was concluded that the CI is unable to be a source of competitive advantage but rather as an effective support to decision making process in the surveyed companies. Apparently CI products meet the specific needs of internal customers, facilitate the integration of CI with marketing and operations, help in the identification of risks through the analysis of strategic information, which is a differentiator compared to other types of intelligences.

  8. DATA ISSUES IN TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY BENCHMARKING: A CENTRAL EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Machek Ondrej

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Total factor productivity is a method of measuring overall productivity of businesses, industries or economies. It is an approach which is recently becoming popular among government regulatory agencies when applying the so-called performance-based regulation. This principle induces regulated companies (for instance, electricity or natural gas distributors to behave efficiently even if their industries are not exposed to competitive pressures, since they are rewarded for being more productive than other firms in the industry, and penalized in the opposite case. The aim of this article is to deal with the question what are the main data issues when comparing total factor productivity among firms or industries with focus on the Central European region, which is very heterogeneous in terms of geographic, social, economic and historic conditions. In the first part, we introduce total factor productivity and the most common methods of its measurement � Malmquist and T�rnqvist indexes. Consequently, we divide the data issues into separate categories and discuss them more in detail. The first category of issues is related to defining the set of comparable firms. Many factors, such as the degree of competition in the market, the extent of government regulation, economies of scale, firm size, geographical conditions and historic development have to be taken into consideration. The second category is associated with specifying the time period. TFP estimates should be based on long time series and the period should include the whole business cycle and be representative and exclude extraordinary events. The third group of issues is related to defining and measuring the inputs and outputs. Since a number of difficulties are associated with labor input measurement, it is often included into operating expenditures along with materials and services. The measurement of capital is even more contentious. The outputs should reflect performance

  9. Decisions on Remanufacturing with WTP Disparity and Recycling Competition under Government Subsidies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tong Shu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Enterprises have assigned increasing importance to remanufacturing, and meanwhile, the competitiveness of remanufacturing has also become established. In this article, game theory is exploited and government subsidies for remanufacturing, consumer willingness to pay and recycling competition are considered, with a focus on a supply chain consisting of one local manufacturer and one nonlocal remanufacturer. This study attempts to investigate how nonlocal remanufacturers and local manufacturers determine whether they recycle used products and engage in remanufacturing when these factors are considered, in the hope that the results can be constructive in terms of policies and management related to enterprises and governments. As such, four situations are considered and the corresponding models are built to derive the optimal production of each enterprise in the four different situations. Numerical results under the four situations are furthercompared. The results show that consumer acceptance of remanufactured products, irrespective of whether there is competition in production and recycling of remanufactured products and whetherthe government provides subsidy for remanufacturing directly affects each enterprise, remanufacturing and the profits of the overall supply chains. Based on these factors, enterprises should adjust strategies and choose to compete or stop competing or monopolize the market. The government should define attitudes towards the market competition and supervise the changes of market competitiveness based onmarket competition and consumer acceptance of remanufactured products. This study can provide some constructive guidance for some potential nonlocal enterprises engaged in remanufacturing, and at the same time shed some light for desirable direction in some further research onremanufacturing in theory and practice.

  10. Economic intelligence and intellectual capital in agriculture competitiveness: Case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nešković Slobodan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The process of globalization in the last few decades conditioned the many technological, economic and social changes which have transformed the world market of agricultural products and the impact on the competitive environment. In the modern world, creating material value in agricultural production more and more the result of the intangible factors and production is increasingly based on knowledge, skills and innovation of employees. In the industrial age the necessary resources to achieve competitive advantages were capital, natural resources and work, while in today's knowledge-based economy the importance is on the information, innovation, knowledge, intellectual capital and intellectual property - that have become the foundation of creating all other values. These values are, because of their great importance in achieving the modern competitive advantages, very often the target of economic intelligence and therefore require all available forms of protection. The sector of agricultural production can make a significant contribution to improving the overall national competitiveness if it is based on intellectual capital as evidenced by the country with highly developed agriculture. However, by observing global changes can be concluded that Serbia in this sector has unused potential for growth and development.

  11. Epidemiology of injuries in juniors participating in top-level karate competition: a prospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Čierna, Dušana; Barrientos, Merce; Agrasar, Carlos; Arriaza, Rafael

    2018-06-01

    Karate is a popular combat semi-contact sport among juniors, but there are only few studies available on the epidemiology of injuries in karate junior athletes. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence and pattern of injuries in top-level karate competition for athletes aged 16 to 20 years, and to compare injury rates between age groups (ie, under 18-year-old [U18] and under 21-year-old [U21]) and genders, following the introduction of new weight categories. A prospective injury surveillance was undertaken at four consecutive World Karate Championships (2009 to 2015), following the same protocols used in previous investigations. During the four championships, a total of 257 injuries were recorded, with an incidence of 41.4/1,000 athlete exposures (AEs, 95% CI 36.4 to 46.3). The injury rate was significantly lower for females with a rate ratio 0.63 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.82). Most of the injuries were minor ones: contusions (n=100), followed by abrasions (n=63) and epistaxis (n=62). Only 10% of the injuries were time-loss injuries (injury incidence rates 4.2/1,000 AEs; 95% CI 2.7 to 6.1). Face injuries represented 69.6% of the injuries, most of them were minor ones (light abrasions 24.5%, epistaxis 24.1%, contusion 16.7%). Change of rules (raising the number of weight categories from three to five) reduced injury incidence in the U21 category. The total injury rate in junior competitions is lower compared with elite adult athletes and higher compared with younger elite athletes. Time-loss injuries are rare. The implementation of the new competition categories in U21 karate has been associated with a significant reduction in injury rate. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  12. PAKDD Data Mining Competition 2009: New Ways of Using Known Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linhart, Chaim; Harari, Guy; Abramovich, Sharon; Buchris, Altina

    The PAKDD 2009 competition focuses on the problem of credit risk assessment. As required, we had to confront the problem of the robustness of the credit-scoring model against performance degradation caused by gradual market changes along a few years of business operation. We utilized the following standard models: logistic regression, KNN, SVM, GBM and decision tree. The novelty of our approach is two-fold: the integration of existing models, namely feeding the results of KNN as an input variable to the logistic regression, and re-coding categorical variables as numerical values that represent each category's statistical impact on the target label. The best solution we obtained reached 3rd place in the competition, with an AUC score of 0.655.

  13. Natural gas industry competitiveness study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-09-01

    A national study on the competitiveness of the natural gas industry was undertaken by the BC Oil and Gas Commission in cooperation with, and with the encouragement of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). The objective of the study was to compare the cost competitiveness of natural gas exploration , production, gathering and processing in British Columbia to the costs of the same processes in Alberta. The study was carried out by building an 'expected case' for each gas producing area in British Columbia and Alberta by averaging past events in such specific areas as pool sizes, production profiles, loads, drilling success rates, gas compositions, land, drilling, exploration and production/gathering costs, third party production/gathering and processing fees and abandonment costs; by constructing a cash flow model for each case, calculating unit cost, and ranking cases. The report provides the details of the methodology, displays the results of the investigation in graphical form, comments on the results factoring in also labour costs and cost differences due to resource characteristics, identifies some trends such as an increase in the proportion of connections to smaller plants, and provides suggestions for improvements

  14. [Risk of injury in and adolescent and junior competitive karate].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller-Rath, R; Miltner, O; Mamarvar, M; Mumme, T

    2005-12-01

    Increasing professionalism in competitive karate has led to a specific injury pattern. The aim of our study was to investigate the injury pattern in junior competitive karate and to evaluate the prophylactic effect of fist padding. During the 4 (th) Junior World Championships of the World Karate Confederation (WKC) 2004 235 karate fights were observed and injury-related data were recorded. Fist padding was used in 183 fights, 52 fights were carried out without. In 22 % of all fights we saw an injury. Most of them were mild injuries of the head and face: 32 bruises of the face (13 with epistaxis), 7 facial lacerations and 3 concussions (mild brain injury). 14 fights were stopped due to an injury. Only in the category male 18 - 20 years a higher rate of injuries was seen without fist padding (shobu ippon) compared to shobu sanbon (with fist padding). The injury pattern of junior competitive karate is comparable to senior karate. Fist padding does not generally reduce the incidence or severity of injuries.

