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Product Attributes (product + attribute)
Selected AbstractsProduct attributes, consumer benefits and public approval of genetically modified foodsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 5 2003Ferdaus Hossain Abstract The use of biotechnology in food production has generated considerable debate involving the benefits and risks associated with its use. Consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods is a critical factor that will affect the future of this technology. Using data from a national survey, this study examines how public acceptance of food biotechnology is related to consumers' socioeconomic and value attributes as well as the benefits associated with the use of this technology. Empirical results suggest that consumer acceptance of food biotechnology increases considerably when the use of this technology brings tangible benefits for the public. Consumers with different socioeconomic and demographic attributes have diverging views of food biotechnology only when its use brings specific benefits to them. When the use of genetic technology confers no additional benefit, public attitudes towards genetically modified foods are driven primarily by their scientific knowledge, views of scientists and corporations associated with biotechnology as well as public trust and confidence in government. [source] Recall and recognition of brand names: A comparison of word and nonword name typesPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 7-8 2002Dawn Lerman Despite the common recommendation that brand names be memorable, little is known about the effect of brand name type on various forms of memory processing such as recall and recognition. As such, this article extends prior research by comparing recall and recognition for three sets of brand names: words versus nonwords, relevant (i.e., related to a product attribute) words versus irrelevant (i.e., unrelated to a product attribute) words, and relevant words cuing an advertised attribute versus relevant words cuing an unadvertised attribute. The results of an experimental study indicate that memory for these brand name types depends on whether it is accessed via recall or recognition. Based on these results, implications for naming new products are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Imperfect inspection of a multi-attribute deteriorating production system,a continuous time modelQUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 6 2001Gad Rabinowitz Abstract The reliability of a multi-attribute deteriorating production system is controlled using versatile identical inspection facilities. An attribute state is dichotomous (up designates proper function versus down). A product item is conforming if all the system attributes are up when it is produced. When a system attribute is detected as down it is restored back to an up state. Inspection of an attribute can rely on observations of the system, recently produced items, or both. Inspection policy determines the inspection capacity, frequency of inspecting each attribute and inspection schedule. These decisions involve a tradeoff between the cost of inspectors and the loss associated with the roportion of non-conforming items due to lack of adequate inspection. Three models are introduced, analyzed and solved. In the first model, inspection and restoration are perfect, product attribute is up (down) when the system attribute is up (down), and restoration is immediate. The assumptions of perfect inspection and restoration are relaxed in the second model. The third model relaxes in addition the assumption of immediate restoration. An efficient heuristic solution scheme is provided for solving these models. Sensitivity of the solution to system parameters is studied. Numerical experiments provide some insights regarding the combined effect of imperfect production, inspection and restoration, in various conditions of inspection and restoration durations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [source] Knowledge Management for Materials Processing,ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 1-2 2005W. Rentzsch Manufacturing knowledge is often embedded in the minds of different experts or is not effectively shared between manufacturing stages. Many companies are therefore running the risk of missing or loosing critical information. This study discusses the concept of "knowledge maps" to document the interactions between all stages of the manufacturing process and all product attributes. Potential applications of knowledge maps in manufacturing are discussed and explored in a detailed case study. [source] Impacts of health and environmental consciousness on young female consumers' attitude towards and purchase of natural beauty productsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 6 2009Soyoung Kim Abstract This study investigated young female consumers' beauty product shopping behavioural patterns, their perceived importance of product attributes, and their attitude towards and purchase of natural beauty products. This study also examines whether consumers' product attitudes and shopping behaviours are influenced by their health and environmental consciousness. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 210 female college students enrolled at a south-eastern university in the US. In order to examine the impacts of both health and environmental consciousness on other selected variables, the respondents were divided into four groups based on their scores on the two variables, and a series of analysis of variance were conducted to compare characteristics of the four groups. The results showed that health and environmental consciousness significantly influenced the importance placed on beauty product attributes. Additionally, those with a high level of both health and environmental consciousness were significantly more positive in their evaluations than those with low scores on both variables in their perceptions of natural beauty products. Those with low scores on both variables were significantly less willing than the other groups to pay more for natural beauty products. Analysis of variance results also indicated that the two groups with a high level of environmental consciousness purchased natural beauty products more frequently than those with a low level of health and environmental consciousness, indicating a relatively stronger impact of environmental consciousness than health consciousness on frequency of natural beauty product purchases. Health and environmental consciousness were both significantly related to a respondent's perceived level of knowledge of beauty products and ability to distinguish natural from conventional beauty products. [source] Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices , Do consumers care?