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Customer Base (customer + base)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting50%
Humanities and Social Sciences25%
Engineering25%

Selected Abstracts

Herding Behaviour and the Size of Customer Base as a Commitment to Quality

ECONOMICA, Issue 267 2000
Chong Ju Choi
This paper refers to herding behaviour as developed in Bikhchandani et al. (1992), Bannerjee (1992) and Choi and Scarpa (1994). We examine the behaviour of a potential customer who does not know how many of her predecessorsdecided not to purchase the product. We show that, ceteris paribus,a smaller (larger) customer base increases the likelihood of a positive(negative) cascade. Hence, a firm can signal its commitment to high quality(Schelling 1960) by choosing to develop a customer base that relies upon thecustomer's ,private' information rather than one that relies on an informational cascade. [source]

Ethnic Entrepreneurship Among Indian Women in New Zealand: A Bittersweet Process

GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2007
Edwina Pio
This research article explores the lived-in and lived-through experiences of Indian women entrepreneurs in New Zealand in the context of ethnic entrepreneurship. Through a four-stage model emerging from qualitative interviews, the article illuminates the bittersweet entrepreneurial process of ethnic minority migrant women. The four stages are: the low permeability for entry into the job market for ethnic minority migrant women; underemployment; setting up a micro-enterprise and expanding the business and creating employment for others, primarily co-ethnics as well as an expanding customer base. A combination of factors ranging from perceived discrimination, low self esteem and feelings of being devalued, to ethnic networks and lack of access/knowledge of government resources and the entry of women from Indian business families feed into each of the four stages of this model. The article offers an analysis of minority voices, along with implications for future research. [source]

Activity-Based Pricing in a Monopoly

JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2003
V. G. Narayanan
abstract In this article, I study the interaction between cost accounting systems and pricing decisions in a setting where a monopolist sells a base product and related support services to customers whose preference for support services is known only to them. I consider two pricing mechanisms,activity-based pricing (ABP) and traditional pricing,and two cost-accounting systems,activity-based costing (ABC) and traditional costing, for support services. Under traditional pricing, only the base product is priced, whereas support services are provided free because detailed cost-driver volume information on the consumption of support services by each customer is unavailable. Under ABP, customers pay based on the quantities consumed of both the base product and the support services because detailed cost-driver volume information is available for each customer. Likewise, under traditional costing for support services the firm makes pricing decisions on cost signals that are noisier than they are under ABC. I compare the equilibrium quantities of the base product and support services sold, the information rent paid to the customers, and the expected profits of the monopolist under all four combinations of cost-driver volume and cost-driver rate information. I show that ABP helps reduce control problems, such as moral hazard and adverse selection problems, for the supplier and increases the supplier's ability to engage in price discrimination. I show that firms are more likely to adopt ABP when their customer base is more diverse, their customer support costs are more uncertain, their costing system has lower measurement error, and the variable costs of providing customer support are higher. Firms adopt ABC when their cost-driver rates for support services under traditional costing are noisier measures of actual costs relative to their cost-driver rates under ABC and when the actual costs of support services are inherently uncertain. I also show that cost-driver rate information and cost-driver volume information for support services are complements. Although the prior literature views ABC and activity-based management (ABM) as facilitating better decision making, I show that ABC and ABP (a form of ABM) are useful tools for addressing control problems in supply chains. [source]

Combining Stated and Revealed Preferences on Typical Food Products: The Case of Dry-Cured Ham in Spain