  15. Competitive Intelligence in Malaysia Pharmaceutical Industry : Effectiveness of Implementation

    OpenAIRE

    Ooi, Hooi Min

    2004-01-01

    Competitive Intelligence is increasingly being considered an important, if not mandatory, piece of every business’ overall strategy and functioning, including tactical and strategic planning. The level of Competitive Intelligence activities differ by industries, and at different stage of product life cycle. It is closely linked to Knowledge Management – another major field on the way company handling information. Competitive Intelligence has often been related to industrial espionage where so...

  16. Competitive Advantages from Horizontal Relationships in Productive Agglomerations: perceptions of local agents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Pinheiro Deboçã

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Objective – This paper aims to assess to what extent relational view assumptions can explain competitive advantages perceived in the industrial agglomeration contexts of small businesses. Design/methodology/approach – We used qualitative research; two furniture centers, Misassol (SP and Ubá (MG, were examined through comparative data analysis. Data was collected through interviews with executives from 40 companies and 13 supporting organizations. The relational view and its assumptions point to factors that generate competitive advantage resulting from collaborative relationships between companies. Moreover, agglomerations provide intense relationships and are encouraged by governance entities. Findings – No competitive advantages clearly established due to relational gains were identified. The behavior of entrepreneurs in both centers tends strongly towards individualism. What agents identify as competitive advantages corresponds to situational or contextual factors in these centers and do not result from the realization of relational view assumptions, escaping from this paradigm. Relational gains can result only from subgroups that are formed through affinity, with no intervention from governance. Practical implications – Despite an agglomeration tendency within companies belonging to the furniture sector, a strong inclination towards individualism creates barriers to obtaining additional advantages resulting from relational gains, whether due to market regionalization, access of sales representatives, or logistics and tax costs, among other issues. However, actions in small groups are an important governance mechanism for that context. Contributions – Evaluate the assumptions of relational view and its explanatory power for competitive advantages in agglomerations of Brazilian furniture companies.

  17. Category I structures program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endebrock, E.G.; Dove, R.C.

    1981-01-01

    The objective of the Category I Structure Program is to supply experimental and analytical information needed to assess the structural capacity of Category I structures (excluding the reactor cntainment building). Because the shear wall is a principal element of a Category I structure, and because relatively little experimental information is available on the shear walls, it was selected as the test element for the experimental program. The large load capacities of shear walls in Category I structures dictates that the experimental tests be conducted on small size shear wall structures that incorporates the general construction details and characteristics of as-built shear walls

  18. Hospital Competition, Technical Efficiency, and Quality

    OpenAIRE

    C. L. Chua; Alfons Palangkaraya; Jongsay Yong

    2009-01-01

    This paper studies the link between competition and technical efficiency of public hospitals in the State of Victoria, Australia by accounting both quantity and quality of hospital output using a two-stage semi-parametric model of hospital production and Data Envelopment Analysis. On the one hand, it finds a positive relationship between efficiency and competition measured by the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI). On the other, it finds that efficiency and the number of competing hospitals, in...

  19. Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

    OpenAIRE

    Serafeim, Georgios

    2014-01-01

    Using survey data from firms around the world I analyze how detection of bribery has impacted a firm’s competitiveness over the past year. Managers report that the most significant impact was on employee morale, followed by business relations, and then reputation and regulatory relations. The impact on stock price has been much less significant and this could be attributed to stock prices not reflecting the impact on employee morale and business relations in less competitive labor and product...

  20. Interaction among actors in retail market competition in malang city

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurniawan, B.; Ma'ruf, M. F.

    2018-01-01

    In several countries, traditional market lose in competition with supermarket. Supermarket has several advantages compared with traditional market. It can provides consumers with lower prices, offer more varieties of products and higher quality products than traditional retailers, has more comfortable place for shopping. In Malang City, the existence of traditional traders was threatened. In a competitive retail market, traditional traders get less protection from the Government of Malang Municipality. Massive demonstrations conducted by traditional traders along with other society elements unable to stem the rapid growth of modern retail. This paper focus on the interaction of Malang Municipality actors in the local retail market competition. How those interaction can make imbalance retail market competition. The author uses descriptive-analytic method with a qualitative approach in this work. As a result, the interaction tend to produce imbalance retail market competition. Interaction between legislative, executive, bureaucracy and mass media tend to support modern retail growth than traditional one.

  1. Value-based pricing: A success factor in the competitive struggle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Netseva-Porcheva Tatyana

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Over the past decade, the view that the main purpose of market oriented organizations is not to satisfy the consumer, but to create values has dominated. Exactly the values, their creation, retention and increase, are the main sources of competitive advantage of the company. The purpose of the present report is to present the price formation, based on product value, as a source of competitive advantage. In connection with the so-defined objective, the value and the product price for the customer are derived as key factors for success of the company in the competitive struggle; the role of the value of the product in the marketing and pricing is revealed; and theory clarifies the two basic approaches for determining the price of the product on the basis of value - customer value modeling (CVM and economic value modeling (EVM, their nature, scope of application, advantages and disadvantages.

  2. Assumptions of Corporate Social Responsibility as Competitiveness Factor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaneta Simanaviciene

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the assumptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR as competitiveness factor in economic downturn. Findings indicate that factors affecting the quality of the micro-economic business environment, i.e., the sophistication of enterprise’s strategy and management processes, the quality of the human capital resources, the increase of product / service demand, the development of related and supporting sectors and the efficiency of natural resources, and competitive capacities of enterprise impact competitiveness at a micro-level. The outcomes suggest that the implementation of CSR elements, i.e., economic, environmental and social responsibilities, gives good opportunities to increase business competitiveness.

  3. Nursing: the hospital's competitive edge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaffer, F A; Preziosi, P

    1988-09-01

    The health care marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive. The hospital has a built-in marketing force with the nursing department, because nurses are in constant, direct contact with the customer. Nursing must identify the case mix profile of the community and focus the hospital product lines to meet community needs. The nursing department should decentralize, change, measure, and innovate the staff mix needed to operationalize these product lines. The development of nursing practice standards for the case mix will help to identify the staff mix needed and create systems to efficiently manage the product lines. Nursing management must become aware of cross-subsidization and downward skill substitution of nursing personnel. Nursing information systems must generate quality reports that invoke cost consciousness on the part of nursing staff. Quality assurance programs must become unit based and complete with frequent audits to correlate length of stay with nursing quality. Correlations must be determined between nursing productivity and case mix to determine the hospital's niche in the marketplace. The transformation of health care into a competitive business industry has created many opportunities for nursing. The health care industry's incentives for efficiency along with the decreasing demand for inpatient hospital services will be the forces driving health care toward a competitive marketplace. The hospital's nursing department should be strategically positioned to become accountable for increasing market share and enhancing quality patient outcomes. The focus has shifted from the theoretical to the tactical, which is a step in the right direction, particularly for nursing. Nursing, if strategically positioned, will not only thrive but will also excel in this chaotic environment by capturing the opportunities and being innovative.

  4. A competitive edge in France around EDF?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glachant, J.M.; Saguan, M.

