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Mixed products, while presenting new business opportunities, raise considerable concerns among managers and researchers. However, whether mixed products (functionally vs culturally) trigger positive or negative consumer reactions is controversial. Hereby, the present research seeks to resolve the conflicting effects by examining the moderating role of service provider type (humanoid service robot vs human employee) in the impact of mixed products on consumer reactions.

Two studies were conducted to explore the effect of mixed products on consumer reactions. Specifically, study 1 was developed to examine the interplay of mixed products and service provider type in shaping consumers' product attitudes and purchase intentions under an offline shopping scenario; study 2 further provided evidence for the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment in the above processes under an online-shopping context.

The convergent findings of two studies conclude that, when served by a humanoid service robot (vs human employee), consumers exhibit more positive attitudes and higher purchase intentions toward functionally (vs culturally) mixed products. Furthermore, such effect is driven by the perceived usefulness (vs perceived enjoyment) when served by humanoid robot (vs human employee).

First, this is one of the first studies to conceptualize mixed products as the two-dimensional construct (i.e. functionally mixed and culturally mixed), and the findings sheds light on the mixed products literature. Second, this paper introduces service provider type as the boundary condition for the impact of mixed products on consumers' product attitudes and purchase intentions, which expands the match-up hypothesis and schema theory in service marketing. Third, the current research explores the mediating roles of perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment in the above effects, which could make significant contribution to the motivation theory.

Describes the complementary standard mixed loads concept (the standard mix concept in short), which allows for assembling mixed loads at an upstream echelon. These standard mixed loads are assigned to customer orders at an echelon downstream of the chain. Describes two applications of the use of the standard mix concept in order to identify up‐front the logistic advantages, both in inventory reduction and in handling reduction. Presents the basic principles of the concept and offers some mathematical modelling. Describes the effects on the inventory at the various points of the supply chain, and presents some simulation results. Concludes that the concept offers new perspectives for supply chain management and intermodal transport.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of regulatory focus (promotion vs prevention) and mixed valence attributes (positive imagery and negative analytical vs negative imagery and positive analytical) on consumers’ evaluation and purchase intention for a product.

A pre-test followed by a single between subject’s experiment was conducted to test the major hypotheses in the study.

Results show that promotion (prevention) focus prefers the product when it is described in terms of positive imagery but negative analytical (positive analytical but negative imagery) attributes in terms of both evaluation and purchase intention.

Future research may validate and extend the current findings with other product or service categories, and study the underlying processes that guide decision making.

Findings from this study will help managers devise a range of marketing strategies in the areas of advertising, segmentation and product positioning.

The current research is novel as it addresses lack of research that engages imagery and analytical attributes with different valences, and fills in a gap as to how regulatory focus will rely on imagery (analytical) attributes with different valences while making product decisions.

Product mix and the acquisition of the assets needed for their production are interdependent decisions. However, these decisions are frequently evaluated independently of each other and with conceptually different decision models. This article expands activity-based costing (ABC) to incorporate the cost of capital. The resulting model traces the cost of capital to products and thereby measures the economic value added (EVA) from their production. The discounted value of a product’s EVA over its life is equivalent to its net present value (Hartman, 2000; Shrieves & Wachowicz, 2001). The discounted EVA of a product also equals the net present value of the assets used to manufacture the product. Consequently, evaluating products with an ABC model incorporating the cost of capital enables product mix and capital budgeting decisions to be evaluated simultaneously. The article also examines the role of ABC when product mix decisions are made at the product and portfolio levels of the firm’s operations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the interpretation strategy of cultural mixing on consumers’ evaluations of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements. Specifically, this paper examines whether a property interpretation and a relational interpretation have different influences on consumers’ evaluations of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements.

Two experiments were conducted as part of this research. Experiment 1 adopted a two (interpretation strategy: property interpretation vs relational interpretation) single-factor between-subjects design. Experiment 2 adopted a 2 (interpretation strategy: property interpretation vs relational interpretation) × 2 (polyculturalist beliefs: high vs low) between-subjects design. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and PROCESS 213.

A property interpretation (emphasizing that some features of a global brand transfer to local cultural elements) leads to a less favorable evaluation of global brands that incorporate local cultural elements than a relational interpretation (emphasizing a relation between global brands and local cultural elements). This effect is fully mediated by perceived cultural intrusion, and it exists only when consumers have a low level of polyculturalist beliefs.