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010
Helena Resano-Ezcaray
C25; D12; Q13; Q18 Abstract An extensive body of research concerns the valuation of EU certification schemes of quality based on the origin of food products. This literature focuses mainly on stated preferences (SPs) and reported behaviours by the consumers. We combine consumers' SPs, obtained through a conjoint ranking experiment, with revealed preferences (RP), obtained through a retail scanner database. We evaluate SPs as predictors of RP, and investigate whether SPs and RPs are consistent. Dry-cured ham in Spain is chosen as the anchor product, mainly because of its broad customer base and long history of origin certification. A ,trick' nested logit model with non-identical and identical samples of consumers is estimated to answer each of the objectives. Results show that, irrespective of the analysed samples, SP can predict general market trends and choices but not accurately predict market shares, and that consumers' actual behaviour is partly consistent with their SPs. We find that consumers prefer ham produced in Teruel, compared with unspecified Spanish origin. Quality Certification and a Distributor's Brand are preferred over the alternatives of no quality label or identified with a brand owned by the producer. Interestingly, SPs for the Quality Certification and the distributor's brand lead to an over- and under-estimation, respectively, of the market share. [source]

Seeing Through the Fog,Attaining ,Full Spectrum Dominance' with the System-of-Systems Through Operational Engineering

NAVAL ENGINEERS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2000
R. E. Bryant
ABSTRACT Many discussions and articles address the business and military changes supporting implementation of Joint Vision 2010 and its system-of-systems approach. The dynamics of international military operations and commitments, coupled with accelerating information technologies, can lead to confusion and uncertainty. Customary rules recommend caution, even stopping, when confusion and uncertainty are present, yet the needed changes counsel toward accelerated efforts. Currently, systems engineering does not completely address delivering "operational war fighting capabilities," or foster commanders' confidence to fully exploit those capabilities upon delivery. Acquisition reform supports accelerating delivery of systems. Likewise, accelerated delivery of "war fighting capabilities" within any opponents' fielding and deployment cycle is imperative. Technical advances in modeling and simulation, utilization concepts, and innovative evaluation methods create an opportunity to facilitate redevelopment of doctrine, operations, and training prior to producing hardware systems. On-line simulation and evaluation tools can overcome the need for physical systems. Specifically, this paper lays out the opportunity to evolve systems engineering to another level, operational engineering, which leverages from the modeling and simulation environment, prior to hardware production. That modeling and simulation paired with coevolution of procedures and on-line analysis will produce a trained customer base, fully prepared for deliveries of "operational war fighting capabilities". [source]

Features of Kansei Engineering Characterizing its Use in Two Studies: Men's Everyday Footwear and Historic Footwear

QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 6 2006
Carolyn van Lottum
Abstract The consumer goods sector is increasingly competitive with many manufacturers now operating in a global market. The growing numbers of on-line stores and product review Web sites have given the consumer new ways to compare and contrast product features before making a choice. The need for manufacturers to understand and interpret the wishes of their target consumer has led to the development of a number of techniques aimed at bringing the ,voice of the customer' into the design process. These have been successfully used by European manufacturers to identify quality and functional features critical to their customer base. However, an approach called Kansei engineering developed in the Far East uses the voice of the customer in a different way, identifying subjective emotional requirements as opposed to quality/functional requirements. Using Kansei engineering, it is possible to incorporate consumer emotion into the product design process, creating products that appeal to customers on a subjective level. This paper outlines the results of two field studies carried out as part of KENSYS, a Fifth Framework European project examining the use of Kansei engineering and product semantics as a suitable tool for European small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Media attention and the market for ,green' consumer products

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2006
John Thøgersen
Abstract There are signs that a general ,counter-attack' is now being orchestrated against the ,greens'. This paper surveys the evidence regarding an ,issue-attention' cycle in environmental concern in Western Europe and North America. It furthermore discusses the role of the news media in creating the cycle. It is well documented that the mass media plays an important role in determining which issues receive high or low attention by the general public. However, not only does the media's assessment of what is newsworthy mean that ,green' businesses will eventually lose the current of a rising issue attention cycle, but also its mere success means that stories framing ,green' businesses in a negative light become newsworthy while positive stories lose their newsworthiness. Therefore, and despite a large and loyal customer base, many ,green' companies now find themselves in a much more hostile environment than a decade ago. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]