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The aim of this research is to theorize and demonstrate that analyzing consumers’ text product reviews using text mining can enhance the explanatory power of a product sales model, particularly for hedonic products, which tend to generate emotional and subjective product evaluations. Previous research in this area has been more focused on utilitarian products.

Our text clustering-based procedure segments text reviews into multiple clusters in association with consumers’ numeric ratings to address consumer heterogeneity in taste preferences and quality valuations and the J-distribution of numeric product ratings. This approach is novel in terms of combining text clustering with numeric product ratings to address consumers’ subjective product evaluations.

Using the movie industry as our empirical application, we find that our approach of making use of product text reviews can improve the explanatory power and predictive validity of the box-office sales model.

Marketing scholars have actively investigated the impact of consumers’ online product reviews on product sales, primarily focusing on consumers’ numeric product ratings. Recently, studies have also examined user-generated content. Similarly, this study looks into users’ textual product reviews to explain product sales. It remains to be seen how generalizable our empirical results are beyond our movie application.

Whereas numeric ratings can indicate how much viewers liked products, consumers’ reviews can convey why viewers liked or disliked them. Therefore, our review analysis can help marketers understand what factors make new products succeed or fail.

Primarily our approach is suitable to products subjectively evaluated, mostly, hedonic products. In doing so, we consider consumer heterogeneity contained in reviews through our review clusters based on their divergent impacts on sales.

The psychological study of personal reputation has implications for the study of corporate identity and reputation. One set of implications deals with the way organisations are perceived by members of internal and external groups. Another set deals with the relationships between identity and reputation. Historical trends suggest the possibility of a shift of emphasis from the study of individual organisations to the study of similarities and differences between organisations. The size, shape and multiplicity of corporate reputations appear to be neglected areas of research. Other issues include: language usage, the distribution of attributions, visual identity, subculture, cognitive functions, ideals, and leadership.

This paper aims to study the hub transportation system in supply chain networks which would contribute to reducing costs and environmental pollution, as well as to economic development and social responsibility. As not all customers tend to buy green products, several customer groups should be considered in terms of need type.

In this paper, a multi-objective hub location problem is developed for designing a sustainable supply chain network based on customer segmentation. It deals with the aspects of economic (cost reduction), environment (minimizing greenhouse gas emissions by the transport sector) and social responsibility (creating employment and community development). The epsilon-constraint method and augmented epsilon-constraint (AEC) method are used to solve the small-sized instances of this multi-objective problem. Due to the non-deterministic polynomial-time hardness of this problem, two non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) and multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO) metaheuristic algorithms are also applied to tackle the large-sized instances of this problem.

As expected, the AEC method is able to provide better Pareto solutions according to the goals of the decision-makers. The Taguchi method was used for setting the parameters of the two metaheuristic algorithms. Considering the meaningful difference, the MOGWO algorithm outperforms the NSGA-II algorithm according to the rate of achievement to two objectives simultaneously and the spread of non-dominance solutions indexes. Regarding the other indexes, there was no meaningful difference between the performance of the two algorithms.

The model of this research provides a comprehensive solution for supply chain companies that want to achieve a rational balance between the three aspects of sustainability.

The importance of considering customer diversity on the one hand and saving on hub transportation costs, on the other hand, triggered us to propose a hub location model for designing a sustainable supply chain network based on customer segmentation.

“The effect of a firm's dividend policy on the current price of its shares is a matter of considerable importance, not only to the corporate officials who must set the policy, but to investors planning portfolios and to economists seeking to understand and appraise the functioning of capital markets. Do companies with generous distribution policies consistently sell at a premium over those with small payments ? Is the reverse ever true ? If so, under what conditions? Is there an optimum payment ratio or range of ratios that maximises the current worth of the shares?”.Although these questions of fact have been the subject of many empirical studies in recent years, no concensus has yet been achieved. Not only does the empirical evidence seem to conflict, but the underlying theory of share price determination cannot be agreed upon. This chapter surveys current theories concerning dividend policy, and seeks to reconcile them under a common set of assumptions. Then the relevant empirical evidence is presented and criticised, and finally a piece of research carried out by the author is discussed.