This paper reveals that the phenomenon of cultural mixing occurs when global brands incorporate local cultural elements. In addition, the way that consumers perceive the relationship between global brands and local cultural elements will determine their reactions to global brands that incorporate local cultural elements.

Proposes a classification of different production categories and their respective productive systems and defines various classes of plants which carry out repetitive manufacturing. Also examines the applicative possibilities of repetitive production in regard to production volumes required and grades of flexibility necessary. Among the intermittent production systems described are those which present strong analogies with repetitive manufacturing systems; in particular that of the Zanussi‐Electrolux plant in Susegana, Italy. Finally, describes the fundamental elements which differentiate repetitive production from intermittent production.

In the era of climate change, industrial organizations are under increasing pressure from consumers and regulators to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of product mix as a strategy to deliver the low carbon supply chain under the cap-and-trade policy.

The authors incorporate the cap-and-trade policy into the green product mix decision models by using game-theoretic approach and compare these decisions in a decentralized model and a centralized model, respectively. The research explores potential behavioral changes under the cap-and-trade in the context of a two-echelon supply chain.

The analysis results show that the channel structure has significant impact on both economic and environmental performances. An integrated supply chain generates more profits. In contrast, a decentralized supply chain has lower carbon emissions. The cap-and-trade policy makes a different impact on the economic and environmental performances of the supply chain. Balancing the trade-offs is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability.

The research offers many interesting observations with respect to the effect of product mix strategy on operational decisions and the trade-offs between costs and carbon emissions under the cap-and-trade policy. The insights derived from the analysis not only help firms to make important operational and strategic decisions to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining their economic competitiveness, but also make meaningful contribution to governments’ policy making for carbon emissions control.

In every industry there are resources. Some are moving, others more fixed; some are technical, others social. People working with the resources, for example, as buyers or sellers, or users or producers, may not make much notice of them. A product sells. A facility functions. The business relationship in which we make our money has “always” been there. However, some times this picture of order is disturbed. A user having purchased a product for decades may “suddenly” say to the producer that s/he does not appreciate the product. And a producer having received an order of a product that s/he thought was well known, may find it impossible to sell it. Such disturbances may be ignored. Or they can be used as a platform for development. In this study we investigate the latter option, theoretically and through real world data. Concerning theory we draw on the industrial network approach. We see industrial actors as part of (industrial) networks. In their activities actors use and produce resources. Moreover, the actors interact − bilaterally and multilaterally. This leads to development of resources and networks. Through “thick” descriptions of two cases we illustrate and try to understand the interactive character of resource development and how actors do business on features of resources. The cases are about a certain type of resource, a product − goat milk. The main message to industrial actors is that they should pay attention to that products can be co-created. Successful co-creation of products, moreover, may require development also of business relationships and their connections (“networking”).

The purpose of this paper is to examine pure culture isolates from traditionally fermented product of African oil bean seeds (ugba) with a view to identifying the appropriate starters.

The isolates were purified and characterized, and used singly and in combination to ferment freshly prepared oil bean seed slices for 72 h at 37^○C. The pH and microbial load of fermenting beans were monitored daily, and organoleptic tests using semi‐trained panelists were employed to assess the fermented products based on quality attributes of flavour, appearance, texture and overall acceptability.

The isolates included Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Total viable counts ranged from 1.3 × 10⁷‐9.3 × 10⁹ cfu/g, 7.0 × 10⁶‐4.0 × 10⁹ cfu/g, and 3.0 × 10⁶‐1.5 × 10⁹ cfu/g, respectively for the three isolates; while counts for the mixed culture fermentation ranged from 7.0 × 10⁶‐1.72 × 10¹⁰ cfu/g. The mixed culture fermentation gave the best rated product, indicating a synergy among the isolates. The pH values increased steadily in the samples fermented by Bacillus sp. and the mixed culture organisms, showing that the production of ugba follows alkaline fermentation pattern.

The African oil bean seed fermentation is a bacterial mixed culture and alkaline fermentation. The major organisms involved are B. subtilis and B. licheniformis, while the P. fluorescens was insignificant.

Most of the local fermentations in Africa, including oil bean fermentation, are still at the wild, natural inoculation level. The present study has helped in understanding of the fermentative organisms involved in Pentaclethra seed fermentation, and gave insight into an optimized ugba production.