    2006-01-01

    The French electric reform displays a rather particular case of creation of a competitive market around a former very large integrated monopoly that retains all of its industrial assets. This new market is growing like a competitive edge around the former monopoly The prevailing operator, which has mainly nuclear and hydraulic production equipment, could withstand all pressures from competitors during the initial price decrease phase, without openly abusing its market power. As a result, apart from the hypothesis of gigantic public offerings, the French market trend towards an ordinary competitive system does not seem likely to happen soon or spontaneously. (authors)

  5. Proportion of categories of associates and structure of the mental lexicon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Savić Irena

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a systematic distinction between associate pairs that constitute categories of lexical relations (e.g. synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms etc. and categories of associate pairs that have no obvious lexical relation. Proportion of categories of associates were estimated on 80 nouns from "Associative Dictionary of Serbian Language" (Piper, Dragićević & Stefanović, 2005, while frequencies of associates were estimated from "Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary Serbian Language" (Kostić, Đ., 1999. Categories of associates were divided into two groups: group of categories that included standard lexical relations and group that included idiosyncratic associates. Proportions of categories were analyzed with respect to a frequency of a noun to which associates were generated and b whether it was an abstract or concrete noun. Three measures were used to estimate proportion of categories: a number of associates, b sum frequency of associates and c the average frequency per associate. When estimated with respect to number of associates and sum frequency of associates proportion of categories that included standard lexical relations were negligible (6% and 18%, but they become dominant when estimated with respect to the average frequency per associate. Such an outcome suggests that categories that include standard lexical relations are characterized by small number of associates (due to the fact that they are closed classes with high frequency associates. Distinction between abstract and concrete nouns did not affect number of associates per category, which was not the case when proportions were estimated with respect to sum frequency of associates. Frequency of a noun to which associates were generated has no effect on productivity of associates, nor does it affects sum frequency per category. However, it has significant effect on the average frequency per associate within a given category.

  6. Association of competitive and recreational sport participation with cardiac events in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ruwald, Anne-Christine; Marcus, Frank; Estes, N A Mark

    2015-01-01

    AIMS: It has been proposed that competitive sport increases the risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTA) and death in patients with arrhythmogenic right-ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). However, it is unknown whether this only applies to competitive sport or if recreational sports activity also...... three categories of sports participation: competitive (n = 41), recreational (n = 48), and inactive (n = 19). Competitive sport was associated with a significantly higher risk of VTA/death when compared with both recreational sport [HR = 1.99 (1.21-3.28), P = 0.007] and inactive patients [HR = 2.05 (1.......07-3.91), P = 0.030]. No increased risk of VTA/death was associated with recreational sport when compared with patients who were inactive [HR = 1.03 (0.54-1.97), P = 0.930]. Symptoms developed at an earlier age in patients who participated in competitive sport (30 ± 12 years), when compared with patients who...

  7. Canadian competitive advantage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wills, J.

    1997-01-01

    The evolution of the Canadian petrochemical industry was outlined, emphasizing the proximity to feedstocks as the principal advantage enjoyed by the industry over its international competitors. Annual sales statistics for 1995 were provided. Key players in the Canadian petrochemical industry (Nova, Dow, DuPont, Methanex, Esso, Union Carbide, Shell and Celanese), their share of the market and key products were noted. Manufacturing facilities are located primarily in Alberta, southern Ontario and Quebec. The feedstock supply infrastructure, historical and alternative ethane pricing in Canada and the US, the North American market for petrochemicals, the competitiveness of the industry, tax competitiveness among Canadian provinces and the US, the Canada - US unit labour cost ratio, ethylene facility construction costs in Canada relative to the US Gulf Coast, and projected 1997 financial requirements were reviewed. 19 figs

  8. Product differentiation, competition and prices in the retail gasoline industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manuszak, Mark David

    This thesis presents a series of studies of the retail gasoline industry using data from Hawaii. This first chapter examines a number of pricing patterns in the data and finds evidence that gasoline stations set prices which are consistent with a number of forms of price discrimination. The second chapter analyzes various patterns of cross-sectional, cross-market and intertemporal variation in the data to investigate their suitability for use in structural econometric estimation. The remainder of the dissertation consists of specification and estimation of a structural model of supply and demand for retail gasoline products sold at individual gasoline stations. This detailed micro-level analysis permits examination of a number of important issues in the industry, most notably the importance of spatial differentiation in the industry. The third chapter estimates the model and computes new equilibria under a number of asymmetric taxation regimes in order to examine the impact of such tax policies on producer and consumer welfare as well as tax revenue. The fourth chapter examines whether there is any evidence of tacitly collusive behavior in the Hawaiian retail gasoline industry and concludes that, in fact, conduct is fairly competitive in this industry and market.

  9. Competitive potential of trade organization : theoretical and methodological foundations of formation and realization

    OpenAIRE

    Serebryakova, Nadezhda A.; Semenenko, Sergey V.; Grishchenko, Natalya V.; Ulchenko, Tamara Y.

    2016-01-01

    Problematics of competitive potential of organization does not have any multi-disciplinary limitations of research. Study of competitive potential in connection with factors of its formation and conditions for realization, including competition, competitiveness, and competitive advantages of organization, was conducted by many scientists. At that, in view of sectorial specifics, there is domination of works devoted to study of competitive potential of production, not trade, organizations. Ide...

  10. Globalization, Competitiveness, International Trade, Industrial Policy and Employement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joaquín Novella

    1995-07-01

    Full Text Available Competitiveness is presented as a variable key in the present context of a worldwide economy and extends its influence over the international trade tendencies, industrial policies and employment.The variations which trade relations at international level have undergone throughout the second half of the twentieth century have been accompanied by successive theoretical contributions, which have evolved from the traditional theories of the nineteenth century concerning comparative advantages and which introduce more complex factors.The product cycle model expounded by Vernon offers an explanation for the continual flow of sectors at international level as well as the characteristics of the most adequate industrial policy and the commercial patterns of each State revealing the importance of technology, human capital and international marketing as key factors for international competitiveness.This article explains the appearance of news procedures of international competitiveness based on product diferentiation, quality and brand image which, nowadays, coexist with traditional models such as costs and prices reductions.At every stage of a country’s development, a sectorial production structure together with some specific demand characteristics, salary and productivity levels correspond to it. All these latter aspects are interelated and should be analysed all together. With globalization, the speed with which a product passes from one phase to another has accelerated as well as the time it travels from the central countries to those intermediate ones and from there successively to those in the South, in such a way that these sectorialswings in international trade should be considered as a normal effect of it. Competition via salary reductions and social security benefits is not the only nor the most recommendable solution given that, in the long term, it affects the quality of production and social stability degrading as it does the standard of

  11. Systemic Competitiveness of SMEs in Mexico City, Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Luisa Saavedra García

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work was to apply the model of systemic competitiveness, SMEs in Mexico City. Developing four levels of competitiveness: macro level (economic environment, meso level (regional environment, Level Goal (Environment Socioeconomic and micro Level (internal factors. Data collection was done through fieldwork and archival research. The main findings are among the major strengths of the economic environment: high level of gross domestic product, high labor productivity and fiscal autonomy, the main weaknesses: the unions and the unemployment rate; meanwhile stand between foreign investment opportunities between threats and insecurity, corruption and difficulty in business transactions. In the regional setting a positive and 1 perfect relationship between the number of economic units and per capita GDP was found. With regard to socio-cultural factors, presents lower levels of poverty and unemployment to the rest of the country. Finally, at the micro level, the competitiveness of SMEs is in direct relation to the size of the company and the industry sector shows higher competitiveness trade and services sectors.

  12. Basketball ability testing and category for players with mental retardation: 8-month training effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franciosi, Emanuele; Gallotta, Maria Chiara; Baldari, Carlo; Emerenziani, Gian Pietro; Guidetti, Laura

    2012-06-01

    Although sport for athletes with mental retardation (MR) is achieving an important role, the literature concerning basketball tests and training is still poor. The aims of this study were to verify whether the basketball test battery could be an appropriate modality to classify the players in the Promotion (Pro) category, to assess basketball abilities before (PRE) and after (POST) an 8-month training in players with MR in relation to Competitive (Comp) and Pro categories, to analyze the variation of specific basketball abilities based on subjects' MR diagnosis. Forty-one male basketball players with MR (17 Comp and 24 Pro; age range 18-45 years; MR: 15% mild, 54% moderate, 29% severe, and 2% profound) were assessed PRE and POST training through the basketball test battery, which assessed 4 ability levels of increasing difficulty (from I to IV), each one characterized by the analysis of fundamental areas (ball handling, reception, passing, and shooting). Level I was significantly changed after the intervention period regardless of the Category, whereas shooting was affected by the interaction between Category and Intervention. The results showed significant differences between categories in the scores of individual global, level I, level II, level III, and in all fundamental areas. Individual global score in both categories significantly increased. The players of Comp significantly improved in level III, in ball handling, reception, passing, and shooting scores. The players of Pro improved significantly in level II, in ball handling, reception, and passing scores. Individual global, ability levels I-III, and fundamental area scores were negatively correlated to the MR level indicating that the players with a lower MR obtained higher ability scores. In conclusion, it was found that the basketball test battery could be useful for improving and monitoring training in both Comp and Pro players.

