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This paper examines the suitability of the discretizing approach of Roy and Dasgupta, based on the discrete concentration method of Roy, for determination of reliability of complex systems under Weibull set‐up. A system is said to be complex if its distribution is intractable and analytical evaluation of probability is not available. Numerical analyses on a hollow cylinder, solid shaft, hollow rectangular tube, and the power dissipated by a resistor have been worked out to examine the closeness between the discretized reliability estimators and the simulated values based on Monte Carlo method. Also, it may be observed that the proposed approach has superior performance in comparison to the discretizing approach of English et al., based on the moment equalization method of Taguchi. The mean absolute deviation under the discrete concentration approach is much less than the same under the moment equalization approach for the Weibull set‐up.

Grounded theory, supported by leading designers, argues for an integrated approach covering end users and designers. However, no substantial work on apparel design has been done so far where a balance is maintained by combining the opinions of consumers and the designers. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical framework for designing apparel considering both consumers’ opinions and fashion designers’ views.

An algorithm is proposed for reducing attributes and their levels to carry out conjoint analysis and assign utilities to different attributes and their levels. After selecting the best three design combinations based on their utilities, the authors have arrived at optimum design combinations. Through Delphi method, the opinions of a few fashion designers about these selected design combinations have been collected for matching with optimum design.

An optimum design is suggested for a formal office shirt, for North Indian women, by integrating opinions of designers and consumers.

Attribute and level reduction technique is an original contribution to the literature. Further, the authors’ approach to apparel design may provide a guideline to apparel manufacturers when designing their products. Knowledge of optimum design combinations gained through this approach may help apparel manufacturers and retailers in bringing efficiency in stock keeping unit management by keeping more stocks of apparel with optimum design combinations and thus ensuring a better return on investment made on their stocks.

The main purpose of this paper is to consider the role of discretization of random variables in analyzing statistical tolerancing, and to propose a new discretizing method along with a study on its usefulness.

The approach for discretization of a continuous distribution is based on the concept of moment equalization with the original random variable, conditionally given a set of points of realization. For the purpose of demonstration the normal distribution has been discretized into seven points. Application of the discretization method in approximating the distribution/survival function of a complex system has also been studied. Numerical analysis on two important engineering items has been undertaken and the closeness between the values of the distribution/survival functions obtained by simulation and the proposed method has been examined to indicate the advantage of the proposed approach.

A comparative study with the earlier reported discretizing methods indicates that the proposed method, which is easy to implement, provides better results for most of the cases studied in this work.

Using the proposed approach one can approximate the probability distribution of a complex system with random component values, which cannot be analytically expressed.

This paper is able to provide a new direction in reliability management research, because it can be used for product design of many important engineering items such as solid‐shaft, hollow cylinder, torsion bar, I‐beam etc.

This research gives a new linear method of discretization. It gives better results than the existing discretization methods of Experimental design, Moment equalization, and Discrete Concentration for reliability (survival probability) determination of solid‐shaft and power resistor.

In the context of strategic marketing and market commitment models, modeling of brand switching behaviour of consumers is of extreme use in determining the performance potential of the existing players. This paper revisits the static models of Ehrenberg and Hendry and introduces a dynamic model of brand switching based on market shares. In terms of a χ² measure of closeness, these three models have been compared to ascertain their modeling performances. A case study has been carried out for the field of sanitary napkin to give some further insight into this problem. Studies have also been included for a few FMCG items. In all the cases, the proposed model gives a better description of the actual situation than the existing static models.

The end‐state of marketing is the creation of a lasting bond between the consumers and the offered brand. In view of the growing competition in the market, a never‐ending brand war can be witnessed that attempts to destabilize the consumer‐brand bonding. To ensure a long‐run success, there is a need to develop a system approach towards proper integration of a brand's identity with its image. This paper seeks to address this issue.

The major task is to identify the gap and skilful integration of brand identity with brand image to cement the gap. Improper integration may lead to a major setback in the market and irreparable loss. The authors present a verbal model as the basis for integration so that the chance of a setback becomes minimal.

The authors propose a Brand Derby Matrix, a classification cum decision matrix to enable a marketer to identify its present position and future course of action, in conjunction with the Credibility‐Alteration‐Relationship‐Expansion (CARE‐ing) strategy to address the above‐mentioned issue.

Brand Derby Matrix in conjunction with the CARE‐ing strategy can be of immense use to brand planners for identification and managing of the problem to ensure smooth sailing in the market.

In this paper, the authors present a generic approach that may work beyond country boundaries. Brand Derby Matrix in conjunction with the CARE‐ing strategy is immensely helpful in addressing the dilemma of brand identity and brand image integration issues that are faced by players.

To a customer, higher quality is synonymous to higher expected life. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the existing life of the competing brands in a product field and suggest an improvement plan, under cost constraints, so that all the brands can be placed on a comparable scale.

For this, we consider Cox proportional hazard model for estimation of the mean life and suggest an optimization procedure for improving mean life under cost constraint. As the cost of redesigning the product is mostly known, the authors propose to take corresponding repairing cost as their surrogates and optimize the expected life for each brand subject to a fixed level of cost.

