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Focuses on Apple Computer's launch of iTunes and iPod as a way to give Wintel users a relationship with Apple. Deals with issues of brand equity, corporate and brand goal setting, target selection, and matching product and service characteristics with goals and targets. Also allows for a discussion of channel partners, their interests, and their impact on the likely success or failure of a strategy.

Align Inc. is a start-up company with a revolutionary, patent-protected new technology for straightening teeth called Invisalign. Invisalign is a set of invisible plastic aligners made to each patient's specific needs that substitute for metal or ceramic braces in adults (it is not sold for children's orthodontic needs). The company has created tremendous consumer awareness and affect for its product, yet sales results are dismal. Requires the reader to analyze the reasons for such poor sales and what to do to remedy the problem.

To examine distribution channel issues as well as the marketing mix for a new product introduction.

Supplements the (A) case.

ThoughtWorks, a medium-size IT systems integrator, was growing quickly but identified "lack of clear positioning around which to build a brand" as the biggest impediment to continued growth. The company had identified features that it believed differentiated it from its competitors and was considering alternative segments to target. Asks readers to choose a target and develop a positioning statement for that target as well as identify the assumptions underlying the recommended positioning strategy and suggest how market research could help establish the validity of those assumptions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the dividend policy determinants of Sri Lankan firms and why they pay dividends.

The study uses several quantitative approaches to investigate dividend determinants using market (secondary) data of 190 Sri Lankan firms and 1,330 firm-year observations. Dividend determinants are also identified using survey (primary) data from 141 of the 190 firms. Triangulation is then used to facilitate validation of the data through cross-verification from two data sources.

Analysis of the market data reveals that firm size, industry impact, corporate governance, free cash flow, earnings, past dividends, profitability, investment opportunities, net working capital, concentrated ownership structure and investor preference represent the most important dividend determinants. Survey data confirm these findings. The evidence supports the pecking order, signaling, free cash flow, catering and outcome theories using both secondary and primary data and the bird-in-the-hand theory using survey data.

The findings are useful not only for corporate decision makers in establishing an appropriate dividend policy but also for shareholders in making investment decisions. Because the current study is limited to Sri Lanka, future researchers should study the same phenomenon in other countries using the triangulation approach.

This study provides a hybrid approach to dividend policy research by using both primary and secondary data in a single study. It is the first dividend study in Sri Lanka to use a triangulation approach.

Maintenance represents an indispensable role in the productive sector of the steel industry. The increasing use of operating with a high level of precision makes hydraulic systems one of the issues that require a high level of attention. This study aims to explore an empirical investigation for decreasing the occurrences of corrective maintenance of hydraulic systems in the context of Lean 4.0.

The maintenance model is developed based on action-research methodology through an empirical investigation, with nine stages. This approach aims to build a scenario to analyze and interpret the occurrences, seeking to implement and evaluate the actions to be performed. The undertaken initiatives demonstrate that this approach can be applied to optimize the maintenance of an organization.

The main contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that the applied method allows the overviewing results, with a qualitative approach concerning the maintenance actions and management processes to be considered, allowing a holistic understanding and contributing to the current literature. The results also indicated that Lean 4.0 has direct and mediating effects on maintenance performance.

This research intends to propose an evaluation framework with an interdimensional linkage between action research methodology and Lean 4.0, to explore an empirical investigation and contributing to understanding the actions to reduce the occurrences of hydraulic systems corrective maintenance in a production line in the steel industry.

The present study aims to verify whether there is a positive (negative) role being played by the institutional investors on the loss-making companies' performance.

The authors employ panel data regression and two-step system generalised method of moments (SYS-GMM) to test the above objective.

The empirical results clearly show that no positive relation is found between institutional investors and loss-making companies' performance.

The findings of the study might have significant implications for firms to improve the firms' operational performance [return on assets (ROA)]. Also, the firm's financial performance [return on equity (ROE)] could be improved by increasing profitability which will reflect in the share prices of the firms whereby the performance can build the investors' confidence over the firm. Market performance (Tobin's Q) could be increased by providing more attractive offers and discounts to customers to capture the business opportunities available in the market.

The overall findings might have for reaching implications in the manufacturing sector with regard to allowing (disallowing) institutional investors.