  13. Injuries in competitive boxing. A prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siewe, J; Rudat, J; Zarghooni, K; Sobottke, R; Eysel, P; Herren, C; Knöll, P; Illgner, U; Michael, J

    2015-03-01

    Boxing remains a subject of controversy and is often classified as dangerous. But the discussion is based mostly on retrospective studies. This survey was conducted as a prospective study. From October 2012 to September 2013, 44 competitive boxers were asked to report their injuries once a month. The questionnaire collected general information (training, competition) and recorded the number of bouts fought, injuries and resulting lost days. A total of 192 injuries were recorded, 133 of which resulted in interruption of training or competition. Each boxer sustained 3 injuries per year on average. The injury rate was 12.8 injuries per 1 000 h of training. Boxers fighting more than 3 bouts per year sustain more injuries (p=0.0075). The injury rate does is not a function of age (age≤19 vs. > 19a, p=0.53). Injuries to the head and the upper limbs occur most frequently. The most common injuries are soft tissue lacerations and contusions. Head injuries with neurological symptoms rarely occur (4.2%). Boxing has a high injury rate that is comparable with other contact sports, but most injuries are minor. Injury frequency is not a function of whether the boxer competes in the junior or adult category. Athletes fighting many bouts per year have a greater risk of injury. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  14. The forgotten grammatical category: Adjective use in agrammatic aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meltzer-Asscher, Aya; Thompson, Cynthia K

    2014-07-01

    In contrast to nouns and verbs, the use of adjectives in agrammatic aphasia has not been systematically studied. However, because of the linguistic and psycholinguistic attributes of adjectives, some of which overlap with nouns and some with verbs, analysis of adjective production is important for testing theories of word class production deficits in agrammatism. The objective of the current study was to compare adjective use in agrammatic and healthy individuals, focusing on three factors: overall adjective production rate, production of predicative and attributive adjectives, and production of adjectives with complex argument structure. Narratives elicited from 14 agrammatic and 14 control participants were coded for open class grammatical category production (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives), with each adjective also coded for its syntactic environment (attributive/predicative) and argument structure. Overall, agrammatic speakers used adjectives in proportions similar to that of cognitively healthy speakers. However, they exhibited a greater proportion of predicative adjectives and a lesser proportion of attributive adjectives, compared to controls. Additionally, agrammatic participants produced adjectives with less complex argument structure than controls. The overall normal-like frequency of adjectives produced by agrammatic speakers suggests that agrammatism does not involve an inherent difficulty with adjectives as a word class or with predication, or that it entails a deficit in processing low imageability words. However, agrammatic individuals' reduced production of attributive adjectives and adjectives with complements extends previous findings of an adjunction deficit and of impairment in complex argument structure processing, respectively, to the adjectival domain. The results suggest that these deficits are not tied to a specific grammatical category.

  15. The level of national competitiveness and the role of human capital in the creation of competitive advantage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitrović Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The new economy is organized around global networks of capital, management and information, which is based on technology. In this dynamic and growing international trade and the emergence of aggressive competition in the competitive and global market changing rules of the game and the positions which certain factors are in creating a competitive advantage in the global market. Technological development, innovation, knowledge and skills have become crucial factors for the development of an economy and its companies. Proper management of human capital is a direct source of improving quality and productivity at work, and with it the competitiveness of the most important prerequisite for achieving this goal is quality education. Investing in people and skills is essential, because it is the only way to preserve and improve competitiveness advantage. The need for continuing education caused great dynamism of modern society, the rapid technical and technological development, especially ICT, which requires the creation of new knowledge and skills, as well as creating new occupations, but at the same time that resource must be continually developed and improved.

  16. Genotypic and phenotypic diversity does not affect productivity and drought response in competitive stands of Trifolium repens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heidrun eHuber

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Clonal plants can form dense canopies in which plants of different genetic origin are competing for the uptake of essential resources. The competitive relationships among these clones are likely to be affected by extreme environmental conditions, such as prolonged drought spells, which are predicted to occur more frequently due to global climate change. This, in turn, may alter characteristics of the ecological system and its associated functioning.We hypothesized that the relative success of individual clones will depend on the size of the ramets as ramets with larger leaves and longer petioles (large ramets were predicted to have a competitive advantage in terms of increased light interception over smaller-sized ramets. Under drier conditions the relative performances of genotypes were expected to change leading to a change in genotype ranking. We also hypothesized that increased genotypic and phenotypic diversity will increase stand performance and resistance to drought. These hypotheses and the mechanisms responsible for shifts in competitive relationships were investigated by subjecting genotypes of the important pasture legume Trifolium repens to competition with either genetically identical clones, genetically different but similarly sized clones, or genetically as well as morphologically different clones under well-watered and dry conditions.Competitive relationships were affected by ramet size with large genotypes outperforming small genotypes in diverse stands in terms of biomass production. However, large genotypes also produced relatively fewer ramets than small genotypes and could not benefit in terms of clonal reproduction from competing with smaller genotypes, indicating that evolutionary shifts in genotype composition will depend on whether ramet size or ramet number is under selection. In contrast to our hypotheses, diversity did not increase stand performance under different selection regimes and genotype ranking was hardly

  17. Genotypic and Phenotypic Diversity Does Not Affect Productivity and Drought Response in Competitive Stands of Trifolium repens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Heidrun; During, Heinjo J; Bruine de Bruin, Fabienne; Vermeulen, Peter J; Anten, Niels P R

    2016-01-01

    Clonal plants can form dense canopies in which plants of different genetic origin are competing for the uptake of essential resources. The competitive relationships among these clones are likely to be affected by extreme environmental conditions, such as prolonged drought spells, which are predicted to occur more frequently due to global climate change. This, in turn, may alter characteristics of the ecological system and its associated functioning. We hypothesized that the relative success of individual clones will depend on the size of the ramets as ramets with larger leaves and longer petioles (large ramets) were predicted to have a competitive advantage in terms of increased light interception over smaller-sized ramets. Under drier conditions the relative performances of genotypes were expected to change leading to a change in genotype ranking. We also hypothesized that increased genotypic and phenotypic diversity will increase stand performance and resistance to drought. These hypotheses and the mechanisms responsible for shifts in competitive relationships were investigated by subjecting genotypes of the important pasture legume Trifolium repens to competition with either genetically identical clones, genetically different but similarly sized clones, or genetically as well as morphologically different clones under well-watered and dry conditions. Competitive relationships were affected by ramet size with large genotypes outperforming small genotypes in diverse stands in terms of biomass production. However, large genotypes also produced relatively fewer ramets than small genotypes and could not benefit in terms of clonal reproduction from competing with smaller genotypes, indicating that evolutionary shifts in genotype composition will depend on whether ramet size or ramet number is under selection. In contrast to our hypotheses, diversity did not increase stand performance under different selection regimes and genotype ranking was hardly affected by soil

  18. [Influence of tobacco products' advertisements on behaviour of the 'Quit and Win' competition].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kowalska, Alina; Stelmach, Włodzimierz

    2007-01-01

    Smoking cigarettes, pipes or cigars is in fact inhaling harmful tobacco smoke that is created as a result of burning. Harmful substances that are part of this smoke get inside all the organs, upsetting their activities and the proper running of the life processes. In many countries, spreading the habit of smoking has caused the unwanted changes in the health state of the people. This fact does not prevent the tobacco concerns from tricky advertisement of their products. In the work there have been presented the opinions of the participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition concerning the influence of promotion and advertising of tobacco products on their smoking behaviour. The subject of the analysis are the answers received through the postal survey in June 2001 from the 900 participants of the 'Quit and Win' competition (52.9% of all the participants) organized in the region of Lodz and Kalisz at the end of the 2nd International Antinicotine "Quit and Win" Campaign.. The result have shown that in the group of 900 respondents, 160 people (17.8%) claimed that promoting tobacco has become an obstacle in sustaining tobacco abstinence in their case, and 192 people (21.3%) did not have any opinion on that subject. Though majority of the respondents (58.1%) in the group of 900 people claims that promoting cigarettes in their case had no influence on their decisions concerning smoking, many of them are people who are of contrary opinion or are unable to make any evaluation. In the case of tobacco producers, making this effort to convince us about cigarettes being not harmful proved ineffective. Giving into the influence of the insidious cigarette advertising by the adults make lead the conclusion that frequency with which adolescent and very young people take up smoking may be a result of such promotion. Eliminating tobacco advertisements as a relevant factor leading to smoking, will enable to increase the ratio of non-smokers in the society.

