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Internet is set to be one of the main channels of distribution in the future and already greatly facilitates product evaluation thanks to the information available on the net. The main advantages of electronic shopping over other channels include the reduced costs of searching for products and for product‐related information. Research has stressed the importance of quality information in web site design. The perceived utility of a web site depends on the perceived utility of its content (i.e. quality of information on product characteristics) and its presentation of that content. This paper compares the ways in which a web site's content and content presentation affect the product choice of two consumer groups from different cultures. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors conduct an exploratory study to determine the key factors which may be used in a later conclusive research. The authors propose a tool based on the statistical design of experiments to determine the number of significant factors used by two market segments (Spanish and US students) when selecting a bottle of wine sold via a web site.

The authors identify key extrinsic factors of consumers' perceived utility when selecting a bottle of wine from a web site and analyse whether cross‐cultural aspects are significant in this choice. The authors assume that web site evaluations made by users from different geographical areas reflect their preferences for more familiar designs.

The sample size does not enable us to determine the significance of certain variables. Moreover, the sample is not fully representative of the overall consumer population, and so inferences cannot be made about all consumers. However, since the study is exploratory with a theoretical content, the results can be considered valid.

Web page designers need to take into account the cultural characteristics of their target market in the presentation and content of their sites.

The internet marketing literature considers cultural differences in web design as a tool to improve user confidence and attitude. However, few studies have examined the effects of the cultural adaptation of web sites on user evaluations. Here, the authors propose a straightforward procedure for calculating the main effects of web site attributes. Yates' algorithm and the normal probability plot, proposed by Daniel, can be implemented in any spread sheet.

A method is proposed for handling multi-attribute judgment problems with a large number of attributes such as mobile phone features. To minimize the complication of multi-attributes and reduce the consumers’ choice task burden, this paper aims to suggest an integrated hierarchical survey design (IHSD) with the Kano model. The author compared the utility of mobile phone’s attributes for each market and for customer segment by analyzing empirical data on wear obtained from six Middle East and African countries, five Asia-Pacific countries and three European countries. Based on an IHSD of 10,200 respondents, brand, camera, memory and LTE (4G) play vital roles in all regions. In contrast, Wi-Fi, file-editor, MMS, LCD size and phone type are displayed as the least important attributes. The results of this study were successfully implemented for product planning, product development and marketing strategy in terms of price setting, features prioritizing and optimal designing for new products in the mobile phone company.

The first step was to list all possible features with the product planning team, product development team and market research specialists. The second step divided the selected features for designing a mobile phone into subgroups based on their functional characteristics by using the Kano model. The method for classifying features was determined using Kano questionnaire. The third step incorporated a fractional factorial design for the “must-be” choice-based conjoint (CBC) (Oppewal et al., 1994) which includes two factors: whether customers required the “one-dimensional” feature or the “attractive” feature, along with the “must-be” attributes. The consumers who selected the “must-be” features could choose both the “one-dimensional” feature and the “attractive” feature groups or one of the two feature groups in no particular order. Fractional factorial design was applied to both the “one-dimensional” features and the “attractive” features for individual CBCs. Random sequences of the combinations of attribute levels were generated for each of the three types of CBC analyses (“must-be”, “one-dimensional” and “attractive”). At the same time, the fourth step conducted a survey of the individual groups for the conjoint analysis on the functional characteristics of a mobile phone. The analysis of the accumulated data obtained from all the feature groups was completed using conditional logit models as part of the fifth step. In addition, the “must-be” CBC design was linked with the “one-dimensional” and “attractive” CBC designs. The sixth step was to analyze the accumulated results obtained from all the feature groups and estimate the usefulness of each feature’s level in the context of the CBC. Based on the results of the sixth step, the importance and willingness-to-pay of each attribute were estimated in the seventh step.