“The effect of a firm's dividend policy on the current price of its shares is a matter of considerable importance, not only to the corporate officials who must set the policy, but to investors planning portfolios and to economists seeking to understand and appraise the functioning of capital markets. Do companies with generous distribution policies consistently sell at a premium over those with small payments ? Is the reverse ever true ? If so, under what conditions ? Is there an optimum payment ratio or range of ratios that maximises the current worth of the shares ?”. Although these questions of fact have been the subject of many empirical studies in recent years, no concensus has yet been achieved. Not only does the empirical evidence seem to conflict, but the underlying theory of share price determination cannot be agreed upon. This chapter surveys current theories concerning dividend policy, and seeks to reconcile them under a common set of assumptions. Then the relevant empirical evidence is presented and criticised, and finally a piece of research carried out by the author is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to assist a manufacturing firm in designing the closed-loop supply chain network under risks that are affecting its supply quality and logistics operations. The modeling approach adopted aims at the embedding supply chain risks in a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network design process and suggests optimal supply chain configuration and risk mitigation strategies.

The method proposes a closed-loop supply chain network and identifies the network parameter and variables required for closing the loop. Mixed-integer-linear-programming-based mathematical modeling approach is used to formulate the research problem. The solutions and test results are obtained from CPLEX solver.

The outcomes of the proposed model were demonstrated through a case study conducted in an Indian hospital furniture manufacturing firm. The modern supply chain is mapped to make it closed loop, and potential risks in its supply chain are identified. The supply chain network of the firm is redesigned through embedding risk in the modeling process. It was found that companies can be in great profit if they follow closed-loop practices and simultaneously keep a check on risks as well. The cost of making the supply chain risk averse was found to be insignificant.

Although the study was conducted in a practical case situation, the obtained results are not indiscriminate to the other circumstances. However, the approach followed and proposed methodology can be applied to many industries once a firm decides to redesign its supply chain for closing its loop or model under risks.

By using the identified CLSC parameters and applying the proposed network design methodology, a firm can design/redesign their supply chain network to counter the risk and accordingly come up with planned mitigation strategies to achieve a certain degree of robustness.

An emerging, globally Web‐based Chinese language virtual library offers unprecedented content availability and user accessibility. Virtual and physical libraries are defined, and compared, in terms of bibliographical searching. Then, the size of the Chinese language virtual library is estimated and its future development is predicted. The quantitative analysis concentrates on the content of this virtual library through examining the subject directories of more than 100 of its search engines. The findings show that 20 percent of the subject categories provide 80 percent of online access activities. Many subject categories characterise values of the Chinese‐speaking world. Discussion continues with structural and functional analyses of Chinese language search engines that support this virtual library. Further, an analytic overview is presented of Chinese language applications that render the necessary and sufficient computational linguistic conditions for utilising Chinese language online resources.

This paper features a study of the dividend policies of the larger listed British companies. It focusses on the sample companies' usage of target payout ratios. A company with a target payout is defined as one which has a policy of attempting to pay out a fixed proportion of available earnings as dividends. In particular, it examines the extent of the usage of explicit target payouts, the range of target payouts adopted and the frequency of changes in such targets. It also examines the factors which are perceived to have an influence on the company's choice of these targets. Finally, it extends and parallels previous work by Partington (1984) on the use of target payouts by Australian companies.

Describes how the increasing emphasis on customer service‐based performance measures changes the way in which we need to manage operations along the total supply chain from raw materials to end user. Senior managers at Caterpillar, General Motors, ICL, Philips and Rank Xerox were interviewed about the steps that they have taken to achieve greater supply chain integration and the problems to be overcome before further progress can be achieved. Describes the changes that have been necessary to achieve greater supply chain integration and discusses the likely impact of these changes on the future role of the operations manager.

The development of technical information services in the United Kingdom in the past has depended to a great extent upon the faith and evangelical approach of a small band of people. Relevant facts were difficult to find and were sometimes invented or erroneously deduced from scattered data. The oft‐repeated tale that half the world's scientific achievements have been lost because the papers recording them were never abstracted is an example of this. Such tales may have achieved some support for technical information services in the past, but this particular tale is now so widely disbelieved amongst the scientific community that those repeating it have often appeared to the working scientist as ‘cranks’. The old approach to technical information services is, however, changing. This paper is an attempt to review the present position. The opinions expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of my Department.