From Cox's model one can identify the causes of failure for the brands under consideration. Further, under the optimization techniques proposed herein one can order the brands for comparison purpose.

We have applied the proposed optimization techniques for ordering mobile handsets. In fact, based on the result obtained by our proposed method, the design engineers or the brand planners can take necessary actions to increase the product life, correct product design and improve the product performance.

The cost minimization approach under Cox's cause‐wise setup can provide a tool for comparing different brands of different prices and order them to know the best performer.

This paper aims to offer a quantitative methodology to identify and measure the gap between the communicated brand identity and perceived brand image by channel members and the consumers. Brand marketers communicate with their target consumers to make them aware of brand identity and communicate the same way to the channel members directly. Channel members, in turn, convey the same to the end-users. Thus, a proper alignment of these three crucial nodes, namely, brand marketers, channel members and consumers, is inevitable for the efficient transfer of brand identity. However, in reality, not all are successful to synchronize communicated brand identity and image perception. So, the identification and measurement of identity-image gap is essential.

Based on the literature review, the authors propose a conceptual model for the study and generate the basic research questions. In this study, Kapferer’s brand identity prism has been taken as the focal point of study to measure brand identity. So far as the vector measure is concerned, a p-dimensional setup is present, each dimension representing each facet of Kapferer’s brand identity prism. Now, given these sets of observations, the authors introduce for each set, a multivariate distributional setup to represent the underlying population behavior.

In this study, a theoretical framework is proposed to identify and measure brand identity and image consistency. To minimize the problem associated with subjective decisions, an objective procedure has been proposed to measure the brand knowledge structure of company personnel, consumers and channel members about the considered brands. The results of this study show that brand knowledge consistency is missing among marketers, consumers and channel members for considered brands. The proposed methodology may help marketers to measure the identity-image gap in a more objective manner with pinpoint accuracy by adopting a quantitative approach.

The proposed methodology may help marketers to measure the identity-image gap in a more objective manner with pinpoint accuracy by adopting a quantitative approach. Once a gap is identified, it will be easy for marketers to adopt possible measures to bridge the gap. This helps brand marketers to understand the branding process more objectively.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is a lack of concrete quantitative approach, attempting to discuss the methodology to measure the gap between brand identity facets and brand image. In this backdrop, this might be the first paper offering a quantitative methodology to identify and measure the gap between the communicated brand identity and perceived brand image by channel members and the consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate the reliability optimization problem in stochastic and interval domain and also to solve the same under different stochastic set up.

Stochastic programming technique has been used to convert the chance constraints into deterministic form and the corresponding problem is transformed to mixed-integer constrained optimization problem with interval objective. Then the reduced problem has been converted to unconstrained optimization problem with interval objective by Big-M penalty technique. The resulting problem has been solved by advanced real coded genetic algorithm with interval fitness, tournament selection, intermediate crossover and one-neighbourhood mutation.

A new optimization technique has been developed in stochastic domain and the concept of interval valued parameters has been integrated with the stochastic setup so as to increase the applicability of the resultant solution to the interval valued nonlinear optimization problems.

The concept of probability distribution with interval valued parameters has been introduced. This concept will motivate the researchers to carry out the research in this new direction.

The application of genetic algorithm is extended to solve the reliability optimization problem in stochastic and interval domain.

Operating as a commodity disables the scope of differentiation. In turn, the organization becomes vulnerable to competition. A strong brand ensures the selling company to get premium prices and in the best case rejection of competitive products by the buyers. Branding was often seen as the province of business‐to‐consumer (B2C) products. But in reality, the role of brand in business‐to‐business (B2B) market is also important. B2B sector is fiercely competitive in nature and in the recent past a strong need has been felt by small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in this sector to elevate from commodity construct to brand for sustainable competitive advantages. Products from SMEs, in the B2B market, have nearly identical physical looks and performance specifications. As a result, it is difficult to achieve differentiation. In this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to study branding readiness of SMEs which are operating in a B2B market and a strategic road map has been proposed.

An empirical analysis has been made to understand relevance, objectives, benefits and hindrances of branding in this industry. In the second stage, a verbal conceptual model has been proposed to explain strategic steps of branding for SMEs which are operating in the B2B sector.

From the research it has been found that SMEs having different motivations behind branding based on criticality of the components and their market orientation. A strategic branding roadmap has been proposed in this section. Construction of the “Brand Initiative Framework” involves plotting of a “degree of product criticality” and “degree of market orientation” in the matrix form, each made of two states – high and low. The objective of this decision matrix is to guide SMEs operating in B2B sector to opt for requisite branding initiatives.

The proposed “Brand Initiatives Framework” can be of immense use to SMEs for managing branding initiatives to ensure clutter free differentiation with target segment.

This paper presents a generic approach that may work beyond country boundaries. The conceptual model of “Brand Initiative Framework” is of immense help to manage branding activities in a strategically profitable way.