Use of the conjoint important score is aimed to expand the market by finding the different consumers’ needs across the regions. In detail, attributes such as “FM Transmitter”, “Touch screen” and “Health (heart rate)” are considered consumers’ new crucial needs in Europe, which would enable the product to superiorly differentiate itself from others to dominate the current market. On the other hand, it is shown that attributes such as “brand”, “mobile TV”, “external memory”, “mobile tracker” and “4G” are more important in Asia-Pacific. Therefore, if mobile manufacturers develop this sector more, it will grant mobile manufacturers the opportunity to lead the market. The only difference of the Middle East and African consumers is that “NFC” has a higher importance while the rest of the needs are very similar to those of Asia-Pacific. Regarding willingness-to-pay (WTP) among countries, the highest scoring utility, besides brand, appeared to be associated with the camera function in all countries. Especially, relatively low utility value was given in Wi-Fi and File-editer, MMS, LCD size and Phone type. In a value-based approach, the price of a product is based on the perceived valuation by the target customers. The research in the field of pricing is of ample importance. This is because price is the only element of the marketing mix that generates income. All other elements, such as advertising and promotion, product development, selling effort, distribution and packaging, involve expenditures (Monroe, 2003). Regarding among regions, the needs for 3G and the internet-related feature (WAP, Wi-Fi, etc.) in the emerging market are low compared to those for 4G and internet-related feature in the mature market. Also, the needs for productivity and advanced features, such as camera and e-mail, are lower in Asia-Pacific than in Europe. It is therefore recommended that manufactures and marketers of mobile phones should consider producing and selling phones with modern technology features that are more durable and of highly quality.

The integrated hierarchical survey by function with the Kano model proves to be a highly useful, efficient and accurate methodology for understanding a consumer mobile phone behavior. Although the proposed method was applied to designs of mobile phones in the emerging and mature markets, its accuracy was not compared with the traditionally used methods such as CBC, adaptive conjoint analysis and hybrid method. This is left for further areas of research.

The results of this research study correspond with previous studies conducted (Pakola et al., 2010; Das, 2012; Malaasi, 2012, 2008; Dziwornu, 2013), which consider the features of mobile phone as a crucial factor in consumer buying decision in all countries. It is significant that this study made huge impact on mobile phone manufacturers in several ways. It has been converted into product development with consumer-oriented approach. The pricing policy has been changed from cost-based pricing into value-based pricing; and marketing strategy has been changed from an unsystematic function into a systematic and consistent one.

The proposed method with the Kano model proved to be a practical and efficient tool for decision-making, as it helped mobile manufacturers to better understand how customers evaluate and perceive quality attributes. The Kano model was used to explain how the quality attributes can be classified into mainly three categories of perceived quality: “must-be”, “one-dimensional” and “attractive”. It has lots of benefits in terms of cost and time reduction and is expected to bring a great effect into the industrial field.

To highlight the application and to compare the effectiveness of the Taguchi and Shainin experimental design processes as applied to aerospace structural components.

This paper applies both the Taguchi and Shainin experimental design techniques to optimizing the design of honeycomb composite joints. The techniques are fully applied, the results analysed and their user friendliness is assessed.

This paper identifies an optimum parameter setting for composite joints gained from applying these experimental design techniques. Significant improvements in joint strength are achieved through identifying a new joint setting.

The adoption of the experimental design techniques outlined in this paper and their application to a real engineering problem will enable a company to apply the techniques and to attain improvements in terms of cost and quality.

The analysis of both the Taguchi and Shainin methodologies and the resulting conclusions as to their effectiveness for industry is the real value of this paper. This paper will be valuable for quality professionals, design engineers and manufacturing specialists in a wide range of industries.

The fused filament fabrication (FFF) process is an additive manufacturing technique used in engineering design. The mechanical properties of parts manufactured by FFF are influenced by the printing parameters. The mechanical properties of rigid thermoplastics for FFF are well defined, while thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) are uncommonly investigated. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of extruder temperature, bed temperature and printing speed on the mechanical properties of a thermoplastic elastomer.

Regression models predicting mechanical properties as a function of extruder temperature, bed temperature and printing speed were developed. Tensile specimens were tested according to ASTM D638. A 3×3 full factorial analysis, consisting of 81 experiments and 27 printing conditions was performed, and models were developed in Minitab. Tensile tests verifying the models were conducted at two selected printing conditions to assess predictive capability.

Each mechanical property was significantly affected by at least two of the investigated FFF parameters, where printing speed and extruder temperature terms influenced all mechanical properties (p < 0.05). Notably, tensile modulus could be increased by 21%, from 200 to 244 MPa. Verification prints exhibited properties within 10% of the predictions. Not all properties could be maximized together, emphasizing the importance of understanding FFF parameter effects on mechanical properties when making design decisions.

This work developed a model to assess FFF parameter influence on mechanical properties of a previously unstudied thermoplastic elastomer and made property predictions within 10% accuracy.

This study attempts to determine the relative contribution of each of the causes of the bullwhip effect and to identify which causes of the bullwhip effect have relatively significant impacts on the variability of orders in supply chains.

Computer simulation models are developed. A fractional factorial design is used in collecting data from the simulation models. Statistical analyses are conducted to address the research objectives.