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 5 2008Joonas Rokka Abstract In this paper, consumer environmental choice is studied by analysing the relative importance of green packaging when compared with other relevant product attributes. The empirical study is based on a choice-based conjoint analysis of preferences for functional drink products of a sample of 330 consumers using these products. Our choice-based approach on environmental behaviour brings new insights to previous research, which predominantly relies on attitude models. Results indicate that consumers differ in their preferences for packaging, brand, price and convenience of use of daily products. In addition, various distinctive consumer segments can be identified on the market. Contrary to several previous studies, we found that the largest consumer segment, one-third of consumers, favoured environmentally labelled packaging as the most important criteria in their choice. The findings emphasize the increasing importance of ethical and environmental dimension in product choices. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices. [source] Confirmation/disconfirmation of consumers' expectations about fresh and processed tropical fruit productsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Sara Sabbe Summary This study investigates tropical fruit acceptance in terms of confirmation or disconfirmation of consumers' general expectations. Consumers evaluated multiple product attributes before and after tasting five fresh and five processed tropical fruit products. Consumers' general expectations were confirmed after tasting persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) and cashew apple juice (Anacardium occidentale L.). Positive disconfirmation occurred after the consumption of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) and berrycactus jam (Myrtillocactus spp.) whereas expectations were negatively disconfirmed after consuming dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.), tree tomato (Solanum betaceum Cav.), açaí juice (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), baobob juice (Adansonia digitata L.) and tamarind jam (Tamarindus indica L.). Sensory experiences are demonstrated to greatly influence the acceptance and purchasing intention of tropical fruits and their products, as well as to affect consumers' perceptions about the product's health and nutritional benefits, in particular in cases where negative taste disconfirmation occurred. [source] Product selection in Internet business: a fuzzy approachINTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010B. K. Mohanty Abstract In this paper, we propose a methodology which helps customers buy products through the Internet. This procedure takes into account the customer's level of desire in the product attributes, which are normally fuzzy, or in linguistically defined terms. The concept of fuzzy number will be used to measure the degree of similarities of the available products to that of the customer's requirements. The degrees of similarities so obtained over all the attributes give rise to the fuzzy probabilities and hence the fuzzy expected values of availing a product on the Internet as per the customer's requirement. Attribute-wise the fuzzy expected values are compared with those of the available products on the Internet and the product that is closest to the customer's preference is selected as the best product. The multi-attribute weighted average method is used here to evaluate and hence to select the best product. [source] The effect of respondents' nationality and familiarity with a product category on the importance of product attributes in consumer choice: Globalization and the evaluation of domestic and foreign productsJAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2001Emmanuel Chéron This study compared the perceptions of 376 Japanese and 191 Canadian consumers concerning the importance of different product attributes for categories of products at various stages of globalization. There was less multivariate statistical difference between the two countries for those products at a more advanced stage of globalization (consumer electronics and clothing vs. food). The joint effects of the degree of familiarity with the category of product and the country of the respondent on the importance of the product attributes were tested. The effect of familiarity was found to result in a significant statistical multivariate difference for the clothing category only. The observed statistical power of the effect of country of respondent confirmed that more statistical difference was apparent for the least globalized product. No multivariate significant statistical interaction was found between familiarity and country of respondent. Using a multi-attribute model, the evaluation of the three categories of product was computed for seven different countries of manufacture. Comparison of the total scores of each country for each product category for the Japanese and the Canadian samples confirmed that the most globalized product showed least difference in its evaluation between countries of manufacture. A well-known strong bias toward domestic products was, however, observed in both samples. [source] The malleable bicultural consumer: effects of cultural contexts on aesthetic judgmentsJOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2010Veena Chattaraman Grounded in the cognitive framework of processing fluency, this study proposes further support for the experiential perspective in aesthetics by positing that aesthetic response to the same object may be malleable, depending on how the symbolic properties of the object interact with different cultural contexts which either facilitate or debilitate the processing experience of the perceiver. The study employed an Internet experiment to test the hypotheses among 105 female Hispanic college-aged students enrolled at a large midwestern university. The findings revealed that symbolic attributes of products interact with cultural contexts to affect aesthetic judgments of (Hispanic) consumers. Aesthetic judgments were more positive when evaluating culturally symbolic product attributes after exposure to congruent contextual cues that facilitate fluent processing. The study furnishes support for the impact of environment/context on consumer behavior and aesthetic judgment, thus establishing further support for the cognitive framework of conceptual fluency in explaining aesthetic response. The