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1 – 10 of over 85000Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to clarify the effects of brand differentiation on the platform's formulation of channel strategy and help the online platform formulate the optimal channel strategy, which involves selecting a proper selling mode for each brand.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a multistage game model consisting of one online platform and two competing manufacturers with differentiated brands and examines the effects of brand differentiation on these three channel members' profits under each candidate channel strategy.
Findings
The results show that the platform prefers to offer the reselling mode for both brands when the brand differentiation is low, and this preference will be enhanced by the decrease in order fulfilment cost. By contrast, when the brand differentiation is high, it will offer the reselling mode for the premium brand but the marketplace service for the economy brand if the order fulfilment cost is not high; or the marketplace mode will be offered to both brands if this cost is high.
Research limitations/implications
This study assumes that the order fulfilment costs of platform and manufacturer are fixed and symmetric. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to consider asymmetric costs of order fulfilment.
Practical implications
The paper guides the online platform to formulate the optimal channel strategy for differentiated brands and provides managerial insights for differentiated brands entering online markets.
Originality/value
This paper explores platforms' optimal channel strategy by jointly considering the effects of brand differentiation and investigates the impacts of brand differentiation on the optimal decision making under four candidate options. Moreover, this paper has been extended to examine the case when the manufacturers' production costs cannot be neglected.
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Rajamohana Kuselan and Venkatesan Sundharajan
This study aims to extend the driving range by on-board charging with use of photovoltaic (PV) source, avoiding the dependency on the grid supply and energy storage system in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to extend the driving range by on-board charging with use of photovoltaic (PV) source, avoiding the dependency on the grid supply and energy storage system in addition to that reduce the conversion complexity influenced on converter section of electric vehicle (EV) system.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposed a PV fed integrated converter topology called integrated single-input multi-output (I-SIMO) converter with enriched error tolerant fuzzy logic controller (EET-FLC) based control technique to regulate the speed of brushless direct current motor drive. I-SIMO converter provides both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) outputs from a single DC input source depending on the operation mode. It comprises two modes of operation, act as DC–DC converter in vehicle standby mode and DC–AC converter in vehicles driving mode.
Findings
The use of PV panels in the vehicle helps to reduce dependence of grid supply as well as vehicle’s batteries. The proposed topology has to remove the multiple power conversion stages in EV system, reduce components count and provide dual outputs for enhancement of performance of EV system.
Originality/value
The proposed topology leads to reduction of switching losses and stresses across the components of the converter and provides reduction in system complexity and overall expenditure. So, it enhances the converter reliability and also improves the efficiency. The converter provides ripple-free output voltage under dynamic load condition. The performance of EET-FLC is studied by taking various performance measures such as rise time, peak time, settling time and peak overshoot and compared with conventional control designs.
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Bangyi Li, Juan Tang, Zhi Liu and Bengang Gong
The purpose of this paper is to investigate remanufacturing operational strategies considering uncertain quality of end-of-life (EOL) products and differential consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate remanufacturing operational strategies considering uncertain quality of end-of-life (EOL) products and differential consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for new products and provide suggestions on the remanufacturing mode selection for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
Design/methodology/approach
This study considers three remanufacturing modes, i.e. in-house, outsourcing and authorization modes. By establishing and comparing decision models of three modes from the perspectives of profit, consumer surplus and environment, the optimal remanufacturing mode is discussed.
Findings
The results suggest that if the OEM’s remanufacturing capability is high, the in-house mode brings to the highest environmental performance, OEM’s profit and consumer surplus. Otherwise, the outsourcing mode (authorization) is the best benefit to environment (consumers if the unit production cost of new products is not too high). As for the preference of two decision-makers to outsourcing and authorization modes, if the difference of consumers’ WTP for new products is low, the OEM prefers the outsourcing mode; otherwise, the OEM prefers the authorization mode. The preference of the third-party remanufacturer (TPR) to remanufacturing mode is affected by consumers’ WTP for remanufactured products, WTP difference for new products and remanufacturing quality level standard.
Practical implications
These results can provide operational insights into how to select remanufacturing mode when the quality of EOL products is uncertain and consumers’ WTP for new products is different under three remanufacturing modes.
Originality/value
This paper is among the first to investigate the joint effects of EOL products’ uncertain quality and differential consumers’ WTP for new products on the operational strategies and performance under different remanufacturing modes.