  19. ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION AND INDONESIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY COMPETITIVENESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuvensius Sri Susilo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available AbstractThis study aims to analyze the impact of ASEAN Economic Community implementation in 2015 on the competitiveness of Indonesian textile and textile products industry. It uses simulations with the GTAP model to answer the proposed research questions. The GTAP simulation results suggest that Indonesian textile industry would gain the largest trade surplus followed by Thailand and Malaysia. For apparel, Vietnam would benefit the most, followed by Indonesia and Thailand. The ratio of domestic to import prices analysis suggests that Indonesian textile products have higher competitiveness than the other ASEAN’s. For the apparel products, Indonesia is as competitive as both Malaysia and the Philippines.Keywords: AEC 2015, Competitiveness, Textile dan Textile Products Industry, IndonesiaJEL Classification: C68, F15AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dampak penerapan Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN pada 2015 pada daya saing industri tekstil dan produk tekstil Indonesia. Alat analisis yang digunakan deskriptif dan simulasi dengan model GTAP. Hasil simulasi GTAP menyarankan bahwa industri tekstil Indonesia akan memperoleh surplus perdagangan terbesar, diikuti oleh Thailand dan Malaysia. Untuk produk pakaian, Vietnam memperoleh manfaat terbesar diikuti Indonesia dan Thailand. Berdasarkan rasio harga domestik terhadap harga impor, daya saing produk tekstil Indonesia relatif lebih tinggi dibandingkan negara-negara ASEAN lainnya. Untuk produk pakaian, Indonesia kompetitif, sejajar dengan Malaysia dan Filipina.Kata kunci: AEC 2015, Daya Saing, Tekstil dan Produk Tekstil JEL Classification: C68, F15

  20. Asset management: integrated software optimizes production performance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Polczer, S.

    1998-06-01

    Two new multi-dimensional databases, which expand the `row and column` concept of spreadsheets into multiple categories of data called dimensions, are described. These integrated software packages provide the foundation for industry players such as Poco Petroleum Ltd and Numac Energy Inc to gain a competitive advantage, by overhauling their respective data collection and retrieval systems to allow for timely cost analysis and financial reporting. Energy Warehouse, an on-line analytical processing product marketed by SysGold Ltd, is one of the software products described. It gathers various sources of information, allows advanced searches and generates reports previously unavailable in other conventional financial accounting systems. The second product discussed - the Canadian Upstream Energy System (CUES) - is an on-line analytical processing system developed by Oracle Corporation and Calgary-based Applied Terravision Systems (ATS) Inc. CUES combines Oracle`s universal data server and software development tools with ATS`s upstream financial, land, geotechnical and production applications. The software also allows for optimization of facilities, analysis of production efficiencies and comparison of performance against industry standards.

  1. [Research on ginseng trade competitiveness between China and Korea].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, Min-Tong; Yang, Guang; Tang, Xiao-Jing

    2017-05-01

    Ginseng is one of China's valuable Chinese herbal medicines, with a long using history. Ginseng has worldwide reputation, and widely used in food, medicine, health products, cosmetics and other production. China and South Korea have a big ginseng industrial, and sharing half of the export market. The ginseng export competitiveness analysis seems important and necessary between China and South Korea. In this paper, the data of customs and trade of ginseng in COMTRADE database were studied, and ginseng export competitiveness was analyzed between China and Korea. The results showed that the ginseng export competitiveness of Korean more competitive than China. Contrast with China, South Korea using only 15% total amount of ginseng exports and produced the same total export amount. This article has the reference value to the traditional Chinese medicine resources management and the economics research. On this basis, this paper further discusses the problems that should be paid attention to in the development of ginseng industry in China. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  2. Category Captain Management: a new approach for healthcare suppliers to partner with their hospital customers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trombetta, Bill

    2007-01-01

    Hospitals represent a substantial market for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The typical approach by healthcare manufacturers and suppliers to hospitals is to send representatives or detailers to hospitals and meet with representatives of hospital formularies and purchasing officials. Classic channels systems, and specifically, Category Captain Management ("CCM") may provide more of a sustainable competitive advantage than traditional hospital detailing. The purpose of this article is to discuss how CCM might apply as an approach for healthcare suppliers to truly partner with their hospital customers.

  3. Assessing the Environmental Performance of Integrated Ethanol and Biogas Production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, Michael; Svensson, Niclas; Fonseca, Jorge (Linkoeping Univ., Environmental Technology and Management, Linkoeping (Sweden)), e-mail: michael.martin@liu.se

    2011-06-15

    As the production of biofuels continues to expand worldwide, criticism about, e.g. the energy output versus input and the competition with food has been questioned. However, biofuels may be optimized to increase the environmental performance through the concepts of industrial symbiosis. This paper offers a quantification of the environmental performance of industrial symbiosis in the biofuel industry through integration of biogas and ethanol processes using a life cycle approach. Results show that although increasing integration is assumed to produce environmental benefits in industrial symbiosis, not all impact categories have achieved this and the results depend upon the allocation methods chosen

  4. Blocking in Category Learning

    OpenAIRE

    Bott, Lewis; Hoffman, Aaron B.; Murphy, Gregory L.

    2007-01-01

    Many theories of category learning assume that learning is driven by a need to minimize classification error. When there is no classification error, therefore, learning of individual features should be negligible. We tested this hypothesis by conducting three category learning experiments adapted from an associative learning blocking paradigm. Contrary to an error-driven account of learning, participants learned a wide range of information when they learned about categories, and blocking effe...

  5. Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Schacht, Wendy H

    2007-01-01

    .... economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional attention has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development...

  6. Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Schacht, Wendy H

    2005-01-01

    .... economic growth productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional interest has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development...

  7. Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Schacht, Wendy H

    2006-01-01

    .... economic growth, productivity, and international competitiveness. Because technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases, congressional attention has focused on how to augment private-sector technological development...

  8. EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

    2009-11-01

    1. Physics competitions: aims and realizations One aim of physics competitions is to increase the interest of young students, primarily at upper secondary level, to physics and natural sciences in general. A competition has motivational aspects known usually from sports events or games—comparing one's own ability with others, of course with the desire to be better and to win. If competitions reach nationwide and even international levels, additional stimulation is created. Competitions provide greatest attraction to possible winners, to the group of gifted people in a particular field. This implies that science contests are excellent tools for the promotion of talented students. Traditional teaching has been shown to have problems in supporting this group of students. Very often teachers are overstretched with the demands of teaching both low- and high-level students. Extracurricular activities are therefore a good chance to relieve the teacher, and to give talented students the opportunity for appropriate training and challenge. The competitions, however, have a broader impact and address more young people than one might guess from the statements above. Training courses and selection at school level give a larger group of students extra and, to some extent, complimentary education in physics. The degree of complexity of the tasks corresponds very often to the standards of the next level of education in the school system. Interestingly, many physics competitions have their origin in countries beyond the former Iron Curtain. They started as regional and national tournaments, were joined by neighbouring countries and have grown, in some cases, to events with participants from more than 80 countries. Although the features mentioned above are common to the different competitions, there are distinct differences between them [1]. The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is the oldest international physics competition for students at upper secondary level [2]. It dates

  9. Crested wheatgrass-cheatgrass seedling competition in a mixed-density design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Mark G.; Pyke, David A.