study also contributes to recent literature on "frame-switching" among bicultural consumers by suggesting that these consumers navigate between competing cultural frames in response to visual primes, with resultant shifts in aesthetic judgments. Important marketing insights emerge from these findings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Consumers' product evaluation: a study of the primary evaluative criteria in the precious jewellery market in the UKJOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 2 2001Dr Ahmad Jamal Lecturer in Marketing Abstract It is normally argued that consumers make their purchase decisions on the basis of their evaluation of, and knowledge about, the product attributes. This paper reports findings from a research study, which was conducted to determine the nature and type of evaluative criteria used by an individual while purchasing a piece of precious jewellery. In doing so, the study looked into the significance of product category knowledge, brand familiarity and brand consciousness in product evaluation. A questionnaire was sent to 500 consumers of precious jewellery in five major cities of the UK. Results indicate that, in general, subjective attributes are more important for people buying precious jewellery than the objective attributes. The significance of specific attributes during product evaluation could vary according to one's level of product category knowledge, brand familiarity and brand consciousness. The paper discusses implications for the marketers. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications. [source] A systematic iterative procedure for determining granulator operating parametersAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 9 2006Ka Y. Fung Abstract A systematic iterative procedure is presented for determining granulator operating parameters to produce granules with desired product attributes. These include mean granule size, size distribution, porosity, strength, and spatial distribution of the constituent components. After selecting the equipment and binder, a preliminary experiment is performed to determine base case results, which usually do not match the desired attributes. The final product is obtained using an iterative procedure with both analyses and experiments. The qualitative analysis identifies the operating parameters that can effect changes to the off-spec attribute. This is followed by a quantitative analysis,based on simple physically based mathematical models in the form of sensitivity analysis,that determines the parameter that has the greatest effect on the relevant attribute. Experiments with the modified formulation and operating conditions are conducted and the entire procedure is repeated until the desired product is obtained. A system with lactose and starch using hydroxypropyl cellulose as binder in an agitated fluidized bed granulator (Hosokawa Micron AgglomasterÔ) is used to illustrate this procedure. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006 [source] EVALUATION OF REPLICATED PROJECTIVE MAPPING OF GRANOLA BARSJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 5 2010JESSICA KENNEDY ABSTRACT The application of projective mapping to quickly gather information on overall product differences provides a unique way to probe consumer perceptions and gather product information. A group of 15 consumers performed a projective mapping exercise three times on a set of eight "berry flavored" granola bars, including descriptors of the products. The projective mapping task was performed in replicates to evaluate the consistency of results obtained via this technique. Analysis of the replications by multifactor analysis indicated for the majority of consumers, that the three individual maps did not show a high degree of similarity (80% of RV coefficients < 0.5). However, consensus maps from the three replications indicated a similar group perception of the products over the replications, as depicted by hierarchical multifactor analysis. Terms collected from the maps were summarized and regressed into the product space for interpretation, both in terms of consumer criteria used to differentiate among products and identification of key product attributes. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The findings from this study add to the growing knowledge on projective mapping. The results presented here aimed to substantiate the value and reliability of projective mapping when used with consumers. Although projective mapping is not a replacement for quantitative descriptive analysis, it is an efficient tool for consumer research; as well as product or category exploration which can be utilized early in the product development process. The addition of descriptors directly onto the maps by panelists makes it possible to use projective mapping as a stand-alone method by increasing the amount and interpretability of data provided by panelists. When used with consumers, projective mapping links the consumer perception of the product space with a consumer-driven lexicon. [source] CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF WHEY AND SOY PROTEIN IN MEAL REPLACEMENT PRODUCTSJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 3 2008JESSICA L. CHILDS ABSTRACT Meal replacement products including protein bars, shakes and powdered drinks have increased in demand and sales. The objective of this study was to assess the consumer perception of protein content and type and product claims for meal replacement beverages and bars. The impact of exercise frequency on product perception was also investigated. Focus groups were conducted with exercisers and nonexercisers. An adaptive conjoint analysis survey was subsequently developed and conducted (n = 138 consumers, ages 18,35 years). Relative importance of product attributes was determined through a realistic trade-off scenario. Utility scores were extracted and rescaled by the zero-centered differences method, and two-way analysis of variance was conducted to identify the differences between exercise frequency and product attributes. Both groups preferred bars to beverages, and no clear preferences were observed for protein type, which was consistent with focus group results of low knowledge/understanding of specific proteins. All respondents valued the products with low-fat/fat-free, calcium, all-natural, protein, vitamin/mineral, heart health and muscle-building claims. Exercisers viewed muscle-building claims as more important than nonexercisers. Nonexercisers viewed heart health, calcium and vitamin/mineral claims as more important than exercisers. Three distinct consumer clusters were identified, and both exercise groups were found in all three clusters, although exercise frequency influenced membership in two of the three clusters (P < 0.05). These findings can be used to develop and market meal replacement products to specific consumer groups while leveraging their specific and unique needs. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Conjoint analysis provides a useful model of how consumers think during the purchase process and an understanding of the motivation for purchase through the testing of possible claims or product attributes. By applying this method to the purchase process of meal replacement bars and beverages, those in the field of development of these products can benefit from this information by being able to understand the motivation for purchase by the targeted consumer. [source] Effectiveness of promotional premiums: The moderating role of affective state in different contextsPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 2 2009Chingching Chang This research explores the influence of affective state on ad and product judgments for advertising that features promotional offers of high and low price value. Consistent with expectations, Study 1 found that for happy participants, high-price value premiums generated higher ad believability ratings, which in turn enhanced ad and brand attitudes. For sad participants, however, the positive effects of high-price value premiums were attenuated due to message believability discounting. It is proposed that the moderating influence of affective state on responses to ads featuring premiums should be more likely to emerge when attention to premiums is high, as in situations where ads feature less important product attributes or when consumers plan to purchase a product. Study 2 found that the interaction between affective state and premium value was significant when ads featured less important product attributes, but not when they featured important product attributes. Study 3 found that the interaction was significant for participants who intended to purchase the product in the near future, but not for those who did not have purchase intentions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The psychology of deception in marketing: A conceptual framework for research and practicePSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 7 2001Ram N. AdityaArticle first published online: 25 MAY 200 The Federal Trade Commission's current policy statements on deceptive and unfair marketing practices are predicated primarily on economic considerations, ignoring the broader ramifications of trade policy for society as well as specific considerations with regard to the individual consumer. In part, this is due to the fact that research in this area has addressed only isolated aspects of the problem of deception in marketing. This article takes a pluralistic perspective on the issue in an attempt to stimulate research into hitherto unexplored avenues and provide a platform for future policy. The relevant psychological processes in consumer behavior are discussed in the light of product attributes and situational characteristics in a framework that takes into account the needs of the individual as well as the broader values of society. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] Thinking about product attributes: Investigating the role of unconscious valence processing in attribute framingASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Todd McElroy In the present investigation we conducted three studies to examine how unconscious valence processing influences participants' quality judgments in an attribute-framing task. In Studies 1 and 2 we observed how individuals who had depleted cognitive resources, through distraction (Study 2) and time constraint (Study 3), differed in their responses to an attribute-framing task. In Study 3 we subliminally primed participants with attribute frames and then presented them with a frameless decision task. Our results revealed that attribute framing arises from unconscious valence processing and conscious processing may only play a role when the frame is especially salient. [source] Role of credence and health information in determining US consumers' willingness-to-pay for grass-finished beefAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2009Wendy J. Umberger Consumer demand for forage- or grass-finished beef is rapidly emerging in the US. This research uses data elicited from consumer surveys and experimental auctions to provide insight on product attributes (taste/flavour, credence and nutritional characteristics) and socio-demographic factors that are most important in determining US consumers' preferences and willingness to pay premiums for grass-finished versus grain-finished beef. Information related to beef production processes increased the probability consumers would be willing to pay a premium for grass-fed beef. However, it appears that health-related messages are more important drivers of willingness-to-pay, on average, than the absence of antibiotics and supplemental hormones and traceability. Labelling information regarding grass-fed beef's nutritional content and related production processes is vital for maintaining and growing premium niche markets for grass-fed beef in the US. The relative size of the willingness to pay estimates compared to previous cost estimates suggest that the Australian beef industry may have a comparative advantage for finishing beef on forage and marketing premium grass-fed differentiated beef products in the US market. [source] Framework for availability characterization by analyzing outage durationsBELL LABS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006Eric J. Bauer Telecommunications service providers that maintain their own networks tend to be very good at diagnosing and repairing equipment failures. Careful analysis of service providers' own trouble ticket data can reveal actual failure rates, failure modes, failure footprints, and outage duration information. As trouble tickets inherently include both small capacity-loss events and fast switchover,which may ordinarily be excluded from TL9000 calculations, as well as planned/scheduled downtime, this offers a holistic view of product availability. This paper presents a taxonomy for analyzing these downtime events and guidance on both extracting salient product attributes from the data and on using the data to calibrate both unplanned and planned downtime models. © 2006 Lucent Technologies Inc. [source] Application of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for screening of raw materials used in the cell culture medium for the production of a recombinant therapeutic proteinBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2010Alime Ozlem Kirdar Abstract Control of raw materials based on an understanding of their impact on product attributes has been identified as a key aspect of developing a control strategy in the Quality by Design (QbD) paradigm. This article presents a case study involving use of a combined approach of Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and Multivariate Data Analysis (MVDA) for screening of lots of basal medium powders based on their impact on process performance and product attributes. These lots had identical composition as per the supplier and were manufactured at different scales using an identical process. The NIR/MVDA analysis, combined with further investigation at the supplier site, concluded that grouping of medium components during the milling and blending process varied with the scale of production and media type. As a result, uniformity of blending, impurity levels, chemical compatibility, and/or heat sensitivity during the milling process for batches of large-scale media powder were deemed to be the source of variation as detected by NIR spectra. This variability in the raw materials was enough to cause unacceptably large variability in the performance of the cell culture step and impact the attributes of the resulting product. A combined NIR/MVDA approach made it possible to finger print the raw materials and distinguish between good and poor performing media lots. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010 [source] Application of Multivariate Data Analysis for Identification and Successful Resolution of a Root Cause for a Bioprocessing ApplicationBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 3 2008Alime Ozlem Kirdar Multivariate Data Analysis (MVDA) can be used for supporting key activities required for successful bioprocessing. These activities include process characterization, process scale-up, process monitoring, fault diagnosis and root cause analysis. This paper examines an application of MVDA towards root cause analysis for identifying scale-up differences and parameter interactions that adversely impact cell culture process performance. Multivariate data analysis and modeling were performed using data from small-scale (2 L), pilot-scale (2,000 L) and commercial-scale (15,000 L) batches. The input parameters examined included bioreactor pCO2, glucose, lactate, ammonium, raw materials and seed inocula. The output parameters included product attributes, product titer, viable cell density, cell viability and osmolality. Time course performance variables (daily, initial, peak and end point) were also evaluated. Application of MVDA as a diagnostic tool was successful in identifying the root cause and designing experimental conditions to demonstrate and correct it. Process parameters and their interactions that adversely impact cell culture performance and product attributes were successfully identified. MVDA was successfully used as an effective tool for collating process knowledge and increasing process understanding. [source] Absorptive capacity and interpretation system's impact when ,going green': an empirical study of ford, volvo cars and toyotaBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2007Mats Williander Abstract Whether or not it pays to be green or under what circumstances is an important ongoing debate among economic researchers. However, this question, with its rather instrumental rationality, may underestimate another key issue: the ability of companies to create value that can be captured from customers. This paper reports on three companies in the automotive industry developing and launching cars with improved eco-environmental performance and less petrol consumption. The study reveals that, despite being captured in the same technological paradigm, the individual company's mode of environmental interpretation and its aspiration to exploit new technology may be two important explanatory factors in its ability to go green profitably. The study indicates that an enacting mode of environmental interpretation may be superior to a discovering mode, and suggests that for companies having a discovering mode there may be a need to complement existing engineering practice with insights into consumer psychology, and bundling of common good versus private good product attributes. The research upon which this paper is based was conducted using an insider/outsider approach in studying the three companies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] MULTIPLE TIME-INTENSITY ANALYSIS AND ACCEPTANCE OF RASPBERRY-FLAVORED GELATINJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 5 2009ALESSANDRA B. PALAZZO ABSTRACT Face to face with the scenario of current human nutrition, there is an ever-growing preoccupation with the provision of healthy and rapidly prepared diets, gelatin being an important product, taking into consideration its properties, such as muscular regeneration and bone strengthening. The objective of this work is to evaluate different brands of raspberry-flavored gelatin, both traditional and diet, by multiple time-intensity analysis for sweet, acid and raspberry flavor, as well as an acceptance test with 120 consumers. The statistical analysis included variance analysis, Tukey tests and Internal Preference Map. The results showed that there was no significant difference between all the samples to the time in which the maximum intensity of sweetness and acidity occurs. The results indicated a greater acceptance of the traditional samples, which were preferred by the majority (85% regarding intention to purchase). The aspartame/acessulfame-potassium edulcorants were those that recorded behavior most distant from sucrose, compared with sodium saccharine and sodium cyclamate edulcorants. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The time-intensity analysis is important to provide how the flavor behavior is for the consumers during the food ingestion and is used in order to obtain the temporal profile of an attribute in a certain product. This analysis is different from the conventional descriptive analysis because it allows the verification of changes in the perception of a product's attribute over time. The sensory results showed in this study should be useful to researchers and product developers who are working with different edulcorants in food, especially in gelatin products. Observing both multiple time-intensity curves and affective data at the same time, it is possible to determine which intensity and duration of sensory characteristics have influenced the consumer's preference. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||