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In recent years, the use of high performing materials, and application of additive manufacturing technology for industrial production has witnessed a steady rise and its expanse is only to increase in the future. “Selective laser melting (SLM) technique” for an exotic nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy (SMA) is expected to a great facilitator to research in this area. The purpose of this paper is to put forth the research direction of NiTi shape memory alloy by selective laser melting.

This review also summaries and skims out the information on process equipment, adopted methodologies/strategies, effects of process parameters on important responses e.g. microstructure and comprehensive functional and mechanical properties of SLM-NiTi. In particular, the functional characteristics (i.e. shape memory effects and super-elasticity behavior), process analysis and application status are discussed.

Current progresses and challenges in fabricating NiTi-SMA of SLM technology are presented.

This review is a useful tool for professional and researchers with an interest in the field of SLM of NiTi-SMA.

This review provides a comprehensive review of the publications related to the SLM techniques of NiTi-SMA while highlighting current challenges and methods of solving them.

Fastener technology is one of the key technologies of the ballastless track structure, and the spring strip is the key component to realize the fastener function. Based on the fatigue test of the WJ-7 type fastener of the ballastless track in China, it is concluded that the fatigue damage of an elastic strip is the main reason for the decline of service performance of the fastener. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the fatigue life of the fastener.

First, a DH3818 static strain tester is used to measure the static strain signal in the elastic strip fatigue test, and then the fatigue limit of the WJ-7 elastic strip is calculated. Finally, the fatigue life of the fastener strip is estimated.

The findings of the paper are as follows: first, the lowest fatigue life with a survival rate of 99 percent should be taken as a reference for the service times of WJ-7; second, the fatigue life of the modified formula found to be short under the same stress amplitude.

The fatigue test is processed by the authors and the results of elastic strip are obtained based on the test. Meanwhile, the corresponding limit value of the fatigue stress amplitude is calculated based on the tested results.

This study aims to investigate the influence of ethical sales behaviour on relationship quality and its consequences in the context of telemarketing to identify the complex nature of relationship marketing.

A survey with 312 qualified observations from financial institutions’ customers in Taiwan was conducted. A structural equation modelling approach was used.

Ethical sales behaviour components, that is, avoiding overharvest, security, honesty, privacy and non-harassment, have significant effects on relationship quality. Satisfactory relationship quality has positive effects on relationship commitment and customer loyalty.

This paper identifies ethical sales behaviour components, namely, avoiding overharvest, security, honesty, privacy and non-harassment, in the context of telemarketing and proposes that ethical sales behaviour is an important factor of maintaining high level of relationship quality.

This paper aims to examine the causal influences on the construct, relationship commitment. A better understanding of relationship marketing is an underpinning goal of this study.

Chunghwa Telecom is a Taiwan-based telecommunications firm that enjoys Taiwan’s largest domestic market share of asymmetric digital subscriber line market. Data from Chunghwa Telecom’s subscribers were obtained, and 265 qualified observations were collected. A structural equation modeling approach was used.

Relationship commitment is understood as dependent on positive affective commitment and involuntary continuance commitment. Positive affective commitment, namely, voluntary continuance commitment, enhances customer loyalty. On the contrary, involuntary continuance commitment has negative impacts on customer loyalty. It is discovered that relationship quality, corporate reputation and switching costs have significant effects on relationship commitment. Satisfactory relationship commitment has positive effects on loyalty.

Effects of voluntary continuance commitment and involuntary continuance commitment on customer loyalty are not in the same direction. When customers feel trapped in a relationship due to involuntary continuance commitment, they respond to the feeling by provision of negative word-of-mouth.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of customer loyalty programs on relationship quality, relationship commitment, and loyalty.

A survey with 480 qualified observations from department store customers in Taiwan was conducted. A structural equation modeling approach was used.

Customer loyalty programs have a partially supported positive impact on relationship quality; service quality has a positive impact on relationship quality; customers with a positive relationship quality impact their relationship commitment; the higher the relationship commitment, the higher the loyalty; and a customer loyalty program partially supports a positive impact on loyalty.

The paper shows that customer loyalty programs have positive influences on loyalty. However, short‐term customer loyalty programs, namely, Minimum Purchase Gift Cards, displayed no significant influence on loyalty. The incentive of short‐term customer loyalty programs is not sufficient for loyalty.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate Modigliani-Miller (MM) theory and stock repurchases strategy to procure a practical concept for capital decision.

No-arbitrage proof model deduction was used in this study. The authors consider corporate tax and funding sources as two crucial factors drawn in the model. The paper derives some propositions by trichotomy property and keeps the key assumptions of MM Capital Structure Theory.

There are two different effects on firm's value through stock repurchases. The positive effect occurs on firm's value through stock repurchases with loan fund. And the negative impact exists on firm's value through stock repurchases with idle fund.

Notably, in the real world there are three limitations with such an arbitrage transaction (Stulz, 2000). The first one is the default risk, and the second one is transaction costs and the last one is the perfect credit market assumption. In the near future, the authors suggest it would be interesting to involve the interest rate factor and contingent tax variable into our model.