    1996-01-01

    Plant competition experiments have historically used designs that are difficult to interpret due to confounding problems. Recently, designs based on a 'response function' approach have been proposed and tested in various plant mixture settings. For this study, 3 species were used that are important in current revegetation practices in the Intermountain West. 'Nordan' (Agropyron desertorum [Fish. ex Link] Shult.) and 'Hycrest' (A. cristatum [L.] Gaertn. x desertorum) crested wheatgrass are commonly-used revegetation species on rangelands susceptible to cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) invasion, although little quantitative data exist that compare their competitive abilities. We evaluated the competitive ability of Hycrest and Nordan seedlings in 2-species mixtures with cheatgrass in a greenhouse study. Linear and nonlinear models were developed for a range of densities (130- 520 seeds m-2) for each species to predict median above-ground biomass and tiller numbers and to further test the usefulness of this design for evaluating species to rehabilitate rangelands. In both experiments, increasing Hycrest and Nordan densities reduced their own biomass and tiller production while increasing Hycrest densities reduced cheatgrass biomass and tiller production. Nordan did not affect cheatgrass biomass and tiller production. However, increasing cheatgrass densities reduced Hycrest and Nordan biomass and tiller production, and its own biomass and tiller production. The competition index i.e. substitution rate, indicated that Hycrest seedlings were better competitors with cheatgrass than Nordan, although in all mixtures, cheatgrass plants were the superior competitors. Further field research using this design, where environmental inputs are less optimal and diverse, is needed to validate these results and to further evaluate the use of this approach in examining effects of intra- and interspecific competition.

  10. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES ENTERPRISES IN KOOPERATION RELATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Mikitiuk

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Formation of new approaches to the definition of competitive advantage requires different ways to implement them according to market conditions. These paths can be cooperative relations entities that are implemented in the competitive advantage of enterprises in the new stage of development of a competitive society. The result of the interaction of small businesses with industrial and economic structures is the formation and development of such forms of cooperation entities as subcontracting, franchising, leasing, venture finance. The content of these forms is to integrate (interlacing of the functional areas of business including production of functional form is subcontracting relationships, forms of supply – franchising, industrial and financial shape – leasing as a form of innovative functional integration relations is venture financing.

  11. 76 FR 10410 - New Postal Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-24

    ... recently-filed Postal Service request to add International Business Reply Service (IBRS) Competitive... International Business Reply Service (IBRS) Competitive Contract 3 to the competitive product list and... International Business Reply Service Competitive Contract 3 to the Competitive Products List and Notice of...

  12. Determinants of Competitiveness in Companies that Comprise the Aerospace Cluster in the State of Sonora

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika OLIVAS-VALDEZ

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Most of the leading countries in the world production of the aerospace sector, over time, have triangulated their production, by installing plants in other countries, to reduce costs. The United States concentrates most of the world production of aircraft. Consequently, Mexico has joined this dynamic production process through the operation of almost four hundred companies in this industrial sector. The states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Querétaro and Sonora, lead the production of this sector in Mexico. The objective of this work is to determine if the companies in the aerospace sector of the state of Sonora are competitive in a regional context with respect to the growth of the entire sector in the country. The degree of competitiveness was calculated using the Competitive Advantage Index in two levels –the aerospace sector at the national level and at the state level-. The results of this research confirm that the competitiveness of companies in the aerospace sector in Sonora is high and that their competitiveness is determined mainly by the technological development of their products, quality of service, guarantees offered, price, and the operation and production costs.

  13. COMPETITIVENESS AND COMPETITIVE ORIENTATIONS: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Z. Efimova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Education of a competitive student is a strategically significant problem of the system of higher education in modern social and economic conditions. Personal competitiveness and competitive orientations – priority quality of future expert for successful future professional experience.The aim of the present research is to study factors of competitive orientations formation and criteria for evaluation of competitiveness of student’s youth in the Russian society.Methodology and research methods. Results of theoretical researches of Russian and foreign researchers are generalized; secondary analysis of data based on results of sociological researches and analysis of official statistical data are carried out. The results of the sociological survey undertaken in 2017 on the basis of statistical methods were processed and studied by the instrumentality of IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program; 1196 students of institutions of higher and secondary vocational education of the Tyumen region took part.Results and scientific novelty. It is stated that senior students feel themselves more competitive. It is revealed that a quarter of students who took part in the survey, generally men, count themselves competitive. A continuous distance of goal-setting is recorded among these respondents; in every third case they have plans of professional growth for five and more years that allows them to build attractive competitive strategy.The level of the competitiveness is directly connected with such indicators as “social stratum”, “overall life satisfaction”, “self-esteem of health”, “tendency to lead a healthy lifestyle” and “the level of trust in the surrounding people”. Mostly the students oriented on competition look into the future with confidence and optimism.Respondents focused on the competitiveness were more tend to demonstrate their abilities and cause admiration, have a creative approach towards work, be ready for surprises

  14. Competitive Pressure, Selection and Investments in Development and Fundamental Research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boone, J.

    1998-01-01

    This paper analyses the effects of competitive pressure on a firm's incentives to undertake both fundamental research and development. It presents a new framework incorporating the selection effect of product market competition, the Schumpeterian argument for monopoly power, the Nickell/Porter

  15. Using Sustainable Development as a Competitive Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spearman, Pat

    Sustainable development reduces construction waste by 43%, generating 50% cost savings. Residential construction executives lacking adequate knowledge regarding the benefits of sustainable development practices are at a competitive disadvantage. Drawing from the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge acquisition within the bounds of sustainable residential construction. The purposive sample size of 11 executive decision makers fulfilled the sample size requirements and enabled the extraction of meaningful data. Participants were members of the National Home Builders Association and had experience of a minimum of 5 years in residential construction. The research question addressed how to improve knowledge acquisition relating to the cost benefits of building green homes and increase the adoption rate of sustainable development among residential builders. Data were collected via semistructured telephone interviews, field observation, and document analysis. Transcribed data were validated via respondent validation, coded into 5 initial categories aligned to the focus of the research, then reduced to 3 interlocking themes of environment, competitive advantage, and marketing. Recommendations include developing comprehensive public policies, horizontal and vertical communications networks, and green banks to capitalize sustainable development programs to improve the diffusion of green innovation as a competitive advantage strategy. Business leaders could benefit from this data by integrating sustainable development practices into their business processes. Sustainable development reduces operational costs, increases competitive advantage for builders, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Implications for social change increase energy independence through conservation and developing a legislative policy template for comprehensive energy strategies. A comprehensive energy strategy promotes economic development

  16. Language categories in Russian morphology

    OpenAIRE

    زهرایی زهرایی

    2009-01-01

    When studying Russian morphology, one can distinguish two categories. These categories are “grammatical” and “lexico-grammatical”. Grammatical categories can be specified through a series of grammatical features of words. Considering different criteria, Russian grammarians and linguists divide grammatical categories of their language into different types. In determining lexico-grammatical types, in addition to a series of grammatical features, they also consider a series of lexico-semantic fe...

  17. The Influence Of Knowledge Management On Business Performance And Competitive Advantage In Riau Food Products On Small And Medium Enterprises In Pekan Baru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dra

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge-based economy requires organizations to be able to apply knowledge management to a company. This study aims to determine the relationship of knowledge management to business performance and competitive advantage in Riau food products on small and median enterprises. Mapping of conditions of knowledge management business performance competitive advantage in small and medium enterprises were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Any efforts to improve the effectiveness and performance of employees in a company or organization are important factors in improving the companys capacity of available intellectual capital.

  18. Trust, Personal Moral Codes, and the Resource-Advantage Theory of Competition: Explaining Productivity, Economic Growth, and Wealth Creation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shelby D. Hunt

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Scholars agree that societal-level moral codes that promote social trust also promote wealth creation.  However, what specific kinds of societal-level moral codes promote social trust?  Also, by what specific kind of competitive process does social trust promote wealth creation?  Because societal-level moral codes are composed of or formed from peoples’ personal moral codes, this article explores a theory of ethics, known as the “Hunt-Vitell” theory of ethics, that illuminates the concept of personal moral codes and uses the theory to discuss which types of personal moral codes foster trust and distrust in society.  This article then uses resource-advantage (R-A theory, one of the most completely articulated dynamic theories of competition, to show the process by which trust-promoting, societal-level moral codes promote productivity and economic growth.  That is, they promote wealth creation.