The results of the study may help both companies and institutional investors.

This is the maiden attempt to study whether loss-making companies could be positively (negatively) impacted by the arrival of sophisticated institutional investors [foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs)]. Further, this study is largely different from previous studies in terms of using new variables which are related to firm characteristics and valuation multiples. Further, seeing if the institutional investors tend to enhance the firm performance is curious.

Corporate governance across small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is undergoing unremitting changes, primarily due to the listing of SMEs on SME exchanges. The changing aspects of governance may influence the financial performance of SMEs. This paper examines how corporate governance influences the financial performance of listed SMEs in the context of developing economies like India. Ownership concentration (promoters' holding) and information disclosures measure corporate governance in this examination.

The sample for this study includes 88 listed SMEs from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SME platform in India. The data are collected for the period between 2018 and 2020. The study employs panel data analysis. The fixed effects model, coupled with the computation of cluster robust standard errors, is used to test the relationship between variables.

The results demonstrate that ownership concentration is not significantly related to financial performance. Further, information disclosures are inversely significant for financial performance. The results show that agency problems and information asymmetry plague the sampled firms. Further, the results of the study are indicative of inefficiencies in the governance structures of SMEs. Thus, it is evident that listed SMEs fail to reap the benefits of corporate governance.

The study's findings should enlighten SME owners and managers on the benefits of corporate governance for SMEs. This is a pressing need at current times as the listing of SMEs is shifting the landscape of SME governance. Today, all firms, including SMEs, are expected to adopt and maintain near internationally benchmarked corporate governance standards. Secondly, the study's implications on how the ownership and information disclosures can be used to influence the financial outcomes of SMEs will benefit the overall business ecosystem. The policyholders and academics can use this study to boost the regulations and research in line with each other.

Reforming monitoring mechanisms of firm activities and restructuring disclosure practices are essential for SMEs to produce better financial outcomes. The true benefits of corporate governance cannot be realized without attention to financial performance. The study is relevant to practitioners, lawmakers and academics to advance corporate governance for SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the stylised facts about NZ corporate boards and identify unanswered questions about their composition, activity and incentives during the 16-year period between 1995 and 2010.

The paper uses annual report data to document the evolution of 22 NZ board characteristics. The paper also informally compares these trends with those occurring in other countries.

Unsurprisingly, the representation of non-executive, independent and female directors on NZ boards rose during the period, as did real chair and director fees and the importance of board committees, while average board size fell. Perhaps more surprisingly, much of this movement occurred before NZX governance reforms in 2003. Moreover, there are some intriguing differences between New Zealand and other, mainly larger, countries.

The analysis is largely descriptive and focuses on identifying questions rather than answering them.

The paper fills an obvious gap in the governance literature, which largely ignores small, open economies, and hence provides little clue as to the overall state and evolution of NZ boards. The paper also identifies a number of questions for further research.

This paper aims to present the influence of glass bead concentration in a matrix of polyamide on wear and several three-dimensional (3D) parameters of the surface texture when the composite is sliding on steel in dry contact.

There were mold disks with the following concentrations in glass beads: 2.5, 5.0, 10, 20, 30 and 50 per cent. The mix of glass beads has diameters in the range of several microns to 50 microns. Tests were done on a pin-on-disk tribotester, in dry regime, for the following parameters: average pressure (1, 2 and 3 MPa) and sliding speed (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s). Zones of 500 × 500 μm were investigated from worn tracks generated on the composite disks, and the average values of several 3D texture parameters were analyzed.

The authors plotted maps indicating no correlation between the glass bead concentration and the parameters characterizing the surface quality (amplitude parameters and functional parameters). Composites with concentrations of 10[…]30 per cent glass beads generated worn surfaces with better quality as compared to composites with extreme concentrations: low (2.5 and 5 per cent) and high (50 per cent).

This set of parameters allows for evaluating the influence of regime parameters on the surface quality, by comparing the obtained values before and after sliding, and this evolution of roughness parameters could give recommendations for selecting the friction couple of materials for particular contacts that function with repeated starts and stops.

The results encourage the researchers to use a set of 3D texture parameters instead of “classical” two-dimensional parameters, the arithmetic mean deviation of the profile, Ra, because this set of parameters better evaluate the surface quality, especially for worn surfaces.