On the basis of no arbitrage opportunity, this paper considers both trichotomy property and MM theory. It proves the share repurchase strategy should be financed by borrowing fund. In contrast, share repurchase should not be executed with idle fund because of opportunity cost.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater understanding of the effect of innovation leadership (participative, supportive, and instrumental) on supervisory-rated employee creativity through greater employee regulatory focus (i.e. promotion and prevention).

Data were collected from dyads of 103 employees and employee supervisors working in Taiwan’s high-tech industry. A structural equation modelling approach was used to examine the relationship posited in this study.

Results reveal that both participative and supportive leadership are positively associated with the creativity of supervisory-rated subordinates when those subordinates adopted a focus on promotion. The data also show that these relationships are partially mediated by employee promotion focus. At the same time, the positive relationship between instrumental leadership and employee creativity is fully mediated by employee prevention focus.

The results of this study show that participative and supportive leaders cultivate employee promotion focus, which then enhances employee creativity. Instrumental leaders will induce employee prevention focus, which also enhances employee creativity. These findings imply that when enhancing employee creativity, employees with a promotion focus are more suited to participative and supportive leaders, while employees who do not have a promotion focus may be more suited to leaders who provide these employees with specific instructions on the rules, regulations, and procedures to follow to accomplish given tasks and common goals.

In the gift industry, there are many large enterprises with strong brand image, customer loyalty, marketing, or service, and they are also rich in retail channels and resources. In this situation, how can brand‐new or small companies thrive in a competitive market? The purpose of this paper is to present a case study from the experiences in Taiwan.

The paper uses intensive interviews with company managers; considers the opinions of experts; and collects useful historical data for analysis.

The paper summarizes eight key success factors for Franz: products and places; unique technology and process; unique business model; cost control capability; high growth in the gift market and popularity of orientalism; access to clients; small organizations; and human resources.

An intensive interview is a kind of oral questionnaire. The interviewee responds to the questions in his/her own way to provide significant answers but this may be considered too subjective.

In order to launch a global brand in the shortest time possible through open innovation strategy, some basic prerequisites need to be met. This must be achieved by creating an open company culture fostering the sharing of ideas and promoting innovative and creative skills, along with flexible management strategies leading to a flat organization structure. Only with the existence of such prerequisites an open innovation system can be integrated properly.

Franz is a classic example of Taiwan's brand‐new companies, which accumulate original equipment manufacturer, original design manufacturer, and own branding and manufacturing experience to succeed in their chosen market.

Using a sample of 9,898 firm-year observations from 1,821 unique Chinese listed firms over the period from 2004 to 2019, this study aims to investigate whether the market rewards meeting or beating analyst earnings expectations (MBE).

The authors use an event study methodology to capture market reactions to MBE.

The authors document a stock return premium for beating analyst forecasts by a wide margin. However, there is no stock return premium for firms that meet or just beat analyst forecasts, suggesting that the market is skeptical of earnings management by these firms. This market underreaction is more pronounced for firms with weak external monitoring. Further analysis shows that meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is indicative of superior future financial performance. The authors do not find firms using earnings management to meet or just beat analyst forecasts.

The authors provide evidence of market underreaction to meeting or just beating analyst forecasts, with the market's over-skepticism of earnings management being a plausible mechanism for this phenomenon.

The findings of this study are informative to researchers, market participants and regulators concerned about the impact of analysts and earnings management and interested in detecting and constraining managers' earnings management.

The authors provide new insights into how the market reacts to MBE by showing that the market appears to focus on using meeting or just beating analyst forecasts as an indicator of earnings management, while it does not detect managed MBE. Meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is commonly used as a proxy for earnings management in the literature. However, the findings suggest that it is a noisy proxy for earnings management.

The purpose of this paper is to study the problem of a routing problem with uncertain try-on service time (VRPUS) for apparel distribution, and to devise solution strategies coping with the uncertainty by an evolutionary algorithm. VRPUS belongs to the category of practical routing models integrated with uncertain service times. However, in the background of apparel distribution, it has distinct features. The try-on service will improve the customer satisfaction by providing experiences to customers; the return cost is saved; the customer loyalty is improved for experiencing face-to-face try-on services. However, the uncertainty of try-on service time makes the apparel distribution process uncertain and incurs additional risk management cost, such that the logistics companies should optimally make decisions on the choice of the service and the service processes.

This paper devised a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model for the base vehicle routing problem (VRP) and then it is extended to support the solution strategies for uncertain try-on times. A try-on time estimation parameter and a time reservation parameter are used to cope with the uncertain try-on time, and the try-on rejection strategy is applied when the uncertain try-on time is realized at customer and no surplus time can be used for try-on service besides distributing to remainder customers. Due to the computational complexity of VRPUS, an evolutionary algorithm is designed for solving it. These parameters and strategy options are designed for the operational decisions by logistics companies. Finally, a decision support system (DSS) is designed.

Five experimental scenarios are performed to reveal the impacts of parameters and solution strategies coping with uncertain try-on time on the distribution cost, return cost, and the try-on service failure. The tuning methods are designed to assist the decisions by logistics companies.

A new routing problem is addressed for apparel distribution in fashion industry especially in the context of booming apparel e-commerce, which is a VRP with uncertain try-on service time for apparel distribution; three strategies are developed to cope with the try-on time uncertainty. The proposed method is also a theoretical base for designing a practical DSS for logistics companies to provide try-on service to customers.