  19. Can market forces and competition supplant regulation?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graham, D.

    1998-01-01

    The challenges facing regulators and governments as utilities and pipelines transform from regulated monopolies into competitive businesses were discussed. In the past, the absence of competition required that utility and pipeline companies be regulated by governments to ensure fair pricing and good performance. The question of whether or not competition can entirely replace regulation was examined. Although the focus was on the natural gas industry, the regulatory trends in other industries were also briefly considered. In 1985, the federal government agreed to allow the commodity price of natural gas to fluctuate in response to market forces. This began the process of deregulation in the Canadian natural gas industry. Direct purchasing introduced competition and ended the monopolies of local distribution companies in purchasing gas. The main benefits of the competitive market structure were that consumers could choose products and services from a range of competing companies at competitive prices. This was critical to the success of the Canadian economy since Canada is the third largest exporter of energy and the eighth largest consumer of energy. It was suggested that even in a competitive market abuse of market power is possible, therefore, there is an important role for government in ensuring the existence of a level playing field. A variety of issues involved in an effective transition to a competitive market were also discussed. 2 figs

  20. Organizational Categories as Viewing Categories

    OpenAIRE

    Mik-Meyer, Nanna

    2005-01-01

    This paper explores how two Danish rehabilitation organizations textual guidelines for assessment of clients’ personality traits influence the actual evaluation of clients. The analysis will show how staff members produce institutional identities corresponding to organizational categories, which very often have little or no relevance for the clients evaluated. The goal of the article is to demonstrate how the institutional complex that frames the work of the organizations produces the client ...

  1. 40 CFR 98.240 - Definition of the source category.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... makes methanol, hydrogen, and/or ammonia from synthesis gas is part of the petrochemical source category... hydrogen recovered as product and ammonia. The facility is part of subpart P of this part (Hydrogen... levels of both methanol and ammonia. The facility is part of subpart G of this part (Ammonia...

  2. Competition and the Location of Overseas Assembly

    OpenAIRE

    Deborah Swenson

    2006-01-01

    How does international competition affect overseas outsourcing? While it is commonly believed that international competition enables firms to desert high cost countries in favor of low wage locations, the frequency of such responses may be reduced if the movement of outsourcing activities involves sunk costs. To put these factors in perspective, I study the production decisions of participants in the U.S. overseas assembly program (OAP). A number of interesting regularities emerge. First, the...

  3. 78 FR 43245 - New Postal Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-19

    ... Product AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning the addition of Priority Mail Contract 61 to the competitive product... the competitive product list.\\1\\ It asserts that Priority Mail Contract 61 is a competitive product...

  4. Finance and Competitiveness in Developing Countries

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    The experience of these countries suggests that high productivity and competitiveness .... Fluctuations in the terms of trade and, hence, in the availability of foreign ...... plying mills), 3312 (wooden and cane containers), 3521 (paints, varnishes, ...

  5. Competition and rural primary care programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ricketts, T C

    1990-04-01

    Rural primary care programs were established in areas where there was thought to be no competition for patients. However, evidence from site visits and surveys of a national sample of subsidized programs revealed a pattern of competitive responses by the clinics. In this study of 193 rural primary care programs, mail and telephone surveys produced uniform data on the organization, operation, finances, and utilization of a representative sample of clinics. The programs were found to compete in terms of: (1) price, (2) service mix, (3) staff availability, (4) structural accessibility, (5) outreach, and (6) targeting a segment of the market. The competitive strategies employed by the clinics had consequences that affected their productivity and financial stability. The strategies were related to the perceived missions of the programs, and depended heavily upon the degree of isolation of the program and the targeting of the services. The competitive strategy chosen by a particular program could not be predicted based on service area population and apparent competitors in the service area. The goals and objectives of the programs had more to do with their competitive responses than with market characteristics. Moreover, the chosen strategies may not meet the demands of those markets.

  6. Competitive network determines the direction of the diversity–function relationship

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maynard, Daniel S.; Crowther, Thomas W.; Bradford, Mark A.

    2017-01-01

    The structure of the competitive network is an important driver of biodiversity and coexistence in natural communities. In addition to determining which species survive, the nature and intensity of competitive interactions within the network also affect the growth, productivity, and abundances of

  7. Interdependance of innovativeness and category of a hotel: Case study of Serbian hotels sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovičić Ana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The introduction of the innovation in business is critical factor of the quality of the accommodation offer and the success of the hotel. Studies have shown that there is a relationship between category and innovativeness of the hotel, where the higher categories hotels have been shown to be more innovative. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between category and innovativeness of the hotel, as well as to determine the differences in terms of innovation and types of innovation, depending on the category of the hotel. The study included 57 hotels of the first, second and third category in Serbia. The survey was conducted on a sample of 512 employees. The results of correlation analysis showed there is no corelation between the category and innovativeness of the hotel. The results of ANOVA showed that the second category hotels are more innovative than hotels with three and five stars. Statistically significant differences between the first, second and third category were found in the case of process innovation, product and service innovation and management innovation.

  8. Enabling Manufacturing Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability : Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual production

    CERN Document Server

    2012-01-01

    The changing manufacturing environment requires more responsive and adaptable manufacturing systems. The theme of the 4th International Conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual production (CARV2011) is “Enabling Manufacturing Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability”. Leading edge research and best implementation practices and experiences, which address these important issues and challenges, are presented. The proceedings include advances in manufacturing systems design, planning, evaluation, control and evolving paradigms such as mass customization, personalization, changeability, re-configurability and flexibility. New and important concepts such as the dynamic product families and platforms, co-evolution of products and systems, and methods for enhancing manufacturing systems’ economic sustainability and prolonging their life to produce more than one product generation are treated. Enablers of change in manufacturing systems, production volume and capability scalability and man...

  9. FORMATION OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF ENTERPRISES IN TERMS OF GLOBALIZATION: COMPETITIVE DYNAMICS AND AN INTELLECTUAL COMPONENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Tarasenko

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to investigate the current state of scientific thought in relation to the formation of intellectual capital of an enterprise in the innovation process, achievement by the enterprise of corresponding competitive advantages and their protection. Methodology. The methodological basis of the article is the systematic approach, which provided a comprehensive definition of the scope of this research – intellectual property and its protection as a complex economic and legal category. This made it possible to systematically define the purpose, level of abstraction, hierarchy, forms of manifestation, and key attributes of the subject of research. Application of principles of modelling of business processes also allowed studying the influence of factors of the external environment on the sequence of information flows in the process of forming competitive advantages on the basis of intellectual property. In addition, having determined the scientific basis, the collective and local monographic studies of leading scientists concerning the specificity of the formation of competitive advantages of innovative enterprises, including on the basis of intellectual capital, were also taken into account. Results. The article studies, describes and, correspondingly, formalizes modern processes of formation of competitive advantages in the conditions of Smart Economy: knowledge management, their patenting, modern significance, and the influence of patenting on the role of intellectual property in the investigated phenomena, as well as management of relevant information flows. Practical implications. The research demonstrates ways of forming competitive advantages in the modern economy, and the results of the analysis of relevant statistics explain patterns of economic and legal processes in the field of relevant practical activities. This allows assessing the actual state of the subject of the research, determining the development

  10. Competitiveness in the sawmills and wood preservation industry in the United States and Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao V Nagubadi; Daowei Zhang

    2010-01-01

    We examine relative prices, relative productivity levels, and competitiveness in the sawmills and wood preservation industry in the united states and Canada between 1958 and 2003 by using purchasing power parities and bilateral translog production function. Our results show that the competitiveness of the Canadian industy is facilitated by higher relative productivity...