When all of the nine possible causes of the bullwhip effect are present in the simulation models, the following six factors are statistically significant: demand forecast updating, order batching, material delays, information delays, purchasing delays and level of echelons. Among these six factors, demand forecast updating, level of echelons, and price variations are the three most significant ones.

Simulation models for the beer distribution game are developed to represent supply chains. Different supply chain structures can be constructed to examine the causes of the bullwhip effect.

In order to mitigate the bullwhip effect, supply chain managers need to share actual demand information and coordinate production and distribution activities with their partners.

This study measures the relative contribution of each of the causes of the bullwhip effect and provides evidence that transparent and accurate information flow and supply chain coordination could be a key to reduce the amplification of demand in supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to present computer‐generated combined arrays as efficient alternatives to Taguchi's crossed arrays to solve robust parameter problems.

The alternative combined array designs were developed for the cases including six to twelve variables where CMR designs are not smaller than Taguchi's designs. The efficiency to estimate the effects of interest was calculated and compared to the efficiency of the corresponding CMR designs.

For all the cases investigated at least one computer generated combined array design was found with the same size as the CMR design and with higher efficiency.

Robust parameter design identifies appropriate levels of controllable variables in a process for the manufacturing of a product. The designed experiments involve the controllable variables along with the uncontrollable or noise variables to design a product or process that will be robust to changes in these noise variables. Response surface methodology estimates the actual relationship between the response and the input variables with an empirical model based on the designed experiment. Once the empirical model is fitted, the surface described by the model can be used to describe the behavior of the response over the experimental region. The higher efficiency of the computer generated combined array designs proposed in this research produces lower variances for the parameter estimates and lower variance of prediction for the model. As a result, the response will be described in a more realistic form.

The paper shows that using a computer‐generated design to solve a robust parameter problem will result in a better approximation to the true response of the process. Consequently, optimizing the fitted model will produce settings for the parameters closer to the real optimal settings.

Critique of an earlier article by Kuehn in 1962 suggesting that a particular factorial analysis of customer brand buying could predict with accuracy repurchase trends. Uses tables and mathematical formulae for emphasis of discussions. Sums up that the factorial analysis by Kuehn is satisfactory only as a result of artificial assumptions whereby variance is ignored within groups – but when this factor is taken into account the model fails to adequately fit the data of Snow Crop – frozen orange juice.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a software-library in the R programming language that implements the concepts of the interpretive coordinate, interpretive axis and interpretive plane. This allows for the automatic and reliable interpretation of results from the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) as previously proposed and published. Consequently, the users can seamlessly apply these concepts to their data, both via R commands and a corresponding graphical interface.

Within the context of this study, and through extensive literature review, the advantages of developing software using the Shiny library were examined. This library allows for the development of full-stack applications for R users without the need for knowledge of the corresponding technologies required for the development of complex applications. Additionally, the structural components of a Shiny application were presented, leading ultimately to the proposed software application.

Software utilizing the Shiny library enables nonexpert developers to rapidly develop specialized applications, either to present or to assist in the understanding of objects or concepts that are scientifically intriguing and complex. Specifically, with this proposed application, the users can promptly and effectively apply the scientific concepts addressed in this study to their data. Additionally, they can dynamically generate charts and reports that are readily available for download and sharing.

The proposed package is an implementation of the fundamental concepts of the exploratory MCA method. In the next step, discoveries from the geometric data analysis will be added as features to provide more comprehensive information to the users.

The practical implications of this work include the dissemination of the method’s use to a broader audience. Additionally, the decision to implement it with open-source code will result in the integration of the package’s functions by other third-party user packages.

The proposed software introduces the initial implementation of concepts such as interpretive coordination, the interpretive axis and the interpretive plane. This package aims to broaden and simplify the application of these concepts to benefit stakeholders in scientific research. The software can be accessed for free in a code repository, the link to which is provided in the full text of the study.

A method to solve shape and size optimisation problems with linear and non‐linear responses has been studied taking advantage of statistical methodologies. A nested optimisation procedure has been fixed. The global optimisation problem is decomposed in several subproblems where each non‐linear response is locally approximated with a first degree polynomial function identified by the definition and execution of an experimental plan. The approximating functions so obtained are used to evaluate the design sensitivity coefficients required by the optimisation procedure. The numerical results obtained during the optimisation process to verify exactly the value of the non‐linear responses are used to verify and to improve the approximating function accuracy. The non‐linear design sensitivity analysis method so defined has been used to solve a multidisciplinary shape optimisation problem involving a real 3D automotive structure.