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Sayyid Ali Banihashemi and Mohammad Khalilzadeh
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate project activities' efficiency in different execution modes for the optimization of time–cost-quality and environmental impacts trade-off…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate project activities' efficiency in different execution modes for the optimization of time–cost-quality and environmental impacts trade-off problem.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a parallel Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method for evaluation of project activities with different execution modes to select the best execution mode and find a trade-off between objectives. Also, according to the nature of the project activities, outputs are categorized into desirable (quality) and undesirable (time, cost and environmental impacts) and analyzed based on the DEA model. In order to rank efficient execution modes, the ideal and anti-ideal virtual units method is used. The proposed model is implemented on a real case of a rural water supply construction project to demonstrate its validity.
Findings
The findings show that the use of the efficient execution mode in each activity leads to an optimal trade-off between the four project objectives (time, cost, quality and environmental impacts).
Practical implications
This study help project managers and practitioners with choosing the most efficient execution modes of project activities taking time–cost-quality-environmental impacts into account.
Originality/value
In this paper, in addition to time and cost optimization of construction projects, quality factors and environmental impacts are considered. Further to the authors' knowledge, there is no method for evaluating project activities' efficiency. The efficiency of different activity modes is also evaluated for the first time to select the most efficient modes. This research can assist project managers with choosing the most appropriate execution modes for the activities to ultimately accomplish the project with the lowest time, cost and environmental impacts along with the highest quality.
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Extended from the classic Rayleigh damping model in structural dynamics, the Caughey damping model allows the damping ratios to be specified in multiple modes while satisfying the…
Abstract
Purpose
Extended from the classic Rayleigh damping model in structural dynamics, the Caughey damping model allows the damping ratios to be specified in multiple modes while satisfying the orthogonality conditions. Despite these desirable properties, Caughey damping suffers from a few major drawbacks: depending on the frequency distribution of the significant modes, it can be difficult to choose the reference frequencies that ensure reasonable values for all damping ratios corresponding to the significant modes; it cannot ensure all damping ratios are positive. This paper aims to present a constrained quadratic programming approach to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The new method minimizes the error of the structural displacement peak based on the response spectrum theory, while all modal damping ratios are constrained to be greater than zero.
Findings
Several comprehensive examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method, and comparisons with existing approaches are provided whenever possible.
Originality/value
The proposed method is highly efficient and allows the damping ratios to be conveniently specified for all significant modes, producing optimal damping coefficients in practical applications.
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Ozgur Balli, Alper Dalkıran and Tahir Hikmet Karakoç
This study aims to investigate the aviation, energetic, exergetic, environmental, sustainability and exergoeconomic performances of a micro turbojet engine used in unmanned aerial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the aviation, energetic, exergetic, environmental, sustainability and exergoeconomic performances of a micro turbojet engine used in unmanned aerial vehicles at four different modes.
Design/methodology/approach
The engine data were collected from engine test cell. The engine performance calculations were performed for four different operation modes.
Findings
According to the results, maximum energy and exergy efficiency were acquired as 19.19% and 18.079% at Mode 4. Total cost rate was calculated as 6.757 $/h at Mode-1, which varied to 10.131 $/h at Mode-4. Exergy cost of engine power was observed as 0.249 $/MJ at Mode-1, which decreased to 0.088 $/MJ at Mode-4 after a careful exergoeconomic analysis.
Originality/value
The novelty of this work is the capability to serve as a guide for similar systems with a detailed approach in the thermodynamic, thermoeconomic and environmental assessments by prioritizing efficiency, fuel consumption and cost formation. This investigation intends to establish a design of the opportunities and benefits that the thermodynamic approach provides to turbojet engine systems.
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Yuwen Zeng and Wenhua Hou
This paper aims to exam the publisher’s online distribution strategies of print books between a reselling and a marketplace channel with the coexistence of e-book. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to exam the publisher’s online distribution strategies of print books between a reselling and a marketplace channel with the coexistence of e-book. This study extends the study of channel selection to the content products industry.
Design/methodology/approach
By constructing a publisher-leader Stackelberg game model, the authors investigate the publisher’s distribution strategies. The retailer holds a digital channel for e-book and reselling and marketplace channels for print books. The authors examine three-channel modes for the print book distribution: a pure reselling channel, a marketplace channel and a hybrid channel.
Findings
The results reveal that a hybrid channel always dominates a pure marketplace channel from the publisher’s perspective. Then, only when the print book’s margin cost and the marketplace’s slotting fee are not very high, the publisher prefers the hybrid to a pure reselling channel. The authors also found a Pareto zone where the hybrid channel mode improves publisher’s and retailer’s profits. Furthermore, the publisher is less likely to choose the hybrid channel as the acceptance of e-book increases. The authors also examine the situation where a publisher-authorized third-party distributor runs the marketplace channel and found the results still hold.