  11. Explaining foreign ownership by comparative and competitive advantage. Empirical evidence.

    OpenAIRE

    Bellak, Christian

    1999-01-01

    This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of foreign ownership in manufacturing industries. Foreign ownership, according to the theory of international production, is the result of the combination of comparative and competitive advantage. An adequate examination of the ownership structure of an industry requires the ability to establish empirically the extent to which international competitiveness of firms rests on comparative and competitive advantage. Analysis is based on a...

  12. Subject categories and scope descriptions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    This document is one in a series of publications known as the ETDE/INIS Joint Reference Series. It defines the subject categories and provides the scope descriptions to be used for categorization of the nuclear literature for the preparation of INIS and ETDE input by national and regional centres. Together with the other volumes of the INIS Reference Series it defines the rules, standards and practices and provides the authorities to be used in the International Nuclear Information System and ETDE. A complete list of the volumes published in the INIS Reference Series may be found on the inside front cover of this publication. This INIS/ETDE Reference Series document is intended to serve two purposes: to define the subject scope of the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) and the Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE) and to define the subject classification scheme of INIS and ETDE. It is thus the guide to the inputting centres in determining which items of literature should be reported, and in determining where the full bibliographic entry and abstract of each item should be included in INIS or ETDE database. Each category is identified by a category code consisting of three alphanumeric characters. A scope description is given for each subject category. The scope of INIS is the sum of the scopes of all the categories. With most categories cross references are provided to other categories where appropriate. Cross references should be of assistance in finding the appropriate category; in fact, by indicating topics that are excluded from the category in question, the cross references help to clarify and define the scope of the category to which they are appended. A Subject Index is included as an aid to subject classifiers, but it is only an aid and not a means for subject classification. It facilitates the use of this document, but is no substitute for the description of the scope of the subject categories

  13. Color categories only affect post-perceptual processes when same- and different-category colors are equally discriminable.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Xun; Witzel, Christoph; Forder, Lewis; Clifford, Alexandra; Franklin, Anna

    2014-04-01

    Prior claims that color categories affect color perception are confounded by inequalities in the color space used to equate same- and different-category colors. Here, we equate same- and different-category colors in the number of just-noticeable differences, and measure event-related potentials (ERPs) to these colors on a visual oddball task to establish if color categories affect perceptual or post-perceptual stages of processing. Category effects were found from 200 ms after color presentation, only in ERP components that reflect post-perceptual processes (e.g., N2, P3). The findings suggest that color categories affect post-perceptual processing, but do not affect the perceptual representation of color.

  14. Economic Reform, Firm Survival and Competitiveness (Middle East ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    During the 1980s, it was thought that liberalizing trade and exposing industries ... of some firms but a more productive and competitive industrial sector as a whole. ... to stimulate higher firm-level productivity in the Middle East and North Africa.

  15. Competitive Strategy and Total Quality Management Culture in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper discusses the elements of competitive strategy, total quality management culture and productivity improvement and their relationship in producing better outputs of goods and services and individual and organizational performance. Production remains fundamental to the sustenance of human existence.

  16. Capacity-oriented curriculum system of optoelectronics in the context of large category cultivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Yuan; Hu, Zhangfang; Zhang, Yi

    2017-08-01

    In order to cultivate the innovative talents with the comprehensive development to meet the talents demand for development of economic society, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications implements cultivation based on broadening basic education and enrolment in large category of general education. Optoelectronic information science and engineering major belongs to the electronic engineering category. The "2 +2" mode is utilized for personnel training, where students are without major in the first and second year and assigned to a major within the major categories in the end of the second year. In the context of the comprehensive cultivation, for the changes in the demand for professionals in the global competitive environment with the currently rapid development, especially the demand for the professional engineering technology personnel suitable to industry and development of local economic society, the concept of CDIO engineering ability cultivation is used for reference. Thus the curriculum system for the three-node structure optoelectronic information science and engineering major is proposed, which attaches great importance to engineering practice and innovation cultivation under the background of the comprehensive cultivation. The conformity between the curriculum system and the personnel training objectives is guaranteed effectively, and the consistency between the teaching philosophy and the teaching behavior is enhanced. Therefore, the idea of major construction is clear with specific characteristics.

  17. Salivary hormones and anxiety in winners and losers of an international judo competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papacosta, Elena; Nassis, George P; Gleeson, Michael

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of salivary hormones and salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and anxiety in winners and losers during an international judo competition. Twenty-three trained, male, national-level judo athletes provided three saliva samples during a competition day: morning, in anticipation of competition after an overnight fast, mid-competition, and post-competition within 15 min post-fight for determination of salivary cortisol, salivary testosterone, salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio, SIgA absolute concentrations, SIgA secretion rate and saliva flow rate. The competitive state anxiety inventory questionnaire was completed by the athletes (n = 12) after the first saliva collection for determination of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and self-confidence. Winners were considered 1-3 ranking place (n = 12) and losers (n = 11) below third place in each weight category. Winners presented higher anticipatory salivary cortisol concentrations (p = 0.03) and a lower mid-competition salivary testosterone/cortisol ratio (p = 0.003) compared with losers with no differences for salivary testosterone. Winners tended to have higher SIgA secretion rates (p = 0.07) and higher saliva flow rates (p = 0.009) at mid-competition. Higher levels of cognitive anxiety (p = 0.02) were observed in the winners, without differences according to the outcome in somatic anxiety and self-confidence. The results suggest that winners experienced higher levels of physiological arousal and better psychological preparedness in the morning, and as the competition progressed, the winners were able to control their stress response better.

  18. Impacts of the EU emissions trading scheme on the industrial competitiveness in Germany

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Graichen, Verena; Schumacher, Katja; Matthes, Felix C.; Mohr, Lennart [Oeko Institut e.V., Berlin (Germany); Duscha, Vicky; Schleich, Joachim [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany); Diekmann, Jochen [DIW, Berlin (Germany)

    2008-09-15

    The authors of the contribution under consideration present a discussion of methods, and provide empirical results for the analysis of effects of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme on product costs and subsequent impacts on international competitiveness. The discussion shows that the combination of intensity of trade indicators and value at stake indicators reveals meaningful results that allow assessing the potential for distortion in competitiveness by the EU Emissions Trading Schemes. The analysis of trade intensities and value at stake showed that a small number of sectors may in fact be exposed to distortions in competitiveness due to both high trade intensity and high value at stake. For Germany, these include 'basic iron and steel', 'fertilizers and nitrogen compounds', 'paper and paperboard', 'aluminium and aluminium products' and 'other basic inorganic chemicals'. A number of other sectors reveal a high intensity of trade but low value at stake which implies that the increase in product costs due to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is relatively small and negative effects on competitiveness may not be likely. For the sectors that reveal high values at stake and high trade intensities, market positions are likely to change under the EU Emissions Trading system due to increased production costs and high exposure to international competition. When deciding on which sectors are highly exposed to possible distortions in competitiveness and which measures should be implemented to address competitiveness and leakage it should be kept in mind that CO{sub 2} costs are only one of multiple factors affecting companies' production and investment decisions. Other factors that may deserve detailed investigation include product differentiation and market segmentation within a sector (including specialty products), close cooperation with domestic/European partners and intrafirm trade, differences across countries in the

  19. Fujifilm-Kodak Duopolistic Competition in Japan and the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Yoshi Tsurumi; Hiroki Tsurumi

    1999-01-01

    This article analyzes the duopolistic competition of Fujifilm and Kodak according to the product life cycle and “game theoretic” exchange-of-hostage hypothesis of international trade and investment. It shows how each firm used its home-team and first-mover advantages to compete with the other. It shows that Fujifilm's strategic use of marketing logistics and innovative products reduced Kodak's market share in Japan and elsewhere. This article has implications for the global competition of mul...

  20. Triangulated categories (AM-148)

    CERN Document Server

    Neeman, Amnon

    2014-01-01

    The first two chapters of this book offer a modern, self-contained exposition of the elementary theory of triangulated categories and their quotients. The simple, elegant presentation of these known results makes these chapters eminently suitable as a text for graduate students. The remainder of the book is devoted to new research, providing, among other material, some remarkable improvements on Brown''s classical representability theorem. In addition, the author introduces a class of triangulated categories""--the ""well generated triangulated categories""--and studies their properties. This

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