Originality/value
This paper fills a theoretical and practical gap for a structured analysis of the content providers’ online distribution channel selection of the physical products and digital products. Different from previous related studies, this study focuses on analyzing physical products’ channel strategies and finds physical products’ cost plays a crucial role in the content provider’s channel decision.
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Phanindra Thota, Amarendra Reddy Bhimavarapu and V.V.S. Bhaskara Reddy Chintapalli
This study aims to propose a new non-isolated Multi-Input Zeta-SEPIC (MIZS) dc–dc converter for renewable energy sources integration with different voltage levels (low-voltage…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a new non-isolated Multi-Input Zeta-SEPIC (MIZS) dc–dc converter for renewable energy sources integration with different voltage levels (low-voltage source, high-voltage source). The chosen configuration of the converter is capable of performing bucking as well as boosting operations in various modes of operation.
Design/methodology/approach
Parameters of the selected MIZS converter are designed using the time-domain analysis. The selected converter belongs to the sixth-order family with two switches and six energy storage elements. State-space model of the converter is developed for each mode of operation, and using these individual state-space models, an average state-space model of the converter useful to carry out detailed analysis for different operating conditions is developed. Analysis related to operational stability of the converter is also carried out using Participation Factor (PaF)-based Eigen value analysis.
Findings
Using the PaF-based Eigen analysis, participation of the various state variables in different Eigen modes and vice versa is carried out. Performance of the converter for different parameter variations in the allowable range is determined and the same has been used to find the operational stability of the converter under different modes of operation. The selected converter has low inductor ripple currents and output voltage ripples when delivering the power to load.
Originality/value
Because operational stability of the converter under various operating conditions is one of the key performance indicators for selecting a particular type of converter, PaF-based Eigen value analysis has been carried out using the average state-space model developed for the selected MIZS converter. Operational stability analysis of the converter is carried out for parameter variations also. In addition, participation of the various states in each Eigen mode and vice versa have been analyzed for designed parameter values and also variation within the specified range of variations.
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Rui Yang, Wansheng Tang and Jianxiong Zhang
Without proper treatment, waste cooking oil (WCO) will bring serious environmental and health hazards, which can be effectively alleviated by converting it into biofuel. Subsidies…
Abstract
Purpose
Without proper treatment, waste cooking oil (WCO) will bring serious environmental and health hazards, which can be effectively alleviated by converting it into biofuel. Subsidies from the government usually play a significant role in encouraging recycling activities and supporting sustainable supply chain. This paper aims to quantitatively investigate the incentive effects of government subsidies under asymmetric information.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies the principal–agent contract to compare the incentive effects of the two widely used subsidy modes (raw material price subsidy [MS] and finished product sale subsidy [FS]) in a management system which consists of the government and a bio-firm where the bio-firm’s conversion rate of the WCO remains as private information.
Findings
Results indicate that the two subsidy modes have the same performance under symmetric information, while under asymmetric information, the government always prefers the MS mode which is more environment-friendly. Besides, if the average conversion rate is large or the uncertainty level of the asymmetric information is moderate, the MS mode is Pareto-improving compared with the FS mode for the government and the high-type bio-firm. Only when the average conversion rate is small or the uncertainty level is very small/very large, the high-type bio-firm welcomes the FS mode.
Originality/value
Different from the existing literature, this paper applies the principal–agent contract into the WCO management system and quantitatively compares the two subsidy modes taking the practical problem of asymmetric information into consideration.
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Explains that the shifts of a process may be classified into a set of modes (or classifications), each of which is incurred by an assignable cause. Presents an algorithm to…
Abstract
Explains that the shifts of a process may be classified into a set of modes (or classifications), each of which is incurred by an assignable cause. Presents an algorithm to determine the process shift mode and estimate the run length when an out‐of‐control status is signalled by the x‐ or s chart in statistical process control. The information regarding the process shift mode and run length is very useful for diagnosing the assignable cause correctly and promptly. The algorithm includes two stages. First, the process shift modes are established using the sample data acquired during an explorative run. Afterwards, whenever an out‐of‐control case is detected, Bayes’ rule is employed to determine the active process shift mode and estimate the run length. In simulation tests, the proposed algorithm attains a fairly high probability (around 0.85) of correctly determining the active process shift mode and estimating the run length.
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